INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.

GENTLEMEN OF THE INSTITUTE :

I OFFER no apology for occupying the place you have assigned me. It is the right of the whole to appoint, and the duty of each individual to obey. And in accordance with your appointment, and my obligation, I stand before you alike honored and obedient.

Nor shall I shrink from the responsibility of appearing to instruct; though I might modestly prefer to be instructed. In a place like this, and at a period like the present, we are bound to have opinions of our own; nor may they be reasonably withheld, when called for by the occasion. And at no former period of the world has there been an equal demand for individual opinion.

All the elements of society are in commotion. Old combinations are breaking up; and new associations are being formed. The civil, moral and religious institutions of ages are crumbling before the march of intellect and the zeal of reform. Nothing merely human seems firmly based on principles immutable. Crowned heads are trembling for their sceptres; and sparkling diadems are falling at the feet of the people. Ecclesiastical hierarchies are loosing their hold on conscience; and the slumbering energies of the soul are waking. Free institutions are trampled under the feet of licentiousness; and the distant echo of anarchy's confusion is already heard. Earth's stability is shaken. Society seems reverting to its original elements. Moral revolution-moral chaos seems approaching.

And how is the storm to be weathered?

Not by might nor by power. Aid human is vain. As well might man raise his hand and stop "old ocean's" rolling wave. He cannot reach the secret spring of the heaving bosom of society. It lies hid in the chambers of eternity. Human wisdom cannot fathom the mystery profound, and develop the cause of this revolution. Human arms and authority cannot stop its progress. Onward is its course. And onward it will go; till complete in a new heaven and a new earth-the formation of a new state of society.

But, if it cannot be stopped, how may it be guided in its course? Nor is the inquiry vain; or the attempt to guide the storm unworthy. And though it should prove difficult in practice; it is wise to understand the theory to know how to lead and shape the course of the disturbed elements of a convulsed world. It is by education.

Not education as hitherto conducted; shaped by circumstances; and confined almost entirely to either the physical, intellectual or moral energies of men. But education based on their invariable characters; and conducted upon the established principles of nature, revelation and providence ; which prepares them for usefulness and happiness in every situation and stage of being.

And

The science of education has hitherto been but imperfectly understood, and generally conducted upon erroneous principles. It has never assumed an exact form, like other sciences based on immutable principles; and has never developed in their relative proportions and harmonious whole, the entire energies of man. Some, by undue culture, have been pushed to the utmost; while others have remained almost dormant, in their native weakness. The symmetry of human perfectibility, therefore, has ever appeared. Uniformly partial have been the developments of human greatness. though, in particular instances, it has excited the wonder and admiration of the world, in none has it equalled the capabilities of men. Alexander, Washington and Bonaparte; Bacon, Locke and Newton; Luther, Calvin and Edwards stand out unrivalled monuments of human greatness; but neither class, much less any individual of them, combines the greatness of the whole. Each is great in his particular department; but limited and partial in the development of his capabilities. And instead of being a perfect whole-a well

educated man; he exhibits only the consummate skill of a general, the profound wisdom of a philosopher, or the moral worth of a divine. And this because his education was defective based on false principles.

It

A position equally true in every other case; and that shows conclusively the imperfection of the science of education. has never developed the entire capabilities of men in their harmonious and proportionate symmetry; and can never be ranked among the exact sciences, while thus uncertain, and uniformly imperfect in its results.

Education generally, perhaps universally, has been shaped by circumstances. The historian informs us that the laws of Lycurgus and Solon, were only the public sentiment of the age in which they lived. And that their names have been immortalized for doing what circumstances demanded — embodying public opinion in a code of laws, that have influenced society in later periods. Luther, the master-spirit of the Reformation, was rather governed by circumstances, than his own genius in declaring against the Pope, and Church of Rome. Public opinion in Germany was ripe for revolt, and setting in favor of religious and ecclesiastical freedom. He yielded to the pressure of circumstances, and led the van of Protestants. So education at different periods, and in every part of the world, has been shaped by circumstances. It is made to favor the leading objects of a particular community, a whole nation, or the age. And as these vary, so education varies to meet the occasion. Men, therefore, are educated, regardless of their capabilities, according to circumstances for particular objects. And where these lead to the development only of a particular power or faculty, the rest are left unimproved; and consequently, the diversified energies of men are never seen in their mutual strength and full glory.

In Egypt, the earliest kingdom of ancient renown, men seem to have been educated principally in the mechanical arts, to contribute to her monuments of fame. And though they still remain the wonder of the world, the energies of their architects were never fully developed. It was their physical and intellectual powers merely that contributed to these objects of national pride. Greece gloried in her arts, sciences and prowess. She therefore educated her poets, her orators and her warriors. But neither Homer, Demos

thenes nor Leonidas ever exhibited the concentrated greatness of all their energies. They met the occasion, for which they were educated, and are immortalized. Rome, once the proud mistress of the world, still lives in the fame of her Cicero, her Cæsar, her Virgil and her Livy, who were educated for her honor and glory. But, their concentrated energies were never brought to bear on Rome's happiness. Nor were they educated for this. It was not required circumstances called not for the development. And it was circumstances that shaped the education of the ancients. Of whatever age, nation or clime, their education was regulated by the occasion.

Nor is that of the moderns less affected by circumstances. Even down to the nineteenth century, and the present period, circumstances give character to education. France, a few years since, was looking forward, with her proud Emperor, to universal dominion; and educated her sons for the fieldmilitary renown. Nor have they yet lost the spirit acquired in the National Academy they are restless and ambitious. But a full development of their energies as individuals and a nation can never be made under such circumstances. England, more cool and sentimental, but not less proud and aspiring, glories in her wealth, influence and learning: and boasting of her Shakspeare, Milton, Locke and Newton, educates her Rothschild, Wellington and Brougham. But, though her wealth be immense, her influence felt through the world, and her learning unrivalled; there is not an individual in the united kingdom whose education develops, in harmonious proportion, all his endowments. Under the pressure of circumstances, the development of his energies is partial. Nor is that of Americans less so. bold and enterprising, with resources like their rivers, inexhaustible, and aspiring like their lofty mountains, they are educated for adventure, exertion and hardships. Nor will they cease their efforts for the refinements of society, the severer studies of philosophy, or the calm retirement of the virtuous, till the tide of population rolls over valley and mountain to the shores of the Pacific, and the interminable forests of the land are rendered vocal to the praise of man. And in conformity to these circumstances, their education is partial, and their energies in combined force are never seen.

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Nor is the influence of circumstances thus general and na