Harbinger, as well as to extend its general | Catholic, 1 Methodist; and on a second usefulness. But, so long as it continues visit with Eld. S. Rogers, we gained 7 to pass through the Post-office, its size more, 4, from the Baptists. We organized must remain as it is, being already the full a church on the first visit, which now weight allowed by law. As far as practi- numbers 33. J. A. M'HATTON. cable, however-and to meet the wishes of the brethren-we shall gradually reduce the price, so as to bring it within the easy reach of all parties. Respecting future arrangements, we hope to be able to write more positively in our next. J. W. Georgetown, March 31, 1848. — Within the last three months I have, by land and water, travelled about 3000 miles amidst disease, dangers, and death; yet the Lord has preserved me unhurt. We gained 15 additions at Little Rock, and 14 at Vanburen, about 170 miles farther up the river. I visited Fayetteville, 52 miles farther, and organized a church 50 strong, where there were about 7 members before. Among these were 4 fine lawyers, and a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher of the first speaking talents. On my return, 10 miles from Vanburen, I organized a church 40 strong, with the best materials. The church at Vanburen is 30 strong, and at Rock above 100. J. T. JOHNSON. Wellsville, Ohio, Feb. 8, 1848.- Since I last wrote you we have had 4 valuable additions here, and the same number at New Cumberland, the prospects being still very flattering. E. REGAL. Leesburg, Ky.-T H. Stout and myself held a meeting at the mouth of Beech Creek, of four days, and 23 made the good confession 5 from the Baptists, 1 Roman St. John's, N.B.- Since the middle of October, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, there have been upwards of 50 immersed for the remission of sins. W. W. EATON. - Held a Washington County, Penn. meeting with brethren at Pleasant Valley, in this county, with Brother J. P. Pyatt, for ten days, and the Lord blessed our labours, 52 being added to the church. Praise the Lord all his servants. L. STREEter. Knox County, O.— 10 have obeyed the Lord in the ordinance of bap ism during the last year at Milford church, which now numbers 90. D. PATTERSON. Chancey, Ohio.-At Mountville, Morgan county, Ohio, Brother Parkinson held a meeting and baptized 8; subsequently 8 others have been baptized. J. HARNEY, Jackson, Miss.-I have immersed several since I wrote you last; 16 have been added by immersion to our little church within the last few months. J. MATHEWS. Louisville, Ky. April 8th, 1848.-Within a month there have been seven additions to the church at Charleston, at its four W. LEONARD. stations, 26 in all. THE CHRISTIAN BAPTIST. We have several copies of this valuable work on hand. It was originally published by A. Campbell in 7 vols; but subsequently revised and stereotyped by D. S. Burnet, the 7 vols being comprised in I royal 8vo. vol. of 670 double-column pages, with copious index, alphabetically arranged. The price of this volume was 24s. but it may now be had for a short time, from the Editor only, at 12s. bd. The following notice from the pen of one of the American editors refers to the value of this elaborate work: As to the Christian Baptist, who among us can add any thing to its reputation? It is the most valuable, honest, and intrepid pleader for the truth as it is in Jesus, of a literary character, that has ap: peared among men for the last 1730 years. I will not attempt to say any thing in commendation, lest I should tarnish the lustre of its renown. Its panic stricken opponents can testity its prowess in fight; and their tottering systems scarcely stand. to tell the story of its impetuous and successful combats. All who love the truth and can afford it, we doubt not will seize the opportunity of possessing a copy of its talented exhibitions. No disciple, who desires to increase in knowledge. would like to be without it; for next to the Sacred Writings themselves there is no book so calculated to open his eyes to the imposi tions practised upon men, in the name of religion, as the Christian Baptist." Printed by Edmund Renals, at his Office. No. 2, South-parade in the parish of Saint Peter, Notting ham, and published by the Propr etor. JAMES WALLIS, of Park-terrace, at No. 12, Peck-lane, in the said Parish.-Wednesday, Nov. 1, 1848. BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS we appear in another. TO THE GRADUATES OF BETHANY VOL. I. From the nursery we ascend to the grammer school; from the grammer school to the academy; from the academy to the college; and thence we advance into the Inns of a profession and seek for ourselves a theatre for life. Allow me, then, young gentlemen, in conclusion of our present relations, as the last act officially due from me to you, to make a few suggestions with regard to your future course, or the part you are now to act in the great drama in which you are about to appear. COLLEGE, JULY 4, 1848. GENTLEMEN- -You have now at tained your literary majority. To this day you have doubtless often looked forward with many a pleasing anticipation as the happy consummation of many an effort made, of many a vigil kept, of many a toil endured in clambering up the hill of science-in conquering the rugged cliffs that mark the steep ascent to that proud eminence where literature, science, and art hold their court, and award their honors to those that seek them with successful industry and persevering toil. But here your horizon only expands, and in the distance you per-piness. ceive other acclivities to be subdued, other toils to be endured, other honors to be sought, and other rewards to be secured. The drama of human life is one of many acts and many scenes. The issue of one is but the commencement of another. No sooner have we performed our part in one scene, than assuming a new character or position, In the first place, then, if you have not already formed, you have now to form a proper view of your relations to the universe. This is essential to your personal safety, honor, and hap You cannot take one safe step in life's journey until you have done this. Who can act without an object? And who can act worthily without a proper object-an object worthy of himself and of Him who has given him life, talent, and education. It is wiser to stand still than to make one wrong step and then to have. to retrace it. "It is better to sit JJ to be excommunicated beyond the pale of humanity and sympathy. still," as the adage goes, "than to rise up and fall." To prevent both loss and dishonor, it is, therefore, all-important, Myself, my family, and my country, to consider well our relations to the are but three modes of selfishness. human race-to time and to eternity. True, indeed, a man must love himself, I need not again repeat what you else he could not love his neighbour. have already learned. That no man For this reason the great Teacher and lives for himself; and, therefore, ought Lawgiver of the world has made selfnot to live to himself, is with you all, love the measure and the standard of I trust, passed into a proverb. Three- our love to our neighbour. We are fourths of you have most solemnly only to love our neighbour as ourselves professed this in assuming the Chris--neither more nor less than we love tian name. All of you admit that ourselves. More than this is impossible man is essentially a social being. He-less than this is immoral. This is needs society, and society needs him. the foundation of the Christian moral If man had but the talent to acquire, system-as supernatural, sublime, and supreme selfishness would then have glorious as the miracles by which it been his duty, his honor, and happi- was attested and established. ness. But he has the power as much to communicate as to acquire-as much the talent to impart as to receive pleasure. It is, therefore, as much his happiness to bless as to be blessed -to do good as to receive good. Need we ask, To whom? We have relatives, friends, and country men. These all have claims upon us. But not any one of them, nor all of them, can present an exclusive claim. Beyond these three lies the great family of man. Christianity, which is the perfection of wisdom and goodness, of justice and mercy, of truth and love, ranks not natural affection, friendship, or patriotism, amongst its virtues. The want of any one of these is, indeed, a vice; but the possession of them all is something less than a Christian virtue. The lion and the tiger, as well as the dove and the sparrow, love, cherish, and protect their young, and defend their precincts from the hand and foot of the intruder. They love their offspring, their friends, and their home; and yet who assumes that these instinctive feelings are either morality or religion? Hence a Christian is not known as a mere friend, or relative, or patriot. He is essentially a philanthropist. A traitor is, indeed, execrable as well as execrated. But a misanthrope is incomparably more execrable thau he, and more worthy While, then, we are to love ourselves, our relatives, and our countrymen, and to seek our own good and theirs, we must cultivate a higher, nobler, and more divine virtue-the godlike virtue of philanthropy. With one of the best of Roman philosophers we will say, Homo sum et nihil alienum puto quod humanum est; or, rather, with Paul, "Do good to all men as we have opportunity, especially to the household of faith." But to give a proper direction to "He will flourish in immortal youth He In all this there is no freak of imagination-no poetic exaggeration. It does not equal, much less transcend, the theme. Man now, even in his ruins, is yet the noblest work of God-certainly by far the noblest work of God that he either knows or can now know. To redeem, to enlighten, raise, and ennoble him, is only to make him what he was a bright image of Divinity-the brightest and the best of created beings within the cognizance of time and sense. The best material to work upon for the moral artist, to promote his own glory, God's honor, and man's felicity, is to take out of the dilapidated quarry of human na ture a block of this immortal marble, and to form, beautify, and adorn it, by developing its own inherent excellencies, and polishing it by the intellectual, moral, and spiritual instruments and means furnished us from the cabinet of heaven under the direction and aid of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. The earth, indeed, and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, is but one grand human manufactory. To create, develope, mature, and perfect man, is but the ultimate end-the final cause of this mundane system. The hosts of heaven that irradiate and beautify the earth, are but the lamps that cheer and the fire that warms this portico of life, and makes comfortable and joyful the nursery of man. The ocean, with all its seas, and lakes, and rivers, are but the basins and reservoirs that supply the chambers and baths of the great house that God himself built for man's minority. The rugged and lofty mountains, the verdant and fruitful hills, with the deep, and wide, and luxuriant valleys, are but the treasure-houses, pleasure grounds, and gardens allotted to man for exercise, healthful labor, ingenious, useful and tasteful toil, during his boyhood and scholastic days; but all these for the intellectual, and moral, and spiritual development of man as a being predestined to live for ever. Whosoever, then, would fill up the grand outlines of his glorious destiny in such a universe as this, under its present remedial administration, in the hands of its liege Heir and Lord, must contemplate himself in the broad, and lofty, and magnificent dimensions of his eternal well-being as a son of God and an heir of immortality. Such, however, is the present constitution of society, and such the conditions of human existence, that, in the number, variety, and complexity of our relations, our wants and dependencies on one another, there is enough healthfully and happily to busy and employ the whole human race, without a single drone in the hive of humanity, in supporting and protecting the weak, in raising the fallen, in alleviating and consoling the afflicted, in educating the ignorant, in ministering to the innumerable wants of the great family of man, scattered as they are, and alienated withal, by the very causes of their dispersion, over all the varieties of soil, climate, and habitation, which continents and oceans, islands and seas, mountains and valleys, latitude and longitude could create and continue. To be wise in purpose, successful in enterprize, and happy in execution, we must then, young gentlemen, take the world as we find it; and wherever in time, place, or circumstance, we happen to find ourselves, by the disposal of Him who gave us being, employ ourselves in the highest scale of usefulness which our birth, education, and circumstances will allow, and an enlightened and well educated conscience will both enforce and approve. We must ever keep our whole existence and the whole universe in our moral horizon. If we fix our minds on any fraction of it we will mistake the whole. We would laugh or weep, as the case might be, at him who would build a palace on the ice, or found a city on the crater of a burning mountain. We might ridicule him who launches out into wild and fantastic schemes which a millenarian's years would not have leisure for. Yet, perhaps, as foolish and as inconsistent ourselves-nay, certainly as much at fault, should we act like one whose enterprize and hopes are bounded by his paternal fields, amidst his native hills or plains, and whose sole philosophy of life is summarily comprehended in three grand categories "What shall I eat, what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" A bat, a bee, or a butterfly acts much more in harmony with its own philosophy and destiny than such an educated clown, though covered with parchments inscribed with collegiate honors from neck to heel. Education is development, mental expansion, mental culture, and mental direction. It expands the mind over worlds various, and vast, and innumerable; but directs it only and supremely in the proper path of its own destiny. We must again repeat our favorite motto: No man can rationally, virtuously, or religiously live for himself. The universe has need of him-has full as much interest in him as he has in the universe. It follows, then, that just as certain as he fails in his duties to that universe, it will fail in every branch and department of its revenues to him. As in the heavens planets serve their suns if not in the same way, as much in another way as suns serve them; so man imparts to man and to kindred spirits every where what they impart to him; but in this case the necessity is moral, while in the other it is purely and wholly physical and conservative. All rational happiness consists full as much in imparting as in receiving benefits; nay, indeed, much more. So true it is that "it is much more blessed to give than to receive," Hence God is supremely, infinitely, and eternally happy, because he imparts to all; and, in the sense in which he gives, receives from none. I am not, young gentlemen, on this occasion, disposed, nor would it be expedient, to direct you in the choice of a particular profession. The world needs many offices, and therefore there are great diversities of talents, tastes, and education. But to whatever calling you devote your lives, your education not merely qualifies you less or more for that particular pursuit, but also gives you a general power and privilege of promoting human happiness to a degree to which, without it, whatever other means you might possess, you could never aspire. Your greatest and best fortune, I care not what else you may possess, is your education. It imparts to you a power which wealth cannot give, and of which poverty can never divest you. It gives you an influence, an authority, a power which neither family nor fortune could bestow. But do you ask, what are you to do with your learning-what use are you to make of your education? I presume you are not to lay it upon the shelf with your Greek and Roman classics, and there to let it mould, or rust, or evaporate in the inverse ratio of the number of the years which you have spent in acquiring it. None of you dream of doing this-none of you think of such an ignoble prodigality; yet remember that many have done so who no more intended it than any one of you. To avoid a temptation to do this, you must think of what the world expects from you-what you could do to serve it-and immediately set about doing it. Do not think that there is not room for you-a work or a reward for you. The world needs all the service you can render it, and will, more or less, reward you for all you do worthy of yourself and of it. You often hear young men complain that every place is full; that while offices are units, applicants are tens and aspirants are hundreds. True, indeed, we are not likely soon to have to complain that we cannot find a candidate for the Presidency, the Senate, or the Legis |