Look over rocky New England! It has been said that her only productions for export were her granite and her ice. But her Colleges have made her the exporter of a far richer treasure than these. That treasure is mind; mind that is felt in its operations, originating, guiding, fashioning, agencies of improvement or of blessing in all the departments of society and of humanity, throughout the land and throughout the world."

Shall these influences from the Eastern and the Middle States be extended through the new empires which are now so rapidly rising in the West, and swelling the number in our galaxy of States, or shall opposite and hostile influences so mingle with the elements of society there that soon the great experiment which we are making before the nations shall fail? The Society would do what lay in its power to prevent so direful a result, by aiding the West to secure the institutions which have been in the East the great generators of saving influence.

If the effort shall be successful, we must be indeed a great people; a high destiny is before us; the power of our example, as well as the direct influences which go out from us, shall be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

But let us, of the Atlantic slope, not forget that we are soon to be but as the hem of the garment to this great nation-the mere fringe skirting its borders. Already the heart of this country beats in the Valley of the Mississippi. To control the destinies of this country, to determine the character of its institutions by the power of numbers, is ours no longer.

But, by the providence of God, we have in this Society an Agency, which, if we will wisely and diligently use it, will afford us the far higher honor of educating the mind that is to sway the destinies of this land, and make its impress on the world.

Every year that this people simply lives, in its present civil and social relations, it is reading a lesson to the nations of the earth, on the subject of popular government, free civil institutions, and religious liberty. And it is the part of the country which we seek to aid, it is the West, which, for better or for worse, according to the education we give it, is to read this lesson with prodigious power, to edification and salvation, or the sad reverse. If the masses there shall be left to grow up untaught, or be trained under anti-Christian influences, the wide-spread mischief and ruin will be irreparable. But if all the mind of the mighty West shall be educated under such influences as we seek to impart, in giving them these Christian Colleges, then indeed shall we have nobly contributed to accomplish the high aim for which our fathers came to this land. Emphatically do we now occupy the high vantage-ground for preparing our country to be indeed "the light of the world," and, for its benign influence," the joy of the whole

earth."

An abstract of the Annual Report of the Directors was read by the Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Theron Baldwin.

The Rev. Absalom Peters, D. D., of Williamstown, Mass., and the Hon. Robert Wilkinson, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., followed the reading of the Report with addresses, characterized by comprehensive views-adaptation to the occasion-effective reasoning-an eminently Christian spirit-and a fervid eloquence that moved every heart.

The benediction was pronounced by the Chairman-after which the Society proceeded to elect officers for the ensuing year. The following officers were chosen :

President.

HON. JOSEPH C. HORNBLOWER, Newark, N. J.

Vice-Presidents.

REV. N. S. S. BEMAN, D. D., Troy, N. Y.

REV. C. A. GOODRICH, D. D., New Haven, Conn.
J. M. ATWOOD, Esq., Philadelphia.

REV. G. W. BLAGDEN, Boston.

REV. H. N. BRINSMADE, D. D., Newark, N. J.

J. C. BLISS, M. D., New York City.

REV. I. S. SPENCER, D. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.,
HON. S. H. WALLEY, JR., Roxbury, Mass.

REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D. D., Springfield, Mass.
REV. A. PETERS, D. D., Williamstown, Mass.
HON. JOEL PARKER, Keene, N. H.
REV. EDWIN HALL, D. D., Norwalk, Conn.

Directors.

REV. S. H. COX, D. D., Brooklyn.

REV. ALBERT BARNES, Philadelphia.

REV. ELIAKIM PHELPS, D. D., Stratford, Conn.
REV. THOMAS BRAINERD, Philadelphia.

REV. A. D. EDDY, D. D., Newark, N. J.

REV. T. H. SKINNER, D. D., New York City.
REV. WILLIAM PATTON, D. D.,

REV. WM. B. LEWIS, Brooklyn.

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HON. R. WILKINSON, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
HON. T. W. WILLIAMS, New London, Conn.

REV. LEONARD BACON, D. D., New Haven, Conn.
HENRY WHITE, Esq.

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REV. HORACE BUSHNELL, D. D., Hartford, Conn.
HON. A. M. COLLINS,

REV. E. BEECHER, D. D., Boston.

WILLIAM ROPES, Esq.

REV. EMERSON DAVIS, D. D., Westfield, Mass.

REV. J. P. THOMPSON, New York City.

Corresponding Secretary.

REV. THERON BALDWIN.

Recording Secretary.

REV. ASA D. SMITH, New York City.

Treasurer.

MARCUS WILBUR, Esq., New York City.

In accordance with a recommendation by the Board of Directors the Society voted to amend the fourth article of the

Constitution by adding the words "and thirty dollars paid at one time shall constitute a Member for Life."

The Society then adjourned to meet in the city of New Haven, Conn., on the last Wednesday in October, 1848.

The Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., of Hartford, Conn., was appointed to deliver the next annual discourse, and the Rev. T. H. Skinner, D. D., of the city of New York, his alternate.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF COLLEGIATE AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION AT THE WEST.

ARTICLE I. This Association shall be denominated, The Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West.

ART. II. The object of the Society shall be to afford assistance to Collegiate and Theological Institutions at the West, in such manner, and so long only, as, in the judgment of the Directors of the Society, the exigencies of the Institutions may demand.

ART. III. There shall be chosen annually by the Society, a President, Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding and a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Board of eighteen Directors, which Board shall have power to fill its own vacancies, and also to fill, for the remainder of the year, any vacancies which may occur in the offices of the Board. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Recording Secretary, shall be ex officio members of the Board of Directors.

ART. IV. Any person may become a member of this Society by contributing annually to its funds, and thirty dollars paid at one time shall constitute a Member for Life.

ART. V. There shall be an annual meeting of the Society at such time and place as the Board of Directors may appoint.

ART. VI. Five Directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, except for the appointment of a Secretary and the appropriation of moneys, when nine shall be present.

ART. VII. It shall be the duty of the Board of Directors to employ all agencies for collecting funds; to investigate and decide upon the claims of the several Institutions; to make the appropriations in the most advantageous manner (it being understood that contributions designated by the donors shall be appropriated according to the designations); to call special meetings of the Society when they deem it necessary; and generally to do whatever may be deemed necessary to promote the object of the Society.

ART. VIII. This Constitution may be altered or amended by a majority of two-thirds of the members present at an annual meeting of the Society, provided the alteration proposed shall have been specified and recommended by the Board of Directors.

FOURTH REPORT.

THE Directors, in presenting their Fourth Annual Report, would make a devout acknowledgment of that Divine favor which has spared their entire number during the past year, aud to which they are indebted for all the success which has hitherto crowned their humble efforts in this cause. They would also breathe a prayer that on the present occasion, and in all their future movements in reference to the great interests of the Society, they may be guided by the illumination of the Spirit of truth.

"A College," it has been said, "is a tree of centuries." Of the truth of this remark the old world furnishes numerous illustrations, and our own country is not without them. Harvard is now somewhat advanced in its third century; William and Mary has a little more than completed its century and a half, while Yale College falls but a few years short of this period. The first centennial celebration of the College of New Jersey occurred a few months since.

These ancient trees began early to scatter their seed upon American soil, but it germinated only here and there during the last century. Although the present century has witnessed a most prolific growth, yet many of the species have sprung up in such close proximity, or from a soil so sterile, that they are destined to a sickly existence or an early death. And in respect to those which have a sufficient richness of soil and scope of territory to insure a perpetuated vitality, the growth is so slow as to force from many the exclamation-"a quarter or a third of a century in age, and no farther advanced!" Hence they would abandon the tree of centuries, and turn their resources and efforts to the cultivation of something which can be brought to a speedier maturity. "An hundred years old, and no taller!" said the fabled gourd to a venerable palm, to whose very top it had climbed in a single summer. "Every summer of my life," replied the palm, "a gourd has climbed up around me as proud as thou art, and as short-lived as thou wilt be."

The professed object of this Society is to cultivate the tree