Bibb-Fulton County GaArchives News.....Commencement of Columbian College. July 11 1872
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Linda Blum-Barton http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000645 November 3, 2004, 1:45 am

The Christian Index.
Commencement of Columbian College.
Baltimore, June 27, 1872
All Georgia Baptists, who tell a half century since their natal day, have heard 
of an Institution called the Columbian College, in the District of Columbia.  
Such Baptists must have a vivid remembrance of a plethoric gentleman who used 
to traverse the State in his sulky, attend Associations and Conventions, visit 
churches and families, drink from one to two gallons of tea or coffee every 
day, (when he could get it) and beg money for Columbian College.  He was never 
know to take "No" for an answer, (when he could help it) and any one who could 
resist his importunities must have had a marble heart, indeed. This was Luther 
Rice, who went with Judson and Newell to the East, in 1811, but who, on 
embracing Baptist views, returned home to raise money for the support of 
foreign missions.  Subsequently, he felt called of God to endow Columbian 
College, and for fifteen years this was his one grand absorbing idea.  He 
worked hard, lived hard, died poor and left the College insolvent.  With power 
in the pulpit which would have commanded one of the best pulpits in the land; 
with talent and learning superior to those which often take from five to ten 
thousand dollars in secular vocations, he consented to be fed and clothed and 
lodged by charity, giving his whole time, without earthly remuneration, to the 
interests of the College, and bequeathing, (he had no family) as he was about 
to die, his entire assets, consisting chiefly of a horse and sulky, to the 
Institution for which he toiled.  People said he failed.  Nothing but the 
clemency of creditors, or the conviction that  the property of the corporation 
would satisfy but a small fraction of their claims, saved the College from 
absolute extinction.
These thoughts passed through my mind yesterday, as I sat ion the platform in 
one of the finest halls in Washington City, in attendance on the forty-ninth 
Commencement of Columbian College.  The Institution for which our fathers 
toiled so earnestly, and submitted to so many sacrifices, has reached nearly a 
half century of existence; and the concern which, in its earlier days, was 
begging bread from house to house, and which many thought must perish from 
starvation, is now possessed of assets which would bring nearly four hundred 
thousand dollars in the market!  A few acres of land, worth only a few hundreds 
of dollars, fifty years ago, and given to the College by a few of its friends, 
has come, owing to the growth and expansion of the city of Washington, to be 
worth nearly half a million of dollars.
But I took up my pen to give you some of the Commencement exercises.  At 11 
o'clock a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen being present, we were 
treated to some fine music from a band of stringed instruments, after which the 
President, J. C. Welling, LL.D., called on your correspondent to offer prayer.  
The following young gentlemen then delivered orations on the themes mentioned 
in connection with their names:
"Philosophy not inimical to poetry," together with the Latin salutatory, by J. 
H. Bremmerman.  "Science made lustrous by Belief" by F. T. Browning.  "Dreams 
of Mystery," by W. R. Havenner.  "Triumph of Truth," by John T. 
Judd.  "Sympathetic Enthusiasm as a Motive Power," by F. H. Kerfoot.  "American 
Literature," with the valedictory addresses, by James E. Bangs.
Having conferred degrees on these young gentlemen, and put into their hands the 
inevitable diploma, the President proceeded to adorn the name of the new 
President of Mercer University, with the semi-lunar fardels commonly known as 
D.D.  If ,therefore, my worthy brother Battle discovered, about 10 o'clock in 
the afternoon of the 26th of June, that his knowledge of divinity was suddenly 
and considerably enlarged, without any effort on his part,, the fact can be 
explained by what was transpiring in the capital of the country at that hour.  
This was the only honor of the kind bestowed at this Commencement; and it has 
been given to one who, as he did not need, will doubtless adorn it.
Dr. Welling's baccalaureate was chaste, appropriate, earnest and beautiful.  
This gentleman was a one time President of St. John's College, in this State, 
and subsequently connected with Nassau Hall.  He brings to his present office a 
reputation for scholarship and talent, richly earned by his success in previous 
positions of a similar nature.  He is not a minister; but as a pious layman, 
his religious influence is eminently valuable.  Any parent would do well to 
commit the education of his son to such a Christian gentleman and scholar.  The 
national seat of Government offers some advantages as an educational center, 
which can be found in no other locality.  It is an interesting fact, that the 
Baptists have under their control the only College in the city.  Under the 
administration of the excellent Faculty now charged with the work of 
instruction, we are looking for a future more prosperous than anything which 
has been attained in the past.  The charter has recently been revised and 
adapted to the present needs of the Institution.  Hereafter its guardians are 
to consist of thirteen overseers, and thirteen Trustees, together constituting 
a corporation.  This meets annually, the Trustees, ad interim, transacting such 
business as cannot be deferred to the annual meetings--it being understood that 
their powers are supervised byt he Corporation.  The Trustees must be residents 
of the District of Columbia.  The Overseers may reside elsewhere.  As these 
hold office (together with the Trustees) permanently, I sent you their names.  
They are Hiram Woods, Thos. U. Walter, Henry Taylor, Chas. A. Keyser, Eugene 
Levering, and A. F. Crane, Esqs., together with Revs. Richard Fuller, J. W. M 
Williams, Franklin Wilson, Chas. Ryland, W. F. Broaddus, and W. T. Brantly.     
Theophilus.


Additional Comments:
The Christian Index.
The Union of 
South-Western Baptist, of Alabama          The Christian Herald, of 
Tennessee.     
Vol. 51 -- No. 27     Franklin Printing House, Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, July 11, 
1872.    Whole No. 2627.


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