Philip Lindsley (1786-1855) served as acting President of Princeton and as the first president of the University of Nashville, Tennessee.

In this discourse given almost exactly 200 years ago (December 1822), he identifies the key to “improvement of time,” that precious gift of God.

“The Bible — in naming this precious book, I name the richest treasure ever bestowed by heaven on man. The Bible — inestimable, inexhaustible fountain of truth, and wisdom, and purity, and consolation! But time will not permit even a glance at a thousandth part of the advantages and blessings which it proffers and promises to all who diligently and prayerfully study it. It will be a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path, and a joy to your hearts, in all your wanderings through life’s checkered scenery, and through death’s dark valley. It will teach you how to value, and how to improve time — how to be learned — how to be honest — how to be religious — how to be useful — how to be happy — how to live — and how to die.” — Philip Lindsley, Improvement of Time: Two Discourses (1823), p. 53