The course of Sunday lectures at Horticultural Hall opened in January
closes to-day. They have proved a brilliant success. Each speaker
has attracted, besides the body of steady attendants, his personal
friends, thus varying the audiences from Sunday to Sunday, and giving
an example of varied teaching unprecedented in our time. The reports
of these discourses, imperfect as they are, deserve preservation. They
have relation to the drift of thinking in our New-England community
especially, and are of historical importance. If not accepting all
that has been spoken on this platform by the successive speakers,
one may take a hearty interest in these adventures into the world of
thought and duty; nor can any who have attended steadily from Sunday
to Sunday question their serving a religious need of the time. The
views of persons, distinguished as are most of the speakers, are not
insignificant, since these are not among the least of the influences
secretly, if not openly, moulding the manners and institutions of a
community in which the thoughts and aims of the humblest individuals
have weight, and the young are so eager to learn of their thoughtful
elders.
When I recollect the ardor with which I sought the acquaintance of
those whom I imagined had ideas to communicate, and my delight in such
when found, I am led to think how very desirable were an institution to
which young students might resort during such portion of the year as
might be most convenient, to enjoy the fellowship of some of our most
cultivated persons,--scholarships being provided for such as had not
the means of defraying the necessary expenses,--thus enabling bright
young men and women, whether college graduates or not, to complete what
colleges do not give. Not every student comes into that intellectual
sympathy with his professor, which renders instruction most enjoyable,
yet without which the highest ends of culture are not attained. With
a faculty composed of persons whose names a moment's thought will
suggest, opportunities would be given for that sympathetic communion of
mind with mind in which all living instruction and influence consist.