Sober Consent of the Heart 
Sermons by Bowdoin College's first president: Joseph McKeen
Excerpts
“It ought always to be remembered that literary institutions
are founded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage
of those who resort to them for education.” Inaugural address. September, 1802
"There is a reasonableness and fitness in righteousness and goodness, by which they approve themselves to our minds. And the fitness of a thing is a sufficient reason always for the Deity to do it. But this is not the case with us. The intrinsic excellence of righteousness, truth and goodness is not a sufficient motive for imperfect creators to practice them." Chapel January 2, 1803
"The humble man reverently acknowledges God in all his ways. In his prosperity and in adversity he observes the hand of the supreme Director of all things, and acknowledges that God is good as well as just. He is afraid to trust his own judgment as to what is good for him; for no man knoweth what is good for him all the days of his vain life, which he understandeth as a shadow." Chapel October 18, 1803
"There is a reasonableness and fitness in righteousness and goodness, by which they approve themselves to our minds. And the fitness of a thing is a sufficient reason always for the Deity to do it. But this is not the case with us. The intrinsic excellence of righteousness, truth and goodness is not a sufficient motive for imperfect creators to practice them." Chapel January 2, 1803
"The humble man reverently acknowledges God in all his ways. In his prosperity and in adversity he observes the hand of the supreme Director of all things, and acknowledges that God is good as well as just. He is afraid to trust his own judgment as to what is good for him; for no man knoweth what is good for him all the days of his vain life, which he understandeth as a shadow." Chapel October 18, 1803
