You have reached the period when your Alma Mater is about to dismiss you from her roof, not with cold, unfeeling severity; not as a burden of which she would be relieved, a tax from which she would be exempt. She loves you with a mother's love, and yearns over you as you go forth into the world, with all the tenderness, solicitude and affection which speak from the eyes of a kind parent, as a beloved son takes his leave, for the last time, of the paternal home. She sends you out, because she trusts that you are now prepared to provide for yourselves; and as she watches your receding steps, her heart swells with hope, and from her heaving breast she pours out upon you the benedictions of her soul. She cannot say farewell, until she has given you a few parting words of counsel, brief, hurried, broken; but they are the honest expressions of love, confidence and hope. Through me, her organ and representative, she speaks to you to-day, and speaks for the last time. Other scenes will soon surround you-other

cares will soon oppress you; but amid the din of business and the hot pursuit of your various aims, let your mind occasionally revert to this hallowed spot, and let the counsels and benedictions which now attend your departure, exert their influence upon your future course. You have begun well, and it must be pleasant to you, as it is most delightful to me, to reflect that in leaving the maternal mansion to-day, no domestic feuds embitter our memories, and no hard thoughts or unkind expres sions rise before us to solicit mutual forgiveness. The house has not been divided against itself. You have been generous and grateful sons, and have shown yourselves more than sensible of the advantages you have enjoyed. The past is an omen of the future, and in the hope which it inspires, I, in the ca pacity already intimated, would impress upon you the DESIRE OF EXCELLENCE, as the habitual rule of your actions. Whatever deserves to be done at all, deserves to be well done. By excellence, I do not mean superiority over others; and by the desire of excellence, I do not mean that spirit of ambition which simply aims to surpass a rival. Excellence is relative to our own capacities and powers; and he who puts out all his strength, whether it be much or little, is entitled to the praise of it. The giant is mightier than the child, but relatively to their strength, one may do as much as the other. That perfection which your natures are capable of, whether in general habits or special skill, should be constantly before you as the animating principle of exertion. As scholars, aim at the enlargement of your minds by the culture of all its faculties; bring them out in their just and legitimate proportions; guard against all distortions or derangement. The whole soul is the thing to be educated. As professional men, aim to master your profession, in all its departments, as far as your energies will allow. Do not think only of the dowry, but seek first to deserve it, and then, if it does not come, comfort yourself with the thought that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither yet bread to the wise; nor yet riches to men of understanding; nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Like the miser, though in a very different spirit, and with reference to a very

different wealth, you can say: Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo.

Ipse domi; simul ac nummos contemplor in arca.

It is only by pursuing a profession in this spirit, that it becomes liberal, or in the language of Aristotle, an end to itself; otherwise it is degraded to a trade; and I must say that I have much more respect for the mechanic, or the drudge of a workshop, than the man who gives himself to law or physic, or any other generous pursuit, with no other inspiration than that of Mammon. Scorn this beggarly ambition; aim at excellence; aim to be something, whether you die rich or poor. Of course, excellence in professions involves a faithful and conscientious discharge of all their duties, as a part of the merit. They all imply practical habits; these are an element of the excellence of man, and these can only be acquired by single acts—by industry, perseverance and patience.

Above all things, aim at excellence in working out your general vocation as men. Our special callings are subsidiary to a higher, a nobler end which attaches to us in our essential relations as members of the human race. There is a work which belongs to man as man; and in reference to this work, it is enjoined, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, as there is no wisdom, nor knowledge, nor device in the grave whither we are hastening. Here we are to prepare for an endless life; for that blessed immortality which is at once the reward, and the very consummation of all excellence. Religion is not a secondary matter, nor a local and temporary interest; it is preëminently that for which man was made, and without which it would be far better that he had never been born. Settle it in your minds, that nothing can ever be well done in the true and proper sense, unless it is done in the spirit of genuine religion; and no religion can ever solve for a sinner the problem of life, or quicken him who is dead in trespasses and sins, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The aspect in which Christianity should be habitually contemplated by you, is that of a discipline for your everlasting destiny. It first puts you in the condition to be trained, and then supplies the means, motives and agency of an effective educa

tion for eternity. It is the school which fits us for the skies; and if we see our dignity and excellence in their true and just proportions, in the very spirit of Paul, we should count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. I know, gentlemen, that your Alma Mater has taken especial pains that you should never be found among profane scoffers and jesters. You all have a profound reverence for the truths, rites and ministers of religion; but still it is possible to respect without loving--to admire without a cordial sympathy. It is possible to escape the curse of the scoffer without securing the reward of the believer. Here, then, let your energies be concentrated. Give your whole souls to God, and you will have the highest motive, and the strongest encouragement to excellence in every thing else.

This general spirit which I have been commending, will save you from what is almost as prolific a source of failure and disappointment in life, as absolute idleness. I mean heartlessness of effort. Half-work is little better than no work. Nothing can be done well into which a man does not throw his soul. Enthusiasm is only the glow of energy.

You need not be cautioned against confounding the admiration with the pursuit of excellence. As Butler has taught you, these ideal pictures may be a source of positive injury, if they are permitted to stop at the emotions, or dwell only in the fancy-they must enter the domain of the will—they must be joined with firm resolution and determined purpose—they must ripen, as you have opportunity, into acts.

These hints, gentlemen, are given at parting, as a sort of chart to guide your future course. You will find life a very different thing from what you anticipate. It is not a summer's dream nor a fairy tale. The period, too, at which you step into the world, is a period of fearful interest. The signs of the times admonish us that we are on the eve of great events. The earth is heaving like an earthquake-all things are in commotion. The State and society are concerned in the character and principles of every individual who is sent into the arena of action. Earnest men are needed, for earnest work is at hand. Go forth, young champions, prepared to acquit yourselves like men. Go