New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-27
YALE COLLEGE.
c, Tn. ". Y. Tnhgu,

c.c,e.ronderce Of The N Y. Tribune.
NEW HAVEN, July -, 1859.
The exercises Of Yale Commencement nave
already begun. On Sunday afternoon July ~,
Prof George T. Fisher delivered the Baccalaureate
sa,mon before the graduating class at the College
Chapel The text was from John, *: 4; Il must
" work the works of HIM that sent me, While 1t IS
.. Jav. IN, night cometh when no man can work.
Tn. discourse was Oh the convictions at the oanda
ton of truly earnest life At the outset, the
earne.tness Of the disciples Of bero-worshp was
strongly objected to, Ms beng iorgetiul OF the dis
,inct,on between right aud wrong and ending IN
little else than w-worstip. Among the truths
which. if ANYTHING, would produce an earnest life,
the following was presented: God has girt" 70
ereru man Il ,rork 10 do on cart Inns WORK is
twofod, having reference to ourselves aud 10
Others At the same time, as immortal creatures,
We are TO train ourselves 10 mingle in the society,
and engage in the empoyments OF heaven. ii
there we're no connection between our present and
future life, our existence on the earth would Do
without any conceivable use or meaning. We are
to subdue the passions and live Tor the oolecs Oh
the higher lite. Nor must the claims OF others DC
set aside The kingdom of God IS Ia come here on
the earth; We are the agents To orlng u ABOUT.
As a work in life We are summoned IL join tho
great army of the unknown, who are engaged IN
alleyiatng distress, IN Resisting wrong and esta6-
fishing Justice III abors of reform aud benehcence,
in beirlendlng the race either IN temporal point
of view, in their character as moral aud relg-
ious beings. Freely ye have received, freely
give" was not only the injunction ct Christ 10 his
Apostles, but is a law ot nature; and We cannot
neglect 1t ourselves unless We forget our indebted
ne.s TO 10th past aud present La the choice vi an
avocaton, the STILL small voice within must not
be unheed.d.
The next truth claiming attention was: The
time in nhich The icOrt " life must be done, done
at all, toiu shortly expire.
Life and Death are SO closely allied that constant
labor while We hive is the only condition OF u ser
yiceable and earnest life. Let solemn convictions
regarding the brevity and purpose OF life enter the
heart and our earnestbess will be deep and quiet,
but for that reason all the more effective. man
may be mpetuous and radical and noisy, and yet
not be IN earnest mo day, and especially IN our
country there is too much OF this spurious and
super fetal excitement which is called earnestDess,
but which might with more pr)prlety be termed
buster. Men are thought to be earnest because
they deal in yociierous and extravaganza invective,
because they venture in a solf-sufiiclent tone TO
assault time h0nOred truth, or because they speak
out all their thoughts however crude they may be,
with bold and fllPpant tongue But true sincerity
never rants; real strength IL not spssmOdc. They
who prosecute reform as trade and would fan
make il a monopoly, are obliged to be audaciOus
and reckless in order ~ excite attention and save
themselves from being forgotten. But that ard0f
is most intense which Is a white heat man Of
mere passion and outside agitation is to the deeply
earnest man who looks on all sacred things with n
reverent eye and falters the path Of duty,
as blazing fireworks, leapDg in the air and scatter.
ing their flames, are to the sweet stars OF heaven
! neh AZ ma INrl unf h..h Le1y In
from his course on account of opposition; but his
designs, once carefully formed will be carried out
with frmness lie will not despise small occasions
Of doing good, or disregard duty in little things.
The discourse concluded with the following re-
Elections: First, the necessity of faith 10 good
life; second, the lesson ~ be derived from the text
the proper idea Of the various professions; third,
the inspiration impaired by the Saylors principle.
At the end tie Professor made short, farewell
address to the graduating class.
The sermon, while marked by firm convictions,
inclnlDg to clear and unassumlDg expression OF
opinion, and quite free from either dogmstie or
liberal sentiments apparently came rather from the
head than the heart, and had too much quiet, too
little 0ctire sympathy with the occasion itself to
make very lasting impression.
! The general character of the Commencement this
year Is Inferior to that Of year ago. There will
be no poet, 10 Alumni orator aud Conc,0 I'D Gle
rum from the Rev. Hiram Z. Arms of Norwich,
Conn.,, and the PM Beta Kappa Grafton from the
Hon. VIM. story of Phiad. phla, are the only fea.
lures of Commencement aside from the A1 mi
meeting. and the exercises of,the graduating class,
which are worthy of notice. But the graduating
class will perhaps make up any deficiency in other
things The class is very able, and includes many
manly writers and good speakers, most of whom
VIII take part in the exercises.
/ The Biennial Examination of the Sophomore class
ended last Thursday. The class then had the usual
jubilee at Sayns Rock III West Haven, where they
sPent the afternoon in eating, singing swimming,
and general uprOariOusness. OF this class, FIVE
were unable TO pass through the examination and
hlrty more were Conditioned" The Faculty
are gradually raising the standard Of scholarship,
and the class ,eem to hayr been quite unaware of
The fact ull they got through Biennial. To-day aud
tuesday are occupied with examining candidates
for admission 70 the next class.
! have Just had look at the advanced sheets Of
l he Ne" EnelaDder for August (which will not be
published for two weeks YETI and its contents are
of such timely and able character that must notice
them. The number opens with President Wool
seys discourse commemorative of Prof Denison
Olmsted-an article valuable as being an impartial
| and honest tribute TO the man. Then comes 80
article from Prof. Fisher on Mansels Limit Of
I Religious Thought, which is the first extended Nv