Author - Title. BookA/r^^ Imprint 1*— 30B9»-^ OPO V 1 'dm-^Sf:^^ DR. PETERS' DISCOURSE BEFORE THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION Cnlkgiiite imb ^[iFologifal dEburation AT THE WEST. ~^^Gl'§t)P^ Mfi COLLEGES RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. DISCOURSE, DELIVERED IN THE PARK RRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWARK, N. J., GOT. 29, 1851, BEFORE THE ^nrieti} for tjie ^[^rntnntiaii nf Cnllegiate mil (Cjitnlngiral Ctaratioti at tjie Wul ABSALOM PETEKS, D. D., PASTOE OF THE FIEST OHUHCH, WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. NEW-YORK : JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 49 ANN-STREET. 1851. wmm "Resolved — That the thanks of the Board of Directors be pre- sented to the Rev. Dr. Peters for his Discourse delivered last even- ing, and that a copy be requested for publication." An extract from the minutes of the proceedings of the Directors of the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Edu- cation at the West, at their Annual Meeting in Newark, N. J. G. N. JUDD, Secretary. Oclober 30, 1851. as e .<1,/V DISCOURSE. ECOLES. VII. 8. BETTER IS THE END OF A THING THAN THE BEGINNING THEREOF, PTHHEEE is one continent on tlie globe, wliicli has -*- no College. Africa contains perhaps a liiin- dred millions of people, and its first College is yet to be founded. Benevolent men, of wisdom and foresight, are beginning to see that a College on that continent is needed, as a light to shine in a dark place, and that the founding of such an insti- tution is practicable. A Board of " Trustees of Do- nations for Education in Liheria^^'' incorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have taken the work in hand, and it will doubtless soon be done. In their first report they justly magnify and commend the object of their undertaking, in lan- guage which has arrested my attention, and led to tlie selection of tlie text for tlie present occasion. " Tlie founding of Harvard College," they say, " was an era in tlie history of tlie human race. It was the beginning of liberal education for a continent. Without a first College, this continent could not have become what it is. The planting of a first College in Africa will form another era. It will be a work equally rich in beneficial results, and equally honorable to the philanthropy that secures its accomplishment." I do not find fault with these statements. These are great thoughts, both of the past and the future — just and true thoughts. And it is well to think of things yet to be done, while we re- flect upon the past, for instruction and encourage- ment. It is indeed the grand element and charac- teristic of wisdom always to be looking onward, and to labor for a worthy end. The end, in thought, is ever before the means. It is that for which all the means are selected, and is therefore first in pur- pose, though last in attainment. And the means employed for an end are important only in propor- tion to the importance of the end. The same may be said of the heginning of a thing, the '' terminus a qiio^'' as the old theologians expressed it, or the first of a series of means. It is important only as a step of advancement toward the end, or the '■'■terniinus ad quemP So it is ever true, that " tlie end of a thing is better than the beginning thereof." The beginning is but one of perhaj^s a thousand means, all subordinate to the same end ; but the end is the crowning result of the whole series of means. We deceive ourselves then, when we imao-ine the first of a series of events, all tending to a com- mon result, to be greater and better than all the rest, simply because it is the>"^^. There is, in fact, a common honor due to agencies that cooperate for the same end. That is the greatest, whether it be the first or the last, which is the most efiicacious ; and the end is greater than all. The first may be the least of all the events in the series. So our Sa- viour represents the beginning of true piety in the soul of man, when he says, " The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard-seed, which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all seeds that be in the earth;" but "it becometh greater than all herbs." Other influences are added, a thousand-fold greater than the first, and that which was begun in weak- ness and obscurity, terminates in power and glory. The same is tilie of the kingdom of God in the whole world. It is a constitution of things founded in wisdom and adaj^ted to an end. It had a begin- ning. It has had an advancement to the present time. But it is not limited to the ages of its past history. It has also a prophetic history, by which the field of its enlargement and the path of its pro- gress are indefinitely extended. In its prophecy, it is a kingdom to come — a universal, an everlasting kingdom — ^ teeming with events, all important, all tending to the same grand result, all cooperating to hasten the ages of its ultimate and universal triumph in the world, when the blessedness of earth will " shade away into the blessedness of heaven." Then will it be seen how much better is the end of all things, than the beginning of all things. The splendid close of human history will reflect its own brightness and grandeur over all the agencies of its advancement, and each event will ap- pear important and great, just in proportion to its efficiency in bringing to pass the glory that shall then be revealed. It is in the midst of this great onward move- ment of things, that we live — far on in the history of human progress. Great things have been done for the advancement of the race. But great, and still greater, remain to be done ; and it is no calami- ty to us, that we were not born at the beginning of the world, that so we might have taken part in " first things," and helped to lay primitive foundar tions. Is it not rather a privilege, that we have our work to do at a sublime height in the building of V God ? It is the same building still, and our labor is no less important — no less necessary — tlian was that of primitive men ; and we are nearer, than they, to the shoutings and paeans which will accom- pany the bringing forth of the top stone thereof. I propose, then, to present the Society, whose anniversary we here celebrate, ct'S a mea?is to cm end in the hingdom of God. It looks to the consumma- tion of all things. The system of education, which it proposes to advance, is a religious system. It makes its appeal, primarily and principally, to en- lightened and religious men, — men who have re- spect unto the recompense of an eternal reward, — and I wish to show the privilege and the duty of laboring for the permanent support and advance- ment of this system of education. This I would do by briefly adverting to its origin and aim, and to the important relation which it bears to the great missionary enterprises of the present day. Colleges — for what is called academical instruc- tion, preparatory to j^rofessional learning — have ever been intimately associated with the religion of the countries where they have existed. It is also a matter of history, that an object more early em- braced and more steadily kept in view, than any other, by these institutions, has been to su23ply the Church with an educated priesthood or ministry. y This was tlie idea in wMcli the earliest Colleges, of whicli we have any account in modern times, had their origin. In the ninth century, when Charle- magne was awakened to the importance of the ad- vancement of learning in his vast dominions, we are told, " he established schools in every convent and cathedral, intended chiefly for the education of clergymen." Yet " young men of high families, not intended for religious orders, were instructed in them,"''^' showing that they were not exclusively professional schools, but Colleges, for the instruc- tion of all such as were designed to be educated in that dark age. These convent and cathedral schools were for a long time the highest institutions of learning in the countries where they were esta- blished. From them proceeded the rectors of seve- ral schools in France, in a later age, where " instruc- ti'on was given in rhetoric, philosophy, and theology," and out of which grew the University of Paris. Equally associated with the advancement of religion was the College system of all the Universities of Eu- rope. The numerous Colleges of the Jesuits, in all countries, were also strictly religious in their aim. They constituted, beyond all doubt, the most effec- tive part of the wonderful machinery of that vast organization to subserve the interests of the Eomish church. * Encyc. Americana. V Colleges, then, at tlie time of tlie planting of this country, were every where regarded as religious in- stitutions. Our fathai's well understood, both from history and the nature of the case, that the advance- ment of religion in any form, in the new world, would require the existence of Colleges for the edu- cation of the ministry of the Church. The advan- tages of these institutions in preparing young men for the other professions, were by no means lost sight of, or undervalued. And the religious charac- ter of the College was considered scarcely less es- sential for the right education of those designed for civil office and employment, than for the appro- priate training of candidates for the ministry. But in a Protestant College, and especially in a Puritan College, all other objects, great though they might be, were held to be secondary to that of a comj^e- tent supply of able and faithful ministers of the gos- pel. And our Puritan fathers were earnest men in their religion. For themselves and their country they sought first the kingdom of God and his right- eousness. Our earliest Colleges, therefore, were adapted to this end. They were founded, as it was expressly said of one of them, " that the Church might never want a learned and pious ministry^ This was the great idea of the men of New Eng- land in forming their educational system. "None / 10 of tlie least concerns," says Mather, " tliat lay upon tlie spirits of these reformers, was the condition of their posterity. They also did hetimes endea- vor the erection of a College^ for the training wp of a successive ministry in the country T^' It is pleasant here to reflect, that this religious idea has ever been cherished, to a wide extent, in onr country. Most of our Colleges, w^ to the present time, have originated in it. Religious principle has called them into being and sustained them, and re- ligious men have been selected for their guardians and instructors. It was found, however, in the j)rogress of our experience, that the demands of religion, in respect to the great object of our College system, were not fully met. The course of instruction in College, being designed for all classes of students, could not be extended to subjects strictly professional, with- out adding a longer time, and providing Faculties of instruction for each of the learned professions. But this would require our Colleges to be Universities, and would demand an outlay, both of money and of men, quite too great to be sustained by our smaller institutions. This has led to the necessity of separate professional schools. In these, the pro- fits and honors of the secular professions have been found a sufficient encouragement — after the Colleges * Mather's Magnalia. V-.-t;^ 11 have sent out tlieir sons — to provide suitable ad- vantages for tlie prosecution of tlieir appropriate studies. Hence liave arisen our schools of Law, of Medicine, and of Professional Science. But the school of Theology needed other sup- port. Like the College, it is essentially a religious institution, and was found, in experience, to be necessary to the carrying out of the religious idea of the College system. Hence have been founded, by benevolent men and the churches, within the last fifty years, our Theological Seminaries. They have become an essential part of our system, " for the training up of a successive ministry in the country." The College and the Theological Semi- nary, as to their main design, are one in aim, and one in the ground of their appeal for encouragement and support. Like other religious foundations, they must be, to a large extent, charitable institutions. This is necessary to make them available to the poor, as well as the rich. It is also essential to the maintenance of theii' religious character and influ- ence ; for though it is grateful to acknowledge that, in some instances, State patronage has been liber- ally bestowed, it must not be forgotten, that, in all cases wliere this patronage has been so given, as to remove the College from its religious aims and im- pulses, it has induced feebleness and inefficiency, in ¥1 12 respect to education itself. It separates the busi- ness of education from tlie most effective of tliose self-inspiring uses, whicli alone can impart life and energy to tlie means of instruction. History and all experience liave taught us, that, if we would secure the best results of education, we must " see to it that our Colleges are kept under the control of enlightened religious principle. They must be founded, if need be, and sustained and directed by religiously educated and benevolent men. Such is the system of liberal education, which has grown up in our country. It is no abridgment of privilege to us, that we did not live at the begin- ning of this system, to take part with the wise and the good, who so nobly discharged the obligations of that age. Our Fathers did a great work, when they planted " a first College " in the new world. It was a foundation for many generations, and their names shall be had in everlasting remembrance. But what is a foundation without a superstructure ? A second and a third College, in due time, were as much needed as the first ; and the founding of Har- vard College was not "the beginning of liberal education for a continent^'' if we fail to carry out the system, then begun, until the wliole continent^ from sea to sea, shall be amply provided with simi- ■fiii 13 lar institutions. If this be not done, the founding of that first College was but the beginning of a failure. With all the good it may have done in its sphere, it will not have accomplished its end, in re- spect to the diffusion of the advantages of liberal learning to the ever-increasing and wide-spreading population of our country. It was never intelligently proposed to concen- trate these advantages in a single University, " cum privilegio," nor to confine them to a few Colleges, at great distances from each other. The wide ex- tent of the country, the prospective increase of population, the form of the government, the in- dependence of the States, and, above all, the Pro- testant principle of universal education, have for- bid such a design ; and the Colleges have adapted themselves to their appropriate spheres, in accord- ance with this state of things. They have thus trained the public mind to feel, that a College, in each district of convenient extent, is a great bless- ing to the people. It is therefore placed beyond all doubt, that our country, in the whole extent of it, is to be a land of Colleges. Our system of edu- cation has already taken its form, and such are its tendencies. The impulses of the better informed of the people are also in the same direction. Every new State, and many of the sects of religionists, 14 i wlietlier evangelical or infidel, will have their Col- leges. There will be no lack of these institutions, in number, name, and form. The danger, indeed, is, that in our new States, they will be more numer- ous, than can be consistent with their proper sup- port and their most healthful influence. Merely to increase the number of Colleges in this country, therefore, without a due regard to the necessities of the respective fields they ai'e intended to supply, is not a legitimate end of CoUegial par- pose or enterprise; for here, as I have intimated, there is no danger of failure. There will be Col- leges enough. But there is a higher aim than this, which is sought by the enlightened patrons of our College system. It is to hold up an elevated stand- ard of education in the older Colleges, and to en- courage the planting of new ones only where there is a reasonable prospect, that that standard will be maintained. Add to this the religious aim, which should ever be kept in view, in the instruction of the young, and you have the system of education, which it is the object of this Society to encourage and patronize in our new and rising States. Look now at the present and prospective rela- tions of this system of Collegiate and Theological education in our country. As a religious system, it has grown up, in this age, to a degree of import- 15 aiice, whicli was not dreamed of in tlie early years of our history. It lias become, providentially, a part of a greater, a far more extended system, than was even imagined by the founders of our first College. Less than a century had then elapsed, after the age of Luther. The Reformation was young. Its light had but recently begun to shine out of darkness. Protestantism had but just taken root in Europe, and Puritanism^ that still better and riper fruit of the Reformation, had scarcely been known fifty years, as a doctrine and a life, in the Protestant churches. It had been struggling for existence, and rising amid tears and blood, until it found an asylum in a land not before inhabited by civilized man. Here it began, in its feebleness, to plant its institutions and to provide for a future, whose greatness was not seen. They had the true faith. They trusted in God, whom they came hither to serve. But of what God would do with them, or with their influence, on a new and unexplored continent, they were necessarily ignorant. Who would inhabit the land \ Would their posterity dwell, side by side, with the Aborigines, for whose education, conversion, and civilization they intended to provide ? Or would their own race be so multi- plied, and so armed with power — and with apolo- gies, right or wrong — as to drive out the heathen 16 '!i i. before them, and become themselves a great nation ? These were questions, to which there was no answer in nature, nor in the oracles of God. They went forward, as Abraham did, not knowing whither they went. But they walked in the steps of Abra- ham's faith, and the God of Abraham directed them. They planted such institutions as were pleasing to him, to whose wisdom they committed their adaptation to the great ends of his provi- dence, whatever might be its developments in the future. But two hundred years have produced changes, of which our Pilgrim Fathers could have had no adequate conception. Should they now rise from the dead, to see what we see, they would cry out, " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name, O Lord, be all the praise." Not of man, but in the wisdom of God, fields have been opened for the action of the institutions which they planted, and cooperating agencies have arisen, which give to those institutions an extent of influence, far beyond the anticipations of any man on earth two centu- ries ago. The country itself — ^how marvellously changed ! Then, uj)on its border, there was a handful of men. Now, it has opened its broad bosom to a population of twenty-five millions, and myriads 17 more are rusHng into it, while its natural increase is rapid and healtliful. The red men of the forest and of the prairie, have yielded their possessions to the sons of the Pilgrims, and, of vast tracts of the land, it may almost be said in the language of the Prophet, " Her wilderness is like Eden, and her de- sert like the garden of the Lord." Meantime mighty changes have been wrought in the condition of the world. Governments have been meliorated, and the intercourse of nations is increased by facilities new and surprising. New light has also beamed upon the relations and re- sponsibilities of the Church of Christ to the rest of mankind, and men of faith have every where begun to address themselves, in good earnest, to the work of the world's conversion. Of the agencies which are already in operation, for this end, some of the most effective are the Mis- sionary Societies of our own country. It has begun to be understood and felt, by all in our churches who care for the conversion of the world, that our part in the work is to be a great one. We have taken the field under this impression. Our origin and history, the civil and religious liberty we enjoy, the extent of our territory, its agricultural, commer- cial, and mineral wealth, its present and prospective population, the power and influence of the govern- 2 • 18 ment among tlie nations of tlie eartli, tlie intelli- gence and enterprise of tlie people, and tlie fact tliat Christianity — heaven-born, and owning no au- thority but that of the Bible — is the religion of our churches, all, all indicate, that we have a great work to do. Where much is given, much is re- quired. But to what nation on the globe has God given so rich an inheritance as this ? OUE COUWTET FOE THE SAKE OF THE WOELD, therefore, is the appropriate watchword of Ameri- can Christians. " The field is the world ;" and the end^ upon which we seize first, in thought, and to which the eye of our faith should ever be directed, is the glory of God in the universal triumphs of his grace. But the means adapted to this end are nu- merous and multiform. In the vast machinery of Christian philanthropy, there is a wheel within a wheel, for every man to touch, and points of power, which are accessible to every Christian community, church, or nation. And there is a precedence and succession of these points of religious influence, which is beautiful in its order. Causes must pre- cede effects ; and it is clear as day, that if we would perform the great Missionary work, which devolves on the churches of this country, we must educate the men, whose labors are indispensable to its ac- complishment. If then it was a worthy design of M vS»5«lW»«yvs'^'»i.-»i'Ji« CYJi.r^Mt>'uv"'^i^ 19 our Fatliers, to provide for " the training up of a successive ministry in the country ^"^ it is ours to pro- vide for • the training of a ministry sufficiently nu- merous for tlie world-wide enterprise tliat now lies open before us. "We have not only our posterity to care for, but the destitute of all lands ; and all our Missionary Societies, both Foreign and Domes- tic, depend, for their permanent success, on the pro- vision which shall continue to be made for Collegi- ate and Theological education in this country. How cheering and grateful to reflect, that we have come to this time, and to these high responsi- bilities, with a system of education, formed to our hands, which, in its essential characteristics, is suited to our advanced position, and to its recently de- veloped relations to the conversion of the world ! Religious in its aim, its foundations were laid in faith and prayer ; and long experience has shown it to be adapted to the religious ends for which it was designed. It has been owned of God, in the train- ing of the educated ministry of the country, for two hundred years. It is still, to a large extent, in the hands of religious men, and is producing the same results. It is manifestly capable of accommodating itself to any extent of territory, and to any amount of population, to which the nation may grow. It needs only to be prosecuted with vigor, to accom- :i3ljte#S 20 J plisli all that may be desired, in tlie way of educa- tion, to supply a competent ministry for every opening field, until tlie gospel shall be preached to all on the earth who have ears to hear. I now ask your attention to the necessity and religious importance of the ^'' Society for the Promo- tion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the Westr This Society is the child of Home Missions. It was born of the Missionary spirit, and its object is to provide laborers to meet the demands of the Missionary cause. Its necessity became apparent in the prosecution of the work, which it is thus de- signed to promote. It was on this wise. The Home Missionary Society was planting its laborers on the "Western field. They were educated men. They had been trained up under the system of education, of which I have spoken. They knew its importance to the develop inent of the religious resources of a Christian community, for the good of mankind. And there were spread out- before them great States, now in their infancy, but soon to be full of people, mighty in wealth and power. These they would reconcile to God. They desired and sought their salvation and that of their posterity. But what were they — the few missionaries on the field, and all that could be expected to join them 21 from tlie older States — wliat were tliey, to tlie rushing of tlie people from the East, and from all quarters of the globe ? Tliey contemplated the greatness of the Missionary work, and to them it was the clearest of all truths, the most manifest of all Providential indications, that they too, like the Pilgrim Fathers, ought '•'-betimes to endeavor the erection of a College," in each of the rising States of their labors and prayers, " for the training up of a successive ministry in the country." Worthy men were they of such an ancestry — worthy of such a training. They took counsel together on their sev- eral fields. They consulted the wisdom of experience in the older States. They made their appeal to such local interests and religious principle as could be awakened to aid them, in the new communities which they designed to bless. They committed the cause to God, and, in the midst of their Missionary toils, they put their hands to the work of laying foundations, for the advancement of education, on a scale in some measure answerable to the great and growing necessities of the field. Thus were originated the institutions in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which first united in seeking the organization and aid of this Society.* The * These were. Lane Seminary, Western Reserve College, and Marietta College, Ohio ; Illinois College, in Illinois ; and Wa- bash College, Indiana. 22 i i 3 founders of tliese institutions, from their very begin- ning, were aware of tlieir partial and necessary dependence, for a time, upon Eastern benevolence. Aid was liberally pledged from Eastern sources, and tbey were encouraged to make tlieir appeals to our cliurclies, for sucli assistance as migbt be needed to sustain tlieir Instructors, from year to year, until permanent endowments should be secured. Their necessities soon became matters of fact, and often of painful experience ; and they availed themselves of this liberty of appeal to the churches of the older States. In the mean time, numerous other Colleges had been projected in the West, moved by the mul- tifarious impulses of a discordant and enterprising people. These also looked to the Eastern churches for aid. Applications were thus coming to us from every portion of the West. But they were without concert, and often conflicting in their claims. It was found, also, that in many cases the gifts of benevo- lence were utterly wasted in ill-judged and imprac- ticable schemes. Good men were becoming weary of the uncertainties of Western Institutions, and of the exhaustless multiplicity of their demands. It was apparent to the intelligent observers of this state of things, that a Society was needed, to select, on the Western field, such projected Institu- tions as should be found worthy of special assistance, ^^Al^iOiVOQQCC rtfW.-WrttTf . 23 to combine tlieir applications, and commend tliem to the "Eastern cliurclies and to tlie public at large, on tlie effective and economical plan of a single and concentrated agency. The Society was accordingly formed, on whose Eighth Anniversary we are here assembled. Its object is to prevent, as far as possi- ble, all useless drafts upon Eastern benevolence, on behalf of Colleges, which have been or may be projected at the West, and to provide a channel, through which the purer streams of sympathy and fellowship with those who are laboring in the great cause of Western education, may continue to flow on undisturbed, with the copiousness and strength of a mighty river. Such were the origin and object of our Society. That the time for its organization and efforts had fully come, is more and more manifest, as it advances in its work. Its doings are before the public in its Annual Keports, and its immense usefulness is grate- fully acknowledged at the West, in the timely and essential aid it has afforded to eight Western Insti- tutions. Three of these, through its cooperation, are already placed upon permanent foundations of endowment. The others are laboring with the hope of attaining, in a few years, the same position of independence and perpetuity. It has inspired the friends of Christian education at the West with y m^d I i J I fresli courage and confidence ; and as tlie population advances to take possession of new States and Terri- tories, they are already looking about tliem, under the auspices of this Society, for points of influence and promise, at whicli to plant other Colleges and Seminaries, as the people shall have need. Who will not say, that this is as it should be ? It places the East in communion with the West. It af- fords an opportunity of adapting existing means to desired ends. It causes the great hearts of our churches, Eastern and Western, to beat in sympathy with each other ; and secures, under God, the grad- ual and healthful extension of our own Puritan sys- tem of liberal education. And the Institutions aided by this Society have received the seal of the Divine approbation. Like the Colleges of the older States, in which the prin- ciples of Christianity are earnestly inculcated, these Western Colleges, while yet in their infancy, have been the scenes of the most interesting awakenings and revivals of religion. Hundreds of young men have been converted in them. Nor was this a result unlooked for, or unsought. It has been in answer to prayer and earnest endeavor. It is but a con- tinued Divine testimony to the fact, that Colleges, when conducted on religious principles, are among the most favored scenes of those gracious influences 25 wliicli convert the soul. Tliey are thus not only the educators of the young men who resort to them, but, in many cases, the means of their conversion. It is indeed the glory of our educational system, and of the principles on which it is conducted, that in so many instances it enlists the men whom it trains for the ministry. Well may we regard our Colleges as missionary institutions, since, in them, the mis- sionary spirit is so often enkindled and cherished, by the light, and truth, and spiritual influences, with which they are wont to be favored and blessed. Surely too the Society, which secures the existence and the religious character and influence of such Institutions, in the rising States of this vast Repub- lic, is none other than a great helper of the Mission- ary cause. And if the Puritan principle and aim of our educational system at the West, are endangered by the competition of the schools of the Jesuits, as they doubtless are, then our Society is indispensable, and we should value its continued existence and its vigorous operations, as we would the cause of reli- gion, in its power to save. Then, let this Society live. Let it live in the hearts and the prayers of the churches. Let it be sustained by the friends of our republican institu- tions of liberty and law. By the liberal contributions 26 of all who love tlie cause in whicli it labors, let it be furnislied with the sinews of power for its great work. And thus supported, let it be relied on, as the right arm of the strength of the new and rising Missionary Colleges of the West. Let it move on from strength to strength, until it shall have planted its Institutions in every new State which is yet to be formed, and there shall be no more West to be supplied. Child of Home Missions, as it is, let it live and labor, until it shall have accomplished all that the Home Missionary cause, in the length and breadth of the land, shall demand of it. Then, when this Society shall have done its work, it shall be said of it, with more truth than is expressed in the poetic conception of the relation of human in- fancy to age, " The child's the father of the man." It will have produced, in far larger measure, that of which it was born; and the last shall be first, and the first last. The Missionary spirit will live, and the Colleges planted by the aid of this Society will live, to illustrate, to all coming ages, the heav- enly sympathies of the principles in which they originated. These Institutions will be fellow-laborers with the Puritan Colleges of the older States. The dif- ailim |liM>iilHMW||p|l| W B IHimwiM I W I WC .:.i>" ^ 27 ference in their ages will be forgotten in tlie abiding firmness of tlieir foundations and tlie amplitude of their provisions. Tliey will no more need to ask for a morsel of bread or a " peck of corn," but the gold of California and the wealth of the nation will be tributary to their ever-increasing means of im- provement and usefulness. The intellectual " riches of the Gentiles" shall come to them. With every desirable advantage for the acquisition of knowledge, their sons will be among the children of the light and of the day. From the bosom of sanctified sci- ence, shall they go forth in myriads, to bless the world, to " build the old wastes" of other lands, and to " raise up the former desolations." On the vast field of their toils and triumphs, they will meet with the sons of the Missionary Col- leges of Africa, of China, of India, and of Oceanica. Heart to heart, and hand to hand, shall they labor, till all the realms of earth shall be restored, like themselves, to brotherhood and love. Neither shall they learn war any more. " Giant aggregate of nations ! Glorious whole of glorious parts !" And He, whose right it is to reign, shall reign. Such is the prophecy of the kingdom of God in this world. To this end are directed all our Mis- 28 I J , sionary plans and labors. But to its achievement, in its time, a condition indispensable is education ; Christian, liberal education, the education of the ministry of the church ; the very system of education which it is our object to promote and extend. Yes, the consummation of all things will be delayed, until the gospel shall be preached by a living ministry to every creature. And they that preach must be " faithful men" — " able to teach." There is no prom- ise in the gospel, that by the sounding of " rams' horns" a nation shall be converted. Nor are we to look for miracles, in any form, to consummate what it has pleased God to promise only through the preaching of his word. It is the mark of a false religion to hope that God will convert the world by a miracle. But they that have the true faith must show it by their works. As the " husbandman waiteth for the pre- cious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it," and waters and weeds his field, in hope, to the season's end, so must we plant and cherish those permanent institutions, those "trees of centuries," which are adapted to yield fruits of righteousness in all time to come. Let, then, the whole earth be studded with these points of light ; let Puritan Col- leges and Seminaries, in all lands, send out their sons, in sufficient numbers to preach the gospel to ^ 29 the myriads of tMs earth's population, and our Mis- sionary work will be done. The tithes will all be in the storehouse. The Lord will be proved herewith ; and who shall say, that he will not open to the earth the windows of heaven, and pour out a bless- ing upon all people, " that there shall not be room enough to receive it V " Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, And bring the welcome day." " Ss'»L"iilS^§l 1 yH 1 1 [ 'V';' ^'VV'. iy ' '.' '^ i mtmk i'^'^.^lr''' >. ' '*^.^A*r.^ iWSL^Wa&i+J ^M yiP'^RY OF CONGRESS 020 775 957