SERMON III.--PRAYER AND SCIENCE



(Preached at St. Olave's Church, Hart Street, before the Honourable
Corporation of the Trinity House, 1866.)

PSALM cvii. 23, 24, 28.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great
waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them
out of their distresses.

These are days in which there is much dispute about religion and
science--how far they agree with each other; whether they contradict
or interfere with each other. Especially there is dispute about
Providence. Men say, and truly, that the more we look into the
world, the more we find everything governed by fixed and regular
laws; that man is bound to find out those laws, and save himself from
danger by science and experience. But they go on to say,--'And
therefore there is no use in prayer. You cannot expect God to alter
the laws of His universe because you ask Him: the world will go on,
and ought to go on, its own way; and the man who prays against
danger, by sea or land, is asking vainly for that which will not be
granted him.'