INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
11 
spectful obedience, a deep sense of responsibility, and a deter- 
mined purpose to regard your employer's interests as your 
own, are necessary to build up that name for accuracy, fidel- 
ity, and confidential trust which is equally required with a 
scientific reputation for your advancement. These, of course, 
are but the earthly means, which, blessed by the approbation 
of Heaven, will insure your success. That approval you 
are all apprised how to secure, and it is deemed no intrusion 
upon the duties of the sacred desk, and with no kind of 
irreverence is it spoken, that lasting prosperity cannot be ex- 
pected, nor a sense of anapprovingconsciencebe enjoyed, unless 
recourse be had to that great source of excellence, the Giver 
of all good gifts, sought in the manner which he has directed. 
It is not my purpose, by the foregoing remarks, to forestall, 
anticipate, or interfere with the private counsel and personal 
advice which you may receive from those with whom yon 
are immediately connected, and to whom your direct responsi- 
bilities are due; nor will it be deemed an interference with 
their province thus to allude to subjects so much of a personal 
character. But, conceiving that, for a time, you have become 
pupils of the College, and that its appointed officers are those 
through whom alone its intercourse with you is sustained, and its 
interests and sympathies for your welfare expressed, it has 
been thought an especial duty thus to bring before you a 
sketch of the duties and qualifications which are required at 
your hands by your Alma Mater, the bountiful mother by 
whom so much of your intellectual nourishment is provided; 
she is interested in your welfare, concerned in the character 
which you may form. You are to reflect your excellence upon 
her; you are to carry her name wherever your own lot may be 
cast; you are to take part in the councils, and supply, event- 
ually, the places of those who now oversee and direct her 
course. Can she then be indifferent to your forming characters, 
or withhold advice which she knows that those of your age 
and in your circumstances require? You are yet in her care, 
and by accepting you as her pupils, she has rendered herself 
responsible for your attainments. She, therefore, avails her- 
