62 
ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATES OF THE 
shrink from — the responsibility of a profession, liberal in its 
pursuits, and intimately associated with the welfare and 
happiness of fellow beings. To prosecute successfully the 
duties of this profession, must be the ardent aspiration of 
each ingenuous mind, as in it are involved reputation, 
station in society, competency and influence — the most de- 
sirable acquisitions which man can covet, and from which 
eminently originates the power of usefulness. 
In aiming at success, however, correct and definite ideas 
should be entertained of its nature, and the means of its 
accomplishment; for to enter upon the voyage of life without 
them, would be as senseless as the expedition of the mariner 
to distant lands, without a thought of where they lie, and 
destitute of the ordinary helps of navigation. The rocks 
and whirlpools that are placed in the track of every man's 
existence, are numerous and deceptive; and ere he may 
be aware of their proximity, the bark, so richly freighted 
with his resources, may come upon them, the victim of his 
heedlessness and folly. To the honourable and exalted 
spirit, all success is not desirable. Where genuine and 
legitimate merit can be found, there must exist also the 
spurious and counterfeit. Success, the offspring of unsettled 
principles, unsteady purposes and springs of action, must 
necessarily be ephemeral and evanescent, because entirely 
destitute of sustaining basis. The materials that constitute 
it are valueless and fictitious. It may pass for true, as 
gloss and polish may be given to its surface, but is destined 
to reveal its real essence, by soon becoming dull and tarnish- 
ed. That alone which originates from a determinate plan of 
operation, in which the objects of attainment have been pro- 
perly appreciated, where motives both laudable and sub- 
stantial constitute the ground work, can prove durable and 
satisfactory. 
It is moreover an undeviating law of nature, trace it 
where you may, that formations of rapid growth are pro- 
portionably unstable, while those that are tardy in the at- 
