out from this institution with the
honors of graduation, is that there is something beyond--the _plus
ultra_ of a collegiate education. One of the most fatal mistakes in
securing a collegiate education is, that this is all. If one of you
entertains the idea to-day that your education is "finished," you will
be a failure. We hear much in this age about a "finished education" in
college. Alas! there is too much truth in it. The education of many is
thus "finished," and their progress in life is also _finished_. A
college course is not the end, but simply the means, of an education.
This is simply the foundation, not the structure. On this you are to
hereafter build; otherwise the foundation will be worthless. Without
the after building the foundation itself will decay. This is alike the
teaching of the history of man and the Son of God. On this foundation,
therefore, I would urge you to build, not for time only, but for
eternity. On it you should erect a noble structure, at once an ornament
and a blessing to your race. This can not be done in a day. Patience
and perseverance are the price of success. You must learn to "labor and
to wait."

How often do we see the scintillations of genius within college walls,
of which we see or hear nothing after the day of graduation? On that
day the sun of their brilliancy seems to set forever. Why is this?
Simply because they think their graduation is the _ne plus ultra_ of
their literary life.

It is not what we learn in college, but what we learn after leaving it,
that makes us what we are in after life. The value of a collegiate
education consists not in the amount of information it imparts, but in
a preparation for the accumulation and use of information. Not simply
the best minds, but the best students are those who win the prize in
the end. Not the best students in college, but the best students after
leaving it, are those who make the world feel their power. Many study
hard for the honors of graduation, and beyond this seem to have no
aspirations. If this is their _ne plus ultra_, then it is worthless.
This institution does not educate you for graduation; it graduates you
for education. Without this end in view, its labors would better cease.
An institution is honored not by what its students know on the day of
commencement, but by what they know and do ere they matriculate in the
great university of worlds. It is, therefore, young ladies and
gentlemen, to this end and not to