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23. There is no need that we should encumber the present simple 

 discourse with any lengthened examination of the argument of 

 Professor Mozley on " miracles/^ to which Dr. Tyn- 

 dall so earnestly objects; because it does not stand in question of the 

 our way in the least. It appears to us that Professor J'Jj^^'^^*^"^ 

 Mozley denies the mathematical necessity of any 



order of nature'^ that we are acquainted with. Science rightly 

 assumes the order of nature, but has no right to assume its neces- 

 sity. Nature may, conceivably, have been other than it is, and 

 may therefore be hereafter quite different. " Behold I make all 

 things new involves no mathematical contradiction, so far as 

 we know, as Mr. John Stuart Mill would himself admit; and 

 we can hardly imagine that any mathematician disputes this, 

 which seems to be the basis of Professor Mozley^s argument. 

 With the development of the professor's thoughtful exposition 

 of his subject, especially as to the probability, object, and proof 

 of miracles, we are not here concerned; and we might agree 

 rather at times with Dr. Tyndall in his view that " phenomena 

 are associated with their natural causes'' (p. 31), and his openly 

 confessed dissatisfaction with mere sequences ; '^ in nature. 

 Yet he is inconsistent even here; for, to reduce all nature to 

 necessity is to deny primary causation, or to seek for it 

 beyond the material universe. — But we are treating now of 

 Prayer as capable of holding a place in the system of nature, 

 and we have no need at all to pursue the subject of miracles. 



24. One practical remark, however, of Dr. Tyndall must 

 arrest us before we conclude, because it is an appeal to facts, 

 and by facts alone can we stand. He says he believes ^ t f f t 

 that, if tested by experience of its results, its " ^" 

 "material benefits'" (p. 45), prayer would not "last a decade'' 

 among us. Now, we are quite aware that the subject of "answers 

 to prayer" is one of frequent difficulty even to religious persons, 

 and it would not be possible in this place to enter upon it; but 

 it must not be forgotten that thoughtful and patient inquirers 

 have arrived at the opposite conclusion from Dr. Tyndall's. In 

 the nature of the case, no one could, however, exactly judge of 

 the answer to any particular expression of human desire, reve- 

 rently offered to the Moral Ruler of the world, except the man 

 who had so prayed; and the experience of religious persons has, 

 in all ages, been strikingly uniform as to this. Perhaps there 

 is no class of facts in all human cognizance so unmistakable as 

 this which Dr. Tyndall unconsciously appeals to ; and the 

 actual connection of prayer with the realities of life is, humanly 

 speaking, the very stronghold of its power. — And this will lead 

 us to point out how the " pure materialist's " science entirely 

 leaves out of consideration all facts except those of sensible 



