In the presence of the following Officers of the Institution,
Vice-Presidents, Trustees, Auditors,
John Martineau, Esq.,
Professor Millington,
John Borthwick Gilchrist, LL. D.
Robert M‘William, Esq.
After the stone was laid, Dr. Birkbeck addressed the meeting in nearly
the following words:--“Now have we founded our edifice for the diffusion
and advancement of human knowledge. Now have we begun to erect a temple,
wherein man shall extend his acquaintance with the universe of mind, and
shall acquire the means of enlarging his dominion over the universe of
matter. In this spot, hereafter, the charms of literature shall be
displayed, and the powers of science shall be unfolded to the most
humble inquirers; for to ‘the feast of reason’ which will be here
prepared, the invitation shall be as unbounded as the region of
intellect. For an undertaking so vast in its design, and so magnificent
in its objects (nothing short, indeed, of the moral and intellectual
amelioration and aggrandizement of the human race), the blessing of
heaven, I humbly trust, will not be implored in vain. If, in this
institution, we seek to obey the mandate which has gone forth, that
knowledge shall be increased; if we act in obedience to the injunction,
that in all our gettings we should get understanding; if we succeed in
proving, that for the existence of the mental wilderness, the
continuance of which we all deeply deplore, we ought ‘to blame the
culture, not the soil;’ if by rendering man more percipient of the
order, harmony, and benevolence, which pervade the universe, we more
effectually ‘assert eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to
man;’ and if thus we shall be the happy means of rendering it palpable,
that the immortal essence within us, when freed from the deformity of
ignorance and vice, has been created in the express image of God--then
may we confidently hope that Omniscience will favourably behold our
rising structure; and that in its future progress, Omnipotence, without
whose assistance all human endeavours are vain, will confer upon us a
portion of his powers. Whilst I remind you that the illustrious Bacon,
long ago, maintained that ‘knowledge is power,’ I may apprize you that
it has, since his time, been established that knowledge is wealth--is
comfort--is security--is enjoyment--is happiness. It has been found so
completely to mingle with human affairs, that it renders social life
more endearing; has given to morality more sprightliness; and,
politically, has produced more consistent obedience--it takes from
adversity some of its bitterness, and enlarges the sphere, as well as
augments the sweetness of every laudable gratification; and lastly,
unquestionably one of its brightest influences, it becomes at once an
avenue and a guide to that ‘temple which is not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens.’”
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