the college was revived upon an extended and liberal plan, so as not only to render it a preparatory school for the college, but to afford the means of enlarged instruction, to those intended for mercantile pursuits, without entering the college, and within the next two years, a new building was erected in the rear of the college, for the accommodation of this auxiliary establishment, and forming one wing of a large edifice, designed to be completed whenever the college might have need of more numerous apartments. "In October, 1829, the office of president became vacant by the death of Dr. Harris, who had continued to an advanced age, with great zeal and fidelity, to preside over the institution; and early in the following December, the Hon. William A. Duer, then one of the circuit judges of the State of New York, was elected to supply the vacancy. "On the first of January, 1830, the new president entered upon the duties of his office, and within the same month, the system of instruction was extended by the establishment of a literary and scientific course, distinct from the full course, in which latter the classical studies are included, and students were allowed to be matriculated for any of the various branches composing the new course, in which also were comprised the modern languages of Europe. Free scholarships were established by the bounty of the trustees, the nominations to which were vested in each of the religious denominations in the city, and in its leading institutions for the promotion of knowledge; and the professors of the college were authorized to deliver public lectures at extra hours in any of the branches of literature and science, falling within their respective departments. "The sub-graduate course of instruction was subsequently enlarged by the addition of lectures on the evidences of Christianity,—by the extension of the English studies in the younger classes, and enlarging those in the departments of natural philosophy and chemistry. A course of lectures on the constitutional jurisprudence of the United States has since been added to the studies of the senior class, and directed to be delivered by the president. To enable the faculty to discharge these increased duties, one hour was added to the daily attendance of the students, so that each class now attends one hour every day in each department of its studies; or four hours daily, exclusive both of the previous religious service and exercises in declamation in the chapel; and of the subsequent attendance of one hour of those who pursue the study of Hebrew, or of any of the modern languages. "The grammar school of the college was also placed upon a footing which has rendered it more extensively useful, as well as more efficient as a preparatory seminary to the college, and the immediate superintendence of it committed to the Jay professor of the ancient languages, as rector of the grammar school. A junior department has since been added, and the number of instructors increased to eight in the classical, mathematical, and English departments, besides two of modern languages; so that a pupil may be received into the minor department of the grammar school as soon as he can read the English language, and in nine or ten years be conducted upon one uniform system of instruction, through both the preparatory school, and the college, and at the end of that time receive his first degree; or in five or six years he may receive a complete English and mathematical education, including any of the modern languages, so as to fit him for business without entering the college; or he may, if duly qualified, enter either the grammar school or the college at any stage of their respective courses. "The general course of instruction in the college, may be considered as threefold, viz: "1. The full course, including every branch of collegial study, and entitling the successful student to the degree of bachelor of arts. "2. The literary and scientific course, which excludes the study of the ancient languages, but includes that of the modern. To the successful student in this course is given, upon a vote of the board of trustees, a college testimonial, differing but in name and extent, from the academical degree of the full course. "3. The voluntary course, which is intended for graduates and others, who have made some proficiency in learning, and is limited solely by the wishes of parents, or of the applicants themselves, both in regard to extent and duration, and admits, also, of a higher course of instruction in the Greek and Latin languages." The text-books and the general course of instruction do not vary materially from those adopted by the other leading colleges in the United States. Particular attention is given to the subject of constitutional law, under the superintendence of chancellor Kent. "The faculty of the college consist at present of: WILLIAM ALEXANDER DUER, LL. D., President. The Rev. JOHN MCVICKAR, D. D., Professor of Moral, Intellectual, and Political Philosophy, Rhetoric, and the Belles Lettres. NATHANIEL F. MOORE, LL. D., Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages. CHARLES ANTHON, LL. D., Jay Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages; and Rector of the Grammar School. JAMES RENWICK, LL. D., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. HENRY J. ANDERSON, M. D., Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy. JAMES KENT, LL. D., Professor of Law. LORENZO L. DA PONTE, Professor of Italian. The Rev. ANTONIO VERREN, A. M., Professor of French. MARIANO VELASQUEZ DE LA CADENA, LL. D., Professor of Spanish. SCRIPTURAL TESTIMONY, IN RELATION TO MINISTERIAL EDUCATION. THE first important fact, which we learn, is that God has had, in all ages, a distinct class of men for his service. Enoch and Noah were preachers of righteousness. Melchisedek, in his priestly office, was an illustrious type of the Messiah. In the Mosaic economy, an entire tribe was designated to this honorable service. Schools of the prophets were afterwards established, made up probably from the tribe of Levi, and taught in various kinds of theological knowledge by eminent instructors. Under the Christian dispensation, this order of men is re-appointed with new solemnities, and set apart for a more spiritual worship. The ministry of reconciliation is, then, the ordinance of Heaven, unlike all other professions in which men engage. The number of priests or religious teachers was large, compared with the other population. An entire and important tribe was taken by Moses from the children of Israel. The number of males in this tribe, between thirty and fifty years of age, according to the enumeration at Mount Sinai, was 8,580; all of whom were specially devoted to God's service. So that at this time there was an ordained priest or Levite to at least 350 of the remaining population. Our Lord's twelve apostles and seventy disciples were a large number, compared with the entire list of his followers, though doubtless intended, in part, to preach the gospel to their unbelieving countrymen. For the office of teaching and propagating Christianity, there were the apostles, personally consecrated by Christ himself, and witnesses of his sufferings; evangelists or travelling preachers; and pastors and teachers, appointed from the churches themselves. There is no doubt but that the number in all these classes was large, and also that there was, to a considerable extent, a division of labor. The attainment of a considerable age was an indispensable qualification. Moses and Aaron were about eighty when called into public employments. It was ordained that the sons of Levi must be thirty years of age, before they could enter on their work. John, the forerunner of our Lord, and our Lord himself, were about thirty years of age, before they commenced their ministry. A name appropriated by the writers of the New Testament to the early preachers was presbyters, which shows that they had generally attained the full age of adults, or that the first ministers were taken from the elder classes. Paul requires Timothy not to ordain those for bishops who were novices, or lately converted, not having experience and judgment. We may, therefore, conclude, that adult age was an essential qualification in the Jewish and New Testament economies. Great importance was attached to human learning. Why was Moses-the writer of nearly a fourth part of the Old Testament, and the only historian for the first twenty-four hundred years in the history of our earth-learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, then the most enlightened people in the world? Why was not an illiterate man commissioned for this purpose? Why were schools of the prophets early instituted, in which young men could avail themselves, for a number of years, of the instructions and experience of the venerable Samuels and Elishas? Why did the later prophets utter such vehement denunciations against large classes of ignorant and low minded priests, who could not teach and would not learn? Why was the mind of Paul selected as the depository of almost half of the revelations of the New Testament, a mind no less illustrious for original strength and compass, than for the variety and excellence of its acquisitions? No answer can be given to these inquiries, except that it is the general arrangement of Providence to employ the best human agencies for the accomplishment of its purposes. The gospel does not war with genuine philosophy. It is with science falsely so called. In the words of a distinguished modern writer, "Christianity has nothing to fear, but every thing to hope, from the discoveries of science." The Bible further teaches, that the ministry is not to be assumed without serious deliberation and prayer. The instances of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, are full of instruction. Our Saviour spent the whole night in prayer, before he chose his apostles. He also commanded, most authoritatively, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." When Paul and Barnabas were set apart to their great work among the heathen, the church "fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, and sent them away." The above are the main points of instruction which are found in the Scriptures. Great principles, if not minute directions, are there developed, to which we shall do well to take heed. WANTS OF THE WORLD. THE destitution of ministers and missionaries is very great and affecting. The whole world lieth in wickedness. The devil still goes forth as a roaring lion, preying upon unhappy man. At the rate in which the conversion of the world is now going on, the work will occupy one hundred and fifty centuries. Nothing effectual can be done without qualified laborers. The London Missionary Society cannot find them in England. The American Board are now ready to send out to heathen lands the whole annual supply of men, which the American Education Society furnish. Before a sufficient number of missionaries and ministers can be brought into the field, one third part of the pagan world, or two hundred millions of immortal beings, will have gone into eternity without the gospel. Immense, therefore, are the obligations of Christians now on the stage. Great is the responsibility of every young man, who is called to meditate on this momentous subject. Two or three thousand young men ought to enter this year on a course of preparation for the Christian ministry. The fields are white already to the harvest. The dying nations are eagerly stretching out their hands for the bread of life. ever. In our own country, the want of ministers is as great, if not greater, than The efforts for supply, as it would seem, have done little else but lay bare the nakedness of the land. At least one half of the inhabitants of the valley of the Mississippi, have not yet chosen their religion, or determined to which of the Christian denominations they will belong. Two millions of men, in that valley are, therefore, nearly indifferent in respect to the whole subject of religion. There are but 500 Presbyterian ministers, in that valley, on a large calculation. There is commonly estimated to be about 1,300,000 square miles of territory in the valley, and if we suppose 800,000 miles entirely uninhabited, the 500 ministers must occupy 500,000 square miles, or 1,000 square miles each. The destitution in many portions of the southern country is very great. Some parts of New England, in respect to the enjoyment of the means of grace, are retrograde. In the State of Vermont, it is estimated, that one fourth of the population do not attend public worship, on the Sabbath, of any description. This is to be ascribed particularly to the want of ministers. In a single county of that State, containing seventeen towns, there are but five Congregational ministers. The condition of the cities is still more deplorable. In Boston there are, as it is stated, 21,000, and in New York 135,000 people destitute of any religious instruction whatever. Efforts, therefore, altogether unprecedented, must be made for the religious instruction of our countrymen. The subject must be approached in the anxious deliberations of all the pious young men throughout the country. This momentous theme must not be overlooked. The people in our own and other lands are perishing by millions. There is a famine, not of bread, but of hearing the word of God. If a young man consent to allow any considerations of private emolument, or worldly reputation, to deter him from entering on the ministry, will he not show that he loves mammon more than the souls of men, that, pro vided he can be rich in this world's goods, or honorable in the opinion of men, who are living at enmity with God, he is willing that his brethren, for whom Christ died, should perish unpitied and unrescued? Where is his love to his Redeemer? Where is that mind of Christ, which he has declared to be in him? Let him see that he does not betray his trust; that he does not defraud Christ of his own; that he does not subject himself to the bitter imprecations of men, who shall be miserable forever, through his cold neglect and cruel indifference. STATUE OF MEMNON, AT THEBES. THE idea of Memnon does not appear to have originated with the Egyptian priests; nor, indeed, could it, since Memnon was neither an Egyptian, nor the person the colossus represented. This name must have been totally unknown to them; and the Theban, who was asked if the statue was of Memnon, naturally replied in the negative, and informed the inquirer that it was of Amenoph, or Ph'amenoph, his compatriot and an Egyptian monarch. According to Greek or Roman mythology, he was the reputed son of Tithonus and Aurora, names unknown in the Pantheon of Egypt. Strabo mentions it merely as the colossus, and questions the possibility of a stone giving utterance to a sound. The misnomer of Memnon, seems unquestionably to have originated in the ignorance of those strangers, who visited Thebes. The mass of Roman visitors were blinded by a poetical tradition, and the belief of a fancied miracle. The musical sound of Memnon has been variously recorded according to the feelings of writers. Juvenal mentions it as a magic string; and historians, who borrowed the account from enthusiastic travellers, have run into the popular error, and noticed it as a "vocal sound," or the "bursting of a harp-string." Strabo more accurately compares it to the effect of a slight blow. Julia Balilla, who visited it along with the emperor Adrian, recorded the event in a copy of twelve verses, in which she not only compares the sound to the striking of brass, but expressly says that "Memnon emitted this metallic sound a second time," in the presence of the Roman monarch. In 1824, Mr. J. G. Wilkinson, in company with Mr. Burton, ascended to the lap of the statue, where they observed the sonorous quality of a block of fine grit-stone placed immediately over the girdle; and both agreed as to the possibility of still deceiving a traveller, who might be disposed to credit its vocal powers. On a second visit in 1830, Mr. W., placing some peasants below, struck the sonorous block with a small hammer. The peasants, on being asked if they heard any thing, replied, "you are striking brass." The height of the colossus from the base to the top of the head was about sixty feet, and represented, as is concluded, Amenoph III., a Theban or Diospolite monarch, the ninth king of the eighteenth dynasty, being as the Thebans justly observed, not the statue of Memnon, but of their countryman Ph'amenoph. By the accumulation of the alluvial deposit of the Nile, it is now about fifty-three feet above the level of the plain. The 46 VOL. VII. |