Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-11-06

nlSCnltI Dy law
THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF PRAYER-
Which belief IS most stimulating to actIvI-
~ the belief that God will answer our
prayer or that We must answer them our
Sc Yes A broad survey of the experience
Of mankind scarcely leaves room To doubt
that the latter faith is the more quicken
ing Earnest individuals, no doubt, fee
hat their mental ard moral energies art
qIck ened and exalted by prayer. But th'
experience of earnest individuals is not II.
point here. We are considering the effec
of the belief 10 prayer on the great masse,
Of manki md and observing these 1t IS ev.-
dent that people are only too willing Il
let another do their work, aud when that
other Is the omnIpotent God, the compla-
cency with which they will "rop tne'r
tools is tie Ineligible. If in great ex-
igenc'e>, prayer will serve instead of labor
great exigencIes will not be provided for.
aud there will be the most mad. quat,
Equipment for the most momentous Crisis
W nat would become Of med cine If pra yer
could be relied on 10 heal the sick Nher,
would be the boards OF health If prayer
could battle infectious diseases Would
social sc ence have the faintest chance #
prayer could alleviate paupersm, promot,
operation, or diminish crIms ? Should
we ever make improvements IN naval arch,
lecture if prayer would protect US FROM
the perils OF the deep or keep nigh
watches IN behalf of virtue, if praye
would er the Magdalene, arrest the
burglar, OF quench the Incendiary's spark ?
N"thing endeavor, nothing have, IS the rule
Of life. For all we get we must pay full
price IN toll, thought, and care. Our whole
power Of wishing must go INTO eyes and
ears and Gnger ends; not an emotion mus
run 10 was e. When we see people pray
rrg against potato rot aud cattle plague,
yellow fever and cho era, with Their lips
instead other brains, We see au example
OF that woeful misappicatiOu OF means TO
eud~, by Sh'ch the vast IN sery Of the world
j. accounted for. When We hear them
praying against uubeiIef, inf lellty, iudh-
terence, worldlBe~s, instead of combating
them with knowledge, We see PLAINLY
enough why such th ngs prevail. Let men
re sat-. fed 10 accept the answers aIready ,
gwen to those who will take the trouble To-
COX for them IN the proper place, aud they
viii be found sufficient. Cvii cation, with
an MS accuutDaUi meuts, is found to have
.epr even pace with the decline of prayer.
not with the decline Of earnestness, aInb'-
non, asp ration, long,ng after higher and
better things. hunger and thirst afuet
righteousness, but of prayer, which provides
what the uneducated suppose, aud will al
ways u pose to be, special dIspensttIon
from those purely human q I6;AtiOuS. |
am aware that this statement will be grave
y Ie>t,oned but 1t will appear. am
per uIded, on examination, that those who
question II are not as d class eminent pro
moter> Of cvlllz ,tIOn. or hearty friends OF
It They are manly churcnmen, who, #
they have an ideal of society IN the proper
sense Of the term, borrow it from the book
Of Daniel or the Apocalypse. For the
esta blIshment of their kingdom Of heaven
they naturally look 10 prayer, no other
source furnishing the needed supply of
power. What they desire and anticipate
must come supernaturaly, if at all, and
their faith IN the supernatural will OF
course correspond 10 the esgerness Of their
desire But they who desire a letter
physical aud social state will find the ma
terla's for IT, not in the outlying spaces
Of possibility beyond the organized uni
verse, but in the orga zed universe it's If
and IN themselves az the GROWING portion
Of it, o. b. Erothlnghan.