ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT IN 1808. Young Gentlemen, 米米米 ON such an occasion as this, I do not ask your attention; for I know you will grant it. Permit me to hope, that your remembrance of what is said, and your practical regard to it, will be equal to the readiness, with which it is now heard. If your object in resorting to this place were not merely to obtain academical honours, but to acquire that which merits them, it can scarcely be necessary to set before you the importance of continued application. Your short excursion into the fields of science, has not brought you within the sight of boundaries; but only, as I would hope, to a humble conviction, that the space already passed over, is extremely small, compared with that, which remains to be traversed. That branch of a learned education, which I would particularly advise you to review and cultivate, is the Latin and Greek languages. Against the study of these, there was some years since, a very preposterous but powerful opposition. Impatient of application, and every species of restraint, many flattered themselves, that their superior intellects had suggested to them the possibility of being learned without study. Ancient languages, as well as habits, and modes of thinking, were viewed with a kind of barbarian contempt. An auspicious change has been produced on this subject. A knowledge of the dead languages now cultivated with increasing assiduity. There is scarcely a college in New England, where terms of admission have not been raised, and where greater progress than formerly, is not considered an essential part of a public education. The great regard, which is paid to the dead languages in general at the Universities in Europe, is evinced by the effects which it has produced in recovering and collecting ancient copies and manuscripts. It is a most obvious inconsistency, to be indifferent to the retaining of that, which could be acquir ed only by the labour of several years. Whatever knowledge you possess on this subject, or any other, will, without constant attention, gradually decay. Be persuaded to continue and augment your acquaintance with the languages of Greece and Rome, by devoting a reasonable portion of your time to their poets, orators, and historians. Coming forward as you do, at a crisis, the most eventful, you cannot be indifferent to the destinies of your country. It is not my business to excite your passions and prejudices, nor to enlist you into either of those political parties, which have so unhappily divided our country. But there is a party, with which I would, by all means, desire to have you connected. I mean the party of those, under whatever political denomination they are ranked, who sincerely and ardently love their country; the genuine descendants of the first settlers of New England; of men, who had an invincible courage, founded on religious principles; a determined spirit, which nothing could break or subdue; men, of whom it may be said, without figure, that "they loved liberty more than they feared death.” While you boast of being the offspring of those noble spirits, distinguished alike for their love of good order, of religion, and freedom, regard those with peculiar respect and affection, who display the same character. Whatever object you have in view, whether of a public or private nature, be sure that your measures be fair and honourable. Noble ends are to be pursued by noble means. Among the evils attendant on political divisions, it is not the least, that by inflaming the passions, they diminish a regard to truth and moral obligation. Perhaps there has never been a day, when you were in greater danger than at present, of forming too flattering expectations of future life. New objects now present themselves; new prospects open upon you. Be not deceived. You belong to a species of beings, whose foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth. From the most perishable objects on earth, the divine oracles borrow their figures to delineate human frailty. What is man? A tale that is told; a shadow that flies; grass that withers; a flower that falls; vapour that vanishes. This very occasion brings to your remembrance an illustration of these remarks. In the removal of him,* under whose successful tuition you first became members of this seminary, you perceive that neither suavity of temper, solid and well cultivated talents, nor humble, unaffected piety, can secure life to its pos sessor. *The Rev. Dr. Mc KEEN, late president of this college. The evidences of christianity have constituted part of your classical study. You know the ground, which supports that noble edifice. Winds may rush against it; storms may beat upon it; surges may dash around it; 'tis all in vain. The foundation of God standeth sure. Permit me to use this last opportunity of urging your attention to the discoveries, precepts, and doctrines of the gospel, the internal frame and texture of that faith, which was once delivered to the saints. It is not easy to conceive a greater absurdity, than to bestow much labour and learned investigation on the evidence of christianity, while there is a perfect indifference to the doctrines, precepts, and discoveries, of which this religion consists. If the gospel be not worth studying, loving, and practising, it is not worth defending. I entreat you to study christianity, as that, by which God will regulate the retributions of eternity. It is not a religion, which flatters human nature in the least; nor can any, which has God for its author, or truth for its foundation. But, while it represents the species, to which you belong, as in a state of moral ruin, it not only shows the possibility of recovery through a Redeemer; but presents to your view instances of its own efficacy to change the heart and the life. Let it many |