house, and the remoter and higher interests of the church of God. We need not-perhaps we cannot-suppose that he was fully aware of the relation which he maintained to the church in all future ages; of the vital importance of the agency which he was carrying forward, to the accomplishment of the grandest promise of Jehovah. It was enough for him that he was always faithfully and earnestly engaged in doing his duty. But to us it appears manifest that what he did constituted an important link in the chain of causes and effects, by which the triumph of God's mercy in the scheme of redemption is finally to be accomplished. What was true of Joseph is true of every other good manhis life is crowned with usefulness. Here again, for the truth of this remark, I refer you to your own observation. I will only ask your attention to a few thoughts illustrative of the manner in which virtue operates to secure this end. Let me say, then, in the first place, virtue renders its possessor useful, by securing to his faculties their right direction and their legitimate exercise. But while virtue keeps the faculties appropriately employed, she makes the most of all those opportunities for doing good which grow out of the various relations and conditions in life. Place her where you will, and she finds means of usefulness, which she diligently and scrupulously improves. In the various occupations and professions in which the mass of men look for nothing beyond their own aggrandizement, the truly good man finds channels innumerable through which to send forth a healthful and quickening influence on the neighborhood, the community, the world. Suppose that he is so obscure that, though he is in your immediate neighborhood, you never hear of him-yet there are those who do know him, and to whom he has access in daily intercourse. These he can influence by his example, his conversation, perhaps by his prayers; and it is by no means improbable that some will dwell in heaven forever, because they have dwelt on earth within the circle of his influence. suppose that he is left to linger out years upon a sick-bed, and is thereby cut off from all intercourse, except with those who come to sympathize in his affliction, or minister to his wants -even there he may be an eminently useful man. By his faith in God, his cheerful submission, his elevated devotion, he may leave an indelible impression for good on those who are about his bedside; and the story of what passes there may penetrate some other hearts to which it may be communicated; and the prayers which he offers up may be the medium through which Or the richest blessings shall be conveyed to multitudes whom he has never seen. I repeat, it is the privilege of the good man to be useful always-he may be sick and poor, he may be unknown and forgotten, he may even be imprisoned and manacled, and yet, so long as he has lips that can move in prayer, or a heart that can beat to the spiritual miseries of the world, you may not say that he is a cumberer of the ground. What a delightful employment to reflect on a useful life, when life is drawing to a close! How transported must have been the apostle when he could say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith!" You, my young friends, will soon be in his circumstances, in respect to the opening of another world upon your spirits. Murmur not, though God place you in the humblest circumstances here; but be thankful that, even in these circumstances, your consciences may at least bear testimony to a useful life. Let this blessed result be accomplished in your experience, and be your condition on earth what it may, you need not envy the rich man his wealth, nor the statesman his laurels, nor the monarch his crown. FRANCIS WAYLAND. FRANCIS WAYLAND, for more than a quarter of a century the distinguished president of Brown University, was born in the city of New York, on the 11th of March, 1796. When he was eleven years of age, his father removed to Poughkeepsie, where he was prepared for college by the Rev. Daniel H. Barnes. In 1811 he entered the junior class in Union College; and, after graduating, studied medicine for three years, and received his degree of M. D. Upon experiencing a change of religious views, he relinquished his profession for the ministry, and in 1816 entered the theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. Owing to his very limited means, he accepted, in 1817, a tutorship in Union College, and in 1821 he was called to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Boston. While here, he published, in 1823, his first printed work-a sermon on "The Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise," a very eloquent production, which had great success, and placed him in the rank of the first writers of his day. To this succeeded, in 1825, two excellent discourses, on "The Duties of an American Citizen." In 1826, he returned to Schenectady as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Union College; but before the close of the year he removed to Providence, R. I., having been elected to the presidency of Brown University, into which office he was inducted in February, 1827. Never was a choice of a President more happy, and the college started at once into new life. Here he began to teach a great deal by lectures instead of text-books. A few years after he became connected with this institution, appeared his "Moral Science," "Political Economy," and "Intellectual Philosophy." These works have enjoyed great popularity, and have been introduced as text-books into many of our best colleges. Besides great ability and thoroughness in all his writings, Dr. Wayland has shown true independence in thought and action. He was the first president of a college to advocate and carry out a change in the collegiate course, extending the benefits of the college beyond the small class which intended to pursue professional studies, by introducing a partial course to be pursued by such as intend to engage in mechanics or in mercantile business, and conferring degrees according to the attainments made. He has also identified himself with a movement among his own religious denomination, by his advocacy of lay preaching,' and a better adaptation of the training of candidates to the work of the Christian ministry. Dr. Wayland resigned the presidency of Brown University in 1856, and now resides in Providence. His published works are, 1. "Occasional Discourses," 1 vol.; 2. "Moral Science;" 3. " Political Economy;" 4. "Thoughts on Collegiate Education;" 5. "Limitations of Human Responsibility;" 6. "University Sermons ;" 7. "Memoirs of Judson," 2 vols.; 8. "Intellectual Philosophy;" 9. "Notes on the Principles and Practices of the Baptists." Besides these volumes, a number of his occasional addresses and discourses have been published; as, "Discourse on the Life and Character of Hon. Nicholas Brown;" of Wm. G. Goddard, LL. D., and of James N. Haven, D. D. Also a sermon on the "Apostolic Ministry," from which an extract is here given. THE OBJECT OF MISSIONS. Our object will not have been accomplished till the tomahawk shall be buried forever, and the tree of peace spread its broad Read an admirable book, anonymously published last year (1857) by J. B. Lippincott & Co., entitled "Priesthood and Clergy unknown to Christianity; or, the Church a Community of Co-equal Brethren." The author is one of our most distinguished "divines"-a D. D. eminent alike for his piety and vast learning. branches from the Atlantic to the Pacific; until a thousand smiling villages shall be reflected from the waves of the Missouri, and the distant valleys of the West echo with the song of the reaper; till the wilderness and the solitary place shall have been glad for us, and the desert has rejoiced, and blossomed as the rose. Our labors are not to cease until the last slave-ship shall have visited the coast of Africa, and, the nations of Europe and America having long since redressed her aggravated wrongs, Ethiopia, from the Mediterranean to the Cape, shall have stretched forth her hand unto God. * * In a word, point us to the loveliest village that smiles upon a Scottish or New England landscape, and compare it with the filthiness and brutality of a Caffrarian kraal, and we tell you that our object is to render that Caffrarian kraal as happy and as gladsome as that Scottish or New England village. Point us to the spot on the face of the earth, where liberty is best understood and most perfectly enjoyed, where intellect shoots forth in its richest luxuriance, and where all the kindlier feelings of the heart are constantly seen in their most graceful exercise; point us to the loveliest and happiest neighborhood in the world on which we dwell, and we tell you that our object is to render this whole earth, with all its nations, and kindreds, and tongues, and people, as happy, nay, happier than that neighborhood. We do believe, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Our object is to convey to those who are perishing the news of this salvation. It is to furnish every family upon the face of the whole earth with the word of God written in its own language, and to send to every neighborhood a preacher of the cross of Christ. Our object will not be accomplished until every idol temple shall have been utterly abolished, and a temple of Jehovah erected in its room; until this earth, instead of being a theatre, on which immortal beings are preparing by crime for eternal condemnation, shall become one universal temple, in which the children of men are learning the anthems of the blessed above, and becoming meet to join the general assembly and church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven. Consider, then, deliberately, the nature of the missionary enterprise. Reflect upon the dignity of its object; the high moral and intellectual powers which are to be called forth in its execution; the simplicity, benevolence, and efficacy of the means by which all this is to be achieved; and we ask you : Does not every other enterprise to which man ever put forth his strength dwindle into insignificance before that of preaching Christ crucified to a lost and perishing world? TRUE GREATNESS. We need not turn to classic story to find all that is great in human action; we find it in our own times, and in the history of our own country. Who is there of us that, even in the nursery, has not felt his spirit stir within him when, with childlike wonder, he has listened to the story of Washington? And although the terms of the narrative were scarcely intelligible, yet the young soul kindled at the thought of one man's working out the delivery of a nation. And as our understanding, strengthened by age, was at last able to grasp the detail of this transaction, we saw that our infantile conceptions had fallen far short of its grandeur. Oh! if an American citizen ever exults in the contemplation of all that is sublime in human enterprise, it is when, bringing to mind the men who first conceived the idea of this nation's independence, he beholds them estimating the power of her oppressor, the resources of her citizens, deciding in their collected might that this nation should be free, and, through the long years of trial that ensued, never blenching from their purpose, but freely redeeming the pledge they had given, to consecrate to it "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." "Patriots have toiled, and, in their country's cause, To latest times; and Sculpture in her turn It is not in the field of patriotism alone that deeds have been achieved, to which history has awarded the palm of moral sublimity. There have lived men in whom the name of patriot has been merged in that of philanthropist, who, looking with an eye of compassion over the face of the earth, have felt for the miseries of our race, and have put forth their calm might to wipe off one blot from the marred and stained escutcheon of human nature, to strike off one form of suffering from the |