should regard these requests; and that He should make a difference, in his treatment, between those who make these requests, and those who make them not. If this be a mark of changeableness in the Deity, then every distinction, that He does or will make in this world or in the next, between those who comply with the conditions on which His favor is promised, and those who do not, is also a mark of changeableness. The fallacy of the objection lies in confounding the absolute perfections of God, considered as the inherent principles of His nature, and the exercise of those perfections considered in reference to us as our moral Governor. His unchangeableness, as it respects us, consists not in acting towards us always in the same manner, whatever be our conduct towards Him, but in doing always what is right, and, of course, in varying His treatment of His children and subjects, according to their desert. If, then, the due offering of prayer to God, makes an alteration in the case of the suppliant, as, if it be a fulfilment of an absolute duty, made known both by reason and Scripture, it necessarily must, then, as has been well argued, His disregard of prayer would be an instance of changeableness in Him, and not His hearing and answering it. In this case, as in that just referred to, we do not expect, to influence by any prayer of ours, the essential character of God, but we are encouraged, both by reason and Scripture to hope, that by making a change in our qualifications, we may make a change in his treatment of us.

How very unimportant this objection is, will further appear, by applying the same mode of reasoning to any other moral or religious duty, which is considered a

extend your

apply it, by

Why should

If

means of procuring divine favor. You restrain prayer before God, because he is essentially unchangeable in His character, and no solicitations or homage of yours can influence Him. Why do you not reasonings to every other duty? Let us way of illustration to that of Repentance. we repent of our iniquities? God is unchangeable, and therefore all we can do must be unavailing. you urge that it is right, in itself, that sinful creatures should gain a newness of heart and life, to ensure the favor of a holy God; we reply, that this is true, but that it is not more true than that prayer in a dependent creature is right in itself. If you urge that repentance is expressly commanded, we answer, so is prayer, and by the same authority. If you, yet further, urge that repentance is an express condition of obtaining God's favorable regard, we still reply, so is prayer. If therefore you reject this duty on the ground of God's unchangeableness, then be consistent, and reject every other means of obtaining His favor, on the same ground. But the difficulty does not stop here. The objection which is thus urged against prayer, lies with equal strength against every other human effort. The duration of our lives, and all the circumstances of life, are known to God, and nothing which we can do, can effect his unchangeable purposes. But are we, on this account, to take no precautions for our continuance, safety and well-being? If this reasoning be plainly unsound, when applied to all these subjects, it is equally so, when applied to prayer. The objection proves too much, and is, therefore, of no moment. God is omniscient and unchangeable. This is admitted. But

in His wisdom, and in His mercy, as we believe, He has appointed certain conditions, on the performance of which He will give or withhold his favor. There is something to be done by us before we can receive the promised boon. If we do not comply with the condition, it is presumption to expect the desired result. If we do, then we may humbly but yet confidently rely on the faithfulness of Him who hath promised.

We take leave of this subject here. We have remarked upon all those objections to the efficacy of prayer, which are believed to be of any importance. And we have dwelt thus upon these, not because they are considered of any great weight in themselves; but because if they be allowed to go into general circulation, in the world abroad, and to pass through the mind unexamined, they will spread insensibly over this all-important part of our religious exercises, a feeling of distrust, a sort of lurking infidelity, which is most hostile to all true devotion; and will shut out the soul, as by a wall of adamant, from a near and confiding communion with its God.

J. B.

THOUGHTS ON THE

CHARACTER AND PROSPECTS OF

THE PRESENT AGE.

[Concluded from p. 135.]

In treating of the character of the present times it were not easy to avoid some notice of the novel and extravagant excitements, which, under the name of re

vivals of religion, have recently spread, like a kind of spiritual cholera, through most parts of our country. It may not be easy, perhaps, to trace these commotions to their primary source; but there can be no doubt, that this prevalence is, in a great degree, owing to the emulation of rival sects, and the alarmed apprehensions of ambitious and aspiring mystagogues. Men of this stamp have been made to perceive, at length, what attentive observers have long perceived, that their hold on the public mind was loosening, and their power escaping from their grasp; and they have had recourse to these measures for the purpose of retaining it: with how sound a policy time will show. These measures have been adopted, too, in one place, and by one party because they had been adopted in other places and by other parties—and for the purpose of mutual counteraction. Their extension has been likewise facilitated by the fact of their harmonizing with the restlessness and impatience of the public mind, to which I have before referred. Men are in haste to be religious, as they are in haste to be rich; and, in both cases, and for the same reason, eagerly embrace the proposal of a compendious process. They cannot wait for the gradual accumulations of industry and frugality in the one case ; and their impatience tires of the tardy process of adding virtue to virtue by steady and toilsome efforts, in the other. Hence they readily yield to these violent excitements-the tempest and turmoil of the soulduring which the business of a life, it is thought, may be accomplished in a day. And, that striking effects are produced by these measures, and that these effects are sometimes paramount and salutary, I am not dis

posed to deny. By whatever means the attention is powerfully drawn to religious subjects, there is reason to expect that, on some minds at least, serious and lasting impressions will be made, and that the great truths of religion will thus be brought to exert a steady and permanent influence on the character. It is not improbable, that, in the multitude of boasted conversions, there are some genuine instances of the commencement of a holy life ;—that among those, whose minds are shaken from their equipoise, and all whose moral habitudes are broken up, there are some that regain a settled tranquillity, and the elements of whose characters are again drawn together into combinations more solid and beautiful than before. Still, these are exceptions only to the general result, and wholly insufficient to compensate for the mighty mischiefs, direct and indirect, which the system is producing.

The immediate victims of this system, those whose intellect is utterly perverted and broken down by artificial terrors, and prolonged excitement, or whose moral discernment is blunted, their conscience benumbed, and their spiritual perceptions thrown into irretrievable disorder, are not a few. While the fever of the mind is on them, they readily yield themselves to the impressions sought to be produced. The tumult of the passions, and the wild play of the imagination are easily inistaken for the raptures of divine love, and ecstatic revelations of the divine spirit. But, where the fervor subsides, as it must soon or late, and the tide of earthly thoughts and casual appetites returns upon the soul, and former habits re-assert their sway, hey awake from their dream to the freezing and with