Farewell to the First Congregational Church in Norwalk, Conn. (bound with other addresses)

But from what quarter are the missionaries to be furnished for that vast field ? "Who are to take the places of those who have already been sent out, when these shall be dead ? What would have be- come of New England, when the first ministers and other educated men who came from the mother country died out, had not our fathers with such ad- mirable fo,recast founded their institutions of learn- ing ? Without these the glory of New England, as well as the prosperity and stability of our country, could not have been. All that our fathers toiled for would have been lost. And now who are to take the places of the missionaries who have been sent out, when these are dead ? Who are to supply the amazing wants of that field in coming years ? Already have we reached a point where the East can no longer supply the present demand for the ministry in the West. If it could do so, western men trained in the West would be more serviceable. And certain it is, that western men, educated or uneducated, — or perhaps educated by papists or in- fidels, or by those who are indifferent or hostile to religion, — are henceforth to mould the character, 22 and wield the power and destinies of that great West. What shall we do for the West, to save it for Christ ; to enlist its mighty energies for coming time, in the cause of truth and salvation ? Preach the Gospel there, say you ? Plant there the insti- tutions' of religion ? Yes : but where are the minis- ters to he raised up for the next hundred, or even for the next twenty years ? It is true that the several States will do something for Colleges. But ,the States wiU not, and cannot, care for the interests of religion. , It is already decided, — ^freedom de- mands it — that whatever pertains to religion is to be cared for voluntarily by the people in their do- mestic capacity, and not by the State. We cannot alter thi$ without giving up our liberties. We can- not alter this without running the hazard that Popery or Infidelity may in time be the established religion of the state. If we care for the future interests of religion ia the West, we must look to it ourselves, and trust not to the States. Given, then, a certain work to be done, — ^to plant the institutions of religion in that land, and to provide for their permanence,---^we might well, not only bear the ex- pense, but pay for the privilege, of instructing the young, of moulding the mass of educated mind, of training not only the ministers, but the physicians, the lawyers, the teachers, the legislators, and judges of the land. It is no objection, but an immense advantage, that the Colleges which we aid in sus- taining, educate n'ot the ministers alone, but train with them the men destined to fill the other profes- sions, and mould their minds under the same genial 23 influences. Let tlie state train all these in institu- tions from wHcli sectarian, or infidel prejudices sliall exclude all tlie moulding influences of religion, and how disastrous must be the resiiltdn the next gene- ration! Infidels and demagogues wiir love to take this, whole work out of your hands. Rome will be extremely glad to be allowed to supply that whole field with institutions of learning.. Willingly will she furnish all possible facilities for training our children and our children's children who may emi- grate to that field. And then she will rule the field, which, whoever governs, will in the next century govern our country and govern the world. But plant suitable Protestant institutions of learning, and the , experiment has proved, as often as it has been tried, that the institutions which fetter the mind and chain the conscience can never compete with them. Fail to do this ; let Rome preoccupy the field, and the time may come when,, even in New England, there may be no longer freedom to read the Bible or to worship God. Will any one say, Send missionaries, plant Churches, but leave them to see to the institutions of learning ? This the missionaries and Christians at the West are endeavoring to do. They feel that the salvation of their Churches, and that the cause of truth and freedom in that land, depends upon their success in these efforts. But the people are not ho- mogeneous nor of one mind, that they may, like the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, unite their ener- gies for the promotion of learning and religion. The friends of truth are scattered and feeble. The diffi- 24 culties of a new settlement in a new country press hard upon them, and must overwhelm them in their efforts for this work, unless they have aid. With great sacrifices on the part of the men engaged in these institutions, and on the part of the western ministers and Churches, a few of their Colleges had struggled for life, and would have died, but for the timely aid of this Society. By this aid some of them lived tni their friends at the West were able to take the burden, and now mainly by western liberality, they are endowed. Some are still struggling for life, and without aid continued for some time longer, they cannot live. It seems therefore necessary, to the completion and carying out of the work of Home Missions, to help our brethren of the West in sus- taining, for a season, the institutions which are not only to add immensely to the results of Home Mis- sions, but which are indispensable to secure the fruits of all these labors, and to render th6m permanent. This, and this alone, is the work of the Society for the promotion of Collegiate and Theological Edu- cation at the West : not to furnish these institutions with an endowment, but to aid them till the friends of education and religion in the West shall be able to sustain them ; and leave their further support or their endowment to their hands. Something ought now to be said with regard to the Society for the promotion of these objects. It arose from the necessities of the case. When these necessities shall cease, then the work of the Society is done, and the Society will die. In that wide field of the West, colleges and seminaries were springing up 25 in great numbers ; more than were needed ; more than could be sustained. Many institutions were commenced without counting the cost. They could not hope to live a year without aid. Immediately, agents came from every part of the West. Our Churches were beset with innumerable applicants. Many of these^ applicants collected scarcely enough to pay the expense of their agencies. Sums were collected large in the aggregate, but being divided into innumerable parcels, were frittered away and lost. One after another of these hastily projected institutions died. The friends of education at the West were discouraged. The charities of the East, under such a system, dried up. The more import- ant and indispensable seminaries at the West began to despair. Then this Society was formed ; that, by selecting a suitable number of institutions in the right locations, and formed under right auspices ; by restoring confidence to the Eastern Churches, and inspiring courslge among the friends of education at the West, these selected institutions might live, till the Churches around them should be so far establish- ed as to be able to rally for their support. The effortTias already been crowned with eminent success. Several institutions of incalculable value have been saved, when, otherwise, all would have fallen into one indiscriminate ruin. The mischiefs which must have resulted from such a catastrophe cannot be told. They could not have been repaired in centuries. In saving these institutions, a work has been done of incalculable importance to our country and to the world. The Western Eeserve, 26 Marietta, Wabash, and Illinois Colleges and Lane Senainary have been saved. Some of them are al- ready beyond the necessity of Eastern aid. Knox College, Wittemberg College, the College at Beloit and that at Davenport in Iowa, and the Seminary of the German Evangelical Conference of the "West in Missouri, have been added to the list of institu- tions receiving aid. The last year I stood at the door of the College in Davenport, which overlooks a prospect of unlimited extent in Iowa and Illinois, along the valley of the Rock river, and of the Missis- sippi ; a prospect of beauty and richness scarcely to be surpassed. I cannot tell the thoughts that came crowding in my mind, as I contemplated the work which that institution is destined to accomplish for the many thousands of people that are eventually to cover the plains and valleys spread out in prospect from its site. I thought of the cheerful spires, the prosperous towns and villages, the plentiful farms, that are to cover these plains. I thought of the ' missionaries and pastors, of the laborers in the de- partments of medicine and law, of the teachers, and thejegislators who are yet to proceed from that in- fant College. I asked myself. Can the Eastern Churches afford to let it languish and die ? No, not for a thousand times the amount that it will require to make it live and prosper to the end of time ! Let me say something also of another of the Col- leges aided by this Society ; that of the German Evangelical Conference of the West. Some sixteen years ago, one who is now among the directors of this Society, — seeing the immense influx of Germans 27 who were as sheep without a shepherd, — took meas- ures, in connection with a few friends, to procure, through the late lamented Mr. Gallaudet, two evan- gelical missionaries from the Missionary Seminary in Basle in Europe. They came, and have labored with patient and unwearied devotion with great suc- cess, and with the warm approval of all the Ameri- can pastors arid Churches who have been conversant with them and with their labors. Others have come to their aid, till they now number more than thirty evangelical ministers, and twice as many Churches, on a basis of faith and order very nearly resembling that of the Churches of Connecticut. Nearly all these ministers are supported by their congregations with- out Home Missionary aid. They assured me that if they had suitable men, they could at once place fifty in fields where nearly all would be sustained by the people who should receive the benefit of their labors. They suppose that there are two hundred thousand Germans- in Missouri, and the number is rapidly increasing : many of whom are earnestly desiring a pure Gospel, and longing for some one to break to them the bread of life. But such laborers are not to be found. Under these circumstances the Conference has erected the Seminary, to train up laborers for that wide arid promising field. Should they have done otherwise ? Ought they not to be . encouraged and sustained? It was my privilege to meet some of their pastors, to visit some of them at their homes, to enter some of their Churches, and to pass over the rich rolling prairies, and through the . forests that border the Missouri to their seminary in 28