217 
county. Under these unavoidable circumstances I have arranged with the 
learned Professor to do my best to read his paper for him, so far as time will 
admit of its being read, and to explain the main drift of the passages which, 
on account of its length, it will be necessary to leave unread. I shall 
endeavour to do justice to Professor Kirk’s thoughtful essay, which I have 
carefully read through ; and I have only further to express his extreme 
regret that he could not be with us this evening, and I beg leave to add my 
own regret at the cause of that absence. 
The following is Professor Kirk’s paper, which was then partially read by 
the Honorary Secretary : — 
ON THE RELATION OF METAPHYSICAL AND 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE TO THE CHRISTIAN DOC- 
TRINE OF PRAYER. By the Rev. John Kirk, 
Professor of Practical Theology in the Evangelical Union 
Academy , Glasgow; Author of u The Age of Man Geologi- 
cally considered in its bearing on the Truths of the Bible ” 
fyc. Sfc. ; Mem. Viet. Inst. 
W HEN we speak of Physics and of Metaphysics to ordinary 
men, we have reason to fear that they are sensible only 
of certain unintelligible sounds. If their thinking capabilities 
are at all brought into use, it is merely in the perception of 
a mist which has risen before the mind-’s eye. Should we 
expatiate technically on Psychology, or Biology, or Anthropo- 
logy, launching off perhaps into ever so many other “ ologies,” 
the fog only becomes more dense and murky, till the baffled 
hearer becomes hopeless as to all understanding of that which 
is addressed to him. The simple-hearted no doubt imagine 
that we who use these very learned words must understand 
ourselves, and see all beyond the clouds and darkness which 
limit their view ; but they often admire when, if they only 
knew the real state of the case, their estimate would be very 
seriously modified. It is in this state of ignorance and sim- 
plicity that the common mind is especially in danger from 
popular philosophy. 
There is nothing in the nature of the highest knowledge 
which renders such ignorance necessary, even in the most 
lowly of ordinary men. The facts and findings, which go to 
make up the Science of mind itself, are not so mysterious or 
incomprehensible in themselves that the intellect of the many 
may not embrace them. Neither are the facts and inferences, 
which constitute the knowledge of matter and its laws, so 
much beyond the common range of thought that they may 
