We believe in the existence of one as much
as in the existence of the other. In fact, if there be balance of proof in
favor of either, it is not in favor of the existence of what we call
matter. All the known sensible qualities of matter are ultimately
referable to immaterial forces,--"forces acting from points or volumes;"
and whether these points are occupied by positive substance, or "matter"
as it is usually conceived, cannot to-day be proved. Yet many men have
less absolute belief in a soul than in nitric acid; many men achieve
lifetimes of triumph by the faithful use and application of Nature's
law--that is, formula of uniform occurrence--in light, sound, motion,
while they all the while outrage and violate and hinder every one of those
sweet forces equally hers, equally immutable, called by such names as
truth, sobriety, chastity, courage, and good-will.
The suggestions of this train of thought are too numerous to be followed
out in the limits of a single article. Take, for instance, the fact of the
identity of molecules, and look for its correlative truth in the spiritual
universe.
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