An Address Delivered Before the Washington and Franklin Literary Societies of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, at the Eighth Annual Commencement, September 20, 1843 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from An Address Delivered Before the Washington and Franklin Literary Societies of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, at the Eighth Annual Commencement, September 20, 1843 In an age like the present, I presume it may be safely affirmed, that the improvement of the mind, is the noblest of all employments. Until that immortal principle loses its control over brute matter, and men cease to sigh after happiness, no murmur, but one of approbation, shall attend the assent yielded to such a doctrine. The effects of the minds expansion upon the individual man, as well as upon his social condition, are recorded in the history of the past in letters of light. From what source, if not from this, come his dignity and importance? Why, if not on this account, do his pleasures exceed so vastly, both in number and degree, those of other animals of the creation? Wherein is he more exalted and more happy, than those who have preceded him on the stage of life, and now sleep in death, - but in the results produced by his own mighty intellect? This is true of man as mortal, of him as immortal, the same truth may be spoken with emphasis. Whatever a false philosophy may assert, it cannot be that the mind, here enlarged and cultivated almost to the extent of its powers, shall in that other state of being to which we hasten, take its place among the meanest of its fellows, and be compelled to start afresh in the pursuit of knowledge. The idea is absurd and delusive. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.