THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
19 
seemed to us discordant and irreconcilable views are but the 
parts of one harmonious and stupendous whole. Alpine climbers 
toiling from the base of some sky-pointing peak may be as far 
asunder at starting as the east is from the west ; but every upward 
step brings them nearer together till (all difficulties and dangers at 
last surmounted) they at length reach the summit, and find that 
their widely-distant paths were all concentrating towards one com- 
mon point. The higher we rise the broader our views and the more 
charitable our judgments ; narrowness is the mother of bigotry. 
Again, how often have we in this Institution observed how diffi- 
cult it is for men to admit Truths which oppose their preconceived 
views ! When our missionaries go to labour in foreign lands, they 
find that the more elaborate the creed previously held, the greater 
the difficulty of introducing the new faith. Would that Bacon 
could have cast out from our minds those idola that he so well 
exposed ! But Truth is great, and must prevail, however un- 
welcome it may be, and there are many reasons why we should 
exercise patience. We should remember, that in a well-ordered 
mind as in a well-furnished house, we are not satisfied till every- 
thing occupies its appropriate place, and harmonizes with the rest. 
And as in our houses the introduction of a new piece of furniture 
causes temporary confusion till the rest has been made to 
correspond, so it is with our opinions. Hence it must be expected 
that new theories will meet with opposition, which will continue 
not only till we are convinced of their truth, but till we see how 
they can be harmonized with other opinions previously held. 
I have spoken of the limitation of our faculties and the partial 
character of all our knowledge as one great difficulty to our seeing 
Truth in her full-orbed splendour and completeness. And while 
we cannot but regard membership in such an Institution as ours 
of unspeakable advantage in correcting narrowness of view, as we 
meet week by week, and, by means of our lectures and discussions, 
seek to supplement each other's knowledge, and suggest fresh lines 
of thought and new aspects of the subject considered, which had 
never previously occurred to us, thus giving greater completeness 
to our opinions and our knowledge ; allow me to suggest that we 
shall be defeating the great object of the Plymouth Institution if 
we attempt to narrow the range of our faculties, or to throw dis- 
credit upon or even disparage those high powers with which we 
are endowed because forsooth they are not purely intellectual. 
c 2 
