XIX.

Prayer.

PART I. ITS CHARACTER, ETC.

O duty, in practice, is more obvious, more familiar, more general than that of Prayer. "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Yet none, at the same time, can be more mysterious as to its principle. Immutability, we know, is an essential attribute of the Divine Nature," For I," declared Jehovah by the Prophet Malachi, "I am the Lord, I change not;" "And with God," said the Apostle James, "is neither variableness nor even shadow of turning." And yet it is on record, that the destinies not of individuals only, but of nations and

of empires have been influenced by the "effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. Again he prayed; and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." If then, reason might plausibly argue, this drought of three years duration, was pre-ordained by God, it would have ensued without the prayer of the Prophet: if it were not pre-ordained, there must be "variableness with God;" while again, if both the prayer and the drought were pre-ordained, in the relation of cause and effect, why should Elijah be cited as an example to all future generations, for doing simply that which he was pre-ordained to do? It were easy to multiply questions such as these, but there is one, and surely a sufficient answer to them all," Known unto God are all His works from the begin

ning of the world," but they are not known to man. Man's knowledge is bounded by the divine communications, and extends not to the divine decrees. It is just as true that the command of God constitutes man's duty, as that the decree of God regulates man's destiny; and it were indeed the most culpable presumption as well as the most consummate folly for the creature of God to withhold obedience to his Creator's command, because no act of obedience or disobedience on his part can affect his Creator's purpose. It is a thing of daily experience, that the uncertainty of life, though not denied by any, and the certainty of death, though acknowledged by all, do not supersede human efforts to preserve and to prolong it, because of the impossibility of counteracting God's unalterable purpose or contending with God's unconquerable power; why then should the belief of God's unchangeableness invalidate the obligation of prayer, on the plea that He has already deter

mined what to give or to withhold, whether we ask or not? "Shall the thing formed, say unto Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ?" Surely to act thus were much more contrary to reason, than to obey the literal tenor of a Divine command, as we do in prayer, on the authority of Him who utters it, leaving God Himself to reconcile His own attributes and to vindicate His own consistency. The principle of Prayer, as to its efficacy, may be buried deep in the ocean of Divine perfections, removed from mortal view in the immensity of the Unfathomable Mind; but the practice of Prayer is so clearly enjoined, that he who runs may read ; and commended by such encouragements, that as he reads, his heart may well "burn within him." For not only it is enjoined, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you ;" -but with the injunction is associated an assurance, that "every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth;

and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Prayer, accordingly, is a subject of the deepest interest, and highest importance to the Christian; whether it be contemplated as to its character, or its circumstances, or its objects and results. As to its character, we find it presented to us under a twofold aspect; first, as regarding our own wants, and secondly, the wants of others; the former being supplication, the latter intercession. This gradation, or order, is both proper to be noted, and easy to be explained. Man, convinced and conscious of immortality, percipient of, and reflecting upon responsibility to God, must first be concerned for his own soul. His first enquiry will be, What must I do to be saved? and in this, for a time, all other questions will be concentrated, all other interests absorbed. When we begin to pray as Saul of Tarsus did at Damascus, it must be for ourselves. And the first language of supplication will be, "God be merciful to me a sinner! Lord,