Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-07-20
Dartmouth College Commence
nent.
HANOVER, N. H. July !

Dartmouth College began on Sunday
with an able and interesting Baccalaure-
ate discourse by the President, Rev Asa
d. Smith, d. D., and an address before
the Theological Society by Rev Prof. J.
G. Bodwell of Hartford, Conn. We give
brief abstracts of these able papers.
ABSTRACT OF BACCALAUREATE SERMON
DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT SMITH,
SUNDAY, July 10th, 1871.
The text was James i : %. But whose
looketh into the perfect law of liberty,
and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful nearer, but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed III his deed"
Very suggestive, he said, was the ex-
clamation of Madame Roland, in the first
''reign of terror" 40 Liberty. what crimes
are committed in thy name ~ To crimes
she might have added, though with some
thing of self-condemnation, theoretic err
rors of the grossest sort; errors not harm
less as indeed false speculations seldom
are-but the sowing of the wind, for the
reaping of the whirlwind. Nor are her
words, or the suggested supplement to
| them, applicable to her case or her times
| alone. la all the fourscore years that
have since elapsed, with all the real polit-
zeal progress, and against all the warnings
of the past, there have been manifold re-
productions, in forms more or less mon
strous, of the old vagaries. Nay, the
world has witnessed of late, a second
| reign of terror" hardly inferior III
atrocity to the first. From amid the
smouldering ruins and blood stained
streets of Paris, we have heard the voice
of Communist Chief, exclaiming, 81
| fight God in the Universe, as [ did the
| empire in France. II there were such
! place as heaven, and | went there and
found God, L would Immediately com
mence throwing up barricades."
A word so inexperienced and abused
as this of liberty, so mighty IN the past,
and so especially potent in these latter
days, a word 30 comprehensive in its rela-
tions and bearing so vitality upon our
dearest interests, is worthy surely of the
most careful consideration. We may
we'll avail ourselves of the light shed up
on it by the Sacred Volume. For though
the Bible affects not technical science, it
gives US the great principles that under
lie all human institutions and cOnoerA
MENUS w udN6 III lu6 bCAI thhC AIh>
cant and instructive phase, "the law of
liberty" By this, as the context shows,
the whole word of God is meant-the
moral law, with the precepts which illus
trate it, considered as the rule of life, and
| the Gospel as setting forth the way of sal
walton. Gods perfect law then, IL conso.
nant with liberty-liberty in the truest
and best sense of the term. Nay, there
can be no liberty apart from it. The two
interpenetrate and imply each other. The
same may be said, with certain necessary
limitations, Of all good human statutes.
All this will be the more a:prrent, to-
gether with the blessedness which the
text ascribes to obedience, as we proceed
to consider, in broad view, and with
some particularly, as the theme of the
present occasion, Liberty az Related to
Law"
The inquiry was first started, as essen
tial to a complete mastery of the subject, |
what exactly is meant by liberty ? The
vaguest apprehensions of it abound, and a
dozen different men could probably de-
fine it in dozen different ways. The
ground conception of it was sought by an
inductive process. embracing various sim
pie illustrations drawn from material and
animal organisms. 1t is not q mans doing
lust what he liSteth. That is license, it !
may be licentiousness. 1t Was defined,
rather. as the absence of all restr lint upon |
constitutions action, using the term con-
stitutional as referring to our primal
being, or our powers and capacities ~
God made them, and to the purposes for
which they were designed. Or, more
briefly, it is uuimpeded constitutional
action. 1t is the harmony OF the life with
the nature God gave u9-with the purG
nGturdljd. not with the superinauced and
burdensome cOrruptions. The relations
of this view to the freedom of the will
were briefly set forth and it was repre-
sented as embracing not only our indi
vdual but our social nature. Liberty, |
thus understood, was shown TO be related
to law, both subjective and objective, as
it's couuterpart-the outward, in the most
perfect form of law, answering exactly to
the inward. The divine law, the perfect
law of liberty, was distinguished from
human law, the former making no allow
ance for depravity, the latter, from its
narrow scope and its limited sanctions,
being necessarily modified by our imper.
feet moral state.
more or less practical, were made.
/. We see the glory of law, rs suited to
mans nature and needs.
g. The blessedness Of Obedience il III mi
fest
3. We see the error Of those who IN Ike
the mere will of man the foundation both
of government and law.
4. 1t is a great mistake, clearly, t. dis
=
5. The folly of not little of the cur
rent clamor for liberty is manifest.
G. The conditions of popular govern
ment are Representatives. and vir-
tue in the people.
7. The Office of the legislator is magni-
fed, with the importance of high attain
ments in it, and the absence of excessive
party feeling.
s. We see, finally, the excellence of the
Bible as world book--and especially of
the Gospel
Tie discourse closed with an address to
the Graduating Glass, in which d brief
notice wasj taken OF the death of one of
their number, Anthony Colby, of New
London, grandson of Ex-Governor
Colby; and an emphatic tribute was paid
to the memory of the late Professor Wood
man.
Prof. J. G. Bodwell, of Hartford, Conn,
addressed The Theological Society in the
evening (l6th.)
ABSTRACT OF PROF. BODwELLs
ADDRESS
The speaker remarked in opening that
had subject been given him, his task
would have been comparatively easy one.
You are members af theological society
l theological man. Theology is much
discussed. 1t is subject high as the
theme OF God, and broad as eternity. All
should become acquainted with its teach
ings. To be ignorant of the affairs of our
country, her prominent men, her history,
would be accounted a shame, Men study
zealously the anatomy of fossils, and the
organization of lizards but how few
give the same careful attention to theolo- |
uv Youup men Won will sooo 20 forth