The practice of delivering annual discourses on certain important truths or doctrines had long existed in the English Universities; but had not as yet been adopted in Harvard College. It was at length introduced by the Honorable Paul Dudley. This great man died January 25th, 1751;1 leaving by his will to Harvard College, as a "a poor thank-offering to God from his unworthy servant, for his many and great mercies to him in his education at that College," the sum of £133 6s. 8d., lawful money, equivalent to £100 sterling, the interest to be applied to the supporting of an annual lecture, to be preached at the College once every year, upon four subjects, specified in his will: first, upon Natural Religion; second, upon Revealed Religion; third, upon the Corruptions of the Church of Rome; fourth, upon the Validity of Presbyterian Ordination.

"These four lectures are to be held alternately every year in succession."

The person who preaches the last lecture, is "to be a sound, grave, experienced divine, and at least forty years of age"; and the preachers are to "have their stipend or pay given them as soon as may be."

The Trustees are, the President of the College, the Professor of Divinity, the Pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, the Senior Tutor of the College, and the Pastor of the first Church in Roxbury, each of them for the time being.

The third and fourth of these subjects possessed at that day an interest, which they have not retained; and while "our emancipation from Britain set us free from all the fears formerly entertained" of the estab

1 Winthrop's MS. Catalogue.

lishment of Episcopacy upon the ruins of our Congregational system the progress of light and of improvement has long since left nothing to apprehend on the side of Popery.

Agreeably to the will of the founder, as to the person by whom the course should be commenced, President Holyoke delivered the first Dudleian lecture, in the year 1755; but withheld it from the press. The venerable John Barnard of Marblehead, at the age of seventy-five years, delivered the lecture next year, on the subject of Revealed Religion. This sermon was published, and is not unworthy of his high character for talents and learning. A lecture has been preached every year since without interruption; and the list of preachers comprises many of the first divines of Massachusetts. The delivery of the Dudleian Lecture has not been confined to any particular season; though it has most generally taken place in May, which is the time at present fixed upon for that purpose.

The founder of this lecture was one of the most distinguished alumni of this College. He was the oldest son of Gov. Joseph Dudley; was born at Roxbury in 1675, and graduated in 1690. He was afterwards a Tutor in the College. Like his father, he spent his life mostly in the public service, for which, like him also, he was eminently qualified. He was thirty-two years a judge of the Superior Court, about six of which he was Chief Justice. 1

On the bench he shone with uncommon lustre, and "gained the general esteem and veneration of the people." "His knowledge was great in most parts of literature; he was well versed in natural philosophy;

1 Winthrop's MS. Catalogue.

an honorable proof of which was his being a member of the Royal Society. He had thoroughly studied divinity; and in history, both civil and sacred, he had scarce an equal." To all his other accomplishments he added those which are proper to the gentleman and the Christian.1

Such was the character given of him by that great and good man, the Honorable Stephen Sewall, who was his immediate successor in the office of Chief Justice,

"Laudatus a laudato viro. "

Judge Sewall was himself one of the brightest ornaments of Harvard College. He belonged to an illustrious family. His father was the excellent Stephen Sewall, Esq. of Salem; his mother was a daughter of the famous Mr. Mitchel, minister of Cambridge, and he was nephew to Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, of whom we have already spoken. After taking his bachelor's degree, in 1721, he engaged in a business which has occupied the early years of many of our greatest men, that of instructer. He had charge of a grammar school in Marblehead for some time, afterwards returned to Cambridge and was Tutor from 1728 to 1739. So high was his reputation for talents, learning, and all good qualities, that he was advanced from that situation to a seat on the bench of the Superior Court, where he remained till his death, which took place in 1760, to the extreme regret of his friends and of the public. Among his eulogists were two of the greatest divines of the age, his classmate Dr. Chauncy, and Dr. Mayhew, both of whom place him in the first rank of New England worthies.

1 The Character of the late Honorable Judge Dudley, first published in the Boston News-Letter, February 7th, 1751; ascribed by Eliot to Judge Sewall.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE excitement produced in every part of the country, about this period, by Mr. George Whitefield, extended itself to this retreat of the Muses. It was in the year 1740, that this extraordinary itinerant preacher made his first visit to New England. He says in his Journal, "Wednesday, Sept. 24. Went this morning to see and preach at Cambridge, the chief College for training up the sons of the prophets in all New England. It has one President, four Tutors, upwards of one hundred students: It is scarce as big as one of our least Colleges in Oxford; and, as far as I could gather from some who well knew the state of it, not far superior to our Universities in piety and true godliness.- Tutors neglect to pray with and examine the hearts of their pupils. Discipline is at too low an ebb: Bad books are become fashionable amongst them:-Tillotson and Clark are read instead of Sheppard, Stoddard, and such like Evangelical writers, and therefore I chose to preach from those words, We are not as many who corrupt the Word of God: And in the conclusion of my sermon I made a close application to Tutors and Students." 1

His idea of "our Universities," that is, of those of England, may be gathered from his account of them

I Whitefield's Journal at New England, p. 55.

in his Journal at Williamsburg, Dec. 15, 1739, "Most of our English Schools and Universities," says he, "are sunk into mere Seminaries of Paganism."

This effusion of fanatic spleen against the College, does not seem to have afforded him any relief; his imagination went on teeming, till the 19th of October, when it produced this monstrous figment; "As for the Universities [Harvard and Yale Colleges], I believe it may be said, Their light is now become darkness, — darkness that may be felt; and is complained of by the most godly ministers."

In order rightly to appreciate the justice of his remarks, it should be recollected, that the Colleges shared his vituperations in common with the great body o the New England clergy.

After such a picture of the College, we should hardly expect to find in the records of this Society an almost contemporaneous account of its religious state, like the following:

"June 4, 1741. The Committee of the Overseers chosen to make inquiry into the state of the College, &c. make the following report: That having met this day in the Library, and made inquiry into the state of the College, of the President, Fellows, Professors, and Tutors, we find that of late extraordinary and happy impressions of a religious nature have been made on the minds of great numbers of the students, by which means the College is in better order than usual, and the exercises of the Professors and Tutors better attended, &c. Whereupon it is earnestly recommended [by the Overseers] to the President and Tutors, Professors and Instructors, by personal application to the students under such impressions, and by other suitable methods, to encourage and promote this good work."