nity do not require it. But I do desire and shall labor that this may be a safe college; that its reputation may be sustained and raised still higher; that the plan of instruction which I have indicated may be carried out more fully; that here there may be health, and cheerful study, and kind feelings, and pure morals; and that, in the memory of future students, college life may be made a still more verdant spot.

But deep as is my anxiety when I look at the connection of this college with the interests of science and literature, it is far deeper when I look at its connection with the immortal destinies of those who shall come here, and with the progress of the cause of Christ and the conversion of the world. The true and permanent interests of man can be promoted only in connection with religion; and a regard to man as an immortal, accountable and redeemed being, should give its character to the whole. course of our regulations and the spirit of our instructions. This college has for a long time been regarded, and not without reason, with interest and affection by the churches. Of its whole number of graduates, as many as one third. have devoted themselves to the Christian ministry, and recently a larger proportion. It was on this ground that American missions had their origin. It was here that Mills and Hall prayed, and their mantle has so descended on the institution, that now we can hardly turn our eyes to a missionary station where one or more of its sons are not to be found. Others are on their way, and there is remaining behind an association devoted to the same glorious work. This college has also been the scene of revivals of religion, pure and repeated and mighty, which have caused, and are still causing, joy on earth and in heaven. It is upon these, and upon the higher standard of consistent piety that follows in their train, that we mainly rest our hopes for the distinguished usefulness of this college. For these let the churches pray; and let

them join with us, in the words of my venerable predecessor when this building was dedicated, "in devoting this College to the Holy Spirit as a scene of revivals of religion, and to the blessed Redeemer as an engine to bring on the millennial glory of His church." This would we do, not only as the friends of religion, but as the friends of science, and of a pure literature, and of the freest spirit of inquiry. We would do it that we may disabuse the world of the absurd prejudice that the knowledge of God cramps the mind, and disqualifies it for the study of his works-that we may hasten that day, which must come, when it shall be seen and felt that there is a coincidence and essential unity between reason and religion; when the spirit of literature and the spirit of science shall minister before the spirit of piety, and pour their oil into the lamp that feeds its waxing flame; when study shall be nerved to its highest efforts by Christian benevolence, and young men shall grow up at the same time into the light of science and the beauty of holiness.

ADDRESS,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF ALUMNI OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE, AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY,

August 16, 1843.

BRETHREN ALUMNI :-It is my first, and most pleasing duty, to bid you welcome to this spot. I do it with a full heart. I do it personally, as an Alumnus of this Institution to his brethren Alumni. I do it feelingly, as holding a position in which I need your sympathy and approbation; in which, aside from those high moral considerations which I trust will always be paramount, I find in that sympathy my best encouragement to labor; in that approbation, my highest reward. I do it as gladdened and strengthened by your presence; for few as have been the difficulties I have been called to encounter, they have yet been enough to make me feel how like the sunshine after clouds is the presence of so many here to-day, come up to manifest their continued attachment to the cause of sound learning, their interest in each other, and in the prosperity of this Institution. Men of earlier times, to whom I have been accustomed to look up with reverence; men in active life, who have left your business and your cares to join in these glad scenes; and you, younger men, who have gone out with my own instructions and parting

blessing, it is with emotions which I cannot express that I welcome you all.

But it is not in my own name only, or chiefly, that I bid you welcome. It is in the name of our venerated Alma Mater. With her you have sympathized, in her prosperity, and in her adversity. When she has been in poverty and distress, when she has been opposed and misrepresented by ignorance and prejudice and faction, when the flames have swept over her, she has still heard your voice of encouragement, and has been sustained by your generous aid. In your hearts, far rather than in buildings. and in apparatus, she has hitherto had, and still has her best and her highest life. In her name, then, I bid you welcome to her quiet seats, to this green spot in the memory of the past, to these familiar scenes, these remembered walks, to the sound of that bell, not unwelcome now, to these circling and unchanged mountains, to this scenery unsurpassed. Especially do I bid you welcome to the fellowship of this literary festival, where, with our congratulations in view of the progress and success of fifty years, we may mingle our hopes of a brighter future.

Fifty years! What changes do not these words suggest-some of them occurring in those ordinary and ever repeated movements of nature which return upon themselves, and some in that onward march of things which is made known only as the scroll of Divine Providence is unrolled! Fifty years! So many times has the verdure of spring been seen to brighten this valley, and to creep up the sides of these mountains; so many times have their tops slept in the sunlight of the summer noon; so many times have they put on the gorgeous robes of autumn, and been swept bare and rested in the embrace of winter. These changes have passed upon them, but they are still the same. Not so those who have looked upon them. Of those who were in active life at the commencement of this period, few, if any, remain. He that was

then an infant clinging to his mother's bosom, is now a man with gray hairs upon him, and with his children grown up around him. In the meantime, with the regularity of the seasons, there has come the Senior Examination, and then the Commencement, with its greetings, and partings, and wide dispersion; with its gathered crowd that has come in like the rush of the brook after a shower, and has again dispersed, leaving these streets solitary and quiet. During this time more than a thousand young men have received the honors of this Institution. Here they have been agitated with the hopes and fears, and have shared the pleasures and perils of this miniature world. From this retreat they have looked out upon the ocean they were to sail, and have gathered strength and skill for the voyage. Ah! who can tell how many anxious thoughts, how many hopes and fears of parents, how many fervent prayers have clustered round, and ascended for all these! During this time too, the heads of the three venerable men who have presided over the Institution, have been laid low. FITCH and MOORE and GRIFFIN, whose voices have so often been heard in this place, and were once so familiar to many of you, where are they!

Such have been the changes in this valley. Need I refer to those that have passed upon the great theatre of the world? It was often said by Dr. Griffin, that this College came into being at the commencement of a new era. It was just then that the smoke and the lava of the French Revolution began to be thrown up, and that the shocks of that great moral earthquake began to be felt among the nations. Infidelity, having gained the ascendency in France, was then mustering and concentrating her forces, and was sending out her emissaries to convert the nations, and anarchy and bloodshed were following in her train. These events alone have marked the period as an era among historians, and have caused it to be regarded