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ORATION, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 OTie ^Xftlpfiit mnion Socfetg 
 
 OF 
 
 WXLLZAIVXS COLLEaE, 
 
 THE EVENING PRECEDING THE COMMENCEMENT. 
 
 SEPT. 5, 1826. 
 
 BY JOHN NELSON, 
 
 I^IIMSTER OF LEICESTER. 
 
 WORCESTER : 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BIANNING. 
 
At 0. Meeting of Toe Adelphic Union Society of Williams Col- 
 lege, on the sixth of September, 1826 — /" 
 
 Voted, That A. D. Wheeler, B. Phinney, and J. Ballard 
 present to the Rev. John Nelson the thanks of the Society ; 
 for his Address, and request a copy of the same for the press. 
 
 Jlttestj 
 
 O. TINKER, Secretary. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 IT is a peculiar happiness to find myself 
 again in the presence of this " Alma Mater," 
 whose memory I have never ceased to cherish, 
 and in intimate fellowship with so many of her 
 sons, now assembled, under the appropriate 
 name of The Adelphic Union. There is one re- 
 flection, it is true, which throws a shade of mel- 
 ancholy over the occasion. Some, who were 
 members and ornaments of this Society, I well 
 know, are sleeping in their graves ; and many 
 more are too widely scattered to be re-assembled 
 in this world. 
 
 But I would not forget that I am called to a 
 higher duty than that of giving expression to 
 those personal emotions, which the present hour, 
 with its thousand recollections, is so busy in cre- 
 ating. I stand, if not on holy ground, yet on 
 that which has been most piously consecrated to 
 learning and religion. I have the honour to ad- 
 dress an association of men whose minds have 
 been formed in the halls of science, and whose 
 lips have been touched, at least, with Castalian 
 dews. 
 
Perhaps T ought to apologize for saying, in this 
 place^ that learning, by which I mean the varied 
 acquisitions of a cultivated intellect, is pre-emi- 
 nently the gift of God — a portion of the Divine in- 
 tellio-ence infused into an earth-born creature — 
 an engine of power, fitted and designed to act 
 beneficially on whatever mass of human beings 
 falls within the circle of its influence. 
 
 \yhat if this gift has sometimes been pervert- 
 ed to unworthy purposes ? What if it has been 
 brought, in different ages, into a most unnatural 
 alliance with magic, astrology, and superstition? 
 What if the priests of Egypt, the brahmins of 
 Hindostan, and the monks of Romcf have each, 
 in turn, made it the instrument of establishing 
 their own power, and of holding the rest of man- 
 kind in spiritual bondage ? What if it has been 
 pressed into the service of infidelity, and made, 
 unwillingly, to supply the weapons of its unholy 
 warfare against the religion of Christ? What if 
 it has given a magic charm to a genius like By- 
 ron's, and thus become the vehicle of conveying 
 far and wide tiie poison which rankles in the 
 dark and misanthropic bosom ? These instances 
 of the abuse of learning only show its power, and 
 its capabilities of blessing mankind, when per- 
 mitted to act, not in alliance with unholy pas-^ 
 sions, but Avith the pure, the generous, and the 
 godlike spirit of Christianity. The names of an 
 Erasmus^ whose writings added lustre to genius, 
 and at the same time prepared the way for the 
 master spirits of the Reformation to enter suc- 
 cessful) v on the field of their labours, — of a Ba^ 
 
5 
 
 con, whose fearless researches into the arcana of 
 nature dissolved the death-like spell of the an- 
 cient philosophy, — and of a JYetvton, whose intel- 
 lect soared aloft among the orbs of heaven, or 
 descended to the centre, to ascertain the laws 
 which govern this material universe. — These, 
 and a host of others, suggest to us at once exam- 
 ples of powerful intellect and splendid acquisi- 
 tions, that were made to act with the best effect 
 on the highest interests of man. They blessed, at 
 the same time they ennobled the species that pro- 
 duced them. Much of their light, indeed, was 
 borrowed from the Sun of Righteousness ; but, 
 on this account, it did not less adorn or beautify 
 the moral creation on which it cast its blended 
 beams. 
 
 What important improvement in the intellec- 
 tual, social, or moral state of man has ever been 
 carried forward without the powerful aid of 
 learning ? Will it be said, that the propagation 
 of the gospel by illiterate fishermen furnishes an 
 instance ? My reply is, that instance was too 
 manifestly supernatural to be adduced as a pre- 
 cedent; for there, miracles took the place of ed- 
 ucation, and the endowments of the Holy Ghost 
 more than supplied the defects of learning. 
 
 It is much more pertinent to inquire how Mar- 
 tin Luther and his immortal coadjutors could 
 have withstood the usurpations of Rome, if tliey 
 had not been furnished with learning, to con- 
 found the subtleties of her partizans, to convey 
 to a beniglited populace, in their own vernacu- 
 lar tongue, the oracles of God, and thus to throw 
 
6 
 
 the broad light of heaven on the abominations of 
 the mjstical Babylon. 
 
 How, too, would the revolution which severed 
 these Colonies from the mother country, and 
 which seems designed in providence to exert 
 such a mighty influence on the future destinies 
 of the world, have been sustained or consum- 
 mated, if the actors in that drama had not brought 
 to their work the lights of learning ? There 
 might, indeed, have been heard the murmurs of 
 conscious oppression ; but had there been no 
 master spirits, imbued with Greek and Roman 
 and British lore, to direct that raging storm, can 
 it be doubted that the genius of colonial depen- 
 dence would still brood over this same land, 
 which is now the brightest and loveliest inherit- 
 ance of freedom ? 
 
 The untutored intellect, as much as it may 
 astonish us by its native grandeur, usually ex- 
 pends its force in savage valour, and the terrific 
 deeds of the warrior. It acts, indeed, upon soci- 
 ety; but, like the tornado, is followed by a track 
 of desolation; or, like the mountain torrent, it 
 rushes down with nature's ruins. But, with the 
 full advantages of scientific and moral culture, 
 the tornado is changed into the healthful breeze 
 of morning, and the mountain torrent into the 
 gentle stream which spreads beauty and fertility 
 over the face of nature. 
 
 It is a remark, however, which experience fully 
 warrants, that the influence of learning and of 
 learned men upon any age, depends, essentially, 
 upon the circumstances of Lhat age. And I have 
 
thought it might meet the demands of the oc- 
 casion, and serve, perhaps, to quicken schol- 
 ars to greater dihgence, if we should glance at 
 some of the peculiar advantages of the present 
 above any former age, both for calling into vig- 
 orous action the powers of the human mind, 
 and for diffusing over society the benefits of 
 useful knowledge. 
 
 But a few centuries have gone by, since the 
 intellectual energies of man were paralyzed by 
 superstition. The little learning which existed 
 in the world was almost exclusively confined to 
 the cells of the monastery ; and it was there 
 clogged and almost stifled by the jargon of the 
 schools, by a philosophy as remote from utility 
 as it was from common sense. The church, then 
 in the full exercise of her proud domination, 
 maintained a much sterner censorship over the 
 opinions than over the morals of men. To think, 
 to speak, or to write, except according to her 
 absurd dogmas, was a deadly heresy. Thus all 
 the fountains of learning were dried up or pol- 
 luted. No channels of communication were 
 open, or none which could convey the health- 
 ful waters to any considerable portion of socie- 
 ty. If a powerful genius sometimes broke away 
 from their restraints, — if a Gallileo, borne on- 
 ward by the energies of his mind, was able to 
 send forth a purified vision over the works of 
 God, and settle on an immutable basis the true 
 theory of the universe, he was made to pay dear- 
 ly for the rashness of his discoveries in the 
 gloomy prison of the inquisition. At the same 
 
8 
 
 time, the despotism of civil rulers concurred with 
 the superstition of the priesthood to keep man- 
 kind in ignorance, or at least to prevent that dif- 
 fusion of knowledge vi'hich might endanger the 
 foundations of their own authority. There was 
 a jealous eye to watch, and a strong arm to pun- 
 ish the presumption of any one who should dare 
 to advance opinions, which, by any construction, 
 might be deemed incompatible with the divine 
 right of Kings, or the dominion of the Roman See. 
 This gloomy and blighting despotism presided in 
 the halls of learning, and followed with its terrors 
 the solitary author to the retirement of his study. 
 A school for general education would then have 
 been deemed the greatest of all evils, unless we 
 except the reading of a bible, or the offering of 
 a prayer in a language which the supplicant, by 
 any possibility, could understand. But in the 
 present age, by the operation of causes which I 
 have not time to enumerate, society has, in a 
 great measure outgrown this intellectual bon- 
 dage. Mind, to a wide extent, has asserted her 
 unalienable rights, and now walks forth in the 
 majesty and strength of her own freedom. Not 
 that superstition or despotism are driven from 
 the earth — not that Rome has become truly rec- 
 onciled to the progress of knowledge — not that ' 
 the potentates of Europe, now in alliance, and 
 for objects whose turpitude can be equalled by 
 nothing but the impiety of calling them Holy, are 
 tolerant of the spirit and improvements of the 
 age; but the spirit and improvements of the age 
 have become too powerful for them. 
 
9 
 
 In the more favoured portions of Europe, and 
 in our country, especially, the man of letters is 
 left free to range over the field of his labours, 
 unappalled by the mitre or the crown. The 
 fountains of education are now open — the press 
 is free, and comparatively few barriers to knowl- 
 edge remain, except the limited capacities of the 
 human understanding. There are powerful stim- 
 ulants also to excite and animate the scholar in 
 his intellectual pursuits. The actors of the pres- 
 ent age have so far outgrown their pupilage as 
 to take the great interests of society into their 
 own hands. They have chosen, in a measure, to 
 be the arbiters of their own destiny, to think and 
 to act for themselves. Hence talents and mental 
 endowments are brought into use, and have be- 
 come a passport to thoso stations of honour and 
 of influence, which were once monopolized by 
 the privileged orders. 
 
 But this is not the only change in the charac- 
 ter of the age favourable to learning and the in- 
 fluence of learned men. Thq energies of societv 
 are not now as formerly expended in the feats of 
 chivalry and the profession of arms. The feudal 
 lord, who could neither read nor write, but who 
 gloried in the bloody trophies of an ancestry as 
 proud and as ignorant as himself, or in the success 
 of liis own prowess against a rival chieftain, has 
 given place to the truer nobility of intellect. The 
 age has transferred its honours from the warrior to 
 the scholar. It has decided that mind shall bo 
 the measure of the man. and not the strength of 
 2 
 
10 
 
 his arm. The youth is awakened to action by 
 the rewards of scientific and Hterary excellence, 
 not by the meteor of military renown. To think, 
 has, at length, become more honourable than to 
 light. 
 
 The learning of the age, too, is much relieved 
 from the authority of names, and from its blind 
 veneration for long established opinions. As it 
 has increased in strength and stature, it has in- 
 creased also in independence. One system is 
 not retained because it is ancient, nor is another 
 set aside because it is new. Innovation is no 
 longer dreaded as dangerous, nor is error deem- 
 ed sacred because it has long been maintain- 
 ed. The age has detected imposition, and is 
 resolved to take nothing more upon trust. It 
 demands arguments and reasons instead of au- 
 thorities. Every new discovery is sure to be 
 attended to, and ultimately to stand or fall on 
 its own merits. 
 
 This spirit of independent inquiry, it is true, 
 has run into some excesses. In religion, espe- 
 cially, it has touched, with an unhallowed hand, 
 the sanctities of revealed truth ; and, in some 
 cases, set up the arrogance of reason above the 
 oracles of God. But we have no fears, that ei- 
 ther learning or religion will suflfer, in the end, 
 l>ora this spirit of the age ; for truth stands on 
 her own immoveable basis, and asks no indul- 
 gence but the opportunity of making good her 
 claims. 
 
 The learning of the age, too, is more practical 
 than formerly, and more readily accommodates 
 
IJ 
 
 itself to the business of life. It no longer sits as 
 a recluse in the cloisters of a convent, nor struts 
 forth in the drapery of the schools merely to be 
 admired, nor displays its pedantry in massy fo- 
 lios, designed more to perpetuate the fame of 
 their authors than to benefit mankind. The age 
 has made the discovery, and it is a most impor- 
 tant one, that learning is not incompatible with 
 common sense, and that it loses nothing of its 
 dignity by being made subservient to what is use- 
 ful, it has at length come home to the business 
 of men. It acts directly and powerfully on every 
 department of human industry. It follows out 
 life in all the details of its occupation. It enters 
 the mechanic's shop, and goes with the agricul- 
 turalist to the labours of the field. It gives new 
 beauty to nature, and new perfection to art. And 
 last, though not least, the learning of the age en- 
 joys peculiar advantages for the diffusion of its 
 benefits. 
 
 There was a time, when the productions of ge- 
 nius could be communicated to mankind only by 
 being read to some popular assembly, or by such 
 an expense of time and labour in transcribing, 
 that the rich only could procure a copy. But 
 now, by the astonishing improvements in the art 
 of printing, the press has become a medium 
 through which the thoughts and discoveries of 
 the learned may be made to act on the whole 
 mass of the reading community. The creations 
 of any one mind are easily brought in contact 
 with a million of other minds. The writinsrs of 
 the learned are only to be committed to the 
 
12 
 
 press, and they become, at once, a common prop- 
 erty and a common benefit. 
 
 It is a circumstance, too, of the greatest impor- 
 tance as it respects the diflusion of knowledge, 
 tliat men of letters have far more intercourse now 
 than in any former age. The business of trans- 
 lating^ so little understood and so rarely prac- 
 tised by the ancients, has overcome, in a great 
 measure, the chief barrier to such intercourse, 
 diflference of language. At the same time, the 
 progress of navigation has brought distant na- 
 tions comparatively near to each other, and cre- 
 ated a thousand facilities for interchanging the 
 sympathies, the labours, and improvements of 
 learned men. Literary journals multiplied and 
 increased a thousand fold — books on all sub- 
 jects, whether moral, literary or scientific, pass 
 irom nation to nation, as if distance, and geo- 
 graphical limits, and diversities of tongues were 
 abolished together. Let the thoughts of a pow- 
 erful mind be put on paper — let that paper pass 
 through the press — let the multiplied copies 
 u'hich are thus produced be committed to the 
 rapid circulation of the post-office, — and a whole 
 continent will feel its influence in a shorter pe- 
 riod than Mas once occupied in transcribing a 
 single copy of Homer's Iliad. In the mean time, 
 this same production, if it bear the stamp of dis- 
 tinguished merit, is conveyed on the wings of 
 commerce to distant nations, and is soon added 
 to the general stock of human intelligence. 
 
 But I must dwell no longer on this animating 
 theme. If so hasty a view of the happy auspices 
 
13 
 
 of the age, as it respects the great cause of hu- 
 man improvement, shall awaken in the minds of 
 scholars a sense of obligation, in any measure 
 proportioned to their advantages, I shall thus 
 far have accomplished my object. And, notwith- 
 standing the greater demand for labour and lite- 
 rary enterprize, which, it must be confessed, 
 these advantages bring with them, I deem it a 
 privilege to live in such an age, and to partici- 
 pate in its toils as w^ell as in the glory of its 
 achievements. 4 It awakens a feeling of exulta- 
 tion, not unmixed, I hope, with gratitude, that 
 our lot has fallen in a period of the world so fa- 
 vourable, beyond all former example, for impart- 
 ing vigour and activity to the human mind, for 
 augmenting the stock of human inteUigence, and 
 for diffusing over the whole face of society the 
 benign influences of that intelligence. 
 
 I deem it a privilege too, to live in such a country^ 
 as well as in such an age — a country respecting 
 which it is no idle boast to say, the light of heav- 
 en shines not upon another, in which these ad- 
 vantages are so richly enjoyed. But it is a truth, 
 which, if it were possible, I would utter with a 
 voice that should reach every seminary of learn- 
 ing, and thrill through the multiplied departments 
 of every profession, that the preservation of all 
 that is dear to the patriot or the scholar, in the 
 circumstances of our country, depends, under 
 God, on the healthful vigour of that undefined 
 but powerful agent which we denominate public 
 sentiment. This is the vital principle, the living 
 and animating soul of our body politic. And to 
 
14 
 
 sustain this, to direct and carry forward its ener- 
 gies, creates the largest demand on the efforts of 
 learned men. Theirs is the prerogative and the 
 high responsibility of guarding the interests of a 
 Republic, which is fast expanding on every side, 
 and growing up to a stature whose magnitude 
 astonishes mankind. Here, if any where, then, 
 is a call for the most active exertion on the part of 
 scholars. The vastness of the objects which en- 
 gage attention, the boundless scope which is 
 given for every species of intellectual effort, and 
 the unexampled facilities which are furnished 
 for infusing light, and truth, and virtuous senti- 
 ment into the mass of the community, are suffi- 
 cient, one would think, to rouse the most slug- 
 gish spirit. 
 
 Let the monk, whom the church confines to a 
 little round of prescribed duties — let the poet- 
 laureate of a corrupt court, whose pension is the 
 reward of his sycophancy — let the patroned pa- 
 geant of a great man's table repose, if they will, 
 in learned ease ; but let not the stigma of indo- 
 lence attach itself to the scholars of a Republic, 
 to gifted men, whom the providence of God has 
 inseparably connected with the destinies of their 
 country — let there be no drones here, who con- 
 tent themselves with the honours and emolu- 
 ments of the hive, without labouring for the pub- 
 lic weal — let there be no minds inactive, no 
 hearts indifferent, no hands idle, when the growth 
 of a nation, from its infancy to its manhood, is so 
 rapid as to create an unparalleled demand for 
 intellectual and moral culture. 
 
15 
 
 Can it be forgotten that every seminary of 
 learninff, from the lilghest to the lowest, from 
 the university to the village school, demands the 
 most liberal patronage and the most eflScient 
 aid of scholars ? By increasing and purifying 
 these fountains, we send forth upon society pe- 
 rennial streams of light and of intelligence — we 
 produce the greatest amount of good by the least 
 expense of means — we bring the most powerful 
 moral machine to bear directly and beneficially 
 on all that is good, or great, or interesting in the 
 destinies of our Republic. 
 
 Or, can it be forgotten, that through the me- 
 dium of the press, too, so constantly employed 
 in sending forth its books and journals, to in- 
 struct or amuse the public mind, every American 
 scholar may, if he will, contribute to the common 
 stock of improvement? These books and journals 
 multiplied, beyond all former example, will, of 
 course, exert an immense inlluence upon a com- 
 munity, where they are soeagerly sought for and so 
 promptly read. They will disseminate, through 
 the whole extent of their circulation, the seeds 
 of life or the seeds of death. But, while through 
 these channels, so free to all, we may hope the 
 instructions of wisdom will continue to flow, it is 
 too much to hope, timt the salutary streams will 
 be unmixed with the waters of pollution. So 
 long as the press is free, the aspirant for office 
 will there send forth the disgusting pretensions of 
 his ambition, or the ravings of his disappoint- 
 ment ; and tlie apostle ofinfidelity will there as- 
 sail all that is sacred in religion, and all tliat ip 
 
16 
 
 venerable in the institutions of society ; and, at ' 
 the same time, unblushing profligacy will there 
 try her powers of enchantment to corrupt the 
 youthful mind, and to fix upon it the impress of 
 her own deformity. Surely, then, every patriot- 
 ic and every Christian scholar will feel himself 
 bound by no ordinary considerations of duty to 
 put forth his utmost strength, that he may turn 
 back this tide of corruption — that he may purify 
 society from its defilement — that he may preserve 
 the healthful tone of its sentiments and feeling, 
 by throwing upon it the multiplied efforts of ge- 
 nius, guided and sanctified by religion, and ren- 
 dered powerful by being baptized into the name 
 of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 In this age, and in this country, men iciJl read, 
 and let them read — God forbid they should not : 
 but 1 call upon American scholars to see to it 
 that our literary productions are of such a char- 
 acter as shall secure the soundness of the body 
 politic. To them is committed, in an important 
 sense, the guardianship of the press; and tre- 
 mendous will be their responsibility, if found un- 
 faithful to such a trust. Posterity will demand 
 of them a fearful reparation for the injuries that 
 shall result from their negligence. The world 
 will point them out as the unfait'iful stewards, 
 who left the fairest heritage of man to become a 
 prey to the destroyer. 
 
 But there is another consideration, which must, 
 I think, address itself to American scholars with 
 no ordinary force. Our country, it will be im- 
 possible to forget, is the great exemplar of ration- 
 
17 
 
 al liberty. This richest temporal boon of Heav- 
 en's munificence to man was long the object of 
 implacable hostility to the successive dynasties 
 of the old world. It was pursued by them, with 
 fire and sword, through every vale, and over 
 every mountain top, till no retreat was left, ex- 
 cept that little island to which we owe our origin. 
 There the scattered puritans, amid wrongs and 
 sufferings innumerable, cherished a few blighted 
 germs of this tree of political and social life, some 
 of which Providence designed should remain 
 there to bless a coming age ; but the fairest, the 
 firmest, and the best was borne by the Mayflower 
 to the rock of Plymouth, and planted on the mar- 
 gin of a boundless wilderness; and, thanks be 
 to God, it did not perish. No : but, watered by 
 the tears, and consecrated by the prayers of the 
 pilgrims, and reared up as by the hand of Heav- 
 en, it took deep root, and sent forth its branches 
 to the sea, and its boughs unto the river. Or, 
 to drop the figure, our country, in the progress 
 of two centuries only, has attained to a magni- 
 tude and glory which astonishes mankind. And 
 the admiration is called forth, not so much by 
 the extent of its territory, the vastness of its re- 
 sources, the grandeur of its natural scenery, or 
 the strength of its arm, as by the developments 
 of that liberty which breathes through all her in- 
 stitutions, pervades all her social habits, and di- 
 rects all the mighty movements of her resistless 
 enterprize and her boundless prosperity. 
 
 Such an example is of greater importance to the 
 world, toiling and groaning under the usurpations 
 3 
 
18 
 
 of a false religion and the galling yoke of despot- 
 ism, than I can find language to express. It is a 
 sun in the political heavens, whose beams do and 
 will penetrate through the impending darkness. 
 Already has it acted as a renovating power on 
 the southern half of our continent, awakening its 
 provinces from the long slumber of colonial bon- 
 dage, and leading them onward to freedom and 
 independence. Already has it sent forth its in- 
 fluence across the wide waters, to electrify the 
 monarchies of Europe, and to inspire the friends 
 of liberty there with new confidence and new 
 hope. 1 trust that the work of emancipation, 
 thus begun, will proceed onward and onward, 
 till the mitre and the crown, the altar of super- 
 stition and the throne of despotism shall crumble 
 together in the dust. 
 
 But whether or not these sublime anticipations 
 shall be realized, depends, essentially, on the 
 example which our country is now exhibiting to 
 the world. This is the last and the great expe- 
 riment of freedom. This is the argument which 
 is to refute the long acknowledged pretensions of 
 despotic rule, and to convince mankind that free 
 institutigns alone can secure to them their high- 
 est prosperity and their truest happiness. But 
 by whom is this example, so important in its in- 
 fluences, to be sustained ? By whom is it to be 
 carried ibrward with increasing majesty and pow- 
 er, if not by those who are qualiiied by their tal- 
 ents and learning to preserve the full energy ot 
 that lofty tone of virtuous freedom m which if. 
 originated ? 
 
19 
 
 f call, then, upon the scholars, upon the gifted 
 men of our Republic, not merely by the spirit of 
 the age, not merely by the memory of an ancestry 
 ^vho laid, in blood, the foundations of their em- 
 pire, not merely by their regard to the future mil- 
 lions who are to inhabit this wide continent — but 
 by the wrongs of an oppressed world, by the a- 
 bused rights of humanity, by whatever is odious 
 in usurpation or sacred in liberty, to guard with 
 unceasing vigilance the momentous trust com- 
 mitted to them, that example o{ free institutions^ 
 ivhose silent but powerful influence seems design- 
 ed in providence to become the genius of univer- 
 sal emancipation. I call upon the scholars and 
 learned men of our country, to bear in mind that 
 they hold a most important relation to a Repub- 
 lic, on whose unexampled prosperity the eyes of 
 mankind are fixed with intense interest, and on 
 whose success or failure depends the destiny of 
 unnumbered millions of the human family. 
 
 But I shall not feel that I have discharged the 
 duty imposed on me, on this occasion, without 
 calling the attention of scholars to the still higher 
 and more sacred obligations Avhich they owe to 
 the religion of the gospel. This religion, corrupt- 
 ed and perverted as it doubtless was by the super- 
 stition of the age, was still the only guardian of 
 learning, through that long night which preceded 
 the Reformation, and it has been its best protect- 
 or and its most efficient ally, in every subsequent 
 age. This religion was the principle which in- 
 spired the pilgrims with all that is great in pur- 
 pose, and all that is heroic in suflfering or in atv 
 
20 
 
 tion. It awakened, sustained and consecrated 
 their matchless eflforts; and it armed them with 
 that tirmness of rersolution, which no dangers 
 could appal, nor difficulties overcome. And this 
 religion, from the time the first knee was bent on 
 the rock of Plymouth, in Christian devotion, to 
 the present hour, has been the guardian angel of 
 our Republic ! Her ministry, her temples of 
 worship, and her continued influence upon our 
 schools of learning, are the mighty springs, the all- 
 powerful causes of our prosperity. No scholar, 
 I am sure, no man, of reading and reflection will 
 deny this, except from the influence of a heart 
 that has been poisoned by infidelity. Suppose, 
 for a moment, that the Sun of Righteousness 
 should be blotted from our heavens, that the bi- 
 ble should be abolished, that the Sabbath should 
 be converted into a common day, that the tem- 
 ple and the altar sliould sink together; and sup- 
 pose that fifty years should pass over us, thus 
 destitute of the light of life, — and who can think, 
 M'ithout shuddering, on what must then be the 
 condition of our country? 
 
 But we feel, perhaps, that there is no reason 
 to apprehend such a catastrophe. In New-En- 
 gland, I trust in God, there is none. But turn 
 your eye to the vast territories of the south and 
 the west — mark the tide of population that is roll- 
 ing over that w'ilderness — contemplate the vil- 
 lages, towns. States, and I might almost say na- 
 tions, wdiich are there springing up, as by the pow- 
 er of enchantment; and remember that these mul- 
 titudes compose a part of our country — that they 
 
21 
 
 furnish legislators for the older territories — and 
 that, hy their increasing majorities, they will soon 
 give a decided character to our government. — 
 Keep in view all this, and it will be impossible 
 to doubt, that unless we send forth, with this 
 flowing stream of" our new settlements, the heal- 
 ing influences of the gospel — unless we accom- 
 pany them, in their rapid march, with Christian 
 institutions, a flood of infidelity will, ere long, roll 
 back upon us, tainting our national councils, and 
 extending a deleterious influence through all the 
 ramifications of society. Connected as the parts 
 of our Republic are by a common bond of na- 
 tional confederacy, there will of course be an a- 
 malgamation of character; and how necessary it 
 is, that truth and righteousness should constitute 
 the predominating ingredients, I surely need not 
 labour to prove. 
 
 As patriots, then, bound by the ties of gratitude 
 to a pious ancestry, and most sincerely desirous 
 of transmitting unimpaired to future generations 
 our invaluable privileges, every American schol- 
 ar, if not lost to gratitude, and blind to the source 
 of his richest blessings, must feel himself sacredly 
 pledged to the cause of our holy religion. 
 
 And there is still another consideration, which 
 •gives additionalurgencytothishighest and noblest 
 enterprize of learning, for which we now plead. 
 
 Christianity, I do not hesitate to aflirm, is the 
 only agent which will be able to terminate the 
 reign of despotism, and to diffuse over the earth 
 the blessings of peace, of good government, and 
 of rational liberty. Aside from this, the projects 
 
22 
 
 of statesmen are foolishness, and revolution is 
 like the movings of the ocean when, it casts up 
 mire and dirt. 
 
 France exulted over the ruins of her Ba&tile, 
 demolished the throne of her Bourbons, and sent 
 forth the loud notes of freedom. But France 
 gained no valuable object; because the spirit of 
 the gospel did not pervade her councils, nor pu- 
 rify the elements of her political being. There 
 was no angel of the covenant, to ride upon that 
 whirlwind and to direct that revolutionary storm. 
 
 Spain needed a constitution, but she needed a 
 bible more. She could not profit by the recent 
 change in her government, because her energies 
 were paralized by remaining darkness and su- 
 perstition. Pour upon that degraded country 
 the light of the gospel, give her the religion of 
 the bible, and neither the cry of legitimacy nor 
 the frowns of the Holy Alliance will be able to 
 hold her in bondage. 
 
 History authorizes us to say, that the march 
 of freedom will keep pace with the march of 
 truth. Philosophers may dream — theorists may 
 publish their predictions, and statesmen may lay 
 down on paper their mighty schemes of improve- 
 ment; but never, till the angel flying through the 
 midst of heaven shall preach the gospel to every 
 creature, will man be truly free. 
 
 But the hour and the continued exercises of 
 the evening remind me, that the audience must 
 already seek repose. Thus time is always bear- 
 ing us onward on rapid wings. The labours of 
 the scholar, as well as of the man of ordinary at- 
 
23 
 
 lainments, are crowded into the short span of 
 human life; and whatever is done, for ourselves, 
 or for mankind, must be quickly done. I have 
 said, that the busy and excited character of the 
 age — that the great and still growing interests of 
 our Republic — that the cause of liberty, of hu- 
 manity and religion, press upon scholars a pow- 
 erful call to duty. And surely, minds which are 
 duly formed, which kindle and glow by the in- 
 spirations of learning, and which, in any measure, 
 feel the more sacred intluence that breathes 
 peace on earth and good will towards men, will 
 not be insensible to such a call. 
 
 Associates of the Adelphic Union ! we have 
 assembled, on this truly happy occasion, to re- 
 new the covenant of our sympathies and affec- 
 tions, and to tender another pledge of fidelity to 
 this venerable seat of learning. 
 
 Wherever we go, and in whatever sphere 
 Providence shall call us to act, we will remem- 
 ber Williams College — we will remember these 
 halls and these lecture-rooms, in which our minds 
 received their best endowments. Whether weal 
 or wo attend our steps, in life's dubious pilgrim- 
 age — whether honours gather around us, or our 
 names sink into forgetfulness, we will remember 
 these scenes of our youth — we will remember 
 this lovely vale, retired from the noise and glare 
 o^crowded life, and surrounded by those bolder 
 wcfrks of nature, which seem to mark out the 
 spot as a retreat for the muses, and as fitted for 
 tlie loftiest conceptions of genius. We will re- 
 .niombor fhcc^ Alma Mater — In all thy prosperity 
 
24 
 
 we will rejoice, and in all thy affliction we will 
 be sorrowful — we will engrave thy name on the 
 palms of our hands, and thy honour shall be sa- 
 cred in our keeping. 
 
 And amid the solemn as well as joyful recol- 
 lections, which crowd upon the mind at this 
 hour, will it be deemed too serious to invoke for 
 ourselves, as scholars and as gifted men, that 
 hallowed influence from above, which shall sanc- 
 tify our labours — which shall preserve us from 
 the allurements of pleasure, the cravings of av- 
 arice, and the aspirings of ambition — and which, 
 when the scenes of earth, its grandeur and its 
 loveliness shall fade from our view, and these 
 bodies shall become kindred dust with those of 
 our brethren whose graves we have moistened 
 with our tears, shall raise our emancipated spi- 
 rits to loftier flights, and to purer and holier 
 conceptions, in the paradise of God ! 
 
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