The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-12-17
RELATION OF PRAYER TO NATURAL
Law.
A Lecture Given at NormeI school, Sun
day. December o. 1880,
BY REV. RICHARD coRDLEY

The object of these lectures, as under
stand it, is to bring before YOU
minds some of the general
truths Of religion, not in ang
sectarian aspect, or with any sec
tartan intent, but in such a way Ihat
your education may include religious
truth, among the great departments o
thought to which you give attention
You study the science of government
without any reference TO partizan poli,
tics, and with no thought of disturbing
your political affiliations. 1t seems Il
me eminently proper that you should
study religious truth in the same way
without any thought of disturbing YOU
UNCONVENTIONAL affiliations.
The theme to which would direcI
your thought, is the relation of prayer
to nature. In this make no attack or
SC fence. The pulpit, of all institutions
should welcome light from every source
Asa rule it does, and wherever il does not
il is false to its own idea; for iruih Vii
stand and light will shine whencesoevel
they come. So we hold ourselves ready
to accept all established facts, il
whatever direction found. More thar
thai, we stand ready to modify any of oul
own theories, whenever they are found
to conflict with newly discovered facts
which have really been established
But the theories and opinions of scientific
men, are entitled to exactly the same CON
sideration which Is due TO the theories
and opinions of religious teachers and
no more. We study them with interest
but they must wait till they are estab
lished by facts before any one can be
required to step out of their way.
We claim, however, that we have fact;
as we'll as they There are facts in re
ligion as well as in science; facts in
spirit as well as in matter; in the world
above US as well as that beneath Us. AND
We claim further that fact in the spirit
ual relation is as worthy of considera
ton as fact in material relation. II
matters not where fact Is found or how
it deserves place in every mans sys
TEN of thought. An invisible fact Is
Just as solid as if it were of rock, and {
fact really found by your consciousness
is lust as we'll established as though il
were found by the blow pipe or solar
spectrum.
Prayer is one of the facts of the re
legious world, revealed in the conscious
yearning of the human soul, and in the
testimony of God through His word
1 present to you to-day the relation o.
prayer to matter, not for its own SAKE
alone. II involves the principle of al
supernaturalism. The logic which
would rule out prayer from life, would
rule out the soul from man, and Goo
from the universe. The theory tina
would shut God ont of his works Sc
that he cannot help his people, would
shut him out from all the direct interes
in the world, or in its history, and would
be Lut one step from the entire blOttins
out of his name and presence. WheE
you have blotted out prayer and God
hopes of mankind that have sustained
them in hours of darkness and agony
and have been the inspiration Of all tht
best things men have thought and done
This then is the battle ground o
faitE. 1t is we'll to know the scope o
the contest, and where we and our OPP
ponents part. Prayer, miracles and in
SEPARATION are involved in this discus
sion and depend on the same principles
In discussing the relation OF prayer t.
natural law, we need, first of all, to max
preliminary distinction. We need Il
distinctly place before our minds ant
keep it there, that God i
separate from his works. We d,
not propose to prove christian
doctrine on skeptical grounds. If maj
does not believe in God. or believes in
pantheistic God identical with nature,
is dot worth while discussing the ques
ton of prayer with him. We begii
further back. We part with such aman
logically, long before we come to tn
| question of prayer. Our God is an in
| dependent, separate being, entirely dis
! tinct from his works. tie existed be
| fore creation. He exists now above il
and would exist if it should perish, II
has not exhausted himself in what h
has done. He could duplicate creatiol
| if il were wise. He can add TO il, mod
fy it, or destroy it. He can add a worl
or remove one, put in a new force, O
take out one now operating. There
to him an infinite reserve of power afte
all his work is done. This is the chris
tian conception of God, and we mus
keep il distinctly in mind Ia considerin
the christian doctrine of prayer. Yo
will be surprised TO find how it clarifie
the whole subject, and what a flood c
light it throws upon it.
There is then no question of powe
There is no impossibilily about i
II God see fit to answer prayer h
can; and If he has really promise
to answer prayer, he VIII. When me
talk abont the Impossibility of prayt
they have different conception of Go
from this. They conceive of God G
identical with nature, and the power ,
God as identical with the power of nj
ture. They conceive of God as emboI
led in his works. OF course there ca
be nothing supernatural under til
conception. There car be nothing aboN
nature if God be nature and nature /
God.
With all such ideas we take issue
the outset. Our God is not TO be CO..
founded with his works. He stanC
above them all, controlling them al
but not involved in them. Beyond a
he has made and done, he has infini
power in reservc-to add TOTO modii
Ito re-create-or destroy. So the que
ton Of prayer is a mere question of fac
Concede to natural law all that is aske
for it, and there is still the infinite POI
or OF God, beating and throbbfI
through all his works, and penetratir
them through and through. He can a
swer prayer if he will, and he will a
swer it if there he reason for it
course his infinite intelligence hears 8
: prayer; his infinite heart sympathiZ
: with all prayer; and his infinite pow
T is able to answer all prayer. The on
: question is Does he ever do iti'' al
e that Is a matter of evidence and ties
: mony.
3 But the objector still presses Il
i point in another line, and say
; "GrantiGg that God has power, al
a prayer can be answered, Is not the e'
8 dence accommodating against the fact tn
d God ever does deviate from liked lag
Are we no. finding more and more, th
f he accomplIshes everything by establis
3 ed forces? Is not science continual
5 narrowing the circle of possible var
e ton, so that if 1t keeps on there will so,
e be no room left for prayer? One thil
i after another is being remanded to &
r realm of fixed law. Savages dread {
# eclipse, and pray to be delivered from
n but the time of Its coming was known
s thousand years ago, and mig
1, have been known when the MOI
:, ing stars sang together. Int
e ligent men do not pray to have {
a eclipse postponed. Other things 8
Just as fixed, only we cannot calcul.
them so we'll. The shower is just as
pendent on antecedents as the eclip
only these antecedents are more delica
and various, and more difficult to app
z bend. If We could apprehend them
a ! well as we can the causes Of the cell ,,