ble. 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-vapor 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 possessor.

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; it is 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 labor and learned investigation on the evidences 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,

* Rev. Dr. M'Kean, late President of this College.

which flatters human nature in the least; nor can any religion do this, 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 many instances of its own efficacy to change the heart and the life. Let it be your first and grand object to possess the Christian temper, to feel the power of evangelical principles. Let the lives which you live in the flesh, be influenced and cultivated by your faith in the Son of God. If you embrace genuine Christianity, whatever profession you pursue, it will make you more happy, more useful, more consistent, and uniform. It places before you the noblest objects, it requires you to act from the most elevated motives; it promises to the obedient, thrones and kingdoms which can never be removed.

Next to the great concern of securing peace with God, I would recommend it to you, to have some profession, at least some object, some pursuit distinctly in view. This will give stability, and tend to concentrate your intellectual efforts. While you pursue, with unremitting resolution, some important object, and rigidly adhere to whatever you believe to be the will of your Maker, cultivate suavity of temper, urbanity of manners, and, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. There is not an individual belonging to our species, whose convenience and feelings are to be wholly disregarded.

Finally, let me remind you of the great number of those who will, with lively interest, witness your deportment. The patrons of this institution deplore the irregularity, and rejoice in the virtues, of all who pertain to it. The immediate government unite with yours, their own happiness and honor. Your parents feel an anxiety, which can neither be expressed by them, nor repaid by you. Individual benefactors, and a generous legislature, will examine the fruit of a tree planted by their care, nourished and refreshed by their repeated acts of liberality.

But there is a Witness, whose attention you cannot for a

moment avoid.

His approbation or censure will be expressed to you, not only before the individuals, who compose this assembly, but before the assembled universe. For "I saw," said the exile of Patmos, "I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and the dead judged out of the things written in the books."

ADDRESS,

DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT IN 1809.

Young Gentlemen,

In your character of members of this seminary, I now address you for the last time; nor, considering the frailty and casualties of human life, is it unreasonable to reflect, that even your small number may never return to this place. If it should, I am not unmindful of another event, which may render communications from me equally impossible.

To possess intellectual natures is your privilege, and perhaps your pride. But there is no privilege which does not imply corresponding obligation. Your rational powers have already been a source both of pleasure and of pain. You have had enjoyments and sufferings, the very existence of which implied intelligence. This rational nature, whether it continue ten years, or ten thousand, will be uniform in rendering its possessor susceptible of happiness or misery.

Man sees a difference in moral actions. He sees that a certain course ought to be pursued, and that deviation from such a course ought to be condemned. It is impossible that perception of right, should not produce uneasiness in him who is conscious of being wrong. Nor is it less impossible, that self-approbation and joy should not arise in the heart, when duty and moral character are perceived to be coincident.

If the difference between right and wrong be clearly discerned by intelligent creatures; much more is it discerned by Him.

who is the source of intelligence. Nor can it be conceived, that while this difference is clearly in the view of our Creator, there should not be a corresponding difference in the treatment, received from him by his rational offspring. Nothing but the want of power, can prevent a being of moral rectitude from manifesting his affection for virtue, and his opposition to vice. A man of real virtue has assurance, therefore, that his Maker views him with complacency; the transgressor must on the same ground, adopt, in regard to himself, a contrary conclusion. Nor can either rationally doubt, that the divine estimation of both will, in some part of their existence, be made public; it being absurd to suppose that He, who is independent, and of power unlimited, should suffer himself to be considered neuter in the grand controversy between virtue and vice. You perceive then, not only that the doctrine of a retribution is consonant with reason, but that reason is irreconcilably hostile to the opposite belief.

We are not more concerned to know that there will be a retribution, than to ascertain what in human actions will be the subject of commendation or censure. Rational doubt on this subject cannot long be entertained. Besides the intentions, or what Christianity denominates the heart, there can be nothing in human actions, but either modulations of voice, or bodily motions. Is it in any measure questionable, whether virtue can be predicated of the two last? Can virtue be directly concerned whether your limbs move in a straight, or a curve line? Or whether your lungs and organs of speech, be adapted to the producing of one sound, rather than another? If not, morality must consist, agreeably to the Christian doctrine, in purity of heart. Our obligations to the maintenance of this, are neither occasional nor intermitting. They are constant, and eternal. Whatever appearance of rigor there may be in the doctrine, that moral obligation extends to every moment of rational life, it is impossible that any consistent scheme of ethics should be formed, in which this doctrine is not either asserted or implied. If intelligent creatures be obligated to obey the rule of moral rec