fested in the flesh, put to death under Pontius Pilate, risen from a sealed and guarded grave, ascended, invested with the " power of an endless life," behold the foundation of a hope that grasps the Infinite; see the tie between earth and heaven, between man and the eternal God. May this great doctrine of Christ form the foundationprinciple of every sermon and lecture which shall hereafter be delivered within these grand, echoing, and now consecrated, walls! To Him, the substance and supreme end of all preaching, of all culture, in all ages of time, to Him, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," be glory and dominion everlasting! "For thou only art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father." The Dedication Ode (tune, Albion, or America) was sung, as follows: Father Omnipotent, Our offering we present, And trust thou wilt Our Vanderbilt! Incarnate Word Divine, We offer thee this shrine, Great Sun of righteousness, Creator Spirit, come, And consecrate this dome! We trust thou wilt! Like the symbolic dove, And hover o'er, in love, Our Vanderbilt! All-glorious One in Three, In condescension take The offering which we make Our Vanderbilt! Prayer was offered by Dr. J. B. MCFERRIN, followed by the Doxology: To the great One and Three Hence-evermore! His sovereign majesty Love and adore. Bishop WIGHTMAN closed the service by pronouncing the Benediction. ON Monday morning, October 4, at ten o'clock, under the escort of the Chief Marshal of the Day, His Excellency Governor PORTER, with the Bishops, Board of Trust, and Faculties, followed by the students, went in procession from the Chancellor's office to the Chapel. After Music by the Band, a voluntary by the Choir, and Prayer by Bishop McTYEIRE, a splendid full-length portrait of Commodore VANDERBILT was unveiled, amid great applause. The Governor was introduced by Bishop McTYEIRE, and His Excellency made a brief and pertinent Address, as follows: Gentlemen of the Faculty, and Trustees of Vanderbilt University: No event of its kind has awakened more of popular sympathy in the South, and especially in Tennessee, than the opening of this University. At the laying of the corner stone of this magnificent building, my predecessor was here, and gave voice to the sentiments of his constituents; and I am here to-day to repeat the expression of satisfaction, common to the people of Tennessee, at the location of a great University at the capital of their State, and to extend to you, dignitaries of the Church-trustees, professors, and students-a cordial welcome to Tennessee; and I wish I could add a welcome to him who has given his name to the University, and whose munificence has given it life. His name must forever stand preeminent for its claim to a grateful recollection. His benevolence is superior to sections and to parties, and his liberality illustrates that character of men, common to our country, who raise trade and commerce above a mere selfish pursuit of individual gain. The State offers to you no exclusive privileges, but it generously relieves your property from the ordinary burdens, and will afford to it the full protection of its laws. The Constitution of the State provides that "it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, in all future periods of this Government, to cherish literature and science." This provision in the fundamental law of the land is the warrant of the people of Tennessee that this institution shall have their protection and support. Gentlemen, the mission of this University is above mere commonplace. It must be more than a place where academical instruction is imparted; it must be more than a school for the training of candidates for "the three learned professions." Steam and electricity are driving us forward at a tremendous pace, and, to meet the demands of the hour, you who are charged with the administration of this great trust, must, as I believe you will, make it a universal school, in which are taught all branches of learning: a studium generale et Universitas studii generalis, where architechts, chemists, engineers, farmers, and miners, can be ed ucated, and where original inquiries and investigations are stimulated. The duty assigned to me is simply to welcome. you, Churchmen and school-men. I repeat my greeting, and bid you Godspeed. After Music by the Band, the Rev. CHARLES F. DEEMS, D.D., delivered the following Address: RELATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY TO RELIGION. Your Excellency, Mr. President of the Board of Trust, Mr. Chancellor, Gentlemen of the Faculties, Ladies and Gentlemen: God, the Father of lights and of spirits, knows how profoundly I feel the responsibility of making the Opening Address of the VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY-an institution dear to me for many reasons, an institution which I hope will endure forever. Trusting in the God of nature and of grace, and resting on your friendly interpretation of all I shall say, I go forward. Looking up, as in prayer, he said: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." It has been thought fit that a minister of religion should make the first utterances at the opening of a school which professes to intend to teach what is known, and to stimulate research, in every department of intellectual investigation. If, for a moment, any man could suppose that it would be proper to assign the initial speech to a teacher of religion as indicating that religion should take haughty and undue precedence of science, the thought would be most infelicitous. The present speaker would not assume any such position. It would misrepresent his convictions of the truth and his sense of the proprieties of the occasion. This recent cry of the "Conflict of Religion and Science" is fallacious, and mischievous to the interests of both science and religion; and would be most mournful if we did not believe that, in the very nature of things, it must be ephemeral. Its genesis is to be traced to the weak foolishness of some professors of religion, and to the weak wickedness of some professors of science. No man of powerful and healthy mind, who is devout, ever has the slightest apprehension that any advancement of science can shake the foundations of that faith which is necessary to salvation. No man of powerful and healthy mind, engaged in observing, recording, and classifying facts, and in searching among them for those identities and differences which point to principles and indicate laws, ever feels that he suffers any embarrassment or limitations in his studies by the most reverent love he can have for God as his Father, or the most tender sympathy he can have for man as his brother, or that hatred for sin which produces penitence, or that constant leaning of his heart on God which produces spiritual-mindedness, or that hope of a state of immortal holiness which has been the ideal of humanity in all ages. All this dust about "the conflict" has been flung up by men of insufficient faith, who doubted the basis of their faith; or by men of insufficient science, who have mistaken theology or the Church for religion; or by unreasonable and wicked men, who have sought to pervert the teachings of science so as to silence the voice of conscience in themselves, or put God out of their thoughts, so that a sense of his eternal recognition of the eternal difference between right and wrong might not overawe their spirits in the indulgence of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. It may be profitable to discriminate these; and if badges and flags have become mixed in this fray, it may be well to reädjust our ensigns, so that foes shall strike at only foes. |