Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sermon,
the Divine commandment , than " they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord , amongst the trees of the garden ; " and ever since that fatal period their posterity have been debarred from that freedom of intercourse for which the gift of speech bail originally been intended . There is now a constant struggle between virtue ancl vice . Virtue standing in need of secrecy to save itself from the violence of vice , and vice resorting to it for concealment from the observation of virtueThe
. former is the use , ancl the latter the abuse of secrecy . In the revolution of empires , when vice too often gains ascendancy , what is to be clone for the restoration of order and tranquility ? The welfare of a nation , the commerce , laws , and religion of a country , must remain at the disposal of the first successful invader , if good men were not to combine for the sacred purpose of restoring , under the providence of heaventhe blessings of which they had unjustlbeen deprivedancl
, y ; such a combination could neither well be formed , nor long conducted without secrecy . Even in a state of undisturbed prosperity , the affairs of no government could effectually be managed ivere every measure of expediency regularly submitted to public discussion , and every plan devised by the few who understood its various relations and consequences , exposed to the examination of the who understood them notThe best and
many . mildest governments have therefore found some degree of secrecy absolutely necessary ; and in our own country the government is assisted by a privy council , every member of which is bound by a solemn oath to " Keep the Queen ' s Counsels secret . " Amidst the wildest turbulence of faction this obligation has ever been respected , and any direct
infringement of it ivould incur the united odium of all parties , as being in itself a dishonourable breach of confidence , and a profane defiance of the Divine displeasure . In the darker ages , when all literature was discouraged and denounced , ancl ignorance , in league with superstition , lorded it over the nations of Europe ; when things sacred ancl profance were promiscuously jumbled together , and men so impotent bore rule , that they feared whatsoever
they did not understand , and sought to understand nothing worthy of their study ; the votaries of learning had no alternative but to continue their researches in privacy , or to abandon them altogether ; secret correspondence and private conferences alone kept alive the embers of knowledge , whicli have since burst forth into a flame that has enlightened and refreshed the world . In the of the arts and scienceswhile the preservation of
progress , established principles and of new discoveries depended on the fidelity of transcribers or the continuity of tradition ; while innumerable errors were gradually introduced among the precepts of truth , by the frauds or follies of pretenders , and neither the pen nor the memory could always be trusted with safety ; it was found necessary , for the purpose of avoiding error , and of eluding the curiosity of empiricism , to teach the operations of art ancl the elements of scienceunder the name of
, craft or mystery , and to impart them only to those who had been formally and carefully initiated . By the time when the invaluable art of printing was in ven ted , the errors of art and of science had become monstrous ancl incalculable ; how infinite aud invincible , therefore , must they have proved , had no such precaution been observed , and had the sacred temple of wisdom not been closed against the interruptions of the idle , the intrusions of the ignorant , and the malice of the powerful .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sermon,
the Divine commandment , than " they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord , amongst the trees of the garden ; " and ever since that fatal period their posterity have been debarred from that freedom of intercourse for which the gift of speech bail originally been intended . There is now a constant struggle between virtue ancl vice . Virtue standing in need of secrecy to save itself from the violence of vice , and vice resorting to it for concealment from the observation of virtueThe
. former is the use , ancl the latter the abuse of secrecy . In the revolution of empires , when vice too often gains ascendancy , what is to be clone for the restoration of order and tranquility ? The welfare of a nation , the commerce , laws , and religion of a country , must remain at the disposal of the first successful invader , if good men were not to combine for the sacred purpose of restoring , under the providence of heaventhe blessings of which they had unjustlbeen deprivedancl
, y ; such a combination could neither well be formed , nor long conducted without secrecy . Even in a state of undisturbed prosperity , the affairs of no government could effectually be managed ivere every measure of expediency regularly submitted to public discussion , and every plan devised by the few who understood its various relations and consequences , exposed to the examination of the who understood them notThe best and
many . mildest governments have therefore found some degree of secrecy absolutely necessary ; and in our own country the government is assisted by a privy council , every member of which is bound by a solemn oath to " Keep the Queen ' s Counsels secret . " Amidst the wildest turbulence of faction this obligation has ever been respected , and any direct
infringement of it ivould incur the united odium of all parties , as being in itself a dishonourable breach of confidence , and a profane defiance of the Divine displeasure . In the darker ages , when all literature was discouraged and denounced , ancl ignorance , in league with superstition , lorded it over the nations of Europe ; when things sacred ancl profance were promiscuously jumbled together , and men so impotent bore rule , that they feared whatsoever
they did not understand , and sought to understand nothing worthy of their study ; the votaries of learning had no alternative but to continue their researches in privacy , or to abandon them altogether ; secret correspondence and private conferences alone kept alive the embers of knowledge , whicli have since burst forth into a flame that has enlightened and refreshed the world . In the of the arts and scienceswhile the preservation of
progress , established principles and of new discoveries depended on the fidelity of transcribers or the continuity of tradition ; while innumerable errors were gradually introduced among the precepts of truth , by the frauds or follies of pretenders , and neither the pen nor the memory could always be trusted with safety ; it was found necessary , for the purpose of avoiding error , and of eluding the curiosity of empiricism , to teach the operations of art ancl the elements of scienceunder the name of
, craft or mystery , and to impart them only to those who had been formally and carefully initiated . By the time when the invaluable art of printing was in ven ted , the errors of art and of science had become monstrous ancl incalculable ; how infinite aud invincible , therefore , must they have proved , had no such precaution been observed , and had the sacred temple of wisdom not been closed against the interruptions of the idle , the intrusions of the ignorant , and the malice of the powerful .