14 FEBRUARY 1903, Page 15

PRAYERS FOR FINE WEATHER.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—In the Spectator of January 31st, writing on the subject of prayer, as touched on by Professor Joivett, you say :— " Prayers for fine weather are a mere survival. How strangely long it has taken the world to learn this fact, so plain to reason and experience." Is not that a rash utterance ? The late Sir G. G. Stokes knew more than most of us do about natural law, yet in his Gifford Lectures the following passage ocean "Does our physical knowledge authorise us in saying that the course of the weather is as much fixed as that of the planets in

their orbits? I doubt it. There is much tending to show that the state of the atmosphere depends a good deal upon a condition

of unstable equilibrium Now the character of unstable equilibrium is that it is a condition in which the very slightest disturbing cause will suffice to start a movement which goes on accumulating till it produces a complete alteration of position. It is perfectly conceivable that a child, by lighting a bonfire, might produce an ascending current of air which in peculiar cases might suffice to initiate a movement which would go on ELCCUMII• lating till it caused the condition of the atmosphere to be widely different from what it would have been had the child not acted as I have supposed. It is not, therefore, by any means certain that the condition of the weather is solely determined by physical conditions the effect of which could even conceivably be calculated beforehand. Hence it is conceivable that a change in the future of the weather might be made without any interference with the physical laws actually in operation?' (pp. 220-21.)

Sir G. G. Stokes concluded from these considerations, com- bined with the consideration of the imperfection of our know- ledge, that we are justified in praying for fine weather. But there is a larger way of looking at the question. Man can In multitudes of cases alter the effects of natural causes by the simple method of using one physical law for the purpose of modifying another. All great human works are done in this way. Are we to suppose the Almighty labours under a dis- ability from which His creature, man, is free? Surely, if we believe in a God who is transcendent as well as immanent, we have no right to set limits to His power of controlling the operation of His own laws. As knowledge grows, we learn

that there are some effects (not laws) which are of such universal importance (e.g., the orbits of the planets) that it

would seem impious to pray for their alteration. But the weather is not one of these.—I am, Sir, &c.,

[We gladly publish our correspondent's most interesting letter, but we do not agree. To state our grounds of difference would, however, involve a longer argument than we have space for just now.—ED. Spectator.]