endeavor to realize the ideals of the Christ in the individual and in society, he made himself a living sacrifice for the truth. He has joined his teachers and his predecessors in the heavenly world. He has left in the hearts of his students, colleagues and friends an influence which will be more highly prized as years roll by.

In Memoriam

Emanuel Vogel Gerhart

D.D., LL.D.

BORN JUNE 13, 1817

DIED MAY 6, 1904

EDITOR Of MercerSBURG REVIEW 1857-1861

PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 1868-1904

VIII.

REV. EMANUEL VOGEL GERHART, D.D., LL.D.

BY REV. ELLIS N. KREMER, D.D.

The writer has been asked to prepare a memorial to Dr. Gerhart for the October number of the REVIEW. There are reasons why this should be a pleasant duty. Dr. Gerhart was a life-long friend of our parents, a welcome and an honored guest in the home, and one for whom in his times of affliction the family prayers were offered. He was the instructor of our youth and in the college and seminary we learned from him lessons which can never be forgotten. He always commanded our reverent admiration and our affection and we were favored by a close fellowship during the past sixteen years when, as members of the same classis, we worked together. For the last six years our relations were closer in the work of the Theological Seminary. Nevertheless we approach the task with great misgivings. We feel our inability for such a work, and regret the necessary haste with which it must be done.

It is important however that, while the fact of the departure of one so prominent in the Church is still near in time, a testimonial to his memory should appear in the publication which always commanded his support, to the earlier numbers of which he was a contributor, and in the pages of which we find so many contributions from his pen. To be early done this must be quickly done. The work must be one of memory rather than one made by a careful examination of his productions and the record of his labors as they are to be found in the archives of the Church.

Some men are brilliant teachers early in life. Their powers develop quickly and while yet young they contribute that to the stock of knowledge which is of permanent value. They

surprise us by a wealth of information and mental grasp which is unlooked for save from those of riper years. Such men, as a rule, do not become old. Either their powers have been too rapidly developed or they have made too heavy a demand upon their strength. Other men reveal their greatest powers in advanced life. Maturing slowly, like the oak, they surprise us by their vitality of body and mind when younger men give up the struggle and end their career. Dr. Gerhart was of the latter class. And yet he combined in a remarkable degree the qualities of both. When young he held eminence of position among the older men of the Church, and was marked by such gravity, dignity and depth of thought that he seemed older than his years; at the same time he always showed such freshness and vigor that he ever seemed young. It is said that students of other institutions and ministers of other churches, who became acquainted with him through his “Institutes” and other late productions, were amazed to find that he had reached his three-score years and ten. Always old and always young he was deliberate and grave from the beginning of his career; he was hopeful and bright to its end. He was never so young as to withhold the respect which is due to age; never so old as to forget the interest with which the rising generation must be regarded or to restrict its right to fight its own battles and to carve out its own future. Those who sat with him in our synods will remember the pleasure he manifested at the abilities and successes of younger members of the body. The young always found in him a patient, sympathetic and appreciative counsellor and friend.

Dr. Gerhart was a great teacher. All of his pupils speak of him as such. In his room the class was always able to show what it knew, and always left the room knowing more than when it entered. He was a good questioner. His questions were not put so as to suggest the answer, but they were so clearly put that the import of them was plain; and if by the slowness of the pupil the question was not grasped his patience seemed inexhaustible, nor did he leave a rankling wound by