“What though the causes may not be explained,
   Since these effects are duly ascertained,
   Let not self-interest, prejudice, or pride,
   Induce mankind to set the means aside;
   Means which, though simple, are by
   Heaven designed to alleviate the woes of human kind.”

This course of argument is so often employed, that it deserves to be expanded a little, so that its length and breadth may be fairly seen.  A series of what are called facts is brought forward to prove some very improbable doctrine.  It is objected by judicious people, or such as have devoted themselves to analogous subjects, that these assumed facts are in direct opposition to all that is known of the course of nature, that the universal experience of the past affords a powerful presumption against their truth, and that in proportion to the gravity of these objections, should be the number and competence of the witnesses.  The answer is a ready one.  What do we know of the mysteries of Nature?  Do we understand the intricate machinery of the Universe?  When to this is added the never-failing quotation,

  “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
   Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,”—­

the question is thought to be finally disposed of.

Take the case of astrology as an example.  It is in itself strange and incredible that the relations of the heavenly bodies to each other at a given moment of time, perhaps half a century ago, should have anything to do with my success or misfortune in any undertaking of to-day.  But what right have I to say it cannot be so?  Can I bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?  I do not know by what mighty magic the planets roll in their fluid paths, confined to circles as unchanging as if they were rings of steel, nor why the great wave of ocean follows in a sleepless round upon the skirts of moonlight; nor cam I say from any certain knowledge that the phases of the heavenly bodies, or even the falling of the leaves of the forest, or the manner in which the sands lie upon the sea-shore, may not be knit up by invisible threads with the web of human destiny.  There is a class of minds much more ready to believe that which is at first sight incredible, and because it is incredible, than what is generally thought reasonable.  Credo quia impossibile est,—­“I believe, because it is impossible,”—­is an old paradoxical expression which might be literally applied to this tribe of persons.  And they always succeed in finding something marvellous, to call out the exercise of their robust faith.  The old Cabalistic teachers maintained that there was not a verse, line, word, or even letter in the Bible which had not a special efficacy either to defend the person who rightly employed it, or to injure his enemies; always provided the original Hebrew was made use of.  In the hands of modern Cabalists every substance, no matter how inert, acquires wonderful medicinal virtues, provided it be used in a proper state of purity and subdivision.