Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-06-29
UnircrsIty Of vermont.
PROSPECTS OF THE 1NsTiTUT1oN-sEvENT
THIRD COMMENCEMENT PRESIDENT

"A correspondent ol tue New YORK Times
writes as follows from Burlington TO that
paper in gard to our State University and
its Commencement exercises, which arc
now in progress =
Few colleges are more favored in their
location than the University of Vermont,
and its prospects are very encouraging. A
faculty of efficient instructors, a library
unusually rich in some Of its departments,
a small but carefully selected art colec-
ton, and an excellent museum, offer to its
students the very best facilities for work.
Nothing is needed but few endowmenls
for the purchase of apparatus and the inn
provement of its buildings and grounds.
The medical school in connection with the
university has within the past few years
been put in excellent condition. This de-
partment will receive valuable aid from
the hospital which is soon to be erected
here. Miss Mary Fletcher, a resident Of
the city, who has already given many
proofs OF her generous interest in the wei
fare Of Burlington, has purchased a site ad-
joining the college lands and has placed in
the hands Of trustees Sl50,OOO, OF which
$50, 900 IL TO be spent in the erection of hos
pital buildings and the balance kept as
permanent fund. A board Of directors is
already considering plans, and will proba-
bly, come to a decision very soon.
The seventy-third Commencement Of the
University Of Vermont and State Agricul-
tural College opened with President Buck
hams Baccalaureaie discourse, and the ox-
ercises promise to be of unusual interest.
Following is an extract OF the sermon on
Sunday afternoon:
The subject Of tue Baccalaureate dis
c1use was, knowledge as Distinguished
from Opinion in Religion from st. Paurs
words IN ii Timothy, 1872, Il know whom
i have believed The nature Of man
Graves knowledge on all subjects which
concern him. The promise OF 1t draws
crowds to the side of the man reputed
wise. In religion, especially, men want
something more conclusive than the Opin.
ion OF any man, or any number Of men.
Is knowledge, in distinction from opinion,
sttainable in reigion2 In some former
ages the answer to the question was an UNI
doubling yes Our age iDcliuCs 10 say
"nO.h a large part Of the religious teach
ing Of the times hesitales between opposite
opinions, leaving tho two in equipoise, or
giving the preference with feeble indecis-
iveness. But the Scriptures assume to itn-
part knowledge. They do not give evil
dence on the one side aud the other, and
leave us to find the truth; they decide all
these questions tor Us. Can God forgive
sins? There are reasons for aud against
this belief. The New Testament does not
discuss this question, but tells US with sim.
pie conclusiveness that Christ said to a
mau, "1hy sins are forgiven thee" The
Scriptures are source Of knowledge or
they are nothing spurious will Is of no
help in settling disputed claims. If, then
the Scriptures, supplemented by other
modes of revelation, afford knowledge.
what is the kind and what is the extent OF
the knowledge they afford? The answer
| the sufficient answers they communi.
| cate the knowledge of God. Obscure and
| profound in a speculative sense as this
knowledge i, it is yet in a practical sense
| the most universal and accessible of all
knowledges. To know God is the birth
| right Of man. IT he lose this priceless pos
session, 1t is because he does "not like 10
retain God in his knowledge" All knowl-
| edge OF things as they are connects them
| with God, and with this connection all
| knowledge becomes religious knowledg G.
I'VE know all things said Mdlebrauch ;,
| "in Cod But we know God not bv in
| ference and abstraction, but as a person
| knows 4 person, 10y communion. by SYM
| pathy, by love. And We know him hes /
| in knowing Jesus Christ, who is the image
| of the invisible God-God manifest in the
flesh. And of sll beings Jesus Christ is
| the most movable, the easiest TO anpre-
| ciate the hardest 10 miscouceive. No his
| toric character has an Individuality so
| marked and so easily seized upon. When
men complain of the difficulty and uncer-
| tainty OF religious knowledge, Christ mis- BIT
now address to them that most touching re-
| buke to Philip: "Have been so long lime
| with you, and yet have you not known
| me? Finally, consider the effect OF this
| certainty Of knowledge on character. II
| gives first, peace. TIE Apostle was in
| trouble, but he knew in whom he believed,
| and his voice rings out in tones of conf
| dence and triumph. Woe unto the man
| who secs the wave of evil coming on him,
| and who finds where religious confidence
| should lie only hypothesis, or an honest
| doubt! Secondly, power. The world rec
| ognizes as its masters the men who speak
TO them neither with the feeble quaver of
doubt, nor with the repellant harshuess OF
| dogmaism, but in the resonant and brac-
ing tones of the true Evangelist, who
| knows in whom he believes. The address
| to the graduating class was an eXhortation
| to beware of the insidinus indifIerentism
of the day, and TO get that sure and saving
| knowledge which consists in knowing God
through Jesus Christ.
THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT AND PRO
POSED HOSPITAL.
Another correspondent, in speaking OF
the graduating exercises Of the medical de-
partment, which took place on Tuesday,
says:
No department Of the University of Yer
| mont shows more marked progress than
the medical. The reputation of The school
is known throughout the country. Its beau.
| tiful location near the University buildings
and upon an eminence overlooking Burling-
ton and Lake Champlaln and command
| ing view of the Adirondack chain OF
mountains, is not surpassed 10y that of any
| institution in the country. Besides an
able board of instructors permanently CON
nected with the department. the serv ces of
| number OF special instructors are secured
from year 10 year. Professors who are ac-
| knowledged authorities in their respective
| specialties, names like ID. b. St. john Rousa
| of New York, William a. Hammond OF
New York, and a. p. Greuell, NJ. D., OF
| Burlington. The Increase of lis students
| for the past five years has been quite large.
| The class entering last tall mum bered about
| 100. Closely connected with the interests
OF the Medical School, the city aud the
| State at large, is the proposed Ff6eher
Hospital. The endowment Tor this noble
enterprise was made by Miss Fletcher in
| November, 1876, and is as follows, En-
dowment, 100000; building fund, $50, 900
| originally, but since increased by her 10
| about SsO,OOO. The site chosen for the build
| ings is to the north of the University, and
for the beauty of its scenery and its general
advantages is unsurpassed by that. of any
| institution of the kind in the country. Com
nected with the hospital, and upon its own
| grounds, is an orchard; also the exception
al advantage of obtaining milk, butter and
cream from cows kept on the place, thus
furnishing Injuries dearly secured at most
hospitals. The plan of the buildings is
that of the letter L. Work will he begun
upon them at once, for their completion is
promised in the early part OF next spring,
| N oil a 1,