The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-12-17

regular in her operations. therefore Sod
never docs anything beyond what natur-
al law provides for.
Il is entirely wide of ghe mark TO as
sumo that because God governs the
| world by fixed laws, therefore prayer caa
have no place in lis goVeTEment. Sup
nose PRAYERS should be part of its fixed
| laws. When God laid the plan of the
universe the prayers of all his people
were before him Who shall say how
large an influence they had in the ORR
ginal shaping Of things II is very evi-
dent God did think of his creatures
when he made the world and he did
provide for their future but foreseen
wants. The bee finds honey in the
flower because God put il there for him.
The bees instinct as lie goes TO the field
is a sort of prayer for honey, and God
answered II in the clover. the honey
snclle and lily. There can be no doubt
God thought of men TOO, and adapted
the world 10 them. He evidently look
ed down human history and saw the
wants that should arise in the progress
of the race. IL is 2 marvellous thing,
that whenever tie advance of ciyiliZa-
ton creates 4 ncw want, . supply is al
ways found for il, showing that GOO
saw that future want and met il iii the
original plan, cycles before The wants
itself came 10 the surface knowing
that the forests would fail and men
would cry for fuel, he packed fine moHn-
tains ard plains with coal: know
ing that the whales would fail from ting
NORTHERN seas and men would cry for
''iuore light he stored the rocks be
meath oar feet with oil, and NJ The proper
time rivers of oil burst forth from the
ground No one can doubt that the his
I ..T. I q. s1a II
vine thought when he made the world,
and that he shaped the world Tn what lie
saw would be the progressive needs of
men. The only question is, how far out
and hOw far down did that thought 60 ?
Did il touch Individual life, and indi-
vidual want and individual prayer ,
He heard the coming cry of generations.
nations, aud races did he hear the com
ing cry of individual souls? Were our
wants and prayers and lives, which of
course were before him, IN any degree
woven into his plans and provided for ?
1t is supposed by many that the star
which appeared at the Redeemer's birth
was a natural combination of planets,
and that the earthquake at his
death was natural earthquake.
On this theory, which many hold, the
kingdom of nature was made to keep
step with the kingdom of grace. Ma
ture herself frightened at the Redeem
er's birth, and shuddered at the Redeem
er's death. It is not unreasonable TO
suppose God planned the world to meet
the demands of his kingdom and the
needs of his people. A man wandered
all day in the desert. AT night he laid
| himself down exhausted with trav
el and dying of thirst. AS he lay
there in his helplesSness, he call
ed upon God and prayed for wa
ter As he lay upon the ground
stance. When he arose, all was silent /;
but when he laid his ear upon the
ground he could distinctly hear the
| trickling of distant waters The very
sound refreshed him, and he ran toward
it and found q beautiful spring, and
drank, revived and lived. You could
never make that grateful man believe
| that God did not answer his prayer, and
| believe his faith was nearer right than
the doubt of those who would rob him
of its comfort But how could this be,
says one. That spring was there q
thousand years before this man ever saw
it, and hundreds of thirsty travellers had
quenchcd their thirst with Its living
waters. Yes, but God put it there, and
he put il there on purpose TO refresh the
lEiI5LI SOulS hIO COlAC iAldl
and lie had in mind this poor dying
man, and his eager prayer aud its cool
! ing waters expressed his sympathy and
| love. When the time came and the
man lay there, parched and perishing
| on the desert sand, God quickened his
ear TO catch the distant music of the
waters, and led him to the fountain that
! he might drink and live. You remem-
Der when Hagar tainted in the desert,
that God opened her eyes and she saw a
well of waller near by, when she and her
boy drank and refreshed themselves
and went on their way thank
| fully. The well was theIe, but
| they were dying in their ignorance of it,
| till God touched some secret spring in
| their intelligence and turned their eyes
and thoughts that way. How often God
answers our prayers by quickening our
! own seEscs-turniGg our own thoughts.
How easily he can bring the praying
soul to the provisions he had made for
/ it. The Psalnist says:
ale leads me to tse cooling stream,
Where living waters How"
This suggests another point: How
many delicate springs OF influence there
are in nature and life which can be
! touched with marvellous effect and YET
never disturb the regular order OF
! uC dbOtll US IAbl
| so exclusively dependent or physical an
tecedents as is sometimes claimed
| There is very large margin of possible
variation. II is claimed, and claimed
with truth, that the researches of science
put the domain of nature more and
| more under the control of exact law. So
it is also true that these same research.
es widen more and more this margin oi
possible variation. These two state.
ments may seem contradictory, bat
they are not, and think | can show
you beyond Il question they are both
true. Climate, for example, is found
more and more TO be under fixed laws
Its variations are not freaks of nature
but the result of definite causes. lis
changes are being more and more ac
counted for, and can more and mori
be predicted from observed antccedents
But as we are learning the laws, we art
also learning how climate may be in.
fiuenced. The planting of trees is in
creasing the rainfall of the prairies
They told me in New Hampshire tina
the streams and springs were becomiH.
smaller, and some OF them drying up
on account OF the decreasing rain sine,
the trees had been cut from the noun
tains. 1t is suggested in France to reg
late climate at will by artificial aDpli
ances; for they say great fires bring
wind firing guns brings rain; a grea
battle is almost always followed by wint
and rain. 1t is also said that climate i
affected by the erection of buildings, cul
, tivating fields, the changing of waite
courses. They told me the other day n
Springfield, Mo-, that the climate hat
very perceptibly changed in that region
in the last twenty years. They said
was colder and stormIer and more vari
- A. n.
. of railroads and telegraphS. You know
it is claimed with great confidence, ths
the building of the Pacific railwa
: has materially affected the climate of tn
! plains 1t seems at first incredible tha
.. two bands of iron could affect the eli
|. mate of nation. But we know littl
rod of iron will turn aside thunder
bolt, and a number of them will some
times dissipate thunder storm and let
pass harmlessly over US almost in silence
Storms, winds and rains are dependen
. largely on delicate electric current
! which are easily disturbed. Now band
of steel across the continent, or even
: Geographic wire, might easily cffeC
: these currents and turn the storm c
: mold the season.
! As we are learning the laws OF natuI
= we are learning to use them and tur
! them. We are finding points where "
n can touch their secret springs. w
. clean our streets and turn away the pc
E thence; We drain our land and banis
e the malaria; we put up rod and dive
the lightning; we make the lightnin
a carry our messages, light cur gas, rim
Il our bells, give all manner of alarms an
signals and do all kinds of work
Thus zee can modify climate; We ca
q attract OF divert the storm; we ca
. guide tie thunder and use the lightning
g we can ward of OF invite the pestilenc
e franklin pEicked the clouds with
;. piece of Irvine and brought the ligh
e ming down to his feet and made Sc
p want OF it. Ii seems to me perfectly !
s gitimate to ask: IL the free acts of me
E, can thus influence nature and produ'