A SERMON PREACHED IN Trinity-College Chapel, BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN JANVARY the 9th. 1693/4.  
Being the First SECULAR DAY SINCE ITS FOUNDATION BY Queen ELIZABETH.  
By St. George Ashe, D. D. Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.  
Published by the Lords justices Command.  
Printed by Joseph Ray on College Green, for William Norman Bookseller in Dames-street, Dublin▪ 16●4.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY, Lord CAPELL, Sir CYRILL WHICH, and WILL: DUNCOMBE▪ Esq; LORDS JUSTICE'S OF IRELAND.  
My Lords,  
IN Obedience to Your Commands, I present to Your Lordships the Discourse I made before the University on our Commemoration-day, which I justly fear may fall much short of that Favourable Character Your Lordships received of it from some very partial Auditors; I am sensible, (my Lords) that its style may appear too exalted and declamatory, and many Expressions more fanciful than may be thought by some agreeable to the Gravity of my Place, or my usual way of Preaching; but that liberty I hope will be excused, in consideration of the extraordinary Occasion and Solemnity, and the numerous mixed Audience to whom it was addressed.  
If it may any way contribute to Encourage the Study and Improvement of Learning, or Raise up any New Friends and Benefactors to our College, I shall think its Publication seasonable: at least, my Lords, let not any Mistakes or Weakness in it prejudice Your Lordships against our Society, which You have hitherto so generously and kindly Protected. The Arts and Muses are proud to call You their own, they glory in having form Your Minds to that rare pitch of Wisdom and Knowledge which is admired by all; and therefore 'tis from Your Lordships they chief expect Patronage and Advancement, from Your Lordships, I say, whose more liberal Education, innate greatness of Mind, and exalted Station in the World, give you a privilege to Reason above the common rate of Mankind, and to Protect all such as endeavour to do so, by Your Authority and Example.  
That Your Lordship's zealous Endeavours for the Good and Prosperity of this Kingdom may ever prosper, and Your Government long continue a blessing to us that live under its happy influence, shall be the constant Prayer of  
My Lords, Your Lordship's most Humble, and most Obedient Servant, St. George Ashe.   

THE PRAYER BEFORE SERMON.  
LET thy merciful Ears, O Lord, be open to the Prayers of thy Humble Servants, and grant that thy Holy Spirit may direct and guide us in all our ways, and be more especially assistant to us in the Holy Actions of this day, in enabling us with grateful Hearts and zealous Endeavours to celebrate this Pious Commemoration, and to answer by our Studies and Improvements all the great and useful ends of our Munificent Founders and Benefactors. We render thee humble Praise and Thanks, O Lord, for the Most Serene Princess Queen Elizabeth, our Illustrious Foundress; for King James the First, our most Liberal Benefactor; King Charles the First and Second, our Gracious and Munificent Conservators; for the protection and bounty we have received from their present Majesties, our most Indulgent Patrons and Restorers; for the Favour of our present Governors, the Right Honourable the Lord's Justices; for the Lord Mayor and Government of this City, our Generous Benefactors; for the Nobility, Clergy, and Gentry of this Kingdom; thró whose Bounty and Charitable Generosity we are here Educated and Established; for the Improvement of Piety and Religion, the advancement of Learning, and to supply the growing necessities of Church and State; beseeching thee to bless them all, their Posterity, Successors, Relations, and Dependants, with both Temporal and Eternal blessings, and to give us Grace to live worthy of these thy Mercies, and that as we grow in Years so we may grow in Wisdom, and Knowledge, and Virtue, and all that is praiseworthy through Jesus Christ our Lord   

A SERMON Preached before the UNIVERSITY of DUBLIN.  St. Matthew XXVI. 13. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this Woman has done, be told for a memorial of her. 
OF such universal Obligation is the great duty of Gratitude, so necessary an ingredient is it both to a Holy and a Happy Life; that our Blessed Saviour who came into the World to teach us Virtue in every instance, could not be wanting to inculcate as well by Example as Precept this general parent one, this Original Spring which gives force and activity to so many lesser Graces, which makes Love to admire, Joy to applaud, Humility to reflect upon the indigence of humane Nature that needed such benefits, Thankfulness ever to celebrate 'em, and sets 'em all incessantly at work to perform its various Offices. A certain Pious Woman (as we read in the Verses preceding, the same who in another Gospel chose the better part, the one thing needful) having profited much by the Doctrine of Jesus, and been witness to many of his Miracles, to express her sense thereof, brought the most precious thing she had, a Box of costly Ointment, and poured it on his Head as he sat at Meat, so that it ran down to all the parts of his body, and with its grateful odour filled the whole house; this kind act of hers our Saviour in my Text thus solemnly and gratefully acknowledges, and declares that it shall be for ever celebrated and remembered.  
Now how parallel this case is to the occasion of our present Meeting, a little reflection may evince: A Princess the most eminent for Piety, Learning, Chastity, and Happy Government that ever blessed these Kingdoms, having enlightened our neighbouring Nation with the brightness of the Reformation, a●d fenced it in by Laws and just Authority against all the open force and secret contrivances of Popery or Schism; took into Her Royal Thoughts also the care and concerns of our poor Island, almost quite overrun with Barbarity and Superstition, and as the most effectual means to polish the one and reform the other, Founded this Seminary (whose Secular Solemnity we now Celebrate) whence true Religion, and Virtue, sound Learning and ingenious Education, might always spring up and issue forth to Plant and Cultivate the rest of the Land; She poured this Box of Precious Ointment upon the Head or Capital of our Kingdom, whence it might stream or descend to the most distant parts, and refresh the whole with its excellent savour; She laid in here such lasting Supplies of Piety and Literature, which, like Ointment, might smooth the natural roughness of our Temper, supple our morosest Passions, make us of a cheerful Countenance, render us active & fit for any Employment to which Church or State should call us; and, like a Sweet and Precious Ointment too, might not only gratify our own Faculties, improve and better our own Souls, but by a happy emanation shed its agreeable influence on all that approach us; and though some ignorant or envious bystanders may (as Judas) with indignation say, to what purpose was this waist? what needed this Royal Munificence? yet we and all who are benefitted by this Auspicious Foundation, must ever gratefully join with our Blessed Saviour in my Text, Verily we say unto you, wheresoever the Gospel (whose Holy Doctrine we have here sucked in, and to the understanding and declaring of which we have been here trained up and educated) shall be preached by any of us in the whole world, there also this, that this Woman has done for us, shall ●e told as a memorial of her.  
Gratitude and sense of Obligation are a kind of Civil Conscience, which oblige us as Men to perform many excellent 
Of Gratitude in general.  things, though there were no Religion in the World to enforce 'em; He who preaches this Virtue, pleads the cause both of God and Man, since without it we can neither be Sociable nor Religious; for Thanks and Acknowledgements are a Tribute payable by the poorest, the most indigent wretch, the most forlorn Widow has still her two Mites to throw in, has a Heart to be sensible of, and a Tongue to express its sense of a Benefit received; for surely Nature gives no Man a Mouth to be always Eating, and never saying Grace; nor a Hand only to grasp and to receive: but as 'tis furnished with Teeth for the one, so it should likewise have a Tongue for the other; and the Hands which are so often reached out to take and to accept, should sometimes too be lifted up to bless. The beautiful system of Providence, the whole course of Nature is one great argument for Gratitude; and the World only a larger exchange, in which one benefit is, or aught to be, the stated price of another. If we consider the Universe as one Great Body Politic, we may suppose Commerce, Society, and Conversation to supply the office of the Blood and Spirits, and 'tis Gratitude that makes 'em circulate; this is the great Spring that sets all the Wheels of Nature a going, the Band or Cement that holds together the differing, and otherwise inconsistent parts of the Creation: one may evidently discover it in all the Elements, in the Air and Flame, in the Seas and Rivers, in the Earth and Sun, in the friendly correspondence between the higher and the lower World; so that the Monstrous Man who has a Soul wholly void of Gratitude, would do well to set his Soul to learn of any of these, nay even of his own Body, for all the parts of that do kindly and mutually serve each other; the Hands and Limbs labour daily to bring in Food and Provision to the Stomach, (as it is handsomely applied in Menenius Agrippa's Apologue) which is gratefully returned in strength and nutriment, diffused to all the members of the Body. And is not then the Ungrateful Man a reproach to the Creation, a manifest exception from all the visible World? neither the Heavens above, nor the Earth beneath afford any thing like him, there is nothing besides himself but Hell, which is both the Region and the Emblem of Ingratitude, that is always receiving and never endeavouring to require; Ingratitude is instead of all other Vices in the balance of Morality, a counterpoise to them all; 'tis one great blot upon Humanity, and gives completion to the black Roll of numerous other sins.  
Now if even Natural Religion prompts so strongly to this Duty, what impressions must the Gospel make, which so far outshines both the dim Light of that, and the brighter Inspirations of the Law? which has so far refined upon all the Duties of Morality, that it declares even Anger and Harsh Words to be Murder, and looks and desires Adultery, that one may stab with his Tongue, assassinate with his Mind, and pollute himself with a glance; which obliges us to love, bless, and do good to our most implacable Enemies; then what tender sentiments, what a rapturous sense of real Love must it inspire for Friends 
Of the Gratitude due to our Founders and Benefactors.  and Benefactors? who have here expressed the noblest Charity to us, and conferred the most important and lasting Obligations upon us, by clothing our most shameful Nakedness, our Ignorance, our Errors, our Prejudices; by feeding our hungry Understandings, by furnishing our Minds; by healing our perverse Inclinations; and placing us in the path way to Heaven; these are truly Obligations as eternal as our Souls, and therefore 'tis but reasonable that our Gratitude, the memory of them should be as immortal also.  
But Words and Compliments are no suitable return to our Pious Benefactors, our justest Acknowledgements must be expressed by a diligent endeavouring to answer all the great and useful ends of their Donations, by promoting the knowledge and practice of Religion and Piety, the advancement of Learning, by a sedulous application to all the improvements of Education, and a careful managing the tender springs of Youth.  
Now to show how necessary the Institution of Universities 
The manifold usefulness of Universities and Colleges.  and Colleges is to the attainment of all these great designs, as also the numerous advantages which the Learning and Arts therein cultivated derive to all the degrees and stations of life, as it will best instruct us in our Duty, so it may in some measure contribute to perpetuate the Memory of our Munificent Founders and Benefactors, oncourage others to imitate their Generous Examples, and be a Subject most proper and suitable to this present occasion.  
But here it may be expedient to remove a mischievous prejudice 
An Objects against Aca●mick studies answered.  against Academic Studies, which comes recommended in a venerable imposing Proverbial Dress, as if Ignorance were the only True Mother of Devotion, and Learning of Atheism; however ancient this saying may be, 'tis certain that Humane Nature and the Service of God are little beholden to them who first introduced the false observation, as if Simplicity and Dulness were becoming Qualifications for the Divine Worship, or that the Light of Reason should ever be likely to produce a Spiritual Darkness; The Jewish Law forbade to Offer a Sacrifice to God that had a Blemish, yet this Opinion, while it bestows the most Excellent and Useful of all the Race of Mankind on the Devil, assigns to Religion only those Men, and those Times, which are stigmatised▪ with the greatest blemish of Humane Nature, namely, a Defect of Knowledge and Understanding: nay, as if God had despised our Rational Services, it compliments him still with Brutish Sacrifices, Man without Understanding being justly compared (by the Psalmist) to the Beasts that perish; both Reason and Revelation assure us, that all Sin and Error proceed from Ignorance, that 'tis the blindness of the Understanding which misguides the Will, and our Blessed Saviour says the same thing to the Jews, Ye do err (says he) not knowing the Scriptures and the Power of God, the Scriptures which Reveal his Will, and the World his Power; as if the study of these two Books were the best preservative from Error and Irreligion, and so it has always proved; to omit the former (which yet makes one of the noblest parts of that Knowledge and Learning 
The Usef●●ness of Human Learning to sacred Knowledge and Pi●  I am discoursing of) how must the contemplation of the Admirable Order and oeconomy of Nature in all its Productions and Periods, in all its several Seasons and Revolutions: how must the study of the surprising results of a Regular Providence, that Harmonious Concordance which runs through all the parts of the Universe, and renders them mutually subservient to each other, not only charm our Thoughts with delightful Ideas, but likewise insensibly raise 'em up to the great Author and Contriver of this wonderful Masterpiece? When God himself would represent his own Magnificence and Glory, he directs to his Works; he bids Job consider his Earth, his Ocean, his Clouds and Rain, that is, he bids him be a Philosopher; and Holy Men in Scripture, when they would quicken their own Souls and those of others to Praise him; send their Thoughts abroad among the Creatures, to the stupendious Furniture of Land, Air, and Seas, to gather instances of Acknowledgement: By the help of this Prospect we may discover conspicuous Characters of God's Omnipotence, and sound his Wisdom as far as the short line of Humane Reason is capable; thus by the Scale of Visibles, Contemplation and Knowledge lead us up to that Supreme Invisible Power which gives the Spring and Motion to all this mighty Machine; and by the steps and links of the Creation, our Inquisitions may guide us till we ascend to the top of that Chain, which the Poets feigned was fastened to Jupiter's Throne.  
Such dawnings of Divinity does each part of Knowledge contain, that the Astronomer finds a Deity in the Uniform Motion of Celestial Bodies, and Regular Vicissitude of Seasons; The Philosopher in the delightful variety of Natural Productions, their Beauty, Order, and conspiring tendency to the great ends of the Creation; The Historian in the wonderful turns of Providence, and manifest Discoveries of the Divine Managements in the Revolutions of the World: and though the Obvious Firmament, the Visible Beauties of the great World, and the appearing variety and fitness of those parts which make up the little one in Man, could scarce secure Galen from Atheism: Yet when he pried farther by Anatomical Inquiries, and saw the surprising diversity, aptness, and order of the minutest Fibres and Passages that are in the inward Fabric, he could not then abstain from the devoutness of an Anthem of Acknowledgement; nor can it otherwise happen, but that the Discoveries which are daily made by Study in God's Immense Treasury, must needs every moment fill the Soul with pleasant astonishment, and inflame the Heart with the ardours of the highest Love and Devotion, and the Contemplation of God's Works▪ joined with these natural pious Sentiments, seem almost an anticipation of that Bright and Clear Knowledge, which we shall hereafter enjoy in Heaven. Nay, of such a pious tendency is Learning, that in proportion to the Philosophy, and Knowledge, in which various Nations excelled, God has generally been worshipped in former Ages; Thus in Persia and Chaldaea, where the Skill of Heavenly Motions first began, they had their Temples on the Tops of Hills, and Open to the Air: In Egypt, where they had the best opportunities of studying the Natures of Living Creatures, by reason of that Variety, which their River and Land produced; all their Religious Mysteries were contained in Hieroglyphics, borrowed from Beasts and Animals: And shall Learning now be stigmatised for contempt of Divinity, when of old it did rather incline Men to Superstition, which is the supersaetation and rankness of Religion, and quite the other extreme? Formerly Priests and Scholars were Synonimous Words, and the great Apostles of Natural Theology, the Preachers of Un-enlightened Divinity through the World, were not others than the Philosophers and Wisemen; and certainly Nature, being nothing else but the Instrument of God, whereby he gives Being and Action to things, the knowledge of that, and other Useful Science, should be so far from being accounted Dangerous or Impious, that it ought rather to be esteemed a subordinate Theology, a necessary step and gradation to those exalted Mysterious Truths, which revealed Religion discovers to us. And agreeably hereunto we find the Patriarches and Holy Men of ancient times, that were most in God's Favour, were also best Instructed in the Knowledge of his Works, and Contributed most to the good of Mankind by their Useful Discoveries and Inventions: Adam (we read) was acquainted with the Natures of all Living Creatures; Noah, a Planter of Vineyards; Abraham (as Grotius collects) an Excellent Astronomer; Isaac, prosperous in Agriculture; Jacob, blessed in his Philosophical Experiment and Stratagem of the Speckled Rods; Moses, eminent in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians; Bazaleel and Aholiab, inspired in Architecture; Solomon, a deep Naturalist; Daniel, and his Brethren, skilled in all Learning and Wisdom, and (not to multiply Instances) they were the Philosophers of the East, the Magis or Wisemen, who expressed the most Early Piety and Zeal for Christianity, and made first Addresses to the Infant Saviour.  
Julian the Apostate, who was the most Refined Politic Enemy that ever Christianity had, well knew how beneficial sound Learning ever was to true Religion, and therefore the Edict which he published to suppress all Christian Schools and Colleges, was justly esteemed a more pernicious Engine to overthrow our Religion, than all the most Bloody Persecutions of former Emperors.  
Let them therefore, whose Interest it is to preach up saving Ignorance, implicit Faith, and blind Credulity; who could declare the Assertion of Antipodes to be a point of Heresy, and imprison poor Galileo in the Inquisition for proving the Earth's Motion; who could pronounce Mathematics heretofore to be Magic, and find Damnable Heresy in Greek and Hebrew: Let such (I say) applaud Ignorance as the Mother of Devotion, condemn all curious Researches and free Disquisitions in Learning, and writ Encomiums upon passive credulous Simplicity; 'tis certain our Church and Religion can never be safer than amidst the Consequences of a Rational Learned Age, and all the various Improvements of Knowledge, since they aim not at the Captivity but Freedom of Men's Minds; and we can never make War against Learning, without Undermining one of our chief Strengths, our most successful Weapon, with which we combat Enthusiasm on one hand, and Superstition on the other.  
And thus having not only vindicated Human Learning, and the Arts that are here cultivated; from an unjust Prejudice; but likewise shown their great Usefulness and Subserviency to all sacred Knowledge & Religion: The Proofs will lie more easy and obvious, how they farther tend to the Improvement & Perfection of ●our Minds; and are the fruitful Parents of all those profitable Discoveries which render the Life of Man Happy 
The Usefulness of Human Learning to Government, and all the In- 〈…〉  and Comfortable.  
The Poets with great Significancy feigned Minerva as well to be the Goddess of Arms, as Patroness of Arts, intimating doubtless, That Empire did ever best flourish and grow up in Conjunction with Learning; witness the Ancient Principalities of Greece, those Celebrated Schools at once of War and Philosophy, where their greatest Generals were taken out of Colleges, from under the Institution of Wise Men and Philososophers, from the Calm and Retirement of a Study; where Socrates could furnish out a Pupil Xenophon, raw and undisciplined, to perform one of the greatest Actions of Antiquity; and a single Archimedes with his Rule and Compass could defend Syracuse, and defy for a long time the whole Force of Marcellus' Army: Witness Rome itself, whose Empire was never in greater Glory than when Arts too and Ingenuity were most cultivated and encouraged, Julius Caesar from an Orator became a Hero, and is still perhaps as justly Celebrated for his Commentaries as his Conquests. Scipio the Great is reported to have spent more time in his Study then in his Camp, and was oftener observed with a Book than a Sword in his Hand; nay Learning among them was the undoubted and infallible step to all sorts of Preferment; it Recommended their Consuls and their Dictator's, nor could the Government of Nations, the Dispatch of Armies, the Noise of Victories interrupt their Studies: They writ Books even with Triumphal Hands, and Argued and Disputed with Philosophers, though they had Legions at command. From the days of Nerva down to Commodus was the Happiest Age the Roman Empire ever knew, whether we consider its vast Extent, or the great Felicity and Peace in which it was Governed; and then we find none but Plato's wished for Emperors, such as were Philosophers too, a succession of Antonines, Trajan's, Adrian's, such Wise and Learned Princes, as brought Knowledge into Fashion and Repute; gained it admission into Courts and Palaces; taught it to keep the Best Company; rendered it the study of Statesmen and Politicians; the Employment of the Rich and of the Great. But not to wander so far; who among the Saxons was a greater encourager of Learning than King Alfred? and who too, more Victorious in his Arms, and more Wise and Regular in the Administration of Affairs? And to come yet nearer to our present Occasion; When were these Nations more Happy, then under the long and glorious Reign of our Illustrious Foundress? whom as we must always gratefully own to be the Best Patroness of Arts and Knowledge, the Restorer of Decayed Learning among us. so all the World will grant Her not only to have been the Most Learned of Her Sex, but to have exceeded in this Particular, as well as in Wisdom and other Princely Virtues, all the Contemporary Monarches and Princes in Christendom.  
To descend yet lower; IT would be almost infinite to reckon up the various Helps and Compendiums which Learning has furnished to all the Inferior Arts, to the Entertainments of Peace, as well as the Successes of War. What Improvements do Trade, Commerce, Navigation, the Culture of Lands and the Advancement of Mechanics in general own thereto? nay if we will not give these useful Inventions an Epicurean original, and impute 'em wholly to Blind Chance or a fortuitous concourse of Lucky Thoughts, we must believe they proceeded from an unwearied vigorous investigation of Nature and its Powers, from a sedulous tracing such Links and Connexion's, Corollaries and Consequences, as none but a Thinking Learned Head is acquainted with.  
In sum, Antiquity owes all its Heathen Gods and Divinities to the fruitful Industry of Scholars, the Admiring World of old deified their Discoveries, Built Temples and Raised Altars to the happy products of Science; and though Theseus, Minos, and Romulus, who were Founders of Empires and Fathers of their Country, could only arrive to the Inferior Honour of Heroes and Demigods: yet Ceres and Bacchus, Mercury and Apollo, who invented Useful Arts and Sciences, and obliged the World with more lasting and advantageous Benefits, were Worshipped with the highest degree of Adoration and ranked among the Dij majorum Gentium. And doubtless the Discoveries of the latter bringing perpetual Profit and Advantage with them, being gentle and easy; like the still small voice, had more evident Characters of a Divine Presence and Efficacy than all the boisterous noisy transient Benefits of the former.  
But if any are more affected with the pleasures of Thinking and Meditation (which indeed is properly to act as Men) no other Employment can afford the like Advantages. All other Delights are mixed and adulterate and do chief gratify our Bodies or Sensitive parts; are acquired with Expense and Hazard, and do either weaken Nature, or nauseate in the very enjoyment: whereas these render the constitution of the Mind more vigorous and healthy, its Faculties are made more bright and active by constant use, their fruition does not exclude Appetite, while we drink we thirst, and by a grateful vicissitude of Desiring and Possessing, are always in Action and always Happy, And indeed what more manly and becoming, as well as Noble Employment can there be, than to improve our best Talents, and enlarge and extend our Spirits? while we industriously cultivate our Lands, and adorn our Bodies, is it fit our Understandings should lie fallow & barren, and the Divine Image which we carry within us remain neglected, dishonoured, and unimproved? Is it fit our Minds, which are large enough to embrace the whole World, and comprehend the vastest Truths, should be busied only Servilely to cater for the Body, and not rather employ themselves according to the dignity of their exalted Natures, and be cultivated and adorned as becomes their Heavenly Extraction? 'Tis the perfection of our Rational Part to know, that is, to be able to frame clear and distinct Conceptions, to form right Judgements, and to draw true Consequences from one thing to another; and Reason is the undoubted Birthright and Patrimony of every man, and whoever will suffer this valuable Entailed Estate to lie waist and useless, or be Mortgaged and Squandered away for Trifles, does scarce merit Pity, if he become Poor, Despised, and Miserable.  
But to be more successful yet in the behalf of Learning, we will bribe the Sensual Appetites and Affections of Men, and show that even their Lusts and Passions may find repose there. Is any one ambitious of Fame and Glory? 'Tis this shows the readiest path thereto, and will furnish out a Name, precious as the Benefits it derives on Mankind, and lasting as the Books and Monuments in which they are Registered. Aristotle's Works will be known, read, and admired, when his great Patron's Conquests may perhaps be forgotten; and the Reputation of Achilles is much more obliged for its duration to Homer's Pen, than his own Sword.  
Is any fond of Empire and Command? Learning establishes the most diffusive Universal Monarchy, extending its Power to the most distant Nations, and making a Conquest over all that is rational; Tyrants may enslave the Body, and by Rigour and Injustice preserve an uneasy tottering Command; but the Empire of Knowledge is over the Will and the Mind, it fixes its Throne in the Souls of Men, and rules their Reasons and Understandings.  
Are we desirous to Keep the Best Company, and Converse familiarly with the Most Ingenious, the Greatest and Wisest Men that ever were? In Books we may freely talk with the most Celebrated Philosophers, and compendiously reap the advantage of all their Studies and Improvements; there we shall find Reason without Passion, Learning without Affectation, a●d Eloquence without Noise or Clamour; by their means we may Converse with Mighty Heroes, whom in their Life-time we durst scarce perhaps Salute with our Eyes; We may be admitted Confidents to Statesmen, hear Demosthenes and Cicero haranguing in open Senate, be present while Augustus and Trajan speak to their Armies, see them Riding in their Triumphal Chariots, and Receiving the Acclamations and Applauses of the People. And all these Privileges we may arrive too, without Attendance and Crowding, without Brihing or Flattery, without Sauciness or Intrusion. Thus by the assistance of Books and Learning we may acquire a kind of Intellectual Omnipresence in all Ages, and to all Places; 'tis thus we break into all the hidden recesses of Truth; Indefatigable Reading brings in a vast stock of matter, which is often without form and void, like the first Chaos, till Thinking and Contemplation, like the seminal Spirit, agitate the dull shapeless lump, and work it up into Figure and Symmetry.  
Lastly, What Raptures can the Voluptuous Man fancy, to which those of Learning and Knowledge are not equal? If he can relish nothing but the pleasure of his Senses, Natural Philosophy exposes the beautiful bosom of the Universe to his view, admits him into Nature's Garden, where he may taste of its Fruits, and satisfy himself with its Plenty; learn, not only to admire, but, comprehend all its surprising Phoenomena. Mathematics discover all the delightful Contrivances of Art, unfold all it● curious Springs and latent Causes, and instruct the Busy Mind how to improve and better former Inventions; from most obvious Principles, by a natural progress and ascent, the Understanding rises to the boldest Truths, tracing the Chain of Propositions from Link to Link, and still diflusing itself over infinite Regions of new Discoveries, wherein no fallacious Shadows of verisimilitude intervene, there is no suspicion of any latent mistake, turn the Theorem which way you please, in every light the Mind is still in full aquiescence, in most secure possession of its Valuable Purchase; most other Knowledge (how diverting soever) is yet still conjectural and litigious, whereas Peripatetic and Cartesian, Catholic and Heretic, do all agree in a Mathematical demonstration, which is yet a farther conviction of the great Excellency and Beauty of its Truth.  
'Twould be endless to run through all, to describe the great and useful Images which History furnishes, the Subtlety of Logic and Metaphysic, the Advantages of Moral Philosophy, the resistless Power of Rhetoric, and the Charms of Poetry; it is sufficient to have pointed out such general Instances, whence it may appear, that all the Blessings of Nature, as well as the Ornaments and Comforts of Life, are derived from the retired Thinking Man.  
'Tis true, no one Humour has furnished the Stage with more pleasant Scenes, or afforded a larger Harvest to Comedy and Burlesque than the Actions, Gestures, Habits, and Expressions-of Scholars; Aristophanes of old diverted the Athenians by Ridiculing Socrates, and the fruitful satire has been plentifully propagated to our times; coming out of the retired silence of a College and Study, they are supposed to be deafened by the noise, or dazzled with the false Glories of the World; their Sedentary Life is thought to unfit 'em for Activity and all Business, to render 'em sheepish in their Looks, phlegmatic in their Tempers, mopish in their Conversations, ridiculous in their Behaviour, and exposed to a thousand pleasant Absurdities, which a man of the World would escape; but 'tis to be feared that they who object at this diverting rate, mistake Affectation and Pedantry for Learning, the Sordid Ape for the Man; true Learning takes in th● theory of Men as well as Nature, and its Object is as large and universal as the very Notion of Being; it Reads the World as much as Books, Recommends Conversation as well as Study, and joins Experience and Contemplation together to perfect and complete the Mind.  
But to come closer yet to the Occasion of our present Meeting; As Water (to use the Excellent Lord Bacon's comparison) whether it descend in Dew from Heaven, or spring out of Fountains of the earth, is easily lost, unless it be preserved in certain receptacles, where by union and collection it may be kept and increased, whence humane industry has designed Aquoeducts, Cisterns, and Ponds, adorned as well for State and Magnificence, as contrived for use and necessity: So likewise this precious liquor of knowledge (this sacred ointment of my text) whether it be instilled by divine inspiration, or conveyed from our senses, would soon perish and be lost, were it not preserved in Universities, Colleges, and Schools, which are the lasting Fountains and Repositories of Learning, whence with glad streams it flows to refresh and make sertile all the neighbouring land. A solitary unassisted industry, though never so indefatigable; is rarely known to produce any thing great or extraordinary; whereas no part of knowledge seems insuperable to the joint endeavours of a well regulated Society, united in common studies and the prosecution of the same useful ends; in the former 'tis like spending out of a private Estate; in the latter, as out of a public Fund, or Treasury; Add to this, the new lights which are daily struck out, and appear by mutual Converse, the happy effects of a generous Emulation (which is the most impetuous powerful Spring to all the good performances of Youth) and above all, the inestimable advantages of Education, and forming the Minds and Manners of the tender waxed Age, by laying the foundation of a holy and happy life, and adding several cubits to the stature of our minds; which render such Societies as this, the best security of Virtue and Piety, the bulwarks of true Religion, the most public Blessings of a Nation,  
'Twas truly observed by Aristotle, that we are at first born mere Animals, to be afterwards Educated and brought up into men; our Reason then seems (in a great measure) to be the birth of Time and Institution; and the Mind of man is such a Jewel, that though it bring its perfections from the Bed, yet they are altogether rough and unpolished; much pains and art are required to fashion their rudeness, to conceal the flaws, and as well to form as cultivate the tender Seeds; and in the care of this, the Chinese (if we may trust the relations made of them) do justly boast they have out done all other Nations, having erected the most noble Edifices for the instruction of Youth, allotted the most liberal maintenance to the Professors and Teachers, and thought no Honours and Respects too great to be given them, who lay out their whole time and powers on the Improvement of others; rich persons are often expensive upon trifles, about the mere circumstances of life, and useless ornaments of a man; they can often afford to be generous to those who instruct the feet and the hands; and is it fit then, that they who labour to furnish the head with useful Knowledge, to adorn the Mind and Soul, and to enable men to serve their God piously, and their Country usefully: Is it not a reproach (I say) that such alone should be sacrificed to Thrift, or sordid Avarice? Life is a Journey, not an anxious Pilgrimage; and doubtless therefore, the Hospitality of the World should be the rather afforded to us; and competent Riches and Honours allowed to our Baiting places, whose whole business it is to study the Improvement of others, to manage the unequal temper of Youth, and to Cultivate growing Virtue and Learning.  
This our Munificent Founders and Benefactors well understood; and therefore thought they could not employ their Wealth more advantageously, or place it in a securer Treasury, than by such pious Erections, where True Religion might be taught, Virtue Inculcated, Learning Improved, and a constant supply of useful men both in Church and State furnished out and prepared. What the Poor are ordinarily relieved with, is not so much the Giver's Alms, as their exigence; and, as necessity requires it, so it quickly perishes: But these liberal Oblations, as they savour of a more inward and deeper Charity, are too of a more lasting subsistence, besides the Eternal Treasures which are laid up for the Donors, they provide for the perpetuity and propagation of Religion and Knowledge to all succceding Ages, and may truly be said to Honour God, and be useful to their Country, not only in themselves, but in all that by such their Bounty are maintained and educated. This is properly to Convert and Proselyte M●mmon, to Consecrate that as an Offering, which was before an Idol: this is to make this Earth tributary to Heaven; and in a much nobler sense than the new System of Astronomy teaches, advance it into a Star, a Celestial Body.  
That their Memories therefore and Benefits may be ever gratefully Celebrated, and their Names remain precious, and sacred among us; that their generous Examples may excite other well disposed Persons and Benefactors to an imitation, and that we may always answer the great and useful ends of our Foundation, shall be our constant Prayer and Endeavour.  
Praise the Lord therefore with Me, ye Servants of the Lord, ye that dwell in the Courts of the House of our God, and let us magnify his Name together.  
FINIS.