The Varieties of Human Greatness: A Discourse on the Life and Character of the Hon. Nathaniel Bowditch ... Delivered in the Church on Church Green, March 25, 1838Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1838 - 119 pages |
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Academy of Arts American Academy Arts and Sciences attainments beautiful blessed Boston Athenæum Boston Marine Society calculate called Capt Captain Prince Celestial Mechanics character Comet common copy death deceased delightful Discourse duty East India Marine eminent euthanasia fame feelings genius Gilbert Wakefield Harvard Harvard College heard honor human India Marine Society institution intellectual interest JAMES BROWN labors late live Lord Bacon lunar lunar distances mathematical mathematician Mécanique Céleste Mechanics memory mentioned mind monument moral NATHANIEL BOWDITCH nautical never noble person philosopher Practical Navigator President published quæ remarkable Resolved respect Richard Kirwan Royal Societies Salem scientific Secretary ship spheric trigonometry spirit studies supercargo Tacitus talents taste thing thou thought tion truth volume Voted voyage whole Winslow Lewis words
Popular passages
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 103 - YE golden lamps of heaven, farewell, With all your feeble light ; Farewell, thou ever-changing moon, Pale empress of the night. 2 And thou, refulgent orb of day, In brighter flames arrayed, My soul, that springs beyond thy sphere, No more demands thine aid.
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 95 - On hearing this read, Dr. Bowditch said, "Yes, that is the word, euthanasia. That letter I read forty years ago, and I have not seen it since. It made an impression on my mind which is still fresh. It struck me, at the time I read it, that the good physi* Dr. Arbuthnot was an eminent physician and brilliant wit in the time of Queen Anne, the contemporary and friend of Swift and Pope.
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.
Page 13 - Gott, when I gazed into these Stars, have they not looked down on me as if with pity, from their serene spaces; like Eyes glistening with heavenly tears over the little lot of man!
Page 17 - I envy," says that great philosopher, " no quality of the mind or intellect in others; not genius, power, wit, or fancy. But if I could choose what would be most delightful, and, I believe, most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing.