Discourses on the Life and Character of John Thornton Kirkland, and of Nathaniel BowditchC. C. Little & J. Brown, 1840 |
Other editions - View all
Discourses on the Life and Character of John Thornton Kirkland, and of ... Alexander Young No preview available - 2009 |
Discourses on the Life and Character of John Thornton Kirkland, and of ... Alexander Young No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
Academy of Arts American Academy Boston Athenæum Cambridge Capt Captain Prince Celestial Mechanics character Christian Church clergy Committee Commonwealth copy Corporation course death deceased delightful Discourse divine duty eminent faithful father feel Fisher Ames happy Harvard College Harvard University heart honor human influence institution instruction interest JAMES BROWN JOHN THORNTON KIRKLAND knowledge labors late learning letter literary lived Marine Society Massachusetts mathematical mathematician mind moral NATHANIEL BOWDITCH nature never pastor philosophy Practical Navigator preaching present President Kirkland received religion remarkable Resolved respect Richard Kirwan Salem Samuel Samuel Cooper Samuel Kirkland scholar Sermon ship Sir James Mackintosh spirit studies supercargo talents thing thou thought tion truth University virtue Voted voyage whole Winslow Lewis wisdom words young youth
Popular passages
Page 32 - I trust hereby to make it manifest with what small willingness I endure to interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes than these, and leave a calm and pleasing solitariness fed with cheerful and confident thoughts, to embark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes; put from beholding the bright countenance of Truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies...
Page 96 - On parent knees, a naked new-born child Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled ; So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep, Calm thou mayst smile, while all around thee weep.
Page 81 - GAY, guiltless pair, What seek ye from the fields of heaven ? Ye have no need of prayer, Ye have no sins to be forgiven. Why perch ye here, Where mortals to their Maker bend ? Can your pure spirits fear The God ye never could offend ? Ye never knew The crimes for which we come to weep.
Page 70 - This liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot subsist without it; and it is a liberty to that only which is good, just and honest.
Page 75 - So that if the invention of the ship was thought so noble, which carrieth riches and commodities from place to place, and consociateth the most remote regions in participation of their fruits, how much more are letters to be magnified, which as ships pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages so distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations, and inventions, the one of the other?
Page 11 - After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civil government ; one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.
Page 17 - I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing ; for it makes life a discipline of goodness — creates new hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish ; and throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity : makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder of ascent to paradise ; and, far above all combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful...
Page 61 - A sweet attractive kind of grace ; A full assurance given by looks ; Continual comfort in a face, The lineaments of Gospel books — I trow that count'nance cannot lye, Whose thoughts are legible in the eye.
Page 46 - But, the truth is, that the knowledge of external nature, and the sciences which that knowledge requires or includes, are not the great or the frequent business of the human mind. Whether we provide for action or conversation, whether we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and and wrong ; the next is an acquaintance with the history of mankind, and with those examples which may be said to embody truth, and prove by events the reasonableness...
Page 95 - Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliance of wit; a wit. who in the crowd of life, retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal.