INCLUDING LETTERS, AND SELECT REMAINS, OF JOHN URQUHART, LATE OF THE University of St. Audrew's. BY WILLIAM ORME. “Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit."-Horat Carm. -“What though short thy date? VOL. II. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 47, Washington Street, 182, Broadway. 1828 CONTENTS. John's return home at the end of his Third Session 11 Letter respecting his going to some of the Dissenting ib. Letter illustrative of his state of mind His employments during the Vacation Mr. Adam's Account of him at this time Address to the St. Andrew's University Miss. Society 62 Remarks on the Opposition of his Friends to his Testimonies to his Literary Attainments Mr. Alexander's Account of him Letter to his Mother in reference to his becoming a Address to a Society of Young Men Extracts from various Letters to Mr. Scott Moncreiff, 148 Letter to the Rev.John Burnett Address to his Class of Young Men Letter to his Afflicted Friend On Fiction as a medium of Religious Instruction The commencement of his last Illness Letter from Mr. Ewing to his Father Letter from Mrs. Ewing to the same Letter from Mrs. Ewing, giving an account of his Letter from Miss Cathcart on the same subject Letter from Dr. Chalmers to his Father Lines addressed to John by a Friend Concluding Observations on his Character and Death, 230 MEMOIRS. There are a few things which put the character and principles of a young man more to the test than a classical and university education. He who passes through this ordeal unhurt, has reason to bless the gracious and powerful influences of the Divine Spirit. I do not refer at present to the levity of youth, and to the snares of those associations which belong to the state of society in colleges and classical schools. The danger of infection from the moral atmosphere is, indeed, great. But there are dangers of a different kind, arising out of the studies which chiefly engross the attention, and their powerful, but unperceived influence upon the mind. The investigations of philology and grammar, though important in themselves, and absolutely necessary as the basis of all correct knowledge, are dry, and often tiresome. The memory is loaded with words and forms of expression, which tend no doubt, to exercise and strengthen it; but do not tend much to the moral benefit of the mind. When from these the scholar passes on to the more elegant studies of the Greek and Roman Classics, or even to the polite literature of our own country, how little does he find at all calculated to promote his spiritual welfare? This is not saying enough, how much does he meet with, the tendency of which is positively injurious? The fasci |