REFLECTIONS ON PRAYER AND NATURAL LAW. t 



The proximate origin of the foregoing slight article, and prob- 

 ably the remoter origin of the next following one, was this. Some 

 years ago, a day of prayer and humiliation, on account of a bad 

 harvest, was appointed by the proper religious authorities ; but 

 certain clergymen of the Church of England, doubting the wisdom 

 of the demonstration, declined to join in the services of the day. 

 For this act of nonconformity they were severely censured by some 

 of their brethren. Rightly or wrongly, my sympathies were on the 

 side of these men ; and, to lend them a helping hand in their struggle 

 against odds, I inserted the foregoing chapter in a little book entitled 

 ' Mountaineering in 1861.' Some time subsequently I received from a 

 gentleman of great weight and distinction in the scientific world, 

 and, I believe, of perfect orthodoxy in the religious one, a note 

 directing my attention to an exceedingly thoughtful article on 

 Prayer and Cholera in the * Pall Mall Gazette.' My eminent corre- 

 spondent deemed the article a fair answer to the remarks made by 

 me in 1861. I, also, was struck by the temper and ability of the 

 article, but I could not deem its arguments satisfactory, and in a 

 short note to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette ' I ventured to 

 state so much. This letter elicited some very able replies, and a 

 second leading article was also devoted to the subject. In answer 

 to all, I risked the publication of a second letter, and soon after- 

 wards, by an extremely courteous note from the editor, the discussion 

 was closed. 



Though thus stopped locally, the discussion flowed in other 

 directions. Sermons were preached, essays were published, articles 

 were written, while a copious correspondence occupied the pages 

 of some of the religious newspapers. It gave me sincere pleasure 

 to notice that the discussion, save in a few cases where natural 

 coarseness had the upper hand, was conducted with a minimum of 

 vituperation. The severity shown was hardly more than sufficient 

 to demonstrate earnestness, while gentlemanly feeling was too pre- 

 dominant to permit that earnestness to contract itself to bigotry ox 

 to clothe itself in abuse. It was probably the memory of this dis- 

 cussion which caused another excellent friend of mine to recommend 

 to my perusal the exceedingly able work which in the next article 

 I have endeavoured to review. 



