V
BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS
DELIVERED
AUGUST 12, 1833,
AT THE
SECOND ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA.
BY ALVA WOODS, D. D.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY.
TUSCALOOSA:
w. W. & F. w. M'GUIRE, PRINTERS
1833.
State Capitol, August 13th, 1833.
Rev. A. Woods: Sir—By a resolution of the Board of Trustees of the
University of Alabama, the undersigned have been appointed a Com¬
mittee to wait on you, and respectfully ask, for publication, a copy of
your learned and very valuable Baccalaureate Address, delivered at the
University on the 12th August, 1833.
Gentlemen : The Baccalaureate Address delivered on the 12th inst.,
and which, by a resolution of your honorable Board, you have solicited
for publication, I have the honor to place at your disposal, hoping that
it may contribute something to the promotion of the cause of good learn¬
ing and sound morals. Very respectfully
Wm. Acklen, Chairman.
J. W. Garth.
Joab Lawler.
University of Alabama, Aug. 15th, 1833.
Your obedient servant,
A. WOODS,
To Messrs. Wm. Acklen,
J. W. Garth,
Joab LawleRj
ADDRESS.
Young Gentlemen of the Graduating Class:
The close of another academic year has assembled us in this
lofty temple of science, to crown you with the wreaths of honor to
which you are entitled.
To the legal guardians of this Institution, you are under many
obligations for the ample provision here made for the instruction
of the rising generation in all the departments of knowledge usu¬
ally taught in the best Colleges of the Union. This extensive
range of buildings on this healthy and beautiful site, the spacious
lecture rooms, the select library, the ample philosophical appa¬
ratus, the various departments of instruction which have been
established, this stately edifice, erected for our anniversary cele¬
brations, and vieing in architectural magnificence with the Pan¬
theon at Rome, all bear testimony, both to the munificence of the
general government, and to the fidelity with which the Trustees
of this University have discharged the high trust reposed in them.
Young gentlemen, you have not been so long the objects of
our care, without exciting in our breasts deep solicitude for your
future welfare. Your reputation and your success we consider
as, in a measure, identified with our own. If, on the great scene
of action opening before you, you quit yourselves like men and
rpach the higher eminences of moral excellence, we shall rejoice
with a father's joy. But should you prove recreant to the cause
of virtue and of man, our hearts will be wrung with the deepest
anguish. Permit me then, before we part, to avail myself of this
last opportunity of addressing you.
6
In the first place, young gentlemen, let me exhort you, Be not
satisfied with slender attainments in literature and science. Ima¬
gine not, at any time, that your education is completed, or that
you are too old, or too wise to learn. Though your present
literary attainments are respectable, yet if you sit down satisfied
with these attainments, be assured, many a man, who has never
been within the walls of a College, will outstrip you in the career
of honorable and eminent usefulness. The most complete edu¬
cation which can be obtained in any of our Colleges, during the
short term of four years, is, after all, very limited. It is but the
beginning of knowledge. It gives us only distant views of the
beauty and grandeur of the temple of science. It imparts such
an amount of knowledge, as, with the ingenuous, serves only to
stimulate the literary appetite.
Let your influence, then, ever be exerted in favor of the most
thorough and complete education which our literary institutions
are capable of affording. There is no branch of knowledge
taught in the usual course of collegiate education, which is not
attended with important advantages.
Let not a love of ease, or a love of pleasure, ever allure you
from the paths of knowledge. These paths, though rugged, will
conduct you to pure fountains and to healthful eminences. They
are, in the language of Milton, "laborious, indeed, at the first
ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect,
and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was
not more charming."
In the second place, in all your efforts to promote the cause of
learning, remember the superior importance of moral to intellectual
education. "The great end of learning," said Milton, "is to
repair the ruins of our first parents, by regaining to know God
aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to
be like him."
Is it not to be feared, that in our higher seminaries of learning,
it is the too exclusive aim, to educate the intellect, to the neglect
7
of the heart? — and that youth are too often considered as educa¬
ted, if their minds are stored with literature and science, though
unfurnished with moral principles ?
Is it not to be apprehended that the giving of honors and dis¬
tinctions to mere literary merit, where none are awarded to
moral excellence, may tend to mar the just proportions of a good
education, and to throw into the shade the higher purposes of our
existence ?
God forbid that our public literary institutions should ever be
turned into partisan schools for teaching the peculiar dogmas of
any sect. But while this dangerous extreme is to be most care¬
fully avoided, it should still be remembered, that the only safe and
useful education, is that which is reared on the broad principles
of morality. It should ever be borne in mind, that whatever
knowledge a man may possess, whatever mental power he may
by long discipline acquire, it will all be worse than useless to him¬
self, worse than useless to society, unless it be placed under the
guidance of high fixed moral principle ; and, without moral prin¬
ciple,
" That brighter genius prompts to bolder crimes,
And heavenly talents make infernal hearts."
In all your efforts, then, to promote education, never lose sight
of the paramount importance of moral excellence. Labor con¬
tinually to give greater fixedness and stability to your moral prin¬
ciples; to give greater range and elevation to your moral feel¬
ings; and, in a word, to cherish all those purer charities of the
heart, which bind man to man, and which bind man to his Maker.
In the third place, young gentlemen, let me entreat you to re¬
member, wherever you go, that the great principles of right and
wrong remain unchangeably the same. They are the same in
every latitude; the same in every age; the same in all ranks and
conditions of society. They do not change with the changing
opinions of men. The terms, right and wrong, denote simple
ideas incapable of analysis ; and these terms can be defined only
3
by synonymous terms, or by some associated qualities or conse¬
quences.
Virtue and vice can never be made, under any circumstances,
to interchange their natures. They are, and forever will be, es¬
sentially different. There are certain fundamental principles Of
right, which are in their nature immutable and eternal as the
throne of God, and on which the throne of God itself rests.
Education does, indeed, exert a mighty influence on human
character. It may guide or misguide, invigorate or weaken, ex¬
alt or degrade, the human powers. But it can create no new
faculties; and though it may pervert, it cannot destroy existing
ones. All education presupposes the existence of certain powers
which are to be educated. If, then, you perceive in man the
power or faculty of distinguishing right from wrong, you may
be sure that power is not the gift of education, but of God.
Education may give currency to vice, but cannot make vice,
virtue. A man may act in accordance with the notions of right
which prevail around him, yet he may be following a multitude
to do evil, and walking in the broad road that leads to death. A
man may act most conscientiously, and yet act most wrongly.
He may, with Saul of Tarsus, verily think he is doing God ser¬
vice, when in reality he is persecuting God's people. " There
is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof, is
the way of death." A man through culpable indolence or pre¬
judice, may fail to acquire that knowledge which is necessary to
enable him to judge of the rectitude of his actions, and yet for
those actions he may be held responsible by his Maker.
In determining, then, the rectitude of moral conduct, rely not
upon your own hasty and superficial views of things; nor upon
the fluctuating opinions of those around you. Measure not your¬
selves by yourselves; but measure your moral conduct by that
rule of right furnished by the only infallible being in the universe.
What he approves, must be right: what he condemns, must be
wrong. But he does not approve or condemn arbitrarily. He
9
pronounces that to be virtue, which is right in itself; and that to
be vice, which is wrong in its own nature. The distinctions of
virtue and vice depend not upon the arbitrary will even of the
moral Governor of the universe ; much less do they depend upon
the legal enactments of fallible men; or upon any accidental cir¬
cumstances of birth, of education, or of fortune.
Never be induced, then, to perform a bad action, however great
may be the apparent utility of that action to yourselves or to the
public. 'Never do evil that good may come.' To pure, unfal-
len spirits, utility may be a safe guide through all the regions of
moral conduct; but to beings of a selfish, depraved nature, it
would prove an ignis fatuus, leading its followers far from the
paths of rectitude, and plunging them into the deep quagmires of
iniquity.
That the tendency of virtue is to produce happiness, is un¬
doubtedly a truth. It is, however, a truth which is learned only
from experience, from observation, or from express revelation.
But children, long before they have this experience, and before
they are able to form any abstract notions of happiness, possess
moral judgments, and instantaneously approve or disapprove of
actions. Our Creator has, then, with his own hand, inscribed on
the heart of man the great outlines of morality.
The difference between the terms, duty and interest, is under¬
stood by every one. It is a distinction which obtains in all lan¬
guages, and which is founded in human nature. The estimate
which we place upon any individual's character, is not propor¬
tioned to the benefits which we derive from that individual. A
man of wealth and of infamous character, cannot, by any largesses
or benefactions, purchase the esteem of his fellow men. Virtue
has, then, a broader, deeper foundation than that of utility.
Never imagine for a moment, that station or office can relax
the force of moral obligation, or that there is one standard of mo¬
rality for statesmen or other public men, and another and differ¬
ent one for those in the more private walks of life. "Do unto
others as ye would that others should do unto you," will forever,
B
10
ill all situations, be the rule which ought to regulate your inter¬
course w ith your fellow creatures. Should you ever be elevated
to the rank of diplomatists, honesty will still be the best policy;
and a proper regard to the welfare of your own country, will
never be incompatible with a benevolent regard to the welfare of
other nations. It will never be your duty, whether in private or
public life, to attempt to build up your own prosperity upon the
ruin of others.
That differences of opinion have existed at different times as to
the morality of actions, has been supposed by some to prove that
virtue and vice are not immutable in their nature; or, at least,
that man is incapable of distinguishing the one from the other.
Allowing those premises to be sound, this conclusion does not
follow. Who believes that differences of opinion in matters of
taste, prove that there is no such thing as beauty or deformity ?
or no capacity in man to distinguish the one from the other ?
Neither do differences of opinion in morals, prove that there is
110 such thing as virtue or vice, or no capacity in man to distin¬
guish the one from the other.
But the premises are not true to the extent often supposed.
The examples of diversity in moral sentiments, which have been
adduced to prove that there is no standard of morality among
men, are only exceptions to a general rule. With these few ex¬
ceptions, there is a remarkable uniformity in the moral judgments
of men. And, were there time, it might be shown that these de¬
viations from the general standard, originated principally in the
necessities of savage life, in barbarous ignorance, in misconcep¬
tion, or in acknowledged depravity.
That man is endued with moral faculties, is evident from the
Scripture doctrine that the eternal power and godhead of Jehovah
may be known from the works of creation. It is also evident
from the fact, that in all nations are to be found traces of a belief
in the existence of a God. What propriety in having laws to
restrain and punish the lawless and disobedient, if they are una¬
ble to distinguish right from wrong?
11
What encouragement would the orator have to plead the cause
of injured innocence, of suffering virtue, of bleeding humanity,
were there no chord in man's heart which he could strike and
cause to vibrate in unison with his own ?
What inducement would the teacher of religion have to urge
its claims, were there no capacity in the soul of man for discern¬
ing moral distinctions? How could any man be charged with
guilt in rejecting the gospel of Christ, if he were incapable cf
feeling the force of moral obligation ?
Did all those writers entirely fail, who have been thought most
successful in portraying human nature ? Did Shakspeare wholly
misconceive the character of man, when he planted thorns in the
pillow of the guilty, and harrowed up the soul of the murderer
with all the horrors of damnation ?
Is not hypocrisy itself, a homage paid by vice to virtue ? — and
is it not a proof of the'reality and genuineness of virtue ?
Why are we indignant at the misdeeds of men, if they have no
knowledge of right and wrong ? If they are incapable of know¬
ing their duties, can they be the subjects off praise or blame, of
reward or punishment ?
Why has God, in his holy Word, laid his commands upon the
children of men, if they were under no prior obligation to render
obedience to him ? Why has he enjoined many virtues, and for¬
bidden many crimes, without giving any definition of these vir¬
tues and these crimes, if men have no capacity for distinguishing
the one from the other ? All government, human and divine, is
founded upon the natural capacity of man to distinguish right
from wrong. Without such a capacity, }mu might address your
code of laws to the beasts of the forest with as much propriety
as to men.
But were there a doubt remaining as to the existence of man's
moral faculties, and the consequent permanency of his moral ob¬
ligations, the question might be decided at once by the authority
of revelation. An Apostle hath said, 'When the Gentiles which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
12
these having not the law, are a law unto themselves ; which show
the work of the law written in their hearts.'
In a word, I might apply to this subject the language of
Hooker—What shall we say of law, but that its seat is the bosom
of God, and its voice the harmony of the world !
Finally, young gentlemen, arm yourselves with moral courage.
When you have, with cool deliberation and mature reflection,
formed your opinions, throw them not away upon the first objec¬
tion which may be started to them. Suffer not yourselves to be
influenced by the mere caprices and prejudices of others. Change
not your course of conduct with every wind that blows. Does a
man desire you to believe and to act as he does? require him to
convince you of the propriety of his belief, and of the rectitude
of his actions. Let him not persuade you to act in opposition
to the dictates of your own understanding.
For what purpose has God given you understanding, unless it
be to exercise it? And will you not be held responsible for the
exercise of those higher powers of your nature by which you are
made moral, intelligent, accountable beings? If by following
your neighbour's judgment, you could shift off upon him the re¬
sponsibility of your actions, there would be some apology for
allowing your own judgment to lie dormant. But if you are
responsible to your conscience and to your God for every moral
action of your life, it becomes you to form your own judgment on
every question of duty that comes before you. Go not, then, to
your neighbours, to ask them what you shall believe, or what you
shall practise, in any matters of moral or of religious obligation.
With that written code of morals, which God has given you, and
with the unwritten law in your hearts, and with the intellectual
powers which you possess, you have all the means necessary for
arriving at a knowledge of your present duties and of your coming-
destinies.
Besides, you owe duties to society, as well as to conscience and
to God. You are bound to render benefits to that community
by which you yourselves arc benefited. Public opinion beine
13
made up of the opinion of individuals, you are "bound to contribute
your part to the formation of a correct standard of public senti¬
ment and of public morals. Those who have special advantages
of information, are under peculiar obligations to let their light
shine; to give the full benefit of their name and example to the
cause of patriotism, of humanity, and of religion; to go forward
boldly in suppressing vice and immorality, in shielding the in¬
nocent against the pestiferous breath of calumny, and in strength¬
ening the hands of all who are laboring for the public good. It
will be your duty to see to it, that the force of an enlightened
public opinion be brought to bear in favor of those necessary
laws, without which, civil society cannot exist; and in support of
that wholesome discipline, without which no institution of learn¬
ing can flourish.
It is of the last importance to the welfare of every country,
that there should be in it some persons, and those too of intelli¬
gence and virtue, who think and who act for themselves:—who
exercise their own judgment on all matters of moment, and who
act in accordance with their judgment at all hazards. One such
man, in times of peril, when great interests are at stake, is of more
value than thousands of persons who have no opinions of their
own, or, if they have any, lack the moral courage to maintain
them. Such a man, in the midst of the fluctuations of popular
opinion, stands sublime and immoveable, as the towering rock
in the ocean, which bids defiance to the dashing of the billows
and to the fury of the storm.
And there are times, in every nation, which call for men of this
high and noble daring: — men who, in the hour of danger, dare
throw themselves into the Thermopylae of their country, and ofler
up themselves a sacrifice for the public good.
But do not mistake, for men of this character, persons who are
always brandishing their swords, and fighting every wind-mill
which they meet. True moral courage is not indicated by boast¬
ful language, or by a haughty bearing, or by conjuring up ima¬
ginary occasions for the exhibition of our moral prowess. Be
14
assured, occasions for the exercise of this virtue wili occur with¬
out your seeking them. They will occur where you least expect
them, and where you are least prepared to meet them. You will
need this virtue, not only to prompt you to action, but to sustain
you in suffering. You will need this virtue not only in the stirring
scenes of public life, when you are called to advocate the cause
of virtue and of freedom, or to rush to the imminently deadly
breach in the hour of your country's peril; but you will need it
to cheer you in the stillness of retirement, when you find that
your most faithful efforts for the public weal are received with
cold ingratitude, or followed by the detractions of envy.
You all aspire, I trust, to eminence, not indeed for the sake of
superiority, but for the sake of usefulness. Look not, however,
for the reward of your eminence where it is not to be found. If
you make yourselves eminent by your virtues, by your station in
society, or by your services to your fellow men, sure as night
follows day, you will awaken the malice of the wicked, and gath¬
er around you the shafts of the envious. I appeal to the history
of the wisest, and best, and most useful men, that have ever lived;
and ask if this has not been their sad experience. Read the story
of the purest moralists, and of the most devoted patriots of ancient
times. If even our most upright and patriotic Washington could
not escape the foul breath of calumny, and the machinations of
treasonable and murderous purpose; if, above all, the immacu¬
late Son of God received upon his own head the outpourings of
human depravity; flatter not yourselves, my young friends, that
you will be too wise or too good to escape. Arm yourselves,
then, with moral courage. Go forth to that trial of your vir¬
tues which awaits you, clad in the panoply of Christianity. Do
what is right, come what may. Act uprightly, and fear no evil.
Serve your God faithfully, and he will send his angel before you
to make your way prosperous: he will go before you in a pillar of
cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, to guide and defend
you, and finally, to conduct you in safety to the promised inheri¬
tance of the good.
ADDRESS TO THE STUDENTS
OF THB
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA,
DELIVERED DECEMBER 19, 1832.
BY ALVA WOODS, D. D.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY.
PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL REQUEST.
University of Alabama, August, 1833.
Dr. A. Woods: Sir —The undersigned, members of the graduated
class, beg leave to express the great satisfaction which they felt in list¬
ening to the Baccalaureate Address, made to them on the 12th inst.,
which they are gratified to hear will be published in pamphlet form, by
request of the Trustees. The undersigned members, beg leave also to
state the high estimation with which they regarded the Address to the
Students at the last Commencement, and solicit you to permit them to
have it appended to the Baccalaureate Address, inasmuch as they be¬
lieve it will be highly beneficial to those who are in pursuit of know-
lege, and aspiring to the proud station of usefulness.
William W. King,
J. G. Davenport,
A. B. Meek,
R. B. M'Mullen,
Marion Banks.
In compliance with the above request of all the members, who are
present, of the class recently graduated, I have consented to append to
the preceding Baccalaureate Address, the Address delivered to the
Students generally, the last year.
A. Woods.
University of Alabama, Aug, 1833.
A I) I) U E Ri £
Young Gentlemen:
Placed by the kindness of your friends in the highest literary
institution of the State, your responsibilities are exceedingly
great. The eyes of the community are upon you. The gene¬
ral character and conduct, and scholarship of every individual
among you, are well known. The reputation which you here
form, will follow you, like your shadow, through life. Yes, when
you go hence into the wide world, you will go reflecting honor
on the institution which has nurtured you, and inspiring your
instructors and all your friends with joyous anticipations as to
your future career, or you will go forth, covering yourselves and
your friends with deep disgrace.
My dear young friends, if I know my own heart, my highest
ambition, after pleasing my God, is to advance you in knowledge
and virtue; and to lay deep the foundations of your usefulness
and happiness. Permit me, then, with paternal solicitude, to
extend to you the counsels of friendship.
In the first place, aspire to eminence in knowledge. It is a
maxim of wisdom,—Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth
doing well. You have undertaken to acquire an education. Be
not satisfied to be mere smatterers in learning. Never inquire
what is the least amount of knowledge with which you can pos¬
sibly succeed in the world. But fix your aims high. Mark out
for yourselves a lofty career. Nerve yourselves to a noble daring
in the pursuit of the highest objects of an honorable ambition.
J 8
And remember, young gentlemen, labor is the price which our
Creator requires us to pa}' for every earthly good. No native
talent, unless diligently cultivated, will carry us to the heights of
learning. It is only by steady, persevering, untiring eflorts, that
the lofty hill of science can be ascended. Do you see a fellow
student often changing his studies, unfixed in his purposes, unset¬
tled in his habits of application? you need no ghost to tell you,
that student will never be eminent. Do you see another student
who is patient of labor, breasting with lusty sinews every storm
of difficulty? you may safely underwrite for his success. Such
habits of untiring application will secure him eminence, not only
while in the University, but in any profession, or any pursuit to
which he may devote himself in subsequent life.
Read the biography of Sir Isaac Newton, or of any other man
who has rendered himself eminent for his learning, or his virtues,
or his services to mankind, and you will find that that eminence
was not the result either of accident or of any original force of
genius.
Indeed, I do not regard any young gentleman as having taken
the first step in the road to an honorable eminence, who has not
ceased to rely upon his friends and his wealth, and every other
factitious aid for success, and who has not thrown himself entirely
upon the energies of his own mind. His whole soul must be
imbued with the conviction, that his earthly destiny is, under
God, in his own hands; that he is to be what he makes himself,
or, be assured, he will never be any thing worthy of imitation.
This, young gentlemen, is the secret of the success of our coun¬
tryman Franklin, and of many other men who have not enjoyed
the advantages of public education with which you are favored.
They soon learned that first lesson of all true greatness, reliance
upon one's own powers and the blessing of God. It was their
self-education on which they arose to eminence.
And permit me, young gentlemen, to tell you that every well
educated man is, in a greater or less degree, a self-educated man.
19
Seminaries of learning are useful, because in lliem only can the
intellectual treasures of past ages and of the present generation
be collected together; and spread out before the lovers of know¬
ledge. Seminaries of learning are useful, because in them are
gathered together youth of noble aspirations; and by their con¬
stant intercourse and collision in the same lofty pursuit, their
minds become polished, invigorated, and stimulated to higher
and still higher attainments.
Instructors are useful, because they may, by a judicious direc¬
tion of your studies, prevent a useless expenditure of your time
and energies. They may propose subjects for your investiga¬
tion. They may point you the way to eminence. They may
aid you in the great work of training and disciplining your men¬
tal powers;—but after all, that work must be yours. And yours
will be the rich reward.
In the next place, keep aloof from all Ike distractions of party
polities. The halls of science, as well as the temples of religion,
are consecrated to other purposes.
A discussion of those local political questions which, under
free governments, often agitate and divide a community, and
which often awaken angry passions, and array in hostility one
good citizen against another, would disqualify you for the calm
and successful investigation of literary truth.
Besides, such discussions on your part would be premature.
Before you will be called to discharge the high duties of citizens
of a free republic, these questions will generally have lost their
interest, and will have passed away from the public mind. Let
your attention, then, be devoted to subjects of more permanent
interest; — to subjects more closely connected with your own
improvement. Let the storms of party strife rage around you,
and lash into fury the elements of society, but when they approach
the peaceful seat of science, say to them with emphasis, Hitherto
shall ye come and no further; and here shall your proud waves
he staid.
20
Id the next place, form a just estimate of your own attainments
and your own capacities.
Of your own attainments: You will then see that you have
only just begun to learn; that you have only just entered that
field of knowledge whose broad expanse is wide as creation,
boundless as eternity. You will then possess that humility which
is one of the best preparatives for rapid progress in learning.
Humility is ever associated with true greatness; pride and arro¬
gance with superficial attainments. An humble man is one who
places his standard of attainments high. A proud man is one
who places his standard low. When Sir Isaac Newton present¬
ed to the Royal Society of London the manuscript copy of his
Principia, (which is still to be seen in the archives of that socie¬
ty,) he modestly observed, that if he should be deemed worthy of
membership in that society, he would endeavor by his future
labors, to render himself more worthy of that honor.
Form also a just estimate of your own capacities. Distinguish
carefully between what is attainable, and what is unattainable, by
human powers. On the one hand, expend not your energies
upon impracticable undertakings; and on the other, never de¬
spair of accomplishing whatever is within the grasp of the human
intellect.
Do you meet with a difficulty in any of your studies? Turn
not aside from it. Put it down, each one of you, as a maxim for
your own government, whatever has been done by others can be
done by me. Remember that Newton was once an infant in
knowledge, and obliged to learn the alphabet of science;—and
that he again and again attributed his whole success to his pa¬
tience and perseverance.
Young gentlemen, in all your literary pursuits, have regard to
the moral state of your hearts. On this your success greatly
depends.
If you pursue knowledge merely to feed your vanity, and to
enable you to display yourselves, depend upon it. your know-
21
Sedge will be superficial and worthless. It will not stand the
ordeal through which it must pass; and you will inevitably sink
to the level of those who are equally superficial and vain with
yourselves. But if you pursue knowledge from a love of it, you
will plunge deep into the golden mine; you will follow every rich
vein wherever it may lead you, and bring forth its treasures to
the light of day. Then, your knowledge, like the solid moun¬
tain ore, will be purer for passing the fiery furnace.
Again, if in the pursuit of knowledge, you make human ap¬
plause your polar star, be assured it will prove to you a wander¬
ing star, which will lead you far astray from the paths of recti¬
tude, and from the way of eternal life.
With such a dancing meteor shedding over you its disastrous
twilight, you will have no clear rule of action; no steady motive
to persevering effort. Your happiness and your misery will be
the sport of chance. You will be unduly elated by that which is
no virtue; and unduly depressed by that which is no crime.
But if, in your literary pursuits, and in all the pursuits of your
life, you make the approbation of your God your constant aim,
you build your happiness on a solid foundation. You are not
disturbed by every passing breath of wind. Amidst all the tem¬
pests and tornadoes of life, you possess the calmness and tran¬
quillity of mind which are essential to the successful prosecution
of your studies. Through the darkest hours of adversity, and
through the noon-day splendors of prosperity, you can hold on
the even tenor of your way. With the good man, you can fasten
your hand upon the skies and bid earth roll, nor feel her idle
whirl.
Finally, young gentlemen, with all your gettings, get moral
worth. In valuing your various acquisitions, place the highest
estimate upon your moral attainments. These are attainments
whose value will endure when the triumphs of intellect shall be
forgotten, and when the splendors of genius shall have passed
away. When the intellectual might of Byron and the prowess oi
Napoleon shall be buried in oblivion, the virtues of a Washing¬
ton and a Lafayette, the piety of a Baxter and of a Doddridge,
will continue to be the admiration of mankind.
Though you were to surpass Bacon or Boyle in a knowledge
of the sciences, or Porson or Parr in a knowledge of the ancient
languages, yet without moral principle, you would not merit the
esteem of your fellow men; and, what is of infinitely greater con¬
sequence, you would not enjoy the favor of your Maker. If des¬
titute of moral character, though you had learned every word in
every language, and had mastered the whole circle of the sciences,
you would not have taken the first step in the road to true fame,
nor have laid the first stone in the fabric of your happiness. Let
me entreat you, then, young gentlemen, above all things to value
character. Part with every thing else, but hold fast to your
integrity. Watch, with the vigilance of a vestal virgin, watch,
night and day, the lamp of your virtue. Let not the first stain
ever rest upon your fair name. You will then possess a peace of
mind, which this world can neither give nor take away. You
will, through life, shed around you the light of a virtuous exam¬
ple ; and when you sleep in death, your memories will be che¬
rished by the wise and the good.