Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-08-24
PRAYER AND SCIENCE.


the North american Rerietc, from which
/ the following is taken: 'q i
The real dificulty in the way Of Gods an
| swering prayer, according to the able scient-
! ists is the fact that the laws of the material
universe are absolutely. interchangeable. This
| prayer for spiritual blessings may be an
swered, while PRAYER. for physical good-for
/ But if fixity of law makes prayer for physical
good absurd, IL must make equally foolish
| prayer for spiritual blessings, since law is just
| as hSed in the realm of mind or spirit as in
! the'realm of matter. The laws by which the
mind is developed are just as inmutable as
the laws by which the oak is unfolded from
| the acorn: the laws by which we think are as
| rigid and fixed as those which regulate the
rivers In their flow or the clouds that sweep
across the SKY: II, ON account of the fixed
! for the same reason equally absurd to pray
| that the Divine Spirit may illuminate our
minds and guide our thoughts. II. then; God
may answer prayer for spiritual gifts He may
/ in spite of the observation-disclosures of law, an
swer prayer for physical blessings.
But we also suggest that the position which
| We combat Is probably untenable, on the
| ground that these able scientists do not in
I stating their objections to prayer, use the
| term law with that precision of meaning that
! is requisite in scientific discussion. Some-
! times they personify il. 1t seems clothed with
personality, as when they tell us that the laws
| or nature do this and that. They often defy
| it. ascribing to it attributes which the devout
! theist ascribes only to God. This is the meth
| Oh OF poetry rather than of science Every
thinker knows that the term law has several
/ distinct meanings. 1t will be sufficient for
4 our purpose to note barely two. We call at
tention to the first simply because of its di-
| yersity from the second, so that by the con-
! trast. we may add to the vividness of the sec
| ond meaning, on which we propose to COM
ment We are so made that we discern dis
| t1nction between right and wrong; we know
intuitively that they are opposites Men uni
| versally recognizing this distinction feel that
! they ought to do the right and shun the
wrong. This ought is mightier than all other
forces which impel men to action. This dis
tinction of right from wrong, and the ought
ness which presses a man, as with the super
incumbent weight of a mountain. to do the
| right, constitute the essence of moral law
| Bentham, in his utitaran argument in ref
erence To morals. was so troubled with this
element or oughtness that he declared that
| the word ought Ought to be banished from
| the vocabulary of morals" From the inexor-
! able necessities of his own being he could not
| say Ii in any other way.
Now. when we come to talk of the laws of
! the material universe, we have in mind very
different conception. No oughtness appears.
We mean simply the processes of nature-thc
ways in which things, so far as the observa-
| ton of men has extended come to pass. When
the cold reaches a given degree of intensity
water freezes; we say that that is a material
law. When the high temperature of spring
| comes the ice melts and vegetation starts; we
call these processes laws. When vapor freezes
| it takes the forms of crystals; and this
| process we call material law. The pro-
foundest scientist can not carry his analysis
any further. He knows more than clown
or a child only because, by study and ex-
tended observation, he has seen more of the
| processes of nature, and has generalized and
! grouped them. In any single example, he can
only see what the ignorant may sce-that a
law OF nature is simply the way in which n
thing, In the material world or In the world of
mind, is done.
Now, since in these varied laws of nature
| we see that certain useful ends are met, the
suggestion inevitably comes that intelligence
| established these laws or now works out
| these varied and beneficent processes. Since
| n law of nature Is nOthinU fknn tho
| way in which certain thing Is accom-
plished, 1t Is certainly not contrary to any
thing which science has discovered to con-
slider the laws of nature simply as God 5
| methods of doing things. Such a supposition
does no violence to scientific method while It
| provides suitable cause for the benefcent
element in these laws. If it Is asked why these
| processes or laws of nature, on the supposition
that they are Gods ways of working are fi5ed,
invariable, we find ready answer In the Bib
Ideal revelation of Gods nature and character.
Belng absolutely perfect, when, for the first
time He did anything, He did it with absolute
can be no change for the better. since moth
ing can be any more than perfect; but God
can not change. in these processes of nature,
| TO that which would be in any sense imperfect,
since that would be q contradiction of Ills own
absolute perfection. So we find in the char
acter of God, as presented TO us in the Bible,
the sufficient reason for the immutability
or natural laws, when we regard them rs simp-
ly His methods of acting. so when David
| sang: "The Lord also Numbered in the heav-
ems, and the Highest gave His voice." he may
not even in his imaginative song have uttered
| anything opposed to the strictcst science; ii
may be that in such dction, poetry and sci
ence met together and kissed each other. But
II these processes of nature may. without the
slightest conflict with science. be considered
simply the actings of God immanent in His
own creation, it is not impossible that, work
ing by those unchangeable processes, He
And II will not be difficult for us TO discover
by analogy how. in perfect harmony with the
TACT OF the immutability of natural laws God
no Fact <.xNH
| in the f1xity of natural laws underles all their
i acts. without such confidence they could not
construct or work the simplest machinery
They would not dare to sail lake or ocean, lest
by change OF natural laws. their vessel
should suddenly sink rather than float But
| because they know these laws to be immuta-
| BILE they use them with confidence in ali their
manifold activities. Now. from analogy, we
are able to see how the immutabllity of natr-
| raj laws, instead of being an obstacle stand
ing In the way of Gods answering prayer,
may become rather the very means by which
! he answers every prayer OF faith: Men. be-
cause these natural laws arc Interchangeable,
/ are able by the adjustment to each other of
| even very few of them TO secure the most
wonderful results The adjustment to each
| other of a few immutable laws gives us, the
| steam-engine. which moves most of the ma
chinery of the civilized nations. The adjust
| ment of n few immutabie laws drives our
great merchant ships around the globe. The
| bird which darts upward into the air and on
| ward through 10 with such great velocity, in
to bring About this Surprising result If men,
| with their limited knowledge and the birds of
| the air by instinct, can use unchangeable laws
4 TO reach such marvellous and varied results,
can not God, who established these laws, so
ADJUST them to each other as to answer every
| true prayer ibreathed into HIS ear? 1mmuta-
bility of law, then, does not make prayer even
Tor physical blessings folly but rather stg-
gests to us how God, because of this very inn
Then we are never to forget that at best we
know but little. La Place is reported to have
said, just before he died; What we do. not
| know is enormous" We have discovered, by
centuries of toll, few natural laws, AS the
| circle Of our knowledge has widened we have
| become aware of still greater circle just be-
And In the future. Ms our knowledge extends,
! we shall ever grow more and more keenly
alive TO the infinite reaches of being and Of
the laws OF the material universe compared
with what we do not know, is like the handful
sang n the hour glass . compared with 1i tne
knowledge of interchangeable laws, can by their
adjustment to each other achieve so much.
who shall limifin his achievements Him who
understands all laws, and who, by the simple
act of His viii, can adjust these myriads OF
laws TO each other 90 as to satisfy the cry of
Moreover, those who have arrayed science
and prayer against eachother have sometimes
complacently sneered at those who stu be.
licve that God answers prayer as being honest
enough, but pitiably unscientinc. Now, such
men ought not TO complain il we demand In
them what they demand in others No theory
designed to account for any class Of phenom-
ena is worth anything unless IL takes into con-
sideration all the known facts. aasd makes
suitable provision for them. Those who con-
i tend that on the basis of the immutabfIit5 OF
natural laws 1t is folly to pray, have mover IN
their theory made full provision for the entire
contents OF the fact of prayer. II one thing In
| reference to man has been established beyond
every other, IL Is the fact that he has distinct
he savage or civilized, he Is religious. He
j universally has his places of worship. rude or
artistic; he has his shrines and affairs. and
offers to hts god or gods sacrtnces oioody OF
unbloody. Heather, Mobammedan and
Christian alike pray. Even men who declare
they get into a pinch; and in their highest and
best moods wifi utter words of praise to Him
whom they, declare not to exist Now. fact
accounted for. Does II not carry the evidence
IN itself that there b an answer 20 IT. We md
1 Il TO be general law OF our being toat salts
faction Is provided for every natural and
right desire We hunger-without us are
manifold harvesfs and barns bursting with