The "empire of mind over matter?" What practical proof had
he of it amid the miserable alternations of empiricism and magic
which made up the pseudo-science of his time; amid the theories and
speculations of mankind, which, as he said, were "but a sort of
madness--useless alike for discovery or for operation." What right
had he, more than any other man who had gone before him, to believe
that man could conquer and mould to his will the unseen and
tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower? that he
could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew his
youth like the eagle's? This ground he had for that faith--that he
believed, as he says himself, that he must "begin from God; and that
the pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, the Author
of good, and Father of light." This gave him faith to say that in
this as in all other Divine works, the smallest beginnings lead
assuredly to some result, and that the "remark in spiritual matters,
that the kingdom of God cometh without observation, is also found to
be true in every great work of Divine Providence; so that everything
glides on quietly without confusion or noise, and the matter is
achieved before men either think or perceive that it is commenced.
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