PRAYER AS A FORM OF PHYSICAL ENERGY 47 



with conceptions which contradict it; but such concep- 

 tions form no necessary part of the theory. It is a mat- 

 ter of experience that an earthly father, who is at the 

 same time both wise and tender, listens to the requests 

 of his children, and, if they do not ask amiss, takes 

 pleasure in granting their requests. We know also that 

 this compliance extends to the alteration, within certain 

 limits, of the current of events on earth. With this sug- 

 gestion offered by experience, it is no departure from 

 scientific method to place behind natural phenomena a 

 Universal Father, who, in answer to the prayers of His 

 children, alters the currents of those phenomena. Thus 

 far Theology and Science go hand in hand. The concep- 

 tion of an ether, for example, trembling with the waves 

 of light, is suggested by the ordinary phenomena of wave- 

 motion in water and in air; and in like manner the con- 

 ception of personal volition in nature is suggested by the 

 ordinary action of man upon earth. I therefore urge no 

 impossibilities, though I am constantly charged with doing 

 so. I do not even urge inconsistency, but, on the con- 

 trary, frankly admit that the theologian has as good a 

 right to place his conception at the root of phenomena 

 as I have to place mine. 



But without verification a theoretic conception is a 

 mere figment of the intellect, and I am sorry to find 

 us parting company at this point. The region of theory, 

 both in science and theology, lies behind the world of the 

 senses, but the verification of theory occurs in the sensi- 

 ble world. To check the theory we have simply to com- 

 pare the deductions from it with the facts of observation. 

 If the deductions be in accordance with the facts, we 

 accept the theory: if in opposition, the theory is given 



