104 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



the most powerful and elevated minds — a fascination which 

 will probably continue for men of Greek and Rorutfn mould 

 to the end of time. 



In connection with this question of the emotions one 

 very obvious danger besets many of the more earnest spirits 

 of our day — the danger of haste in endeavoring to give the 

 feelings repose. We are distracted by systems of theology 

 and philosophy which were taught to us when young, and 

 which now excite in us a hunger and a thirst for knowledge 

 not proved to be attainable. There are periods when the 

 judgment ought to remain in suspense, the data on which 

 a decision might be based being absent. This discipline 

 of suspending the judgment is a common one in science, 

 but not so common as it ought to be elsewhere. I walked 

 down Regent Street some time ago with a man of great 

 gifts and acquirements, discussing with him various theo- 

 logical questions. I could not accept his views of the origin 

 and destiny of the universe, nor was I prepared to enun- 

 ciate any definite views of my own. He turned to me at 

 length and said, " You surely must have a theory of the 

 universe." That I should in one way or another have solved 

 this mystery of mysteries seemed to my friend a matter of 

 course. " I have not even a theory of magnetism," was my 

 reply. We ought to learn to wait, and pause before closing 

 with the advances of those expounders of the ways of God 

 to men, who offer us intellectual peace at the modest cost 

 of intellectual life. 



The teachers of the world ought to be its best men, and 

 for the present at all events such men must learn self-trust. 

 They must learn more and more to do without external aid ; 

 save such aid as comes from the contemplation of a uni- 

 verse, which, though it baffles the intellect, can elevate the 

 heart. But they must learn to feel the mystery of that 

 universe without attempting to give it a rigid form, per- 

 sonal or otherwise. By the fulness and freshness of their 



