Address delivered in the hall of Marischal College, Aberdeen, 5th November 1835, on occasion of his installation as Lord Rector of the University ... / [John Abercrombie].

  • Abercrombie, John, 1780-1844.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address delivered in the hall of Marischal College, Aberdeen, 5th November 1835, on occasion of his installation as Lord Rector of the University ... / [John Abercrombie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of' truth,—particularly for the acquirement of those greatand ultimate truths, by which science ought to lead us to the omnipotent and eternal cause. Philosophy fails of its noblest object, if it does not lead us to God ;—and, whatever may be its pretensions, that is unworthy of the name of science, which professes to trace the sequences of nature, and yet fails to discover, as if marked by a sunbeam, the mighty hand which arranged them all; which fails to bow in humble adora¬ tion before the power and wisdom, the harmony and beauty, which pervade all the works of Him who is eter¬ nal. But all that is furnished by early study gives only the elements for forming the mind, and for gradually training it to that intellectual vigour and moral disci¬ pline by which it may be prepared for farther and greater pursuits. While, therefore, you prosecute with ardour the various departments of science, you will remember that a higher and more extended object is still before you. You will feel the necessity of rising above the details of individual sciences, to those results to which all science ought to combine in leading us,—the culture of the understanding itself,—and the practical applica¬ tion of those rules by which the mind may be directed towards the discovery of truth, and by which the truth