There are a few considerations, which I beg leave, more particularly, to address to the younger part of the audience, and which seem to call on them, peculiarly, with a loud voice, to exert themselves, according to their opportunities, to store their minds with useful knowledge.

The world is advanced to a high point of attainment in science and art. The progress of invention and improvement has been, especially of late years, prodigiously rapid; and now, whether we regard the science of Nature or of art, of mind or of morals, of contemplation or of practice, it must be confessed that we live in a wonderfully-improved period.

Where is all this knowledge? where does it dwell? In the minds of the present generation of men. It is, indeed, recorded in books, or embodied in the various works and structures of man. But these are only the manifestations of knowledge. The books are nothing, till they are read and understood; and then, they are only a sort of shorthand, an outline, which the mind. fills up. The thing itself, the science, the art, the skill, are in the minds of living men,-of that generation which is now upon the stage.

That generation will die and pass away. This hour, which we have spent together, has been the last hour to many thousands throughout the world. About three thousand of our race have died, since I began my lecture. Among them, of course, is a fair proportion of all the learned and the wise, in all the nations. In thirty years, all, now in active life, will be gone, or retired from the scene, and a new generation will have succeeded.

This mighty process does not take place, at once, either throughout the world, or in any part of it; but it is constantly going on,-silently, effectually, inevitably ; and all the knowledge, art, and refinement, now in existence, must be either acquired by those who are coming on the stage, or perish, with those who are going off, and be lost forever. There is no way, by which

knowledge can be handed down, but by being learned over again; and of all the science, art, and skill, in the world, so much only will survive, when those who possess it are gone, as shall be acquired by the succeeding generation.

The rising generation is now called upon to take up this mighty weight; to carry it along, a little way; and then hand it over, in turn, to their successors.

The minds, which, in their maturity, are to be the depositories of all this knowledge, are coming into existence, every day and every hour, in every rank and station of life; all equally endowed with faculties; all, at the commencement, equally destitute of ideas; all starting with the ignorance and helplessness of nature; all invited to run the noble race of improvement. In the cradle, there is as little distinction of persons, as in the grave.

The great lesson, which I would teach you, is,—that it depends, mainly, on each individual, what part he will bear, in the accomplishment of this great work. It is to be done by somebody. In a quiet order of things, the stock of useful knowledge is not only preserved, but augmented; and each generation improves on that which went before. It is true, there have been periods, in the history of the world, when tyranny at home, or invasion from abroad, has so blighted and blasted the condition of society, that knowledge has perished with one generation, faster than it could be learned by another; and whole nations have sunk, from a condition of improvement, to one of ignorance and barbarity, sometimes in a very few years. But no such dreadful catastrophe is now to be feared. Those who come after us, will not only equal, but surpass their predecessors. The existing arts will be improved, science will be carried to new heights, and the great heritage of useful knowledge will go down unimpaired and augmented.

But it is all to be shared out, anew; and it is for each man to say, what part he will gain, in the glorious patrimony.

When the rich man is called from the possession of his treasures, he divides them, as he will, among his children and heirs. But an equal Providence deals not so, with the living treasures of the mind. There are

children, just growing up in the bosom of obscurity, in town and in country, who have inherited nothing but poverty and health, who will, in a few years, be striving in stern contention with the great intellects of the land. Our system of free schools has opened a straight way from the threshold of every abode, however humble, in the village, or in the city, to the high places of usefulness, influence, and honor. And it is left for each, by the cultivation of every talent; by watching, with an eagle's eye, for every chance of improvement; by bounding forward, like a greyhound, at the most distant glimpse of honorable opportunity; by grappling, as with hooks of steel, to the prize, when it is won; by redeeming time, defying temptation, and scorning sensual pleasure; to make himself useful, honored, and happy.

14*

EDUCATION IN THE WEST.*

THE lucid exposition, which has been made of the object of the meeting, by the Right Reverend Bishop, (McIlvaine,) lightens the task of recommending it to an audience like this. I do not know but I should act more advisedly, to leave his cogent and persuasive statement, to produce its natural effect, without any attempt, on my part, to enforce it. But, as we have assembled to communicate our mutual impressions, on the subject; to consult with each other, whether we can do any thing, and whether we will do any thing, to promote the object in view, (which, I own, seems to me one of high moment,) I will, with the indulgence of the meeting, and at the request of those by whom it is called, briefly state the aspect, in which the matter presents itself to my mind.

I understand the object of the meeting, to be, to aid the funds of a rising seminary of learning, in the interior of the State of Ohio, particularly with a view to the training up of a well-educated ministry of the gospel, in that part of the United States; and the claims of such an object on this community.

As to the general question, of the establishment and support of places of education, there are principally two courses, which have been pursued in the practice of nations. One is, to leave them, so to say, as an afterthought, the last thing provided for; to let the community grow up, become populous, rich, powerful; an immense body of unenlightened peasants, artisans, traders, soldiers, subjected to a small privileged class; and then, let learning creep in, with luxury; be esteemed itself a luxury, endowed out of the surplus of vast private fortunes, or endowed by the State; and, instead

*Speech at a public meeting, held at St. Paul's Church, Boston, May 21st, 1833, on behalf of Kenyon College, Ohio.

of diffusing a wholesome general influence, of which all partake, and by which, the entire character of the people is softened and elevated, forming, itself, but another of those circumstances of disparity, and jealous contrast of condition, of which too many were in existence before; adding the aristocracy of learning, acquired at expensive seats of science, to that of rank and wealth. This is, in general, the course which has been pursued, with respect to the establishment of places of education, in some countries of Europe. The other method is that introduced by our forefathers, namely, to lay the foundations of the Commonwealth on the corner-stone of religion and education; to make the means of enlightening the community go, hand in hand, with the means for protecting it against its enemies, extending its commerce, and increasing its numbers; to make the care of the mind, from the outset, a part of its public economy; the growth of knowledge, a portion of its public wealth.

This, sir, is the New-England system. It is the system on which the colony of Massachusetts was led, in 1647, to order that a school should be supported in every town; and which, eleven years earlier, caused the foundations of Harvard College to be laid, by an appropriation out of the scanty means of the country, and at a period of great public distress, of a sum equal to the whole amount raised during the year, for all the other public charges. I do not know in what words I can so well describe this system, as in those, used by our fathers themselves. Quoted, as they have been, times innumerable, they will bear quoting, again; and seem to me peculiarly apposite to this occasion: "After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civil government, one of the next things, we longed for and looked after, was, to advance learning, and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when the present ministers shall be in the dust."