DK. Clarke's address. 167 



lamentable to think that the same delusion, how often soever refuted 

 and exposed, shows itself ever and anon in undiminished vigour, as if 

 the lessons of experience, and the monitions of history, included 

 within them no voice of warning. 



We can only hope that this unhappy spirit of dogmatism which 

 would lay prostrate our reason, and reject the evidence of sense — 

 which would erect a spiritual despotism within the realm of thought, 

 will gradually fade and disappear before the increasing light of truth 

 and knowledge. The sum of our argument, then, is, that revelation 

 and science are totally different in their nature — essentially distinct 

 and dissimilar in the subjects of which they treat — and must each be 

 studied without reference to, and independently of, the other. Indeed, 

 after the ordinance of Virtue, there is nothing so repeatedly and 

 urgently enjoined in the Divine writings as a spirit of inquiry and 

 the acquisition of knowledge ; and it hath pleased Him who adapted 

 our mental constitution to the visible world around, to annex pleasure 

 both to its pursuit and acquisition, and, it is certain, that, next to 

 piu'ity of life, knowledge is its own great and self-sufficing reward. 



It would be superfluous to show how much our enjoyment of the 



external world is enhanced by the study of Natural Science. A 



thousand avenues of enjoyment lie patent to the cultivated man, from 



which the ignorant is shut out. He comes in contact, as it were, with 



Nature, at a thousand points. He sees her under an infinitude of 



aspects, and, instead of stupid wonder or superstitious di'ead, the 



magnificent phenomena of the material world offer to him only a 



theme of enlightened admiration and love. "Nature," to adopt the 



language of the great Poet of oiu' age. 



" Nature never did betray 

 The heart that loved her ; for she can so inform 

 The mind that is within ns, so impress 

 With quietness and beauty, and so feed 

 With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 

 Eash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men. 

 Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 

 The cheerful faith, that alJ which we behold 

 Is full of blessings."* 



Let me, in conclusion, be permitted to observe, that to collect facts 

 and observe phenomena, though the first step and only sure basis of 

 science, yet does not constitute Science itself. The genuine votary of 

 Natiire will not rest satisfied with her outward and visible revelations, 

 but will seek to penetrate the mysteries of the sanctuary. He will en- 

 deavour, by observation and experiment, by the classification of pheno- 

 mena, and the tracing of analogies and relations, to rise from effects to 

 causes, and to discover those principles and laws which constitute the 

 highest aim, as well as the chief privilege of Philosophy. It is by this 

 process of induction that the System of the "World, instead of presenting 

 a confused assemblage of unconnected facts and unexplained pheno- 



* Wordsworth. 



