wherefore of the whole thing. In doing so we can fortify ourselves with
another maxim, that "Principle is not limited by Precedent." When we
spread the wings of thought and speculate as to future possibilities,
our conventionally-minded friends may say we are talking bosh; but if
you ask them why they say so, they can only reply that the past
experience of the whole human race is against you. They do not speak
like this in the matter of flying-machines or carriages that go without
horses; they say these are scientific discoveries. But when it comes to
the possibilities of our own souls, they at once set a limit to the
expansion of ideas, and do not see that the scientific principle of
discovery is not confined to laboratory experiments. Therefore, we must
not let ourselves be discouraged by such arguments. If our friends doubt
our sanity, let them doubt it. The sanity of such men as Galileo and
George Stephenson was doubted by their contemporaries, so we are in good
company. At the same time we must not neglect to look after our own
sanity. We must know some intelligible reason for our conclusions, and
realize that however unexpected, they are the logical carrying out of
principles which we can recognize in the Creation around us. If we do
this we need not fear to spread the wings of fancy, even though some may
not be able to accompany us; only we must remember that we are using
wings. Fancy, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, has really no
wings; it is like a balloon that just floats wherever any passing
current of air may drive it. The possession of wings implies power to
direct our flight, and fancy must be converted into trained Imagination,
just as the helpless balloon has been superseded by navigable air-craft.
It must be "the scientific imagination"; and the "scientific
imagination" carried into the world of spiritual causation becomes the
Word of Power, and its Power is derived from the fact that it is always
working according to Law. Then we may go on confidently, because we are
following the same universal principles by which all creation has been