Join the freemasonry in which Hugh Miller, the poor
Cromarty stonemason, in which Michael Faraday, the poor bookbinder's
boy, became the companions and friends of the noblest and most
learned on earth, looked up to by them not as equals merely but as
teachers and guides, because philosophers and discoverers.
Do you wish to be great? Then be great with true greatness; which
is,--knowing the facts of nature, and being able to use them. Do you
wish to be strong? Then be strong with true strength; which is,
knowing the facts of nature, and being able to use them. Do you wish
to be wise? Then be wise with true wisdom; which is, knowing the
facts of nature, and being able to use them. Do you wish to be free?
Then be free with true freedom; which is again, knowing the facts of
nature, and being able to use them.
I dare say some of my readers, especially the younger ones, will
demur to that last speech of mine. Well, I hope they will not be
angry with me for saying it. I, at least, shall certainly not he
angry with them. For when I was young I was very much of what I
suspect is their opinion. I used to think one could get perfect
freedom, and social reform, and all that I wanted, by altering the
arrangements of society and legislation; by constitutions, and Acts
of Parliament; by putting society into some sort of freedom-mill, and
grinding it all down, and regenerating it so.
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