Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/118

 we know not. You will, doubtless, cherish affection for the poetry of ancient India. If you consult the recent works of Griffiths, of Talboys Wheeler, of Monier Williams, you will observe how greatly that poetry is admired by modern readers. You will have seen how many of the finest verses of Tennyson have sprung from contemplation of the British Empire. You may claim a share in the pride inspired by the widespread rule of the British Sovereign for whom so many Native soldiers have fought and bled, and under whose colours the Native armies are serving.

Lastly, whether hereafter you mix in the turmoil of active life, or be immersed in business, or tread the hard paths of practical science, you must not forget the moral philosophy you have learnt in this University.

The pursuit of physical science, if undertaken with singleness of purpose and humility of spirit, leads us to the Contemplation of the first creative power, of Him whom the ancient Arabians figured to themselves as the Causer of Causes, of that impassable gulf which philosophers describe as separating the knowable from the unknowable. It would be unjust to physical science to regard it as hostile to natural religion. On the contrary, a strong presumption in favour of religion is supplied by science. Equally unjust would it be to science to regard it as failing to quicken faith or to strengthen the moral sense. Few things can be more ennobling to the soul of man than honest effort to penetrate the mysteries of the material universe, and to understand the laws which the Creator has ordained for its existence. You probably have read that some modern authors divide knowledge into two main categories: one "humanistic," which may be broadly described as literoe humaniores, metaphysical philosophy, aesthetics, law, history; the other "realistic," which may be broadly described as mathematics and physical science. It is to the humanistic division that all the noblest flights of eloquence, the most refined sentiments, the most exalted thoughts, have belonged until recent times. But within this century passages of consummate eloquence, of the purest beauty, are to be found in the writings of realistic authors. Take some of the finest or grandest passages by modern humanistic authors with whom you are acquainted, say those of Burke, Canning, Coleridge, Macaulay, Ruskin, Buckle. Then on comparison you will find very fine and grand passages by realistic authors, say Lyell, Brewster, Herschel, Tyndall, Balfour-Stewart, Josiah Cooke.

All these studies will raise your thoughts towards principles