6 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



such a justification, may fairly urge that the latest 

 conclusions of science are in perfect accordance with 

 the doctrine of the Master himself, which manifestly 

 was that the distribution of natural phenomena is not 

 affected by moral or religious causes. 'He maketh 

 His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 

 rain on the just and on the unjust.' Granting ' the power 

 of Free Will in man,' so strongly claimed by Professor 

 Mansel in his admirable defence of the belief in miracles, 

 and assuming the efficacy of free prayer to produce 

 changes in external nature, it necessarily follows that 

 natural laws are more or less at the mercy of man's 

 volition, and no conclusion founded on the assumed 

 permanence of those laws would be worthy of confidence. 

 It is a wholesome sign for England that she numbers 

 among her clergy men wise enough to understand all 

 this, and courageous enough to act up to their know- 

 ledge. Such men do service to public character, by 

 encouraging a manly and intelligent conflict with the 

 real causes of disease and scarcity, instead of a delusive 

 reliance on supernatural aid. But they have also a 

 value beyond this local and temporary one. They pre- 

 pare the public mind for changes, which though in- 

 evitable, could hardly, without such preparation, be 

 wrought without violence. Iron is strong ; still, water 

 in crystallising will shiver an iron envelope, and the 

 more unyielding the metal is, the worse for its safety. 

 There are in the world men who would encompass 

 philosophic speculation by a rigid envelope, hoping 

 thereby to restrain it, but in reality giving it explosive 

 force. In England, thanks to men of the stamp to 

 which I have alluded, scope is gradually given to 

 thought for changes of aggregation, and the envelope 

 slowly alters its form, in accordance with the necessities 

 of the time. 



