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a positive blessing. It therefore follows that we are not pursuing 

 the right kind of knowledge. It is too local and partial. The 

 mind must be properly balanced by knowledge of principles, 

 it must be expanded into that wide range of science which ena- 

 bles man to see all his moral and intellectual relations in their 

 true light. It is not sufficient that he learns the relations of ma- 

 terial things that he subdues nature to his will. By his 

 power over the elements, by the use of electricity, galvanism 

 and steam, he may bring all parts of the earth into closer com- 

 munication. These powers, aided by mechanical knowledge, 

 and applied in various ways, may abridge human labor a hun- 

 dred fold. The free press may disseminate this knowledge 

 through the world ; but should we thus go on attempting to im- 

 prove our physical condition without duly attending to the higher 

 laws of our moral and divine relations, what can be expected but 

 that retrograde movement, in this respect, which all pretended 

 refined nations have experienced, and which has ended, or must 

 sooner or later end, in their final destruction. This kind of 

 knowledge is useful and highly important in its place ; and so is 

 all that which is generally called practical among men, such as 

 knowledge of facts in relation to worldly business. Our physical 

 condition must have its proper share of attention. But who does 

 not see that this kind of advancement may be made to usurp the 

 place of more important interests. Teach man the higher prin- 

 ciples of science, let him see clearly their immediate connection 

 with his real interests, and his physical advantage will be rightly 

 understood. He will make them subservient to his highest inter- 

 ests both in this world and in the world to come. Neglect these, 

 and his physical advantages serve but to augment his misery 

 and secure his ruin. The boasted utilitarian principle, the reli- 

 ance on what is called matter-of-fact and experimental knowledge, 

 is the legitimate result of the Baconian Philosophy, or as it is 

 generally called, the Inductive System. Its foundation is laid in 

 the observation of facts its facts are proved by experiments, 

 and the correctness of its experiments is tested by the external 

 ; for these senses are, according to his Philosophy, the 



