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familiarity with the order of nature and scientific assurance of its 

 uniformity need not and should not tend to extinguish the instinct, 

 or abolish the motives of prayer by seeming; to imply its futility, 

 but should rather tend to purify and exalt the objects of prayer. 

 The savage prays to his idol, that he may have success in killing 

 his enemies. The Hottentot whips and worships his fetich in 

 blind but eager quest of some sensual boon, that he may consume 

 it upon his lusts. The prayers of the Vedic Books are the child- 

 ish prayers of an unspiritual and childish people. "They pray," 

 says Max Miiller, "for the playthings of life, for houses and 

 homes, for cows and horses, and they plainly tell the gods that 

 if they will only be kind and gracious they will receive rich 

 offerings in return." And do we, asks the critic of compara- 

 tive religions, we Christians of this nineteenth century, " do 

 we do much otherwise," if regard be had to the quality of 

 our petitions? Prof. Henry held that it was both the duty and 

 privilege of enlightened Christians to "do much otherwise," by 

 praying preeminently, if not exclusively, for spiritual blessings. 

 .And heiice he held that the highest natural philosophy combines 

 with the highest Christian faith to transfer the religious thoughts, 

 feelings, and aspirations of man more and more from things seen 

 to things unseen, and from things temporal to things eternaL 

 This view of his had nothing of quietism or of mysticism in it. 

 Still less was it the expression of an apathetic stoicism. It was 

 only the philosopher's way of praying to the great All-Father, 

 in the spirit of St. Augustine, "Da quodjubes, eljube quod vis.'''' 

 I have made this reference to the opinions of Prof. Henry on 

 the relations of science to religion, as also on the relations of 

 natural philosophy to prayer, not only for the light they shed on 

 the character of the man, but also for a reason which is peculiar 

 to this Society, and which it may be a matter of interest for you 

 to know. Immediately after his last unanimous election as the 

 president of our Society, he communicated to me his purpose to 

 make the relations of science and religion, as also the true import 

 of prayer, the subject of his annual presidential address. He 

 gave me an outline of the views he intended to submit, and I 

 have here given but a brief resume of them, according to my 

 recollections of the colloquy, which was only one of many similar 

 conferences previously had on the same high themes. He said 

 that it would be, perhaps, the last time he should ever be called 



