THE

YALE LITERARY MAGAZINE.

VOL. IV.

NOVEMBER, 1838.

NO. 1.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE REV. JEREMIAH DAY, D. D. LL. D.

PRESIDENT DAY was born in New Preston, a parish in the town of Washington, Connecticut, 1773. His father, the Rev. Jeremiah Day, who was graduated at Yale College in 1756, was pastor of the church in New Preston, and lived to an advanced age, much respected. President Day was entered a freshman in Yale College, 1789, but on account of infirm health, did not complete his collegiate course with the class to which he at first belonged. After an absence of several years, he rejoined the College, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1795.

This was the year of Dr. Dwight's accession to the presidency. By the removal of Dr. Dwight from Greenfield, the school which he had established in that village, and which had flourished very greatly under his instruction, was destitute of a preceptor. Mr. Day was invited to take charge of this school, and continued in it a year; when he was elected a tutor in Williams College, Massachusetts. Here he remained two years. In Yale College, he commenced his tutorship in 1798. He had early chosen theology as a profession, and while officiating as tutor, began to preach as a candidate for the ministry. On the resignation of Professor Meigs, who had been called to the presidency of the University of Georgia, Mr. Day was elected, in

1801, to succeed him as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. At this time Mr. Day was in feeble health, and was obliged to suspend the business of instruction. By the advice of his physicians, he passed one winter in the island of Bermuda. In 1803, his health was so far restored, that he entered upon his professorship; the duties of which he continued to discharge, till the death of Dr. Dwight, in 1817, when he was elected to the office of President. He was inaugurated in July of the same year. On the same day in which he was introduced into the presidency, he was ordained, by the clerical part of the Fellows, a minister of the gospel.

While President Day was Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, he published several mathematical treatises for the use of students in that department; which are used in Yale College, and some, or all of them, extensively in other institu

Since he has been President of the College, he has published several occasional sermons; and lately, "An Inquiry respecting the Self-determining Power of the Will; or Contingent Volition."

In 1817, the College in Middlebury, Vermont, conferred on President Day the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in 1818, Union College, in Schenectady, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The degree of Doctor of Divinity, likewise, was conferred on him in 1831, by Harvard University.

President Day has already occupied his present station about the same length of time as his immediate predecessor, Dr. Dwight; and longer than any other head of the College, with the exception of President Clap. Yale College is thought to have been peculiarly fortunate in its Presidents; and it may be said with truth, that it has at no time flourished more, than under the administration of President Day.

3

THE SUPREMACY OF MIND.

HR. Jackso

THE mind, while it has read the great mysteries of the external creation, remains in itself the greatest, we may add, the grandest of all mysteries. Not that its nature, its powers, its passions, or its destiny, are not to some extent known and felt, but, as if an universe in itself, the more we endeavor to extend that knowledge, new endowments and attributes constantly appear, until we are lost in their magnitude and number, and the ultimate end of their creation becomes more distant, grand, and mysterious. Indeed, while upon reflection it might seem even more possible to comprehend the vastness of an universe, than to conceive of the definite extent to which the powers or capacities of the mind may be developed, to the eye of enlightened intellect, this quickening fact would bear in it nothing to amaze or bewilder. The attributes of divinity called into exercise in the formation of one soul, were infinitely superior in their nature to those that fashioned the whole of creation beside. The loftiest ideas which reason can form of the Deity himself, can scarcely exceed the capabilities of mind: mind filled with wisdom, power, justice, mercy, and benevolence: mind in its completest perfection of development-yet mind still.

In view, then, of its exalted character, and the many high and ennobling thoughts its contemplation so obviously tends to inspire, we cannot ponder too often or deeply upon this wonderful masterpiece of nature's workmanship: we cannot look upon it with a regard too enthusiastic, or adore it with a love and devotion too ardent or profound. The mind, by contemplation of itself, grows greater and better. Those peculiar sensations of grandeur and sublimity, which we know not how to describe, but which rush upon us, deep and absorbing, in watching the stars of a clear and tranquil evening, may, to some extent, typify the infinitely more sublime emotions which pass before us, in considering our own endowments and destiny. In the highest sense of the word are they poetry—a rich, intellectual poetry,— enjoyed by those alone of elevated thought, and refined taste. It springs directly from those feelings of power and dignity, which can only belong to cultivated mind. It is a mystery of sensation which gives to the whole of the outward creation, a richer and brighter coloring; quickens the imagination as it dwells upon the nature and destiny of man; conducts it by elevated veins of thought, and as if through the force of divine inspiration, to mines of richest truths and loftiest prophecy; tells us that there is something within us too high and ethereal