XX.-CAPITAL UNIVERSITY.

(COLUMBUS, FRANKLIN COUNTY.)

[Sketch by Prof. GEORGE H. SCHODDE, in the Lutheran Standard of March 26, 1887.]

This institution as at present constituted consists of three departments, namely: a theological seminary, a college department, and a grammar, or preparatory department. The institution is under the control of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio. and adjacent States, a synodical organization of the Lutheran Church now consisting of 266 pastors, 61 parochial school teachers, 443 congregations, and 64,500 communicant members, found scattered in a dozen or more States. It is an independent body and in no organic connection with any other Lutheran body in the land. It, however, maintains friendly relations. with a number of other synods, who, like it, accept the historical symbols and confessions of the Lutheran Church as laid down in the Book of Concord of 1580, and strive to give expression to the principles of these confessions in the practical work of the church.

Capital University is the oldest Lutheran institution west of the Alleghenies, and one of the oldest in the United States. Its nucleus was the German Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, founded in 1830 by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio, organized in 1818, and in 1830 numbering only 25 ministers and 90 congregations. It is the third in date among the Lutheran seminaries in America, being antedated only by Hartwick Seminary, in Otsego County, N. Y., founded in 1815, and by the Gettysburg Seminary, founded in 1825. The immediate occasion for the establishment of the seminary was the conviction of the synod that an institution was a necessity west of the Alleghenies in which men could be prepared for the ministry among the spiritually forsaken Lutherans scattered throughout Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and the West. As these people were nearly all Germans, the seminary was established as a German theological school. Its first professor was the Rev. William Schmidt, a graduate of Halle, in Germany, who, in 1828, had connected himself with the synod. He was a man of fine attainments and willing to sacrifice much in the interests of the proposed. school of the prophets. He positively refused to accept any salary, and taught his first classes at Canton, Ohio, where he was serving a number of congregatious.

He opened the seminary on the 1st day of October, 1830, with 6 stu

dents on the roll, in his private dwelling at Canton. Only in the fol lowing year a board for the management of the school was elected. It consisted of 8 men-4 clergymen and 4 laymen. The course of the institution was decided to cover 3 years, and, owing to the lack of sufficient academic preparation on the part of many of the candidates, it embraced a number of topics not generally found in a seminary course, such as Latin, Greek, logic, German, syntax. The German was used as a medium of instruction, although the board of directors promised to take all pains that the English, too, should be thoroughly learned. No tuition was charged, but each student was compelled to provide for his own board, clothing, and lodging. In accordance with synodical resolution, the seminary, in the fall of 1831, was removed to Columbus, where' 14 acres in the south end of the city had been bought as a site for the proposed building. The new seminary was begun the next summer, the corner stone being laid on the 15th of August. In January, 1833, the building was so far completed that it could be used to deliver lectures in. At this time there were 6 or 7 theological students, and several pursuing preparatory studies in languages. The salary of the professor was $250 per annum, and the total expenses for the seminary building was a little over $4,000. The doctrinal standpoint of the seminary was Lutheran, but not as distinctively so as it became in later years.

As nearly all the seminary students were very poor, there was organized, in 1836, the Ohio Educational Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the object being to "educate pious, but indigent young men for the gospel ministry in the theological seminary at Columbus, Ohio." This society has been a great blessing to the church, enabling dozens of young men to prepare themselves for the ministry who, otherwise, on account of their poverty, would have been compelled to forego this calling. The work of this society is still being carried on by the synod, the funds being controlled by the faculty under direction of the board and the synod, and being devoted to the aid of not only theolog. ical students, but also of young men in the other two departments having the minsitry in view.

Professor Schmidt's health failing, he made a tour to Germany. This did not have the desired effect, and in 1839 he died, only 36 years of age. The board tried to fill the vacant chair by calling the well-known biblical scholar, Dr. C. R. Demme, of Philadelphia. He declined; upon which the call was sent to Rev. Charles F. Schaeffer, of Hagerstown, Md., who accepted, and received, as an assistant for the teaching of the classics, Mr. C. Jucksch. The latter soon resigned. Collections taken up by the synodical agents, Rev. D. Rothacker, in northern Ohio, and Rev. W. F. Lehmann, in western Pennsylvania, enabled the synod to call a second professor of theology in the person of Rev. F. W. Winkler, of Newark, N. J. The language question, one that has vexed and still vexes the Lutheran Church of America, soon caused difficulties. Professor Schaeffer, being American born, favored the English in the sem

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inary, and Professor Winkler, being a German, favored his mother tongue. The former resigned in 1842 and the latter remained in office until 1845. The synod then resolved that, while the German, in accord ance with the constitution of the seminary, should remain the medium of instruction, the English also should be taught theoretically, and practically, so that the students should be able to preach in both languages.

A new era in the history of the seminary begins with the appoint. ment of Rev. W. F. Lehmann as theological professor in 1846. Professor Lehmann, although in purely scholastic attainments he may have been surpassed by some, yet through his eminent practical taste, that always seemed to know and to do the right thing at the right time, and through his intense devotion to the interests of the school, has probably done as much as or even more than any other man to make the institution what it is. From 1846 down to his death in December, 1880, he was one of the teachers, first- in the seminary, and, when a college department was added, in the college also, later becoming the president of the whole institution. Through his mastery of both the German and the English languages, he practically settled the language question for the seminary by delivering his lectures in both languages. This course met with little difficulty, as most of the students had sufficient knowledge of both to follow the discourse. The labors of Professor Lehmann were also of permanent good to the seminary, as he substituted for unsatisfactory theological text-books others whose doctrinal and scientific standpoint was in accordance with the growing conviction of the joint synod, that only historical Lutheranism should be taught in its purity in the school. Owing to the great demands for pastors made by the constantly increasing number of congregations in the West, the course had practically been reduced to 2 years. About 10 years ago it was again lengthened to 3, and is maintained at this status at present.

Professor Lehmann continued to be the only theological professor until 1865, when he received as an associate Rev. M. Loy, since 1880 the president of the institution. The former then devoted his time exclusively to dogmatical and practical theology, and the latter to exegetical and historical. As the classes in the seminary gradually grew, to some extent occasioned by the attendance of a number of Norwegian students, a third theological professorship was established in 1881, and Prof. C. H. L. Schuette, who had hitherto devoted his time exclusively to mathematics in the college, was called to fill this chair. When Professor Loy became president of the institution and first theological professor, the second chair in the seminary was offered to Prof. F. W. Stellhorn, of Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind., which call was accepted. He has been a member of the faculty since 1881. In 1882 it was found necessary to divide the seminary into a theoretical department for those students who had taken a classical or college course and a practical department for those not thus equipped. The

latter department continued in connection with Capital University only two years, when it was removed to Afton, Minn., as the graduates of this department were expected to serve chiefly in the northwest among the German immigrants. During its stay of two years in Columbus Prof. E. A. Boehme was a member of the theological faculty, but he reëntered the pastorate soon after the removal.

At present the seminary faculty consists of the three professors mentioned. The course is one of 3 years, 40 weeks each year. Lectures alternate in German and English. The seminary serves the interests of conservative Lutheranism in the West, and hundreds of pastors have gone out from its doors on their gospel mission. The attendance averages about 35.

Since the year 1850 there have been connected with this seminary a collegiate and a preparatory department. These latter in fact constitute Capital University in the original sense of the word. The occasion of the establishment was the desire to advance the cause of a higher Christian education and to furnish a feeder for the seminary. The proj ect, from the start, was under the control of the joint synod. The board of directors, which has always been and is yet distinct from that of the seminary, consisted then of the ten men acting in the latter capacity, together with four men chosen by synod and ten citizens of Columbus chosen without any reference to their religious denomination. In 1857 the charter was changed by the legislature of Ohio, so that now the twelve directors of the seminary together with three citizens of Columbus constitute the college board. These latter are always chosen from among the Lutherans of the city, so that the whole college is, and has been for many years, controlled entirely by the synod and its agents. Temporary quarters were secured for Capital University, with which the theological seminary had now already been united by action of the board, on Town street. In 1853 the new building, north of the Union Depot, was dedicated, Senator Seward, of New York, delivering the English address. The institution had then 130 students, of whom 8 or 10 were in the theological department. Of the $15,000 subscribed for the endowment fund, $1,500 were given by Jenny Lind, herself a Norwegian Lutheran, for the establishment of a Norwegian professorship.

The first president of Capital University was Prof. W. M. Reynolds, D. D., of Gettysburg, Pa., who, however, remained only a short time. and was succeeded by Rev. C. Spielmann. The new structure for the college and seminary was built at a cost of about $40,000, on 4 acres of land presented by Dr. Lincoln Goodale, from whom Goodale Park has received its name, it having also been presented to the city by this benefactor of Columbus. In 1856 the institution suffered severely, as its treasurer, Mr. L. Heyl, lost some $18,000 of its funds, wrecking himself and inflicting a blow on the institution from which it did not

recover for ten years. The management was constantly in financial straits.

Within the last 20 years the college has enjoyed a slow, though substantial growth. Although its curriculum is primarily arranged with a view to the seminary, yet it offers a complete classical course of instruction, laying great stress on the study of the languages. It has prepared for life also men who are not in the ministry, but in other useful callings and pursuits. Its leading principle is, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and hence it works and teaches from the standpoint of positive evangelical Christianity. Non-Lutherans are also cordially welcome, but its Lutheran confession is never concealed. In 1876 the school was removed to the commodious new structure erected on a 10-acre lot just east of the city. The university is about >3 miles from the Statehouse. The attendance in the three departments during the past few years has been something over one hundred annually. The necessary annual expenses for each student are from $120 to $150. The faculty at present consists of Rev. M. Loy, A. M.; Rev. Emanuel Schmidt, A. M.; Rev. C. H. L. Schuette, A. M.; Rev. George H. Schodde, PH. D.; Rev. F. W. Stellhorn; Geo. K. Leonard, A. M.; Rev. A. Pflueger, A. M., and Rev. K. Hemminghaus.