the pride and blessing of the Country. See our entire religious establishments, unendowed by the state, supported by the united efforts of the individual citizens. See the great literary institutions of our Country, especially those in New England,─Dartmouth, Williams, Bowdoin, Brown, Amherst, and others,-founded by the liberality of citizens of moderate fortune, or by the small combined contributions of public-spirited benefactors, aided, at the most, by moderate endowments from the public treasury ;—and “the two twins of learning," if I may, without arrogance, name them apart from the rest; this most efficient and respected Seminary, within whose walls we are now convened, and my own ancient and beloved Harvard; to whom, and what, do they trace their origin? Yale, to the ten worthy fathers who assembled at Branford, in 1700, and laying, each, a few volumes on the table, said, "I give these books for the founding of a college in this Colony ;" and Harvard, to the dying munificence of an humble minister of the Gospel, who landed on the shores of America but to lay his dust in its soil; but who did not finish his brief sojourn, till he had accomplished a work of usefulness, which, we trust, will never die. Whence originated the great reform in our prisons, which has accomplished its wonders of philanthropy and mercy, in the short space of eight years, and made the penitentiaries of America the model of the penal institutions of the world? It had its origin in the visit of a missionary, with his Bible, to the convict's cell. Whence sprang the mighty temperance reform, which has already done so much to wipe off a great blot from the character of the Country? It was commenced on so small a scale, that it is not easy to assign its effective origin to a precise source. And counsels and efforts, as humble and inconsiderable at the outset, gave the impulse to the missionary cause of modern times, which, going forth, with its devoted champions, conquering and to conquer, beneath

"the great ensign of Messiah,

Aloft by angels borne, their sign in Heaven,”

has already gained a peaceful triumph over the furthest islands, and added a new kingdom to the realms of civilization and Christianity.

BENEFITS OF A GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE.*

THE place of our meeting, the season of the year, and the occasion which has called us together, seem to prescribe to us the general topics of our discourse. We are assembled within the precincts of a place of education. It is the season of the year, at which the seminaries of learning, throughout the Country, are dismissing, to the duties of life, that class of their students, whose collegiate course is run. The immediate call which has brought us together, at this time, is the invitation of the literary societies of this highly respectable and fast rising Institution. Agreeably to academic usage, on the eve of their departure from a spot, endeared to them, by all the pleasant associations of collegiate life, they are desirous, by one more act of literary communion, to strengthen the bond of intellectual fellowship, and alleviate the regrets of separation. In the entire uncertainty of all that is before us, for good or for evil, there is nothing more nearly certain, than that we, who are here assembled to-day, shall never, in the providence of God, be all brought together again, in this world. Such an event is scarcely more within the range of probability, than that the individual drops, which, at this moment, make up the rushing stream of yonder queen of the valley,† mounting in vapor to the clouds, and scattered to the four winds, will, at some future period, be driven together, and fall in rains upon the hills, and flow down and recompose the identical river, that is now spreading abundance and beauty before our eyes. To say nothing of the dread summons, which comes to all, when least expected, you will scarce step

* Address delivered before the Literary Societies of Amherst College, August 25, 1835.

† Connecticut river.

out of this sanctuary of your intellectual worship, before you will find how widely the paths of life diverge, not more so, in the literal sense of the word, than in the estrangement, which results from variety of pursuit, opinion, party, and success. Influenced by the feelings which this reflection inspires, it is natural that we should pause; that we should give our minds up to the meditations which belong to the place, to the occasion, and the day; that we should inquire into the character of that general process, in which you are now taking so important a step; that we should put our thoughts in harmony with the objects that surround us, and thus seek, from the hour as it flies, from the occasion, which, in all its accidents and qualifications, will never return, to extract some abiding good impression, and to carry away some memorial, that will survive the moment.

The multiplication of the means of education, and the general diffusion of knowledge, at the present day, are topics of universal remark. There are twelve collegiate institutions in New England, whose Commencement is observed during the months of August and September, and which will send forth, the present year, on an average estimate, about four hundred graduates. There are more than fifty other institutions, of the same general character, in other parts of the United States. The greater portion of them are in the infancy of their existence and usefulness, but some of them compare advantageously with our New-England institutions. Besides the colleges, there are the schools for theological, medical, and legal education, on the one hand; and, on the other, the innumerable institutions, for preparatory or elementary instruction, from the infant schools, to which the fond and careful mother sends her darling lisper, not yet quite able to articulate, but with the laudable purpose of getting him out of the way, up to the high schools and endowed academies, which furnish a competent education for all the active duties of life. Besides these establishments for education, of various character and name, societies for the promotion of use

ful knowledge, mechanics' institutes, lyceums, and voluntary courses of lectures, abound, in many parts of the Country, and perform a very important office in carrying on the great work of instruction. Lastly, the press, by the cheap multiplication of books, and especially by the circulation of periodical works of every form and description, has furnished an important auxiliary to every other instrument of education, and turned the whole community, so to say, into one great monitorial school. There is probably not a newspaper, of any character, published in the United States, which does not, in the course of the year, convey more useful information to its readers, than is to be found in the twenty-one folios of Albertus Magnus,-light, as he was, of the thirteenth century. I class all these agencies under the general name of the means of education, because they form one grand system, by which knowledge is imparted to the mass of the community, and the mind of the age is instructed, disciplined, and furnished with its materials for action and thought.

These remarks are made, in reference to this Country; but in some countries of Europe, all the means of education enumerated, with an exception, perhaps, in the number of newspapers, exist, to as great an extent as in our own. Although there are portions of Europe, where the starless midnight of the mind still covers society with a pall, as dreary and impervious as in the middle ages, yet it may be safely said, upon the whole, that, not only in America, but in the elder world, a wonderfully-extensive diffusion of knowledge has taken place. In Great Britain, in France, in Germany, in Holland, in Sweden, in Denmark, the press is active, schools are numerous, higher institutions for education abound, associations for the diffusion of knowledge flourish, and literature and science, in almost every form, are daily rendered more cheap and accessible. There is, in fact, no country in Europe, from which the means of light are wholly shut out.

It is the impulse of the liberal mind to rejoice in this