you, the anxiety and the honours of this day, is now reposing beneath the clods of the valley. He has entered upon a state, in which other connexions and other employments engross his attention. He holds that station under the government of God, which infinite wisdom and benevolence ordained. By what is he distinguished from us? in dying? No; but only in dying first.

"Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis."

Let me recommend to you a close attention to the sacred scriptures. With these, no writings can be compared, as to the clearness, with which they exhibit the condition, the character, the duties, and destiny of man. They will teach

the present life bears to another.

you what relation

They will inform you how to use your powers, whether natural or acquired, even in His service, who redeemed the world by the blood of his Son. Endeavour to obtain deep and correct views of these divine oracles. It is not enough, that they obtain your intellectual assent. It is not enough, that you praise their sublimity, and the purity of that moral system, which they inculcate you must be so imbued with their spirit and their principles, as to become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Then shall the influence of religion be felt in every stage of your mortal existIt will repress your passions,-moderate

ence.

your too sanguine hopes,-prevent despondency, and diminish fear,-and teach you to rest on the eternal providence of God. It will shed light and glory round a dying bed, and secure you admission into that world, where there is no more death, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but where all tears shall be wiped away from all faces.

ADDRESS,

DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT IN 1812.

Young Gentlemen,

米米米

It has been long since remarked, by one, whose discernment has never been called in question, that "the constitution of human creatures is such, that

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they are capable of becoming qualified for states "of life, for which they were once wholly unqualifi"ed." The human mind, no less than the body, is susceptible of great changes, from the circumstances, in which it is placed, and from the attention and culture, which it receives. It is on these well known facts, that the whole system of education is founded; and, in proportion as this susceptibility of change in the human mind, is greater or less, is the

importance of education decreased or augmented; and in proportion to our belief of the alteration, which may be produced, either in the direction or strength of the different mental qualities, will be our cheerfulness and ardour in their cultivation.

The youth, who is easily persuaded, that he has received from nature a treacherous memory, esteems as fruitless, all endeavours to cherish or invigorate that power. If he finds in his fancy neither exuberance nor vivacity, despairing of eminence in any department in literature, in which imagination is required, he concludes that if success of any kind awaits him, it is to be met in those studies, in which the intellects are alone employed. If he finds, in relation to those sciences, in which numbers and quantities are concerned, less readiness, than is dis-. played by others of his own standing, he concludes, that the kind of talents, necessary for a mathematician has been denied him, and either abandons studies of this nature, or pursues them with hopeless indifference. For young gentlemen, who are either commencing or closing a collegiate life, it is, therefore, a matter of much importance to have just ideas, as to the command, which the mind has over its own powers; and not to attribute, to its original constitution, that, which is the fair result of circumstances and habit.