MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES 19 



the dry light of the intellect alone, appeals to the affec- 

 tions being reserved for cases where moral elevation, and 

 not historic conviction, is the aim. It is, moreover, be- 

 cause the result, in the case under consideration, is 

 deemed desirable that the affections are called upon to 

 back it. If undesirable, they would, with equal right, 

 be called upon to act the other way. Even to the disci- 

 plined scientific mind this would be a dangerous doctrine. 

 A favorite theory — the desire to establish or avoid a cer- 

 tain result — can so warp the mind as to destroy its powers 

 of estimating facts. I have known men to work for years 

 under a fascination of this kind, unable to extricate them- 

 selves from its fatal influence. They had certain data, 

 but not, as it happened, enough. By a process exactly 

 analogous to that invoked by Mr. Mozley, they supple- 

 mented the data, and went wrong. From that hour their 

 intellects were so blinded to the perception of adverse 

 phenomena that they never reached truth. If, then, to 

 the disciplined scientific mind, this incongruous mixture 

 of proof and trust be fraught with danger, what must it 

 be to the indiscriminate audience which Mr. Mozley ad- 

 dresses? In calling upon this agency he acts the part 

 of Frankenstein. It is a monster thus evoked that we 

 see stalking abroad, in the degrading spiritualistic phe- 

 nomena of the present day. Again, I say, where the aim 

 is to elevate the mind, to quicken the moral sense, to 

 kindle the fire of religion in the soul, let the affections 

 by all means be invoked; but they must not be permitted 

 to color our reports, or to influence our acceptance of re- 

 ports of occurrences in external nature. Testimony as to 

 natural facts is worthless when wrapped in this atmos- 

 phere of the affections; the most earnest subjective truth 



