102 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



certain occasions, become subjects of investiga 

 tion, as they can be illustrated without entering on 

 the arena of theological controversy, or descend 

 ing within the limits of sectarian opinions. I do 

 not mean to say, that they should be discussed 

 according to the method of Forensic disputations, 

 by opposite parties taking different sides of a 

 question a mode of communicating knowledge, 

 the tendency of which is very questionable but 

 that certain positions in reference to them should 

 be proved and illustrated, in a direct manner, in 

 the form of essays, lectures, or oral instructions. 

 The topics now specified, and those which are 

 intimately related to them, are subjects of the 

 deepest interest and importance to every indivi 

 dual of the human race ; and, therefore, no valid 

 reason can be assigned why such subjects should 

 not be occasionally elucidated in literary and 

 scientific seminaries, if it be one object of such 

 institutions to promote the happiness and what 

 is essentially requisite to it the moral improve 

 ment of mankind. 



For example, is it not in the highest degree 

 important to every human being, that he should 

 be convinced of his immortal destiny, and have 

 his mind impressed with the realities of a future 

 world that he should ascertain whether, at death, 

 he is to be reduced for ever into the same situa 

 tion as the clods of the valley, or transported to 

 a more expansive sphere of existence ? Take 

 away from man the prospect of immortality, and 

 you throw a veil of darkness and mystery over 

 all the scenes of creation ; you reduce the moral 

 world to a scene of confusion, and involve the 

 ways of Providence in a dark inextricable maze ; 

 you inwrap the character of the Deity in awful 

 obscurity, and terminate every prospect of be 

 coming more fuUy acquainted with the magnifi 

 cence of the universe ; you reduce man to an 

 enigma to the most inexplicable phenomenon 

 in creation, and annihilai* the strongest motives 

 to the practice of virtue. But this is not all, you 

 remove the most powerful motives to the pursuit 

 of scientific knowledge ; for, in this case, you 

 confine its beneficial results merely to the promo 

 tion of the comforts and conveniencies of the pre 

 sent transitory life ; and the discoveries of the 

 order and extent of the universe it unfolds, and 

 the speculations to which they lead, tend only to 

 bewilder and perplex the mind, when it is cut off 

 from all hopes of prosecuting its inquiries beyond 

 the grave, and of beholding the mysterious scenes 

 of creation more fully displayed. On this 

 ground, a man who is exhorted to cultivate an 

 acquaintance with science, might, with some 

 reason, exclaim, &quot; Of what avail is it, to spend 

 anxious days and sleepless nights in acquiring 

 scientific knowledge, when it may be all lost be 

 fore to-morrow s dawn, or, at the farthest, after 

 the lapse of a few short years, when my intel- 

 .ectual faculties shall be annihilated? I qan 

 acouire but a few scattered fragments of it at 



most, although I were to prosecute my research 

 es as far as the most distinguished geniuses 

 have ever advanced ; and I must quit the field 

 of investigation before the ten thousandth part of 

 it is half explored. Had I a prospect of enlarg 

 ing my faculties and resuming my researches in 

 a future state of being, I might engage in them 

 with some degree of interest and vigour ; but to 

 one who is uncertain whether his connexion with 

 the intelligent universe shall be continued for 

 another day, it appears quite preposterous, and 

 tends to deprive me of many sensitive gratifica 

 tions which I find essential to my present enjoy 

 ment.&quot; What is affirmed of happiness, in ge 

 neral, may be applied to knowledge, one of its 

 ingredients, that theexpectation of \\spermanency 

 is indispensably requisite to its perfection. It 

 is the prospect of science being prosecuted in a 

 future world and carried to perfection, that con 

 fers a dignity on its objects, and forms the most 

 powerful motive to engage in its pursuits ; and, 

 in this point of view, it may be considered as 

 forming a part of that training which is requisite 

 to prepare us for the activities, the contempla 

 tions, and enjoyments of that higher sphere of 

 existence. But where no such hopes are indulg 

 ed, intellectual pursuits are deprived of their 

 chief excellence and importance, and the best af 

 fections of the heart of their sublimest objects and 

 most exalted pleasures ; and the more the powers 

 of the mind have been exercised and improved, 

 and the more it feels itself prepared for a series of 

 rational enjoyments, the more chagrined and dis 

 appointed must it feel when years roll way and 

 it approaches the point where it is to sink into 

 eternal oblivion. Without the hopes of admis 

 sion to future sources of enjoyment, at the hour 

 of dissolution, we may assume an air of compo 

 sure, because we are unable to resist, or an air 

 of fortitude from the last efforts of pride ; but, 

 in point of fact, we can await the extinction of 

 our being only with a mournful and melancholy 

 gloom. 



This representation has frequently been realiz 

 ed, in the case of men of cultivated minds, who 

 had thrown aside the obligations of religion and 

 the idea of a future world, when they approached 

 the confines of the tomb, of which the following 

 instances may suffice : Voltaire, when approach 

 ing his dissolution, looked back upon protracted 

 years with remorse, and forward with dismay. 

 He wished for annihilation, through the dread of 

 something worse. He attempted to unburden 

 his troubled mind by confessing to a priest ; and 

 he placed his hopes of peace with heaven, iii an 

 eager conformity to those rituals which he inces 

 santly treated with contempt. In a previous in 

 disposition, he insisted upon sending for a priest, 

 contrary to the warmest remonstrances of his 

 friends and attendants. On recovery, he was 

 ashamed of his conduct, and ridiculed his own 

 pusillanimity. This pusillanimity, however 



