Excerpt from The Inaugural Address of the Rev. R. H. Morrison, D. D: Pronounced at His Inauguration as President of Davidson College, North Carolina, August 2, 1838 The station which we are called to Occupy in your presence, determines the theme upon which we are to address you. It is well for civilized society, that the importance of education depends upon no incidental causes, and cannot, therefore, be exhausted by frequent and thorough examination. The more fully its claims to public attention are considered, the more generally will they be regarded as just and reasonable. The more widely its blessings are diffused, the more highly will their value be appreciated. Possessing, as we do, intellectual and moral powers capable of the highest improvement, and susceptible of temporal and eternal happiness and misery, the work of forming our char acters must stand unrivalled in solemn and permanent responsibility. No fact is more strikingly confirmed by the history Of different nations, than that the kind of education given, determines the standard of character aimed at, and the state Of improvement secured. In Egypt, Per sia, Greece, and Rome, when you have analyzed the precepts of their different codes of instruction, you have found the elements of their moral and political character as nations. 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.