the faculties of the mind become expanded, capable of receiving 

 additional happiness each individual becomes the source of 

 happiness to those around the rays of truth are reflected from 

 mind to mind until a gradual change is wrodght in the intellectual, 

 moral and physical condition of the community superior order 

 and taste appear in the external character and refinement, benevo- 

 lence and happiness shine from within. 



Scientific truth, where it has not been suppressed, has ever 

 proved a powerful aid to the precepts of Christianity, and it is 

 these combined truths which have been the primary source of all 

 those high blessings which distinguish civilized man from the 

 heathen world. If the word of God is " a lamp to our feet and a 

 light to our paths," it is the knowledge of science which is to ex- 

 tend the mental vision until we are enabled to behold the light in 

 all its beauty and splendor. It is science which has enlarged our 

 capacity for making use of the divine precept, and of extending 

 its influence throughout the world, reason and faith are here uni- 

 ted. " The tree of knowledge is grafted upon the tree of life, 

 and that fruit which brought the fear of death into the world, bud- 

 ding on an immortal stock becomes the fruit of the promise of 

 immortality." 



The term Philosopher is formed by the connection of two Greek 

 words, and signified, originally, a lover of learning or a lover of 

 knowledge. It comes down to us from the earliest ages of Gre- 

 cian history, and it would be difficult to determine who first claim- 

 ed the name, or who first deserved it. The name Philosophy was 

 originally applied to the writings or instructions of those who 

 observed and studied the operations and general laws of nature, 

 compared the principles thus obtained with the few facts they 

 could collect from their limited knowledge and handed the 

 result of their investigations down to posterity. While the art 

 of printing was unknown, they had no other way of communica- 

 ting their knowledge to others, to any extent, than by establish- 

 ing schools, hence the various schools of Philosophy among the 

 ancients, many of which existed many years before the Christian 

 era. Plato, Aristotle, Democratus, Epicurus and Zeno were all 

 distinguished as teachers of their own peculiar doctrines ; but 



