5. To be prepared to meet the claims of society, may I not add, that personal religion is indispensably necessary? Is not this the only sure basis of public and private virtue,― the only sufficient support of sound morals and social order? It was the design of God, as it was the prayer of our Fathers, in the settlement of this fair portion of our country, that it should be a religious community. This guided all their counsels, prompted all their efforts, and entered into the very foundation: and texture of all their institutions.

Can these institutions then be preserved, or the great end of their establishment secured, if those, who are to sustain them, are destitute of the spirit which forms their strength and their glory? Nay, my friends, be not deceived. You cannot fulfil the great end of your exist ence, nor perform, in a right and acceptable manner, any of the duties of life, without true religion. Without this, you are without the first and chief qualification of a good man and a good citizen.

society, they will be very likely to neglect public worship, and all the other duties of religion; and a virtuous community is sure to mark and punish the meanness that is not willing to bear a fair proportion of the expense and care necessary in sustaining the institutions of the Gospel.

But not to enlarge on this particular, I would only add, that whatever youthful thoughtlessness may dictate, the time is coming when there will be but one opinion on this subject;when all will be made to feel the supreme importance of religion, both as a qualification for the duties of this life, and for the scenes of the eternal world.

III. In glancing at the motives which urge upon you the duty of being prepared to meet the claims of society, it is encouraging to ob

serve,

1. That the qualifications demanded are entirely within your power. There is not one of you who cannot awake to a serious consideration of the duties and responsibilities that are soon to be devolved upon you; and this is the first and main thing necessary to your being prepared to sustain them. There is not one of you who cannot become intelligent, virtuous, public spirited, and pious; and, adorned with these graces, you will be prepared to fill with honor to yourselves, and usefulness to society, the various stations to which God in his providence may call you.

2. It is a consideration of great weight, that the claims, of which we have been speaking, are fixed upon you, and there is no pos

sibility of escaping from them. God has brought you into being in circumstances of deep and solemn interest. He has cast your lot in the midst of a Christian and civilized society, and surrounded you with privileges of a very high and peculiar character. Soon you are to come upon the stage to act the part assigned you,-soon to have committed to you all the various and infinitely important interests of this community. And for the manner in which you sustain these interests, you are held accountable at the bar of your final judge. In this matter there is no discharge, and there is no neutrality. Whether you shall exist as members of society, and finally give account of your conduct, is not submitted to your choice. This point God has decided. You must exist; you must exist in the midst of society;-burdened with the weighty responsibilities that grow out of the relations you sustain to the living beings around you, and to the generations that are coming after you; and you must take the eternal consequences of living and acting in these deeply interesting circumstances. Nothing more, one would think, need be said to excite you to a diligent improvement of your talents, and to an. untiring, faithful discharge of the duties

which you owe to yourselves, to your fellow men, and to God.

3. Consider next the value of the interests that are soon to be committed to you. Much is said, and most justly, of the happy state of society in which our lot is cast. We may truly say, the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage. It is a heritage which is endeared to us by a thousand tender and sacred associations; for which our fathers labored and prayed; for which they lived and died;-which has been preserved to us through many dangers and conflicts, and at a great expense of treasure and blood. It is a heritage, on which the smiles of heaven have always rested,-which comprises more good with less evil, than is any where else to be found on earth; which contains, in short, all that is most essential to the perfection and happiness of man, both in this and the future world. Of this inheritance, young men, you are soon to be the guardians and defenders. To all its institutions and blessings, to all its privileges and hopes, you are the natural heirs, and on you lies the weighty obligation of preserving it entire, for the generation that is to succeed you. If you fail to be qualified for the high trust, or prove

unfaithful in the sacred duties which it involves, how fearful the consequences,-how irreparable the loss! It is entirely in your power to turn this garden of the Lord into a desolation; to sweep from it all that is goodly and fair. Let but the rising generation come upon the stage, without intelligence, without virtue, without public spirit, without piety; inconsiderate, dissipated, vicious; and in thirty years, the dismal change would be realized. Yes, my beloved friends, on you it depends, under God, whether this goodly inheritance shall be preserved or destroyed; whether the morals, the religion, the good order and freedom which now so happily prevail in the community, shall be continued, or give place to profligacy, to irreligion and wild misrule.

Your influence is not confined to yourselves, or to the scene of your immediate action: it extends to others, and will reach to succeeding ages. Future generations will feel the effects of your principles and your conduct. You are so connected with the immortal beings around you, and with those who are to come after you, that you cannot avoid exerting a most important influence over their character and final condition; and thus, long after you shall be no more, nay, long after