To the Young Gentlemen of the Senior Class, at whose request this Discourse was both delivered and published, it is now most cheerfully dedicated, with ardent wishes for their rapid growth in science, virtue, and happiness; by their most sincere and hearty friend, ASA MESSER.

A DISCOURSE.

As this is the last time, my friends, young men of the Senior Class, in which I shall publicly address you as members of this institution; and probably the last time, indeed, in which I shall ever address you all publicly and in a body, while I have power to speak, or you to hear; it has been my earnest wish to address you on a subject of the greatest importance, and the most befitting your present circumstances. Hence, though among the great variety of interesting and pertinent subjects which have readily occurred, I have had great anxiety in fixing my choice; still, after diligent meditation, I have at length fixed it on the subject suggested in the second chapter of St. Paul's epistle to Titus, and sixth verse." Young men exhort to be sober-minded."

By turning to your Greek testaments, you will at once discover that the original verb, here translated "sober-minded," is compounded of two Greek words, which conjointly signify a soundness of mind, or a sound, healthy, reasonable mind. Hence Titus is directed, in the text, to exhort young men to possess and cultivate a sound, healthy, reasonable mind; and I can think, young men, of no exhortation more important in itself, or more befitting your present circumstances, whether I consider you as candidates for promotion and happiness in this life, or in the next. In discoursing on the subject of this exhortation, I

intend to bring into view only a few of the many particulars, which are essential to a soundness of mind, and to draw from them some practical inferences and reflections.

I. It is essential to a sound mind to believe the eternal existence, and the infinite perfections of God. No man in the exercise of reason can make himself believe that nothing is the author of something; or that he himself has never had a beginning; or that the world and its component parts have no existence. Hence every such man must allow that there must be some eternal being. For, if there is no eternal being, it is manifest that there was once a time, when there was nothing in existence; and consequently, that whatever is now in existence, had its origin in nothing. But an eternal being must be self-existent; and a self-existent Being must be necessary; and a necessary being must be unchangeable; and an unchangeable being must be all-perfect and glorious; and such a being is the very God we are seeking.-Let it be only granted that the world and its component parts are existent, and not eternal, that is, not unchangeable, and that something cannot originate from nothing, which certainly none but a distempered mind will refuse to grant, and then none but such a mind can deny what the apostle asserts, that "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." There is no way, indeed, of avoiding the conclusion, that there is a God of infinite, underived perfections, but by denying the most plain suggestions of common sense, and by asserting tenets, which nothing but downright madness can induce a man to believe; that the world, that we ourselves, have no creator; that the sun, planets and stars, are upheld without any upholder, and governed without any governor; that all the phenomena of the heavens are the offspring of chance, or nothing; that all the beauty, order and contrivance on this earth, are accidental, and without design; that the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, are expressive of no wisdom, direction or control; and that even the curious and wonderful mechanism of man is the effect of no cause, the token of no contrivanee. These, and numberless

other most gross absurdities, are essentially connected with the belief of atheism. On the very principle that we believe that any work of art is the effect of an artist; that a watch was made by a watch-maker, we must believe that we ourselves, and the whole universe, are the effects of infinite, eternal power; that we were made by Him, who has neither a variableness, nor the shadow of a turning.

II. In a christian land, it is essential to a sound mind to believe that the Bible is the word of God. In proof of this. I will suggest the following observations:

1. A certain knowledge of future events lies wholly beyond the reach of man. No man can tell exactly what will happen even to-morrow; much less what will happen an hundred, or a thousand years hence. It is as inconceivable that man, by his own reason, should gain a perfect knowledge of distant, future events, as it is that he, by his own strength, should annihilate the universe. The creation of all things from nothing is not a greater display of infinite power, than the foreknowing of all things is of infinite knowledge. Hence there can be no greater absurdity than to imagine that any Being but God can foreknow future events, or give an exact account of them before they arise,-In the bible there are many predictions of events, which were not to happen until a great length of time after the predictions were made; and which also were wholly improbable, and contrary to all human foresight or expectation; yet, at the time appointed, it has been found that those predicted events have exactly corresponded with the predictions. Hence it is clear, that those predictions must have been dictated by the spirit of God; and that the bible, which contains them, must be divine. Must not that be a divine revelation, which more than seventeen hundred years ago, gave a historical account of the unnatural and dreadful convulsions, and even of the monstrous infidelity and atheism, which, at this day, pervade and torment the nations of Europe?

2. The power of working miracles, or of suspending or changing the course of nature, is certainly the prerogative of God alone. If you have evidence that a man, by a bare command,

has made a dry way through the midst of a sea; or has given health to the sick, speech to the dumb, sight to the blind, or life to the dead, you cannot possibly doubt but that man must derive especial assistance from the great invisible source of power. Surely none but God himself can be the author of such deeds. Hence Moses and the prophets, Jesus Christ and his apostles, must have been assisted by the special agency of God himself. For it is as reasonable to believe that the miracles ascribed to them were the effects of no cause at all, as to believe they were the effects of human power, or of any power less than infinite. Consequently they must have been the special agents of God, commissioned to manifest his counsels to men. The nature of things does not, indeed, admit a stronger proof of a divine revelation, than that which was given at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As it is certain that none but God can raise or animate the dead, he himself must have raised and animated Jesus after his crucifixion. Jesus, consequently, must have been the son of God, and his religion the pure offspring of the divine nature. Let us visit the burying ground ourselves; let us behold a corpse deposited in the earth, and covered with clods; and let us, the third day after this, visit the same ground and behold the same corpse inspired with life and vigor; throwing off the cumbrous clods, and the funeral attire; forsaking the awful mansion of death, and resuming its former converse with friends and spectators! Must we not be convinced that God is there? Must we not be convinced that whatever information this re-animated corpse shall give us, has its origin in the counsels of heaven? Must not our minds, indeed, be dangerously distempered, if we do not yield to conviction? Yes, I am bold to say, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was as great a proof that he was the son of God, as the nature of things will admit; and that he, who, when that fact is once established, shall deny the divine authenticity of the scriptures, is devoid of that soundness of mind which is essential to a good judgment.

3. The bible contains in itself a proof of its own divinity. The character which it gives us of God, and the character which it gives us of men; the way of salvation which it discloses by Jesus Christ, and the system of acting, speaking and thinking,