neither case is the gift arbitrary or unconditional; we recognise a law; we receive good, as we do evil, according to the unchangeable relation of cause and effect. We pray not as supposing the Father to be ignorant or regardless of our wants; but because it is his law, written in our nature and in his revelation, that some of his best gifts should be connected with our prayers; so connected, that we are twice blessed in receiving them; blessed by the favor which the act of faith procures, and blessed in the humble and trusting spirit from which the prayer proceeded.

It is said again, that we need not pray, because "God is unchangeable; we cannot alter his plans, and there is something like irreverence in the attempt." To this we answer, that we make no such attempt; we have no desire to change the immutable purposes of the Almighty. But we distinguish between what is settled by the laws of nature, and what is in its own nature contingent. The movements of material bodies, which have no power of choice or self-direction, are determined by inflexible laws. The planets wheel round the sun in their everlasting courses, and no petition of ours could arrest their flight, or divert them from their appointed career; for their orbits are fixed; but the orbit of a man is not so fixed; there are things, which, for aught we see, depend on his will; within finite limits he can choose his path and direct his way. We move about, we act, we interfere with the plans and movements of others. causes under the Great First Cause. we change many things at our pleasure; the outward world yields to our forces; we make the elements of nature our servants to do our bidding. We put forth our

We

e are subordinate We do many things,

muscular strength, and certain effects follow. We dig up the ground and make it clothe itself with beauty; we scatter seeds, and flowers spring up along our path. We have the evidence of our consciousness, that God has made us sovereigns within our finite domain of matter. He has given us power, also, to work changes in the spiritual world. We move men by our influence, and make them serve our purposes. The hungry child prays to his mother for bread, and she gives it. A poor man in the street implores relief from our charity, discouraged by no metaphysical doubt, and yet we do not see that the philosophical argument against prayer to God for what we need, is not equally good against the supplication of the beggar. For if nothing in the system of the universe is contingent, then is our almsgiving among the events which no importunity could change.

Since God has given us power to produce effects according to our will, to grant or reject a petition offered to us, why should it be supposed that he has reserved no such power for himself? Is he dead? Has he dismissed the machinery of the universe from his care? Or has he so hampered himself by his decrees, that he cannot do anything in answer to our supplications? If our health, comfort, and thrift depend upon our exertions, if we are able to make or mar our prosperity as we will, why may not something depend upon our petitions to the Supreme Ruler? If his immutable laws hinder not the effect of our actions, why should they hinder the effect of our prayers? Why may they not be the procuring cause of blessings that we want? If there is nothing contingent, then it is predetermined, whether we shall eat or starve; and why should we exhaust our energies in vain VOL. XV.- NO. 174. 1*

struggles, beating against the bars of an iron destiny? Why should we labor, save, stint ourselves, to gather up a store for time of need? If we are to have anything, we shall have it, work or not work. We do not accept this theory of the Divine Government. We believe that the ever living Father can grant the suppliant his prayer as well as the farmer his corn. Undoubtedly there may be improper supplications, that will not be granted, as there are misdirected labors, which yield no good result. Our prayers and our exertions are justified by the same principle, and proceed from the same faith in the ever active Providence of God.

After all, the subject is wrapped in mysteries that we cannot penetrate. We feel, however, that it is safe to follow the highest instincts of the soul, and these lead us to the throne of Infinite Power and Love. The religious heart breathes out its irrepressible emotions to the Father in filial trust, though it is unable to trace out the connexion between the prayer and the blessing desired.

But when our prayers are offered, as they chiefly should be, for inward, spiritual good, we are perplexed by no such difficulties. We go to the Father in our weakness, sorrow, or temptation, believing that the humble prayer of faith will bring its own answer. The very act of the soul will give you divine consolation and strength. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." The asking implies the calm reflection, the freedom from unworthy biasses, the singleness of heart which are the best wisdom. When we pray for a meek and gentle temper, and a spirit of love and good will, the prayer we offer will do much to create the dispositions we desire to cherish. We long to be delivered from the power and bondage of sin;

we humble ourselves before God, and give sincere utterance to the sorrows of repentance; and by this spiritual act we kindle up in our souls an earnest desire of a better life, we more and more do hunger and thirst after righteousness, till we are filled.

"Every one that asketh receiveth." This is not the declaration of a new law, but the statement of a truth as old as the creation of man. God has established an everlasting connexion between the prayers of men and the spiritual good they desire, so that the wish and the object. bear to each other the relation of cause and effect. It is not our design to exhaust this great subject, which involves such profound philosophical considerations. We wish only to place it before our readers as it appears to us from a single point of view.

What, then, is the essence of prayer, or in other words, what is the element that gives it its chief value and power? It cannot be the utterance of our wishes in words, for God knows them before they are formed; nor the confession of our sins, for no unholy thought or pur. pose of the soul has escaped his notice. It is not that our prayers can soften or change his dispositions towards us, for nothing can make them kinder or more merciful than they are. The value of prayer consists not so much in its effect upon God as in its effect upon ourselves. In its essence, it is not an outward act, but an inward sense of want. The genuine prayer of faith is a spiritual exercise, not articulate speech. It is the secret communing of man with the indwelling Divinity. It is the yearning of a holy soul, that rises above the earth to seek its heavenly rest. When we enter into spiritual union with God, and are able to appreciate his near and intimate

presence, our souls pour out the fervent and effectual prayer, though no breath of devotion escapes our lips. All holy wishes are prayers of faith, which God will answer. The devout man is not always one who most abounds in outward acts of worship, who eagerly runs, in season and out of season, to every place where prayer is to be offered; he is a devout man, who habitually cherishes the sentiments of Heaven, and longs to be partaker of the Divine life. In his soul is the temple of God; and he is careful to shut out the vile affections and dishonest thoughts that would desecrate it.

But, since the essence of prayer lies in the inward feeling, and not in the outward expression of our wants, the question is put, "why should our devout sentiments ever take a form of words?" We answer, that actual prayer is adapted to meet the highest necessities of our being. The spirit of devotion would languish and die, if it were shut up in the solitary heart, and denied all utterance. Our holiest sentiments assume no definite shape, till we clothe them in words. Language is not only the instrument by which we communicate what passes within us, but it reacts also upon our minds, giving distinctness and force to what was before obscure and feeble.

This may be illustrated by the phenomena of the coarser passions. By resolute silence we may subdue them; we exasperate them by free utterance. Suspicion is aggravated into confident belief, resentment into rage and fury by reiterated detail. In like manner the frequent expression of our devout affections will give them intenser activity, and cause them to grow into settled habits of the soul. Often the pure and fresh feelings of