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physics, and it does often happen that when men have a great reputation 

 for one particular department of knowledge, they fancy that they can main- 

 tain the same reputation when they discuss subjects of a totally different 

 character. I do not think, however, that the grounds stated to have been 

 taken by Professor Tyndall — with whose book I am but imperfectly acquainted 

 — have been fully and logically answered. I may be mistaken, having 

 arrived late, and only read the paper since I have been in this room. 



Rev. J. W. Buckley. — I should like to put the question in this form : 

 How are we to prove in any way, without taking Scripture into account, 

 that there is ever any answer to prayer ? We do not begin, as I think we 

 ought, by proving the truth of the revelation of the Holy Scriptures ; but 

 we start with a sort of loose idea that we can " by searching find out God " 

 in these matters. I do not myself see how any amount of reasoning upon 

 the point can prove that God has answered prayer. A man may say, " I 

 prayed for this ; " but the question is, " How do you know that what has 

 happened is an answer to your prayer ? " I do not see any process open to 

 the human mind, apart from the acceptance of divine revelation, by which 

 it can prove that answers are given to prayer. I therefore demur in limine 

 to the discussion of the question whether God hears and answers prayer, 

 unless the revelation of the Scriptures be admitted. We may, indeed, 

 argue thus as to the iwobahilitij that God answers prayer : — If you admit a 

 God — a Supreme Being — at all, it seems to be a most unnatural thing to 

 take up the notion as a truth, that He has constituted us as we are, with our 

 bodies and minds, hearts and souls, so wonderfully formed, and yet that 

 He has altogether withheld His mind from any communication with ours. 

 I hold that this is an unreasonable way of looking at the matter ; that it is 

 a very extraordinary position to take up. If we once admit ourselves to 

 have been constituted, body and soul, by a divine, omnipotent, and in- 

 telligent Spirit, as I hold we must do, because we find ourselves here with 

 remarkable faculties ; — if a Being superior to ourselves made us, we can 

 reason on until our reason drives us to this irresistible conclusion, although 

 the Being who is the subject of our reasoning is still totally incomprehensible ; 

 — that there must have existed in the eternity past an infinite and all-powerful 

 Spirit. And when we are driven to this by our reason, we find ourselves 

 almost obliged to admit, that it would be a most extraordinary thing if we 

 were shut out from all communication with that infinite and omnipotent 

 Spirit. But then, by endeavouring to prove this communication, without 

 asking whether this infinite Spirit has revealed anything respecting itself, we 

 are, if I may use the comparison, trying to perform the play of Hamlet 

 with Hamlet left out,— -dealing with a question without touching the founda- 

 tion upon which it must be based. I therefore demur to the discussion of 

 the question whether prayer is answered or not, without taking the evidence 

 of the Holy Scriptures into account ; because, if you shut the Scriptures 

 out altogether, you are omitting one very considerable and indispensable 

 element. I was glad to hear a gentleman, who has already spoken, say that 

 Professor Tyndall admitted that there was something beyond what he could 



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