An Enquiry into the Nature and Tendency of the Education which the Clergy Receiving English Universities
W B
Genre: | Essay |
Subjects: | Education, Universities, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy |
People mentioned: | Isaac Newton, Plato, Euclid, Jonathan Swift, Abraham de Moivre, Edward Waring |
States: 'By that part of mixed mathematics which relates to the laws and operations of nature, the mind is expanded and taught to discover order and beauty amidst seeming confusion and deformity. The utility of natural philosophy, in every department of life, is too well known at this time, when it claims at least its proper share of attention, to require any elucidation. Yet if this part of science, explaining the wisdom and power of the Creator, be studied, must young men, designed for the ministration of the Gospel, dive into the very depths of pure mathematics? What is their use almost in any case; and in particular, what relation have they to theological pursuits? [...] for generally a person earnestly engaged in the deeper parts of mathematics seldom turns to other studies, or, if he do, it is with a relaxed mind and a divided attention' (704–05). |
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