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 you what relation the present life bears to another. 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. Endeavor 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 existence. It will repress your passions-moderate 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,

Ir has been long since remarked, by one, whose discernment has never been called in question, that "the constitution of human creatures is such, that they are capable of becoming qualified for states of life, for which they were once wholly unqualified." 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 ardor in their cultivation.

The youth, who is easily persuaded, that he has received ⚫ from nature a treacherous memory, esteems as fruitless, all endeavors 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 intellect is alone employed. If he finds, in relation to those sciences, in which numbers and quantities are concerned, less readiness, than is displayed by VOL. II.

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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.

There is no faculty, perhaps, which is thought to be bestowed with greater inequality, than memory. And though I am far from asserting, that this is distributed to all men in equal portions, a little attention to your own intellectual habits, or to those of other persons, will convince you, that the power of treasuring up facts and bringing them into use, is less the gift of nature, than the result of mental discipline. It is not uncommon to find individuals, whose memories are astonishingly tenacious of particular facts, but whose ability to retain general knowledge does not exceed the ordinary kind. Now, it is incredible, that the memory should originally possess an aptness for retaining one particular description of ideas rather than another. He, who can treasure up anecdotes, and have them forever at hand, when wanted, will be able with the same facility, to remember dates in chronology, facts in history, and proportions in geometry, whenever these subjects, whether by effort or casuality, become equally familiar or interesting. For a similar reason, he, who is able to write or to understand a well digested treatise on commerce, or politics, should never complain, that nature has denied him the power of understanding disquisitions in mathematics or ontology. At the present time indeed, it may be far more difficult for him to fix his attention on some of these subjects, than on others; and his success in the investigation of them will be proportionate. But this difficulty results, it may be, from habits which took their rise from education, or other circumstances, foreign to the original structure of the mind. Whenever a subject is connected with ideas of advantage or self complacency,

we give it a cordial welcome, however frequent may be its recurrence; and the greatest advances will doubtless be made in those studies, which give us most pleasure. If that employment, to which you have at present, the greatest inclination, is likely to be as advantageous to the public, to your friends, and to yourselves, as a different pursuit, there is no reason why it should not be adopted. The effort requisite to produce a change in your present taste is, in that case, unnecessary. The attention implied in such effort, would be better employed on those studies, which are the object of your choice. But, if your situation or connexions be such as to render a particular institution of life decidedly more advantageous and suitable, than another, you need not be deterred from pursuing it, though your present taste should lead in a different direction; for, as this propensity is probably a matter of your own creation, or the result of circumstances, by a change in the latter, united to your own efforts, it may be annihilated. But, whatever may be your profession, remember that the cultivation of your mental powers is a solemn duty, which you owe to Him, by whom they were bestowed. He has not left it to your option, whether to make the most, or the least of them. He requires you to do the former. And permit me to assure you, that the habits whether of indolence or study, which you commence on leaving this seminary, will have no inconsiderable effect on your future characters.

From the early age, at which you have completed the usual course of college studies, you may imagine, that no material injury would arise from spending a few years, either in idleness, or what is little better, in light reading, directed to no particular object. Be cautious how you indulge such an opinion. A few years, especially at your age, is a valuable part of human life. To waste these in mental inaction would be the worst kind of prodigality. In addition to this, habits of systematical application could not afterwards be resumed without great effort and resolution.

By reflecting on what is past, you may take encouragement concerning the future. From the knowledge which you

have acquired in four years, estimate the acquisitions, which are possible to you in ten, twenty, or thirty. Besides, your intellectual powers being more matured and better disciplined, you will be able to arrange your ideas with greater method-to judge with more accuracy of what you read-and to select with more discretion what ought to be retained.

And there is, belonging to the human mind, a variety of powers, and these bestowed by our Creator, we may be assured, that they are well adapted to each other; and of course, while one is cultivated, the rest should by no means be neglected. This would be doing a kind of violence to our natures-it would be to disarrange that order, and to disturb that proportion, which unerring wisdom has instituted. If there is one of these powers, whether memory, judgment, fancy, or imagination, which you suppose to be at present feebler than the rest, wisdom requires that by more than ordinary attention to it, you endeavor to remedy the present defect. If the memory retain with difficulty, store it with those ideas only, which are worth preserving. Endeavor to render these as interesting as possible-and frequently recal them to the mind. Associate things difficult to be retained, with those which you are in no danger of forgetting, that the recurrence of the one may be accompanied by the return of the other.

If you desire to add strength and acumen to your judgment, be at pains to acquire clear and distinct ideas of the objects, concerning which it is to be employed. Minutely observe all circumstances, which should influence your conclusion. In this way, the artificer, the merchant, the physician, and the mineralogist, acquire in their respective departments, an accuracy of judging, which, to others, has the appearance of intuition.

Nor are the fancy and imagination less subject to human control, or less susceptible of improvement than the other powers of the mind. If you accustom yourselves to trace the analogies, which a particular object bears to others, whenever you have occasion to discourse or to write concerning this object, these analogies will present themselves by the power of association,