MATTER AND FORCE. 93 



the starry heavens, and said, " It is all very well, gentle- 

 men ; but who made all these ? " That question still re- 

 mains unanswered, and science makes no attempt to answer 

 it. As far as I can see, there is no quality in the human 

 intellect which is fit to be applied to the solution of the 

 problem. It entirely transcends us. The mind of man may 

 be compared to a musical instrument with a certain range 

 of notes, beyond which in both directions we have an 

 infinitude of silence. The phenomena of matter and force 

 lie within our intellectual range, and as far as they reach 

 we will at all hazards push our inquiries. But behind, and 

 above, and around all, the real mystery of this universe lies 

 unsolved, and, as far as we are concerned, is incapable of 

 solution. Fashion this mystery as you will, with that I 

 have nothing to do. But be careful that your conception 

 of it be not an unworthy one. Invest that conception with 

 your highest and holiest thought, but be careful of pre- 

 tending to know more about it than is given to man to 

 know. Be careful, above all things, of professing to see in 

 the phenomena of the material world the evidences of Di- 

 vine pleasure or displeasure. Doubt those who would 

 deduce from the fall of the tower of Siloam the anger of the 

 Lord against those who were crushed. Doubt those equally 

 who pretend to see in cholera, cattle-plague, and bad har- 

 vests, evidences of Divine anger. Doubt those spiritual 

 guides who in Scotland have lately propounded the mon- 

 strous theory that the depreciation of railway scrip is a con- 

 sequence of railway travelling on a Sunday. Let them not, 

 as far as you are concerned, label and libel the system of 

 Nature with their ignorant hypotheses. Well might the 

 mightiest of living Scotchmen, that hero of the intellect 

 who might have been a hero in the field, that strong and 

 earnest soul who has made every soul of like nature in 

 these islands his debtor — looking from the solitudes of 

 thought into this highest of questions, well, I say, might 



