THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 1846. 467 



GENTLEMEN, I have, at the outset of these remarks, noticed 

 the moral, as well as the intellectual benefits which result from the 

 union of different mental powers, such as this Academy presents, 

 combined in the investigation of different portions of Truth. But 

 there is a yet higher principle, to which this union may lead us a 

 yet holier temper which it may inculcate ; I mean the contempla- 

 tion of Truth itself as essentially ONE, under its many and diversi- 

 fied forms, and the habit of tracing all its varied and refracted 

 rays to its One and Eternal Source. Strengthened by this high 

 thought, our feelings raised and spiritualized by this habit, 

 there: is no danger that we shall give place to the weak apprehen- 

 sion (which is but a subtle form of unbelief itself), that any portion 

 of Truth can ever prove inconsistent with any other. And the 

 same principle, while it saves us from slavish fear, will also guard 

 us from presumption. Standing in the presence of confessed and 

 established truth, we shall feel that we are treading upon holy 

 ground ; and we shall demean ourselves, not with the elation and 

 pride of conquest, but with the devotion of worship and of love. 



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