from no necessity towards you. He needs neither your love nor your service; for these can add nothing to an infinite being. All he desires is your happiness; and this he pursues by all means consistent with your natures as free accountable creatures. The true happiness of an intelligent being springs from virtue, and virtue from freedom. Hence it is evident that omnipotence itself cannot make you happy by arbitrary irresistible force; for this would destroy your moral agency, and convert you into brutes or machines. Your happiness, and that of all rational accountable beings, is the happiness of free will. Choose therefore the service of God; conform your actions to his laws; yield up your affections wholly to him; for every thing appertaining to this world will ultimately leave you wretched. When a due reverence for the Supreme Being is established in the heart, the empire of virtue will be secured; because, you will then consider all the relative duties of life, as duties to God. In a life of virtue the greatest vietory to be obtained, is over yourselves. The heart of man, the seat of all his appetites and passions, is the source of all his vices and crimes, and of most of his errors. Reason and conscience were designed for his governors; but in his present fallen state the authority of these is opposed, and not unfrequently wholly renounced. The soul loses its freedom, with its peace, and sinks into the dreadful empire of death. If you would preserve yourselves from this deplorable state, stifle the first suggestion of evil; resist the first approach of temptation; keep your hearts with all diligence. Thus acting, you will be masters of yourselves. You will be able to cultivate with success every personal virtue; and to acquire every useful and amiable accomplishment. Though the rule of right applies as directly to the duties owing to ourselves and to our fellow men, as to those owing to God, yet it somehow happens that most men are disposed to disregard their own personal, more than their relative obligations, especially those which involve the duties of self-denial. This is a great and dangerous error; for no man can injure himself by vice or neglect without directly or remotely injuring others. You are as much responsible for the influence of your example on others, as for the ill effects of your actions on yourselves. Remember that personal virtue is the foundation of all real worth; of all true dignity of character; of all genuine piety to God; and of the most extensive usefulness to mankind. In proportion as a man becomes vicious, he renders himself incapable of doing good; destroys his own peace, and that of others; perverts the noble end of his being; soils every shining quality; and degrades every intellectual and moral endowment. The danger of immoral example arises chiefly from wrong notions of true happiness, and from want of reflection and due consideration. Vice, if properly seen, cannot like virtue spread on the principle of sympathetic association. A rational, sensitive being, cannot deliberately choose misery. If you examine the laws and principles which God has established in your nature; if you compare these with the injunctions of his revealed will, you will perceive a wonderful coincidence; and all your inquiries, if impartially conducted, will result in the firm conviction, that every motive is in favor of virtue and against vice; that the last is only another name for pain, disgrace and misery; the former for pleasure, honor and happiness. Never imagine that you can evade or violate with impunity, the laws of your nature. God has in all things connected your duty with your happiness. The relations which you sustain towards others, involve numerous and important obligations. These result from the common principles and reciprocal wants of your nature, and from the laws of political society. Here opens the principal field for the display of those virtues, talents and qualifications which benefit mankind; which conciliate their esteem, secure their friendship, and excite their admiration. Be cautious therefore that you honorably discharge the obligations resulting from the social state. Much of the happiness of your lives will depend on the good will of those around you. This will be most effectually secured by a conscientious discharge of your duties; in rendering exact justice to all men; in paying all due respect to your superiors; in kindness and condescension to your inferiors; in civility and politeness to your equals; in liberality to the poor and distressed; in supporting all institutions for the relief of human misery and for the increase of human happiness. Thus by acting in all the relations of life according to the rule of right, you will satisfy your own consciences; you will promote your own respectability and usefulness; you will secure the . esteem of men, and the friendship of God. As it is your lot to come forward into life at a most interesting period, let your conduct be marked with the most disinterested love of your country. Avoid the contagion of party spirit. Exercise a noble and independent liberality towards those who differ from you in sentiment. Cultivate peace with all men, and support the laws and constitution of your country. I trust and believe that you go from this college with a deep sense of the value of civil and religious freedom. To behold you exerting your talents in support of these, will afford the highest pleasure to those who have conducted your education. The prompt obedience which you have rendered to the authority of this college; the diligence with which you have pursued your studies; the civility and decency which have characterised your deportment; have greatly contributed to the good order and regular discipline of this college; and have set an example, which I hope will long be remembered and followed. Though many individuals among your predecessors have held a high rank in literary distinction; yet when I consider the number and talents of the present class, I must pronounce you the lights of this Institution. Permit me to express on this occasion the high satisfaction which I experience in crowning you with the laurels of this college. May they grow and flourish for ever! Departing from this institution, you carry with you my most ardent desires for your happiness. I now give you my final adieu, and recommend you to the blessing of God. |