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<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> 1. Why should we seek knowledge? Because it assists us to comprehend the goodness and power of God. And it gives us power over the circumstances and associations by which we are surrounded: the proper exercise of this power will greatly promote our happiness. 2. Why does the possession of knowledge enable us to exercise power over surrounding circumstances? Knowledge enables us to understand that, in order to live healthily, we require to breathe fresh and pure air. It also tells us that animal and vegetable substances, undergoing decay, poison the air, though we may not be able to see, or to smell, or otherwise discover the existence of such poison. Knowing this, we become careful to remove from our presence all such matters as would tend to corrupt the atmosphere. This is only one of the countless instances in which knowledge gives us power over surrounding circumstances. 3. Name some other instances in which knowledge gives us power. Knowledge of Geography and of Navigation enables the mariner to guide his ship across the trackless deep, and to reach the sought-for port, though he had never before been on its shores. Knowledge of Chemistry enables us to separate or to combine the various substances found in nature. Thus we obtain useful and [Pg 28] precious metals from what at first appeared to be useless stones; transparent glass from pebbles, through which no light could pass; soap from oily substances; and gas from solid bodies. <hr class="bible-verse" /> "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning."—Proverbs ix. <hr class="bible-verse" /> Knowledge of Medicine enables the physician to overcome the ravages of disease, and to save suffering patients from sinking prematurely to the grave. Knowledge of Anatomy and of Surgery enables the surgeon to bind up dangerous fractures and wounds, and to remove, even from the internal parts of bodies, ulcers and diseased formations that would otherwise be fatal to life. Knowledge of Mechanics enables man to increase his power by the construction of machines. The steam-ship crossing the ocean in opposition to wind and tide, the railway locomotive travelling at 60 miles an hour, and the steam-hammer beating blocks of iron into useful shapes, are evidences of the power which man acquires through a knowledge of mechanics. Knowledge of Electricity enables man to stand in comparative safety amid the awful war of the elements. Lightning, the offspring of electricity, has a tendency to strike upon lofty objects by which it may be attracted. By its mighty powers churches or houses may be instantly levelled with the dust. But man, knowing that electricity is strongly attracted by particular substances, raises over lofty buildings rods of steel communicating with bars that descend into the ground. The lightning, rushing with indescribable force toward the steeple, is attracted by the bar of steel, and conducted harmlessly to the earth. Man may thus be said to take even lightning by the hand, and to divert its destroying force by the aid of Knowledge. And in countless other instances "Knowledge is Power." <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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