40 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



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 ad- 

 mirable defence of the belief in miracles, and assuming the 

 efficacy of free prayer to produce changes in external 

 Nature, it necessarily follows that natural laws are more or 

 less at the mercy of man's volition, and no conclusion 

 founded on the assumed permanence of those laws would 

 be worthy of confidence. 



It is a wholesome sign for England that she numbers 

 among her clergy men wise enough to understand all this, 

 and courageous enough to act up to their knowledge. 

 Such men do service to the public character by encourag- 

 ing a manly and intelligent conflict with the 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 prepare the public mind 

 for changes which, though inevitable, could hardly, without 

 such preparation, be wrought without violence. Iron is 

 strong ; still, water in crystallizing will shiver an iron 

 envelope, and the more unyielding the metal is, the worse 

 for its safety. There are men among us who would encom- 

 pass philosophic speculation by a rigid envelope, hoj)ing 

 thereby to restrain it, but in reality giving it explosive 

 force. If we want an illustration of this we have only to 

 look at modern Rome. In England, thanks to men of the 

 stamp to which I have alluded, scope is gradually given to 

 thought for changes of aggregation, and the envelojoe 

 slowly alters its form in accordance with the necessities of 

 the time. 



