282 THE REV. CHANCELLOR LIAS, M.A., ON 



The Hon. Secretary (Captain Francis Petrie, F.G.S.)- — The 

 communications from absent members are as follows : — 



The Rev. H. J. Clarke writes : — 



1 have been greatly pleased with tliis masterly paper in which 

 Mr. Lias treats of " Miracles, Science, and Prayer." In particular 

 I was struck with the suggestion he makes in alluding to the work 

 which appeared under the title " Natural Law in the Spiritual 

 World." I quite agree with him that the principle thus enun- 

 ciated should have been reversed; and the words " Spiritual Law 

 in the Natural World " appear to me to embody the gist of his 

 argument. 



At the same time, I ventui-e to hold the opinion that much 

 confusion of thought on grave questions would be obviated if, 

 as the antithesis to spiritual, physical or psychical were invariably 

 substituted for natural. The latter in its ordinary acceptation is a 

 term of wide meaning, and has come to be freely applied to moial 

 attributes and sacred affections, when they are regarded as being 

 conformable to Divinely estal)lished order. 



Mr. Lias has, I think, given a very convincingly clear exposition 

 of the truth that the so-called forces of nature are but varied mani- 

 festations of a Power which cannot be conceived of otherwise than 

 as being volitional — in short, that, whether the order which is 

 thereby upheld be physical or spiritual, and whether it be to us 

 familiar or unfamiliar, the " Power belongeth unto God." 



The Rev. R. Collins, M.A., writes: — 



I have read Mr. Lias's paper with much interest and appreciation. 

 The pioper use of the terms "natural" and "supernatural" is a 

 matter of some difficulty, and has not unt'requently been discussed. 

 Mr. Lias emphasises the difference between them, as though it 

 were a difference in kind, whereas it appears to be rather only a 

 matter of difference as regards human experience. The main 

 point is reached in this essay — and it is a very important point — 

 namely, that there is, in fact, no hard and fast line between the 

 (so-called) natural and supernatural ; but Mr. Lias reaches this by 

 seeing the "spiritual " (or, supernatui^al) "forces overflow into the 

 natui'al world." May it not be asked, whether it be not better to 

 put it thus — that the horizon of what we have called the natural 

 is not fixed, but is capable of extension into what has been called 



