Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-09-25

Smallest degree and we see no reason why
prayer can any more do the Office of medl-
cines or diet or nursing in healing the SICK
Broken legs cannot be healed by prayer, yet
they can as well be healed by prayer as
the Prince OF Wales could be restored by
any such agency. Prayer is as much out OF
its province in attempting any cures Tor any
but spiritual mtladies as steam engines
would be if their forty. horse power were
set to work in converting a sinner, or as
drugs and medicines would be in an ate mpt
to physic person into righteousness.
We think, however, the writer IN the
Waterman does, what he condemns in Hux-
ley and Tyndal for doing, when further on
in his article he writes as follows
But we would suggest to these eminent
savans an appropriate subject for their sci
entifc tests. In TIE Able Hue account of
his travels in China, Tibet and Tartary,
there is a description of a praying machine
much in vogue in those regions. 1t Is
cylinder in which written prayers are placed,
and with every revolution of the cylln-
der, turned by a hand crank, so many
prayers are addressed TO the Deity. 1t Is on
the same prInclpie, while the form IS differ
ent, with the beaded paternosters OF some
devout Christians Now he test or guage
that Huxley and TyrdI propose would ex-
actly measure the eff ,acy OF this machine.
Ii is a mechanical guage for a mechanical
performance, and therefore there Is core
lation between tie test and the thing to be
test d, a correspondence between the guage
And the thing To be guaged We suggest TO
these gentlemen to set up one OF these
cylinders III one ~ the waris OF the hospl
tai, make accurate observations, and asccr-
tam whether It has any eff CT upon the pa
tIents- Its virtues can be really cuntrasted
with the virtue of other physical remedies !;
and if it should lie found that the death rate
u tie wards 5hat were soOthed by these
rotating praying machines was sensibly d.
uInIsLeu, ecieuce would have achieved
another success, and the inductlve phil
5s"phy would be crowned with another
triumph. But to propose 70 test the prayer
% faith by scientific ami material guages, II
abOur as rid culous az to attempt TO clint
the Matterhorn by the exercise OF love, or to
traverse the Mer dc Glaze on the wings Of
renedIctiOn. still no one doubts there are
such things as love and beneiictIon These
followers Of Bacon have tTauscended the
limits that he fixed 70 tue inductive
philosophy.
We DO not see why the hospital test of the
efficacy Of prayer IN curing the sick is not as
available and pertinent IN case Of the prayers
OF the Church Of England, as in that Of the
rotary prayers in use IN Thibet. In either
case the value of the prayer as a remed al
agent could be ascertained by its results and
it could be just as easily ascertained whether
the number of deaths ~cnsibly diminished in
any ward Of a hospital, whichever form Of
prayer was resorted u. The true answer TO
Prof Huxley ard Prof. Tyndal is, after all,
the one given IN the UatcImaa in the first
paragraph quoted, namely, that prayer
works in the realm Of spiritual forces. 1t
doesn t set broken limbs, or heal the sick,
or change the course Of nature, in any re-
spect, and those who think it does. only
lower and debasc its high Office, and attempt
to make it no better than a newer Of wood
and drawer Of water, servant to DO the
work they are too lazy u d5 for themselves