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Tracks of a Rolling Stone-Part27_Henry J.Coke(1827-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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him hear. I could see him get up and come to the water's

edge; though he could not see me, his stentorian voice



reached me plainly. His first words were:

'"Is that you, William? Coke is drowned."



'I corrected him, and thus replied:

'"Do you remember a bend near some willows, where you wanted



to cross yesterday?"

'"Yes."



'"About two hours higher up the river?"

'"I remember."



'"Would you know the place again?"

'"Yes."



'"Are you sure?

'"Yes, yes."



'"You will see me by daylight in the morning. When I start,

you will take my mare, my clothes, and some food; make for



that place and wait till I come. I will cross there."

'"All right."



'"Keep me in sight as long as you can. Don't forget the

food."



'It will be gathered from my words that definite instructions

were deemed necessary; and the inference - at least it was



mine - will follow, that if a mistake were possible Samson

would avail himself of it. The night was before me. The



river had yet to be crossed. But, strange as it now seems to

me, I had no misgivings! My heart never failed me. My



prayer had been heard. I had been saved. How, I knew not.

But this I knew, my trust was complete. I record this as a



curious psychologicaloccurrence; for it supported me with

unfailing energy through the severe trial which I had yet to



undergo.'

CHAPTER XXVI



OUR experiences are little worth unless they teach us to

reflect. Let us then pause to consider this hourly



experience of human beings - this remarkable efficacy of

prayer. There can hardly be a contemplative mind to which,



with all its difficulties, the inquiry is not familiar.

To begin with, 'To pray is to expect a miracle.' 'Prayer in



its very essence,' says a thoughtfulwriter, 'implies a

belief in the possible intervention of a power which is above



nature.' How was it in my case? What was the essence of my

belief? Nothing less than this: that God would have



permitted the laws of nature, ordained by His infinite wisdom

to fulfil His omniscient designs and pursue their natural



course in accordance with His will, had not my request

persuaded Him to suspend those laws in my favour.



The very belief in His omniscience and omnipotence subverts

the spirit of such a prayer. It is on the perfection of God



that Malebranche bases his argument that 'Dieu n'agit pas par

des volontes particulieres.' Yet every prayer affects to



interfere with the divine purposes.

It may here be urged that the divine purposes are beyond our



comprehension. God's purposes may, in spite of the

inconceivability, admit the efficacy of prayer as a link in



the chain of causation; or, as Dr. Mozely holds, it may be

that 'a miracle is not an anomaly or irregularity, but part



of the system of the universe.' We will not entangle

ourselves in the abstruse metaphysical problem which such



hypotheses involve, but turn for our answer to what we do

know - to the history of this world, to the daily life of



man. If the sun rises on the evil as well as on the good, if

the wicked 'become old, yea, are mighty in power,' still, the



lightning, the plague, the falling chimney-pot, smite the

good as well as the evil. Even the dumb animal is not



spared. 'If,' says Huxley, 'our ears were sharp enough to

hear all the cries of pain that are uttered in the earth by



man and beasts we should be deafened by one continuous

scream.' 'If there are any marks at all of special design in



creation,' writes John Stuart Mill, 'one of the things most

evidently designed is that a large proportion of all animals



should pass their existence in tormenting and devouring other

animals. They have been lavishly fitted out with the






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