affinities and repulsions presented to them from the instant of
their creation to the day of judgment? When did this so-called
material age begin? With the use of clothing; with the discovery
of the compass; with the invention of the art of printing? Surely,
it has been a long time about; and which is the more material
object, the farthing tallow candle that will not give me light, or
that flame of gas which will?
No, ladies and gentlemen, do not let us be discouraged or deceived
by any fine, vapid, empty words. The true material age is the
stupid Chinese age, in which no new or grand revelations of nature
are granted, because they are ignorantly and insolently repelled,
instead of being diligently and humbly sought. The difference
between the ancient fiction of the mad braggart defying the
lightning and the modern historical picture of Franklin drawing it
towards his kite, in order that he might the more profoundly study
that which was set before him to be studied (or it would not have
been there), happily expresses to my mind the distinction between
the much-maligned material sages – material in one sense, I
suppose, but in another very immaterial sages – of the Celestial
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Empire school. Consider whether it is likely or unlikely, natural
or unnatural, reasonable or unreasonable, that I, a being capable
of thought, and finding myself surrounded by such discovered
wonders on every hand, should sometimes ask myself the question –
should put to myself the solemn consideration – can these things be
among those things which might have been disclosed by divine lips
nigh upon two thousand years ago, but that the people of that time
could not bear them? And whether this be so or no, if I am so
surrounded on every hand, is not my moral responsibility
tremendously increased thereby, and with it my intelligence and
submission as a child of Adam and of the dust, before that Shining
Source which equally of all that is granted and all that is
withheld holds in His mighty hands the unapproachable mysteries of
life and death.
To the students of your industrial classes generally I have had it
in my mind, first, to commend the short motto, in two words,
“Courage – Persevere.” This is the motto of a friend and worker.
Not because the eyes of Europe are upon them, for I don’t in the
least believe it; nor because the eyes of even England are upon
them, for I don’t in the least believe it; not because their doings
will be proclaimed with blast of trumpet at street corners, for no
such musical performances will take place; not because selfimprovement
is at all certain to lead to worldly success, but
simply because it is good and right of itself, and because, being
so, it does assuredly bring with it its own resources and its own
rewards. I would further commend to them a very wise and witty
piece of advice on the conduct of the understanding which was given
more than half a century ago by the Rev. Sydney Smith – wisest and
wittiest of the friends I have lost. He says – and he is speaking,
you will please understand, as I speak, to a school of volunteer
students – he says: “There is a piece of foppery which is to be
cautiously guarded against, the foppery of universality, of knowing
all sciences and excelling in all arts – chymistry, mathematics,
algebra, dancing, history, reasoning, riding, fencing, Low Dutch,
High Dutch, and natural philosophy. In short, the modern precept
of education very often is, ‘Take the Admirable Crichton for your
model, I would have you ignorant of nothing.’ Now,” says he, “my
advice, on the contrary, is to have the courage to be ignorant of a
great number of things, in order that you may avoid the calamity of
being ignorant of everything.”
To this I would superadd a little truth, which holds equally good
of my own life and the life of every eminent man I have ever known.
The one serviceable, safe, certain, remunerative, attainable
quality in every study and in every pursuit is the quality of