[377]. Dr. Rush, in his Eulogium on Rittenhouse, has introduced a short invocation, which aptly applies in this place: it is in these words; “Come, and learn by his example to be good, as well as great. His virtues furnish the most shining models for your imitation; for they were never obscured by a single cloud of weakness or vice.”
[378]. Mr. Chief Justice Marshall makes an observation, in reference to General Washington, which applies with equal force to Dr. Rittenhouse. “To estimate rightly his worth, we must contemplate his difficulties: we must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made of those means.” Pref. to Marshall’s Life of Washington.
[379]. Mr. Maclaurin having noticed that the Author of Nature has made it impossible for us to have any communication, from this earth, with the other great bodies of the universe, in our present state; and after remarking on some phænomena in the planetary system, makes the following just reflections, which correspond with those expressed by Dr. Rittenhouse, in the concluding pages of his Oration:—“From hence, as well as from the state of the moral world and many other considerations, we are induced to believe, that our present state would be very imperfect without a subsequent one; wherein our views of nature, and of its great Author, may be more clear and satisfactory. It does not appear to be suitable to the wisdom that shines throughout all nature, to suppose that we should see so far, and have our curiosity so much raised concerning the works of God, only to be disappointed in the end. As man is undoubtedly the chief being upon this globe, and this globe may be no less considerable, in the most valuable respects, than any other in the solar system, and this system, for ought we know, not inferior to any other in the universal system; so, if we should suppose man to perish, without ever arriving at a more complete knowledge of nature, than the very imperfect one he attains in his present state; by analogy, or parity of reason, we might conclude, that the like desires would be frustrated in the inhabitants of all the other planets and systems; and that the beautiful scheme of nature would never be unfolded, but in an exceedingly imperfect manner, to any of them. This, therefore, naturally leads us to consider our present state as only the dawn or beginning of our existence, and as a state of preparation or probation for farther advancement: which appears to have been the opinion of the most judicious philosophers of old. And whoever attentively considers the constitution of human nature, particularly the desires and passions of men, which appear greatly superior to their present objects, will easily be persuaded that man was designed for higher views than of this life. Surely, it is in His power to grant us a far greater improvement of the faculties we already possess, or even to endow us with new faculties, of which, at this time, we have no idea, for penetrating farther into the scheme of nature, and approaching nearer to Himself, the First and Supreme Cause.”
The striking coincidence of the foregoing sentiments, with those expressed by Dr. Rittenhouse; in addition to the sublimity of the conceptions; the cogency of the argument; and the weight of the concurring opinions of two so great astronomers and mathematicians, on a subject of such high importance to mankind; all plead an apology for the length of this extract, from Maclaurin’s Account of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophical Discoveries.
[380]. Patrick Murdoch, M.A.F.R.S.
[381]. The words between inverted commas, in the above paragraph, are quoted from Rittenhouse’s Oration.
Notwithstanding the fanciful theories introduced into physics by Descartes, concerning his materia subtilis and vortices, and his doctrine of a plenum, which were prostrated by the general adoption of the Newtonian system, the improvements that had been made in the mathematical sciences and some other branches of physics, by the Cartesian system, produced a great revolution in the species of philosophy which till then prevailed. The philosophy of Descartes, erroneous and defective as, in some particulars, it was found to be, triumphed, by its superior energy, over the crude and feeble systems of the schools. The peripatetic doctrines which had revived in Europe, after she emerged from the barbarism and gloom that succeeded the final declension of the Roman empire, continued from that period to be the prevailing philosophy; and tinctured, also, the whole mass of the scholastic theology: but the systems of Descartes first dissipated most of the useless subtleties of the schoolmen; while the truths brought to light by the philosophy of Newton, still further exposed their absurdities. According to Dr. Reid (in his Essays on the intellectual and active powers of Man,) even the most useful and intelligible parts of the writings of Aristotle himself had, among them, become neglected; and philosophy was reduced to an art of speaking learnedly and disputing subtilely, without producing any invention of utility in the affairs of human life. “It was,” to use the language of Dr. Reid, “fruitful[“fruitful] in words, but barren of works; and admirably contrived for drawing a veil over human ignorance, and putting a stop to the progress of knowledge, by filling men with a conceit that they knew every thing. It was very fruitful also in controversies; but, for the most part, they were controversies about words, or things above the reach of the human faculties.”
[382]. The celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson has remarked, that “Leibnitz persisted in affirming that Newton called Space, Censorium Numinis, notwithstanding he was corrected, and desired to observe that Newton’s words were, Quasi Censorium Numinis. See Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.
[383]. This concise, yet beautiful and expressive sentence, is contained in St. Paul’s address to the Athenians, cited in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
[384]. A strong proof of this veneration will be found in Dr. Rittenhouse’s Oration, wherein he expresses himself in these remarkable words:—“It was, I make no doubt, by a particular appointment of Providence, that at this time the immortal Newton appeared.”