Physical Sciences. 



237 



progress for man to travel, even if science were to make no further 

 advance and production never exceeded its present limit. Do what the 

 moral nature of man demands in obedience to the moral law, and you 

 have multiplied the power of science for good a hundred fold. Stop 

 the waste of iiitemperaiice which science has made possible for the 

 world; the waste of carelessness which science can never correct; of 

 recMessness which science never cures; of prodigality and luxury to 

 which science indirectly supplies the means; of dishonesty which 

 science too often aids ; of ivar which science every year renders more 

 terrifically destructive to labor and the products of labor by the Titanic 

 efibrts of nations to surpass each other in the armor of ships, the weight 

 of guns and the destructive power of projectiles. Stop all these ter- 

 rible agencies, in all their forms ; agencies over which science has no 

 more control than the water that thunders down Niagara has over its 

 own movements — stop all these and turn all this wasted energy into 

 another channel, put it under the control of that principle in man 

 that seeks his own highest good and the good of the race — under the 

 control of an enlightened self-love and benevolence — and the world 

 would change as by enchantment. The light of civilization would be 

 freed from clouds and mists and shadows, and break forth with the 

 brightness of the morning sun. Science itself would advance with 

 a rapidity unknown before, for its votaries would be multiplied, their 

 powers be strengthened, and their means increased. The multitude 

 that now grovel in the low plane of sensuality would rise into the 

 sphere of rational enjoyment, and freedom would no longer be confined 

 to one portion of the globe, now advancing and now retreating before 

 anarchy and despotism, but she would walk with an assured step and 

 dispense her blessings in every land. Such is the promise we have 

 from man's own nature, when those principles rule in him which make 

 him the imaore of God — in riorht of which he has dominion over all 



O o 



the earth. 



The dangers of this age are not that practical science will be ignored 

 or neglected, but that its proudest achievements may prove a curse 

 through misdirection; that honor and honesty and patriotism and 

 philanthropy may be weakened and overwhelmed in the strife for 

 gain and power. 



Man, who can trace the planets in their courses, must learn to direct 

 his own steps. He who can control the lightnings, must learn to con- 

 trol his own passions. He who can reclaim the earth from wildness 

 must cultivate the rich garden of his own emotional nature. He who 

 can cross pathless oceans mid darkness and storms by the guidance of 

 the magnetic needle, must seek for some guide that shall conduct him 

 safely through the doubts and darkness that beset the pathway of 



