Henry Davis's Inauguration Speech: Transcript

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So powerful is the influence of mathematics, in invigorating the understanding; in guarding it against prejudice; and in enabling it to classify its conceptions; that Plato has denominated the purgatives of the soul.

Many men of the first rank, in the desk, at the bar, and in the senate, have declared unequivocally, that to no science, besides, they were so much indebted for their eminence.

But this is not their only excellence; they are equally important for their practical utility. They are the foundation of many highly useful and noble undertakings. Most of the works of art and inventions of men are greatly indebted to them for their origin and perfection.

They are a science highly venerable for its antiquity. They have claimed the attention, and occupied the lives of many men, of the first talents, in every civilized age and country; who will be remembered, for their labours, with gratitude and admiration, as long as the productions of genius are deemed useful and honourable.

But no other subject is presented to the mind, the contemplation of which is so interesting, so sublime, so awful, as God: A Being from everlasting to everlasting; whose power is boundless; whose presence is everywhere; who looks, with a single glance, through heaven, earth, and hell; who hath given existence to all things; and upholds them in existence; who numbereth the hairs of our heads, and noticeth the wants of the sparrow; whose agency is exhibit-

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ed, in every object which salutes the eye; whose goodness, in every comfort, which rejoiceth the heart: THE I AM: - THE ANCIENT OF DAYS: - in whose presence, the Worlds, wihch he has made, are as the dust on the balance.

As the modes, situations, and habits of life are various, so the secular pursuits of men become objects of interest or duty, according to the circumstances, in which they are placed.

But Religion is a subject of universal obligation. We can be placed, in no circumstances, in which it is not our duty, to exercise love to man, and gratitude and submission to God.

In this subject, all men, of every character and condition, have a common interest, and a common duty. The devices of art, and the productions of science, have a reference merely to our present comfort and happiness.

But Religion is of immortal concern. She looks beyond the grave. By teaching us our duty here, and by leading us to practise it, she prepares us for the enjoyments of endless life. Her influences will be felt; her blessings experienced; when the sun shall have set in eternal night, and the works of art be lost in oblivion.

Though the finite understanding can form no adequate conceptions of a Being, whose perfections are infinite; yet to study the character and purposes of god, as manifested in his word, in his works, and in his providence, is our highest interest, and our indispensible duty.

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Without a knowledge of his will, it is impossible to know our obligations to him. While ignorant of his requirements, it is impossible to comply with them; or to conduct in such a manner, as to meet his approbiation.

To know our relation to God and to men; - that, by nature we are children of wrath; - transgressors of his holy law; - liable to his everlasting displeasure; - that there are no well grounded hopes of salvation, but through the atonement of the Redeemer; - that the soul, which is not renewed and sanctified by his Spirit, must ineitably perish; - that, he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness; - taht the grave shall be opened, and its slumbering tenants reanimated; - that he, who gave himself for sinners, and died to redeem them, shall descend from the heavens, with the glories of omnipotence; - that every eye shall see him; - the secrets of all hearts be made naked before him; - that an irreversible sentece shall be pronounced on men and on angels; - that, the wicked shall go awayinto everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal; - these are truths of infinite moment, both to the present, and to the future world. Religion is the chief solace in affliction; and the sole support in death. It is the tie, which binds man to man, and men to God. It is the great bond of human society. It is the perfection of men; and the perfection of angels.

Surely, a subject of such importance, must constitute an essential part, of every liberal, and well-

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regulated plan of education; and ought to be a prime object of the scholar, who is ambitious to become great, good, or useful.

There is another subject, which I am unwilling to pass in silece; not on account of its importance merely; but because it is usually treated, with less attention in our colleges, than its importance demands. the subject alluded to is Eloquence.

To write, and to speak in a manner, calculated to convince the understanding, and to interest te heart; to describe inanimate objects, with the energies of life and action; and to present to the mind, events past, or future, with all the imagery of present existence, is the province of this noble art.

If nothing more be necessary to gain our object, than to be understood, eloquence has no claims to excellency. The Almighty has formed us with a capacity of being interested, with whatever is elegant, grand, or sublime.

We gaze with rapture on the variegated landscape. Strip it of its sceery, and it ceases to charm. There is a moral beauty, as irresistible to the mind, as physical to the eye. If truth needs no ornament, whence happens it, that the same subject, differently exhibited to the same audience, producs effects vastly disproportionate.

Let life and death be the theme, if the speaker feel not his subject, they will slumber upon their seats, while truths, of eternal moment, are sounded in their ears.

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But let him be impressed with its awful importance; let him have a deep sense, of the worth of the soul; of the joys of heaven; of the miseries of hell; - every eye, every ear is attention; - every feeling is interested; - thrones and dominions sink into nothing, in comparison with the glory of the crown of the righteous.

The oracles of truth, above all other writings, abound with the most striking and sublime examples of eloquence. When Paul, the messenger of heaven to the gentiles, reasoned on temperance, justice, and judgment to come, Felix trembled. When the same illustrious apostle, with all the pathos of piety, mourns over the condition of his deluded countrymen, his brethren, his kindred, according to the flesh; when his theme is their obstinacy, their unblief, their hard-heartedness, their criminality in rejecting and crucifying the Prince of Life; - where is the man, void of judicial blindness, whose heart does ot melt into sympathy; or swell, with painful conviction of their depravity and guilt!

When Isaiah, prophet of the Most High God, rapt into visions of futurity, unfolds the purposes of heaven, and announces the calamities, that awaited unbelieving Israel; who does not feel their calamities? When he looks beyond the wars, the inustice, the cruelties, and the revolutions of human governments, and paints, in living colours, the joys and triumphs of the Redeemer's kingdom; who does not exult in the anticipation of those joys? Who

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does no wish to participate the felicities of the reign of righteousness?

Many, by their excellency in this art, aided by the powers of genius only, have erected to their memories, monuments more illustrious than of victories and triuimphs.

It is unncessarly to adduce examples. Greece, Rome, Britain, Ireland, and America, have all, again and again, been witnesses of the irresistible force of eloquence. And France has produced orators in the desk inferior, perhaps, to none that ever lived.

There is no other art, which gives a man so powerful an ascendancy over men. It enables him to make the most successful application of all his knowledge, to the great end, for which knowledge ought to be obtained; - doing good.

The effects, which it has produced, cannot be described. It has often proved successful, when every other mean has failed. it has aroused nations, slumbering over the precipice of ruin, to a sense of their danger. It has inspired cowards with courage, and urged armies on to victory.

In a free government, where places of profit and distinction are accessible to all, and where influence is, usually, in proportion to talents, it is an engine of vast power, and claims peculiar attention.

If, then, our youth are ambitious of future eminence; if they wish to serve their country with distinction, in her councils and senates; or to be successful embassadors of the King of Heaven; in

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turning sinners from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God; let them study Eloquence.

There are other studies, as, Geography, Logic, Ethics, and Metaphysics, which are important branches of the academical course; and upon which I would dwell, for a few moments, were I not apprehensive of exhausting your patience.

On the subject before us, history furnishes incontrovertible evidence. The gloomy and miserable condition of those countries, that never felt the energising influences of science; presents arguments for its utility, which no reasoning can gainsay.

The experiences of ages proves, that the exercise of the social and religious duties, and the improvements of civil goverment are, usually, in proportion to the progress of literature.

The propensity to imitation is one of the strongest principles of our nature. Where examples of excellency are wanting, there are few efforts to acquire it. But eminence raises curiosity; awakens the listless powers of genius; points to valuable acquisitions, and the means of obtaining them.

The savage feels no wants, but the cravings of appetite and passion. He knows none of the blessings of civilized life; and therefore seeks none. The necessities of nature, and the impulse of passion, are the oly motives that urge him to action. He ranges the forest, in quet of food; or spends his time, in stratagems of blood.

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Influenced by no restraints, but the feeble suggestions of a dark and bewildered conscience, he is the avenger of his injuries; and the arbiter of life and deah. He listens to the thunder, and to the tempst: he looks around upon the earth: he lifts his eyes to the heavens: he beholds a Divinity, in every object of creation. But the character of that Divinity, his laws, and his own duty to him, he knows not. He prostrates himself before the sun; and offers his nightly orisons, to the moon, and to the stars.

But where the mind has been awakened, from its native lethargy, to the pursuit of the arts and sciences, and the powers of genius excited to enterprise, by instruction and example; we see man beginning to feel his strength and importance; and society assuming the appearance of order and regularity. Systems of policy are devised; licentiousness and passion restrained; and the rights and privileges of its members secured.

But it is only where science and religion, that religion is from above, combine their influence, that we find the condition of man, highly meliorated, and society highly improved. History shews, that without the knowledge of God, and of ourselves, which is revealed in the scriptures, the obligations of morality are feeble and imperfect; that submission to authority, is a submission of force; and that no government can exist long under such circumstances, whose laws are not written in blood.

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It was not, till that great precept of righteousness was delivered to mankind, do unto others, as you wish they should do unto you; and the doctrines of accountability, of the resurrection, of the final judgment, of future retribution, and the duty of submission to the ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; proclaimed to the world by Divine authority, that man became sensible of his high destiny. It was not till then, that science and religion began to exert their full influence, in mending his heart and improving his condition; ad the true interests of individuals, and of community to be understood and regarded.

But even among those nations, who have been most highly favoured, with these privileges; where the ablest systems of policy have been adopted, and the doctrines of precepts of christianity taught, in the greatest purity; we see human nature exhibited, in awful colors; and their history abounding with violence and cruelty, in the most aggravated forms. We see the lives and property of thousands, the sport of ambition, or the prey of avarice; and revolution succeeding revolution, with all the horrors of carnage and blood.

What then, let me ask, must have been the condition of this guilty, this miserable world, had not the mind of man been enlightened by science; his heart improved by religion; and his passions restrained by laws?

Among the wise and good, of every nation, of every age, however widely they have differed, in

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sentiment on other subjects, on this there has been but one opinion. The government and instructin of youth, and the encouragement of the arts and sciences, have ever been viewed by them, as a matter of the deepest concern.

'Doctrina sed vim, promovet insitam,
Rectique cultus pectora roborant:
Utcunque defecere mores.
Dedecorant bene nata culpae.'

Hence schools and colleges have been founded and supported, with immense care and expense; and the lives and talents of thousands, devoted to the best interests of the rising generation.

To the attention of the first European settlers of our own country, to this subject, are we greatly indebted, under the providence of God, for our civil and religious privileges; and for our honourable rank among nations. Their conduct clearly proves, that they were fully persuaded, that one of the first objects of wise policy, is the establishement of seminaries of science, for qualifying youth, for the functions of church and state. No men, in circumstances equally discouraging, ever made so laudable exertions.

While the wild beast was yet prowling around their dwellings, and their slumbers were disturbed, by the war-whoop of the savage, schools were established; colleges founded; and their young men trained up, for the future service of their country.

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