.

As for you, young gentlemen, if my earnest wishes, and sincere advice, can have any weight with you, you will early extricate yourselves out of these flames of contention, that your minds, being lighted up by the pure and celestial fire of the divine Spirit, may shine forth in holiness, and burn with the most fervent charity.

Let us pray.

HONOUR and praise is due to thee, O infinite God. This is the universal voice of all the blessed spirits on high, and all the saints on earth: worthy art thou, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, because thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are. We, here before thee, with united hearts and affections, offer thee, as we can, the sacrifice of gratitude, love and praise. How much are we indebted to thee for ourselves, and for all that we possess ! for in thee we live, move, and have our being. Thou hast redeemed us from our sins, having given the Son of thy love, as a sacrifice and ransom for our souls, the chastisement of our peace fell upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. On this consideration, we acknowledge, we are no longer at our own disposal, since we are bought with a price, and so very great a price, that we may glorify thee, O Father, and thy Son, in our souls and our bodies, which are so justly thine; may we devote ourselves to thee, through the whole remaining part of our life, and disdain the impure and ignoble slavery of sin, the world,

and the flesh, that, in all things, we may demean ourselves as becomes the sons of God, and the heirs of thy celestial kingdom, and make daily greater progress in our journey towards the happy possession thereof.

Bless thy church, and our nation, and this our university may it be thine, we pray thee: we entreat, thou would become our father, our protector, and our supreme teacher, who hast thy chair in heaven, and teachest the hearts of men on this earth. May the youth flourish under thy instruction, that they may be not only learned, but especially upright, pious and true Christians, entirely devoted to the honour of thy name, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

EXHORTATION VII.

THESE academical exercises of ours are, to be sure, no great matter, nor do we make any high account of them; yet, after all, we set no higher, perhaps even a less value upon the bustling affairs of mankind, which make a much greater noise, and the farces that are acted upon the more exalted theatres of the world, which, to speak my sentiments in a few words, are for the most part outwardly more pompous, than these of ours, but inwardly equally vain; and more insignificant than

the busy amusements of children playing on the sands, and eagerly building little houses, which, with giddy levity, they instantly pull down again*. Or if you choose to be more severe upon the fruitless labours of mankind, and their busy and irregular motions backward and forward, and from one place to another, you may, with a great man, that knew all these things by experience, compare them to the fluttering of frightened flies, the toilsome hurry of the ants, and the motions of puppetst. But he that, amidst all the confusions and commotions, which happen in human affairs here below, has recourse to divine contemplation, and the hopes of eternity, as the lofty impregnable tower of true wisdom, "is the only person that enjoys uninterrupted ease and tranquillity, like the heavenly bodies, which constantly move on in their orbits, and are never, by any violence, diverted from their course‡."

And indeed, what wonder is it, that he can easily view all the dreadful appearances of this wretched life, with a resolute and steady countenance, who, by frequent interviews and daily conversation with death itself, which we call the king

* Ως ότε τὶς ψάμαθον συνάγη παῖς ἀρχι αγασσης,

기

*Ος ̓ ἔπει ἐν ποίησεν αθύρματα νηπιέτοισιν

*Αψ άνθις συνέχευσε ποσι και χερσιν ἀθύρων.

† Μυιδίων επτοημένων διαδρομας, μυρμίκων ταλαιπορίας και αχθοφο

ρίας και σιγιλλάρια νευροσπαςέμενα.

Otia solus agit, sicut cœlestia semper

Inconcussa suo volvuntur sidera lapsu. Luc. lib. ii.

of terrors*, has rendered it familiar to him, and thereby not only divested it of its terrors, but also placed it in a beautiful, pleasant, and quite amiable light. By this means, he dies daily, and doubtless, before he suffers a natural death, he dies in a more exalted sense of the word, by withdrawing, as far as is possible, his mind from the incumberance of earthly things, and, even while it lodges in the body, weaning it from all the worldly objects, that are placed about him. And, in this very sense, philosophy of old was most properly called the meditation of death, which the Roman orator has, in my opinion, explained with great propriety, and the precision of a philosopher. "What is it we do, says he, when we withdraw the mind from pleasure, that is, the body, from our means and substance, that is the servant of the body, that provides for its wants, from the commonwealth, and every kind of business; what is it we then do, I say, but recal it to itself, and oblige it to stay at home? Now, to withdraw the mind from the body, is nothing else, but to learn to diet." Let us, therefore, reason thus, if you will take my advice, and separate ourselves from our bodies, that is, let us accustom

Φρικωδεςάτεν ἔικονα.

† Μελέτη θανάτε.

Quid aliud agimus cum a voluptate, id est ei corpore, cum a re familiari quæ ministra est et famula corporis, cum a repub. cum a negotio omni severamus animum, quid tum agimus (inquam) nisi illum ad seipsum advocamus, et secum esse cogimus? Secernere autem a corpore animum, necquicquam aliud est quam emori discere.

ourselves to die: this even while we sojourn on this earth, will be to the soul a life like to that which it will enjoy in heaven, and, being delivered from these fetters, we shall move at a better rate, the course of our souls will be less retarded in our journey to that happy place, at which, when we arrive, we can then, and then only, be truly said to live; for this life is but a kind of death, the miseries whereof I could paint, if it were seasonable; but, to be sure, it was most justly called a life of the greatest misery * by Dionysius the Areopagite, or whoever was the author of that book, that goes under his name.

And indeed, young Gentlemen, I am of opinion, that such a view, and meditation of death, will not be unsuitable, or improper, even for you, though you are in the prime of life, and your minds in their full vigour; nay, I would gladly hope, you yourselves will not imagine it would, nor be at all offended at me, as if, by mentioning that inauspicious word unseasonably, I disturbed your present joy, drew a kind of black cloud over this bright day of festivity, or seemed to mix among your laurels, a branch of the hated cypress. For a wise man would not willingly owe his joy to madness, nor think it a pleasure, foolishly to forget the situation of his affairs.

The wise man alone feels true joy, and real wisdom is the attainment of a Christian only, who bears with life, but hopes for death; and passes * Πολυπαθεςἅλην ζην.