visit to his father, then resident in Amherst-Prof. Stuart having, for special reasons, declined to preach on that occasion; and the Rev. Mr. Osgood not being present.

The president of the board of trustees then proceeded:-"The board of trustees have elected the Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, to be president of the collegiate institution in this town, and the president is ex of ficio professor of theology and moral philosophy. They have also elected the Rev. Gamaliel S. Olds, to be professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, and Mr. Joseph Estabrook to be professor of the Greek and Latin languages in the same institution. Mr. Olds is not present, but he has accepted his appointment." Then addressing Dr. Moore, the president asked him whether he then publicly manifested his acceptance of the office of president of the collegiate institution in Amherst. Dr. Moore answered in the affirmative. The president then asked Mr. Estabrook whether he publicly manifested his acceptance of the office of professor of the Greek and Latin languages in the colle giate institution. Mr. Estabrook answered in the affirmative.

The confession of faith was then read and the gentlemen assented to it. The president of the board then proceeded:-" Then in behalf of the board of trustees and by their authority, I publicly announce that you, Zephaniah Swift Moore, are constituted president of the collegiate institution in this town, and by the same authority, you are invested with the power of superintending, instructing and governing the students according to your best discretion, and according to the statutes and regulations that are or may be established for these purposes. And I further declare that you, Joseph Estabrook, are, by the same authority, constituted professor of the Greek and Latin languages in the same seminary, with power to assist the president in the instruction of the students, and in the government and discipline of the institution.

"Sensible of the difficulties which will attend a faithful and discreet discharge of your arduous duties; feeling their own responsibility, and solicitous to promote the best interests of the seminary; the board of trustees will cheerfully cooperate with you, gentlemen, in such measures as circumstances may demand or prudence dictate, for giving effect to the regulations prescribed; and will assist in devising the best means for elevating the character and extending the usefulness of the institution.

"Most devoutly and affectionately, dear sirs, do we commend you to the holy guidance and protection of the Supreme Head of the church, to whose service this institution is consecrated. Most earnestly do we pray that the blessing of heaven may accompany your labors, and crown them with success. Under your pious care, diligent instruction, and prudent government, may this infant seminary commend itself to the affections and respect of the community; while the fostering patronage of the Christian public, shall raise it to distinction among the literary institutions of the American republic.

"By your precepts and example, may virtue be honored and piety encouraged among the youth of the seminary; while every species of immorality shall be discountenanced and repressed. May your instructions enlarge the sphere of intellectual improvement, and circumscribe the dominion of error. In yonder edifice may the youth of America,

ORIGIN OF AMHERST COLLEGE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

be richly furnished with the science and erudition which shall qualify them for eminent usefulness in church and state. There may they be instructed in the principles of our holy religion, and armed with fortitude and grace, to defend and maintain its doctrines in their apostolic purity. And while your labors contribute to exalt the moral, religious and literary character of your own country, may there issue from this seminary some beams of the light of civilization and of heavenly truth, to illuminate the dark places of the earth which are full of the habita tions of cruelty.' Here may a flame of holy zeal be enkindled in the breasts of young Christians, which shall glow with inextinguishable ardor, and animate them with courage to hazard all temporal enjoyments and life itself, in bearing the message of redeeming love to an ignorant and guilty world. And when your labors on earth shall have ceased, may it be your everlasting joy, that you have been the instruments of preparing many souls to join that great multitude which no man can number, whose blissful employment it shall be to ascribe salvation to him that sitteth on the throne and to the lamb forever."

On the following day, Sept. 19, Noah Webster resigned his seat in the board of trustees, and Dr. Moore was elected a member and presi dent of the board, to supply his place.

CHAPTER X.

AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIE. TY IN NORTHAMPTON, OCTOBER 14, 1818.

In the history of the creation, we are informed that "God made ev. ery plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field, before it grew; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground:" but after man was created, God planted a garden in Eden, and there he placed the man, “to dress it, and to keep it." From these passages of sacred history, we learn, that antecedent to the apostasy, and by divine appointment, agriculture was assigned to man as his proper occupation.

In conformity with the divine purpose, in this destination of man, the upper stratum of the earth, was, by the Creator, fitted for the produc tion of plants. The soil, which covers the greatest part of the globe, though diversified in its constituent materials, its qualities, depth, and consistence, is generally composed of very fine particles, which render it permeable by water, and capable of containing the greatest quantity of it at the same time, though so friable, as to be easily pulverized by instruments of husbandry, and so loose as to be pervious to the roots of plants; it is sufficiently compact to sustain herbs, shrubs, and even trees, in an erect position.

As the cultivation of the earth was the first business assigned to man, so of all his temporal concerns, it is the most important and necessary; for the productions of the earth furnish almost all the materials of food and clothing. Observations on the savage life will inform us, how small a population the spontaneous produce of the earth will support. Even the rude natives of America, few and scattered as they are, depend on tillage for a part of their means of subsistence; and the wild animals, which supply no small portion of their food and clothing, derive their nourishment from the productions of the earth. The produce of seas, rivers, and lakes, whatever may be the amount, must always constitute a small comparative portion of the food of a well peopled country, and no part of the food of domestic animals.

Agriculture then is essential to the support of a dense population. It supplies food for men and their domestic animals, and the materials of manufactures; and the surplus, beyond the necessary consumption of a country, furnishes the means of commerce, and becomes a source of wealth. Hence, the more productive the earth is rendered by cultiva tion, the more inhabitants and domestic animals may be subsisted on a given extent of territory; and the greater is the wealth and strength of a nation.

Nor is the cultivation of the earth less favorable to the health and longevity of the human species. As a general remark, it may be affirmed, that the labors of the husbandman are better adapted, than any other labor or employment, to give strength and firmness to all parts of

the human body, by calling into action and keeping in motion the various limbs and muscles, without an undue pressure on any particular part; thus promoting equally the circulation of the blood and the various secretions essential to health. Excess of labor will, in this, as in every other occupation, impair health, and shorten life or render it uncomfortable; but in general, the greatest portion of sound health, and the most robust men, the strength and defense of a nation, are found among the cultivators of the earth.

Equally well adapted is the business of the farmer to enlarge and invigorate the intellectual faculties, and to generate a spirit of independence favorable to civil and political liberty. This is particularly the fact in a country where the cultivators are proprietors of the soil. Immense is the difference in the exertion and improvement of the mental faculties, between those who labor for themselves, and those who labor for others. The very ownership of property tends to expand the mind, and give it a tone of firmness and independence; while the prospect of increasing the value of property, and enjoying the fruits of labor, calls into action more vigorous exertion, more enterprise, and more invention. At the same time, the possession of the title to land attaches a man to the country in which he is a freeholder, and binds him to the government and laws by which his person and his property are protected.

Nor ought we to forget, in this enumeration of the advantages of ag riculture, that this employment is peculiarly suited to the preservation of morals in a community. The sequestered situation of the husbandman, occupied daily on his farm, remote from scenes of vice and dissipation, secures him, in a great degree, from the contagion of evil examples, and from many temptations to vice, which large associations of people present, to seduce men from their duty. And if the agricultural state of society does not exhibit more positive virtue and excellence than any other, it supplies fewer instances of atrocious crimes and deep depravity. Nor is it less true, that this state of society presents peculiar advantages and powerful inducements to the cultivation of pious affections. The farmer, after all his industry and good management, must depend entirely on Divine Providence for a harvest. He must feel, every day and every hour, that by his own power and skill, he can no more produce a blade of grass or a single corn, than he can create a world; and this consciousness of his dependence on the Supreme Being, can not fail to generate, in a mind not absolutely bru tish, a spirit of humility and submission to his Maker-a spirit of unceasing reverence, piety, and gratitude. When the husbandman considers further, that his labors are continually liable to be frustrated by excessive rains, floods, and drouth; by untimely frost, blasting, and mildew; by destructive storms and devouring insects; calamities which, by no human efforts, can be averted or controlled; with what face can he deny the providence or spurn the government of his Maker? How can he fail to acknowledge his own imbecility and dependence, and place all his trust on that Being who alone can crown his labors with success?

But the ingenuous mind is not to be influenced solely by the dread of calamities. It will find, in the works of nature and Providence, irre

sistible motives to admire the power, the wisdom, and the benevolence of the Supreme Being. Who can examine the wonderful laws of the vegetable economy, the curious and infinitely diversified structure of plants, without being led to "look through nature up to nature's God," and to form exalted views of Divine power and wisdom? Who can cast his eyes on spacious fields robed with verdure and adorned with flowers-some, presenting the promise of a rich harvest of fruitsothers, expanding their beauties to delight the eye and regale the senses of man, or to supply insects with nectarious food-and thousands of others, which, from our ignorance of their uses, are destined to "waste their sweetness on the desert air"-who can view this rich provision of all that can charm the eye, and delight the mind of man, without admiring the goodness of the benevolent Author? Hard and insensible must be the heart that is not softened by gratitude for all the blessings lavished on the human race, and humbled by regret that man should ever forget his glorious Benefactor.

Notwithstanding agriculture is confessedly the first and most important occupation in society, it is among the last which have engaged the attention of scientific men. Princes have been employed in extending their power and dominions; nobles and men of distinction have been occupied in the pursuit of pleasure or of military skill and glory; while the culture of the earth has been left to the care and toils of the humble peasant, to mercenaries and slaves. To this neglect are chiefly to be ascribed the frequent famines which afflicted the nations of Europe anterior to the last century. But within the last seventy or eighty years, men of science and property have been engaged in agricultural improvements, particularly in Great Britain; and the effect of their exertions has been to increase the value of lands, and to furnish subsistence and augmented wealth to a more numerous population.

In this country, improvements in agriculture are of still later origin; and I well remember the time when no farmer thought of restoring fertility to an impoverished soil by the aid of the grasses. The Revolution first disengaged the minds of our countrymen from the shackles of custom, and gave a spring to industry and enterprise. The first effect of the independence of the United States, was visible in the extension of commerce, but it soon appeared in every branch of industry. The removal of the restrictions of the British laws of trade," opened a wide field for commercial enterprise, which, by finding new markets for the productions of the earth, presented to the farmer new inducements to supply the demand. The wars which arose out of the revolution in France, threw into the power of our merchants an uncommonly lucrative commerce that absorbed a large amount of capital. This capital was, in a few years, greatly augmented. A large portion of this capital, has, by the event of general peace, been liberated from commercial employment, and may now be devoted to agriculture and manufactures. And fortunately there appears to be an increasing dis position in capitalists to turn their property into these channels. this fact, the recent formation of numerous societies for these objects, and the attention of men of wealth and distinction to agricultural pursuits, are honorable and cheering testimonies. As the society which I have the honor to address was not the last in its institution, it may be

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