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the metropolis of Great Britain, a handicraftsman, from a laboratory, who had just succeeded in disoxydating on Earth, would be thought far the more respectable, nay, the more illustrious person of the two. Nor will it be the least drawback from his honors, that he had never even asked himself, what law of universal Being Nature uttered in this phænomenon: while the character of a visionary would be the sole remuneration of the man, who from the insight into that law had previously demonstrated the necessity of the fact. As to that which passes with us under the name of metaphysics, philosophic elements, and the like, I refer every man of reflection to the contrast between the present times and those shortly after the restoration of ancient literature. In the latter we find the greatest men of the age, Statesmen, Warriors, Monarchs, Architects, in closest intercourse with philosophy. I need only mention the names of Lorenzo the magnificent; Picus, Count Mirandula, Ficinus and Politian; the abstruse subjects of their discussion, and the importance attached to them, as the requisite qualifications of men placed by Providence as guides and governors of their fellowcreatures. If this be undeniable, equally no

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torious is it that at present the more effective a man's talents are, and the more likely he is to be useful and distinguished in the highest situations of public life, the earlier does he shew his aversion to the metaphysics and the books of metaphysical speculation, which are placed before him: though they come with the recommendation of being so many triumphs of modern good sense over the schools of ancient philosophy. Dante, Petrarch, Spencer, Sir Philip Sidney, Algernon Sidney, Milton and Barrow were Platonists. But all the men of genius, with whom it has been my fortune to converse, either profess to know nothing of the present systems, or to despise them. It would be equally unjust and irrational to seek the solution of this difference in the men; and if not, it can be found only in the philosophic systems themselves. And so in truth it is. The Living of former ages communed gladly with a lifebreathing philosophy. The Living of the present age wisely leave the dead to take care of the dead.

But whatever the causes may be, the result is before our eyes. An excess in our attachment to temporal and personal objects can be counteracted only by a pre-occupation

of the intellect and the affections with per manent, universal, and eternal truths. Let no man enter, said Plato, who has not previously disciplined his mind by Geometry. He considered this science as the first purification of the soul, by abstracting the attention from the accidents of the senses. We too teach Geometry; but that there may be no danger of the pupil's, becoming too abstract in his conceptions, it has been not only proposed, but the proposal has been adopted, that it should be taught by wooden diagrams! It pains me to remember with what applause a work, that placed the inductions of modern Chemistry in the same rank with the demonstrations of Mathematical Science, was received even in a mathematical University. I must not permit myself to say more on this subject, desirous as I am of shewing the importance of a philosophic class, and of evincing that it is of vital utility, and even an essential element in the composition of a civilized community. It must suffice, that it has been explained in what respect the pursuit of Truth for its own sake, and the reverence yielded to its professors, has a tendency to calm or counteract the pursuit of wealth; and that there

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fore a counterforce is wanting wherever Phi→ losophy is degraded in the estimation of society. What are you (a philosopher was once asked) in consequence of your admiration of these abstruse speculations? He an→ swered: What I am, it does not become me to say; but what thousands are, who despise them, and even pride themselves on their ignorance, I see-and tremble!

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There is a third influence, alternately our spur and our curb, without which all the pursuits and desires of man must either exceed or fall short of their just measure. Need I add, that I mean the influence of Religion? I speak of that sincere, that entire interest, in the undivided faith of Christ which demands the first-fruits of the whole man, his affections no less than his outward acts, his understanding equally with his feelings. For be assured, never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine WORD, (by whom not Immortality alone, but Light and Immortality were brought into the world) which did not expand the intellect while it purified the heart; which did not multiply the aims and objects of the mind, while it fixed and simplified those of the desires and passions. If acquiescence with

out insight; if warmth without light; if an immunity from doubt given and guaranteed by a resolute ignorance; if the habit of taking for granted the words of a catechism, remembered or forgotten; if a sensation of positiveness substituted-I will not say, for certainty; but for that calm assurance, the very means and conditions of which it supersedes; if a belief that seeks the darkness, and yet strikes no root, immovable as the limpet from its rock, and like the limpet fixed there by mere force of adhesion; if these suffice to make us Christians, in what intelligible sense could our Lord have announced it as the height and consummation of the signs and miracles which attested his Divinity, that the Gospel was preached to the POOR? In what sense could the Apostle affirm, that Believers have received, not indeed the wisdom of this world that comes to nought, but the wisdom of God, that we might know and comprehend the things that are freely given to us of God? or that every Christian, in proportion as he is indeed a Christian, has received the Spirit that searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God himself?-on what grounds could the Apostle denounce even the sincerest fervor of spirit as defective, where it does not bring

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