To be not at once become members of College. members in full standing, their names must be entered in the "matriculation Book;" and this cannot be done until they have established a fair character for correct moral deportment and application to study. Before this takes place, they are liable to be sent home at any moment. An important favour also was conferred on parents living at a distance, by requiring their children to have guardians to regulate their expenses. He encouraged the students, especially those of the senior class, in all their difficulties and troubles to come to him for advice and assistance. In every such case, the instructor was forgotten in the friend and the father. He entered into their interests and feelings just as if they were his own; and while he yielded the necessary relief, he endeared himself to them permanently by his kindness. The members of the senior class, who wished to engage for a season after leaving College in the business of instruction, applied to him regularly to procure them eligible situations. So lively was the interest, which he took in their welfare, and so willing and active his exertions in their behalf, that few such applications failed of being successful. He remembered the feelings of a young man, just leaving College, without a profession, without property, and with no means of support but the blessing of God and his own exertions. Nothing gave him higher pleasure than to encourage the heart of every youth so situated, to save him from despondence, and to open to him the road to property, to usefulness, and to honour. The number of his students, whom he thus essentially befriended, if stated, would almost exceed belief. With others, who were in more affluent circumstances, he would enter into a free and confidentia conversation on their plan of life; explain to them their peculiar dangers; and lead them to aim at eminence in their professions, and to form for themselves a high standard of moral excellence. The respect and affection manifested towards him by his pupils after leaving College, whenever they visited New Haven, as well as when they met him abroad, was a sufficient reward for all his efforts to serve them; if he had not found a still higher reward in doing good. We will only add, that his pupils familiarly spoke of him, with reference to this subject, by the most honourable appellation, "THE YOUNG MAN'S FRIEND.” There can be no higher evidence of his qualifications for the important place which he filled, than is furnished by the effects of his Presidency. Yale College was founded by a number of pious clergymen, without property, who had little to bestow upon it but a few books on Theology. It has always struggled forward through great difficulties and embarassments for the want of those funds, which are indispensably necessary to its highest prosperity. Those at a distance, who know nothing of the Institution but its extensive reputation, would indeed be astonished, were they told how small is the amount of benefactions which it has received. The men of wealth in the State where it is situated have not sufficiently realised its importance to bestow upon it their bounty. The State, also, though at times she has assisted it, has not yet rivalled the munificence of her neighbours on the North and West towards their seminaries of learning. In her public funds, she is, in proportion to her population, the richest state in the Union; yet the College, emphatically her ornament and her glory, has but too sparingly enjoyed her patronage. We have already seen its situation, when Dr. Dwight was inducted into the Presidency. Under all these disadvantages, in his hands, and by his unwearied assiduity and exertions, and those of his companions in office, it assumed a new appearance. Its numbers increased, its discipline was revived and invigorated, its morals were purified, and its relative character greatly elevated. The period during which he presided over the College was attended with peculiar difficulties. A general sentiment of insubordination, growing out of the political situation of the civilized world, had seized the minds of the young as well as the old. High notions of freedom and personal independence prevailed among all ages. And the first impulse, to which, in many instances, the minds of youth, as well as of men, were disposed to yield, was resistance to authority. Many of our higher seminaries of learning have witnessed its effects in scenes of riot and insurrection; which have, for the time, subverted their authority and destroyed their usefulness. Yale College wholly escaped these evils. No general combination of the students to resist its government ever occured during his Presidency. This fact is to be ascribed to the wisdom and firmness of the President and his associates in office. He well knew, that the tranquillity of such an institution must depend on the respect and affection of the students, and the steady watchfulness of its officers. Deeply read in the human character, and emphatically so in the character of young men, he foresaw the approaches of the storm, which so extensively prevailed, and provided in season the means of defence and security. On every occasion of this kind, he derived the utmost benefit from one trait of his character, his energy; a trait which no man ever possessed in a more eminent degree. His decision and inflexibility to his purpose cannot be surpassed At the commencement of his Presidency the Professorship of Theology was vacant. The Corpora tion proposed to appoint him in form to the office. For the first ten years he would consent to none but an annual appointment. In 1805 it was made permanent. During the whole period he preached twice every sabbath; with almost no assistance from his brethren; and very rarely having an opportunity to exchange with the neighbouring clergy. Early in the year following his induction, he commenced the delivery of a Series of Lectures on the Evidences of Divine Revelation. This was no part of the duties of either office; but owing to the extensive prevalence of infidelity in the country at that period, he viewed it as necessary to guard his pupils against the contagion. These lectures were not written. out: the weak state of his eyes forbad his employing them for such a purpose. After collecting materials for about fifty, the same difficulty compelled him to desist, and prevented him from delivering even the whole of that number. They were on a plan entirely new; and were listened to with great interest. Had not the battle with Infidelity been fought, and the victory won, we should regret, still more than we now do, that they were left unfinished. No one, not personally acquainted with the facts, can realize how great, at this period, were his sufferings from weakness of sight. For years it was with extreme difficulty that he could read or write even a sentence. He was greatly alarmed, for a long period, with the symptoms of an approaching gutta serena. Repeatedly the pressure on the brain was so great as to produce momentary blindness, and obviously to threaten apoplexy. Occasionally, for weeks together, the anguish of his eyes was so intense, that it required powerful exertion to draw off his mind to any other object. And often, after attempting in vain to sleep, he has risen from his bed; and, to promote a free perspiration, has walked for miles in the middle of the night. In the prosecution of his duties as Professor of Divinity, he early began to deliver the Lectures in these Volumes. His practice was to preach one on the morning of each sabbath in term time. By this arrangement he finished the course once in four years. Thus each student, who completed his regular Collegiate period, had an opportunity to hear the whole series. He first conceived the plan of the work at Greenfield. While there, he completed it, in short notes, in about one hundred sermons; and delivered them twice to his people before his removal. At New Haven, he twice went through with them in the same state; frequently however adding to their number, and altering their arrange ment. In 1805, when he was permanently appointed Professor of Theology, the Corporation allowed him fifty pounds per annum to employ an amanuensis. Though the compensation was trifling, yet the place was coveted, and regularly applied for, a length of time before it became vacant. He began immediately to write out these Lectures; and wrote one a week during term time, or forty a year until they were completed. If not prevented, he commenced this task on Monday morning. His progress depended, with the exception of casual interruptions, on the rapidity of the amanuensis; which always fell short of the rapidity with which he dictated. Sometimes, though rarely, the sermon was finished in a single day; usually in the course of the second day. The remainder of the week was employed in writing his Travels, and Occasional Sermons. When in |