THE WILL IS INFLUENCED BY NATURAL LAWS. 133 



nearly powerless to prevent wrong acts of that man, 

 arising from the want of knowledge, judgment, or reason- 

 ing power. 



We must not forget that the laws of nature are divine 

 laws, arising from the great source of all truth, and deter- 

 mined by the Great Cause of all things ; and as the human 

 reason, so far as it has been properly educated, operates 

 strictly in accordance with them, any power which ' is 

 independent of natural law ' is independent of the guidance 

 of reason. If this be true, one of the most effectual ways 

 of causing men to disobey the laws of their Maker, and 

 thus ruin their own souls, is to convince them, on the one 

 hand, that their will and volitions are ' independent of 

 natural law,' and on the other, that the will, being ' a 

 supernatural power,' they are free to employ it in disobe- 

 dience to natural laws, and therefore also in opposition to 

 reason. In accordance with this, an ignorant man can 

 hardly be a highly moral one, nor can an immoral man 

 be a thoroughly intelligent one ; a knowledge also of 

 the great principles of nature is at least as necessary a 

 condition of moral conduct, as morality is of thorough 

 intelligence. 



Ignorance of the great principles of science results not 

 only in the assumption of occult causes in cases where 

 ordinary ones are sufficient (or ought to be assumed) in 

 order to explain the phenomena, but also in causing persons 

 to infer a multitude of erroneous conclusions in the com- 

 mon affairs of life. An instance is related by H. Spencer 

 of ( a lady who contended that a dress folded up tightly 

 weighed more than when loosely folded up ; and who, 

 under this belief, had her trunks made large, that she 

 might dimmish the charge for freight ! ' and another, 

 ' that by stepping lightly, she can press less upon the 



