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and will afford you an opportunity of forming such images, as may serve either for illustration or ornament. It will tend much to increase both the vigor and correctness of your imagination, occasionally to peruse, with attention, standard works in poetry, whether of Grecian, Roman, or British origin. Such perusal, as it is necessary to the highest improvement of your mental powers, becomes a matter, not of convenience only, but of obligation.

I have made these remarks with the greater confidence, both of their correctness and utility, supported, as many of them are by an author, to whom you have been recently attending; an author, whose unassuming manner, wonderful perspicacity, profound knowledge of his subject, and elegance, perhaps I might say, perfection of style, has given charm and brilliancy even to the subject of metaphysics.

If your literary character depends so much on circumstances, and your own efforts, you will not doubt, that in regard to your moral character, these are equally important. For both these reasons, be cautious with whom you associate. Cultivate the society of men of knowledge, and men of principle. Choose rather to be with those, whose intellectual and moral acquirements exceed your own, than with those from whom you have nothing to learn. There cannot be conceived a more depraved ambition, than that of being chieftain of a clan, composed of the ignorant, disorderly, and profligate. The sentiment, "Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven," is fit only for that being, to whom it has been attributed by the poet. It is sufficient honor for a young gentleman, and such he ought to esteem it, to be admitted to the society of literary and virtuous men. In conversation with such, or with others, give your own opinion but sparingly; and never on subjects, with which you are unacquainted-least of all should it be done in language, positive or assuming. To retract an erroneous opinion modestly expressed, will give you little or no mortification. But to acknowledge an error, which you have boldly asserted, will cost you a painful

effort; and your positiveness will excite, according to the temper of your opponent, either pity, contempt, or irritation.

Some persons consider it as a point of honor to defend every sentiment which they advance, however hastily formed, or how little soever they are conversant with the subject, to which it relates. Nothing can more clearly indicate both the want of talents and want of integrity. If you are conscious of possessing talents, you will not fear their being called in question, either because you are unable to show that to be true, which is not so, or because another person, who has attended to a subject more than yourself, understands it better.

I could not be justified in closing this address, without introducing the subject of your relations to God and a future state.

It seems at present, to be a well established opinion in philosophy, that there is no other connexion between cause and effect, than coincidence of time; that all motion, whether in celestial, animal, or vegetable bodies, is not to be attributed to any power inherent in matter, but to an immediate divine agency. The bearing which the doctrine has upon religion, is most important. The Divinity is not only around you, but is immediately operating throughout your whole animal system. His agency was not more direct, when he said: Let there be light, and there was light; or when Jesus exclaimed: Lazarus, come forth, than it now is in the beating of your pulse, the motion of your limbs, or the expansion of your lungs. In the most emphatical sense, is it true, that "in him we live and move, and have our being." With the same emphasis may we pronounce, that "He worketh all things according to the counsel' of his own will.

Now, if the divine care is not, for a moment, intermitted in regard to the plants of the field, or the trees of the forest-if Deity interests himself in the minutest parts of your animal system, is it possible to imagine him indifferent to your character and moral feelings? Those notices of God, which every object in nature is constantly presenting, will therefore be forever troub

lesome to a mind, conscious of hostility to his moral attributes. To the good man, on the contrary, all the objects of nature afford pledges of security and eternal life, as they indicate the care and agency of a friend, omniscient and almighty.

"The meanest flow'ret of the vale,

The simplest note, that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening paradise."

So far as you oppose, or neglect religion, you are at warfare with reason, with moral feelings, and with God.

The moment you deserve the name of Christians, this conflict terminates, your heart and intellect are reconciled, and you have identified your interest with that of your Maker.

Young Gentlemen-1 wish for each of you a character formed on the principles of Christianity. I wish for each one of you as much wealth, and influence, and honor, as are consistent with your highest moral elevation, and with your final enjoyment of that crown, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall confer on his saints, at the day of his appearing.

ADDRESS,

DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT IN 1813.

Young Gentlemen,

FROM receiving the honors, to which, by your habits and proficiency in science, you are now entitled, I will detain you but a short time, by those observations, which have occurred to me, on harmony of character.

Whatever be the design in painting or poetry, whether to excite emotions of gloominess or joy, we expect to find, and are dissatisfied at not finding such objects, and such combinations, as, either by their nature, or by the connexion in which they stand, contribute to the intended effect. If, in the group of objects thus collected, any are found of discordant qualities; if, in a scene, designed to produce joy, any objects are intermixed tending to excite grief or gloominess; or, if, in a scene designed to excite the latter emotions, we discover any thing gay or ludicrous, the discovery never fails, not only to obstruct the general effect, but likewise to produce pain.

These remarks are introduced, for the purpose of illustrating those, in which we are more interested.

As the general beauty of the natural world consists much in that variety, which is constituted by objects adapted to different purposes; so the beauty and happiness of civil society depend, in no small degree, on that variety of character, which is the result of different pursuits, or of having in view different objects.

And as beauty in painting, architecture or poetry, in natural or artificial scenery, consists much in the parts being so formed and adjusted, as to contribute to that general effect, which is the apparent object of the work; so the beauty of a particular character is greatly heightened, when all its parts are discovered to be subservient to that object, whose accomplishment is intended. Professions or employments in life, whose immediate objects are very different, may, notwithstanding, in an equal degree, contribute both to individual and public happiness.

In the election which you make, it is not permitted to consult your own, much less your temporal advantage exclusively. Not only divine wisdom, but uninspired philosophy has taught us, that we are not born for ourselves, but that, as all the fruits of the earth are produced for the sake of man, so are men created for each other. In a matter so important as the choice of a profession, on which your future cast of character and standing in society will greatly depend, your best judgment is to be deliberately employed. But when a choice is thus made ;when you have determined on that institution of life, in which you believe, can be best answered the great purpose for which life was given, to that let your efforts, your studies, and your habits be accommodated. I know, indeed, that to some favored individuals, Heaven has been pleased to impart intellectual powers, so rich and various, as to enable them to become well versed in the science of different professions, and to acquire, in addition to this, an extensive acquaintance with most of those subjects, which are open to human investigation. To them may be applied the praise, lately bestowed on a British statesman: "There is not a subject presented to him, even casually, in which his ability is not conspicuous."

But persons of this description are so uncommon, and when they do appear, are so marked out for their high destination, that men of usual, or even very respectable talents, are wholly without excuse for mistaking themselves to be of this number. The rays of ordinary genius falling intensely on one point, will make some impression; whereas, if diffused over a large surface, VOL. II.

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