Discourse Delivered Before the Union Literary
Society of South-Hanover College
By Alexander Kinmont
Edited with Tntroduction by Jennifer L Olszewski

Literary societies dominated the extracurricular lives of students at Hanover College during its early decades and well into the early twentieth century. ' These societies gave students a forum for the discussion and debate of contemporary issues and for the practice of public speaking and debating. The Union Literary Society (ULS) and the Philosophronian Literary Society, formed at South Hanover College in late 1830, have the distinction of being the first literary societies west of the Allegheny Mountains. The purposes of the ULS as stated in its 1830 constitution were "to promote friendship and good feeling among us, and cultivate literature and science in general and eloquence in particular." The societies met weekly to discuss current topics, and the culminating event of the year was a March exhibition in which students would give speeches to demonstrate their oratorical skills.

In this "Discourse," Alexander Kinmont argues that a liberal education consists of the pursuit for primary rather than secondary knowledge. He argues that if the youth of the country do not learn the facts, logic, and reasoning behind the principles and opinions they spout off, they do not have a truly liberal education but, instead, are slaves to secondhand sources. He argues that the Bible is the ultimate source for primary knowledge and inspiration for the faculties. He also argues that the end of this search for truth is not reputation or the mere acquisition of knowledge but rather its usefulness and application. With a liberal education, he argues, comes the responsibility to protect, defend, teach, and elevate those who have not had similar opportunities, and he urges his audience (the ULS) to study the "fundamental principles" and "fontal truths of human society" so that their education may prove a "blessing" to the nation.

DISCOURSE ON THE ENDS AND USES OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION, DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNION LITERARY SOCIETY OF SOUTH-HANOVER COLLEGE, IA.

On the 27th September, 1836; being their Fourth Anniversary.

1. The first paragraph is condensed from Frank S. Baker Glimpses of Hanover's Past 1827-1977
(Seymour, iN: Graessle-Mercer, 1978), 49-53. "On Hanover's Literary Societies see Suzanne
M.	Austgen," A History of Literary Societies at Hanover College" The Hanover Historical
Review 2 (1994)1-7.
2. The two societies, originally formed under a joint constitution, split in 1832, making 1836
the ULS's fourth rather than sixth anniversary.
BY ALEXANDER KINMONT,
Of Cincinnati, Ohio.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY
CINCINNATI
SMITH, DAY AND CO.
1836.

(3)	DISCOURSE.

GENTLEMEN:	-

HE who would become distinguished in manhood, and be eminently useful to his country and age, must be contented to pass his boyhood and youth in obscurity. It is a fault of American ambition, (although at the same time an indication of a noble and free nature,) that the youth of the country, (for T shall use plainness through the whole of this discourse,) are in too much haste to become renowned: - and they do indeed often exhibit astonishing marks of early maturity; their tree spreads, and blossoms, and bears fruits goodly, and fair, and lovely to look upon in a remarkably short interval; but the melancholy feature of this bright and early morn of glorious and ambitious hopes is, that it so rapidly passes into mid-day, and declines to afternoon and closes hastily in untimely night. I know I am stating a fact that does not always hold, but it is yet of such frequent recurrence, as to fix somewhat of a general character on our literary, moral, and political career. I ascribe it not so much to the want of genius as to the excess of it, to that consuming ardor of mind, which not only lights up the materials around it to exhibit its own brightness, but turns at last on the soul itself - melts and reduces the very crucible, the intellectual vessels that nourished and fed the splendor.

It is wise to husband and increase our resources, chiefly in youth; this is the time not to cast stones, but to gather them.

"Multum puer sudavit et alsit:" 3

This should be the motto of youth. But it is painful; - it requires selfdenial to put such restraints upon our mental tastes, as will enable us to acquire the useful first and the brilliant afterwards. And on the whole, it is an unfortunate age for young men to pursue severe studies, much more so than a century ago; for now so many read, (I do not say they reflect,) - so many read the light works, the novels, the reviews of the day, that when a young man is thrown into company, (and he must have some relaxation) he is obliged, as he supposes, in vindication of his literary respectability, to offer his criticisms among the rest - on

3. "Much has a boy sweat and frozen." Special thanks to Dr. John Trout, Professor of Classics at Hanover College, for his advice on the Latin translations.
Bulwer's heroes, or "that well-written article" in the last "Monthly Review;" and he must talk about "taste and genius" too as well as others, and endeavor to the best of his abilities, to settle the import of these mystic terms of learned criticism;
- and something also must he have to say about the Greeks and Romans; and he has not yet learned the language of either - he has not had time; he must consult therefore the books of those who have written on the subject, (4) to have some-thing ready for the market of the evening this literary fair of "ladies and gentlemen. O sad meeting for the best hopes of youthful ambition! for these gay anticipations of learning, without the toil and sweat of acquisition, bribe and corrupt the mind with vain and overweening notions of its own powers and practical expertness; it dreams it has been eating, but awakes, and the soul is empty: - it is better to forego such fame altogether, and to be even willing to be accounted ignorant, than, drinking in the mere froth of learning, to cheat and delude the mind of its substantial and solid nourishment. - And indeed the end of learning is not reputation, but usefulness - not personal distinction, but sterling ability. But I forbear farther introduction, and proceed to unfold to you the grander ends of a generous education.

There are two kinds of Education - the liberal and the servile. I define a liberal education to be that which puts us in possession of the principles and reasons of actions and things, so far as they are capable of being known or investigated; a servile education, on the contrary, is that which stops short at the technical rules and methods, without attempting to understand the reasons or principles on which they are grounded. A ready illustration of the difference may be taken from the Mathematics. To find the area of a circle you are required to squared the diameter, and multiply that square by the decimal fraction, .7854: this is the technical rule, and if it be followed, will give you a good practical approximation of the true area; but if you are ignorant of the reason or principle on which the rule is founded, and of those mathematical truths or facts which lead to it, however expert you may be in performing the operation, and so far may enjoy the fame of a practical mathematician, you are but servilely educated on this ground, and cannot claim the credit of liberal information. - Again. You learn from Blair's Lectures, that Virgil was a poet of great genius, of less happy daring than Homer, and of less originality, but of great majesty and exquisite taste; and from your confidence in Blair, you believe the fact, and perhaps you do not scruple to assert it in writing and conversation; but unless you have made yourself acquainted with the original productions of both these writers, and felt such to be their identical character, you are not entitled to make any such assertion on the ground of liberal education; your information is second hand, and adds nothing to the value of the evidence; it repeats an echo, but does not originate a sound. - You pronounce on General Washington, that he was the most prudent and judicious statesman that ever lived; and it may be a truth you utter, but unless you have carefully noted his actions, and compared them with those of other men in analagous circumstances, it is not a piece of liberal information which you have communicated to us, but an opinion for which you are indebted to others. - "The American government is founded on the true principles of human nature:" - (5) Unless by
an extensive induction of facts, derived from the study of history and your own observations, you have learned what the true principles of human nature are, you may be stating a truth, but you have no liberal solid information in regard to it. -"The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever" - a formula of theology which comprises a striking truth, and most summarily expressed: but unless you are familiar with the original evidences in the Sacred Scriptures, from which it is drawn, and on which it rests, your assent to it is quite a servile one, and not entitled to the consideration of a liberal opinion. - " The planets are held in their orbits by the law of universal gravitation;" - a most sublime theory; but if you have no other illustrations of the truth of it, than such as may be found in the most popular works on astronomy; unless you have made yourself acquainted with those laws or facts, the grand discoveries of Kepler, and satisfied yourself by an examination of the evidence, that the ascertaining of these lies within the scope of observation and geometrical measurment, and after having settled that point to your satisfaction, followed up the mathematical reasonings of Newton, through all the principal theorems, by which steps, he at last demonstratively deduced, the grand law of universal gravitation, and established it on grounds that cannot be shaken; - unless you have passed through this ordeal of investiga tion, your knowledge of astronomy is not liberal, not solid, but like the faith of the multitude in the Christian Religion, without either substance or evidence, -whereas a true faith is possessed of both.

By these illustrations I have made known what I mean by liberal education, as well as by principles and reasons, which I may have occasion often to speak of in this address; for it is the knowledge of these so far as they are accessible, which constitutes liberal education, and where they are not accessible, or have not yet been approached - the love of approaching them; for the love of Truth is even more than the acquisition of it, the love of Truth which is excited by the desire of applying it to a useful and good end.

It is this single circumstance, the love of truth and the study of it in the models of nature and archetypes of things, which gives so much freshness, and the characters of wisdom and intelligence to the writers of ancient times. A common school geography of the present day, may contain more matter-of-fact knowledge, than you will find in the works of the greatest philosophers some centuries ago; but why do we peruse these with interest and enthusiasm, while we turn with disgust from the other? because the one is a compilation of dead facts, sublime only in the living comprehension of them; but the others show us the honest endeavors of men enamored of the truth, and smitten with her sacred charms, the more so, for that they were partially veiled from the view, and revealed but at intervals, to their enthusiastic minds: and we share their enthusiasm, (6) and our own souls are touched and elevated by the sympathy; and we feel that there is more real philosophy, more of its spirit, in the mite, which these worthies have cast into her treasury, than in the millions of current coin which have been contributed by ordinary minds. It is the love of fresh knowledge, of its principles, which stamps such value on the writings of antiquity. A school boy in
Eg_ _the present day may know more facts of science than Plato or Aristotle, but do even our philosophers seek or feel those types of Godhead which may be seen upon them; it was this search even although ineffectual, that left its print of greatness on Plato's soul: magnis tamen excidit ausis. 4 Aristotle sought scientifical principles, but Plato even more, the mental archetypes: he had an obscure and half revealed perception of that aspect of Divine Facts, shown to us in the Sacred Scriptures in such passages as these. (5) - "In thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them."
-"Jehovah God made the earth and heavens, and every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." - "And look that thou make them (the ark, &c.) after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.

Truth is but another name for Fact, and what we call principles and reasons, are such facts as are the most remote in regard to us, the last which we have reached, and which stand in connection with and hold in connection a series of other facts, of which they are called the explanations or expositions. So that the study of principles and reason is but the study of leading and valuable and explanatory facts; and is consequently the most solid and substantial information, and information too, peculiarly suitable to American youth; the government of whose country and all its civil and moral movements are understood to refer to reasons and principles divine, certain, and immutable. American education should be pre-eminently liberal, not a second hand education, not that education of rules and blind results which some would impose upon us under the name of practical education - as if Americans had obtained their freedom for no other end, but that they might convert to purposes of sensual and physical enjoyment those sublime and (7) majestic principles of science and art, which God has revealed to the reasons and understandings of other nations. For Republicans, it seems, are not as other men, born "to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever;" no, that is a destiny which freemen must never aspire to; they must be content to plod in the dirt and mire of mere animal enjoyment, and be satisfied, if they can only scrape

4.	"great in spite of being lost"
5.	"Kinmount's Note:" In illustration of this remark, I shall translate a few sentences in the close of the 9th book of his Repulic: it is part of a dialogue. "Then," said he, "this lover of truth will not take a part in the government of the commonwealth, if hos principal aim be to maintain an integrity of character." Nay indeed, but he will, said L take part in the regulation of his own commonwealth, and that too with the greatest earnestness; although I cannot promise so much for him in regard to the existing governments, unless some happy fortune should place him in a position to confer upon them the benefits of his wisdom and philosophy. "I understand you," said he, "you speak now of that MENTAL COMMONWEALTH whose image we hace endeavored to pourtray, for on earth, T imagine, it is no where to be found." You speak truth, said I, but in Heaven perhaps the MODEL OF IT CAN BE DISCOVERED; and he who will can discern it, and by a course of virtue prepare himself to become a citizen of that PERFECT COMMONWEALTH.
together so much of the practical parts of high and noble learning, as will enable them to make a living, to get through the world; for that is all that the boasted charter of our liberties, it seems, will permit us either to hope or to enjoy; and all beyond this is "forbidden fruit," the product of that old decayed stump of monarchy, which has been long since condemned, as only cumbering the ground.

Gentlemen, I will not insult you by attempting a refutation of these absurd, these grovelling opinions, which are as far from the spirit of the American government as darkness from light, as the genius of savage from the ennobling influences of civilized life: - Let them enjoy the native fruits of their own crab-tree. I will show you a nobler kind. For it is to be regretted that the present circumstances of this country (which however are fast changing for the better in this respect,) do not yet permit us to carry on education more on its proper and true principles; that is, constantly to place young men in a position from which they may be able to form their own opinions, on the view and demonstration of existent facts, in philosophy, in government, in history, in the arts: - but so far as it can be done, I believe all enlightened teachers now are endeavoring to establish education on this ground - this ground so well becoming the sons of freemen, whereon they may substitute the certainty of fact for the fallibility of opinion, the freedom and energy of unshackled truth for the weakness and uncertainty of rules and authority. - And yet, Gentlemen, it is right and useful, that we should submit to authority until we are able to discover reasons; and after our best efforts, there will be much that we must receive on authority, nay authority is in some instances itself a first principle, the only reason we can assign for action; but still we ought not from a false humility to seek to extend the sway this mistress over our minds, but to be willing to submit only where no surer or more inspiring guide can be found for our conduct and opinions.

You will recognize it then as the especial duty of those, who are receiving a liberal education, to study the principles of things. These principles are various, according to the subjects of which they are the fountains and beginnings; there are the principles of theology, of morals, of natural philosophy, and so forth. These principles are regarded as the origins or fountains, from which the respective sciences take their rise; they are, however, but the derivations or streams of fountains, which lie out of sight, more remote than human inquiry has yet reached. The great majority (8) of mankind have no wish, and scarcely any curiosity to arrive at these, but are satisfied with the more accessible parts of knowledge, the results and the applications. But these they are capable of admiring to a great extent, and in the height of their admiration, are blind and indiffer ent often, to the merit and exertion that were necessary to accomplish them. The consequence is that their admiration is of no use to themselves or others; for it does not stimulate the mind but the senses; they are proud of the effect, but have no disposition to appreciate the cause. So far as it depended on such persons, the world would remain in status quo - there would be literally "nothing new under the sun," not merely in respect of principles, which are eternally the same, (and where the maxim holds,) but there would be nothing new even in the application
of them; the blindness of admiration would fix them in one position; and they would never advance to the adoption of a single new method in the direction of the powers and causes whose operation they were constantly beholding. The number of persons which belong to this servum pecus (6) is always very great in every country and age, but in some countries, at some times, they have not only been the majority, but almost the whole. The inhabitants of China are represented as being in this condition at the present time, and as having been so for many centuries, and so too the Hindoos; and yet there is among them sufficient evidence, that such has not always been the case; there was a time when the Tree of Knowledge blossomed and bore fruit among them, as the applications of certain principles and formulas of science among them sufficiently testify; but for a series of ages their faculties seem to have been benumbed by an intellectual winter, and to have expanded not even with a single blossom or leaf. But western Europe has not been exempt from the same disastrous influence, although never at any time does the chilling atmosphere of mind appear to have been so total in its deadening effects, but does not history informs us that Constantinople for the space of a thousand years, in the midst of the cultivation of literature, and a certain kind of science, produced not a single useful invention or improvement in any of the arts of life, hardly even a moral idea worth preserving. Authority, prescription, use were every thing, every where - occupied the whole mind, shut up the passages of light and allowed not a single ray of original truth to penetrate the understanding. And why need I mention to you the deification of the philosophy of Aristotle, and its incorporation with the authority of the Sacred Scriptures themselves. These facts are familiar to every one in the smallest degree acquainted with history; - but what is the lesson they teach, and what the instruction which we may derive from them? That there is a fatal predisposition in the human mind to look away from principles, and to see only their applications, a tendency little short of idolatry, to admire the results of original truth, but an aversion next to impiety (9) to ascend to those sources where it is native and from which it springs. Is not this part of that blindness attendant on the fall of man, in consequence of which he is so prone to worship the creature, rather than the Creator? for inasmuch as the principles of things, which are eternal and immutable, are nearer to him than their applications are, which are mundane and transitory, it would seem that the human mind took a certain perverse pleasure in its attention on the latter rather than the former, - on that which is obscure and subordinate, rather than on that which is most glorious, and paramount. But this happens, as T have said, to the majority; there always have been, and we may presume, there always will be, at least in countries favored with the light of Christian Revelation, a few who take delight in ascending to the sources of truth, the reasons and principles of things, - thence to deduce their results and applications, mending and improving them in the descent. We know that this has been the case in theology, more or less, in every age; that Book, - which contains the first principles of this science, although through the diligence of a depraved priesthood, shut up for many ages

6."servile herd"
from the view of the people - yet now and then inquisitive minds have been enabled to obtain a glimpse of it, and such a glimpse as communicated original emotions to their minds, and opened and enlarged all their faculties; and the "fig-tree began to put forth its leaves," as a token that the summer was nigh: yes, gentlemen, it is this Book, which opening from age to age, - another, and another of its seven seals, has been the cause why the nations of Europe have not sunk into that death-like torpor, which at present seals up the faculties and energies of Asia; but, as new light broke in through the chinks and openings of societies, produced those sudden starts, and commotions, and alarms, which Prin- and men in power deemed evil, because they disturbed their own bad tranquility; but we now recognise as the early breaking out of that spirit of inquiry and freedom, the auspicious influences of which, we enjoy in this late day of American liberty. But observe, I do not refer to these facts carelessly nor without reason, it is part of the demonstration I am making that it is alone an appeal to first principles that can recover, or when recovered, maintain the spirit and principles of genuine wisdom and intelligence among men; and T instance only in the strongest case; I assert in like manner, that natural science cannot be preserved in its freshness without a constant recurrence to its principles, and an early acquaintance with them in schools and colleges; nor any of the ordinary or fine arts either; but I do not take the illustration of my position from these in the mean time; I refer to higher, to nobler, to more essential sciences first of all; and I say that Religion itself, morality, civil government - in one word, rational freedom cannot be maintained among mankind, unless there (10) are minds raised up by Divine Providence, and nurtured, as yours are here, through the discipline of your Alma Mater, - to reascend with boldness and energy to the first principles of all these blessings, which T maintain are to be found, and are contained only in the Sacred Scriptures or Word of God. When that Word has been shut, these have been shut, - when opened, these have been opened; the return of the sun to the southern tropic does not more certainly occasion winter to the northern zone, and lock up all the energies of vegetation, than the appropriation of the Bible to the priesthood, and the withholding of it from the laity, withers up and benumbs all the faculties of the human soul, nips the fair flowers of fancy - those proofs of the heart's gladness - and puts a slow but effectual stop, to all useful inventions - physical as well as moral improvement.

I cannot surely select examples more fitted to impress upon your minds the use of a constant reference to first principles in all your studies, than these; the first principles of all knowledge stand more nearly related, as it were, to God; and when our minds are imbued and impressed with them, they are animated with new life; it is then that the Angel descends from Heaven to trouble the waters, and all the ideas which we had before gathered up - but which had become in a certain sense stagnant, seem to be revived by this divine AURA, and breathe of health, and freshness, and invigoration. One glance of a principle is worth whole months and years of contemplation of results; and it is in those happy moments, when such knowledge bursts upon our minds, under the judicious guidance of some paternal instructer, that we first have a full sense of our own manhood, our
strength and dignity; when, for instance, some of the demonstrations of geometry disclose the reasons of those practical rules, under the directions of which we have been for many years solving questions implicitly, - as a blind man finds his way through the streets, groping and feeling his path according to certain notices and tokens, which he has treasured up in his mind: but if, in the midst of his tedious and perilous progress, some friendly and miraculous hand were suddenly to restore to him his powers of vision; what transport, what gratitude would seize his heart, and how he would spring to the place of his destination, and exult in the exercise of his renovated faculties, and never have done using them, such delight, such pleasure in the employment; - and yet this is but a poor, a feeble emblem of that real mental transport, which an ingenious mind first feels, when it has become alive to the perception of the true principles of knowledge, and finds their divine, their original light shed upon the understanding.

Still I am fully aware that this is a pitch to which many minds, perhaps a majority of minds, do not care to be brought; whether it be from original constitution, the fiat of the Creator, radical and deep neglect of parents and instructors, or what other cause, I do (H) not stop to enquire; but since it is clear that the majority of minds will not give themselves the trouble to investigate principles, to reascend to the fountain heads of knowledge, and yet it is obviously necessary, that these should be explored by some, in order to maintain a fresh and divine circulation of new truth in a country,-which is as necessary to the intellectual and moral well-being of the inhabitants, as the renovation of the atmosphere, through the luxuriance of vegetation, is to the health of their bodies;-it is indispensable, that the few who are able and willing should apply themselves vigorously to this task, and feeling how important it is to their country and age, that the very fountains of knowledge should be kept clear and accessible, use their utmost exertions to reach these themselves, and to encourage others to approach them; and wherever they will not from indolence or other causes-study to render the streams and derivations, as copious, and unmixed, and wholesome, and pure as may be pos sible. This is a duty which the strong owe to the weak, the few to the many; we were not born for ourselves alone, but for our country and the human race; those that enjoy the opportunity and possess the capacity for a liberal education, should constantly remember that high responsibilities rest upon them; they have to study not only for themselves, but others-for those whom nature or circumstances have disqualified for the task; and the direction of their studies therefore must be such as to qualify them to discharge this double duty,-not only to acquire the true principles of knowledge for themselves, but also so to master them in all their obvious and practical applications, as to bring them home to the minds of the uninitiated, not in that pompous affected style, tending to increase their admiration of your sagacity, and to bind themselves still closer in the chains of ignorance, but in so distinct and benevolent a manner, as shall make them feel that they have learned something from you; and have been led to admire more rationally the wonders of art and nature,-the ingenuity of man, or the wisdom and beneficence of God, the invisible Creator. The object of a liberal education, is not the gratification of vanity,-an ephemeral, or a posthumous fame, both equally worthless;
)e_ _but it is to qualify a man, to be the efficient minister of Divine Providence, by pressing upon his countrymen, those eternal, those immutable principles and laws, whose system, under one aspect, we call the Kingdom of Grace, under another the Kingdom of Nature. In either of these departments, a man may serve his country; - and the study of the Word of God will not interfere with the study of nature, nor will the study of nature mar or confound that of verbal Revelation. Bacon understood the place of both admirably; and how justly they harmonised, when he speaks of theology, as the Mistress or Queen, and of science as the handmaid that attends her. A man of sound mind will never lose sight of the distinction, nor of those studies and exercises of mind, which (12) so naturally spring out of it: he will not forget that he is an heir at once of Heaven and Earth; and that he has duties connected with both; and he will therefore take care to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God, the things that are God's;" and this not blindly, either, but from a lofty, just, and reasoning mind. He knows that Faith has its vision, as well as science; and he will endeavor to scan the principles of both, with a firm, and steady determination, assured that Reason was formed not less certainly, for the discovery of Truth, than the eye for beholding the light.

When I speak of theology as entitled to your study, of course I do not mean any technical system of it, unless so far as this may help you to attain to the natural system. The natural system is so wide and so majestic, that it cannot be taken in by any technical system whatever; but you must not, on that account, think that it is absolutely inaccessible. The artificial systems of theology resemble very much the artificial systems of botany, which although they are not a perfect copy of nature, yet are so contrived, as to enable us to become acquainted with the system of nature, and to see glimpses of that classification, which she has herself established; and when we have once seen, and known, and had impressed upon our minds the facts, such as she exhibits them, and felt that Order Infinite, which she exemplifies, we forget the artificial system, which we first learned--not to despise it, for we know it was useful as a guide, as the filum labyrinthi (7) i but , now that we have become partially acquainted with some of the more remarkable windings and intricacies of Nature's felicitous wisdom and sacred art, we are contented to let go our artificial aid, and to trust to her. It is always a good maxim, not to seek the greater world in the lesser; that is, not to seek for the majesty or divine features of nature-within the narrow compass of definitions, or of formulas, for we may rely upon it, that every distinct and specific fact of nature is beyond the precincts of verbal or artificial description ;-we must see it to know it ; there is room for a just impression of it on the tablet of our mind; but that impression of it is never so deep or native, that it can be transferred without diminution of its natural vivacity to the mind or fancy of another. No description or definition of a horse, could convey a clear and distinct idea of one to a person who had never seen the animal; - natural facts, and among these several are principal, and the types of the rest, must be seen and noted, and the comparison of them

- "labyrinth's string"
with the description, will deepen and distinctify the impressions of them: - and the revealed facts of theology, some of which also are principal and the types and the leading ones of their groups, are to be learned in like manner, and to be impressed on the mind in their native original forms; -and when compared with the different technical systems, their impression will be the more vivid and the more lasting; and certain (13) characters will be fixed on the memory, which might otherwise have been overlooked. There has been a great deal of needless outcry against the endless systems of theology that prevail in the world;-I can see no solid objection that can be raised against them, if men will make time proper use of them;--if they are intended as substitutes for the Bible, of course they are pernicious; but what one in the present day views them in that light, and not rather as certain convenient manuals of theology, which enable the resolute student to identify those sacred, those living facts,-the plants and flowers, which grow divinely, and not at man's bidding; not yet altogether, according to man's description in that Garden of GOD, the enduring Word: and yet although so confusedly mixed, at least to our apprehension, there is among them an original order, a divine classification, not only in genera and species, but also in all their individual tints, and sweetnesses and fragrances, known indeed but imperfectly to man, but sufficiently for use ;--but He who groupeth all the stars, and nameth them, knoweth well all the uses, and all time powers, of all the truths which are there,-the herbs and plants, the types of Himself; which variegate, adorn, and beautify "that wilderness of sweets"- time germinant, the ever-blooming Word. Here is that field of moral principles, undefined yet grand and simple, which the more you traverse, the more fresh for action will your minds become; the more keen will be your sensibilities, to the perception of all truths and all just relations, whether in regard to morality, to civil government, or to mere matters of taste and science. But it is impossible, without this familiarity, to have any just discrimination on subjects of interior thought; the artificial systems, which endeavor to time best of their powers, to express these principles, always fail of their object; they go a certain way, and there abandon you ; you yourself must accomplish the rest. And this is no less the case, wherever we would attempt entirely to express any law or order of nature;-what definition is there, or description of that sublime principle of universal gravitation, which is not shadowed with unavoidable misconceptions-and why? -because it is an Original Law, a Divine FACT, sum generis', and is itself its own definition ; and consequently, all terms, which we make use of to bring the phenomena, which are the mystic hieroglyphics which disclose its characters, before the mind, tend also to obscure and degrade the unique glory of the truth, unless we are careful to read their meaning rightly--such as mutual attraction, original impulse, momentary deflection, &c. :--it is only after we have made ourselves masters of the true conception of the Illustrious Fact, through the aid of these artificial terms, setting the phenomena in our view; and the terms have fallen off from the fact, or been taken down, as the scaffolding from a building, that we contemplate in its solitary grandeur, this sublime physi

8. "of its own kind"