46 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. 
enter deeply and with a right spirit—a pearl missed by 
those who dive shallowly, but treasured as of greatest price 
by all who have most profoundly fathomed the depths of 
learning. And that lesson is the lesson of humility. 
Whether we view the workings of the Almighty’s hand in 
the minutest of the creeping things under our feet, in the 
lowest hyssop on the wall, in the cedar forests, or in the 
mountains on which they grow, in the stupendous ruins of 
early creations now passed away, or whether we view the 
handicraft of man, in the massive columns, the lofty arches, 
the delicate tracery, the skilful groining, the exquisite 
sculpture, (of all of which this city and neishbourhood furnish 
such rich examples,) there is but one and the same lesson of 
humility to be learnt. Not that we are for a moment to com- 
pare the degree of humiliation which we must feel in one case 
and in the other ; but, still, as the contemplation of the 
one must make us feel how little we are in the sight of 
God, so must the other make us confess how little we are 
in comparison with our forefathers. Here then, at the out- 
set, is an advantage to be gained from the right pursuit of 
these studies—higher than the highest result of their own 
subject matter—higher than the most glorious achievements 
of human science and art. Yet it may be feared that these 
studies have not always thus brought into the obedience of 
Christ the thoughts and affections of all those who have 
devoted themselves to their pursuit. In natural science 
this appears to me greatly to have resulted from the narrow 
and confined view which naturalists have themselves taken. 
It is true that such pursuits are no longer carried on in a 
spirit, nor are they considered in their results antagonistic 
to christianity ; but are they not too often conceived as 
something altogether separate?—made a thing apart? Is 
net the naturalist too apt to frame to himself a religion of 
