Address delivered to the graduates of the South Carolina College, December 1821.
Gentlemen,
YOU are now about to quit the precincts of the
College, and to enter upon the commerce of the world. Your education is
supposed to be finished; in reality it is about to commence. The roads
that lead to knowledge useful and ornamental, have been pointed out to
you; but we can only put you on the path: we have done so; and you must
now pursue it for yourselves.
Before you leave this institution finally, it
becomes my duty in compliance with established custom, to offer you a
few words of parting advice; which I shall do with great plainness and
sincerity, leaving the present and future’ effect of them, to depend on
their intrinsic value. I am perfectly aware, that some of the opinions I
am about to deliver, will by no means meet your cordial approbation: be
it so: I am only solicitous to give you fairly and honestly the
practical result of my own observation and long experience: the time
was, when I thought as I presume you think now: the time will probably
arrive, when you also will adopt the sentiments I am about to deliver.
And first, it is usual to exhort you strenuously,
to cultivate the religious part of your education, and to bear in
constant remembrance the obligations you are under, and the duties you
owe to Almighty God, your creator, preserver, and benefactor.
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