his desire, in granting a charter to this university. Mr. Mather now reassuming the quality of President over the colledge, which in his absence had flourished for divers years, under the prudent government of two tutors, Mr. John Leveret and Mr. William Bruttle, he does to this day continue his endeavours to keep alive that river, the streams whereof have made glad this city of God. Unto this brief recitation of occurrences relating to the colledge, I shall only annex a few passages, used by Mr. Mather when he gave the degrees, at the first commencement after his arrival; because they are expressive of things purely academical: “Gradus academicus est honor ob virtutem potissimum intellectualem, merentibus, collatus: estque baccalaureatus, magisterium, ac doctoratus. Doctoratus in Nostro Athenæo plane ignotus; et quod supra nos, nihil ad nos. De verâ nomenis baccalaurei notatione, inter peritissimos ambigitur. Nonnulli verbum à baculo, derivari volunt; unde scholastici hanc baccalaurei descriptionem formarunt baccalaureus est persona habens dignitatem bajulandi; baculum, premovibilis in magistrum. Ridiculum animal baccalaureus sit oportet, si hæc definitio, suo definito per omnia quadraret! A Baccâ laurus vocem desumi verisimilius est; caveant artem baccalaurei, ne laureolos, in mastaceo quærant. Ad magisterii gradum quod attinet, eo decorari solent, qui absoluto liberalium artium studio, istá laureâ se dignos præbent. Magister artium, in quibsudam academiis philosophiæ doctor audit: sic apud Belgas, et sic etiam, ni fallor, apud nonnullos Germanos; quamvis Anglis, Gallis, Hispanis, Italis, Polonis, iste titulus sit ignotis. De antiquitate et utilitate graduum academicorum, multi multa scripserunt; præ cæteris, Altingius et Conringius. Honos alit artes. Ea quidem virtutis perfectio est, ut propter se expecti debeat; ea tamen est humani ingenii perversitas, quòd nisi honoribus erigantur artes, neglectui habentur. Vix facilè invenies multis in millibus unum, "De jure conferendi academicos honores, juvenis doctissimus Christianus, Itterus, librum pereruditum nuper edidit: atque alterum de jure erigendi academias, Zeiglerus publici juris fecit. Mitto Rotmarum, qui collegia corpora ecclesiastica esse vult ac igitur pro academiis non habenda, quæ privilegiis pontificiorum non sunt donatæ. Jus constituendi academias, omnibus et solis, qui rò xùpiov habent in republica tribuitur. Oggeret forsan aliquis, si hæc protestas inter regalia numeretur, quid Novanglia cum academia? Quid Cantabrigia Novanglorum cum gradu academico? Ejusmodi objectores sciant velim, nostram academiam regis auctoritate jam firmatam et munilam esse. Notius est quam ut meâ narratione egeat, quòd non solùm summæ potestates, sed alii, eorum nomine, hos honores dispersiant, quòd, exempli gratiâ, in imperio Romano Germanico, Archiduces Austria, etiam et comites Palatini; quodque in fœderato Belgio, singuli ordines, in unaquaque provincia, hanc potestatem habeant et exerceant. Imo, et Rex ipse magnus Gulielmus, magna Britannia imperator, mihi dicere dignitatus est, se sat scire, quòd apud suos in Novanglià subditos esset academia; quæ academia (aiebat delicium humani generis, rez noster polentissimus) mihi erit in gratia. Quid verbis regis gratiosius esse poterit! Deindè verò summa provinciâ Massachusettensis curia, gubernator senatus, populusque Nov-Anglicanus, collegium Harvardinum, academiam, cum auctoritate conferendi grudus pro more academiarum Angliæ nominârunt et instituerunt. Adsunt denique illustres duumviri: D. Gulielmus Phipsius, hujus territorii gubernator amplissimus, regis mandato delegatus; nec non D. Gulielmus Stoughtonus, pro-gubernator, Mæcenas noster æternam honorandus; quos equidem tanquam cancellarium et vice-cancellarium, hujus academiæ veneror, animo, menteque suspicio. Hæc cum ista se habeant, ad gradus academicos sine morâ, ac solito more, cur non procederemus, nullus video.”* § 7. At the commencement, it has been the annual custom for the batchelors to publish a sheet of theses, pro virili defendendæ,† upon all or most of the liberal arts; among which they do, with a particular character, distinguish those that are to be the subjects of the public disputations then before them; and those theses they dedicate, as handsomely as they can, to the persons of quality, but especially to the governour of the province, whose patronage the colledge would be recommended unto. The masters do, in an half sheet, without any dedication, publish only the questions, pro modulo discutienda,‡ which they propose either affirmatively or nega * A collegiate degree is an honour, conferred on those whose intellectual merits entitle them to it, and is either a Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctor's. The last are altogether ignored in our institutions of learning; for what is too bigh for us, is of course of no value to us. The true etymology of the term "baccalaureate," is still in dispute. Some trace its derivation from baculum, “a staff,” and define a bachelor, as, “a person having the prerogative of beating others-holding the staff-a degree antecedent to that of Master." A Bachelor of Arts would be a ridiculous creature, if this definition should hold good throughout. It is more probable that the word is taken from bacca laurus (berry of the laurel). Let the Bachelors beware lest they look for their berries on the mock-laurel. As for the Master's degree, those usually receive its honours, who by strict application to liberal studies prove themselves worthy of that distinction. A Master of Arts, in some instances, is styled a Doctor of Philosophy; it is so in Belgium, and also, if I mistake not, in some parts of Germany; although that title is unknown in England, France, Spain, Italy, and Poland. Many writers, chief among whom are Alting and Conringius, have discussed the antiquity and usefulness of academic degrees. Honour promotes learning. It is indeed the perfection of virtue, that it deserves to be cultivated for its own sake; yet such is the perversity of human nature, that, unless stimulated by hopes of distinction, we disregard the claims of learning. Few trust the creed--though some in words accord-- That virtue is her own, her best reward. A young Christian, Itter, has lately written a very learned work on the right of conferring academic degrees; and Zeigler has given to the public another concerning the right to establish institutions of learning. I say nothing of Rotmar, who wishes colleges to be classed as ecclesiastical bodies, and not be treated therefore as academies, which are not endowed with the privileges of the priesthood. The right of establishing colleges is reserved to all those, and to those only, who hold the sovereignty in the State. And perhaps some one would here suggest, if this prerogative is one of sovereignty, what has New-England to do with colleges? What has the New-England Cambridge to do with academic degrees? I would have such objectors understand that our college is now established and confirmed by royal authority. It is too notorious to need any statement from me, that not only the sovereign power, but others, in the sovereign's name, dispense these honours, as for instance, as in Catholic Germany, the archdukes of Austria, and even the Counts Palatine: and as in the Belgian confederation, every rank, and that too in every province, exercises this right. Yes, and even the great William, King of the British Empire, conde scended to say to me, that he well understood that there was a college among his New-England subjects: "which college" (added that ornament of human nature, our mighty sovereign,) “I shall hold in special favour." What could be more gracious than the royal words! Then indeed did the high court of the Province of Massachusetts, the governor, the senate and the people of New-England name and establish Harvard as a college, with the authority to confer degrees after the manner of the English Universities. Finally, it received the countenance of an illustrious duümvirate-Mr. William Phips, the most august governor of this territory, and Mr. William Stoughton, ex-governor, ever to be honored as our Mæcenas, whom indeed I revere as the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of this institution, and to whom I look up with profound esteem. When such is the state of things, I see no reason why we should not continue our academic degrees without hesitation and in the usual manner. + Propositions, to be defended with all the disputant's ability. ‡ Questions to be discussed according to the part assigned to the disputant. tively to maintain as respondents, in the disputations which are by them to be managed. They that peruse the theses of the batchelors of later years published, will find that though the Ramæan discipline be in this college preferred unto the Aristotelean, yet they do not so confine themselves unto that neither, as to deprive themselves of that libera philosophia, which the good spirits of the age have embraced, ever since the great Lord Bacon show'd 'em the way to "the advancement of learning:" but they seem to be rather of the sect, begun by Potamon, called exλEXTIXO,† who, adhering to no former sect, chose out of them all what they lik'd best in any of them: at least, I am sure, they do not show such a veneration for Aristotle as is express'd at Queen's Colledge in Oxford; where they read Aristotle on their knees, and those who take degrees are sworn to defend his philosophy. A Venetian writer pretends to enumerate no less than twelve thousand volumes published in the fourteenth age, about the philosophy of Aristotle; none of ours will add unto the number. For this let the learned reader accept the excuse which their present president, in one of his orations, at the close of their exercises, has helpt us unto: “Mihi quidem maximè arridet, quòd vos qui estis in artibus liberalibus initiati, liberum philosophandi modum, potius quam peripateticissimum sapere videmini. Nullus addubito quin Cl. Gassendi exercitationes vobis non sunt ignotæ, in quibus, quòd apud Aristotelem multa deficiant, multa superfluant, multa fallant, pluribus ostendit. Tritum est illud, qui non vult intelligi debet negligi; nonnulla autem in libris Aristotelis nemo mortalium potest intelligere. Fertur itaque de Hermolao barbaro, quòd Dæmonem ab inferis excitaverit, ut quid Aristoteles per suam ¿vr¬λéXav voluit, exponeret. En egregium Aristotelis interpretem! Quam plurima in ejus scriptis, authoris paganismum redolent: mundum facit increatum: mortuorum resurrectionem possibilem negat; animam mortalem. Nonnulli Pyrrhonem, qui fuil pater Scepticorum: alii Zenonem, qui fuit pater Stoicorum; multi Platonem qui fuit pater Academicorum, Aristoteli præferunt. Vos autem quibus liberè philosophari contigit, in nullius jurare verba magistri, estis addicti :. ast unicum Aristotelis dictum verè aureum, memoriâ teneatis: amicus Plato, amicus Socrates (addo ego amicus Aristoteles) sed magis amica veritas."‡ They likewise which peruse the questions published by the masters, will find, that as these now and then presume to fly as high as divinity, so their divinity is of that reformed stamp which carries as frequent confuta Liberal philosophy. + Eclectics. It is a subject of great gratification to me, that you, who have been initiated in liberal studies, have adopted a liberal mode of philosophizing, instead of floating about from school to school, as if you were literally Peripatetics. I doubt not that the essays of Gassendi are familiar to you; in which he demonstrates that many of Aristotle's positions are deficient-others, carried to extremes-others still, fallacious. It is a trite remark, that the writer who cannot be understood, ought to be thrown aside; yet there are some things in Aristotle which no human being can comprehend. Wherefore it is alleged of Hermolaus, an Asiatic, that he exorcised a spirit from hell, to explain to him what Aristotle meant by his entelecheia (active development of the faculties). Certainly, an imp would be a fine interpreter of Aristotle! How much that he has written is redolent of the heathenism of its author! He represents the world as uncreated; denies the possibility of a resurrection from the dead and the immortality of the soul. To Aristotle some prefer Pyrrho, founder of the Skeptics, Zeno, founder of the Stoics, Plato, the founder of the Academicians. But you, who are accustomed to philosophize in a liberal spirit, are pledged to the formulas of no master: and you should moreover remember that one truly golden sentiment of Aristotle: “Find a friend in Plato, a friend in Socrates," (and I say, a friend in Aristotle,) "but be sure, above all, to find a friend in truth." tions of Arminianism with it as are possible: herein condemning those Protestant universities, abroad in the world, which have not preserved the glorious doctrines of grace in such purity, as that great party among the Romanists themselves, which go under the name of Jansenists. But for this also let their present president be accountable, whose orations at the end of their exercises have uttered such passages as these unto them: "Gravis illa fuit profundi doctoris querela, totum pene mundum post Pelagium in errorem abire. Causa in promptu est; nam propter Adæ, et in eo peccantis humani generis, naufragium, mortales prout res sint, nec sentiunt, nec judicant. Toti, toli, quanti quantique sunt, a bono et vero aversi, conversi ad malum et errorem. Pela gianismus itaque homini in statu lapso naturalis est, nec unquam sic avelli potesquòd non iterum, tanquam infelix Lolium, in fundo naturæ corruptæ exoriatort Videmus Papistas, Socianistas, nec non Arminii sequaces, Pelagii de liberi arbitri. viribus, virus absorbentes ac devorantes; tametsi eorum error, non tantum ab Augusi tino, jamdudum, et a Luthero, in libro insigni cui titulus est, de servo arbitrio, sed etiam ab innumeris hujus seculi viris perquam eruditis, refutatur. Sed facessat jam Arminianismus, cum sit neo-pelagianismus. Mihi in mentem venit anagramma, sive ingeniosa nominis Arminii interpretatio, ex literarum trajectione. Jacobus Arminius, avay paμμarıļoμévos est, vani orbis amicus; at nobis ergo non sit amicus. Habemus autem in Amyraldo, Arminium redivivum; parùm enim, aut nihil afferunt Amyraldistiæ, quos Novatores et Methodistas vocant, nisi quæ ab Arminianis acceperunt, uti multis Cl. Molienus evicit. Facessant igitur Novatores, et in nostra academia, nec vola, nec vestigium Arminianismi unquam inveniatur. In quantum verò inceptores nostri veram contrà Arminianismum sententiam pro virili propugnârunt, eos laureâ dignos habeamus.”* And now, I hope that the European churches of the faithful will cast an eye of some respect upon a little university in America, recommended by the character that has been thus given of it. Certainly they must be none but enemies to the reformation, the sons of Edom, (which the Jewish Rabbins very truly tell us is the name of Rome in the Sacred Oracles,) that shall say of such an university, "rase it! rase it!" § 8. But our account of Harvard College will be rendered more complete, * It was a grievous complaint of a far-famed scholar, that almost the whole world had run after Pelagius into error. The reason is manifest: for on account of the fall of Adam, and of our sinful race through him, men, as things go, neither think nor judge. All, all are averse to truth and goodness, and inclined to evil and to error. Pelagianism is therefore natural to man in his fallen state, nor can it ever be so effectually rooted out, but that, like the noxious tare, it will spring up again in the soil of a corrupt nature. We see Papists, Socinians, even Arminians, swallowing and consuming the poison of Pelagius concerning the power of free will: although their error was utterly refuted centuries ago by Augustine, and in later times by Luther, in that famous work, entitled The Will not Free, and also by innumerable other able writers of the present century. But let Arminianism go, since it is nothing but Neo-Pelagianism. An anagram occurs to me, which, by a transposition of letters, becomes an ingenious definition of the word Arminius: Jacobus Arminius, anagrammatized, becomes vani orbis amicus (a friend of the vain world): for that very reason, let him not be our friend! We find also in the word Amyraldus, Arminius redivivus (Arminius, restored to life): for the followers of Amyrault, sometimes called New Schoolmen and Methodists, profess little or nothing but what they have learned from the Arminians, as the renowned Molienus has convincingly shown by numerous proofs. Let then the New Schoolmen go, and let no speck or trace of Arminianism be ever found in our institution. But let our young disputants be accounted worthy of the laurel in proportion to the energy with which they vindicate the truth from the assaults of Arminianism. if we do here transcribe the laws of it; which laws, now, Reader, do bespeak thy patience; STATUTA, LEGES, ET PRIVILEGIA, A PRESIDE ET SOCIIS, COLLEGII HARVARDINI, APUD CATABRIGIENSES IN NOVÀ ANGLIÀ, APPROBATA ET SANCITA; QUIBUS SCHOLARES SIVE STUDENTES, ET ADMISSI ET ADMITTENDI, AD LITERAS ET BONOS MORES, PROMOVENDUM, SUBJICERE TENENTUR. 1. Cuicunque fuerit peritia legendi Ciceronem, aut quemvis alium ejusmodi classicum autorem ex tempore et congruè loquendi ac scribendi latinè facultas, oratione tam solutâ quàm ligatâ, suo (ut aiunt) marte, et adunquam inflectendi Græcorum nominum, et verborum paradigmata; hic admissionem in collegium jure potest expectare: quicunque vero destitutus fuerit hâc peritiâ, admitionem sibi neutiquam vindicet. 2. Quicunque in collegium admittuntur, iidem etiam contubernio excipiendi sunt; et unusquisque scholarium œconomo tres libras, cum hospitio accipitur, numerabit; eidem ad finem cujusque trimestris quod debitum erit, solvet: nec licet ulli academico, nondum gradu ornato, convictum extra collegium quærere, nisi veniâ impetratâ à præside, aut suo tutore. Si quis autem hanc præsidis aut tutoris indulgentiam obtinebit, consuetudinem usitatam, fideliter observabit; sin autem aliquis a collegio decedendo, privatam institutionem quæsierit; copiâ à præside, vel a tutoribus illi non factâ, nullo privilegio academico patietur. 3. Dum hic egerint, tempus studiosè redimunto; tam communes omnium scholarium horas, quam suis prælectionibus destinatas, observando. 4. Unusquisque scholarium exercitia omnia scholastica et religiosa, tam publica quam privata, sibi propria præstabit. Adhuc in statu pupillari degentes, sexies quotannis rostra oratoria ascendent. Unaquâque septimanâ bis disputationibus publicis sophistræ interesse debent: cum baccalaurei tum sophistæ, analysin in aliquam S. literarum partem, instituent: baccalaurei singulis semestribus, publicè quæstiones philosophicas sub presidis moderamine discutient: absente vero præside, duo seniores tutores moderatoris partes alternatim agent. 5. Ne quis sub quovis prætextu, hominum, quorum perditi ac discincti sunt mores, consuetudine utitor. 6. Nemo in statu pupillari degens, nisi concessà priùs a præside, vel a tutoribus, veniâ ex oppido exeat: nec quisquam, cujuscunque gradûs aut ordinis fuerit, tabernas aut diversoria, ad comessandum, aut bibendum, accedat, nisi ad parentes, curatores, nutricios, aut hujusmodi, accersitus fuerit. 7. Nullus scholaris, nullo parentum curatorum aut tutorum approbante, quidquam emito, vendito, aut commutato; qui autem secùs fecerit, a præside aut tutore, pro delicti ratione mulctabitur. 8. Omnes scholares a vestibus, quæ fastum aut luxum præ se ferunt, abstineant; nec ulli studenti extra limites academiæ, sine toga, tunica, vel penula, exire liceat. 9. Omnis scholaris non graduatus, solo cognomine vocetur, nisi sit commensalis, aut equitis primogenitus, vel insigni genere natus. 10. Omnis commensalis, quinque libras in perpetuum academiæ usum solvet, priusquam in collegium admittatur. 11. Unusquisque scholaris in statu pupillari degens, tutori suo duas libras, at si commensalis, tres libras, per annum dinumerare tenebitur. 12. Nulli ex scholaribus senioribus, solis tutoribus et collegii sociis exceptis, recentem sivè juniorem, ad itinerandum, aut ad aliud quodvis faciendum, minis, verberibus, vel aliis verbis impellere licebit. Et siquis non graduatus in hanc legem peccaverit, castigatione corporali, expulsione, vel aliter, prout præsidi cum sociis, visum fuerit punietur. 13. Scholares, cujuscunque conditionis, a lusu alearum vel chartarum pictarum, nec non ab omni lusus genere, in quo de pecuniâ concertatur, abstineant, sub pœnâ viginti solidorum toties, quoties, si sit graduatus; vel aliter, pro arbitrio præsidis et tutoris, si non sit graduatus. 14. Siquis scholarium a præcibus, aut prælectionibus abfuerit, nisi neccssitate coactus, aut præsidis aut tutoris nactus veniam; admonitioni, aut aliusmodi, pro præsidis aut tutoris, prudentiâ, pana, si plus quam semel in Hebdomade peccaverit, erit obnoxius. 15. Nullus scholaris quâvis de causâ (nisi præmonstrata et approbata præsidi et tutori suo) à |