met his observation. judgment to the reigning systems of the day, for though they had authority to recommend them, they had no proof; and thus it is that he evinced the strength and soundness of his philosophy, as much by his decisions on those doctrines of science which he rejected, as by his demonstration of those doctrines of science which he was the first to propose, and which now stand out to the eye of posterity as the only monuments to the force and superiority of his understanding." (pp. 63, 64.)

He would not submit his

350. The writer of these elements cannot forbear to decorate his pages with one other extract from this admirable discourse, and the rather as it may tend to throw additional light on some of the facts which have been related in former sections of this work. "In that march of intellect which led him (Newton) onwards through the rich and magnificent field of his discoveries, he pondered every step; and while he advanced with a firm and assured movement wherever the light of evidence carried him, he never suffered any glare of imagination or of prejudice to seduce him from his path. Sure I am, that in the prosecution of his wonderful career, he found himself on a way beset with temptation on every side of him. But he expatiated on a lofty region, where, in all the giddiness of success, he might have met with much to solicit his fancy, and tempt him to some devious speculation. Had he been like the majority of other men, he would have broken free from the fetters of a sober and chastised understanding, and, giving wing to his imagination, had done what philosophers have done after him---been carried away by

some meteor of their own forming, or found their amusement in some of their own intellectual pictures, or palmed some loose and confident plausibilities of their own upon the world. But Newton stood true to his principle, that he would take up with nothing which wanted evidence, and he kept by his demonstrations and his measurements and his proofs; and if it be true that he who ruleth his own spirit is greater than he who taketh a city,' there was won, in the solitude of his chamber, many a repeated victory over himself, which should give a brighter lustre to his name than all the conquests he has made on the field of discovery, or than all the splendour of his positive achievements." (pp. 66, 67.)

351. But though the philosophy of Newton rested wholly on the sure basis of experiment, the mighty superstructure could not have been reared without the exertion of a mental vigour far beyond that which usually characterizes men of genius, and the attainment of a degree of science which has seldom if ever been equalled. Profoundly skilled in mathematics, he brought the abstract sciences to bear with admirable effect on the knowledge derived from the contemplation of nature, and was led on from facts and phænomena to general principles and laws-from experimental proofs, by an unbroken chain of inductive reasoning, to universal truths and doctrines of universal application. "He knew," remarks Professor Playfair, when instituting a comparison between the genius and philosophy of Leibnitz and Newton," he knew how to transfer the truths of abstract science to the study of things actually existing, and, by returning in the opposite

direction, to enrich the former by ideas from the latter. In experimental and inductive investigation, he was as great as in the pure mathematics, and his discoveries were as distinguished in the one as in the other. In this double claim to renown, Newton stands unrivalled; and though in the pure mathematics, perhaps equals may be found, no one will come forward as his rival, both in that science and in the philosophy of nature."-" No one ever left knowledge in a state so different from that in which he found it. Men were instructed not only in new truths, but also in new methods of discovering truth; they were made acquainted with the great principle which connects together the most distant regions of space, as well as the most remote periods of duration, and which was to lead to future discoveries, far beyond what the wisest or most sanguine could anticipate."

If the preceding remarks on the genius of Newton, and the character of his philosophy, be well founded, (and the writer has purposely availed himself of the opinion and authority of others, rather than obtrude his own sentiments,)—if such be the distinguishing excellencies and such the glorious results of the mode of philosophizing practically adopted by himself, and recommended to others, scarcely can we wonder that of him it should have been said, in the language of high but well-merited panegyric-

"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night,

GOD said, 'Let Newton be,' and all was Light."

* Playfair's Second Diss. pp. 89, 90.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PROGRESS OF THE INTELLECTUAL SCIENCES.

SECTION I.

ON THE GRADUAL SUBVERSION OF THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY.

352. Ir is now requisite to revert once more to the memorable period of the revival of letters, for the purpose of tracing the progress of intellectual and moral science, and of observing the manner in which the human mind was emancipated from the bondage in which it had been long held. At the commencement of that period, the despotism of Aristotle and the authority of the schoolmen were at their height. Upheld by all the influence and power of the Roman hierarchy, which as yet scarcely an individual had ventured to resist, the scholastic philosophy (if such it may be termed) had taken so firm a hold of the opinions and prejudices of mankind, that it might seem impossible to shake it. Yet the period was at hand, and latent causes were even then in operation, which slowly undermined, and eventually laid in ruins this mighty fabric. Some of these have been already enumerated in the section, which treated of the causes of the revival of letters. For whatever tended to weaken the authority of the Church of Rome, to excite a taste for general literature, and to awaken the spirit of inquiry and

reformation, could not fail, in an equal degree, to shake the foundations of a system, which originated in ignorance and error, and had been perpetuated by superstition and priestcraft. Some of the causes to which we now allude, wrought silently and indirectly, while others assumed the character of open and direct hostility to the dogmas of the schoolmen.

353. The most effectual indirect cause of this intellectual change, was the restoration of learning, (in the proper sense of that term,) after it had long remained in a state of torpor, and had almost ceased to exist. A considerable body of genuine scholars simultaneously appeared in different parts of Europe, whose erudition not only procured for them personal distinction, but exerted an influence far beyond their most sanguine expectations. At the head of this illustrious phalanx, stood ERASMUS of Rotterdam, whose philological labours, both in sacred and profane literature, were most extensive and valuable. With him were associated not a few, both of the Protestant and Roman catholic communions, who were animated by the same spirit, and engaged with equal ardour in the work of liberal and enlightened criticism. Of this number were Ludovicus Vives, Budæus, Faber, Reuchlin, Julius Scaliger, Sir Thomas More, and Melancthon, with many others. At this most interesting period, the critical investigation of the Sacred Scriptures commenced. Materials were sought with the utmost solicitude from every quarter for this purpose. The monastic libraries were explored wherever access could be obtained to them; and manuscripts of the Old and