College touching its course of instruction and discipline, and with respect to its fiscal affairs. For these opinions he alone is responsible; and yet he cannot but indulge the hope that some of them at least will have the hearty approval of the friends of the College generally. In collecting his materials the writer had but little aid, with the exception of that given him by one of his friends, who is unwilling that any mention should be made of his services, although to him the writer is more indebted in this matter than to all others. Still, the writer is under obligations to many of his friends for the constant encouragement they have given him to persevere in his arduous work,-how arduous none but those who have faithfully and laboriously engaged in like undertakings can fully appreciate; and it is a pleasure for him to add, that to his distinguished successor in the office of President of the College, Dr. McCosh, the writer is indebted for important suggestions as to the plan of the work, and for the deep interest which he has manifested in its preparation for the press. To his friend the Rev. Dr. Duffield he is under peculiar obligations for making the requisite arrangements for the publication of this work, all pecuniary interest in which the writer has transferred to the Princeton Charitable Institution, for the aid of indigent and worthy youths engaged in seeking a liberal education. To the publishers of the work, also, the writer must tender his thanks for the careful and satisfactory manner in which they have performed their part in issuing it from the press. When he began to gather materials for a history of the College, the writer scarcely dared to hope that he should be spared to complete that undertaking; still, he cheerfully gave himself to it, under the impression that his labors in this line might be of service in the hands of another, in preparing a truthful account of the origin, design, and progress of the College. But in the kind providence of God he has been permitted to go beyond this, and to bring to its close a history of the College of New Jersey from its foundation in 1746 to the annual Commencement of 1854, a period of one hundred and eight years; and it is his fervent prayer that this work may help to keep in perpetual remembrance the design of those truly good and great men who, in laying the foundations of the College, sought to erect an institution for the advancement of piety and sound learning, and one especially devoted to the upbuilding of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY. CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE COLLEGE. On the occasion of his inauguration as President of the College of New Jersey, on the 28th of June, 1854, the writer of this History gave a brief outline of its origin and design. In this outline the College was represented as "being in fact a continuation of the one over which the pious and learned Jonathan Dickinson presided," and as being established under the auspices of the Synod of New York; which Synod at that time. embraced not only the Presbyterian churches in New York, but also the larger part of those in New Jersey. A more thorough examination has served to confirm the view then taken as to the identity of the College, under the charter given in 1746, by the Honorable John Hamilton, President of his Majesty's Council; and under the one granted two years after, by his Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq., his Majesty's Governor of the Province of New Jersey. But the statement as to the Synod was not as exact as it might have been. The credit given to the Synod of New York belongs almost exclusively to certain leading members of that body, one of whom was the pastor of the only Presbyterian church in the city of New York, and the others pastors of Presbyterian churches in East Jersey. |