lematic, but assured. Not only has the number of the students largely increased, their quality also, you may be surprised to learn has equally improved. I have not time to explain this fact, but a fact it is.

As evidence of the general feeling in regard to the new course, I would call attention to the last Report of the Visitors appointed by the Maine General Conference. After giving some account of the course they say: "We prophesy advantage to our seminary and to our churches from this new departure."

I ought not to leave wholly unnoticed in this report the building of a gymnasium which is just completed and which is a great boon to our students. The list of students for the year now opening is not yet complete, but the number will be about fifty.

HARTFORD.

PROF. WALDO S. PRATT.

The history of the Hartford seminary for the past three years has been one of quiet, steady progress along the lines indicated in our reports to the national councils of 1889 and 1892. The resident faculty remains the same as in 1892, though with some promotions in grade. It now includes nine professors, three associate professors, one instructor, and four lecturers. The total number of students has advanced somewhat since 1892, our present roll being fifty-two. Of these six are women. The requirement of college graduation on the part of all applicants for admission is rigidly enforced. The curriculum is being carried forward successfully on the plans adopted some years ago. The only new feature is the increase in the range of elective choice, which now covers over one hundred topics, a variety evidently appreciated by the students. After stringent examinations and other tests, the degree of S. T. B. was conferred by the trustees for the first time at the anniversary in 1894 upon three post graduates, and at the closing exercises of 1895 that of Ph. D. upon a former student, after three years of special study.

Our library continues to grow, several notable special collections having been acquired during the last three years.

We do not cease to feel a strong interest in the topics of seminary policy which were emphasized in our last two reports, such as, for example, the extension of the course to four years,

the correlation of college courses with that of the seminary, etc. And we feel the pressure, as heretofore, of certain well-known problems of seminary administration, such as that of student aid, that of ministerial work by students, and that of a uniform standard of scholarship among seminaries, all of which are insoluble except by a conjoint action of several seminaries. We shall be prompt to join in any promising effort to discuss and settle these and similar questions.

We have renewed reason each year to acknowledge the evidences of God's merciful.care and guidance in our affairs and of his beneficent presence in the midst of our entire institutional fraternity.

OBERLIN.

REV. PROF. EDWARD I. BOSWORTH.

The seminary reports to the Council that its work is being regularly carried on by a full faculty although several changes in the Faculty have occurred within the past few years. The chair of Hebrew, which Professor Ballantine had occupied before his election to the presidency of the college, is now filled by Rev. Owen H. Gates, who was called from an instructorship in Union Seminary, which had been preceded by two years of work under the late Dr. Dillmann of Berlin.

Prof. G. Frederick Wright passed from the chair of New Testament Greek to a newly established chair calculated to give larger scope for his distinguished work in the fields both of science and theology the chair of the Harmony of Science and Revela

tion. His successor in the chair of New Testament Greek is Rev. Edward I. Bosworth, who, after three years in the chair of the English Bible, had been given two year's leave of absence, spent mostly in Leipzig and Athens.

The chair of Church History is now filled by the appointment of Rev. Albert T. Swing, who brings to his position the valuable experience of some years in the pastorate, followed by three years of special work in Halle. He has succeeded admirably in taking up the extensive elective courses developed by Professor Foster.

The vacancy in the chair of Oratory, occasioned by the resignation of Prof. W. B. Chamberlain, is efficiently filled by Prof. F. M. Tisdel. Rev. John F. Berry, for some time a fellow of the seminary, and an exceedingly careful teacher, has taken up

the work of the English Bible which Prof. John Metcalf relinquished to pursue Semitic studies in Berlin.

Since the last report the curiculum has been somewhat enlarged by the strengthening of the regular departments of theological training. Especially in the Old and New Testament departments courses in exegis and biblical theology have been considerably developed in ways best calculated to meet the practical demands of the preacher. Some special features have also been introduced into the curriculum. Secretaries of the benevolent societies are now invited each year, in turn, to give a course of lectures upon the history and work of their respective societies. These courses are a permanent part of the curriculum and are to be given at such intervals as will secure for every student, in the course of three years, a presentation of the work of all the societies by those best able to describe it. It is thought that in this way a more intelligent and enthusiastic presentation of the work will be made by the students when they enter the active service of the churches. Such courses have already been given by secretaries Ryder and Kincaid, and secretary Smith will lecture the present year.

There has been arranged, also, by an alumnus of the seminary, Rev. C. A. Vincent of Sandusky, Ohio, a series of monthly conferences with the students upon practical topics of the pastorate, conducted by prominent pastors of the State. These conferences have proven themselves exceedingly valuable, not only in placing before the students the conclusions reached by the most successful city, village, and country pastors, but also in the development of the pastoral spirit which may sometimes suffer in the close, critical work of the class room. In addition to these conferences and somewhat connected with them in the plan of Mr. Vincent, the country districts about Oberlin are assigned to students whe visit among the people, hold meetings, and conduct Sabbath schools in the district school-houses. It is thought that in this way, practical experience is gained in a kind of work very like that which awaits most theological students, at least in the beginning of their ministry. It is proposed to enlarge this work by the assignment of students for Sabbath work to the pastors of neighboring Congregational churches. In the department of sociology the College Professorship has been utilized and its work supplemented by valuable special lectures.

The conditions upon which the degree B. D. is conferred have

been recently changed. According to the present arrangement, all who hold the degree B. A. are granted the degree in divinity as heretofore, upon the satisfactory completion of the three years of theological study. Those students, however, who have not the degree B. A. but who have pursued special studies in college as a preparation for the theological course receive the degree in divinity only upon the fulfilment of two conditions. First, they must do extra work, taking either three hours more per week of lectures during the first two years than do other students, or taking a fourth year. Second, they must maintain a high grade of scholarship, an average standing of ninety or more, on the scale of one hundred, during the course. Those who do not meet these conditions but who pass creditable examinations may be graduated but will not receive the degree. The aim of this regulation is to make the degree represent some due scholarly attainment.

The English course, which has been maintained for eight years by the private efforts of the Theological Faculty, is now lengthened to three years. Its aim is to fit for certain fields mature men of some successful experience in Christian work, who are now too old for the regular classical college and seminary training. Only such are admitted. Of forty-two who applied the present year, only eleven were admitted. Practically its work has consisted largely in giving to men who were already preaching without any scholastic preparation faithful training in the exegesis of the English Bible, and such other theological studies as men without a classical education may profitably pursue. More than half of the class admitted this fall were already preachers. It cannot be too often said that the aim and the practical result of this course is to raise and not to lower the standard of ministerial education. Fortysix of its graduates have entered the ministry and all are, so far, succeeding. The financial support of the course for the next two years is assured, but its financial future after that period is as yet uncertain.

The Slavic Department is carried on in connection with the seminary but under the immediate supervision of superintendent H. A. Schaufflera nd a committee of the faculty. It utilizes all departments of college and seminary, particularly the English course, without which it could not well carry on its work. Instruction in the Slavic languages is given by the Rev. L. F. Miskovsky, the principal of the department, an accomplished scholar, a grad

uate of college, medical school, and seminary. The department has sent eleven choice men into the field, who work in eleven States among Bohemians, Poles, Russians, Bulgarians, or Slovaks, which nationalities number about two and one-half millions in the United States.

The spiritual life of the seminary is at present particularly wholesome and vigorous. Last year the college experienced a powerful revival, which, during several months found expression largely in private conversation among students with few public meetings and no distraction of interest from class-room work. Several scores of those who had been thought least accessible to religious influences were converted. Some of the seminary students were leaders in this movement and the general spiritual life of the seminary was greatly quickened.

YALE.

REV. PROF. LEWIS O. BRASTOW.

Instead of presenting a statistical report of our work, it seems preferable to make a somewhat comprehensive statement of what this school may claim to represent.

I think it may be justly claimed that Yale Divinity School stands for freedom of theological investigation and discussion; for an increasingly practical estimate of the work of the Christian Ministry; for a reasonable conservatism with respect to question of modification in theology and in the theological curriculum; for thorough scientific equipment and training, and for a catholic and cosmopolitan spirit. I will try to expand and illustrate this. statement.

The Divinity School was established as a department of what is now the University in the year 1822. That same year Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor was transferred from the pastorate of the Centre church of New Haven to the chair of didactic theology. Dr. Taylor was a man of free spirit, and a thorough believer in theological investigation and discussion, and from that day to the present, through a succession of able and reverent thinkers, this school has been committed to evangelical and academic freedom. This is a strong characteristic mark of the institution. It is known best in its history. To the liberty in Christ, which it now enjoys, it may be said to have been freeborn.

The motto of the "New Englander," which for many years was in