A Decade of Addresses, Delivered to the Senior Classes of Bowdoin College (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1830 edition. Excerpt: ...is the love of God to be expressed? What are the indications and proofs of this supreme affection to the Father of excellence and glory? Surely, it is not expressed by a forgetfulness of God, --by a regardlessness of his claims, --by a blindness of mind, which fails to perceive the operation of his hand in the diversified displays of divine wisdom and power. If the heavens manifest his glory, and the earth in all its extent bears deeply stamped upon it the characters of the godhead;--then, to gaze upon the orbs of light, planted thick in the immensity of space, or to survey any of the innumerable forms of earthly existence without sentiments of awe and admiration, directed towards the great Creator of all things, is withholding from him the homage of the heart, which is most justly his due. If he spreads over us every day the shield of his protection against the innumerable and thickly flying shafts of the destroyer;--then to walk abroad in the pride of our heart, imagining, that our life is exposed to no hazards, and needs and experiences no defence from our heavenly Benefactor, is not to love God, but is to neglect and overlook Him. Nor can our hearts be under the influence of the first principle of religion, if the daily supplies of our animal nature, the elasticity of health, the harmony of our complicate but well-tuned system, the i. delights of social intercourse, and the joys of our intellectual being do not constantly remind us of our obligations to that gracious hand, which scatters blessings along our path. It cannot be necessary to say, that the soul must be entirely destitute of the love of God, when his authority is contemned, --when his commandments, are violated, --when his blessed name is dishonored by the language of profaneness an