contradiction to them; and the human will is no exception to this statement. The "will" is only free within certain limits; it cannot act in opposition to its strongest motives or causes of action. We believe ourselves to be much more free than we are, because we often do not know the causes which determine us, and we frequently fail to detect those influences, because we cannot think, and at the same time clearly observe our act of thought and its motives. Freedom of the will does not enable us to set aside laws: entire freedom from law in any instance is probably only apparent. This limited degree of freedom of the will indicates the dependence of volition upon scientific laws, because a supernatural power, being entirely independent of natural law, could not be limited by it. To affirm without proof that the human will is a "supernatural power" is to implicitly deny the universality and constancy of natural laws. New knowledge developed by Science, imparts to us liberty, but not license; and, so far from diminishing the freedom of the will, increases it by showing us what conditions we must fulfil and obey in order to effect our objects. We acquire power by being first obedient; and this is in accordance with the principles and facts of science; we must obey nature before we can make nature obey us; the elementary bodies, also, usually acquire the free state, latent power, and the ability to evolve heat and electric energy, only by being first subjected in their crude state to a process of reduction and purification.
Few circumstances connected with the discovery of new truths of science, have had a greater moral effect, than the very high degree of certainty of such truths. The moral result of this is a corresponding degree of confidence in the statements of science. Trustworthiness is a great moral quality. Uncertainty is a continual hindrance to action and enjoyment; and many persons are driven to believe in error, and hence to commit sin, rather than remain in suspense. Contradictions of doctrine, and the consequent uncertainty of belief, in any subject, are fertile sources of strife. Science consists, not merely of opinions and words, but also of the tangible realities which those opinions and words represent, the forces, substances and phenomena of the material Universe. Some persons however fancy that the results of science are as uncertain as those of the undemonstrable subjects with which they are familiar.
Another way in which science has contributed to moral progress, has been by requiring greater accuracy in nearly all human actions, and thereby diffusing greater exactitude of language and of conduct, which has spread itself throughout all civilised society. Previous to the use of watches and clocks, persons were no doubt much less exact in fulfilling their appointments; the establishment also in our chief towns, of electric time-keepers regulated from Greenwich Observatory, is increasing exactitude in our large communities. Since the introduction of railways, millions of persons have been compelled to be more
exact in their movements, by the risk they incur of missing their train. Numerous inventions and processes based upon scientific discoveries could not be worked at all unless men possessed habits of greater accuracy than formerly. Workmen now require higher moral and intellectual education, and their duties require more intelligence and involve greater responsibility.
Science diminishes error, and the avoidance of error is a large step towards the attainment of truth. There is no tyranny equal to that of false ideas. Error often produces immoral acts, and every act of immorality is a mental error. "The ignorant justice-loving man, enamoured of the right, is blinded by the speciousness of wrong." "Inaccuracy of thought is the cause not only of the errors we meet with in the sciences, but also of the majority of the offences which are committed in civil life,—of unjust quarrels, unfounded law suits, rash counsel, and ill-arranged undertakings. There are few of those which have not their origin in some error, and in some fault of judgment, so that there is no defect which it more concerns us to correct."[[17]]
Our senses and consciousness are often great deceivers, and unless corrected by sufficient knowledge, are frequently as great a source of error in moral questions as in mental ones.[[18]] Their incessant influence is a cause of selfishness, and of the fallacious tendency existing in nearly every man, to exaggerate the importance of himself and of everything relating to him.
It has led man to consider himself "the Lord of Creation";—to believe that his volitions are not subject to natural laws &c.:—and has given rise to the comparatively narrow-minded idea "the study of mankind is man." The fact that consciousness frequently misleads men of energetic temperament who feel their energy, indicates its connection with a physical basis.
Consciousness is also an essential condition of what we term evil. If we define evil as that which produces pain or discomfort in sentient creatures, then evil is that influence only which unpleasantly affects consciousness. And if we admit this, then all evil is relative, and there is no absolute evil; because, if there were no sentient creatures, there would be no evil. It is manifest also, that if the existence of evil is dependent upon that of sentient creatures, and if the existence of such creatures depends upon physical conditions, and upon the operations of the great principles of science, then the existence of evil must itself depend to that extent upon those conditions and principles. What we term Evil, is caused, not only by the actions of man, but also on a large scale by the operation of the simplest forces of matter, in earth-quakes, storms, volcanic outbursts, droughts and famines, pestilences, etc. Evil (as well as good) may therefore be viewed as a result, to some extent, of the operation of the laws of the Universe; and here again we are compelled to recognise a scientific basis of morality.