APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS 233 



thing to be mourned over, but to be honestly considered 

 - — accepted if it be wholly true, rejected if it be wholly 

 false, wisely sifted and turned to account if it embrace a 

 mixture of truth and error. Of late years the study of 

 the nervous sj^stem, and its relation to thought and feel- 

 ing, have profoundly occupied inquiring minds. It is our 

 duty not to shirk — it ought rather to be our privilege to 

 accept — the established results of such inquiries, for here 

 assuredly our ultimate weal depends upon our loyalty to 

 the truth. Instructed as to the control which the nervous 

 system exercises over man's moral and intellectual nature, 

 we shall be better prepared, not only to mend their mani- 

 fold defects, but also to strengthen and purify both. Is 

 mind degraded by this recognition of its dependence? 

 Assuredly not. Matter, on the contrary, is raised to the 

 level it ought to occupy, and from which timid ignorance 

 would remove it. 



But the light is dawning, and it will become stronger 

 as time goes on. Even the Brighton ''Church Congress" 

 affords evidence of this. From the manifold confusions 

 of that assemblage my memory has rescued two items, 

 which it would fain preserve: the recognition of a relation 

 between Health and Eeligion, and the address of the Eev. 

 Harry Jones. Out of the conflict of vanities his words 

 emerge wholesome and strong, because undrugged by dog- 

 ma, coming directly from the warm brain of one who 

 knows what practical truth means, and who has faith in 

 its vitality and inherent power of propagation. I wonder 

 whether he is less effectual in his ministry than his more 

 embroidered colleagues ? It surely behooves our teachers 

 to come to some definite understanding as to this question 

 of health; to see how, by inattention to it, we are de- 



