v BELIEF AND EVIDENCE 109 



of the effect of a change of position of one piece upon 

 the future relationship of the others. 



Though there is always comfort in prayer the comfort 

 that comes from trust in a power other than ourself 

 it would be just as reasonable to pray that the moon 

 should change its course in order to give additional 

 light when required, that the sun's heat should increase 

 or decrease to suit particular needs, or the earth's 

 rotation be altered from time to time, as to pray that 

 the circulation of the atmosphere should be adapted to 

 the wants of a particular country or district. Because 

 we can predict the positions of the moon, sun, earth 

 and other bodies we do not pray to alter them, but the 

 movements of the air are subservient to like law and in 

 the course of time will be predicted in like manner. 



A clergyman who was asked to pray for rain is said to 

 have replied, " My good friends, what is the use of 

 praying for rain whilst the wind is in the east." It may 

 be said, of course, that everything is possible to 

 Omnipotence behind the universe ; and the only answer 

 to this must be that it would be equally illogical to pray 

 for changes in the aspects of the heavens as that winds 

 should have their movements altered for the benefit of 

 particular people or interests. 



Belief in works rather than faith in prayer is responsible 

 for the attempts to produce rain in drought-stricken 

 districts by means of explosives. It has been shown 

 that such experiments are a useless expenditure of money, 

 and they have been condemned by the best meteoro- 

 logists of Europe and America. In 1908 a meteoro- 

 logist who was ordered to watch the result of rain-making 

 experiments carried out in a district of New Zealand 

 reported that " the explosions had apparently no more 

 effect on the vast expanse of the air than would the 



