of the object, will be acknowledged, to use the words of inspiration, as fellow workers together with God, and will share in the honors of that day, when peace in the universe shall be established; when the long conflict shall be decided between reason, order, and piety on the one side, and passion, selfishness, and moral uproar on the other.

But, in such a cause, it may be asked, why we do not witness more present success. I fear, Gentlemen, that this question is too easily answered. Our success is perhaps now in higher proportion to our endeavors, than these are to the object in view. When exertions to suppress intemperance shall have been made for many years, with ardor, tempered by deliberation and sound judgment, and with something of that stubborn perseverance, with which men are wont to pursue their private advantage, it will be in season, should there be occasion for it, to complain of our ill success. The fact unhappily is, that when we first engage in any object of public utility, there is a preternatural excitement produced, which is followed by correspondent languor. And we are in danger of spending the remainder of our days in refreshing our exhausted spirits, and in complaining that nothing great or good can be effected in such a world as ours.

I am far from believing, however, that the general good, which has resulted from societies for suppressing intemperance, is inconsiderable. Many established drunkards may not, indeed, have been reclaimed to sobriety. But, that the unnecessary, and therefore, injurious consumption of ardent spirits, among persons who were never intemperate, has been essentially diminished, is a fact, of which we can have no doubt. The inportance of this fact is seldom duly appreciated. In consequence of it, many expenses have been prevented among those, who could ill encounter them; and habits have been seasonably interrupted, which would have issued in customary inebriation. It may be a more splendid feat to recover a post, than maintain it; but surely the latter is not less conducive to a happy termination of the war.

The object of our union is to discountenance and suppress, not only the use of ardent spirits, but likewise its kindred vices, profaneness and gaming.

There is no measure so effectual, it has been observed, for exterminating particular vices, as to strengthen moral feelings and principles. Whatever tends to subvert these principles and deaden these feelings, we are bound, therefore, uniformly and perseveringly to oppose. In the whole dark catalogue of human vices, there is none, which tends to this, with more fatal effect, than the customary use of profane language. The enormity of this crime, considered in a religious point of view, might better be discussed on a more solemn occasion. We now speak of it only as it affects civil society and social order. Instead of detaining you, by showing, which might easily be done, how this crime tends to debase the whole moral character, by breaking that golden chain let down from heaven to earth, to connect man with the Author of his being, I would respectfully appeal to every person present ;-I appeal to those especially, who sustain the honorable relation of parents or guardians to the rising generation. Are you willing, that your sons and your daughters should form their characters under the influence, and in imitation, of those, who avow their disregard to revelation, by speaking contemptuously of its rewards and punishments? Are you willing to contemplate them, as future members of the community, impatient of order, hostile to restraint, and to all Christian establishments,-to every thing indeed, which sober, rational, and virtuous men have deemed precious and venerable ;-all, that is secure, or stable, or lovely in the social state, and all, that is august, or blissful, and holy beyond the grave?

On the contrary, if this earth can be the scene of any delightful visions, they are those presented to the mind of that parent, who, in looking forward to a period, subsequent to his own death, sees his descendants, whether in retired or prominent stations, the friends of domestic virtue, of liberty, of law, and religion; loving their families and their country, and cher

ishing Christianity, not only as that instrument, which conveys to good men the heavenly inheritance, but as forming a fundamental part of the civil constitution, under which they live.

*

Permit me, Gentlemen, to close, by reminding you and myself of what we ought never to forget. Whatever is to be done for society, for the interests of virtue, and for the honor of God, must be done speedily. This consideration is forced upon our minds, by the recent and much lamented death of that distinguished citizen, who first presided in this society ;- —a citizen, whose powerful and splendid talents were exciting interest, not only in this Commonwealth, but in the centre of our confederated republic. The Lord hath taken away "the honorable man, the counsellor, and the eloquent orator."+ Let us heed the solemn warning, and look forward to the day of eternal retribution. "Behold, I come quickly," saith the Divine Author of our religion, "my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his works shall be."

* Hon. Samuel Dexter.

Isaiah 3: 3.

VOL. II.

46

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.*

THE DANGERS OF A COLLEGE life, AND ITS
SECURITY.

I AM not solicitous, that the present should be termed a theological lecture. It will have for its immediate object no individual doctrine of Christianity; but that general regularity of life, which, as students in science and literature, and believers in revealed religion, you are bound to maintain.

I shall first enumerate some of the dangers of a collegial life ; secondly, consider in what way you may obtain the greatest security in the midst of them.

Under the first division, I observe, that one of the dangers to which literary youth are exposed, arises from the opinion, that the standard of morals is not to all persons the same, and that in regard to the students of a college, the laws of revealed religion are either repealed, or rendered more lenient. That such a sentiment, if not avowed, is secretly entertained, appears from this circumstance, that practices, which in other situations are universally condemned as immoral, are sometimes viewed by associated literary young men with little or no displeasure.

If such a sentiment is cherished by any, I fear indeed that the error is invincible. That want of thought which gave rise to it, will probably render ineffectual any efforts of mine for its removal. It is doubtless true that the external duties of a statesman are different from those of the soldier-that the external

Although this Lecture and the following one formed a part of the regular theological course, yet their character justifies their being introduced in their present connexion.

duties of the physician are different from those of the artificer; that is, the same moral principle, piety to God, and benevolence to man, would require different actions of persons, whose conditions in life were so various; because the virtue and happiness of the great mass may be most effectually advanced by sedulous attention to their respective employments. But persons in neither of the situations mentioned, can be at liberty to lose sight of these great objects. The artificer is as really bound to relieve a neighbor in distress, as the physician to administer cordials. And if the soldier has no right to turn his arms against the State, neither has the politician to concert plans for its ruin.

The obligations of veracity, justice, and temperance, are on all equally binding. The statesman and the soldier are not less the creatures of God, than the artist or the cottager. They have the same origin, and the saine relation to their Creator, The same dispositions towards the Deity and his creatures are required of both. If the soul of one man is immortal, the soul of another is not less so. If there be a retribution, which reason renders probable, and revelation makes certain, it must in relation to all men, proceed on the same principles.

These remarks, which relate to persons in different employments, are equally applicable to those in various stages of life. Whenever we acquire such intellectual powers as render us accountable, the obligations of morality can neither be violated nor neglected with impunity. If our opportunities for mental cultivation be somewhat more favorable than those of others, our relations and consequent duties may be better known, and all immorality is the more irrational, criminal and dangerous. There is the same standard of morality to the rustic youth, inured to manual labor, and to the young gentleman, whose better fortune is opening to him the treasures of science and literature; with this difference, that the obligations of morality are more easily, and more accurately known in one case than in the other.

It may be added that collegial pursuits give no assurance of long life; so that if it be in general a matter of prudence, to look beyond the narrow limits of our earthly existence, and to con