In the bright sky they perceived an illuminator ; in the all- 

 encircling firmament an embracer ; in the roar of thunder and in 

 the violence of the storm they felt the presence of a shouter and 

 of furious strikers ; and out of the rain they created an Indra, or 

 giver of rain. MAX M(JLLER. 



I. 



REFLECTIONS ON PRAYER AND NATURAL LAW. 

 1861. 



A MID the apparent confusion and caprice of nat- 

 -JL ural phenomena which roused emotions hostile 

 to calm investigation, it must for ages have seemed 

 hopeless to seek for law or orderly relation; and before 

 the thought of law dawned upon the unfolding human 

 mind these otherwise inexplicable effects were referred 

 to personal agency. In the fall of a cataract the 

 savage saw the leap of a spirit, and the echoed thunder- 

 peal was to him the hammer-clang of an exasperated 

 god. Propitiation of these terrible powers was the 

 consequence, and sacrifice was offered to the demons of 

 earth and air. 



But observation tends to chasten the emotions and 

 to check those structural efforts of the intellect which 

 have emotion for their base. One by one natural 

 phenomena came to be associated with their proximate 

 causes; the idea of direct personal volition mixing 

 itself with the economy of nature retreating more and 

 more. Many of us fear this change. Our religious 

 feelings are dear to us, and we look with suspicion 

 and dislike on any philosophy, the apparent tendency 

 1 



