YOUNG GENTLEMEN:--

      Venerating as we all do the president of our institution, we cannot but regret his absence on this interesting occasion. The fields of his usefulness, however, are too varied for any one interest exclusively to claim his attention, and therefore, whilst our feelings would have him here, our better judgment must make us content that he is away. It will be gratifying to you to know that even amidst the solitudes of the sea, floating on its boundless bosom and wrapt in the spell of its sublimity, his heart is still turned towards this scene of his labors, and, as the prophet of old, when a captive among strangers, opened his windows towards Jerusalem and prayed before God, so he looks back to this our loved institution, and sends up his petition for its welfare and growth. He neither forgets you, gentlemen, nor would be forgotten by you, but both as an evidence of his affectionate remembrance, and as a further claim upon your gratitude, has sent you, from the midst of the Atlantic, a testimonial of his regard, which I shall now read you.

      Young Gentlemen:--Though absent from you in person, and now gently moving under as bright a sky and on as smooth an ocean as you can well imagine, I feel myself, in spirit, present with you on the auspicious day which, while it records the birth of the greatest nation and the happiest community on the earth, terminates your collegiate years, and awards to you the honors due to those who have [492] successfully pursued their way through the academic paths of literature and science. Having not only directed your studies, but participated in your education, watched over your morals and tested your attainments at the stated examinations, I cannot but regret that I have not the pleasure of hearing your last performances, of taking you personally by the hand, and of giving you severally the parting benediction. Still, I have the pleasure, though in the midst of the vast Atlantic, and far removed from the halls in which we have so often met, of communicating to you a few suggestions of practical importance, which, indeed, as the occasion demands, must be few, and which, I assure you, are dictated not merely by a sense of duty, nor simply in conformity with ancient usage, but which flow from attachments already formed, and from desires, long cherished, that your future years may be full of usefulness and happiness, the only rational and practicable preparation for a blissful immortality.

      In order to this, it is expedient that you clearly and fully understand your exact position in the great family of man, and the claims which your country, the church of God, and the human race have upon you. A general knowledge of the past and present condition of the world, of its bearings on the future, and of your interests in it, is highly important to your judicious choice of a profession, and to the filling up the proper measure of your duties to yourselves, to your fellow-men, and to God.

      You have long since subscribed to the adage that "knowledge is power," not merely to govern others, but also to govern ourselves. Equally evident to you I presume it is, that, in the intention of your parents to impart to you an education, as well as in your own efforts to obtain it, you both regarded it, not merely as conferring upon him who possesses it a power to promote his own interest and happiness, but also the interests and happiness of his contemporaries and posterity. The preparation which it affords its possessor to accomplish these ends, you are aware, consists not only in the amount of information which he obtains, but in the habits of thinking which he forms, and in the strength and vigor of mind which he acquires, in pursuing it, to make his acquisitions available to his own advantage and to that of others. Hence, it invariably comes to pass, in the struggle and business of life, that an educated mind excels an uneducated mind in every conflict in which the parties enter the lists on equal terms; that is, all things except education being equal. The victory gained, too, in such competition is great in the direct ratio of the difference in the education possessed by the aspirants. Now, as educated mind governs [493] the universe by a law not of human but of Divine legislation, it ought to be remembered by every young man that he may and ought to possess a moral power in the full ratio of his talents and education, in any sphere in which his lot may be cast.

      Having on several occasions called your attention to these subjects, I intend not now to generalize or moralize upon them; but, assuming them as matters no longer debatable, I wish on the present occasion to advert to a momentous conflict which not myself only, but very many truly intelligent and well-informed men in both Europe and America, anticipate as inevitably to occur in our own country, and that, too, in all probability, before your days shall be numbered.

      In order to this, we must first glance at our country, at its immense resources, its population, its institutions as compared with those of the Old World, and its destiny. These are the materials for a volume or a series of volumes yet to be written. Having now but a few moments to devote to them, I shall merely name the topics, or state a few facts from which these are yet to be developed; and this with special reference to two or three suggestions which I desire to make to you on the present occasion.

      Time was when thirteen English colonies became THE THIRTEEN FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. Their territory extended from a line passing through the great North-western lakes to the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Mississippi on the west. But, in less than the life of one man, to this domain we have added Louisiana, and the territories beyond, extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. On the south we have thrown our arms around the Floridas and Texas, stretching to the Mexican Gulf, while on the north we have secured possession on Oregon extending to "latitude forty-nine." This immense territory, reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the forty-ninth of Oregon, is now owned by only twenty millions of people, exclusive of the wandering tribes of Indians continually wasting away under the baleful influence of the stern vices of a portion of our Christian civilization.

      But it is not alone the amplitude of our country that demands either our admiration or our gratitude. I would not compare America with Asia, but I would advantageously compare our portion of it--our own national domain--with that of any one people or nation now existing on the face of the earth, in all the elements that impart interest, grandeur, beauty, prosperity and happiness to a country.

      In what other country are fruitful mountains and luxuriant plains, [494] navigable lakes and rivers, fertile hills and valleys, projected on a scale of such varied, grand and magnificent dimensions? What immense defiles of stupendous mountains, decorated with variegated forests and towering cliffs, storehouses of the richest minerals, as well as of the fuel to refine them and of the streams to convey them to market, are seen lifting their proud eminences to the clouds, both in the east and west, the north and South, of our immense territory! In what other land are seen such inland seas, in the form of lakes, and such rivers, measured by thousands of miles, on whose broad bosoms is yet destined to float the wealth of nations? Where else shall we find, connected with such highways of commerce, unmeasured prairies of the richest soils, whose luxuriant grasses and fields of corn wave to the winds of heaven like inland seas of verdure and beauty? And where such myriads of hills and valleys, covered with rich harvests or crowned with green pastures, teeming with flocks and herds that can neither be told nor numbered?

      But, leaving this field of admiration, which I cannot survey any more than I can fathom this mighty ocean, on whose fair bosom I move so majestically along, let us for a moment look at the increasing number, the gigantic strides, the mighty commerce and the unparalleled enterprise of our people.

      In 1755 our entire population was twenty thousand less than one million. Now, in 1847, it cannot be less than twenty millions. In 1855, one century after its first census, it will have advanced from one million to twenty-five! England, the prodigy of Europe and of the world, in a little more than half a century has doubled its population. In less than a quarter of a century the United States have doubled theirs. On this ratio of increase, which cannot be expected to diminish during the present century, the next century will commence with a population of seventy-five millions! Young gentlemen, there are some of you standing here to-day who may live to see the day, not quite fifty-three years hence, when the American family shall number its seventy-five millions of citizens!

      The commerce of our country is still more wonderful than its increase of population. It now amounts to two millions and a half of tonnage--twelve times greater than it was half a century ago. During this period, Great Britain, the greatest maritime Power in the world, has only increased her tonnage by about one-half of what it was some fifty years ago. Having lake-shores with their tributaries extending almost five thousand miles, draining an immense territory, the city of New York already receives, of all the products of our soil, more than [495] the city of New Orleans; although on our Western waters there ply some eight hundred steamboats, carrying but a portion of the produce that grows on the banks of the Father of Waters with his unnumbered tributaries, draining over one million three hundred thousand square miles, and bearing to New Orleans the gleanings of shores twelve thousand miles in extent!

      Next to these immense rivers and lakes, another element of our national greatness is our inland means of communication and transport. Of these I shall only say that they are no less wonderful and unexampled than those already mentioned. In 1790, only fifty-seven years ago, in all the United States we had but seventy-five post-offices, and the whole mail-routes were short of two thousand miles. Now we have thirteen thousand four hundred and eighty-eight post-offices, and mail-routes more than one hundred and fifty thousand miles in extent! Already we travel on canals more than four thousand miles, and on railroads over five thousand!

      With another element we shall complete our allusions to the more impressive indications of our national greatness. It is the all-absorbing subject of education--with me the alpha and the omega of a people's greatness, usefulness and happiness. While Prussia, in the number of her schools and in the mode of conducting them, may excel us, as well as in the number of children that attend them, it is presumed that we excel her and all the world beside in the character of the education imparted to our youth. There is, indeed, one class of natives in our country most imprudently, most unphilosophically, and in a manner the most unchristian-like, debarred from scholastic education. This every Christian and every philanthropist in the country sincerely deplores. But taking our white population into view, in all the Union there was, in 1840, one child in every seven at school. Should we divide the Union into districts, and place the free States in one district, there was one in every five; or should we take all New England and New York only, there was more than one in four. Compared with England, Scotland and Wales, our country is, indeed, very considerably in advance. In Wales, but one in twenty, in England, but one in twelve, in Scotland, but one in ten were attending school in 1840. Of England and Wales I lately saw it somewhere stated that not more than one-half of the whole adult population can write their own names. I will not speak of churches, for in these it is known that, as respects the number of them in our old settlements, we excel all the world.

      When, then, gentlemen, we look into the elements of a nation's greatness--territory, soil, climate, population, commerce, post-offices, [496] public highways, education, schools and colleges--in all of which it is, I believe, conceded that we excel all the world beside; and when it is remembered that we are but in our infancy, while other nations with whom we compare are in more than their manhood prime, what reasons of thankfulness have we for our happy lot! What bright anticipations of future greatness! What a glorious destiny seems to await us! But we must also ask ourselves, What obligations are laid upon us to act a part in the great drama of life worthy of ourselves, harmonious with our national birthrights? And how shall we most certainly transmit to posterity the rich inheritance which God has put into our hands for them?

      Still, the main cause of our true greatness as a people is the result of a happy combination of those several causes co-operating in the production of a new order of society, which has been developed in our free institutions, both religious and political. I do not say political and religious, but religious and political; because, however startling to some ears, it is nevertheless true, that the political institutions of every nation and people on earth are but the legitimate offspring of their religion, whatever it may be.

      Whence came that peculiar, distinguishing freedom of thought, of speech and of action, which is the quickening spirit of our social system, and the supreme characteristic of our political institutions? Believe me, gentlemen, it is but a portion of the emancipating, enlarging and soul-redeeming spirit of the Christian religion, as developed in part through the Protestant Reformation, carried to this continent by our stern, uncompromising Puritan ancestors. Could you, or any one else, accustomed to seek for adequate causes for important events, imagine that the intolerant hierarchal spirit, whether it exist in the form or under the name of an English or a Roman despotism, which compelled the founders of our free institutions to seek for a refuge and a home in a North American wilderness, could have originated and developed such a social system as that which we, through their instrumentality, now enjoy? As the stream cannot rise above its fountain, so free institutions cannot possibly spring out of absolute despotisms, whether religious or political.

      We find in the ancient Pagan idolatries the beau-ideal of an absolute monarchy, just as we find in the Jewish institution the reasons of a pure theocracy, and in the gospel the proper and justifiable elements of a christocracy. So in every form and theory of religion we can find the outlines and the elements of the political institutions of the people that receive them. Had there never been the idea of a [497] Roman emperor, there never would have been either a Pagan or a Papal supreme pontiff claiming political authority over the persons and the estates of men. The spirit of the supremacy of the Messiah, as Lord of all, which we properly denominate THE CHRISTOCRACY, is essentially the spirit of liberty, justice and love; because, having himself absolute control of the affections of the human heart, he sets us free from every allegiance to man which he Himself has not by a, clear and express warrant instituted. In the christocracy, therefore, we find the never-failing spring of that aversion to ecclesiastic dogmatism which has given to pure Protestantism its noble characteristics of mental independence, sense of equal rights, and love of perfect freedom. If the Son of God emancipate a man, he is free indeed. This, also, was the proper and immediate cause of that peculiar energy of character which has done so much for us as a people, which gave rise to our political organization, our general education and our ecclesiastic independence.

      Opposed to the christocracy, there are yet three grand powers in the field. They are most familiarly known under the designations of Idolatry, Mohammedanism and Popery. Light and darkness, good and evil, do not present a more evident contrast than these severally do to the spirit and tendency of the Christian religion. Before the christocracy, therefore, can he fully developed in all its redeeming and transforming excellency, these three great rivals of the Messiah must be driven from the field.

      The head of idolatrous Rome was Cæsar imperator et Pontifex maximus. That form of idolatry has faded from Europe. The mitre and the cross distinguish his Papal successor, while the crescent and the sword are the proper symbols of the Arabian impostor. The religion of the false prophet of Mecca totters to its fall, while that of Rome, according to prophecy, must remain yet a little longer. Its doom, however, is written, and we need no new prophet to reveal its final catastrophe. The theatre of the Koran and that of the ancient idolatries are very far distant from us, and, therefore, we cannot be expected to be directly or personally implicated in their overthrow, its precursors or its concomitants. But the last great conflict of the Papacy, and that in which we are most likely to be interested, seems to be reserved for a theatre somewhere in the New World: most probably it will be found in the great valley of the Mississippi. We fight against the idolatries of Asia and Africa through our Missionary and Bible Society operations; but we must personally act a part in that [498] conflict which must necessarily precede the long-predicted triumph of the Christian church over all her enemies.

      That you may properly apprehend the nature of this conflict, and what is rightfully expected from you, you must know that there is one man in Europe, of whom you have often heard, whom we have to fear more than any other man in the world. He calls himself "the vicar of Christ," "the prince of the apostles," "the Pontifex maximus" of the whole Christian empire. As vicegerent of God Almighty, he sits on the throne of St. Peter, as chief of the hierarchs of earth. From his girdle hang the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He opens and shuts the gates of mercy according to his own will. Myriads of ecclesiastic aspirants burn incense at his shrine, and worship at his feet. Legions of hungry monks and begging friars proclaim his intercessory power; while pious matrons and vestal nuns present his claims to every infant ear to which they can find access. One hundred millions of admiring worshippers recognize his spiritual jurisdiction, and through their bishops swear eternal allegiance to his will. His power is, indeed, spiritual, unearthly, transcendent, immortal.

      Through his arrogant abuse of power, a portion of the Old World has been partially alienated from him; on which account his spiritual despotism has not its wonted admiration. He is, however, seeking to regain it in the Old World and to establish it in the New. Since his European fortunes have begun to wane, because of the development of his spiritual despotism in the miseries of his most faithful worshippers--the plundered and down-trodden millions that are crying for bread--he looks to America, and especially to the vast and fruitful valley of the Mississippi, with a peculiar intensity of affection, and yearnings of paternal commiseration, to impart to us the holy consolations which he alone has power to administer, and from which he regards us as most unfortunately debarred, through our obstinate and uncompromising Protestantism.

      Possessing, as he does, undivided empire over South America, the devoted allegiance of Mexico, with the majority of Canadian professors, he only wants the valley of the Mississippi to secure the spiritual monarchy of the New World. He already boasts of two millions of true sons of the church in the United States of America. For these few sheep in the wilderness he has created bishops and ecclesiastic helps for them with unprecedented liberality. With the zeal of Peter the Hermit, his missionary Jesuits peregrinate our country from New York to New Orleans, and leave no valley in all the West unexplored, up to the summit of every tributary stream. Already Papal gold has [499] filled our Western cities and towns with Gothic cathedrals of enormous dimensions. Everywhere are magnificent altars being reared on which new sacrifices are to be offered. Through the sacerdotal power of her priesthood the bread and wine of our country is to be converted into the flesh and blood of a new-made Christ, to be both eaten and worshipped on the banks of our rivers and in the great radiating centres of our literature, wealth, commerce and civilization. From the Vatican, from the throne of St. Peter on the banks of the Tiber, the decree has already gone forth that our Protestant American liberties shall be new-modelled and rebaptized at the sacred font of the "prince of the apostles," and made to minister to the dictates of a confessor, according to the interests and honors of "Holy Mother Church."

      Now, then, young gentlemen, you may comprehend the nature of that anticipated conflict to which we call your attention. It is no ordinary struggle, I assure you, which presents itself to our vision. Popery has passed its zenith in Europe. Indeed, the metes and boundaries of Roman and Protestant states in the Old World have been stereotyped centuries ago. In the midst of both a third power has arisen. I allude to the infidel power, that revolutionized France, and kindled a flame of war all over Europe which is yet scarcely extinguished. The infidel power is yet of fearful stature. On its banners are direful omens and portents of woe to all potentates and powers, spiritual and temporal. Proselytes from Romanism to Protestantism, and from Protestantism to Romanism, combined, do not, probably, equal in numbers those who renounce the pretensions of both and unite their fortunes with the infidel power. It does not, indeed, always organize itself, and publicly assume the attitude of a separate and distinct power. But on that account it is the more dangerous and the more to be feared, because the more pervading and the less vulnerable. It aspires after the liberty to hate religion without shame, and to inveigh against it without reproach. It seeks to create a new public opinion, that it may annihilate respect for the Bible and those who delight to honor it. While Romanists luxuriate on the outbreaks, heresies and divisions of Protestants, and while Protestants make reprisals from the hundred abominations of Romanism, infidels seize the vices and blemishes of both, and eloquently declaim in favor of universal skepticism. They have no creed, no principle, no bond of union, other than a common hatred of religion, and a mere negation of every thing believed by Jew or Gentile, Romanist or Protestant. This party, I fear, already holds the balance of power, if not a majority, both in Europe and America. Its policy is always to take sides with what it deems the [500] weaker party. Unfortunately, too, for itself, as well as for us, it seems to regard Protestantism and Romanism as alike tyrannical, proscriptive and intolerant. It gives no preference. On any emergency, it will coalesce with either party, so far as thereby it may promote its own ends. It will help the weaker party, on the assumption that the strong either is a tyrant or will become one if successful. Hence the sympathy now displayed by infidels for the Romanist party in the United States. This, gentlemen, is one of the chief sources of my fears for the destiny of our country. The influx of Romanists, though somewhat alarming, is not so much to be deprecated as the still greater influx of infidels, because these together are certainly more than two-thirds of all the immigrants into our country. Now, from the junction of infidels and Romanists, I contend, our country has much to fear, if not with regard to the ultimate triumph of the christocracy, with regard to the ordeal and tribulation through which it must pass. Let us not dream of perpetual prosperity, of indefinite ages of tranquillity, of an unbroken series of splendid triumphs. Depend upon it, a conflict will as certainly come, in this valley of the Mississippi, between the friends of one Mediator and the friends of many, as it must come in the plains of India between the worshippers of one God and the worshippers of many.²

      Allow me, in conclusion, to tender you a suggestion or two on the premises, with regard to your duties in such an issue. First, then, you ought to inform yourselves on all the premises now laid before you. Make yourselves familiar with the history of both Protestantism and Popery. You owe it to yourselves, your country and the human race, [501] to understand the genius and character of your own age, and its bearings upon the future, as far as yon can. The history of Romanism and the dark ages you must thoroughly digest. I will commend but two books at present--Dowling's History of Romanism, and, for both sides of the controversy, a Discussion with Bishop Purcell, in Cincinnati, in 1837, endorsed by the parties. With regard to infidelity I will also name two--Simpson's Plea for Religion, and a Discussion with Robert Owen, Esq., in Cincinnati, 1829, endorsed by the parties. These works will suggest to your own minds others.

      But I especially entreat you to be always prepared to lift up your voices for the free circulation of the Bible without note or comment, both at home and abroad, and to plead the cause of universal education. These are the main pillars of all our valued institutions. Intelligence and virtue are the foundations of a free, representative and popular government. They are the unfailing sources of a nation's greatness, prosperity and happiness. Be, then, the constant, fearless and zealous champions of universal education, without which writing, printing and speaking are of comparatively little value to the world. For these works of benevolence and humanity, gentlemen, you must qualify yourselves. You must read, think, write and talk much on these great, soul-redeeming topics. Your own destiny and that of your country, more or less, depend upon the faithful and able discharge of these duties. Assail Romanism and infidelity with the Bible in every man's family, and with a good common school for every man's children in the land. A well-educated, Bible-reading nation has nothing to fear from Popery, prelacy or infidelity; but without the Bible and the common school no nation can be free, virtuous and happy.

      With these premises before you, my young friends, with your advantages of mental discipline, and with your acquirements in the various branches of a liberal education, most of you also professors of religion, you may form a proper estimate of your possible influence for good or for evil on human destiny. Possessing, in common with your contemporary friends and fellow-citizens, the largest and the richest patrimony kind Heaven now bestows on any people; speaking a language the most copious, rich and forcible of any living tongue; enjoying, too, the advantages of the most improved literature, science and civilization; inferior to no nation or people in the arts of war or in the arts of peace; living in an age in which we print by light, converse by lightning and travel by steam, by means of which we have [502] across oceans and continents with more certainty and despatch than our fathers did with neighbouring towns and countries a century ago; having in our hands the Bible so cheap and so abundant that a man can buy the New Testament for sixpence and the whole Bible for three shillings; with a Government the least expensive and with civil institutions the most rational, equitable and free ever vouchsafed to man: what, I ask, are your responsibilities and duties to God, your country and the human race?

      Consider well, I beseech you, what you can do, for what you can you ought to do, in preparation for the business and conflicts of life. You must take some side in the great controversies of the age. Survey the battle-ground before you. On the one side are ranged antiquated error, superstition, despotism and misanthropy; on the other, truth, intelligence, liberty, religion and humanity. In such a war no good man can be neutral. Are you not ardent for the encounter? May I not say for you all, that you will go heart and hand into the work of man's redemption from ignorance, error and sin? Certainly you will espouse the cause of the Bible, education and human liberty.

      I call not upon you, young gentlemen, to furnish yourselves with swords and spears, with the weapons of desolation and death, for the impending conflict. This is not the work of scholars, or philosophers, or Christians. Your profession is not to kill and to destroy, but to redeem and to rescue man from evil. Camps, not colleges, are the seminaries for warriors, heroes and conquerors. The weapons of this our warfare are not swords and spears, but reason, truth, persuasion. Under the broad banners of peace, righteousness and love, with the sharp two-edged sword of reason, argument and truth, approach the lines of the enemy, saying, with one of old, Nil desperandum, to duce Christe, and the victory is yours! [503]

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