ON PRAYER AS A FORM OF PHYSICAL ENERGY. 45 



It is not my habit of mind to think otherwise than 

 solemnly of the feeling which prompts prayer. It is a 

 power which I should like to see guided, not extin- 

 guished devoted to practicable objects instead of wasted 

 upon air. In some form or other, not yet evident, it 

 may, as alleged, be necessary to man's highest culture. 

 Certain it is that, while I rank many persons who resort 

 to prayer low in the scale of being natural foolishness, 

 bigotry, and intolerance being in their case intensified 

 by the notion that they have access to the ear of God 

 I regard others who employ it, as forming part of 

 the very cream of the earth. The faith that adds to 

 the folly and ferocity of the one is turned to enduring 

 sweetness, holiness, abounding charity, and self-sacrifice 

 by the other. Keligion, in fact, varies with the nature 

 upon which it falls. Often unreasonable, if not contemp- 

 tible, prayer, in its purer forms, hints at disciplines which 

 few of us can neglect without moral loss. But no good 

 can come of giving it a delusive value, by claiming for 

 it a power in physical nature. It may strengthen the 

 heart to meet life's losses, and thus indirectly promote 

 physical well-being, as the digging of ^Esop's orchard 

 brought a treasure of fertility greater than the golden 

 treasure sought. Such indirect issues we all admit ; 

 but it would be simply dishonest to affirm that it is 

 such issues that are always in view. Here, for the 

 present, I must end. I ask no space to reply to those 

 railers who make such free use of the terms insolence, 

 outrage, profanity, and blasphemy. They obviously 

 lack the sobriety of mind necessary to give accuracy to 

 their statements, or to render their charges worthy of 

 serious refutation. 



