6 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



past, will, if they be consistent, refuse to join in these 

 petitions. And these latter, if they wish to fall back 

 upon 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 fol- 

 lows that natural laws are more or less at the mercy of 

 man's volition, and no conclusion founded on the as- 

 sumed permanence of those laws would be worthy of 

 confidence. 



It is a wholesome sign for England that she num- 

 bers 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 .1 have alluded, scope is gradually given to 



