New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-07-24

Away We beardess sophomore
S AaS s .s.S sst Nv ii IN her sui.
Till you become hn.sSie''
yas .x.re;ses of Commencement week promise TO be
Of more than usual interest
THE BACcAIAUREATE sERMoN-YALE MISSION
AIRY SOCIETY.
NEw.HAvEs, July %.
The T,aecalaureate Sermon preached TO the
Graduating Class Cd Sunday afternoon 10 the College
Chap. by Prof. George p. Fisher. Tue text was
taken from job xvii. 9: "The righteous also shall
"hold Oh hs way, aud he that hath clean bands shall
abe stronger and stronger aud from Proverbs XIV,
5; "A vice man lie strong; yea, q man Of kaowl-
ledge ncreaseth strength. The discourse hsd for its
Object, to show the inward stability or growth of
character II called attention 10 that kind of power
which is obtained without being directly sought, and
ometmes for that very reason an influence which a
man who has been pursuing other ends than influence
finds in his possession; a power sometmes unnotoed
ard scions, going forth from the whole man, or
lying in the back ground of all his special faculties
force in reserve yet whose presence is e The Pro
lessor subject in brief this: 10 show how self
improvement, prompted by the necessities OF our
spiritual nature, cOners power.
lie rst took up mental cuiture and the influence that
proceeds from II. A comparison was made between
the man who engages in Thought and study with
yearnirg fer truth feeling that the acquisition OF
knowledge is itself Joy AID going on with his lnveS
legations ia order 10 solve questions that spring up
within him, and the mau VINO has studied chiefly To
gt The reputation of scholar and 10 gather something
which be- communicate The hTst le man OF pro-
found culture, OF taste and insight; the latter
cannot Disguise certain externality aud snail owness
which viii always eeave 70 him. Take away the feel
ing that Graves truth aud values 1t Tor ITS sake
the counterpart OF spiritual nature and there IL no
such thiIg scholarly spirit. The genial element
thai attends upon true culture wanting and thus ons
great charm and source OF influence ID lost No rheo-
neal sk can supply The lack of spontaneity and depth
Profound and GENIAL culture, then, must originate III
de, per principe Than the desire to produce an effect
You rad OF Socrates cOnversiDg with tes young
nen ia Athens Lot in the way for them 10 carve out
distinction and sway the minds Of men, but on the
res1 Ives of the unlyerse, on God aud virtue and
immortality. Yet out of that school came Aristotle,
whose dominion the human mind through 81 many
generations is sublime than any simlar fact III
history; aud Plato who has done more than any other
1bmsiIed winter TO kinGle aspirations which only tue
GusIel can satisfy. Tue works in Literature which
have psinined their nfdence reveal III their authors
superiority 10 ambition and love OF truth and beauty
for their own sake. The power OF Edwards IreAtise
on Tie Viii md of other writings Ii not due 10 the
subtey and cogenCy Of his reasonlngs alone bat quite
nuSb perhaps, to that intensity OF latent feenng
that white hest one has called II, winch does
hot ohtrnde iLself upon your notice, 0ut winch nus
every line, and makes the reader ietl mat the views
which are uttered were not gained merely TO be Ut
tered but are part Of the writes he, aud Uttered
because the happens TO cali for IT. so that IN
evs,y sene there 10 personal testimony TO me salts
faction they have yielded The poems OF Dante are
TIE blossom of bis lie, and those OF NH on, ell
rohed though they be with the spos OF multltarous
supy the product of the era OF eoGfcts IN which
hs had bis part and gush forth from living fountain
in his own breast The great masters have ned their
supre macy becsu,e they painted from fulness Oh SOU
honOfiDg tnelr concepuons, whelh sr men saouiu
Bee their excellence or not; 60 thai AN enthusiastic
critic has SAID that "three pen strokes OF Raphael are
0rpasr and a better picture tuan the most nnlshed
"neck that ever Carlo Dole polished into lnanity;
The leading idea thus illustrated was that III the "oria
Of thought the lrofou Idest impression Is oteh maae
,vbe inn not the DrlIuc END.
The proposition wss also enforced by reference 70
the indirect power aud influence OF character. fore
character shat rests simple love OF tiuIh ana rSne
IL mean Of influence more powerful than any thlhg
else TIE biogr4pher of Cromwell naTrates IN his
quaint .tyle bow that great Leader at CRITICAL moment
IL the House of Commons, dropped IRON MS s,t9lhei
iIR tongue sIeeoh that melted tough ola Dir EdWafd
C1ke TO tears The speaker said no had met win a
strk1g passage pertinent 70 his subject III The diary OF
the eloer John Adame kept during the ssions oil he
toutjI NAL Congress. Under da;e Of August 81, l4
referring to MIR. Lynch a delegate from virginia,
whom he pronounced a most sound and Judlcous per
son, be writes: HE mr. Lynch told me that Col
"WssDeon made the most eloquent speech that ever
TWAS made. Says he: / VIII RAISE one lnOusdnd
men subsist them at my own expense, and march
"'myself a. their head for the rehef oil Boston.
Nov what Wac there in this bnef speech 10 GUIDO he
elOqOeLce of Henry, aud TO ihrll the Assem- 'y 'aat
list. Led TO III 1t was the tocsln of war-a promise
70 take up arms, encountered by no eondluons. Inc
words of that speech those Of modest and imam
bilious man. not caring 70 say grand tnlgS, oo'en. ~
toned 10 follow up nus words y Ith deede. III you
anal re The wonderful power that emanates from nen
like Washington, you hid u 10 reside largely lh Nle
moral eenen,-usiIg the term 10 a broad sense, ana
inondiug under the feelings and the willthen, III
the we have that the man il not 80 10
speak usd up IN his expressions and actions but tnat
hs aons simply reflect his character and are the signs
Of what il in hiu and thirdly, IN the feeling we nave
that what is 10 him would be there, If II were not
wanted for these ac,ions Ii Is the magnetism OF noble
virtues CHI rshed for their own sake, with no eye 70
the eShltltlon. - .
In stiI fnrtber illustration of bis subject the speaker
dwer upon the power exerted by man who had en-
braced CHRISTIANITY impeiled by the Wants OF ms own
soul la CHANGING over the past, he sad, II VIII be
fonpd that the foremost theOioSans ana preachers,
those who have left the strongest ana most enduring
imITsssion oD the minds Of men, nave been ueVcopso
snd 70 med by wrestling for their own salvation, ana
by strict seeking for the truth: from which they come
forth uIni he'd for y work which they had not antcl-
pyi6d. Augustine the mos. renowned OF theoiogiaus,
whose influence exceeded perhaps that OF any otner
Christian teacher since the Apostles IN that distress
ing conflict which he mad with his passiops-tte long
struggle with sn and erTor-was laying unconselouhiy
t. blBsei the foundations Of bis strength Durlug e
long years when Luther was cropping ntsf the
trutl, before the lgnt broke IN upon MS
soul he had no thought Of assuming the post OF
a eader or Of setting on foot reform. He was strug
cling 20 solve great problem Of infinite interest 20
tinseif 10 ind pea for his troubled conscience
Bot when the great discovery was made when he
found bHseH IN pOssessi, Of a truth neonoeigsbiy
precious then it that he pat the trumpet 20 his
Gu career in some degree parallel 70 his il that Of
the most influential preacher and ecclesasc Of modern
iues, John Nesiey-engagiug, while student at Ok
fOrd IN self-dscipine, becoming himself what he was
sferSard 10 make his disciples thus gathering the
lower which be was destined TO use with such vast
eject AuRurtine, Luther, Wesley, the men IN every
sRe who have exened the most beneficial inhu ence
have grown strong previously % exploring truth for
lie Oy cake moved by sense Of duty to Themselves
and nv s,irtr ceasitles Of their own while act