University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

Page 15 text:

which he presided and in which he taught. lt is no disparagement ot the great services which others have rendered, if we speak, as we must, of President Marsh as the intellectual founder of the University ot Vermont. We shall always look back with pride and veneration to that deep thinker who gave to its teachings the Hrst powerful impulse in the direction of the spiritual philosophy. May those principles never cease to animate and guide its instructions ! ai ra , . rr'l' ili' 'A . at X . X II

Page 14 text:

understanding, the faculty whereby from the experience of the past we anticipate the future and regulate our conduct by foreseen pleasure or pain. It was not merely a speculative but a practical interest which led Dr. Marsh to insist upon this distinction of the reason from the under- standing. His interest in philosophy was thoroughly practical. He aimed to promote the highest interests of humanity, and he conceived that a true philosophy was of vital importance to the moral and religious welfare of mankind. President Marsh fully agreed with Coleridge in holding faith in Christianity the perfection of human intelligence. He would make no -separation between faith and reason. A thinking man, he afhrmed, t' has and can have rationally but one system in which his philosophy becomes religious, and his religion philosophical. That within us, therefore, which makes us capable of religion and morality, that which raises us out of the realm of mere nature and brings us into relation with the spiritual world, was the principle object of his inquiries. But Dr. Marsh was interested also in the discoveries of science. The dynamical theory of the constitution of matter strongly attracted him. Yet everything was regarded by him in its relation to spirit and spiritual ideas. Even nature itself was conceived as striving upwards toward spirit. It presents to his nrind air ever-ascending series of powers wherein the lower forms the basis of the next higher, till the culmination is reached in nran. In his letter On the Will as the Spiritual Principal in Man, Dr. Marsh points out srrch an ascending series, or some of the links by which the elementary powers of nature are connected with the higher, and finally with the supernatural in man, who is at once a part of nature and a being above nature. Of course, he does not try to prove derivation by descent in the manner of the evolutionist, that explanation of natural forms had not yet appeared. lt is quite impossiblewithin the limits of a brief sketch to give any adequate conception of Dr. Marshts philosophical system, or even to mention the various prodrrcts of his pen. Had he lived longer he might have matured a system which would have profoundly influenced philosophical thought in this country,-so we judge from the fragments which he left behind. But he was cut oi in his prime, he died, in 1842, at the comparatively early age of 48 years. His life, his thoughts, his character, his influence, are a precious legacy to the institution over IO

Page 16 text:

BOARD OF TRUSTEES. MATTHEW HENRY BUCKHAM, DD., HIS EXCELLENCY LEVI K. FULLER, HON HON. HON HON HON HON HON HON HON HON. HON P1'e.vz'a'e111f. I Governor offhe Stzzz'e. f ON THE PART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. HOMER NASH HIBBARD, LL.D., C7'ZZ'6tIg0, Ill. GEORGE GRENVILLE BENEDICT, A.M., Burlivzgiofz. HORACE HENRY POWERS, A.M. 11f01'1'z'5z1z'!!e. JOHN HEMAN CONVERSE, AB., P11z'zfIdfzp11m, Pa. . TORREY ENGLESBY YVALES, A.B., l31z7'lz'1zgz'01z. ELIAS LYMAN, A.M., Bmflifzgiofz. EDWARD JOHN PHELPS, LL.D., Blzrlzbzgiolz. ON THE PART OF THE VERIXIONT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 5 E x- Oji cz'0. I . JUSTIN SMITH MORRILL, LL.D., 5:1-ajjfmf. I GARDINER S. FASSETT, 12110,-bwgh. P1887-93 QASSIUS PECK, Bmoffjigzfz. j CROSBY MILLER, P0mj7'eL'. 1 REDFIELD IIROOTOR, AM., Pffodor. 551389-95 EBENEZER JALLS ORMSBEE, A.IvI., Bwmfffm. j TYLER M. GRAVES, U?zde'1fhz'Z!. 1 CYRUS IENNINGS, Hzzbbardiovz. I' 1891-97 XVALLACE I. ROBINSON, Bmw. j GEORGE GRENVILLE BENEDICT, A. M., Sefvfclmjf. . EDWARD HENRY POWELL, 1.511 Collage Sl., 79'ezzsm'er. I2