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On April 29, 1879, a dedication ceremony took place at the Miller Chapel at Princeton University, New Jersey. Memorial tablets were installed to honor the legacy of six men, leaders of Princeton Theological Seminary, who served the Church of Christ with distinction. It was a solemn dedication but also a celebration.
Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.
The six men honored were: 1) Archibald Alexander (1772-1851); 2) James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859); 3) Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860); 4) Samuel Miller (1769-1850); 5) John Breckinridge (1797-1841); and 6) Charles Hodge (1797-1878).
Source: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 17, 1879, p. 177.
A book was subsequently published which is known as The Alexander Memorial (1879), which included addresses delivered on this special occasion by William Maxwell Patton on Archibald Alexander; Theodore Ledyard Cuyler on James W. Alexander; and William Cassady Cattell on Joseph Addison Alexander. This work is not currently available on Log College Press, but it is a treasure that highlights the legacy of these luminaries from the Alexander family.
Paxton speaks of Archibald thus:
These tablets, as I understand them, put honor not only upon the names which they bear, but also upon the Alumni of Princeton Seminary.
They tell to the world how much we loved these men, and simply to love such men is our highest praise.
Archibald Alexander needs no tablet to perpetuate his name. There is his monument. Princeton Seminary is the record of his fame. He projected it, cradled it, nurtured it. He chose and gathered around him the honored associates who helped him make it what it is. He watched over it for forty years. He commenced with three students, and lived to see the Seminary in its full grown maturity, its class-rooms crowded with one hundred and sixty candidates for the ministry. As long as the fame of Princeton Seminary endures, the name of Archibald Alexander will not be forgotten.
Cuyler spoke of James Waddel:
James W. Alexander lived on earth fifty-five years — every one of them busy to the brim. To condense them into ten minutes is like an attempt to cut Westminster Abbey on a cameo….Dr. Alexander was not only an accomplished Professor, and a most affluent preacher of the Word; he was also a voluminous author. He put more thoughts into type than any man who has ever lived in Princeton.
Cattell spoke of Addison:
“Taking him all in all,” said his life-long colleague — that great master upon whose memorial tablet, in our recent sorrow, we look with moistened eyes to-day, and who knew what greatness was — “taking him all in all,” said Dr. Charles Hodge, “he was certainly the most gifted man with whom I have ever been personally acquainted.”
Each of these men have bequeathed a legacy to the modern Church by not only the example of their personal piety, but also through their many edifying writings. We continue to build our own memorial tablets, as it were, to the Alexanders and others by adding their works to their respective pages. In the last week alone, 15 writings by James have been added. Be sure to explore these pages and benefit from the spiritual legacy of these honorable men.
Archibald Alexander
James Waddel Alexander
Joseph Addison Alexander
Samuel Miller
John Breckinridge
Charles Hodge
