Physical basis of man's moral actions. 149 



He is more subject to the laws of the Universe than 

 those laws are subject to him ; and he can only exer- 

 cise his will successfully and become their master by 

 first obeying them. 



Under the influence of the light and heat of the 

 Sun, the entire population of this planet (about fifteen 

 hundred millions) are renewed out of the crust of the 

 Earth every few years, by breathing the air, drinking 

 the water, feeding upon plants which take their con- 

 stituents from the Earth, water and air ; or by eating 

 animals which have lived upon plants ; and if that 

 heat and light, or that supply of food and air, were to 

 cease, all those human beings would die, and all the 

 moral phenomena of man on this globe would termi- 

 nate. Whilst man cannot exist without the support of 

 inanimate nature and the operation of its laws, inani- 

 mate nature and its laws can exist without him 

 That also which is naturally ordained by Creative 

 power to be dependent, cannot be essentially more 

 important than that upon which it depends for its 

 existence. The essential importance of man in 

 relation to the Universe, exists only in his own 

 imagination. 



These facts shew that the principles of science, and 

 the physical and chemical properties of substances, 

 lie at the very basis of man's existence and activity 

 and it would therefore be incorrect to say that the 

 physical system of the Universe is unimportant in 

 comparison with the moral phenomena of mankind. 



That science conduces to humanity by preventing 



