PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

2640 Duty and Efficacy if Prafl'!·
hands, and at the disposal of whose mercy, he found
himself to be.
The objection to prayer supposes, that a perfectly
wise being must necessarily be inexorable: hut where
is the proof, that mexorability is any part of perfect
wisdom; especially of that wisdom, which is explained
to consist in bringing about the most beneficial
ends by the wisest means ?
The objection likewise assumes another principle,
which is attended with considerable difficulty and
obscurity, namely, that upon every occCision there is
one, and only one mode of acting fOT ti'e best ; and
that the divine will is necessarily determined and
confined to that mode: both \vhich positions pre ..
sume a knowledge of universal nature, much beyond
",hat we are capabJe or aHaining. h."eed when we
apply to the divine nature such expressions as these,
" God must always do wllat is right," "God Can1jot,
from the moral perfection and necessity of his nature,
act otherwise than for the best," we ought to apply
them (with much indeterminatene~s and reserve; or
rather, we ought to confess, that there is something
in the subject out of the reach of our apprehension :
for in' our apprehen sion, to be under a necessity of
acting according to any rule~ is inconsistent with
free agency ; and it makes no difference, which we
can understand, whether the necessity be internal or
external, or that the rule is the rule of perfect recti.
tude.
But -efficacy is ascribed to prayer without the proof,
we are told, which can alone in such a subject produce
conviction, the confirmation of experience. COIl­
~erning the appeal to experience, I shall content myself
with this remark, that' if prayer were suffered to
disturb the order of second causc~ appointed in the
universe too mlJch, or to produce its effect with the
same regularity that they do, it would introduce a
change into human affairs, which in some important
respects would be evidently for the worse.
Who,
for exalT)ple, WOllld labOtlr, if' his rlccessitics could b~!