THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
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 183 3B 
 
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 ,f,„^,';,p.VAPEL HILL 
 
 00036720726 
 
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ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 a>siitiLiisr^mi:3©i?a© 
 
 DIALECTIC SOCIETIES, 
 
 (SlUiilPISlL mriLILd S7o (Po 
 
 JUNE 26, 1833; 
 
 BY THE HON. GSORGK E. BADGER. 
 
 9- 
 
 RICHMOND : 
 
 Printed by Thomas W. White, opposite the Bell Tayern, 
 
 1833. 
 
iilDID^BUi^^^ 
 
 Gentlemen of the Philanthropic and Dialectic Societies: 
 
 To impart instruction to the young, has, in every age, furnished oc- 
 cupation to those of maturer years ; and every species of writing has been 
 exhausted in precepts to prepare them for the conflict with temptations 
 which await their first entrance upon manhood. The eye of friendly so- 
 licitude has anticipated the scene of life — has beheld youth, impetuous 
 with desire, confident of strength, and buoyant with hope, rushing for- 
 ward upon a path beset with dangers, of which the greatest are unseen, 
 or thoughtlessly despised for their apparent insignificance ; and the 
 lessons of wisdom, taught by experience, have been urged with all the 
 force of argument, and all the fervor of affection — with every variety of 
 illustration, in every tone of remonstrance, wliich might best serve to ar- 
 rest attention, and fix, even in the most careless, a sense of approaching 
 danger. That these attempts to prepare others for a struggle, of the na- 
 ture of which they are ignorant, are worthy of all commendation, we 
 must all concede ; but it may admit of serious question whether they 
 have attained to any great success, either to prevent failure, or to facilitate 
 recoveiy. It is not perhaps possible so to epitomise for the young man 
 the experience of age, as to send liim forth in early wisdom prepared for 
 the trials of life ; and in the art of livmg, as in every bi-anch of know- 
 ledge, observation will justify the conclusion, that abridgments can only 
 afford hints to refresh the recollection of the expert, but will never be able 
 to confer wisdom upon the ignorant. The heaven-inspired promise of 
 perseverance in rectitude, is not made to occasional warnmg and reproof, 
 however eloquent and earnest, but to that daily instruction which blends 
 knowledge and virtue with the earliest thoughts and associations of the 
 mind, till, in after life, they shall seem instincts of natui-e ratlier than ha- 
 bits of education. Yet we are not justified in supposmg these occasional 
 efforts to have been entirely without success. On tlie contrary, they may 
 afford, and probably often have afforded, aid to the daily lessons of the fire- 
 side and the seminary — have served by their novelty to awaken an atten- 
 
4 
 
 tion fatigued by sameness of instruction, and by external authority to give 
 strength to domestic admonition. But at tliis day, the difficulties inherent 
 in every effort thus to speak or thus to write, are increased an hundred 
 fold. The mind of man is still studious of novelty, and pleased with 
 change. But in addresses to the young, where is novelty to be found ? 
 Of matter, no where — and amidst all the diversities of illustration, of 
 style, of argument, which the poet and the essayist have successively em- 
 ployed to give variety and impressiveness to lessons of wisdom for youth, 
 where is the man bold enough to expect any novelty, even of manner, in 
 the delivery or enforcement of ancient truths ? But something may be 
 hoped of attention, of respect, and of indulgence, for one who does not 
 assume the attitude of a moral dictator, but comes at your own bidding to 
 address you — comes, not only aware of general deficiency, but sensible that 
 circumstances of domestic distraction, have denied him the opportunity to 
 devote entu'e to your edification, the small space of time which the regu- 
 lar demands of business had left at his disposal — who, under these disad- 
 vantages, is sincerely desirous to be useful to you, and to discharge hono- 
 rably the task which your favorable opmion has assigned him. At all 
 events, whatever difficiUties inay attend the effort at instruction, I cannot 
 feel justified in omitting the attempt. That the issue of life depends or- 
 dinarily upon its commencement, experience teaches ; and we know from 
 revelation, that the present life, compared (as it aptly is) for its shortness 
 and uncertainty, to " a vajDor which appeareth for a little tune, and then 
 vanisheth away," yet stretches forward its influence into the expanse of 
 eternal existence. No opportimity, therefore, of rightly influencing the 
 outset of hfe, can be innocently neglected ; and we must not for a mo- 
 ment imagine, that we are now assembled for purposes of amusement, or 
 that we can pass from ovu- present meeting without incvu-ring some re- 
 sponsibihty for one added opportunity of improvement. 
 
 In the first place, then, let me impress upon you, that your collegiate 
 course is but the commencement of education — is intended not so much 
 to make you learned, as to enable you to become so ; and that notlting is 
 or can be gained in the few years of i-esidence here, but the rudiments of 
 knowledge. To obtain such an introduction to science as may be after- 
 wards improved into a full acquaintance with her riches, demands all the 
 diligence of tlie student during a college life ; but when a college life is 
 over, to permit these preliminary acqtiirements to remain unimproved, is 
 
at best, voluntarily to forego your advantages, and ignobly to content 
 yourselves with the lowest station amongst the votaries of science. But 
 this ground even cannot be retained ; you must press on or recede. As 
 by a law ajipHcablc to the body, new supplies of food and oft repeated 
 application to healthfid exercise, are necessary, not merely to its increase 
 but to its existence ; so what the mind acquires can only be retained by 
 diligence and improvement ; and he who resolves that he will not advance, 
 has already, in effect, taken the first step of retrogradation. Fix it then 
 as certain, that you cannot stand still ; and if there be any generous de- 
 sire of excellence in your bosoms — any sense of duty to your parents 
 or friends — any grateful remembrance of Him who is the ultimate au- 
 thor of all your advantages ; resolve, that while literatiu-e or science has 
 any thing to be gamed without neglectmg the duties more inmiediately 
 yours in active life, you will continue to increase yom- store. 
 
 It has been often remarked by foreigners, and may be easily perceived 
 by ourselves, that, in our country, men are not in any department of so- 
 ciety thoroughly made what they assiune to be. We seek to do too much 
 in a short tune ; and yielding to our wishes, without consulting the ne- 
 cessities of things, we affect to become skilled in lea^riing, in science, in 
 the professions, and in the mechanic arts, without that patient applica- 
 tion, by which only any thing can be well and thoroughly learned. There 
 are many causes to be fomid in our situation and institutions, to accoimt 
 for this, but it certainly exists, and as certainly has, in some respects, a 
 mischievous tendency. We are not as literary a people as we should be. 
 We have more smatterers, and fewer adepts, than other nations ; and as a 
 necessary consequence of the want of thorough instruction, we are infla- 
 ted with self consequence at what we deem our vast attainments. How 
 often, my yomig friends, and how painfully is this manifested in the pro- 
 ductions of our public men ! What pompous bombast — what immeaning 
 declamations — what artificial subtleties — what gross invective — what 
 coarse allusions — what disgustu'ig self confidence, defonn the oratory (as 
 it is called) of congress ! Of all the weeks which are yeai'ly devoted in 
 that body to the delivery of speeches, how few the hom"s which are not 
 wasted ! Of the thousand newspaper columns which are filled with reports 
 of these speeches, how many can a man of taste read without disgust, or 
 a patiiot without sorrow ! Attend our judicial tribunals, and see how the 
 gravity of jurisprudence is insulted by the same frothy, loud, inelegant. 
 
and unintelligible vociferations — observe how often even the most ordinary 
 proprieties of language, the most common rules of grammar, are violated — 
 so often and so grossly indeed, as to leave no doubt that the violations 
 proceed from ignorance rather than inattention — yet, scarce a public meet- 
 ing is held (and when and where are tliey not held ?) from an assembly at 
 Faneuil Hall, to a separate election or a barbecue, which is not, according 
 to the printed reports of those who heard and acted in them, enlightened 
 and electrified by eloquence surpassing that of Tully or Demosthenes ! 
 In short, deficient as we are, all our people are prodigies — learning is to 
 be found in every hamlet, literature in every covmtry store, and oratory 
 in every debating room. In the mean time, there is nothing m the public 
 taste and inteUigence, to rebuke and put to shame, this empty swelling, 
 this " sound and fury signifying nothing." Those who see and lament 
 the evil are not of sufficient number or authority to control public opinion. 
 The people at large are pleased with the speakers and writers, who, if in- 
 telligible in nothing else, are sufficiently so in the descriptions of idolatrous 
 worship to the intelligence and virtue of the people, and in public profes- 
 sions of their own disinterested devotion to the general welfare. In this 
 state of things, it will i-equii-e no small effort in a young man, on his en- 
 trance into life, to continue a due attention to literature, to persevere amidst 
 the pleasures and the engagements which surround him, in preserving what 
 he has already attained, and still, as opportunities occvxr, adding to his 
 stock. He sees the highest stations attainaljle and attained, not only 
 without learning, but with little sense ; and, sickening at the irksomeness 
 of study without i-eward, is apt to exclaim, why should I not content my- 
 self with that mediocrity of attainment, by which, with confidence and 
 vociferation, so many have succeeded, and which seems the surest, as it 
 is the easiest, mode of advancement ? To this inquky, it may be an- 
 swered, that knowledge is of itself desirable, and should be pursued even 
 for its own sake — for the dignity and happiness which it brings to its pos- 
 sessor ; that though many succeed in acquuing fame and opulence with- 
 out classical attainments, yet these offer no hindrance to the acquisition of 
 either ; and it is not recommended that they be pursued in exclusion of, 
 but in connexion with, and as auxiliaiy to, the practical employments of 
 life. In these, you should be desii-ous (as what youth of noble aspu-ings 
 is not) to do well whatever you do, so that with the applause of those who 
 may be able to advance you, you may have in your favor the sentence of 
 
nil whose worLli and inlcUigcncc make their approbation a gralityiiiL? 
 assiu-ance of kindred excellence in yourselves. But wc liave proof by 
 example, that though the highest accomphslimcnts of literature may not 
 conduce to a speedy elevation in the political world, or win the noisy 
 plaudits of the crowd ; yet they do lend an ultunate and irresistible 
 weight to genius and learning, and command for tlieir possessor a noble 
 and endui-ing superiority. Of this, no more conspicuous instance can be 
 produced than the distinguished gentleman* who addressed you at the 
 last commencement. He, amidst all the occupations of private, profes- 
 sional and public life, has ever remembered the pursuits of liis alma mater ; 
 has kept bright by constant exercise, all tlie mental armoury wliich early 
 education had bestowed, and, instead of suffering liis classical knowledge 
 to decay, has been always enlarging his acquirements: and he now reaps 
 the reward of liis early labors and consistent efforts in a real efRciency, 
 an acknowledged superiority — of which, any of us, my friends, might well 
 be proud. When, therefore, you shall be tempted to self-indulgence, and 
 see men, by art or fortime, rising into prematiue elevation without 
 classical learning, — when you shall see men of real abilities, worth and 
 usefulness, justly honored, though without these literary embellishments, — 
 be not led to conclude them valueless. While you learn to think them 
 not indispensable either to merit or success, at the same time remember 
 that literatiu-e gives to professional talent all its elegance and half its effi- 
 ciency ; and that to emulate the fame and reach the eminence of the gen- 
 tleman to whom I have just alluded, you must be not only profound in 
 your acquirements, but various, acute and graceful. 
 
 The evils of an imperfect education to a professional man, none can 
 know but he who has felt them* In tlie legal profession, how often is the 
 careless student reminded of liis deficiencies ? How much gracefulness of 
 allusion — how much power of argument — how much felicity of illustra- 
 tion are lost to liim ! how lie longs to be able to call up and give distinct- 
 ness to recollections which yet elude liun, and how bitterly he laments 
 over the early indolence wliich condemns him to mediocrity, and feels that 
 liis powers have never been developed, and that he will never be what he 
 might and ought to have been, either in reputation or desert ! Let not 
 these repinmgs ever be yoiu'S. Now, you hold your own destiny— now, 
 
 * William Gaston, Esquire, of Newbcru. 
 
8 
 
 the opportunities of excellence are all in possession or in prospect. You 
 may either impi-ove or neglect them — make them means of usefulness, or 
 memorials of criminal indifference and neglect. Do not hesitate ; much 
 often depends upon the resolutions of a moment : resolve, nmc, that you 
 ■will be learned, accomplished, literary — that you will not be content while 
 you still have something useful to acquh-e, and that no allurements of plea- 
 sure, no love of ease, no indolence, shall ever induce you to lose the advan- 
 tage of your opportunities, either by negligence of study now, or inatten- 
 tion to learning hereafter. There is another consideration which should 
 urge upon you this resolution. If the day of florid bombast and coarse 
 abuse is ever to give way to tlie reign of chaste and dignified eloquence — 
 if the literary taste of the country generally is ever to be improved, this 
 must be accomplished by the vmited influence of the educated classes ; and 
 by them it can only be accomplished by the study of classical antiquity, 
 and the best specimens of modern literature — by diligence to gain, 
 and care to retain knowledge — by assiduous efforts to do every thing in 
 the best manner, and a steady resolution to discountenance emjDty preten- 
 sions, and to encourage real merit. By these means, an influence may go 
 forth upon the people which shall elevate the national taste, and by estab- 
 lishing a higher standard of excellence, dismiss to obsciu-ity those who 
 have not ability to be useful, and compel to its improvement those who 
 have. You, gentlemen, form a portion of that literary class, and your 
 efforts may be felt throughout the union, if met by correspondmg efforts 
 from other quarters, and upon this State may have a most salutary effect, 
 even without such co-operation. Let me, then, entreat you, by all these 
 considerations united, to resolve upon a thorough education ; to believe and 
 feel, that to neglect here any one opportunity of gaining knowledge, is sin 
 against yourselves and your country ; and that after you shall have left 
 this seminary, to sit down in contented mediocrity — to make no improve- 
 ment of your modicum of learning — to be at the beginnmg of life but 
 half scholars, and daily to become less, will be, at once, a mean desertion 
 of duty, and a voluntary indifference to true glory. 
 
 The resolute piu'suit of study which I have thus reconrmiended, will 
 strongly tend to repress tliat self conceit, wliich upon small attainments 
 is apt to rise in the mind, and to substitute that true modesty which is 
 generally tlie companion of large acquirements in solid leai-ning. It has 
 been sometimes made a question, whether to think too little or too much 
 
of oiu-sclves, be llie preferable error ; and it has been deteiTnined, I tliink 
 upon just grounds, that vanity is to be preferred to despondency. By 
 study, both these errors will be prevented or overcome, and we shall soon 
 be enabled (which all admit to be best) to think of om-selves justly. It 
 is the sense of vast present possessions that tends to vanity ; it is the 
 fear of want of capacity for acquiring, that produces despondency : You 
 will be guarded against both, by a just estmiate of yotu-selves. Yom* 
 actual, will always be small in comparison with your possible, attain- 
 ments : you will always, in fact, know less than you might and ought 
 to know ; less than many others have attained without your advantages : 
 and this duly considered, will make you modest. On the other hand, 
 the more you try your powers, the more you will be assured that nature 
 deals liberally with men ; that, in general, aside from some pecuUar 
 developements for which a natvu-al aptitude or tact is demanded, all in 
 itself desirable, may be attained by industry. Your approach to men of 
 eminence whom you may have regarded at a distance with awe, will shew 
 you the original equality ; and, though you may be at times oppressed 
 at an amount of acquisition, wliich will to you appear great, you will 
 soon find it to be an acquisition arising from no imiate sujoeriority, but 
 carefully collected by little and little, and by the same process ecpially 
 attainable by yom'selves. When we see a young man inflated with a 
 sense of his great attainments, or presiuning upon a genius which renders 
 effort to him unnecessary — urging himself forward with placid self-com- 
 placency — imagining hunself the object of universal approbation, while 
 in trath, he is provoking the scorn of tlie wise, and touching the pity of 
 the good — we have no difficulty in assigning his vanity to self-ignorance. 
 And so, when a young man is appalled at what is before liim, and des- 
 pairs of ever attaining to excellence or distinction, we may with equal 
 certainty trace his want of confidence to want of knowledge of liimself. 
 By a correct estimate of yourselves, you will learn a modesty which 
 must keep you from presimiption, and a confidence which will ever pre- 
 serve you from despair'. Believe that by industry and perseverance you 
 can do all things, and you will accomplish much : but feel not elated at 
 what you can do — for the capacity is a gift, and can in no sort be meri- 
 torious ; its improvement only, is a just fomidation of self-complacency. 
 To be able to do, is to this purpose nothing ; to do, is every thing. 
 Deficiency in itself is nusfortune only, but accompanied with genius, 
 2 
 
10 
 
 becomes crime ; and yet, nothing is more common, than to find the mind 
 inflated with self-consequence at the possession of powers unimproved, 
 and though voluntarily condemned to obscurity and uselessness, yet 
 filled with visions of possible imi^ortance and imagijiary glory. Distinc- 
 tion founded on worth, must ever be the result of exertion ; and by a 
 process, beautiful as it is useful, distinction thus acquired, fills the pos- 
 sessor with modest conceptions of himself. Of this, the most instructive 
 and illustrious example is found in the great Newton. After all those 
 mighty discoveries, which enlightened and astonished mankind, and 
 while to others he appeared the intellectual prodigy of the universe, — to 
 liimself he seemed but to have sported on the shore of knowledge, and 
 to have left the boundless ocean itself not only unexplored but unat- 
 tempted. Such must ever be the result of genuine devotion to science ; 
 and if, my young friends, you shall find, during your collegiate course, or 
 in after life, any risings of vanity at your powers and attaimnents, let 
 the remembrance of Newton, rebuke into just insignificance, every eflfort 
 of self-exultation. 
 
 But you are under yet higher obligations to presei-ve and enlarge your 
 literary acquirements — to learn every tiling which may add strength to 
 the reasoning powers, and grace and attractiveness to style and delivery. 
 The present is, every where, and no where more than in our own coun- 
 try, a peculiar era. The press is just beginning fuUy to develope its 
 mighty influence on our nation. Science, no longer confined in solid 
 volmnes to well stored libraries, or making quarterly visits in the thick 
 pamphlets of learned criticism, now condescends to speak in weekly and 
 even daily sheets ; and thus addresses herself to large masses of men 
 heretofore beyond her reach. Literature, religion, science, have now, 
 like politics, seized upon the daily press ; and taste, doctrine and know- 
 ledge, are m-ged vipon the world in ever multiplying periodicals. What 
 is to be the ultimate effect of this new direction given to the march of 
 mind — whether this fectmdity of the press, this stripping off the dignity 
 of learning, and letting down science to the level of a penny paper, will 
 not issue in a serious injmy to society — it is not necessary to inquire. 
 It has been thought by intelligent and observing men, that the certain, if 
 not the first effect of this state of things, will be, to lessen the standard of 
 writing abilities — to put in request a tact for writing acceptably, rather 
 than writing well,— for the pleasant and superficial, rather than the labo- 
 
11 
 
 rious and profound ; and tliu.s, in the next, gvncratiiin, to fill the v.-orld 
 witli ignorant jirclendcrs, who will sip from the surface, Init drink not, 
 from the fountain of knowledge : that deep learning, being no longer in 
 demand, will shrink into obscurity. There are others, however, who 
 seem to think, that provided many read, it is no matter what — that if all 
 know many things, it is an important gain, though none know any thing 
 well : and they are jileased, of com'se, with tlie prospect of a general 
 diffusion, even of horn book science. But, whatever may be the effect 
 of this rags for books in the literary departments, no man of even mode- 
 rate intelligence, can doubt as to the mischievous effects already pro- 
 duced, nov/ jjroducing, and in fearful prospect of being jjroduced, by the 
 25olitical press. In the party conflicts of the day, a sj^irit of falsehood, of 
 defamation, of indecent scurrility, and shameful corruption, has gone forth 
 upon the editorial corps. Once, men were divided on matters of prin- 
 ciple, or what were sujiposed matters of princijjle : papers on different 
 sides nught be relied upon, as presenting the views of intelligent portions 
 of our public men ; and if facts were disputed, there was an attempt to 
 reach the truth, or at least a decent pretension to it. But now, every 
 thing seems reduced to a mere scramble for emolument : the credulity 
 of the people has been so often jDractised upon with success, that scarce 
 any care is used to conceal the artifice of deception from the purblind- 
 ness of the public : and it is lamentable to remark, that even the moral 
 sense of the community has become corrupt and vitiated, and defiimation 
 the most atrocious, is sm-e to obtain toleration, if not a2oproval. Mean- 
 time, a sjjii-it of insubordination is by some openly taught and recom- 
 mended ; and passion, and interest, and prejudice, are aj^pealed to, in 
 order to raise discontent, and j^roduce oj^position against the laws. It is 
 not necessary to be more specific : facts are too recent and too appalling. 
 But, does not this state of things call upon you for increased diligence to 
 qualify yourselves for rendering effectual service to your country ? If 
 public taste, much more public morals, require for their reformation, the 
 exertions of the enlightened and vii-tuous, the delusions that have gone 
 abroad must be met and dissijiated ; the press must be corrected ; it must 
 be transferred to the direction of able and upright men : and the people 
 (though well meaning, yet easily misled,) must be guarded agamst those 
 artifices, by which it is sought to array them against theii- own peace and 
 happiness, and to involve them in the stupendous guilt and folly of pros- 
 
12 
 
 trating the last structure, which can be raised Ijy man for tlie preser\-a- 
 tion of equal rights by republican institulions. But to do this, you must 
 youi'selves be enlightened ; you must be no novices : your reasoning 
 powers must be perfected in strength and dexterity, by constant and 
 healthful exercise : your minds must be stored with every variety of 
 knowledge, to instruct or to please. And thus prepared, you must bear 
 in mind yoiu- high duties, and the large destinies which may be influ- 
 enced by your exertions : you must be the true friends of the people ; 
 teaching them to see and to despise the efforts of those who would mis- 
 lead them — you must be prepared, should circmustances require, to strip 
 the mask of patriotism from ambition, and show his horrid features to 
 the detestation of mankind ; and to teach, both by your example and 
 your precepts, a voluntary, steady, and universal submission to the laws. 
 It is certain, that the talents of a country, if generally united in one pur- 
 pose, will bend public opinion to it, be it good Or evil ; that through the 
 press, talents must ojDerate on public opinion ; and that, therefore, society 
 has a deep interest in the maintenance of a body of intelligent and honest 
 writers. They stand, in truth, as sentinels on the walls of liberty, and 
 give an alarm at the approach of danger, and only at its approach. The 
 profligacy or inadequacy of a large majority of the conductors of the 
 press, is evident to all who look into the daily news ; and it cannot admit 
 of doubt, that much of public evil may be traced to this cause. Until 
 men of standing and literature, in considerable numbers, shall devote 
 themselves to the press, and all shall become, as emergency requires, 
 occasional contributors, the evil must be endured. But why should it be 
 so ? The press is the most important means of influencing opinion m a 
 country where opinion is irresistible : why, then, should this mighty 
 power be allowed, without a struggle, to fall into hands generally inade- 
 quate in abiUty, or disqualified by corrtiption ? Let these things have 
 their due weight, and the next generation may see a mighty change 
 accomplished. 
 
 But, in order to this result, each one must realize that he has some- 
 thing himself to do, and must resolve to do it. He must feel, that upon 
 him individually, rests a portion of the duty of arresting false opinions, 
 and comiteracting practices injurious m their tendency, whether they be 
 the result of wicked or of mistaken designs. He must be prepared at 
 all times, and in all situations, to maintain the cause of truth, order and 
 
13 
 
 happiness, against every opposer. He will find, in the same ranks, men 
 of genius urging on the cause of disaffection ; some careless, and some 
 mistaken, in respect to their country's good ; and some, alas ! despe- 
 rately bent upon commotion, and resolute for mischief: he will find men 
 of the most amiable tempers and sound morals, seduced from their natural 
 station on the side of true liberty and glory, and pursuing some deceitful 
 phantom in their stead : intimate friends, the associates of youthful 
 days or early manhood, may thus separate between his soul and them- 
 selves. What is to be done ? Shall he hesitate in his coiu-se, while he 
 sees them urging (from whatever motives) a cause adverse to all govern- 
 ment ? a cause whicli resolves itself, despite of all its nice and unintelli- 
 gible distinctions, into a complete overthrow of the public will, and the sub- 
 stitution of the very elements of confusion and anarcliy. While he sees 
 these things, can a friend to his country and to truth hesitate in his course? 
 He cannot. When genius, Ijy its fascinations, misleads even good sense 
 and sound morals into disorganization, the danger becomes rn-gent, and 
 demands tlie more vigorous interference for public preservation. You 
 must feel yourselves, gentlemen, by your position and political pri- 
 vileges, called always to battle for sound doctrine. Your good sense, if 
 plainly exercised, will teach you that no doctrine can be sound, which 
 does not lead to wholesome practice ; no government free, which is liable 
 to dictation ; and no people long happy, who are led by demagogues. 
 And you will have no great difficulty m determinmg, that those, whose 
 declared and written opinions, uttered with all the fire of eloquence, aJid 
 the solemnity of apparent smcerity, may be found on every side of most 
 important questions, who have acted as if all power in their own hands 
 was rightful — in the hands of others, usurpation ; who, m the midst of 
 these suspicious contradictions in conduct and opinion, have ever confi- 
 dently demanded the support of the nation, and have not hesitated to- 
 day to ask assent to positions directly opposite to others as strenuously 
 maintained yesterday : you will, I say, easily determhie, that such men, 
 if not very unfaithful, are at least very incompetent guides, and deny 
 tliem your confidence. You wDl readily vuiderstand, when questions 
 arise upon the meaning of the fvuidamental law, that the sense put upon 
 it from the commencement of its operation — a sense for years unques- 
 tioned — never questioned but by excited or interested portions of the 
 people — and uniting in its support the clear and concurring judgment of 
 
14 
 
 the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary of the union — you will 
 readily perceive, that this exposition (whatever it be) so sanctioned by 
 opinion and practice, must be the true one, or else that all attemps at 
 exposition are vain, and society must be dissolved. Nor will you be 
 misled by subtle doctrines, couched in language unusual and unintelligi- 
 ble to plain men — which no one can explain, however he may affect to 
 understand ; and you will firmly repel every effort to arm you, upon no 
 better foundation than vociferation and paradox, against the ordinary 
 laws and judges of property. Despite of these and other arts, you will 
 hold fast your integrity ; you will realize, tliat peace, domestic tran- 
 quillity, and regular tribunals to administer laws, are objects of great 
 value, however underrated they may be, — that it is quite possible for a 
 people not to be prosperous and happy, though blessed with ceaseless 
 agitation ; that mobs may err in opinion and in practice ; and that those 
 who most loudly urge internal dissension, are often men to whom any 
 change will be desirable ; and therefore, you will be always found on the 
 side of the laws and the constitution. The jargon, indeed, by which it is 
 attempted to transfer to poUtics the unpracticable speculations of the 
 most abstruse portions of metaphysics, can be only exceeded in folly, by 
 the pompous political declamations, the solemn processions, and the ora- 
 tory of the human race, which marked the first French revolution : and 
 from considering that era, you may learn a irseful lesson — that, when the 
 order of society is broken up, and men are forced out of that sphere of 
 daily duties for which providence designed them, sententious morality, 
 however lofty, is no security against crime ; and that there is but one 
 step, and that a short one, between theoretical absurdity, and the practi- 
 tical cruelty of the mob. 
 
 With the opinions which I entertain, I cannot conclude this address 
 without calling your attention to another subject, which, as it is the most 
 important to you, ought not from any deference to the caprice of fasiiion, 
 to be omitted here. I wish to urge upon your consideration, the claims 
 of the Christian Revelation. Unless grounded upon this, every system for 
 the government of life must not only be incomplete but radically defec- 
 tive. It is tliis only wliich gathers into one, and invigorates with the 
 energy of a single controlUng motive, all the detached rules of conduct, 
 and gives harmony, strength and beauty, to the whole. That you should 
 in theory reject it, or even be skeptical touching the truth of Christianity, 
 
15 
 
 is not readily to be supposed. Such a state of mind, if it exist, is pro- 
 bably no more than a youthful vanity of opposition ; and yet it is dano-e- 
 rous, and ouglit not to be indulged. Opinions, for whatever purpose 
 assumed, when often expressed, acquire a certain influence (iver the 
 mind ; and when supported with the zeal and animation of frequent con- 
 troversy, aUhough at first solely to signalize dexterity in argument, at 
 last grow into a habit of thought nearly akin in its effects to actual 
 belief. At all events, the sacrifice of sincerity to a love of display 
 or desire of triumph, cannot Ijut have an unhappy effect upon the cha- 
 racter — duninishing the regard for truth, and the ability to discern it. 
 But the rejection of Christianity, or even scepticism concerning it, can be 
 only the result of want of consideration. Let me, then, urge upon you, 
 a diligent examination of the grounds of our faith. It fears, it need fear, 
 no examination, however strict, which is full, fair and inteUigent. Such 
 an examination, it is not too much to say, will result in entire conviction. 
 But those who reject, do not generally examine ; or, if any examination 
 be made, it is after the rejection, and chiefly with a view to confirm the 
 previous decision. To men unaccustomed to investigation, and either 
 obliged by mcapacity, or inclined by indolence, to take their opinions 
 from others, such conduct may be natm'al ; but the great principle of 
 true philosophy is to submit to reason, to subject every matter to careful 
 inquiry, and to judge of every fact by its pi-oper evidence. Had tliis 
 rule of good sense, adopted in every other department of science, been 
 applied to Christianity (as in all fairness it ought) universal faith must 
 have been the consequence. But it is much easier to cavil than to rea- 
 son ; a laborious deduction from particulars, though a sure, is a slow 
 process for the discovery of truth ; and hence a ready and compendious 
 method has been adopted, to dispose of Christianity, without the trouble 
 to investigate its evidence or consider its clauns. Argmments a priori (if 
 arguments they may be called) have been brought forward ; ingenious 
 criticism, superficial learnmg, and above all, delicate ridicule for the 
 refined, and coarse ribaldry for the vulgar, have been made the means to 
 unsettle the faith of men capable of better things ; while, all along, the 
 question of Christianity, as a question of fact to be tried by a fair and 
 dispassionate examination of its proofs, has been overlooked or forgotten. 
 Hence, at times, it has been fashionable to speak, or at least to think, of 
 our religion, as the fit solace of old wives and ignorant mechanics, but 
 
16 
 
 little worthy the attention of the learned and polite. Hence, with too 
 many, it has become fashionable to reject tliis religion : a religion, which, 
 for eighteen hundi-ed years, has exercised a controlling influence over the 
 affairs of mankind ; which, with all the evils made to accompany it, by 
 the vice and folly of its professed votaries, has, by its own energy, ele- 
 vated the character of man wherever it has come ; which has subdued 
 the violence, enlarged the benevolence, and increased the happiness, of 
 the human race ; wluch has numbered amongst its friends and support- 
 ers, those most distinguished for high mental endowments ; and which 
 proves itself worthy of all acceptation, by the pure and elevated morality 
 it teaches — a morality, which, though often sought for, the wit of man 
 could never discover, and yet, when disclosed, is found to be so exactly 
 adapted to the wants of our race, that we wonder it was not discovered 
 by the first seeker — a moraUty, which no man can fail to perceive, if 
 universally practised, would at once banish moral evil from the world, 
 render physical evil inconsiderable, and restore the golden age of virtue 
 and happiness to mankind. A reUgion, so ancient and so beneficially 
 influential, so attested and so recommended, is not, without great folly 
 and guilt, to be rejected without inquiry : with inquiry there is little fear 
 of its rejection. Let it be tried either by its external proofs, its internal 
 character, or the number and value of the testimonies to its truth ; and 
 it will manifest its title to a heavenly origin. You would feel ashamed, 
 tliat any department of science were entirely unknown to you, and 
 would blush to own, that on a literary question of mere curiosity, you 
 had rejected, or adopted, any hypothesis without examination. How 
 then can you be justified in a neglect of this inquiry ? It has every thing 
 to rouse a generous curiosity, to excite a deep interest, to occupy a capa- 
 cious intellect. 
 
 No man who tliinks, can fail to observe much in the scene of things 
 around liim, to produce uncertainty and disquietude. Upon the stage of 
 life, men appear and disappear, with little apparent reason for their com- 
 ing or departure, beyond the continuance of a species, for whose continu- 
 emce no sufficient motive seems to exist. We find ourselves hastening 
 on, Uke others who have preceded us, full of hopes, eager with desires of 
 distinction and happiness, and with an ever increasing ratio of rapidity, 
 rushing through the brief journey of life. Meantime, we are sur- 
 rounded by a world containing almost infinite subjects for speculation 
 
17 
 
 and inquiry; within, we are conscious of powers to explore it~of a 
 desire of knowledge, to prompt to the research ; and we see in it the 
 occupation for many ages of all our capacities. Yet our existence here 
 is so short, and even that short period is so distracted by the necessary 
 demands of our animal natm-e, that the whole seems incongruous — 
 seems designed to disappoint this natural desire of knowledge, and to 
 render fniitless those vast powers of attainment. What, then, is this 
 death, in which our share in this great universe seems so soon to termi- 
 nate ? does it indeed annul our powers, and send them in the very 
 infancy of their existence, into annihilation ? or does it only transfer us 
 to other scenes, where, in some other modification, these powers are to 
 exist, and find employment? If so, where? and how ? In these inquiries, 
 when truly made, the heart is not only interested, but anxious. A con- 
 sciousness of ill-desert will arise upon our thoughts, and we tremble to 
 commit ourselves to Him, who, we feel, has a power which none cmi 
 control — a rightful authority wliich none can call in question. Upon 
 what principles, we ask, will he exert liis power ? what is liis character 
 and disposition ? Can we trace these in liis works? Has he made any 
 disclosure of them for our information ? These inquiries of an anxious 
 being, the christian religion assimies to solve. She announces herself as 
 a messenger from Heaven — she declares tliat you are inmaortal, and 
 offers to you information of the means by which tliat immortality may 
 be rendered virtuous and happy. She promises, upon the authority of 
 Heaven, to remove your fears most reasonably excited by a just sense of 
 delinquency ; to " confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and to 
 bring you to everlasting life." Sanctioned as her pretensions are, they 
 surely deserve investigation. He who should refuse to examine the 
 grounds on which the Newtonian system of the muverse depends, and 
 persist in the belief that the eaith is a stationary plain, and the sun a 
 daily traveller over its surface, would justly be considered irraiional 
 and absurd; yet he who rejects Christianity without inquiry, is a mad- 
 man, compared with whom the other may be considered discreet and 
 sober. Tlie former rejects indeed a theory of the universe, established 
 to all intelligent inquirers upon sui*e demonstration ; but it is to him of 
 little importance : his virtue and happiness, here and hei-eafter, may be 
 effectually seciured without the discovery or belief of this system. The 
 latter, having every thing at hazard, madly resolves to take no step for 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 securing it ; and when the truth or fiilseliood of this rehgion involves 
 such tremendous consequences, that all other truths sink into insignifi- 
 cance, he devotes his whole attention to the latter, and declines an exer- 
 tion to satisfy himself of that on which his all may absolutely depend. 
 One thmg is clear, the man who adopts this conduct has little claim to 
 the character of a piiilosopher. 
 
 If, then, this inquiry has not already been made, with the zeal and dili- 
 gence which its importance demands, let it now be commenced, and daily 
 prosecuted to its termination : for he who has not settled this question 
 for himself, is not jirepared either to live or die. Be not deceived by any 
 notion that your jiresent existence being indefinite, the inquiry may 
 be safely postponed. If you were certain of life (a certainty which can- 
 not be obtained) the postponement would little corresjoond with the dic- 
 tates of wisdom. It is evident, that those thmgs which are most impor- 
 tant, should be first attended to — besides, in this case, the jiresent is of 
 all seasons the most desirable for prosecuting such an inquiry. When 
 you shall be immersed in business, or devoted to pleasure, neither the 
 opportunity nor desire will often recur, and but still more rarely, both 
 together ; and it should be remembered, that it is an inquiiy for wliich 
 time and thought and leisure are necessary ; and how shall these be 
 commanded amidst the bustle of active life ? Act, then, with your wont- 
 ed intelligence, and now commence, and vigorously pixrsue tliis most in- 
 teresting investigation. It is a noble one ; it has ah-eady occupied the 
 powers, and expanded the understandings of those who, in moral and 
 physical science, are your teachers, and the teachers of the world, and 
 with whom, it is no disparagement to scepticism to say, the most ele- 
 vated of her votaries cannot compare. How absurd, how iDreposterous, 
 then, that the young, the ignorant and the profane, should presume to 
 overlook, or contemn as unworthy to engage their attention, that science 
 which the world's masters in knowledge loved to explore and honor, 
 from whose pages they drew the choicest intellectual treasures, and by 
 whose precepts they sought for purity of principle, and con-ectness of 
 life and manners ! To such a puerile conceit, such a miserable affecta- 
 tion, such a base degradation of intellect, I flatter myself no one here 
 will descend. 
 
 But it is not sufficient, that its proofs should be examined, and its truth 
 upon enlightened conviction admitted — Christianity requires the surren- 
 
19 
 
 ikr of ourselves to its autliority. Tiie mere belief of its facts, however 
 clear and well grounded, is notliing, if that belief remain a mere barren 
 projtosition in the understanding ; a speculation only of the intellectual 
 man, arranged in the mind with other truths of science. To such a des- 
 tination Christianity cannot submit : her heavenly origin gives lier the 
 riglit to demand a loftier place, a profounder homage. You must realize 
 that the system of our i-eligion himiediately concerns yom'selves ; that 
 its teachings, reproofs, warnings and commands, are directed to each one 
 of you ; and that, as truly as if the volume containing them, were di- 
 rectly addressed to him by name. Your belief must be operative and 
 influential — must tend towards the heart, and incline you to regulate 
 your life by its precepts ; otherwise, its truths will no more affect favora- 
 bly your condition, than those of Algebra or Geology. 
 
 I fear, my young friends, there is something nearly akin to shame 
 associated with the thought of thus acknowledging Christianity ; and 
 though you are wilhng, from whatever motive, to pay a decent external 
 homage to a religion professed by your countrjmien, yet it is with a 
 sort of protestation, generally understood, sometimes even expressed, 
 against its being supposed that you take any serious interest in its doc- 
 trines or its precepts. I fear, that you woiUd look upon the imputation 
 to you of serious piety, as a reproach, and the destination to be a clrris- 
 tian, as a punislmient; while you still intend, when you leave the world, 
 in some way by no means accurately understood, because but slightly 
 considered, to be saved by the Christian's God ; to be acknowledged at 
 your utmost need by him, of whom, throughout life, you were in truth 
 ashamed. My friends, if there be indeed any such feeling at your 
 liearts, pluck the base thought away, and remember that this faith holds 
 out promises, not to modes of dying, but solely to modes of life ; that 
 you must, noio, accejot or reject it, with all the consequences wliich Hea- 
 ven has authoritatively annexed to your detemimation. Accept, I be- 
 seech you, that religion ; and now, even now, begin to frame your lives 
 by its precepts. It will exert a salutary influence over the whole moral 
 character ; what is good will be confirmed ; what weak, strengthened ; 
 wliat evil, corrected ; what defective, supplied : and you will find yoiu"- 
 selves thoroughly furnished to every good word and work. 
 
 The duty of gaining here, and miproving in after life, the rudiments of 
 knowledge, which I have, upon inferior motives, set before you, will. 
 
20 
 
 under the teaching of rehgion, assume its true character of higher con- 
 sequence. You will see, in your present opportunities, the gifts of a 
 great benefactor, who, as a judge, will require an account of his benefac- 
 tions, and with the most evident equity, demand improvement in propor- 
 tion to your talents ; who, while he graciously considers every benefit 
 conferred upon your fellows by yoiu* agency, as conferred upon himself, 
 wUl likewise consider a disregard of what you owe to yourselves, to yom* 
 country, to your friends, as mgratitude for liis kindness, and contempt of 
 his authority, — and will punish it accorduigly. 
 
 Chi'istianity will step in and shed her influence over your duties as citi- 
 zens ; she will teach you submission to the jnowers that be, not from the 
 fear of present punishment, or hope of temporal reward, but because those 
 powers are ordained of Heaven. Should you, at any period of political 
 agitation, be pressed with ingenious disquisitions which you may not be 
 able to disentangle and refute, you will inquire to what course of conduct 
 these disquisitions are intended to prompt you ; and if you find the 
 issue will probably be either an idle gasconade, or armed resistance to the 
 laws, you will ask yourselves, in what part of your religion is found the 
 command, or the permission, thus to threaten or resist the government of 
 your country ? Should you be taunted with your obedience as a degrad- 
 ing submission, you will reflect, that obedience is not dictated in particu- 
 lar to man, but is the necessary condition of every virtuous crealiure in 
 the universe j that universal good can only be secured by a voluntary 
 submission to every appomtment of Him who comprehends all events by 
 his foresight, provides for all by liis wisdom, and brings to pass what he 
 determines by a power which cannot be resisted ; that no such tiling as 
 a right of capricious action can exist m the universe ; that those, every- 
 where, who conmiand others, if vu'tuous, do, in the command itself, but 
 themselves obey — that he that sailh to one " go and he goeth, and to ano- 
 ther come and he cometh, and to a third do this and he doeth it," is 
 himself, in all tliis, " a man under authority" — thai the commencement of 
 sin is the first omission to obey ; and that, wherever we are and what- 
 ever we do, whether we dispose of our goods or our time, or receive or 
 give, or repose or labor, or live or die, we are pursued by oui- Creator 
 with the irresistible claims of a rightful authority. These reflections will 
 not only put to flight tliis suggestion of disgrace : they will do more ; 
 they will teach you the honor of obedience. Raising your contempla- 
 
21 
 
 lions upwards, you will perceive myriads of intelligent beings of diversi- 
 fied gifts and attainments — all happy and glorious, and possessing this 
 character solely from the principle of unlimited obedience — and you will 
 see it as a necessary truth, that this happiness and glory must cease with 
 tliis obedience. Your hearts will glow, while you contemplate this glo- 
 rious assemblage continually tending, in moral and intellectual beauty, 
 towards that infinite perfection, which they cannot either reach or ap- 
 jjroach unto, brightening more and more throughout the ages of eternity 
 with ever increasing splendor and vu-tue ; while, immeasurably above 
 them, remains forever the eternal source of glory and happiness, shed- 
 ding abroad of its fulness upon the universe, and sjjringing up in them to 
 eternal life. 
 
 If these thoughts were often in our minds, and had a resting place in 
 cm- hearts, how would oiu' jDride be rebuked, that fruitful source of all 
 Our ills ! We should feel, that obedience only is suitable and safe for 
 us — we should desire to obey, and when the heart is. once engaged in be- 
 half of duty, cavils have lost their power. 
 
 Under the influence of this principle, you will commence the com-se of 
 obedience and true honor, here, in your days of jjupilage. You will be 
 punctual in yom- observance of every regulation of the college, every in- 
 jmiction of your directors — nothing will be too difficult to be performed, 
 notliing so minute as to be forgotten. This noble habit you will carry with 
 you into the active business of life. There you will daily learn wisdom and 
 practise virtue — will both adorn and dignify every relation you may bear 
 in public and domestic life ; and death will only transfer you to a higher 
 scene, where the virtuous princii^les, the cultivation of which will have 
 been here commenced, shall be prosecuted with nobler powers and com- 
 plete success, and where the day of eternity shall see you at once glori- 
 ous and hmiible, obedient and happy forever.