One perplexing problem having thus lost its sting, remaining difficulties are likely to grow lighter in an analogous way. Men are weary of negative thought. Moreover, some of the outstanding questions of the time include factors which hint at the possibility of their own answers. The troubles of the body social are forcing men to renewed consideration of ethical principles; but it is quite as evident that social questions have their important religious bearings as that they involve moral issues. Shall it be said, then, that the social problem is likely to generate a reaction toward faith? Probably anyone who should to-day maintain the affirmative of this question would encounter much ironical criticism; yet, if all the elements in the situation be taken into account, the suggestion is far from being unfounded. For, while religion in its general aspects is involved in the issue, Christianity stands in a special relation to it. The cures for social ills which have been so loudly heralded by certain parties in the Church may indeed be of doubtful efficacy when tested by sober reason; but there is a striking kinship between the Christianity, doctrinal and applied, which is needed by the closing nineteenth century and that which proved so potent a force when the Christian religion was first fighting its way to recognition. There are few evidences of religion so convincing as religion in action, and so fast as Christianity proves itself able to grapple with the evils which beset society its renewed acceptance will be a direct corollary from the laws under which opinion normally develops.

The question whether this skeptical age is soon to end must receive a hesitant answer. There are signs, both theoretical and practical, that the self-contented negation of a decade or two ago is fast yielding its supremacy. Man's inborn hunger for positive truth is reasserting its power. But critical problems remain with which the age has scarcely begun to grapple. The absence of a dominant philosophical system forbids belief in an immediate complete solution from principle. As M. Brunetière says, philosophy and religion have reconquered part of their prestige; to term their victory complete would be to overstate facts and to offer doubtful aid for their further conflict.

M.C. Armitiory. Jr.

ART. VIII.—THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRAYER.

In the analysis of prayer the divine "how" is not clearly perceived by the ordinary mind. The Christian world was for a moment prostrated by what the Church was pleased to call the audacity of Professor Tyndall in proposing his remarkable prayer test. But it is due to him to remember that he did not misrepresent the creeds. His declaration was that, if it be true that "God preordained every fact and event of the universe, and these facts and events come to pass as thus arranged without possibility of change, answers to prayer are impossible, in the nature of things." It is a psychological truth that faith and prayer are alike impossible in a system of government where every event is the result of previous arrangement. It matters not whether this arrangement be of theistic or atheistic origin; there can be no place for the existence or exercise of prayer where every event is predetermined.

Prayer is based on the fact that there are alternatives with God and with man, and that in the act of prayer there are alternatives presented to the petitioner. Prayer implies the existence of an indefinite number of possibilities, any one of which may become a fact. As faith and prayer are both voluntary, fatalism and prayer are incompatible and cannot be harmonious parts of the same moral system. Prayer is an act that is only possible between two volitional beings. Therefore, if we assume that God directs every event by a stern decree of law or caprice that has no alternative, we must admit that Christians and materialists occupy the same platform; and it becomes apparent even to the thoughtless that in a system of government whose central idea is necessity there is no legitimate sphere for the exercise of prayer.

In the philosophical adjustment of this subject there are two principles involved. The first relates to the immutability of God. Can there be alternatives with him? Is immutability possible where contingencies exist? It appears to us that divine sovereignty is perfectly harmonious with moral agency. Citizenship and sovereignty are facts of relationship, rather than of strength. God is the sovereign; man is the subject of law which prescribes his relation to his sovereign and his fellow

citizen, and determines the fact of his amenability. Mr. Watson says:

The true immutability of God. . . consists, not in his adherence to his purposes, but in his never changing the principles of his administration; and he may therefore, in perfect accordance with his preordination of things and the immutability of his nature, purpose to do under certain conditions dependent on the free agency of man what he will not do under others; and for this reason, that an immutable adherence to the principles of a wise, just, and gracious government requires it.*

By the law of his own essential being God must always do right. He cannot by his acts violate the rules of his own kingdom nor mar the purity of his own personality. Therefore, when he proposes to execute any purpose on a nation or a man, a change in the conduct of that nation or man necessitates a corresponding change in the actions of God toward the party or a change in his principles and character; and because of the immutability of his character the change is made in his administration. This principle of the divine immutability is illustrated in the case of every penitent sinner who abandons his evil way and receives the pardon of his sins at the hands of a just God.

The second principle involves the scientific fact, so well established, that a natural law cannot be changed, reversed, or suspended in its operation. The laws of God are all irreversible; they are not the product of his will, but are coeternal with him and flow forth from him. We must therefore discover some way in which God can perform a miracle or answer prayer without reversing, suspending, or in any manner interrupting natural laws; or we must yield the case and admit that prayer cannot benefit humanity at all. Prayer and miracles involve the same philosophical principles. So we perceive that if God ever wrought a miracle he can on the same basis answer any prayer that comes within the limit of the divine promise.

A miracle is not wrought by reversing or suspending a law of nature; it is dependent upon the presence of a personal God possessing intelligence and power. The impersonal forces of the universe could not create the universe, nor can they perform miraculous feats. When God performs a miracle he does not act on the law. He operates on the body that is the object of the miraculous effort. He takes the object out of the control

•Institutes, vol. ii, p. 492.

of the law that governs it in its normal condition, and does with it what he will. When the young man of the Scripture let his ax fall into the river and it was miraculously made to swim there was neither reversal nor suspension of law. The water rolled on smoothly, the pebbles at the bottom of the stream remained undisturbed. Everything obeyed the behest of nature, but the invisible power of God brought the ax to the surface as the visible hand of the owner would have done if it had been within his power. The suspension of the law of gravitation, if it had been possible, would not have brought the ax to the surface. Law is helpless of itself. Inertia is a property of matter, and the iron would obey that law. The impersonal forces of nature could not move the ax; these forces always act according to law, but never administer the law, being subject to it. The suspension of a law, could this be accomplished, would precipitate systems and constellations into one general ruin and inaugurate a reign of terror in the physical world. Such a disaster is avoided by the continuous presence of the all-wise God, who is in no way trammeled or embarrassed by the laws of his own kingdom.

sense.

The God of Christianity is not an impersonal force, is not the sum total of all forces, but is the Almighty. He possesses intelligence, will, affections, dominion, everything in an infinite When he created man he gave to him as the constituent parts of his being every attribute, quality, and element of the Godhead. Man possesses in a finite degree everything that the Father possesses in an infinite degree. Man is God's child, made in his own likeness and image. Prayer is God's method of communion with his children, the channel of his fellowship with humanity. We are not to think of him simply as a force or influence. If we grant the fact of the divine intelligent personality, and also concede that man is a being of God's own creation, prayer is the easiest and most natural method of communication between this God and his dependent children. But the varied forces of nature never become administrative agencies. In answering prayer God, as the intelligent administrator, takes hold of the object of prayer, whatever it may be, removes it from the control of the forces that govern it in its existing condition, and subjects it to the environment of other laws and the influence of other forces and conditions. Answers to prayer

therefore imply much more than the reflex action of the petitioner's desires on his own life, much more than the filling up of a space in a prograin prepared from all eternity. They are the compliance of the compassionate Father with the request of his helpless children. This compliance on the part of the Father may be in the realm of nature or of grace, but is always in harmony with law. It is generally instantaneous, wrought by the going forth of his divine power, as in Christ's healing the leper, giving sight to the blind, raising the widow's son, or giving health to the woman who touched the hem of his garment; or as in the pardon of a penitent sinner, the sanctification of a devout believer, or the bestowment of consolation on a stricken soul.

Because God's immutability and power must remain the same in all ages, and because the answer to prayer involves the same philosophical principle upon which miracles are v.rought, it must be apparent that prayer always has been, and must ever remain, one of the most important factors in the government of the world.

William Jores