ADDRESS. 



Ixxiii 



praise and adoration ; and, if so, may not one at least of the sources of 

 happiness which we are promised in a future state of existence, one of the 

 rewards for a single-minded and reverential pursuit after truth in our present 

 state of trial, consist in a development of our faculties, and in the power of 

 comprehending those laws and provisions of Nature with which our finite 

 reason prevents us at present from becoming cognizant ? 



Such are a few of the reflections which the study of Physical Science, cul- 

 tivated in a right spirit, naturally suggests ; and I ask you, whether they are 

 not more calculated to inspire humility than to induce conceit ; to render 

 us more deeply conscious how much of the vast field of knowledge must ever 

 lie concealed from our view — how small a portion of the veil of Isis it is 

 given us to lift up — and therefore to dispose us to accept, with a more 

 unhesitating faith, the knowledge vouchsafed from on high, on subjects 

 which our own unassisted reason is incapable of fathoming. 



" Let us not, therefore," to use the language of a living prelate, " think 

 scorn of the pleasant land. That land is the field of antient and modern 

 Literature — of Philosophy in almost all its Departments — of the Arts of 

 Reasoning and Persuasion. Every part of it may be cultivated with advan- 

 tage, as the Land of Canaan when bestowed upon God's peculiar people. 

 They were not commanded to let it lie waste, as incurably polluted by the 

 abominations of its first inhabitants; but to cultivate it and to dwell in it, 

 living in obedience to the Divine laws, and dedicating its choicest fruits to 

 the Lord their God." 



1856. / 



