THREE DISCOURSES
UPON THE
RELIGIOUS  -IIST011Y
BOWDO1N   COLLEGE,
DIURING TItE ADMINISTRIATIONS OF
PRESIDENTS M'KEEN, APPLETON, & ALLEN.
B Y
EGBERT C. SMIYTH,
COLLINS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION.
B RUN SWICK:
PUBLISHIED BY J. GRIFFIN.
1858.








BOWDOIN COLLEGE, JULY 26, 1858.
To PROF. E. C. SIYTH.
SIR:-In behalf of the students we respectfully solicit, for pub.
lication, a copy of your very interesting and valuable Lectures upon the
Religious History of' the College.  Dceming them a treasure well worth
our possession, and being desirous that the benefits arising firom them
may not be confined to ourselves, but extended to all the friends of the
College, we earnestly hope you will comply with our desire.
Yours, respectfully,
C. H. HowArD,,
WTM. L. HASKIELL,   Colnitle~_
C. 0. O. HUNT,
BOWDOIN COLLEGE, JULY 31, 1858.
G ENTLEMIEN,
The Discourses which you request for publication are cheerfully placed at your disposal.  Any labor they may have cost has been
abundantly rewarded by the generous interest with which they were
listened to, and by the kind appreciation so pleasingly expressed in
your note.
Allow me to add a word of explanation,-not necessary for you,
perhaps,-but for others into whose hands they may come.
My original design simply was to prepare a brief account of some
past seasons of religious interest in the history of the College, to be
read at the Concert of Prayer for Colleges in February last.  The
materials gathered with this end in view, demanded, it was thought,
alnpler treatment; hence the method adopted. The principal object,
however, has still been an immediate and practical one; and the course
of thought pursued has been determined, in some measure, by the existing religious condition of the College,




In the statement of facts I have studiously endeavored to be accurate. In the sketches of religious character which have been introduced, my aim has been to draw attention to the sources of Christian
usefulness, and to indicate personal traits at once real and worthy of
emulation.  I have accordingly dwelt upon excellences, and have only
hinted at defects. The circumstances, moreover, in which the discourses
were delivered, rendered this the most seemly course; as they have also
limited my allusions to those who were active in some of the scenes descriled.  Some of those here referred to are still officers of the College.
For obvious reasons their connection with the past has been scarcely
noticed.  Yet I may not refriain here fromn  assuring them, upon the
evidence contained in many letters fiom their earlier pupils to the author,
that the memory of their religious activity and fidelity is warmly cherished by many grateful hearts.
Hoping, Gentlemen, that these discourses may prove a not unworthy
contribution to the history of' our beloved College, and especially that
they may be blessed to the highest good of those forming their characters under its fostering care, for whom they were prepared,
I remain, very truly yours,
EGBERT C. SMYTHI-I
-MESSRS. C. H. HowARD, and others,
Committee.




FIRST DISCOURSE.
DELIVEItED SABBATH EVEING, 1'iEBRUAR.Y 21, 1858.
Life within College walls is usually a counterpart to life
without; the College is " society in miniature."  In order
to a just appreciation of the character and spirit of the
smaller community, it is necessary to know something of the
prevalent principles and sentiments and habits of the larger
society from which the former receives its members.
The period in which Bowdoin College was incorporated
and established, was one marked by general religious declension.  The seeaond quarter of the last ce.ntuTry was marked
by wide spread and powerful revivals of religion. They extended over New  England and LEastern New York, and
other States. Then came the French and the Revolutionary
wars, and the formation of a new government. The public
mind was engrossed with civil, domestic, and political interests.  The moral energy of the people was absorbed in the
excitement of the struggle for national independence, and in
the stormy political contests that followed. War, moreover,
even when waged for the mnost worthy ends, tends to unsettle and corrupt the public mind.'Tiis has twice been
demonstrated in the course of our history,-in the period
which we are considering, and in that which nearly corresponds in the preceding century, —the period ~of the Indiant
wars aad of the violent civil contests in the mother countT3r
The struggle for civil freedom, we may be assured, has iaot
upon the whole proved i1njurious to the interests of re~ligiotn
for religion can only thrive best where such liberty i:s enjoyed,




B3ut the immediate results were bad.  Soldiers learned the
vices of the camp and brought them home when they were
discharged from  service.  Ministers gradually forgot their
great message in their interest in the prominent questions of
the day.  The aid afforded by France in our time of need
bound us by strong ties to that brave nation.  French refugees came over in great numbers. They introduced new
and popular amusements, and principles utterly subversive
of religion and morality and social order. They came as
friends.   Men greedily caught up their infidel notions.
They spread like wildfire over the land. President Dwight
encountered them at Yale.  " At the time he became President," writes Judge Roger Sherman, then himself a Tutor in
Yale College, " infidelity, the offlpring of the French school,
was extensively prevalent among the undergraduates, and
throughout this State. Laymen of distinction generally and
our most eminent lawyers, especially, were its advocates."'
" French liberty and French philosophy," writes an early
member of Williams College of the state of things there at
the same time, " poured in upon us like a flood, and seemed
to sweep everything serious before it."t That it reached the
villages and towns in this vicinity, is evident firom the publication, in 1802, of two sermons designed to resist the ingress of French infidelity and licentiousness, by the minister of Yarmouth, a brother-in-law  of President M'Keen.
Fromn all that I can learn, I should infer that there were not
many persons in this region who so far yielded to the AntiChristian influences vwThich were imported from France, as
to become settled infidels. But there was a general paralysis of faith. The pulpit often gave an uncertain sound,
and ceased reasoning of righteousness, temperance, and a
judgment to come. Sinners, if they attended the sanctuary,
in very many of our parishes could sit Sabbath after Sabbath and hear nothing which touched the conscience. One
* Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. 2, p. 164.
- See Prof. Hopkins's instructive narrative of revivals of religion in Williams'College. Ami; quart. Regr, 1841.




7
good man who preached here, as a candidate, so that a sense
of sin was awakened in the bosoms of some of his hearers,
was refused a call for this reason alone. The degeneracy in
doctrine was nearly as marked as the corruption of morals.
And this was fearful. In several parishes in this vicinity the
ministers were notoriously intemperate. Rum flowed down
our streets. Sabbath breaking and profaneness were greatly prevalent. The population had outgrown the means of
education. There was little religious instruction afforded
the young,-they were seldom catechised. There were no
Sabbath Schools. Moral restraints generally were deplorably relaxed. It was a rare spectacle if a young man confessed before men his Redeemer. Very few of the young
mwere members of the churches.
Such was the state of things when the friends of education and religion embarked in the enterprise of establishing
here a seminary of learning. In 1788, the Cumberland Association of Ministers and the Court of Sessions for this
county, severally petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a charter upon which to found a College in the
County of Cumberland. In 1794, an Act incorporating a
College to bear the name of Bowdoin, and to be located in
the District of Maine, passed both houses of the General
Court and received the signature of Samuel Adams. In
1802, President M'Keen and Professor Abbot were installed,
and eight applicants were examined and admitted as Freshmen.
In the first eight classes I can learn of but one who may
have been deemed, at the time of admission, hopefully pious;
and it is doubtful whether he had made a public profession
of religion.
During the first four years of Dr. M'Keen's presidency,
though some of the students were thoughtful, upright, and
possessed of fine intellectual abilities and social qualities,
there was not one, it is believed, who was a member of any
church or who believed and hoped in Christ as his Saviour.
"Religion," writes one who was then a mnember of College,




8
"Religion was connected with the College only in the person of President MI'Keen.  He was christian, courteous, accessible, venerable, and universally beloved; but what could
this avail, when, in each college room, there was a sideboard sparkling with wines and stronger stimulants."*
It will be instructive and interesting to observe how religion, fiom  this, in many respects, unpromising beginning,
obtained footing in the College, and struggled onwards to
a seat of decided influence and control.
One cause of bope_ at the outset, that the College would
serve, in God's irovidence, a religious end, was the fact that it
early enlisted the sympathies and services of those who had
at heart the spiritual welfare of men.  While many were interested in it chiefly  as a literary institution, others were
more deeply moved to labor for its prosperity by the hope
that it would become a nursery of scriptural, intelligent, devoted piety.  The Puritan spirit, which united learning and
godliness, and which regarded spiritual wisdom  as the perfect fruit of all true culture, and the glory of God as its best
and noblest end, still lived in their hearts.  In the Act of incorporation of the College it is gratifying to notice that the
promotion of "virtue and piety" is first mentioned as the
object had in view in its foundation.  A few Christians, it is
worth while also to notice, in this and the adjoining village,
who had not succumbed to the evil influences of their day,
-were waont, very early in the history of the College, to meet
foor prayer in its behalf.  Its first President, also, in the language of onet who was well acquainted with  his character
and influence, was "a man of piety as well as a scholar,"
"a Puritan in heart," "a a humble pupil of the Redeemer."i:
* See Appendix A.    t Rev. Dr. Jenhs.. One incident I may mention which illustrates the firmness of his convictions of truth and duty. The parish, with %whom the students; as now, were
wont to Nworship, employed a minister whose sentiments the President deemed
unscriptural and loose. He immediately, with characteristic decision, gave
notice that he should preach on the Sabbath in the Chapel. He did so, as did
his successor in office, until the parish pulpit -was supplied by a man of evangelica'l fahtht




9
His early death removed him from this field of his usefulness before he had ushered a second class into the duties of
active life. But, though his career was so short, he should
always be remembered with gratitude, not only for his successful efforts to organize the instruction of the College, and
to secure a course and standard of study not inferior to those
of the oldest institutions in the country; but equally for his
constant recognition of higher ends in education than the
development of mental energies, and cultivation in letters
and science. In his Inaugural Address, he reminds his hearers that literary institutions are founded and endowed for the
common good; and that those who obtain an education by
their aid are under peculiar obligations to use their talents
for the public welfare. He affirms it to be a sacred duty,
which the governors and instructors of a seminary of learning owe to God and to society, to guard the morals of the
youth committed to their care; and, in humble dependence
upon the Divine blessing, to form their minds to virtue and
usefulness. He recognizes as " doubtless the object of this
institution," that the people of Maine "6 may have of their
own sons to fill the liberal professions among them, and particularly to instruct them in the principles of our holy religion:" and, in conclusion, he entreats "all gqod men here
present to unite in fervent supplications to the great Father
of light, knowledge, and all good, that his blessing may descend upon this seminary; that it may eminently contribute
to the advancement of useful knowledge, the religion of
Jesus Christ, the best interests of man, and the glory of
God."  None, we are assured, who were present four years
after his inauguration, at the first Commencement, were likely
to forget the impressive exclamation which fell from his lips,
as he gave a parting address to the only class he lived to
crown with the honors of the College:-" God forbid that you
should ever be ashamed to be governed by the principles of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ." These principles controlled his
administration.  We would ever remember that the College
was thus dedicated, in its infancy, to the service of Christ.
2




10
In December, 1807, President Appleton entered into the
labors of his predecessor in office. He soon identified himself with the religious interests of the College. President
M'Keen had established a biblical exercise. This his successor continued to conduct during the whole term of his
office; meeting the students for this purpose, in the chapel,
on Sabbath evening. Several manuscript volumes of his
questions, used on these occasions, are now in the possession
of his biographer. Beside the multiplied and arduous labors
of the recitation room, which were always attended to with
conscientious exactness, and were often productive of deep
moral and religious impressions, he elaborated with great
care upwards of fifty theological lectures, which were delivered, in the chapel, on alternate Thursday afternoons. He
also delivered, at Commencement, to eleven successive classes, parting addresses; in which, to use his own words, " he
eagerly seized the few moments which remained of their
college life,, with. design to produce or perpetuate moral impressions."  His voice, too, was often heard in prayer and
pious discourse in the village conference room  and church,
or where large assemblies were convened for high philanthropic and. religious ends. Itis Lectures, his Baccalaureate
Addresses, and many of his sermons, have, for some time,
been in print. The judgment of those best qualified to decide
upon their merits has assigned them a place among oure most
select New England theological and ethical classics. They
never should be allowed to slumber upon the shelves of our
libraries. In thought and style they remind mne, as I read
them, of the pure gold seen by the prophet in heavenly vision,
at once solid, transparent, massive.
Beside the influence which such weighty and lucid discourse always exerts upon. a thoughtful community, was that
which ever flowed from its author's personal character. I-He
was, in no common degree, a holy man. We naturally think
of him as the sainted Appleton. Holiness seemed in him,
-wve may almost say, personified; though, perhaps, in its graver
fornm, as we may suppose it to have appeared in John Howe,




or Owen, or any of the lnore eminent Puritan IDi vines. Tihe
spirit of his piety appears in this brief extract from his diary;
" One week of tender, lively, and prayerful views of God,
Christ, and the gospel, is better than years of intellectual
research that has no near connection with Jesus:and his
religion.  0 God, make me spiritual,"  He was eminently
a man of prayer. He was much upon the mount, and when
he came down and mingled in the scenes where duty led him,
there proceeded from him a holy influence which few could
wholly resist. If to this power of moral and spiritual impression which grew out of the elevation and purity of his
character, and to the power which he possessed of presenting
the great principles of religion with what has been described
as an almost angelic clearness of conception; if to the instruction respecting Duty, and Moral government, and the reasonableness and authority of the Christian faith, which, in
all the forms of public address, and upon every suitable occasion,-in the parish church, in the reciting room, at evening
prayers, in the enforcement of college laws,-the President
was ever communicating; if to all this mass of light, and
wealth of moral influence, and unshrinking public fidelity,
there had been added more of private intercourse and close
personal conversation with his pupils, and especially a more
frequent and full presentation of the Redeemer, in the attractions of his glorious Person, and the power of the love which
led him to bleed upon the cross for poor and lost sinners:-it
may be questioned whether the success, humanly speaking,
of his religious teaching would not ha~ve been even greater
than it was; at least whether the deep impressions which he
often did make upon the conscience, and which in after years
resulted in the conversion unto God of their subjects, might
not earlier have borne their fruit. It is, however, his richly
deserved,enoomium, that, at a period of great religious declension, when many were making shipwreck of the faith,
he defended and powerfully enforced the great doctrines of'
the Cross; and that, when it seemed to be generally conceded
that youth was not the age in which religious character could




12
reasonably be expected, he so presented to his pupils the
claims of virtue and religion, as fully to justify the remark
made by one of them,-" It is impossible to go through
Bowdoin College without receiving serious impressions."
Such is a brief and cursory view of the religious character and aims of the first two Presidents of the College during
their time of service.' I have preferred to present it here, in
order that the narrative of events within the institution may
be uninterrupted. Let us now look again at the state of
things there.
As before intimated, at the time of the inauguration of
President Appleton, there was, probably, one only of the
undergraduates whose character was decidedly religious.
This student was fond of conversing with his friends upon
serious themes, and is particularly remembered for the frequency and earnestness with which he spoke of conversion,-a strange word then to most of his associates. With
his co-operation, Mr. Jonathan Cogswell, then Tutor in the
College,t a man of excellent Christian spirit, formed an
association which received the name of the Theological
Society.4  It was understood by the students that its establishment was in accordance with the views and wishes of the
President, — who, indeed, occasionally attended its meetings.
These were held on Sabbath evening. The exercises were,
the discussion of some passage of Scripture, and dissertations upon theological and ethical questions. Personal piety
was not made a qualification of membership, and the object
of the society was not directly a practical one. Still its institution marks the beginning of religious progress. It organized the more sedate and thoughtful, and turned their attention to religious themes, and to the teachings of the Bible.
Under date of July 17, 1808, President Appleton writes:"' I had hoped that my preaching might be the occasion of
* See Appendix B.
t Since, for several years, minister at Saco, and more recently Professor in
the Theological Seminary at East Windsor.
tJ. See Appendix C.




exciting some serious attention among the students. I have
used some exertion with that design. Hitherto an infinitely
wise and holy God has not seen fit to give any success.
Every effort seems to have failed. But it is all right. 0 God,
thou hast done well, Many whose shoes I am not worthy
to unloose have met greater discouragements. I would not
yet despond. I would yet hope in God, To human apprehension, what amazing good would result from a revival of
religion at this College! It would be communicated to the
people here, and, through the students, to places far distant.
But surely God has a mrore comprehensive view of matters
than I have, and my ignorance cannot direct his infinite wisdom. Lord enable me to do my duty." At the time this
entry was made, the Theological Society numbered seventeen members, most, if not all of whom met, each Sabbath,
for biblical and theological study. It is a striking comment
upon the promises of God to those who study and to those
who preach his word, that, of these seventeen young men,but one of whom, it is supposed, then possessed a religious
hope,-nine, at least, in subsequent life became professed
Christians.
During the remainder, however, of the year referred to,
and during the eight following years, the renewing and converting influences of the Holy Spirit were not manifested.
The earnest labors of the President seemed still to fail of
success. Indeed the difficulties in the way of the result desired, for a time increased. During the first term  of the
academic year 1811 to 1812,-the whole number of students
being upwards of thirty,-there was not one among them
who had made a profession of religion. The interest in the
Theological Society became nearly extinct, and few, if any,
came forward to take the places of those of its members who
~had graduated. It was regarded by most with feelings of
bitter opposition. The greater part of the students appear
to have been thoughtless. Not a few were reckless and
openly immoral, some of whom formed habits of intemperance which clung to them in later life and brought tlhen to
a dishonored grave.




14
Notwithstanding these discouragements, the President
abated not in heart or hope or zeal. He enforced the requisite discipline with prudence and paternal kindness, but with
uniform and unshrinking firmness; and in a way which deeply impressed upon the students the conviction of the necessity of law and the guilt of its violation. I-e sought constantly to bring the truths and sanctions of religion to bear upon
the conscience. When the moral stupor which prevailed
seermed most profound, it is related that he once requested
the students to remain after evening prayers, and then read
to them, with all the impressiveness of manner he could
command, the narrative of the death of the backslider and
free-thinker, Sir Francis Newport. The effect produced at
the time by its reading was very marked. The friend who
gave me the incident said, that the next morning he obtained, without difficulty, twelve or fourteen members for the
Theological Society, not one of whom before had been willing to join it.  The revival of this society was an important
measure; uniting and organizing, as it did, all who were
willing to be ranked on the side of good morals. Of still
more consequence was the fact, that about this time a ne-w
element began to appear in College life;-that of humble,
earnest, devoted, and aggressive piety. In September, 1812,
returned, as Tutor, a graduate of the class of 1810, Frederic
Southgate; now a renewed man, and full of faith and Christian excellence. A few months earlier, entered, as Sophomore, James Cargill, whose brief career was a track of light.
In 1813, came three other pious men, Messrs. Dennis, Cheever, and Pratt, who had the ministry in view, and who came
here not only to receive good but to do good in Christ's
name. They stand at the head of a long and bright succession. In their day were originated the religious meetings in
the College which have been blessed in its history as established means of grace. Since the year in which James Cargill entered, no class has passed through College without
having, in its membership, some one who has pleaded with
God in prayer for his classmnates, and labored, with more or




15
less earnestness for their conversion. And, since the year
in which Mr. Southgate came as Tutor, no class has entered
without finding established a Saturday evening meeting for
Christian instruction and for prayer.
These two men, in particular, were remarkably fitted by
the gifts of God's grace to initiate in the College a religious
movement; to be leaders in the noble and blessed work of
sustaining and advancing among their fellow students the
cause of the Redeemer; and to be models for all who, in after
years, should follow. Since they have both gone to their reward, it is proper that we should render,-what indeed in
itself is but an act of justice,-a tribute to their Christian
worth.
Frederic Southgate graduated with high distinction as a
scholar, and with troops of friends won by the amiableness
of his character, and 1" the vivacity and courtliness" of his
manners.  Few have entered upon life more keenly alive to
its pleasures and honors, or possessed of qualities better fitted
to ensure success in their pursuit. Upon leaving College he
began the study of law, and continued it for nearly two
years. " During this time," remarks President Appleton, who
gained the information from Mr. Southgate's own lips,  bhe
found himself inclined to contemplate religion with a degree
of interest previously unknown. The impression made on
his mind was not peculiarly strong, nor was it such as to excite any high degree of terror. But it was such as to produce an obvious change of character and pursuit.  Those
scenes and that society which are highly interesting to most
persons of his age and prospects were, from that time, divested of their charms. He had before, to use his own expression, been living without God in the world,-more anxious
for the esteem of men, than for that honor which cometh
from God only. Henceforward he pursued a different object
and enjoyed different pleasures. He became in a very high
degree crucified to the world, and the world to him by the
cross of Christ..... Humility was prominent in his religion.
And if charity consists in warm desires for the best interests




16
of men and active beneficence for the promotion of this object, he was clothed with it as with a garment. The duties
of an instructor in literature and science, he executed with.
ease to himself, with fidelity and good success. But while
he was attentive to the more obvious duties of his employment, he was much more concerned for the moral improvement of those who were under his care. He watched, with
unceasing solicitude, any appearance of religious sensibility.
" Few persons have ever held time in higher estimation.
Had he known himself to be as near to eternity as the event
has proved that he was,' I know not that he could have lived
differently or used his time with more rigid economy.  His
residence in this place evinced the possibility of preserving a
habit of exalted piety in the midst of an employment highly
responsible and requiring unwearied attention; for it is not
easy to conceive that any person could, with more propriety
than he, have adopted the language of the apostle when he
said in the name of Christians, Yive have our conversation in
heaven.  He thought, and spake, and acted, as seeing Him
who is invisible,
4 "His deportment in sickness, both before and after his removal from this place, well corresponded with his previous
character.  His approaching end was contemplated with
solemn interest, b-ut with deep submission. As death advanced, his mind settled into a state of increasing calmness
and joy. He said little; but never did I witness such
serenity and pleasure beaming from  mortal countenance.
Nor was I ever so impressed with the words of the sacred
nwriter in relation to Stephen, Tlhey beheld his face, as it had
been the face of an angel.  There was a kind of celestial
radiance, indicating that peace of God which passeth all understanding; a joy unspeakable and full of glory.  He died
in the enjoyment of a hope full of immortality."t
His return to College, changed. in heart and spirit, and
now resolved to count all things but loss for the excellency
- He died during the second term of his Tutorship.
- President Appleton's Discourse on the death of Frederic Southgate, 1813.




17
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and his triumphant death,
in themselves exerted a powerful and most salutary though
silent influence. They evinced the reality of religion; illustrated its worth and power; showed it to be the work of God
in the heart, and the living source of all spiritual and moral
excellence. During the few months, moreover, of his residence here as an instructor, Mr. Southgate was unwearied
in his endeavors, both public and private, to promote the religious welfare of his pupils. " He made great exertions,"
writes the President in his private journal, " for the salvation
of the students. From these exertions I had much to hope."
He instituted the religious service on Saturday evening which
has ever since been observed, and sustained it with such interest as to draw in many of the impenitent. Often, also, at
the close of his daily recitation, he would shut up his Horace,
and most affectionately and seriously urge those present to
acquaint themselves with God and be at peace with him. I
love to think of that man, was the exclamation to me of one
of his pupils who never forgot, though he long neglected, his
teacher's pious counsels and solicitations. We cannot measure the quickening power of an earnest Christian life, however brief. Mr. Southgate did not live in vain. Seeds which
his hand scattered are doubtless now bearing fruit unto everlasting life.
The other person to whom I referred, James Cargill,
entered the Sophomore Class, in the spring of 1812, from
Middlebury College. He was a native of New Castle in this
State,-where, as one of the first students of its academy, he
fitted for College. While pursuing his preparatory studies
he was deeply and solemnly convinced of sin. "He saw,"
writes his pastor, Rev. Kiah Bailey, " that he was perfectly
in the hand of a sovereign God, and felt that he would be
just if he made him forever a monument of his holy displeasure. At length his will was bowed, light broke in upon his
mind, and he found peace and joy in believing. And he indulged the pleasing hope that Christ was formed in him,-that
he had passed from death to life,-as he experienced an entire
3




18
revolution in the temper of his own heart, and could say
that Christ was indeed precious to himn.' Mr. Southgate
found in him a zealous and most judicious coadjutor. And
when the former was removed by death Cargill was well worthy
to take up and wear his fallen mantle. With the approbation
of the President he continued the religious meeting begun
by Mr. Southgate. This he sustained with so much wisdom
and efficiency that it was always well attended, although
none of his fellow students professed any experimental acquaintance with religion. Thus to maintain an exercise of
this sort, without any aid from his associates, and in the face
of much thoughtlessness and immorality, evinces great maturity of Christian character and practical judgment. Such
a meeting, conducted with faith, with humility, with earnestness and propriety, is one of the most powerful instrumentalities which can be used, in a college community, in behalf
of religion. The solemn and affectionate intercessions of a
pious student for his friends and classmates, the reading of
the word, the kind counsel and exhortation,-" Come with
us and Nwe will do you good,"-how many, by these simple
means, have been saved for time and for eternity. None who
attended Cargill's meeting, as it was called, could ever wholly
forget the earnestness of his prayers, or the solemn and affectionate manner in which he invited them to Jesus. Some, it
is believed, were at the time radically benefitted, although
such results were not then apparent.
In personal appearance Cargill was not prepossessing, except as his face was transfigured by the power of holy emotion. The color of his hair inclined to red, —his eye was
light, —his face bloodless, —his form awkward and bent,his chest hollow, and his whole appearance that of one marked by consumption. The continuity of his college life was
frequently interrupted by sickness.  During most of the
Senior year he was obliged entirely to suspend his studies.
When he graduated, he was so wasted by disease that he
had, literally, to crawl up the steps of the stage; and he decended almost from that platform to the grave,-dying at




his mother's house in New Castle on the Saturday of the
week following that of his graduation.
His natural powers,-though above mediocrity, and somewhat marked in the more solid branches of study,-were
not, as a whole, distinguished. I-le had not Mr. Southgate's
natural depth and seriousness of mind; nor his liveliness and
luxuriance of fancy; nor his easy address and cultivated
manners. " He was a rough jewel," — writes Dr. Vaughan
of Philadelphia, his fellow student, —" but a man of devoted
piety. He stood alone; but he was respected, and his influence felt." Others assure me that his influence was greater even than that of Mr. Southgate;-that it pervaded the
College, affecting every diversity of character. Though always firm in the maintenance of his own principles of piety,
and faithful in rebuke, he was universally esteemed and beloved. As one evidence of this I may mention, that his associates, knowing his struggle with poverty, voluntarily contributed to his support. Once he found fourteen dollars in
a wrapper on his table. At other times, also, he was aided;
-sometimes secretly, and sometimes openly.
It is worth while to inquire the secret of his influence
and usefulness. As already intimated, it was not in any extraordinary natural gifts. I have been told that his temper
naturally was not amiable. Yet none knew him here but to
respect and love him. One characteristic which distinguished him was, the thoroughness of his conversion, and the
deep experimental character of his piety. He was taught of
God, and received thus that spiritual mind which is light and
wisdom. The holiness of the divine law,-the extent and
guilt of his sinful opposition to.its requirements,-his need
of an almighty and atoning Saviour,-the glory of God's
immutable purposes and universal government,-of these
sacred truths he was experimentally and fully convinced.
They were not only apprehended but loved; and he longed
to have others rejoice in them as he did.
Another feature was his conscientiousness.  He was
thoroughly honest.  "Oftenl," says his pastor,'"he would




20
express his fears that he had no religion, and was at times
almost ready to give up his hope; but he had seasons of
comfort, and was usually calm and composed." He constantly strove to maintain a conscience void of offence. And
he took as his standard of Christian excellence the highest.
All could see that religion in him was loaded with the fruits
of righteousness.
Another trait in his Christian character was its beiievolence. This was universal. He li-ved to do good rather than
to receive. There was a genial, cordial, joyous fellowship
in him which had its secret spring in his love to Christ; and
which flowed out, as from an unsealed and exhaustless fountain, wherever any channel opened to receive its sweet and
beneficent streams.   Southgate's  career seemed to the
students like a voice from the grave. It bade them prepare
for eternity.  Cargill taught them  how to live,-that the
ways of religion are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
When near his end, he expressed his joy that he could go so
soon to be with Tutor Southgate. In spirit here they were
one. In death they were scarcely divided. Together, we
may believe, their emancipated spirits rejoice over all, who,
in the College they loved and toiled for, so enter into their
labors that at the last they shall share in their rest and reward.
The year following the graduation and death of Cargill,
1814-1815, exhibited an improved state of morals over many
that had preceded. There was, at the beginning, some accession favorable to religion.  The Saturday evening meeting was sustained,-conducted chiefly by one of the Tutors,
Rev. Enos Merrill.  There is reason to believe that the first
distinct religious impressions and decisions of several, who
have since been active Christians, are to be referred to this
period. For those who were professedly pious it was a time
of trial and growth.*
During the first half of the next year, 1815-1816, there
was a deterioration in the moral condition of the College.
i See Appendix D.




21
"4 As a general thing," writes one who was then a member
of the Sophomore Class, "the College students were thoughtless, wayward, and irreligious. There was much noise, frequent convivial meetings at which many students drank to
excess."-" There was some profanity, and a general lightness and frivolity of conversation, among the students, notwithstanding we were most faithfully and kindly conversed
with and prayed with by our eminent President Appleton."
At the opening of the year the whole number of students
was nearly fifty. Of these, six were professors of religion;
and in February a seventh was added to their number. The
piety of this little band appears to have been decided. The
lives of its members were consistent with their profession,
and they were consequently much respected. At the time
when the prospect of any general thoughtfulness upon religious themes seemed darkest, they adopted the resolution,
each to converse every week with two of his fellow students,
until the attention of all should in this way be drawn to
their religious obligations.
Toward the close of the spring, there began to be in the
town signs of increased religious interest. The Congregationalist Society then was without a pastor. The church
embraced only seventeen members; and few of these exhibited any signs of spiritual life. There was much, both in the
church and society, of what is now termed liberal Christianity. The special attention spoken of appeais first to
have sprung up under the faithful preaching of the pastor of
the Baptist church, Rev. Mr. Titcomb. It continued to increase during the summer. Meetings were held at private
houses; and soon, near the appointed hour of their commencement, companies of men and women were to be seen
in the streets, carrying their seats in their hands, and thronging toward the place of worship. The interest spread into
the first parish. Seeing the need of some one who could
devote himself to the work in this society which was waiting to be done, President Appleton urged upon Rev. Jotham
Sewall, who was then in the employ of the Maine Mission



aly Society, to come and put in his sickle into the standing
harvest. Toward the close of the summer term he consented. From the opening of this term there appears to have
been in the College, especially in the Sophomore Class, a
gradually deepening thoughtfulness and solemnity.  Not
having had a college education, Father Sewall seems to have
felt a great deal of unnecessary diffidence in coming to a
place which he looked up to as a seat of learning. His first
appearance here, however, was one which won the kind attention of the students. He came on Thursday from Gardiner. Almost his first inquiry was, if there were any meetings in progress. There happened to be one, conducted by
Rev. Mr. Titcomb, in the house opposite that occupied by
Professor Cleaveland. He directed his steps thither at once,
and found the rooms packed and overflowing with people.
Elbowing himself through the crowd, Father Sewall made
his way to the preacher, and introduced himself. After the
sermon he was requested to lead in prayer. Do you pray
for the College? he inquired. Unfortunately at that time
there was, on the part of many who were chiefly interested
in the services then in progress, an inconsiderate jealousy of
Colleges and an educated ministry. The reply was, that they
had not been in the habit of remembering the students in
their supplications.  Ought to, OUGHT TO, was the quick,
nervous, emphatic response; and immediately, in his own
deeply spiritual, touching, overpowering way, this man of
God lifted his voice in prayer, not only for those present, but
for the institution of learning. He preached in the evening
to a thronged house. About thirty of the students, several
of whom before had been serious and thoughtful, wrote
him a note,-appending their names, and requesting him to
preach to them on the next Saturday evening. He consented, though such was his humility that it is related, in his
memoir, that he spent a considerable portion of one night, in
his bed and out of it, pouring out tears and supplications to
God in behalf of his cause here; and entreating to be made
an instrument of good to souls in any way that God pleased,




if it was only as Christ used the ass on which he rode into
Jerusalem.
The sermon was preached, if I am rightly informed, in
the room of Samuel Johnson. Father Sewall's text was,
_Run, speak to that young man. His sermon was strictly
textual, somewhat in this style.' " My young friends, I do
not know that I ever preached before to an assemblage all
of whom are superior to me in point of education. Will you
excuse me? I have been educated but little; I have had
no college training; I may commit blunders: but, after all,
I have cultivated my common sense; I have looked around
me, and have had some experience; and God by his word
and Spirit, as I believe, has taught me and has made me a
preacher. Perhaps then I may yet say something useful to
you, if you will patiently hear me. My text is, 4" Run, speak
to that young man."  I must rzn. I must make haste and
speak while I may; for time makes no stop, and not one of
us is sheltered from the arrows of death; and dying suddenly, if you die in your sins, you are lost, and lost forever!
Speak to that young man. There is more hope of the young,
than of the old offender,-his conscience not yet hardened,
his heart susceptible.  Speak to that young man. Yes, I
will warn, and counsel, and entreat, for you walk amidst
danger; perhaps you will listen to my homely but honest
voice of truth; perhaps it will-O may it be so —not be in
vain that I entreat you to be reconciled unto God, for now
is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation."
After the lecture a few tarried for conversation; and, in
his journal, Father Sewall alludes to two of them as being
deeply anxious. The following week the annual Commencement occurred, and the students dispersed for the vacation.
Many fears were felt by the President and Mr. Sewall, lest
the serious impressions made should be lost in this season of
relaxation. Fervent and frequent prayers from them, and
from many others in this vicinity, ascended that this might
not be the result. These prayers were answered. "1 The
* For this sketch of Mr. Sewall's sermon I am indebted to Rev. Dr. Allen.




24
College," states one of its students, who was then deeply affected by religious truth, "re-assembled in deeper solemnity
than when it separated. I well remember my first interview
with"' Father Sewall, " after my return. We met in one of
the favorite walks in the pine grove, and his first question
showed that the drift of his solicitude was for the safety of
the soul."
" At the beginning of the autumn term," writes another,
"there was evidently a deep solemnity among the students.
The Bible was read, its solemn truths were considered.
Students began to meet in each other's rooms for conversation and prayer. The venerable Jotham Sewall preached in
the college rooms with great fervor. He visited every room,
talked freely, affectionately, and faithfully to us all concerning our duties to God and our eternal interests. And he
earnestly besought us to be reconciled to God through Christ
without delay. Especially was he devout and fervent in his
prayers that God would give us his Spirit, and, the greatest
of all mercies, new and contrite hearts.
" Soon it was apparent that those prayers were answered,
that the Holy Spirit was with us of a truth. The Bible, religion, personal salvation, were the absorbing topics within
the walls of Bowdoin. Those were days ever to be remembered by me. If ever I was converted, it was in October,
1816. More than forty years have since elapsed, but those
days, those gracious scenes, are fresh and vivid in my recollection. Then first the Saviour Jesus became inexpressibly
dear to me and other college students.
" During this revival our beloved President Appleton was
indefatigable in his endeavors to promote the cause of sound
religion. He exhorted, he talked, he prayed, for and with
all of us. Several of the students who were pious before,
were exceedingly useful at that time,-kindly entreating us
to embrace Christ, and aiding inquirers in every way they
could."
This revival seems to have been chiefly confined, in its
immediate results, to the Junior Class,-six of whose members, it was hoped, were converted.




25
In the next year the College was again visited. At the
Saturday evening conference, Nov. 15, three or four were
deeply impressed with a sense of their need of forgiveness
and redemption; two at least of whom expressed, during
the following week, a hope of having been renovated by
God's Spirit. Two others also, before the close of the term,
professed conversion.
How important and joyful these events appeared to the
President, and to those interested with him in the religious
prosperity of the College, is evinced in the following extracts from his private journal. November 28, 1816, he
writes: " God has been pleased, as I trust, to visit several
of the students with his saving health. We do hope that
at least six of the number have been transformed by the renewing of the mind. A few others are serious, but we fear
concerning them. The seriousness has been attended with
silent but deep anxiety, which has gradually given way to
hope, a hope feeble and intermitting, but slowly acquiring
strength. This is a great thing-a very great thing. It is
what we have been long praying and longing for. * * * A
third of the students, or very nearly that proportion, it is
now hoped, are pious. It is but a little while since we had
none of this description."
Again, December 4, 1817, he remarks: " As to the College, God has shown us new favors. Not only have a considerable number of serious students entered, but there have
recently been, as we hope, three or four individuals converted to the Lord. This is a great thing, an unexpected
mercy that God should have returned to us so soon. Those
students who were thought to have experienced religion last
year, have, by divine grace, done well. They appear to be
good, sound, judicious, and zealous Christians.  This is a
glorious thing. Religion seems to have obtained strong
footing in Bowdoin College. Christ seems to have owned
us very distinctly and graciously. Oh that he might pay us
frequent visits! Oh that his work of grace may be further
carried on to his own praise! Oh that the College may
4




26
always exhibit a sweet and graceful union of literature and
piety. May God preserve thlise who have lately begun to
hope in his mercy. May there always be a goodly seed.
Towards us, already, the mercy of the Lord has been unutterable. Praise, everlasting praise-,be rendered to his name."
During Cargill's Senior year there were only two or
three pious students in the College.  At the close of the
first revival, there were about sixteen; and a year later, at
the end of the second, about twenty,-between one third
and one half of the whole number of students.
This increase of the religious element produced a great
change in the public sentiment and general character of the
College. It was found, as- it always must be, that the cultivation of piety is not adverse to. scholarship; that an atmosphere filled with religious influences is the one most
congenial to- mental growth and fruitful culture; and that
all the ends. for which a literary institution exists, are best
secured in proportion as the Spirit of God dwells in the
hearts of its members, and prepares them  for His service.
The first revival, in particular, exerted a salutary influence
which was felt through the institution. Referring to this
work of Gods grace, Rev. D-r. Anderson makes the following
interesting' statements --
" The, great fact in the religious history of the College,
in my time, and indeed in its history in any point of view,
was the remarkable moral and social change,-almost a revolntion,,-oceasioned by, this gracious visitation.  The class
which graduated in 1818, was the largest there had ever
been, and embodied a good deal of talent and character;
and the special interest and the largest number of converts
were in that class, which had then entered its Junior year;
and as there was a good proportion of pious influence
among the- Seniors, the tone, of college life was wonderfully
and most happily changed. I have never witnessed any
thing equal-to it. There was a public sentiment on the side
of good morals and piety, whichh was felt through. College as
a controlling influence.,




27:" These were the impressions I had when in College, and
have ever retained. Perhaps the religious history of the institution should date with that outpouring of the Holy
Spirit."
The proximate causes of the wonderful religious progress, and, as it were, revolution, whose history we have
been considering, may easily be gathered from the facts
which have been stated. The more hidden and real causes
lie concealed in the secret intercessions and personal exertions of the holy and consecrated men whose names have
been prominent in our story, and in the sacred counsels of
the God of Providence and Redemption. I would note, for
our encouragement, this simple fact. The revival did not
come without labor. It was for years longed for and prayed
for and toiled for.  Then a revival of religion was thought
" a very great thing," worth years of patient, earnest effort, of importunate waiting at the throne of grace, of humble watching at the door of Divine Providence. The sceptre, we have seen, at length bent —the door opened. There
are hearts in every quarter of the globe that to-night have
reason to rejoice, because of the talents the descending Spirit then sealed for Christ and his Church. Let none be discouraged who now desire that these scenes may live again.
They will come. I know not now but that God is about
to wvork.
Let me add, in conclusion, one or two incidents of these
times of refreshing which could not so well be alluded to
elsewhere.
Some of the changes of character which took place were
remarkable from their suddenness.  In illustration of this a
graduate of the class of 1820 relates, " that he remembers
hearing one of the converts,-a marked case,-half utter an
oath, on the day after he was said to have entertained hope.
He had been a wild and profane young man, and the expression was uttering itself, as it were, from habit; but the
suddenness with which he checked himself and his confused
looks showed that a great change had taken place within.




28
It brought'the old man' and'the new man' into closer
juxtaposition than I had ever seen before, or than I have ever
seen since."
There were also many cases of deep and prolonged mental distress-prolonged simply because of the heart's unwillingness to yield to the truth and the strivings of the Spirit. In most of these there was final submission, and consequent peace and even unspeakable joy. One instance, however, is reported which had a melancholy and fearful issue.
It was the case of one described by a classmate and intimate friend, himself one of the converts of these times, as " a
beautiful young man, the most gifted of any one in the class."
" I will not mention his name," he further writes, "for he has
long ago passed to his account at the bar of a merciful as well
as just God. And I cannot think of him, even at this remote
period, without tears. He was so agitated for days that he
trembled like an aspenleaf in our recitations; and, as his chum
informed me, would walk the room, and stamp the floor, in
agony, because he could not banish from his mind the burden which weighed so heavily upon it. At last he deliberately resorted, in defiance of the prayers and tears of
his pious friends, to the brandy bottle, and quenched, in its
fiery potations, that Spirit who was graciously striving to
save him from ruin. Soon after leaving College he died, as
might naturally be supposed, a miserable diunkard."
One other instance, also, of resisting convictions of duty
and refusing to practice them, is on record;-though it may
have occurred earlier in the course of President Appleton's
term of office. A young man, after hearing an impressive
religious lecture by the President, "remarked to a fellow student, with apparent solemnity, that he considered himself
one step nearer perdition than when he entered the chapel;
for he believed what they had just heard was true, and yet
he was not benefitted by it."
fRow often, exclaimed the compassionate Saviour, concerning the city he before had wept over, How often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gcatheretlh
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.




29
AND YE WOULD NOT! How these words, in the judgment and in eternity, will rend with remorse the spirits of
the lost. Now, if thou wilt, thou mayest come, O sinner,
and be saved; but then-in thine own future-in the great
and fearful day-if thou canst only say, I would not come!
Let me entreat you, especially, my friends from the College,
now, if never before, seriously to consider the value of your
own souls, and the claims of a divine and atoning Saviour.
Delay not. You can gain nothing by waiting.  Life's best
gifts will be wasted by delay. It is hard to kick against the
pricks. Better, far better, for time and for eternity, will it
be for you at once to yield your hearts to God.




SECOND DISCOURSE.
DELIVERED SABBATVI EVENING, /IAlRCH 28, 1858.
In the records of the Praying Circle, under the date of
August 3d, 1818, I find this entry. "With grief we are compelled to say that the College is in a very stupid state.
Secret dissipation, of the most alarming nature, prevails to
such an extent as should rouse the slumbering followers of
Him who never slumbers nor sleeps."'
This development of wickedness, so soon after the gracious seasons which have been spoken of, need not surprise
us.  These operations of Divine Grace wrought a great social and moral change which was felt throughout the institution.  They brought religion into the ascendancy.  But
they did not give it universal reign.  More than half of the
students did not share in them. There were some, in each
of the classes, who remained hardened, dissipated and corrupt. At the time referred to in the extract which has been
read, these persons seem to have become unusually abandoned to evil, and it was feared that many would be contaminated by them. Through the vigilance and decision of
those connected with the College who were the friends of
moral purity, this danger, at one time imminent, was averted.
t In the Memoir of President Appleton also, allusion is made to this incursion of vice in connection with a striking illustration of his efficiency in government, and his power of rebuke. See Appleton's Works, vol. 1, p. 32.




31
Order and temperance and purity prevailed.  This fiavorable result was due, in a great degree, to the exertions of Mr.
Samnuel Green, then a Tutor in the College.'  The personal
religious influence of Mr. Green while here was such that
it deserves to be had in remembrance.
He was a graduate of Harvard University, where he
ranked among the first in his class, excelling particularly in
mathematical and metaphysical studies. In 1817, one year
after the graduation of his college class, he came here from
the Theological Seminary at Andover. Already, those superior intellectual powers and spiritual graces which have
won for his name a high place among " the holy and useful
of all generations," were largely developed in him.  His
countenance was a mirror of his mind,-open, yet studious
and thoughtful, benignant and noble.  He had in him the
soul of politeness, and his manners revealed the benevolence
of his heart. In amiableness of disposition, in a controlling
love of truth, in moral earnestness, in capacity and efficiency
as an instructor, in warmth of devotion to the interests of
learning and religion, and in elevation and richness of devotional power, he is said to have borne a close resemblance
to President Appleton, with whom his theological studies
while here were continued, and whose memory, as a theologian and christian, he afterwards cherished with deep veneration and love.f  At the time when his religious character
became decided, he adopted the resolution, "to do what he
could to make his influence felt over a dying world."  This
was the great purpose of his life to which he was eminently
consecrated. As a College officer he was abundant in labors. Few teachers, if any, have more deeply felt than he
their responsibility for the intellectual and moral improvement of their pupils, or have labored for this end with more
assiduity.  At the time already referred to, when immorality
appeared to be alarmingly on the increase in the College,..................................................................................................................................
* Subsequently the able and devoted pastor, successively, of the Congregational Church in Reading, Mass., and of the Union, now Essex St., Church in
Boston.    t See Memoir by Rev. Dr. Storrs, p. 51.




32
his activity in resisting and suppressing the evil was untiring, and most wisely directed. "1 He took firm ground,"
writes one of his pupils, "1 and resolved that the College
should be purified, though the combination among the students was found to be strong, daring, vigilant, and extensive... Never did a man, perhaps, wrestle more fervently in
prayer for the salvation of the College, and especially of the
dissipated and guilty.''' One whole college generation felt
the happy effects of this firm stand."
One incident is on record from the same pen,-that of a
graduate of the class of J1821,-which illustrates his fidelity
to the higher interests of those under his charge. " On my
return to Bowdoin College, at the close of my second winter vacation, I found, on taking the stage at Newburyport,
that tutor Green, and two or three other gentlemen, strangers both to Mr. Green and myself, were to be my fellowpassengers. Our ride, that day, was from Newburyport to
Portland, about seventy-five miles. It was severely cold,
and the roads were very bad. We did not reach Portland
till past eleven at night. During this long day I observed
that Mr. Green lost no opportunity of letting fall a word in
honor of his Master. The other passengers were absorbed
in commercial pursuits. On arriving at the hotel in Portland, hungry and cold, we we were all glad to have a warm
room and a warm supper. After supper Mr. Green and myself were left alone. He remarked that he dared not retire
immediately after eating. I saw that his object was twofold. He had determined on bringing me into a close
personal conversation on the subject of religion. I determined to be ready for him. Furnished as I was by an unsanctified but thorough religious education, I valued myself
on my skill at parrying. My plan was to converse freely
about religion, and yet keep Mr. Green so occupied in disposing of various questions, that he could find no time or
opportunity for those dreaded personalities, at which I knew
he intended to arrive. For a time I succeeded. Once or
twice the waiter came in, and asked us if we did not wish




33
to retire. Mr. Green would promptly reply,  I am in no
hurry.' Not so much, thought I, as I wish you were. Half
an hour passed, in which I had the privilege of listening to
sorme fine remarks on the millennium, and expositions of
passages relating to it. It was midnight, and Mr. Green at
last said to me,' I wish that we might sleep together, if
agreeable to you.' I could not decline, for I saw that there
was no escape. We went to our chamber. We knelt, and he
poured out a most importunate prayer. We lay upon our
pillows, but not for sleep yet-not till he had stripped me of
every excuse, and induced a sense of sin and guilt and
shame, which seemed tolerable only in the prospect that it
would be abated in the morning. So skilfully did he apply
God's truth, and yet so benignantly, that I felt towards him
only emotions of love and a sense of obligation."
This result,-personal respect and often deep affection,seems always to have attended Mr. Green's efforts. Such
were his evident sincerity and kindness of heart that he
could administer the most pointed and stinging reproof to
the guilty without exciting complaint. He made universally
the impression of a high minded and honorable man, ardently desirous of promoting the welfare of all whom his influence could reach. His own literary enthusiasm was so
ardent that he inspired his classes with a love of study;
and yet it was evident that his engrossing desire was, that
they should become purified from sin and renewed in the
image of their Creator.
At the beginning of the second year of his tutorship,
Mr. Green was strengthened in his labors by the association
with him in office of his class-mate and room-mate at Harvard University, Tutor Newman, afterwards for nineteen
years Professor in the College, during a part of which time
he also officiated as President. Of his character and influence I shall have occasion subsequently to speak more
fully. I notice now the fact that he was placed here with
Mr. Green, at this time, as a kind Providence to the College;
for through the self-denying exertions of these men, as well
5




34
as those of Mr. Asa Cummings,* who took Mr. Green's
place in the fall of 1819,-the religious interests of the College were faithfully cared for during the year in which the
sickness and death of the President deprived it of its religious teacher and head.
For upwards of six months previous to the evening on
which he died, Nov. 12, 1819, President Appleton was unable
to take any part in the instruction or government of the College. As toward the close of the summer term, and during
the progress of the fall term, it became evident that he was
soon to be removed from his earthly sphere of labor, a
general solemnity settled upon the College. Frequent meetings were held for prayer that the stroke might be averted;
or, if this could not be, that it might fall in mercy to those
whom it bereaved. The interest of the President in those
entrusted to his care continued unabated by his sufferings
and the feeble tenure of his life. He frequently looked
from his chamber window at the College buildings, and one
day, fixing his eye upon them, exclaimed, "; Precious objects
have ye been to me, but I resign them all for my God."
At another time, when he was led to believe that his end
was near, and when he gave what he supposed would be his
dying counsel to his children, he said to an officer of the College by his bedside, " Pray for our students. Pray that God
would revive his work among them. I think of them with
much interest. Tell them I had intended to leave them my
last advice, to be communicated after my decease; but it is
now too late. My enfeebled powers will not permit."
No one of those thus remembered could doubt what was
the burthen of the advice their revered and beloved teacher
wished to communicate. The scenes daily witnessed in his
chamber, were more eloquent than any words could be of
the power of a Christian faith and the worth of the hope of
the righteous. They were npt scenes of triumph and exultant joy, but even more impressive,-the calm serene setting of a full orbed sun. His character had been open as
the day. No one ever reproached him with guile. No one
* Afterwards Rev. Dr. Cummings, the well known Editor of the Christian Mirror.




35
could suspect him of insincerity or credulity. His mind
was eminently logical and comprehensive. What he said,
he felt; what he trusted in, he first examined. He had
sought for truth with all his powers. For years religion, its
doctrines and its precepts, had been the constant theme of
his thought. Death approached him with slow and measured step. In quiet hours he had ample opportunity to contemplate, as in the light of eternity, the great objects of
faith. His clear vision became yet clearer; his hope ripened
into assurance; his faith was victory. At the close of the
day which he had reason to expect would be his last, he
said, after gazing a moment at the setting sun, " Before it
dawns again I shall be in glory;" and then reclined his
head upon the pillow to die, as peacefully as one would lie
down to pleasant dreams. What gave this perfect peace?
It was not ignorance of Him he was so soon to appear before.
" The thought," he had said but a short time previous, " the
thought that a moment may introduce me to the full glories
of God, is enough to overwhelm me."  It was not ignorance
of himself. "I am indeed a poor sinner," was his language,
" lying at the foot of sovereign mercy. Most emphatically,
and from my soul, do I renounce all hope in anything done
by myself, as a ground of justification." What was the
foundation of his confidence, he as unequivocally affirmed.
" Of this," he often said, " I am sure, that salvation is all
of grace. I would make no mention of anything which I
have ever thought or said or done; but only of this, that
God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. The atonement is the only ground of
hope." " I fly, I fly, with my whole soul, to the blood of a
crucified Saviour."  " My heart is fixed, trusting ia God;
Jesus, to thy dear faithful hand,
PIy NAKED SOUL I trust."
This testimony to the distinctive doctrines of the Christian religion, this exemplification of their sustaining power,
was not given in vain to those who were members of the




36
College. The term was one of much thoughtfulness and
sobriety. And there were some who henceforth sought to
build their characters upon that foundation of Apostles and
Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone,
which had been proved before them to be so sure and stable.
In the December following the decease of President Appleton, at a special meeting of the Boards, Rev. William
Allen was chosen, with great unanimity, as his successor.
He was a graduate of Harvard University. An election
sermon, preached before the General Court of Massachusetts, in May, 1813, while he was pastor of the Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, made him widely
known. Subsequently, he was placed at the head of the
institution known by the name of Dartmouth University.
He came here at an early period of life, was inaugurated
in May, 1820, and continued in office nineteen years. His
administration of the College was highly successful, if we
may be allowed to judge from the number of students who
were educated during that time, and the large portion of
them who have risen to eminence in the various walks of
political, literary, and professional life.
Like his able and pious predecessors, he always had the
religious interests of the College much at heart. The fact
that he was cordially sustained by the subordinate officers,
to the recollections of some of whom respecting him I am
much indebted, does not detract from his great merit in this
respect. During the whole period of his Presidency he conducted the morning and evening chapel service. For many
years he continued the biblical recitation established by
President M'Keen. It was held at evening prayers, in the
chapel, on the Lord's day; alternating with a lecture, in
which he aimed always to speak upon some topic of special
interest, while he kept ever in view the spiritual good of his
hearers. During the first three years of his' residence here, I
find, from a memorandum which has been furnished me,
that he preached one hundred and four written sermons in
the village church where the College worshipped. In the




87
years 1823 and 1824, he delivered, in the chapel, a course of
ten scientific lectures, written with much labor and care.
The subjects were, the Existence of God, as proved by the
Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal worlds: the Necessity of
Revelation: and the Proofs of Revelation, as derived from
Miracles, Prophecies, and the Progress of Religion in the
world. In 1830, he published a volume of Discourses, containing his Inaugural Address, a Dudleian lecture, and a decade of Baccalaureate addresses. A memorandum has been
preserved of sixty discourses delivered by him in College,from July 7, 1833, to August 23, 1835,-on subjects deemed
the most important, interesting, and effective for the promotion of the spiritual and immortal welfare of the youth under
his care. He also frequently, from time to time, attended
conference meetings, held in student's rooms and elsewhere,
and delivered addresses as the occasion demanded. I have
a record of meetings, held at his own house in February,
1828, at which he delivered discourses on prayer, humility,
justification, and kindred topics. He also introduced into
the chapel, at all times when convenient, preachers, the
friends of the College, whom in turn he was ready to assist.
He encouraged united and fervent prayer to Him who has
commanded and who hears it. His judgment accorded
with that of President Edwards in his recommendation of
Union in extraordinary Prayer for the revival of religion.
He approved, also, of occasional protracted meetings; especially as they brought to the aid of the College the
most eminent and pious, the most eloquent, fervent, and
successful ministers of the State. Conversions were multiplied during his time, and revivals of religion were more
frequent than before or since. He gave the early direction
in their course to more than one hundred and thirty young
men who have become ministers of the Gospel and missionaries of the Cross.
The time, perhaps, has not yet arrived for an entirely
just appreciation of President Allen's character and administration. Some further review, however, of his labors, and




distinguishing traits of character, is due to his long connection with the College, his unbending faithfulness to its
interests, and his great influence in forming the minds of
many who are among the most honored sons of their Alma
Mater.
He was a man of extensive learning. Few literary or
professional men traverse so wide a field of knowledge. In
some of the abstract sciences he was a proficient,-particularly in the Mathematics. In the science of' Political
Economy, also, he exhibited powers of a high order, and it
has frequently been regretted by those acquainted with his
resources that he did not devote himself more exclusively to
its cultivation. His sermons and addresses, although not
characterized by the close logic and the simplicity which
strongly marked the addresses of President Appleton, were
clear and vigorous in thought,, always in good taste, and
often richly illustrated by historical learning. Evincing
constantly a most profound sense of the importance of Bible
-truths, and an earnest desire for the spiritual good of the
students, he seldom delivered an address in the chapel which
did not command marked attention. His published Baccalaurate discourses exhibit proofs of superior powers of argument and appeal.  Their style may be described as ornate
and highly finished, and they contain many passages of
great beauty and touching eloquence.  The Dudleian Lecture, delivered at Cambridge.) has been widely and deservedly
praised for its able and learned defense of the validity of
Congregational ordination, and its masterly vindication of
the revivals of religion which have borne witness to the
Divine approbation, as an ordinance of God, of the ministry
thus established.
In the devotional exercises of the chapel, which exert a
constant and usually powerful influence over the minds of
the students, although it may be but little noticed at the
time, President Allen was exceedingly appropriate and
happy. His prayers, carefully expressed, and enunciated
with distinctness and propriety, fell, it has been said, like




39
music upon the ear; and, in their beauty and evident sincerity, could hardly fail to leave a favorable and devout
impression.
In the government of the College, he was, perhaps, not
always wise; yet he possessed many qualities which are
always admirable in this sphere. His mind was deeply
imbued with a sense of the worth and majesty of law.
Any process of education, or method of administering
government, which tended to weaken respect for law, he
deplored as essentially wrong and injurious. His conviction wais, that a lax or partial or vacillating administration
of the College code was not only inexpedient and harmful
in its relation to the peace and order and welfare of the
community over which he presided, but that it tended to
destroy, in the minds of his pupils, that respect for law and
deference to its authority, which lie at the basis of public
morality, of a manly character, and of all true religion. He
was, therefore, upon principle, a rigid disciplinarian. He was
also impartial and unselfish. The odium almost necessarily
attaching to a faithful execution of measures of discipline,
he met with meekness, but with unflinching firmness,-in no
instance caring to avert from himself the full responsibility
of acts of discipline of which he was officially the executive,
even in cases where his own judgment, inclining to leniency,
had been overruled by the decision of his associates in office.
Regardless of popular applause, especially when it is the
product of a corrupt public sentiment, or the noisy approbation of the vicious and the depraved, he was, however, deficient in securing to himself that degree of personal popularity which, rightly secured, is in itself an important means
of a more extended influence. The sternness of his administration of law was not always tempered, as it might have
been with advantage, by kindness' of manner, and the expression of grief for the errors of those he was called upon to
punish. Many alleged that he was formal, cold, and distant.
Much injustice, however, was done to him in this respect.
He had a singular power of repressing the ordinary signs of




40
emotion; and often his countenance and voice would give
no indication of sensibility when his heart was most deeply
moved. To one instance in illustration of this, it will not
be deemed, I trust, improper to allude. When the companion of his life-in his own words, "the angel of his path" —
was, in the night, cut down at his side by a stroke, he quietly
assembled the members of his bereaved household in the
chamber of death, and, surrounded by his heart-stricken
children and weeping friends, lifted up his heart in prayer
to God in their behalf in words of indescribable pathos and
subduing power, yet in tones perfectly calm and composed,
until the powers of nature failed under the intense agony
within, and he fell on the floor, apparently as lifeless as the
breathless form from which the spirit had just taken its flight.
From the memories of many who now hear me that sublime
scene can never be effaced, when, standing at the head of
the grave which was soon to conceal from human view the
form of one so ardently and so justly loved, with a countenance radiant with faith and hope, and in tones mellowed
indeed by grief, and thrilling, yet firm and full, he said to
the multitude, awe-stricken and. hushed, though in tears,
around him: " My friends! may we never enter this graveyard, to deposite the remains of a fellow creature, without remembering that the day is coming, when all that are in their
graves SHALL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GoD, and COME
FORTH! they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
condemnation."
This power of appearing perfectly calm and impassionless even when most deeply moved, and a somewhat formal
though dignified address, together with his resolute discharge
of duty and enforcement of discipline, induced coldness toward him, and, in some instances, bitter hostility. He fell
also, in some respects, on evil times. The denominational
position of the College was then unsettled; and the great
evils which repeated experience shows will ever result from
such a state of things, began, in his day, to be heavily ex



41
perienced.  His bold enunciation, moreover, of what he
deemed the fundamental truths of the Gospel, wanting at
times, it was said by some, in a suitable spirit of conciliation, excited unhappy and unseemly jealousies, and gave
rise to many complaints. To these causes must principally
be attributed the measures taken to secure his removal.
His opponents, however, did not meet him face to face.
By a course of proceeding which cannot be characterized as
either just or honorable, they induced the Legislature of
the State to stoop from the true height of its position, and
pass a law which had the effect to cut him off from his
office of President of the College. He received this heavy,
sudden, and dishonorable blow in the true Puritan and
Christian spirit, without a murmur and without a fear.
Believing that God overrules all things, and in the strong
confidence of the rectitude of his cause, he promptly took
measures to test the constitutionality of the Act of the
Legislature which had summarily deprived him of his office.
He instituted a suit in the United States Circuit Court, and
employed Daniel Webster, and Professor Greenleaf of Cambridge, as his counsel. The case was argued with great
ability by Professor Greenleaf. The decision of the Court
was pronounced by Judge Story. It declared the Act unconstitutional, recognized Dr. Allen as still President, and
separated the College from the State, affirming that the
College is a private and not a public corporation and is not
under the control of the Legislature of Maine.
After nearly two years absence the President, in accordance with this decision, returned to his office, attended
by the united and enthusiastic good wishes of the friends
of justice and religion both in and out of the College.
Having thus vindicated himself and the cause for which he
had suffered, in a few years he retired from office. The
unabated regards of his warmly attached friends, of whom
he had many even among those who could not always concur in the wisdom or expediency of the measures he deemed
it proper to adopt, have followed him in his retirement 
6




42
while, in respect to his enemies, it may be said, that the
softening influence of time, and the advantage of a higher
and better point of vision, have led many of them to see
and appreciate the excellences of his character, and to
award to him the tribute due to his successful labors for
the promotion of the intellectual and moral culture of his
pupils and the prosperity of the College.
In a letter recently received from him at his home in
Northampton, Dr. Allen remarks: "An old man, who has
entered upon the year that will end his third quarter century
of years, if matters are right in his mind, will have a growing strength of faith in the future, and will associate this
faith with sweet, and joyful, and holy recollections of the
past. For myself, I recollect scenes relating to Bowdoin
College gladdening to my heart. I cannot describe them
vividly as I could wish, in their interest and beauty. That
such scenes may live again is my prayer; and will it not be
the prayer of all the Christian friends of the beloved
Seminary?"
It is to such scenes I would now turn your attention.
Soon after Dr. Allen's accession to office there was a great
increase in the number of students.  This was owing in
part to the increased facilities afforded  for instruction.
Other causes also contributed to the same result, among
which have been mentioned the general advance of education; the check given to mercantile enterprise, turning
attention to professional rather than commercial life; and
the opening in Maine, which had just become an independent State, and also in other States, of many new fields
for professional effort.
This increase was not, at first, favorable to the influence
of religion in the College. A large majority of those who
entered were unconverted; and though there was a considerable number of pious students of reputable character
and attainment, their religious influence was not very
decided, and the most zealous and devoted were not the
most intellectual. The leading influences of the College
were very far fromn being religious.




43
At the opening of the Fall term, in 1825, an unusually
large number of pious students was admitted; and, as the
result of this accession, fourteen new members were received
into the Circle. The first religious meeting of the Spring
term, held on Sabbath morning, afforded indications of more
than usual interest. On the succeeding Wednesday it was
resolved, at a meeting of the Circle, to spend the next day
-that of the Annual Concert of Prayer for Colleges, which
had been established then about three years,-in fasting,
humiliation, and prayer. The public services of this day
were, a prayer meeting at College in the morning, followed
by a similar meeting at the Conference room in the village;
and in the afternoon, a sermon, delivered in the Chapel, by
President Allen. These meetings were all unusually solemn
and profitable. An extract from a letter received from a
clergyman, then a member of the Junior Class, will best
convey an impression of their spirit. "' I have an indistinct
remembrance," he writes, "of the manifestation of some more
than usual earnestness of desire among the praying students
early in the year; a desire in which the Officers of College
appeared deeply to sympathize, and which some of them
labored to encourage and increase. But no special development of this deep feeling appeared until in the Concert of
Prayer for Colleges, in February. We were then assembled
in the Vestry of the Congregational Church, down in the
village. The Pastor was there; three or four of the College
Professors, with the President, were there; and some fifteen
or twenty students, besides a goodly number of the praying
men and women of the village. It was evident that the
Lord was there. I remember the peculiar earnestness
evinced in the prayers. I remember with what evident
fullness of soul those who took part in the exercises expressed themselves; and particularly our good Professor
Newman, (now in heaven,)-whom  some of us had previously thought wanting in the warmer sympathies of the
Christian heart,-how he seemed to be quite overcome
with emotion; broke down, as some would say; weeping




44
like a child, while in subdued tones he told us of what was
passing in his own soul, and while he also led us in prayer
to God. That day seemed to be followed with a blessing
upon the College."
" I shall never forget," writes another clergyman, then a
member of the Sophomore Class, "the thrill of joy with
which it was ere long confidentially whispered that one
student was awakened. A new pulse of spiritual life seemed
to beat in every heart, and the prayer of faith went up.
Soon others were found; and one and another braved the
public sentiment of College and attended our little circle.
The Saturday evening meetings were thronged; the President and Professors manifested a lively interest, and held
frequent conversations with the anxious and counseled the
pious. A very interesting prayer meeting was held, weekly,
in the President's Parlor."'
The progress of the work will best be indicated by some
historical notices furnished me by Rev. Dr. Allen. " At an
Inquiring meeting held on Thursday, April 13, fourteen
were present. When individually asked if they were accustomed at that time to pray to God, they all but one
replied in the affirmative. Several of them had a deep
sense of guilt; others were aware of their need of a new
heart; all of them were solemn and more or less earnest in
the desire of God's mercy; only one expressed a humble
hope that he was a Christian convert. Only four of these
had their impressions in the preceding week.
" On Monday about ten Freshmen met for prayer. On
Tuesday, April 18, there was another meeting, when most
of those already referred to were present, with several others,
one of whom had some previous impressions of his guilt
and danger, and another had never prayed to God till lately.
" At another meeting, April 25, there were six who expressed a Christian hope. At meetings May 2, May 9, and
May 16, from  sixteen to eighteen were present; of whom
twelve professed to rejoice in the hope of eternal life through
faith in the Son of God."




45
This revival, it has already been noticed, manifested
itself first in the meetings for prayer, particularly on the
occasion of united prayer for Colleges, The chief instrumentality in its progress seems also to have been the same.
As the interest increased, additional prayer meetings were
appointed.  Two were established-one in each of the
Colleges, Maine Hall and what was then called the New
College, now Winthrop Hall-and were held regularly on
Tuesday and Friday evenings, from about the middle of
March until the close of the term.  Upon one occasion,
when the interest seemed not to be deepening, although it
had widened, a day was set apart by the professors of religion in College as a day of fasting and prayer that the
good work of grace already begun might continue.
With prayer, also, there was connected much personal
effort. In a time of revival, truth has given to it a strong
arresting power. It causes the sinner to stop and reflect.
The things of God, of the soul, of eternity, seize upon his
attention. Often then the mind is in suspense. It balances
between giving to the subject of religion earnest consideration and dismissing it, between submitting to God and continuing in disobedience. When the scales thus hang in
equipoise, a word, fitly spoken, may give the preponderance
to truth and right. He only is prepared to win souls to
Christ, who, by secret prayer and the Spirit of Christ, is
made willing and apt to avail himself of such fruitful
opportunities.
This arresting power of a revival, and the importance in
such seasons of Christians seeking out and conversing with
those who may be thoughtful, are illustrated by one of the
conversions in the revival before us.
In the Senior Class there was a young man of promising
abilities and fine social qualities, who, td use his own testimony, had remained up to this time thoughtless and impenitent, and had incurred a fearful risk of temporal and eternal
ruin from the free use of ardent spirits, then common among
the students, and from the vicious habits of numbers of his




46
acquaintances. In the Spring term he was caught, as it
were, in an atmosphere of prayer and spiritual influences.
It was no particular remark or sermon, which he can now
recall, that aroused his attention, but the change in the
general religious aspect of the College and a pervading
solemnity, that sobered him and made him think. These
impressions he endeavored to shake off. For three weeks
he struggled with them. He seemed to himself, at last,
to be just ready to rid his mind of its serious convictions
and to return to the old life of sin. At this critical moment
he was sought out and visited by the Pastor of the Congregational Church, Rev. Mr. Mead. The remainder of the
story I will give in his own words. " Mr. Mead conversed faithfully with me, and drew from me a promise that
I would attend a meeting of his appointment in the village
that evening. I did so. He took for his text then,'Quench
not the Spirit.' Shall I forget that tenxt, or that night of
sleepless wretchedness which followed the hearing the sermon from it?  Never, I think. Nor the next day, spent in
the solitude of my room, heedless of all recitations, and
even of the calls of hunger, till, as the shadows of the
setting day began to fall on the earth, grace lifted the
heavier shadows from my soul; and morning broke, when
evening came down.
" That Revival in the spring of 1826, and that day of
that Revival, have decided my course of life, and made me
a minister of Christ. And now,-as your letter of inquiry
takes me back over thirty years of my life, and sets me
down again in that chamber where Heaven bent mercifully
over me, and the Saviour whispered,'Go in peace, thy sins
are forgiven thee,'-I thank God with all my heart for that
last Thursday in February, 1826. I have always understood that the interest in our College which resulted in that
Revival, commenced with that day. I know that it was
observed with prayer both in and out of the College walls,
and, although I took no part in its observance, I hope and
believe that I have, in wonderful grace, received of its




47
blessing. I think I shall remember the Spring of 1826 in
Heaven."
Another subject of this revival was a class-mate and
intimate friend of the writer of the above extract, Rev.
Joseph Sherman, who, in the midst of his usefulness as
President of Jackson College, Tennesee, was suddenly cut
down by death. " Troubled with doubts, and for months
afraid to call the Saviour his own," continues the correspondent from whom I have just quoted, " how did he envy
me the clear dawn of my Christian hope. How much more
reason I had to envy him his steady, beautiful progress in
holy life, when the mists of his morning had all passed
away, and his trembling faith settled firmly down, at length,
on the Rock that cannot be moved."
Although the religious interest awakened in the Spring
term of 1826 seemed, for a few weeks, to be somewhat
general, the number of hopeful conversions did not prove to
be large enough to give the religious students a numerical
ascendancy. They still remained a comparatively small
minority. A change in this respect soon began to take
place,-not so much, at first, through conversions within the
College, as in consequence of religious awakening and
growth in the churches. The period from 1826 to 1834 was
characterized by extensive and powerful revivals of religion,
-one effect of which was, to greatly increase, in our seminaries of learning, the number of pious students. This was
the result here; nor was it in numbers only that there was
a gain. Coming fresh from revivals, many entered who
were desirous of exerting a healthful moral influence, and
who could be depended on in the Praying Circle, and in all
places of religious duty. These,-together with such men
as Munson, the missionary and martyr; George W. Cole,
afterwards a clergyman in the Episcopal church, and early
cut down by death, a man, to use the testimony of a fellow
student,* "of a piety so deep and pure, as to make him as
mild and generous to his brethren as he was devoted to God;"
* Rev. 31r. Bartol, of Boston.




48
Merritt Caldwell, afterwards professor in Dickinson College,
and an ornament to the Methodist church; and others, still
living, who were here men of mark and earnest in their endeavors to communicate healthful spiritual impulses to those
around them,-constituted a firm band of consistent, living
Christian disciples. I wish not to eulogize them. They
might have done more than they did. They were connected
with some whose lives were a scandal and an offense. They
did not come fully up to the true standard of Christian charity,
fidelity, courage, and hopefulness, in approaching those supposed to be thoughtless. A certain circle had some reason
to suppose that they were abandoned to ruin by the professedly pious students. The Christian men waited for this
class to come to them with the question, What must we
do to be saved.  They, on the other hand, waited to have
the subject introduced by Christians,-and so, in some instances, the silence was never broken. Yet there was, in the
College, a constant, steady flame of piety. There were examples, and these not a few, that shone unintermittingly
and brightly. There were true-hearted Christians, who, to
use the testimony of those not then of their number, exerted
a powerful moral influence, and upheld the standard of the
gospel, and made religion respected even by those who resisted its claims.
For several years after the year 1828, there were frequently recurring seasons of special religious interest. The most
marked of these revivals commenced in the Fall term of
1830, and continued, without much abatement, during the
year, although most of the cases of conversion occurred before the winter vacation. Soon after the opening of the college year, the prayer meetings became so crowded that it
was found necessary to hold them in one of the recitation
rooms. Those who had made a profession of religion were
inspired with fresh zeal. Some from each class selected,
from their class-mates, certain persons as special objects of
prayer and effort. The interest thus was much increased;
and prayer meetings were held daily, for a while, between




49
the hours of twelve and one. In conducting these meetings,
the students were assisted, occasionally, by the College
Officers and by the Pastor of the Congregational church,
Rev. Dr. Adams, and also, during the Spring term, by Drs.
Mussey and Delamater of the Medical School. During
the progress of the exercises, the interest, it is said, sometimes became intense, so much so that some. who attended
were quite overpowered by their emotions. These frequent
gatherings for prayer,-preaching, in the church, the chapel,
and the conference room, on the most important and solemn
subjects, addressed with great plainness and directness to
the conscience and the heart,-the steady light of personal
piety glowing in the hearts and lives of Christian men, and
the words of friendly counsel and invitation not unfrequently addressed by them  to the impenitent, —were the
means employed. The results were great and blessed,from twenty-five to thirty cordially receiving the Redeemer,
bringing to his standard here a large proportion of the talents
and scholarship of the institution, and giving to his church
in our land some of its brightest stars. The experience of
these converts was not at all rigidly moulded according to
one pattern. Here, a mind seemed first to be subdued by
a perception of the utter inexcusableness and ingratitude of
its past unbelief; there, by a delighted discovery and apprehension of the goodness and grace of God. Where the
sense of sin had been vivid, the realization of the worthiness and sufficiency of the Saviour brought unutterable joy.
In other instances, where the work of God's grace was
equally thorough and permanent, there was far less strength
of feeling. Some saw, in their new purposes of obedience
to their Heavenly Father, the fruits of seeds sown in early
childhood, and nurtured by a mother's tears and prayers,
Others seemed to themselves to be at once brought to a
stand, with the question of life or death pressing upon them
for ani instantaneous decision. A few who had been openly
wicked, and hostile to religion, were turned with apparent
suddenness from their enmity and evil courses, and at the
7




beginning of their new life, were strengthened for the conflicts before them by clear visions of the grace and glory of
their Redeemer.  Others, of fairer lives, came more slowly
to the discovery of their need of the Saviour, and to an
entire trust in Him for salvation; and, after putting their
confidence in Him and consecrating their lives to his service,
sometimes struggled through much spiritual darkness before
they wallked, with assured step, in the light.  Some harm
was done by injudicious persons inquiring of those who
were serious, if they had found hope and joy, whichthough they usually accompany conversion, and always, in
the end, are its fruit-are by no means essential to it. In
these respects, as well as in all other circumstances of conversion, there may be the greatest diversity of experience.
It is not wise or safe for any inquirer to make the experience
of any one else, in all respects, his pattern. The great
question is, Have you repented of sin?  Are you, from love
to God, obeying Him? Are you conforming to the methods
of his grace in Jesus Christ, and cordially entering upon a
life of constant, endless service?  Those who have been
referred to —however in other respects their experience differed-gave one reply to such inquiries. Some of them were
naturally endowed with superior powers of discrimination.
No one acquainted with the character of their minds will
affirm that their professed conversion was a chimera,-that
it was fanaticism, or superstition, or the product of any artificial or irrational excitement. In some cases it was the
fruit of deliberate, long-continued, and earnest thoughtfulness, One of the first converts was a young man who
came to College desiring to know, that he might obey, the
vill of his Maker. He made all his arrangements, upon
entering, with this purpose primarily in view. He took a
room out of the college halls, that he might be less interrupted in; his religious studies, and have time for reflection.
His leisure moments were given to serious, earnest, practical thought.  In his whole method of life, religion-his
relations. to God and the claims of God upon him-had




5'
assigned to it its true position.  He thoghtt upon his -ways;
he sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
He found, in the end, satisfying evidence that this kingdom
was established within him. Another of these converts
was one whose clearness and acuteness of intellectual vision
have seldom been surpassed. In his college life he wore
the aspect of a maturity and gravity beyond his years.
At the time when his religious character became decided,
he was often seen walking, with heavy, measured pace,
thoughtfully and alone. "Two students, knowing that he
had been for several days serious, made him an evening
call for the purpose of seeing how it fared with him, and, if
possible, to help him. As his friends entered, he was sitting
at his table with his Bible open before him; and, as he
turned to look at his visitors, a smile of beauty illumined
his fine countenance. He had begun to hope in the Lord
Jesus; and he proceeded to detail the process of the
Spirit's working. He had just been comparing the splendid portrayal by Isaiah  of the suffering Messiah with
the Evangelical account of the Passion. His cool, clear
eye had been scrutinizing the prophecy and the fulfillment,
and saw, as with unclouded vision, that Jesus was the
Christ-that He was what He professed to be, the Saviour
and Sacrifice for the world, and like the Eunuch under
similar circumstances, he trusted for himself, and was
already going on his way rejoicing."
But a safer test of the reality and worth of the spiritual
renewal professed by the subjects of this revival, is that of
time. The change wrought in them has changed their lives.
It has borne fruit whose excellence cannot be questioned.
It has evinced its worth and power in lives of eminent and
increasing virtue, and in deaths made peaceful, and even
triumphant, in the assured hope of immortal blessedness.
The tree is known by its fruit. These converts professed,
while here, to have been changed in heart. This change,
by its results, is proved to have been real and salutary. It
has shaped and controlled the feelings and activities of sub



sequent years. It has been fruitful in well ordered, earnest,
beneficent lives. If the effect is good, and only good,and of great importance, —is it rational to deny the worth
of the cause?  And if experimental religion,-the new heart
shown by the new life,-beside being thus the source of
distinguished virtue and usefulness here, is also what God's
word invariably declares it to be, essential to salvation and
to the eternal welfare of the soul, is it not most irrational
to neglect it, and most unsafe and dangerous to be without
it?
For what, do you think, our friend and brother* whom
God has taken, the last week, to Himself, as he lay prostrate upon his dying bed, would have exchanged his hope
of salvation through faith in Christ, or even a single act of
obedience to God which evinced to him the sincerity of his
trust? Think you he now regrets, that, at the beginning of
his College course, he gave his attention to religion, and
sought till he obtained? And if it is safe, and only safe,
to die with a heart "replete with Christian feelings," is it
not worth while to seek now, without delay, to make them
your own?
Many whom I now address are fast filling up the days
of their College life. Soon, at the longest, your history
here will be sealed. What shall the record be?  What,
my brethren in Christ, shall be yours?  Will you add
your names to those who here have turned many to Christ?
Will you do here, in Christ's name, a work which it will be
grateful ever to hold in remembrance?  Will you live for
your Master, and for those He has died to save? What
shall be the history of your College life? You may write
it in letters of living light.
And how shall yours be written who have not yet numbered yourselves among the friends of God and the followers of his Son? Shall these years of quiet thought, of
preparation for the future, leave you really all unprepared
-x Wilbur Savage, a much respected and beloved member of the Senior Class,
who died March 23, 1858.




53
for life's noblest work? Shall these times, when God's Spirit
is poured forth and is near you, waiting to bless your efforts
to find his favor, leave you still without God and without
hope in the world? Shall the record of this day of acceptance and salvation be, that you dismissed the momentous
question of your eternal welfare from your thoughts; that
you slighted the proffered good; that you took not into your
view both worlds; that you turned from Him who speaks to
you from Heaven, the Author of your being, the Author of
Redemption, the Judge and Lord of all: —or that, by submission to his will, and trust in his Son, in whom alone
you can be saved, you made Him, your eternal Friend and
Portion? What shall the record be?




THIRD DISCOURSE.
D)ELIVERED SABBATH EVENING, JULY 18, 1858.
During the temporary absence from office of President
Allen, —viz., from September, 1831, until July 6, 1833, —the
duties usually devolving upon the head of the College were
discharged by Mr. Newman, then Professor of Rhetoric and
Instructor in Political Economy.  He was a graduate of
Harvard University, where he attained distinction as a
scholar and unusual literary reputation.  The attention of
President Appleton was early directed to him as a suitable
person to fill one of the vacant professorships here. In
1818, he was chosen Tutor: in 1820, he was made Professor
of the Greek and Latin Languages: and in 1824, was
transferred to the chair of Rhetoric; in which he remained,
until, in 1839, ill health compelled him to resign.
Though the task would be a grateful one, it is not altogether appropriate to our pr6sent purpose, to analyze his
intellectual and literary character, and his influence as an
academical instructor. It should be said, however, in passing, that he early gained the confidence of his pupils, and
was peculiarly successful in encouraging them to effort for
the cultivation of their minds, and in removing the difficulties which are apt to dishearten those commencing the
work of composition. In the studies of his own department, his mind was well versed; and his fine literary culture,




combined with a disposition remarkably amiable and genial,
gave a peculiar charm to his instructions and his society.
But his most marked characteristic) and one especially deserving notice here, was the simplicity-the evident honesty
and truthfulness-of his mind; a trait which sometimes,
-perhaps in part through the influence of a somewhat
languid natural temperament,-passed over into undue cautiousness and indecision. When his mind first took a decidedly serious and religious direction, I have not been able
to learn. He appears, however, to have been susceptible to
religious influences even from early childhood, and, while a
student at Harvard, in company with his room-mate Samuel
Green, was wont to attend the meetings of the Saturday
Evening, Society,-an association founded for devotional
purposes, by the missionary Newell when a student in College. In January, 1818, a few months after entering upon
his duties as Tutor, Mr. Newman was received into the
South Church in Andover, Mass. One of the earliest
glimpses I have obtained of him as a religious man, is
through the recollections of a townsman, who remembers
hearing him, about this time, give with much animation, in
the Vestry in Andover, an account of the revivals which
occurred in this College in 1816 and 1817. It is always
interesting to mark, in the history of any mind, the time
when it becomes the recipient of living influences. Such a
period, for Mr. Newman, was, undoubtedly, that of his
Tutorship. He was received into the family of President
Appleton, watched with him during his last sickness, and
often led in prayer at his bedside. Several letters, written
by Mr. Newman at this time, are peculiarly interesting
from the confidential relations they disclose as existing
between him and the President, and from the light they
shed on his forming religious character. Under date, for
example, of August 21, 1819, he WTrites as follows: " I can
think of little else than our sick President. To-day he has
been very feeble. You will not wonder that he has such
full possession of my mind when I tell you that I have just




56
left his bedside, where I am accustomed to offer up my
prayers with his afflicted family for all those blessings which
both he and they so much need.  When I look at the world,
after being  present in a scene like this, how trifling do all
its concerns appear. It is indeed true that'The chamber where the good man meets his fate
Is privileged beyond the common walk
Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of Heaven.'
"President Appleton appears as eminent as a Christian,
as he has done as a scholar and a man. Few men have
stronger ties to bind them  to this world.'*    Still his heart
is fixed, trusting in God. He has given up all that is dear
to him to the protection of his Heavenly Father, and seems
already to have become elevated above the world. The
instruction which is here afforded, is, indeed, most valuable."
Again, three months later, (Nov. 21), a few days after
the death of the President, he thus expresses himself:
"I have been this evening to visit the grave of my much
loved and respected friend. It is nearly a mile and a half
from the village,' and the loneliness of the walk gave abundant opportunity for meditation.   As I turned from him to
return, I seemed to hear his affectionate' Good night,' as
when I have often left him during his sickness.  He seemed
to say to me-' Go back into the world, and be active in all
the various duties of life.  Work, while the day lasts, for
the night of death is approaching. See that your heart is
right with  God, and prepare to rest by my side.'  Oh I do
indeed feel that I have lost much. I loved him as a father,
and had  God spared his life, he would have been a father
to me.  I bless his memory, and, with  God's assistance, I
will imitate his excellences."
Where the Saco, at Fryeburg, shoots so many times its
silver thread back and forth through the emerald meadows,
I remember once noticing, apparently remote from the flow-----------------------—... —-—...........................................................................................
* The remains of President Appleton were first deposited in the burial ground
south of the village. They have since, with those of President M'IKeen, been
removed to the cemetery in the rear of the college buildings.




57
ing waters, a curving line of century growing elms, which
stretched their wide reaching arms, and raised their leafy
honors, far above any of their fellows. They had once, I
learned, stood upon the bank of the stream, which, though
it had now receded, formerly flowed at their feet, and from
year to year had left its rich deposites of soil, and still,
through myriad secret channels, brought abundant moisture
within the compass of their spreading'roots. If you see a
man strong and noble, you may know that he has stood,
probably in early years, by some pure stream of Truth, and
sent down a root there forever to draw from it richness
and nourishment. So was it with the beloved teacher of
whom I speak. Life, a probation,-life, real and earnest,life to be filled up with duty actively discharged,-the heart
to be put and kept right with God, —these and kindred prin.
ciples henceforth were implanted in his soul and made controlling. His unfolding religious life is one of the most
beautiful examples with which I am  acquainted of the
verification of the Saviour's promise, If any man will do the
will of God, lie shall know of the doctrine.
For several years after Mr. Newman came here, it was
thought, by many, that his true theological position was
with those who were then departing from the orthodox faith.
A more correct statement would be, that his mind was held
in reserve upon some of the questions then in controversy.
The supreme divinity of Jesus Christ, redemption through
faith in His blood, and without the works of the law,upon these and others of the profounder yet most important
and practical truths of the Christian system, he remained
in suspense. There is on record an affecting prayer of Dr.
Watts, the Christian lyrist, the burthen of which is a suppli-,
cation for light. Such was for some time the attitude and
prayer of Mr. Newman. With him religion was eminently
practical. Ile felt that he was responsible for his religious
belief, and that the truths of religion affected him as no
others could. He desired to know that he might obey. He
sought to see clearly the true foundation that he might




58
build upon it his immortal hopes. Conforming his life to
the truth which  he saw, and opening his heart to its
beams, he grew in knowledge and in grace. In the end,
faith triumphed, and doubt and darkness fled away.
Allusion has already been made* to the part which he
took in the memorable Concert of Prayer in February,
1826, and to the impression his Christian fervor made upon
others. His mind seems, at this time, to have come more
clearly into the light of the Cross. The haze which had
obscured it to his view began to disappear. The love of
Christ,-the death for all of the Righteous One, that God
may be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus,
-salvation freely offered to the guilty, and freely bestowed
upon the penitent believer, —these facts and motives of
Redemption were now more fully seen and more deeply felt.
They at once stirred his heart to know more of the Saviour,
to drink more deeply of his spirit, and to bring others to
the fountains of his own refreshment.  In the labors of the
pulpit, and in the more familiar services of the Conference
room, he took a lively interest. He also performed a large
amount of pastoral service, especially in visits to the sick
and dying. The devotional element was naturally predominant in his religious character. This, combined with
his high literary culture, the delicacy of his taste, and the
felicity of his language,-now informed with the Spirit of
the gospel,-made his petitions, whether offered in the
chamber of sufiering and sorrow, or at morning and evening
in the College chapel, or wherever he was called upon to
lead in supplication, always peculiarly appropriate and
impressive. For the salvation of the students, as we have
seen, his heart was deeply moved. Beside delivering religious lectures he sought in more private ways, by personal
intercourse and kindness, to gain access for the truth. I
remember being pointed to a spot on the carpet of his
study, once, I was told, completely saturated with the tears
which were shed by one of his pupils while he led him in
a; Page 43~




prayer to the Saviour. He opened the heart with the key
which had unlocked his own.
The death of Mr. Newman was beautifully in kreeping
with his previous history. Though it occurred after he
resigned his professorship,* it may properly be noticed in
this sketch, since it was the fitting close of the life which
ripened here, and illustrates its deeper spirit.
About a year previous to the termination of his life,
Professor Newman, referring to desires long entertained by
him for higher attainments in the knowledge of Christ,
thus writes to a former associate in the College Faculty, to
whom  he had often before opened his heart. "The last
month has been to me a blessed period. I have come out
from under the cloud, and comparatively I dwell in light.
It has been for years my desire to see more clearly, and with
a heart more deeply moved, the preciousness of the Saviour;
and I do think that of late the Spirit of God has revealed
Him  to me, and shown me his loveliness and excellence.
I love to think upon Him-to follow Him about from one
scene to another of his benevolence, and to gather up the
precious words of heavenly wisdom which He utters. I
can look at Him, Ican see Him as a Saviour, and there are
precious hours, when, with confiding joy, I feel safe in his
hands.
" Most sincerely do I thank my God that my soul is
thus returning to its rest, and that, in relation to every object and event that agitates my heart-my beloved familykindred and friends-my future prospects and employments
in life, and, above all, my eternal destination, I have no
anxiety; for I can feel that God's will is my will."
" Fully to appreciate this most interesting statement,"
adds the friend to iwhom  it was addressed, "it must be
recollected that it is the recorded experience of a man of
high intellectual culture, made at a time when he was able
himself most clearly to understand and to describe his religious emotions; and that he was, moreover, a man of calm
* He died at Andover, Mass., February 10, 1842.




60
and equable temperament, and cautious, almost to a fault,
in the statement of his religious views and feelings. To
the time of his departure the cloud did not return, nor his
faith and joy fail."
" It was my privilege," continues the same writer, " to
be near him, a few days, about a fortnight before his decease. During our interview I referred to what he had
written to rne in respect to his clearer apprehensions of
Christ as a Saviour, the preciousness of Christ to him, and
his own feelings of submission to the Divine will. Have
you the same feelings now, I asked? He replied,'You know
that some years ago, I had some difficulties on some of these
points; but all is clear now. Great have been my peace
and comfort.' You know then, by your own experience,
that it is through the Cross that we are reconciled to God?' Yes, (with great emphasis,) I do. I see the adaptation of
the Gospel to meet all my wants.' In further conversation he remarked,' I do not know what conflicts are before me; but I feel now that I am falling asleep like'a
babe upon the bosom  of its mother.'  And in thus reclining on the bosom of the Saviour, I trust that you feel
safe?'Yes,' he replied, with strong emotion,' I do.'  He
expressed a hope, if he lived, that he should be able to do
more for Christ than he had done; and then, raising his
hands, his countenance beaming with intense emotion, he
added,'but I bless God that I am able to bear the feeble
testimony I now do to the truth of the Gospel, its power
to sustain and comfort me.' He probably supposed that
this was our last interview; it was, as I understood him,
his dying testimony that he thus wished to give. Contrary
to expectation, he had a comfortable night. In the morning I read to him from the eighth chapter of Romans.
He commented, as I proceeded, upon the preciousness to
him of the truths it presented,-as, that to him who is in
Christ there is no condemnation-the power of the atonement to produce in the heart the fruits of righteousness,
which the law  in itself is impotent to accomplish-the




glorious privilege of the believer in being adopted as a
son of God,-wondered that there could ever be any doubt
about the meaning of the expressions there used, said they
were all plain to him, did not need any commentator.'" In further conversation he referred to a sermon which I
had preached, some years before, from Isaiah 48: 18,-said
that he had thought a great deal of that text of late —especially the phrase, then had thy peace been as a river; and
then, extending his hands, his whole form dilating with the
struggle to convey the idea, he exclaimed,' I cannot express
it, I cannot explain it to you, but it does seem to me that
my peace is as a river —a mighty stream, flowing all through
me, and filling me to overflowing.'
" It is impossible to convey any adequate idea of his
appearance at this moment. The words, striking as they
are, are lifeless in themselves compared with the deep meaning they conveyed as they fell from his lips. He appeared
to me as one that had already taken full possession of his
rest. To be near him, seemed indeed to be' quite in the
verge of Heaven.' I could only wonder, and admire the
grace that was vouchsafed to him."*
He finally fell asleep without a struggle,-in his last
hours still bearing testimony to the blessedness of the Gospel in its power to sustain and comfort the soul, and giving
utterance to his faith and hope in the words of the beautiful hymn,
My faith looks up to thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
SAVIOUR DIVINE!
So died a Christian Scholar, —his face turned to the Sun
of Truth, the peace of Heaven in his heart. Let us cherish
his memory. Let us learn the lesson of his conflict and
victory, of his thoughtful, truthful life and peaceful
death. The way to divine knowledge is obedience. The
price of heavenly enlightenment is humble discipleship.
The victory that overcometh the world is faith in Jesus.* See Appendix E,




Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God?
The terms during which Professor Newman occupied
the President's chair, with the exception, perhaps, of the
Fall session of 1831, appear to have been, as regards the
internal condition of College, among the most quiet and
pleasant in its history. Throughout this period, and also
during the two succeeding years, that is, from 1831 to 1835,
a majority of the students were professedly pious, and the
preponderance of talents and influence was very decidedly
on the side of vital religion. Many names now dear to
the churches are grouped, in the College Triennial, within
this period, and they represent men, in principles, character,
force, substantially the same then as now;-men who gave
an elevated tone to the public sentiment of College, and
secured for it a high reputation, while they gained for themselves treasures of sound learning and Christian discipline
which have proved invaluable.
A marked and deeply interesting feature of the piety
developed during these years was its imissionary spirit.
Small circles of Christians, occupying rooms in the same
hall, or otherwise easily brought together, were wont to
meet every noon or at nine o'clock in the evening for social
prayer, and a leading object of supplication was the conversion of their impenitent associates.  Several societies of
inquiry, having special reference to the wants of the heathen
world, were also sustained. This interest in the cause of
missions and sympathy with its spirit were much quickened,
in the year 1833, by the sojourn here, for a few months, of
the missionaries Johnson, Tracy, Lyman, and  Munson.
While attending the lectures of the Medical School, preparatory to embarking for their chosen fields of labor, they
frequently were present at the social religious meetings held
in the College, and imparted to them often a thrilling interest. Generous minds could not fail of being impressed
by the spectacle of Christian heroism presented in the lives
of these devoted men; and their words of exhortation, urging




63
to trustful, self-denying, courageous labor for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, touched and stirred the
Christian heart of College.  The subsequent career of
Cyrus Hamlin, Daniel Dole, and Elias Bond, as well as the
very large number of the students then in College who entered the ministry, evinces the reality and power of the impression thus produced. " It was in my room," writes a
member of the class of 1834, " at the close of one of the
most delightful Sabbath morning prayer meetings I ever attended, that Hamlin whispered to Mr, Munson, who had addressed the meeting on the claims of Missions,' You may
expect my coming to a foreign field at the proper time,' —a
pledge which has been well fulfilled.*
In the Spring of 1834, there was a special outpouring of
the Holy Spirit upon the College. The pious students appear to have separated at the close of the Fall term in 1833,
and to have re-assembled at the opening of the ensuing term
in February, 1834, with feelings of unusual solicitude for
their unconverted friends. " Christians begin now to examine themselves and to agonize with God in prayer," writes
the Secretary of the Circle on the day of the Concert of
Prayer, February 27. Many previous entries testify to a
general humble and earnest desire for the descent of the
Spirit and the gifts of his renewing grace; as do also the
words of a hymn composed for the Circle by one of its members, (Nathan Dole,) and entered upon its records with the
title, " Parents of impenitent sons to pious students," followed by six stanzas, containing an earnest appeal to Christians
in the College to do all in their power for the salvation of
those under their influence, for whose conversion prayer was
daily ascending from the family altar.
Toward the close of the month of March, special effort
was made in the village to bring the truths of religion to the
attention of the impenitent. A protracted meeting was held
in the Congregational church, beginning on Monday, March
+ The room where this fruitful promise was made is No. 16, (N. C.), Winthrop Hall.




64
24th, and ending April 2d. At the time it commenced, God's
Providence had already, in the College, sobered even the
most careless and frivolous. On the Sabbath which opened
the week set apart for religious services, the Officers and students followed from the church to the grave the remains of
the venerated widow of the first President. Soon after, on
the same day, they were assembled in the chapel to listen to
a funeral discourse from President Allen, called out by the
decease of Morton and Packard, two members of the Junior
Class. On Monday afternoon, together with the professors
and students of the Medical School, and many citizens of
the place, they again assembled in the Congregational church
to listen to a sermon from the President upon the death of a
member of the Medical Class. It was " a very solemn day,"
wrote in his diary one of the students who had seemed to
his associates bent only upon fun and frolic. The death of
Mr. Holman, the medical student referred to, was very sudden and distressing, and, from his character and position, one
fitted to make an unusually serious impression. He was a
young man of unusual promise, enthusiastic in his studies,
foremost in his class, and was expecting in a few weeks to
take his degree. He was cut down in perfect health, after
a sickness of only eight days, during most of which time he
suffered excruciating pain. " I have gone poorly clothed and
poorly fed," he remarked shortly before his decease, " that I
might have an education, which can now be of no avail to
me."  He died in extreme agony. The solemnities of his
funeral, and the lessons which were faithfully inculcated by
the President, appear to have deeply affected many minds.
In the evening, Rev. Dr. Tyler preached; and on the next
day there was preaching, in the morning, afternoon, and
evening. Similar exercises-with occasional addresses by
the pastors of the Congregational churches in Brunswick and
Topsham, Rev. Messrs. Adams and Hawes-were conducted from day to day, until Wednesday of the following week,
by Rev. Messrs. Tyler, Shepard, Sewall, Tappan, Kent, and
Professor Pond. " A report," writes President Allen, "of all




65
these sermons and addresses, thirty in number, could be
made up of certain minutes now before me, were it necessary. They were most faithful, plain, and pungent. *'X - 
Inquiry meetings were held. April 12, there were reckoned
twenty-two recent converts in College."
" The meetings in the church," writes a friend now settled
in the ministry in one of the cities of Massachusetts, "were
quite a novelty then and attracted the attention of the students, and they attended in large numbers. The impression
was deep from the very first. Though I had determined not
to go, yet I found myself in attendance at the first service,
and deeply impressed the first day. I went to my room, at
the close of the afternoon service, weeping and convicted.
Others as well as myself were early interested. There was
no opposition, at least none that I knew of. A deep seriousness pervaded the entire College. Meetings of all kinds
were fully attended and often crowded. There were several
addresses given directly to the students, —addresses very
pungent and direct, in the recitation rooms, by several clergymen." Upon the work in general, another subject of this
revival, now a clergyman in Connecticut, makes the following comments: " The impression left strongly on my mind,
at this distance of more than twenty years, is that the work
was deeply solemn  and happily free from  excitement.
Everything was quiet, truth was faithfully and affectionately
presented and pressed upon the conscience, and very little
extra human machinery was made use of. There was, it is
true, a'protracted meeting,' at that time deemed almost
indispensable,-but so far as I remember all the meetings
were quiet and orderly; and the two grand objects seemed
to be to hold forth the truth, and to plead in prayer for the
descent and power of the Holy Ghost, Of the preaching,
I have the most distinct and pleasing recollection of that of
our own Pastor, and of Dr. Pond. I thought all the preaching was good. * *
" A delightful and important feature of the revival was
the interest and activity of private Christians. Both in the
9




66
village church and in the College, Christians were deeply
interested, and many were actively engaged. I believe
there was a great deal of closet prayer, and a great deal of
private labor-individuzal effort.   Much was done in this
way in College. I think it was said at the time that every
member of  College, not already  professedly  pious, was
sought out and conversed with."
After mentioning the names of several students who were
active and useful in this work, and alluding also to the lively
interest taken in it by the College Faculty, particularly by
one still with us whose Christian wisdom and faithful private counsels have been instrumental in guiding many
wanderers heavenward  and homeward, -the same writer
continues:-" In the religious history of the College, I think
honorable mention  should be made of Phebe.'  She felt,
for years, a deep interest in its spiritual welfare; and as I
well remember, had a deep anxiety for the students during
this revival of 1834.  In the disclosures of the great day, I
have no doubt it will appear that Phebe's prayer of humble,
simple faith was a great and largely honored instrumentality
in preserving and raising the tone of piety in College. I
speak of this here because it has always impressed and
interested me, because I recollect it was felt by the students
and others during this revival, and because I think it is true."
I need not pause to explain the allusion here made.
Other pens have delighted to trace those veiled and lowly
virtues, that " uniform, consistent, humble, cheerful, glowing
piety"; whose name was Phebe.  In this community her
memory is still fresh and fragrant; her name has become a
household word.   The deep interest which she took in the
* Phebe Ann Jacobs, a colored woman well known in college circles for her
simple,, unobtrusive, fervent piety. She was born a slave, lived for many years
as a domestic in the families of Presidents Wheelock and Allen, and after the
death of AMrs. Allen, in 1828, until her own death, February 28, 1850, lived most
of the time by herself, earning a livelihood by washing and ironing for the students. See Publications of the American Tract Society, No. 536, also the
Christian Mirror for June 6, 1850.




67
College has often been remarked upon, —an interest which
led her to offer abundant heartfelt and earnest supplications
in its behalf. Near the beginning of the revival we are
considering, on the morning of the day in February set
apart for the annual Concert of Prayer for Colleges, a
prayer meeting was appointed in the village at the early
hour of six. To make sure of a suitable preparation of the
place of meeting, Phebe's Pastor, Rev. Dr. Adams, I use his
words, himself went to the vestry at five; but Phebe was
there before him and had been two hours upon the door step,
waiting for the room to be opened, meanwhile lifting' up her
soul in prayer. Precious seed, sown in faith and watered
with tears, beneath that wintry sky!  How it sprang up
and bore fruit an hundred fold in her Pastor's strengthened
heart; in many souls renewed and quickened from on high;
in spirits made strong to brave the perils of missionary life,
and apt to teach nations of whom the humble sower never
heard; in labors now crowned with success on the hill-sides
of New England, on the prairies of the West, in the great
metropolis, wherever hearts then replenished from above
have carried the messages of God's grace!
It is here also worthy of mention that at the period of
this revival a circle of Christian women, with whom Phebe
was wont to meet, made special prayer for the three members of College belonging to Brunswick, neither of whom
was religious. They were all converted, and are now active
ministers of the Gospel.
To one of these individuals allusion is made in the
following extract from the note-book of a friend: " In the
forenoon of the last day of the protracted meeting, A. and
P., who occupied rooms adjacent to mine, came into
my room. Said A.,'Corne,, let us go over and see the
winding up of the meeting.' We all went, and Professor
Pond preached the closing discourse from John 9: 27, He
answered them, I have told you already and ye did.not hear:
wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?




"' We all went without any definite object; but simply
as a matter of curiosity and to spend an idle hour between
the eleven o'clock recitation and dinner. I sat between my
companions, and one was cut down on the right hand and
the other on the left; for both were brought under conviction, and both were converted to God: one is now a settled
minister, and the other is a useful physician. Nor was I
passed by. I was probably under as deep conviction of sin
as either of the others, and saw my situation as clearly:
yet they two returned to their rooms to pray and meditate;
I to mine, to dissipate all serious impressions. They made
known their feelings and received the encouragement and
sympathy of Christian friends; I concealed mine, and associated only with the gay and thoughtless. In a word, they
yielded and were happy; I resisted and was wretched. In
passing this era of my life I will not omit to state, that here
I committed one great error, viz., in not yielding my heart
to God at this time; for I am now persuaded that it would
have enhanced my happiness an hundred fold. And I will
say nothing of the danger and the sinfulness of thus rejecting the influences of the Holy Spirit. I concealed my
feelings. No one ever knew I had a serious thought, and I
gradually wore them  off; although I have never forgotten
the sermon alluded to, nor the solemnity of the day, and I
must date from that my first religious impressions."
Allusion has been made to the activity of professors of
religion in promoting this revival. It is perhaps just to say,
that, as was the case in the revival of 1831, there was a class
of students,-the seemingly frivolous and gay,-who felt
themselves somewhat excluded from general Christian sympathy. Probably not one of them, except by his own act,
failed of receiving from some one or more pious friends a
word of kindly warning and counsel. Yet, to use the language of the friend who has given me the incident just recited, "'the lines of distinction at this time were drawn in
College marked and distinct between the pious and those
not pious. The pious roomed by themselves, associated by




themselves, and went by themselves. The gay and thought.
less were on their part obliged to go by themselves, or obtrude themselves upon the company of others. I do not
pretend to throw off the blame which attaches to me upon
them, —far from it; I only say that, had they given me their
counsel and advice, I might perhaps have yielded my heart
to God."
Upon the remaining years of President Allen's administration it is not necessary to dwell. From  year to year,
there were occasional conversions. The meetings of the
Praying Circle generally were well sustained, and gave evidence, especially during the Spring terms, of a good degree
of spiritual life. Those who were faithful in attending, found
them a rich blessing; and their influence upon the College
at large was clearly perceptible. Within these years, also,
occur some names of Christian men who were distinguished
in College for talents, diligence, and Christian integrity. I
may mention one, that of William Reed Prince, in whose
published memoir, as well as in those of Zenas Caldwell
and George W. Cole, graduates of earlier years, may be
found much that is of interest to their successors here.
We have, however, no season of general religious interest
to record during the years referred to. Toward their close
the opposition to President Allen, which has been alluded to,
became violent. Even Christian men were led, in the excitement of the hour, to participate in measures unjustifiable
and extreme; and the feelings which sometimes gained ascendancy in the College, were unfavorable to the progress of
religion.
With the close of this period I reach the limit naturally
set for the termination of these sketches of the past. When
the time shall come for a review of later years, and the
teachers and pupils, respected and beloved, who have given
me their kind countenance and attention in this attempt to
gather up the lessons, fast sinking into oblivion, of by-gone
years, shall have ceased to be actors in these scenes, may it
be found that we all have been faithful, each in his sphere,
and according to his ability, to our common Lord!




Much, doubtless, will enter into that future record, as
there has into the present, worthy of being held in perpetual
remembrance as a memorial of God's faithfulness to his servants, and as a pledge of his future care, Shortly before his
death, when the full moon, flooding the earth at the time he
spoke with peaceful light, walked not more serenely through
the heavens than his pure and elevated thoughts moved
along the highway of G'od's promises and Providence, President Appleton uttered these words of hopeful trust, "' God
has taken care of the College, and God will take care of it."
T'his is the lesson which comes to us from all the years we
have reviewed. In the faith thus assured, let all who love
this Seminary pray and strive. To-night we may rejoice
that God has, in these later years also, shown his continued
favor; that he has raised up for the College in the time of
its need friends, who, from love to the Redeemer of men and
from a deep conviction of the worth of this institution to his
church and cause, have contributed generously and largely
to its general funds, beside permanently endowing a Professorship designed to inculcate, as long as the College shall
endure, those principles of Christian virtue without which
all our learning is vain, and our Colleges are but poisoned
fountains. With devout gratitude to God would we also
recognize the fact, that during the last twenty years the
standard of morality has gradually advanced; that customs
more honored in the breach than observance have fallen into
disuse; that no year has passed away without the hopeful
transition of some one or more from the kingdom of Satan
to that of God's dear Son; and that six times, at least, conversions have come in clusters, which, if not large, have been,
at least, sweet and precious.'  Especially would we return
our heartfelt thanks to God-our God and our fathers' God
-that during the last few months,-even since we began together the review of earlier gracious visitations,-sinners, in
numbers exceeding even those who professed conversion in
any of the times of refreshing it has been our privilege to
w. See Appendix F.




recall, with the exception perhaps of the revival of 1831,
have acknowledged Jehovah as their God, and Jesus as their
Redeemer and King. May the coming years show this work
to have been as clearly of God as were those of earlier
years, —in its abiding results as hallowed and beneficent!
In conclusion I would express the hope that this record
of what God has done for the College, may quicken its friends
to renewed exertions for the promotion of its highest usefulness and prosperity. We are reminded, my brethren in the
work of instruction and oversight of those committed to our
care, that our service is not only a most arduous and responsible but also a most encouraging and hopeful one. Nowhere,
it is believed, is effort for the spiritual good of men more abundantly rewarded, even in its immediate and apparent results,
than in such a community as that in which it is appointed to
us to labor.  And besides, we are doing foundation workfountain work! Let us remember that our responsibilities
are equal to our privileges, that we receive from parents their
most prized jewels, that as teachers lead, precious souls will
follow. Yet, if I could have their attention, I would endeavor most earnestly to impress upon parents, that the utmost
fidelity on the part of College Officers will be of little avail
without the earnest co-operation of those who, normally and
by Divine appointment, are the educators and guardians of the
young. Let youth never be sent here to be won from evil
courses. A College is not a school of reform, nor a house of
correction. Let those who enter its walls come already instructed in the ways of wisdom, and commissioned to be
soldiers in the cause of truth, good morals, and religion. Let
parents never relax the vigilance of their love for their children who are encountering the perils of College life. Let
them bring their sons, as, often as can be done consistently
with their engagements here, to the home hearth and the
home altar. Let them be followed, while absent, with home
letters. Let counsel be added to love, and to counsel, prayer.
Let me also urge any, who are called to the responsible
service of electing the teachers who shall bear an important




72
part in forming the minds which, in turn, are to shape the
destinies of many others, to seek out and to give their confidence to those who not only will be capable and efficient in
their special departments of instruction, but whose whole influence will be harmonious and holy.
Let me beg all Christian people in this village to be kindred to the youth resident among them, to feel that a high
trust is committed to them in the opportunity they enjoy of
influencing, for great good, maturing and imperiled minds.
Let me appeal to all who can appreciate the moral power
of an institution, fixed and permanent, in which mind is constantly educating for high position and large influence, to
seek in every way to surround and fill this Seminary with
the saving influences of religion.
And finally let mle exhort you, my beloved pupils, the
students of this College, its hope and pride, to remember
that its honor and its usefulness are eminently committed
to your keeping. You may make it either the seat of virtue,
of generous, manly culture, and of all good learning,-or a
Temple of Discord, an arena in which petty factions shall
wage their small and unseemly warfare,-or even a haunt
of polluting and baneful vice. If you are Christian men,
be not timid but bold for God. Keep religion in such active
exercise that it shall control the public sentiment of College.
Be united, humble, prayerful, watchful, following with closed
ranks your great Leader. But if you are not openly and consistently the followers of God, walking in purity and faith and
love as Christ also walked, think, I pray you, of the history
you are daily acting; of the record constantly entering on
high; of the days to come; of regretful, remorseful hours;
of the harvest to be reaped according to the seed sown; of
the testimony of God, uttered through human experience as
well as by the voice of inspiration: T/le fear of the Lord is
the beginning, of wisdom. HE THAT HATH THE SON, HATH
LIFE; HE THAT HATH NOT THE SON OF GOD, HATH NOT LIFE.




APPENDIX.
A.
Lest this statement make a wrong impression, it should be said,
that a side-board, furnished as described, was then generally deemed
indispensable to the exercise of hospitality. In this respect, as in
others, the social habits of the students were formed by the customs
of the day. The Temperance Reformation has been of incalculable
benefit to our literary institutions; and it has found in them many of
its earliest and best friends. In 1814, Professor Cleaveland published
by request an Address delivered before the "Brunswick, Topsham, and
Harpswell Society for the Suppression of Intemperance," in which he
took ground in advance of the general public sentiment of the day, ar.
guing very strongly against even a moderate indulgence in the use of intoxicating drinks, and exposing the pernicious influence, especially upon
the young, of the use of wine and ardent spirits then common in social
circles and friendly visits. Pres. Appleton also delivered, in 1816, an Address before the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intempe.
rance, which was published at the time. He made great exertions to
banish the evil from College. In the Fall of 1827, a Temperance
Society was formed in College, which embraced a large proportion of the
students and operated very happily in encouraging habits of sobriety.
Extracts from an address pronounced before this Society by G. W. Cole,
one of its members, are published in his memoir. In looking over
the files of the Christian Mirror, I noticed the following communication,
conspicuously printed: "Ought professors of religion in College, who are
candidates for degrees, to treat on Commencement day, as is usual, with
rum, gin, brandy, wine, &c." This was printed shortly before the forma.
tion of the Total Abstinence Society, and illustrates at once the need and
the existence of a spirit of reform. In 1835, an article was introduced
10




74
into the Constitution of the Circle requiring all its members "to abstain from all intoxicating liquors, except wine at the Lord's Supper,
or prescribed by a temperate physician."  In 1855, when the Constitution was revised, this was struck out as no longer needed.  No one can
compare the present with a past not very remote, without discerning
signs of progress.  Still, much remains to be done.  Intemperance is
yet an evil in College, as elsewhere; and its extinction should enlist
the earnest efforts of all who would promote the welfare of those
exposed to its curse,
Another reform-one especially needing advocacy —is that which
would induce the entire disuse of Tobacco.  Many more of the young
men in our Colleges are injuring themselves physically, intellectually, and
morally, by the use of this noxious weed, than by the use of Ardent
Spirits. The one, moreover, leads to the other, and to a degrading and
disgraceful sensualism.  More light needs to be shed upon this subject
in a way to arrest attention.
"There is another class of sins," to borrow the recent timely words
of Professor Fisher of Yale College,* " which it is to be hoped the
good sense of young men will before long entirely banish from  our
American Colleges. They are the sins,-duplicity and direct falsehood
being the worst, —which spring from a fancied diversity of interest between the pupil and his instructor. A little reflection in after life commonly exposes the folly of the plea on which these immoralities are justified. But the effect of them on the conscience and the character is
not so easily escaped. He who would respect himself and claim respect
from others, must make sincerity, integrity-open and upright dealing
with all men-his first virtue."
Our College system, though derived largely from the English, has
escaped many of the faults of the latter; yet to some extent it has been
open to the criticism Dr. Arnold passed upon the public schools of his
own land.' It is certain," he remarks, " that education, like every
thing else, was not brought to perfection when our great schools were
first founded. * * * I am  afraid that Christian principles were not
enough brought forward, that lower motives were encouraged, and a
lower standard altogether suffered to prevail. The system also was too
much one of fear and outward obedience; the obedience of the heart
and the understanding were little thought of. And the consequence
has been the same in every old school in England,-that boys have
learnt to regard themselves and their masters as opposite to one another,
* Note to: Centennial Discourse, p. 97.




as having two distinct interests; it being the master's object to lay on
restrictions, and abridge their liberty, while it was their business, by
all sorts of means,-combinations amongst themselves, concealment,
trick, open falsehood, or open disobedience,-to baffle his watchfulness,
and escape his severity; —   * a strange and sad state of feeling,
which must have arisen, I fear, from the habit of keeping out of sight
the relation in which we both stand, masters and boys alike, to our
common Master in Heaven, and that it is his service which we all have,
after our several stations, to labour in."*
B.
A more extended account of President Appleton's labors was
deemed unnecessary, in view of his established reputation as a theologian, and of the many tributes that have been paid to his memory.
For a brief sketch of his life and estimate of his character, and also
of his predecessor, Dr. M'Keen, see Notes to President Allen's Addresses; Sprague's Annals, Vol. II, pp. 216, 380; Amer. Quart. Reg.,
1835, Art. Historical Sketch of Bowdoin College.  See also Rev. Mr.,
now Dr., Jenks's Eulogy upon President M'Keen, published in 1807;
Appleton's Addresses, with a sketch of his character by Rev. Dr.
Nichols; Appleton's Lectures, with a Memoir by Rev. Dr. Tappan;
Appleton's Works in two Vols., with a Memoir by Professor Packard;
also Bib. Repository, Jan., 1836, Art. by Rev. Thomas T. Stone;
and Lit. and Theol. Rev., Art. by Rev. Dr. Tappan.  Most of the
facts stated in the Discourse are taken from Professor Packard's extended and appreciative Memoir.
C.
The records of the Theological Society previous to Feb. 18, 1836,
were destroyed by the fire which consumed Maine Hall. July 13,
1850, it was voted, chiefly in consequence of the great number of
other societies which had been introduced, to suspend its operations.
The Library was intrusted to the care of the Circle, and by the Circle
was placed in the College Library.  It may well be questioned,
whether the secret associations now existing in the College have conferred any benefit upon their members at all equivalent to those fornmerly secured by the more general societies, which they have enfeebled,
or, as in the case of the Theological Society, supplanted.
-" Arnold's Rugby School Sermons, Amer. Ed. pp. 106, 107.




76
D.
One evidence of increasing spiritual life among the pious students
is the organization, toward the close of this year, 1814-'15, of a society
for Prayer. The Preamble and Constitution, as I learn from a volume of
records not in my possession when the first Discourse was prepared, were
drawn up by Samuel Johnson, then a member of the Sophomore Class,
and afterwards successively Pastor of the Congregational churches in
Alna and Saco, and Secretary of the Me. Missionary Society. They
were adopted July 22, 1815,-the six professors of religion then members of College, viz., Rodney G. Dennis, Phineas Pratt, Samuel
Johnson, Ebenezer Cheever, David Starret, Joseph Walker,-subscribing their names. The Preamble reads thus:
"In consideration of the alarming prevalence of wickedness in
this institution and a lamentable indifference to the things of religion;
believing that a change in the conduct and hearts of the students can
be effected in no other way but by an effusion of divine influences,
and also believing the promise of God that He will answer the requests
of those who call upon Him  in spirit and in truth; we, whose names
are recorded toward the end of this book, do form ourselves into a
society by the name of The Praying Society of Bozodoitz College,and adopt the following Articles," &c.
In the seventh Art. the object of the society is stated to be, " to
pray for the influences of Divine Grace upon ourselves, upon this
institution, and upon the world at large." The fifth Art. prescribes
the qualifications for membership,-requiring 0" charitable" evidence
of being a " real Christian," and a statement fiom each candidate, at
the time of admission, of the " reason of his hope " and of his " assent
to the-fundamental doctrines of the Gospel." The sixth Art. appoints
the time of holding meetings, viz., " Sabbath morning immediately
after the ringing of the first bell for public worship." To this was
added, August 14th, as a regular meeting, the Monthly Missionary
Concert.
The Constitution was revised in 1827, and made more simple and
precise.  In 1835, it was considerably enlarged, with the design of
making it more effective. The number of Articles was increased from
eight to twenty.  Most of the Articles which were added treat either
of the duties of Officers or of offences and censures.  One Article
establishes a fast on the third week of each term. In 1855, further
changes were made. I will add the leading Articles of the present
Constitution, adopted May 25, 1855.




"PREAMBLE. Sensible of the infinite obligations we are under to God, as
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, to live to his honor and glory, feeling our need of divine assistance and the importance of Christian union
and fellowship; and believing, as we do, the promises of our V-Ieavenly
Father that He ever hears the prayers of his children when offered in
faith-We, as Christian brethren, loving one another as Christ loved
us, form  ourselves into an association, and adopt the following Constitution.
"ART. 1st. This association shall be called the'I Praying Circle of
Bowdoin College.'
4 ART. 2d. The object of this association shall be the mutual edification of its members, the promotion of vital godliness in the College,
and prayer for the universal spread of the Gospel.
"' ART. 3d. The Officers of this association shall be a President,
Vice President, Secretary, and Standing Committee, to be chosen annually, by ballot, on the Saturday preceding the Senior examination.
i" ART. 7th. Any person, who believes the fundamental doctrines of
the Bible, and gives satisfactory evidence of a change of heart, may,
by a unanimous vote of the members, be admitted to the Circle; but
in all cases such persons shall be proposed at least one week before
they are elected.
" ART. 11th. If any member shall conduct in a manner inconsistent with Christian character, he shall be dealt with according to
the directions of our Saviour in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew."
The whole number of members admitted to the Circle exceeds five
hundred.  Of these, about seventy-five are now members of College.
It is exceedingly desirable that all who come within the provisions of
the seventh Article should without delay unite with this Society, and
labor to promote its prosperity and usefulness.  It is the only visible
organization within the College of the professed friends and followers
of the Redeemer, and bears, in many respects, the same relations to
the community around it which the church sustains to the world.
Beside morning and evening prayers at the Chapel, the ordinary religious services observed in the College, are, a general prayer meeting
Sabbath morning and also Thursday noon, Class prayer meetings on Tuesday evening of each week, and a religious lecture on alternate Saturday
evenings. With the exception of those designed for members of the same
Class, these meetings are held at present in the Senior Recitation Room,
and are open to all who may desire to attend. One of the most pressing
wants of the College is a building which shall afford suitable accommodations for such meetings.




The account given in the third Discourse of the closing days of Pro.
fessor Newman's life is taken from a much fuller one, originally published in the Christian Mirror of March 10, 1842, and extensively
copied into the religious journals of our land.  In introducing it to
his readers, the Editor, Rev. Dr. Cummings, remarks, affter alluding
to his own interest in it from his personal knowledge of Mr. N. from
early youth: " The peculiar traits of his mind give a great value to his
avowals in favor of the cardinal doctrines of the gospel, and their
fitness to recover lost man, however distinguished for talents and intellectual cultivation, and make him happy in death.  It is his crowning excellence, that he received the kingdom of God as a little child.
*  * - We could expatiate, with great personal interest, on the incidents and characteristics, which distinguished him; but we must, at
present, waive the privilege.  There is a very just view  of his more
prominent qualities, chiefly as a literary man, in Monday's Advertiser,
as far as it goes; it was necessarily brief.  If the writer had been in
our post of observation, he would have mentioned among his productions,
the address before one of the College Societies, the theme of which was' The Self-madea Man.' We hardly know the production, of equal extent, which has produced so wide-spread an effect. It was one of those
happy conceptions, which seize upon a community with electrical power,
and great practical effect. It has hardly ceased to be quoted yet, though
it is many years since it was published.  We have been accustomed to
trace to it many of the most interesting developments of the last ten or
a dozen years, among mechanics, and young men in the common walks
of life, and which have been witnessed in their efforts to inform their
minds and extend their knowledge."
A few extracts from the communication in the Portland Advertiser,
referred to above, written by one long Mr. N's. associate in the College
Faculty, will enable those personally unacquainted with Prof. N. better
to appreciate the significance of his religious experience as stated in the
Discourse.
" Prof. Newman was a most valuable officer of instruction and government; ever faithful, self-denying, prompt and firm in the discharge
of duty, prudent and sagacious, and enjoying the confidence alike of his
pupils and of his associates. For nearly three years he discharged the
duties of President with ability and success, and to no one probably of
its Professors is the College more indebted for any reputation it may
have had for thorough instruction or good discipline.




79
" The field of labor, to which Prof: Newman was introduced, particularly as a Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory and an Instructor in Political Economy, was sufficient to engross his time and talent. As an
earnest of his diligence and success, the writer may refer to his works
on Rhetoric and on Political Economy, designed as text-books for his
classes, the former of which has passed through several editions in this
country, has been re-published in England, and is a highly valuable contribution to this department of instruction, as well as creditable to our
literature. s* *  As a critic, he was discriminating, of pure taste, well
versed in the laws of English composition, and apt in the application of
them. In all his relations to the College, indeed, he was of a ready apprehension, a perspicacious, able teacher, a wise counsellor and a valuable friend.
" The tendencies of his mind were philosophical, though not speculative.
The writer speaks of what he knows when he affirms, that MIr. Newman
was never satisfied with superficial or indefinite views. He was not of
that number who gather up scraps of knowledge. Henece he was not
discursive in his reading.  I-e sought for principles.  He investigated
patiently and thoroughly; and was not contented unless he had some,important subject on hand for such investigation.  He loved to think
and to discourse. He was honest, eminently so, in his search after truth.
He was fond of simple and at the same time comprehensive views."
F.
After stating, in answer to a letter of inquiry, his impressions
respecting the religious state of the College while himself a member of
it, and when he left it in 1825, Prof. Stowe adds the following testimony to the progress which has been made. Those who have labored
faithfully in the service of the College during the period referred to,
should feel that they have not toiled here in vain.
"I When I returned in 1850," remarks Prof. S., " after an absence
of a quarter of a century, though the same men with but two exceptions (Pres. Allen and Prof. Newman) were in the College
Faculty, and with a proportional personal change in the two Boards not
much greater, the contrast in point of religious character and efficiency
was immense.  Few, I suppose, were in circumstances to realize it as
I did; but to me the whole religious atmosphere of the place was as
different from what it had been twenty-five years before, as June is
from November.  It was perfectly delightful to me, and though exceedingly depressed in health, I never had a more unilformn religious enjoy



ment than while I was in Brunswick during the years 1850,'51, and'52. If the religious character of the College gains as much from the
year 1850 to'75 as it did from 1825 to'50, it will be all that the
most ardent friends of the Lord Jesus can reasonably hope for before
the millennium. There is indeed very much to be done, much that is
deficient, much to mourn over, but, I am merely bringing 1825, 1850,
and 1875 into immediate contiguity for the sake of comparison."
Prof. Stowe resigned his office as Collins Professor in 1852 and
removed to the Theological Seminary at Andover. He was succeeded
by Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, now Professor of History in the Union
Theological Seminary, N. Y., who filled the office three years. Their
efforts to awaken among the students an interest in the Scriptures, and to
organize and increase the Christian life of College, were very successful, and are gratefully remembered by their pupils and colleagues here.
If the better state of things to which Prof. S. points shall be attained,
much credit will be due to his own labors and to those of his successor.
G.
The following table will serve to illustrate, it is thought, some oW
the statements made in the Discourses. The last period, it should be
remarked, is so recent, that probably there will yet be additions to the
number of ministers it affords.
No. Yrs.  From  To   No. Graduates.  No. Ministers.  Percentage.
5    1806-1810          33               7           21.21
5    1811-1815          41               4           09.75
5    1816-1820          61              15           24.59
5    1821-1825         128              23           17.96
5    1826-1830         132              28           21.21
5    1831-1835         138              50           36.23
5    1836-1840         154              47           30 51
5    1841-1845         194              39           20.10
5    1846-1850         151              27           17.80
45                     1032             240          23.25average percentage.