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they do not reside in them ; they have been impressed on them.” The object 
of all this is to shut out God from the world, and to assert that there is no 
God. Now, we face all this rightly when we say, “ We will notallow you to 
assume that there is no force you have not investigated until you account for 
the origin of the .germ or particle, for the genesis of what is behind and 
beyond the germ.” A sufficient answer to all these scientific speculations is 
that they are assumptions which are based on nescience, and if a man asks 
“ How can God interfere in matters that are going on in the world ?” my 
answer is “ When I am as great as God, and as wise and infinite as He ; 
when I have entered into the treasure-house of His wisdom, and grasped His 
infinitude, I will tell you what are the resources of which the Omnipotent 
avails Himself in order to interfere.” At the same time, I think you will 
agree with me that, taking Professor Tyndall on his own ground, he has 
failed to prove anything that will tend to establish the conclusions he has 
drawn. 
Mr. J. E. Howard. — As one who has been engaged in chemical inves- 
tigations for the last forty-five years, I desire to say a few words. I 
am a believer in the efficacy of prayer, and am glad to have heard the 
remarks which have been made upon this side of the question from all parts 
of the room. I agree with the last speaker, that the subject has not been 
entirely probed to the bottom, and that some of the objections of men of 
science to the assertions of religious men, that prayer is answered, have not 
been altogether met. I do not know that they could be met except in this 
way ; that the deeper the researches of science, the more fully we enter upon 
the investigation of natural laws, the more shall we become convinced of our 
own ignorance. Before becoming wise a man must be convinced, in a certain 
sense, that he is a fool ; or at all events, that as the boundaries of our know- 
ledge become extended, they but re'veal the vast outlying space of our 
ignorance. I can see no difficulty in the question presented to us on this 
occasion ; it may be because I view the whole subject ab initio from a 
different stand-point to that taken by some men of science. I do not believe 
in a Being who has imposed laws upon atoms, in such sense that the atoms 
thus endued with what we call laws should be more powerful than the Law- 
giver himself. If we think, as we must think, upon this subject, w T e find 
arising behind us the power of the Infinite, which has been so well described 
by Sir Isaac Newton in his declaration of faith in the omnipresence of God 
as the Being who governs all things, not as a soul of the world, but as Lord 
of the Universe. I cannot repeat that declaration without book ; but 
my view of the omnipresence and power of God is the same as Newton’s ; 
and that, I assert, rises above and beyond, and far outweighs all consider- 
ations about laws, and the mode in which it may please God to act upon 
matter. If God be pleased to answer prayer, there is nothing that I know of 
in the constitution of matter which should prevent His doing so. It must 
surely be as easy for God to act upon matter, as it is for me to crumple up the 
piece of paper I hold in my hand. That God can answer prayer I am con- 
vinced. How he does it is another question which remains to be investigated. 
