CHAPTEE I. 



RELIGION AND SCIENCE. 



§ 1. We too often forget that not only is there " a soul 

 of goodness in things evil," but very generally also, a soul of 

 truth in things erroneous. While many admit the abstract 

 probability that a falsity has usually a nucleus of reality, 

 few bear this abstract probability in mind, when passing 

 judgment on the opinions of others. A belief that is finally 

 proved to be grossly at variance with fact, is cast aside with 

 indignation or contempt; and in the heat of antagonism 

 scarcely any one inquires what there was in this belief which 

 commended it to men's minds. Yet there must have been 

 something. And there is reason to suspect that this some- 

 thing was its correspondence with certain of their expe- 

 riences: an extremely limited or vague correspondence 

 perhaps; but still, a correspondence. Even the absurdest re- 

 port may in nearly every instance be traced to an actual oc- 

 currence; and had there been no such actual occurrence, 

 this preposterous misrepresentation of it would never have 

 existed. Though the distorted or magnified image trans- 

 mitted to us through the refracting medium of rumour, 

 is utterly unlike the reality; yet in the absence of the real- 

 ity there would have been no distorted or magnified image. 

 And thus it is with human beliefs in general. Entirely 

 wrong as they may appear, the implication is that they 

 germinated out of actual experiences — originally contained, 

 and perhaps still contain, some small amount of verity. 



More especially may we safely assume this, in the case 



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