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ADDRESS,

DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT IN 1810.

Young Gentlemen,

THE very few moments of your college life, which now remain, and which will soon be as irrecoverable, as "the years beyond the flood," I would eagerly seize with design to produce or perpetuate moral impressions.

I do most sincerely felicitate you on the arrival of this day. I partake largely in those sensations of tenderness and joy unutterable, which are at this moment experienced by your parents and connexions. They now obtain a joyful release from the anxiety, which, since your removal from them, has been almost their daily companion. They have witnessed the first fruits of your intellectual efforts, and now look forward to the time, when you may appear on a more public stage, perform duties of more interest to society, and exhibit characters of more firm and deep wrought texture.

At all periods of life, we are liable to be deceived by the sound of words. There are circumstances and seasons, however, when this deception may be practised upon us with peculiar facility. To young gentlemen of ingenuous feelings, nothing is recommended perhaps, which they hear with more pleasure, than independence of character.

Though this term, in its legitimate use, comprehends qualities of high value, it is not unfrequently made to designate those, by which reason and morality are set equally at defiance.

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Beyond all question, no person is independent of the Divine Being. If any think otherwise, why do they not give some proof of that power and elevation, of which they are so ready to boast? Why do they not secure to themselves perpetual life, and youth, and vigor? Why do they tolerate a lowering atmosphere, when their convenience requires serene weather? Why is the sun permitted to delay its rising, when its light is necessary to their business or pleasure? Why, indeed, should independent beings ever be disappointed? If they control events, why do the latter counteract their desires?

Among all the absurdities of heathen mythology, a constant sense of dependence on divine agency is remarkable. If a child was born, the gods marked his destiny. If battles were fought, the gods held the balance, and gave preponderancy to which scale they pleased. If a dart was thrown, it fell harmless unless divinely directed. Among the leaders of a numerous, combined army, it was noticed, if there was one who acknowledged no dependence on celestial powers or boasted, Dextra mihi Deus, et telum, quod missile libro. The best of the spoils, taken in war, were devoted by the Greeks in sacrifice to the gods. Their augury, oracles, supplications, and religious processions, unite to prove that the sentiment expressed by Pliny in his panegyric on Trajan, was common among the Greeks and Romans: Nihil rite, nihilque providenter homines, sine Deorum immortalium ope, consilio, honore, auspicarentur.

If you are not now, it is certain that you never can be independent of your Creator. Objects, events, and the universe itself, will never be less under the divine direction, than they are at present. Whether you shall advance in your studies, acquire fair reputations, or extensive influence; whether you shall enjoy a high state of health or long life, will depend subordinately on your activity and prudence; but ultimately on the same Power which gave you being.

Nor is this remark to be applied exclusively to the present life. A hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years hence, you

will be as dependent, as at the present moment; and perhaps much more obviously so. Nay further; to whatever part of the empire of God you may be urged, your dependence will never diminish. The treatment which you shall receive from your Creator will depend on the agreement or disagreement, which there is between your character and his commands. Whenever persons pretend to independence as it relates to Deity, they deceive no one. It is always taken for what it really is, a most nauseous compound of impiety and affectation. The independence of him who sets the divine law at defiance, is that of a man who, to show his spirit, should fire his own house, leap from a precipice, or swallow a deadly potion. By any of these outrages, the power of Deity would not be diminished; and surely his own would not be enlarged. He still exists; and precisely in that place, and under those circumstances, which an offended Deity sees fit to assign.

Acquainted, as you are, with the general evidence of natural and revealed religion, you can hardly be thought in danger of openly disavowing your obligations to the Most High. But even in relation to your fellow creatures, you will permit me to observe, dependence is probably much greater than you imagine. The change which is now to take place in your mode of life is, doubtless, very considerable; but does by no means imply a transition from dependence to independence. Your relations in a variety of respects, will henceforward be different. They will be so in regard to your instructors; perhaps too, your dependence on parental support will be less absolute, than heretofore. But duties and restraints, though varied, will be neither less numerous, nor less important. A state of society is necessarily a state of dependence; and if the obligations hence resulting, are contemned, society understands perfectly well, how to bring delinquents to a better mind. I am not speaking exclusively of those restraints which are imposed by deliberative assemblies, or which ever assume the formality of laws; but of the numerous regulations, more easily understood than defined, which are known to be of real consequence in the intercourse of

social life. As the common interest and feeling require that these be observed, habitual inattention to them never passes with impunity. Should the interest of others be to you a matter of indifference, it will soon be rendered evident, that yours is so to them. Should you by a supercilious deportment show contempt for their esteem, they will not long want opportunities of convincing you of the evils resulting from it.

Society has agreed upon certain modes of civility, agreeably to which social intercourse shall be maintained. Even these, so far as they comport with strict morality, are not to be violated. Nothing is more deservedly an object of ridicule, than the affectation of him, who would, on the neglect of these, establish a claim to superior intellect.

The many restrictions of which I am speaking, whether they relate to moral behavior or not, have, to all intents and purposes, the nature of laws; penalties are affixed to their violation, and are usually exacted with rigorous punctuality,

If a young man be inattentive to study, or business, lives without method and without an object, the penalty which he incurs, consists in not making acquisitions, valuable to himself, and in not obtaining the confidence of others. If he be dissipated, he will suffer punishment, in the loss, not only of property and health, but of the estimation of those whose patronage is necessary to his elevation in life. If he be thoughtless, or given to exaggerations in speech; or if he exhibit temerity in judgment or action, he will experience punishment, in the superior credit, which is allowed to the opinions and representations of those who speak and act with greater caution. It is vain to set at defiance those with whom you are every day conversant-and whose opinion or feelings will be the ground of that treatment, which you receive from them. Nor do these remarks apply exclusively to the early part of life. Even if your future success correspond with our highest wishes, you will still find, that though many are dependent on you, you are likewise dependent on many. This would be true under any form.

of government on earth; under that popular establishment which we enjoy, it is emphatically so.

What then, you may ask, is really independence of character? I answer, it consists in an habitual determination of the mind to regard objects according to their value; in making the best use of our own mental endowments for the discovery of truth and duty, and in a resolute conformity to these, when made known. While it rejects a servile imitation of others; it does by no means require a contempt for their sentiments or example. Nothing can be more inconsistent with an independent spirit, than to profess conviction, where you do not feel it; or to say, that you now perceive the falseness of former opinions, when you are only convinced, that present interest requires you to renounce them. To act agreeably to the dictates of reason and conscience, though present advantage or the popular sentiment be on the other side, is to maintain the high character of a rational being; to act under the impulse of appetite, in contempt of reason and future interest, undeniably implies the most degrading servitude.

In connexion with these remarks, I cannot forbear to suggest, that the term independent is never more abused, than when applied to the duellist. To defend this practice on the ground of moral fitness will hardly be attempted. There is a glaring disproportion between the punishment intended, and the crime alleged. But under certain circumstances it is said, if a man do not either give or accept a challenge, he loses his honor, that is, his popularity. Now, suppose this person were a little more unfortunate than he is; and lived among those, with whom it was unpopular to pay one's debts, or to fulfil a promise, how can he be assured, that he would not neglect both on the same principle on which he justifies an action, far more criminal than such neglect.

But if you require examples of true magnanimity-conduct which covers its authors with real, unfading glory, they may be obtained in large number from the sacred volume. Such was the conduct of him, whose mental and personal accomplishments

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