The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

LETTERS, TRACTS, ^C. 379of foul which fitted them to be the fubaltern tools offaction. .- •Chap. 6.It hath been affirmed by grave politicians,that a little faction in any ftate or community is nota very bad or dangerous thing, provided it be keptwithin tolerable bounds, and the keennefs of partyrage be reftrained, or conducted by good manners.Fadlion, thus managed, they allege, ilrengthens andenlarges the powers of the huitlan mind, and bringsforth thofe latent talents which otherwife would neverhave appeared. And they think they prove the pointby what, in faft, happened at Athens and Rome,.svhere, in times of faction, the ablefl ftatefmen, thecompleted generals, and the mod eloquent orators,vv'-ere produced : But though this may be the cafe withrefpe£t to civil communities, I apprehend, that withrefpect to literary feminaries, fuch as- the college ofClutha, factions muft ever produce the mod lamentableeffects. When the teachers are known to be fplitinto fa6tiotis, to live at variance, and to defpife andhate one another, this, at any rate, mud have a fatalinfluence upon the dudents ; for, either they m.udlook on drife and contention as no vices, or not inconfidentwith a virtuous charatSler, and fo enter intothe pitiful views of their refpefliv^e maders, andhate and revile thofe whom they hate ; or. elfe theymud defpife tlieir maders as vicious and immoral,and grow indifferent a.bout the lectures they deliver,be they ever fo fenfible and beautiful.*Chap, 7. It was not any immoral action with whichthe dudent at Clutha was charged, but expreffionsthrown out in extemporary fpceches, alleged to be indecentor abufive ; Thefe expreffions were, that inendeavouring to fliow that adverfity is more favourableto vutue than profperity, after advancing otherarguments, he faid, that the pofition might be illudratedfrom what had been the fentiments of the writersof romance and cf real hidory ; he faid, « The