The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-25

though In both Protestant and Catholic nations
any OF his subjects seeing that public prayer for
MN is included In every ritual the average life or
royalty In Europe during the past century Is only
8404 years, whereas that Of ordinary gentleolk Is
1922. Moreover, 1t would be expected that clergy
men, whose profession II is to pray, and who GER
devOtiOns, would live longer than licentiOus law
yers and sceptical doctors, who neither pray for
beneat but am 2 Of the lists Of persons
OF sutflcens note to have had their lives recorded
IN ina! biographical dictionary does not prove II.
clergy, lawyers and medical men Is as 66.42, 66. 81
and 6704 respectively, the clergy being the shortest
lived OF the three Hence the prayers Of the clergy
Tor protection against the pers and dangers OF the
night, for protection during the day and for re-
covery from sickness, appear to be futile in result"
countries and In all creeds, the priests urge the
patient to pray for his own recovery, and the
patients friends to aid him with their prayers but
that the doctors make no account whatever Of their
spiritual agencies, unless the office OF priest and
The medical works Of modern Europe TEEN with
records OF individual Illnesses and broad averages
OF gisease, Dut nave been able to discover hardly
has attributed recovery to the influence or prayer.
There is not single instance to my knowledge, in
recognized the agency OF prayer either on disease
or on anything else The universal habit Of the
very important fact. To fully appreciate The 'elo.
quence OF the silence OF medical men must bear
In mind the care with which they endeavor to as.
sign SanatOry value to every influence. Had
prayers for the sick any notable effect IL is ncredi
BILE but that the doctors, who are always on the
watch for such things, should have observed It, and
added their influence to that OF the priests towards
obtaining them for every sick man, II they abstain
never been awakened to the possible efficacy Of
prayer, but, on the contrary. that although they
have heard 1t insisted on from childhood upwards,
they unable to detect its influence. Most people
have some general belief in the objective efficacy Of
prayer, but none seem willing to admit its action
cOgnizance.u
Now, do not think 1t is at all necessary to point
out at any length to your readers the inherent
assumes that Gods will and the Will Of the creature
who prays to him are one and the same. II as
great blessing; but are they not innumerable,
those to whom long life has been curse,
hot may not SSa Ss
piness-which Is really what we ask him
to doM c refusing to grant our prayer j., Tor
not a contradiction in terms to propose that we
should coerce Him into granting our prayers. The
comments on Captain Cations prayer
1--WE will not answer this astounding argument,
as we might at rst sight feel inclined to do by de-
weigh mental consequences in pair of brass
scales, or by pointing out that. according to the
God has expressly declared that He does not limit
His benevolence by mems deserving, raining
equally on the just and unjust or by asking Captain
Cation for proof tnat his pious persons ever pray
earnestly without the earnest addition OF a prayer
that Gods will shall be done and not theirs, but
will meet him face to face his ground, with
his own method and with blank denial. In two
cases, large and so visible as to be better than
any Of his own, persons about whom the presump-
ton alike Of prayer and OF prayerfu spirit Is
greater than 1t is about any OF those he names.
have been enormously, almost miracuously sue
cessfu. If 1t can be asserted Of any human beings
that they prayed for the diffusion OF their IDEAS OF
faith 1t be asserted about the early Christians
II 1t be asserted about any prayer that 1t In
vOlved an antecedent imprObability Of realization,
It can be asserted about that particular prayer
of mankind, OF the horror-struck resistance
OF princes, OF the antagOnism between those
ideas and the instincts Of mankind.of the weak
ness, as Captain Cation would say, OF those ideas
that prayer was heard those ideas were diffused,
that faith is the faith of the peoples who control
the world 1t Is not we who are pressing that kind
of evidence for prayer; we are simply accepting
Captain Cations method and giving him an over
whelming instance Of a cause which was hopeless,
which was prayed for and which did win. The
other instance Is an even stronger one on Captain
Cations system of proof. He says that God Is In.
cessantly asked to grant Sovereigns long life, and
they die quicker than other people, We say In re-
turn that God is perpetuoy asked In the same for
ali circumstances, OF ali oppositons Of as we
think its own inherent and necessary tendency to
death-its pretensons being baseless-the Papacy
endures through the ages, and seems, as MaCaulay
said as II 1t might survive all existing institutions.
We do not say post hoe, ergo pr0pter hoc.in the
second instance we could not say it-but Captain
Cation, by the law OF his method Is bound to say 1t
for II the absence OF protection for churches
from lightning and OF kings from early death are
Christianity and the durability OF the POpedom are
greater, because more certain and visible proofs
that prayer Is useful"
Immortality Taught In the Bible.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
There has been in several Of the past editions Of
the Sunday HERALD discussion on the immOr-
tally Of the SOUL which has had but one defender,
"w. G. d." on whose side and In defence Of the
truths sin which we 30 surely believe" enroll
uxvtth xuilI fao
as he draws all his proofs from Holy Writ, that
"F. c." your correspondent believes in the
divine origin OF the Bible, being Gods word and
written under the guidance OF His Holy Spirit; as
such Its histories its prophecies, It's promises and
Its threatenings must stand or fall together. We
must also understand the Bible acceptation OF the
terms slife' and "death." "when Christ, who
Is our lie, shall appear, then shall We also
appear with Him In glory."-Coossians III,
4. This text contains q double proof.
Christ Is the life of the soul, as the
soul is the life Of the body; withdraw Christ the
soul il dead-is given over to the darkness OF sin
the soul leaves the body, the body dies-is given
over to the darkness Of the grave. The second
proof is that 1--WE shall appear with Him in glory"
The body decays the immortal soul of the righteous
passes into Paradise there to await the resurrec-
tion of the body mot the resurrection Of the souD
to be Joined to It again at the Judgment day. We
know from Cor. xv., 42-44 that the body raised Is
not the same body, being spiritual, yet being a
| reproduction OF the natural Dody Now, II the soul
had ceased to be and had been recreated an immor
tai SOUL this would not be the same body and soul
that lived upon the earth-was saved by Christ's
atonement-Dut an entirely new created being,
which Interpretation is opposed in every
sense to the words, aye shall also
appear with him In glory" Take next
| the term death" 'The soul that snneth
shall surely de, was said under the Old Testament
| dspensation. At first glance this seems most
positive proof Of "F C's doctrine, 1t being proved
soul of the sinner is lost; It must die, hut when
q man commits sin does he fall dead No;
II IL too opposed to the reason OF the most
thoughtless or human beings to assert such thing
as fact. II Is universally acknowledged that
the soul Of man gives life to his body, and also