ay be the conduct of His creatures
_in other respects_, as that they must be the same whether men do or do
not pray; or, that His procedure as a Moral Governor has no reference
whatever either to the character or conduct of his subjects. But, in the
words of Dr. Price, "God's unchangeableness, when considered in relation
to the exertion of His attributes in the government of the world,
consists, not in always acting in the same manner however cases and
circumstances alter, but in always doing what is right, and varying His
conduct according to the various actions, characters and dispositions of
beings. If, then, prayer makes an alteration in the case of the
suppliant, as being the discharge of an indispensable duty, what would
in truth infer _changeableness_ in Him would be, not His regarding and
answering it, but His _not_ doing this."[207] When it is said, _again_,
that there can be no "efficacy in prayer," because there is an
established constitution and regular course of Nature, by which all
events, whether prosperous or adverse, are invariably determined, and
which cannot be altered or modified without _a miracle_, this objection,
like each of the two former, involves an important truth,--a truth which
is also explicitly recognized in Scripture when it speaks of "the
ordinances of the heavens and the earth," and of the peculiar laws and
properties of all created things; but this truth is also grievously
misapplied when it is directed to prove that God's will has no efficient
control over natural events, or that He has no agencies at His disposal
by which he can accomplish the desires of them that seek Him. In all
these objections there is an apparent truth, but there is also a latent
error; and the false conclusion is founded on an erroneous supposition
in regard to the nature and object of prayer.

For this reason, we shall endeavor to separate the truth from the error,
and to lay down a few positions which may be established both by reason
and Scripture, and which will be sufficient to show that the doctrine
which affirms the efficacy of prayer is not only credible, but true.

1. Prayer, in the restricted sense in which we now speak of it, as
denoting "petition" or "supplication," consists in offering up "the
desires of the heart to God for things agreeable to His will." It is not
a mere formal, outward homage, such as might be rendered by words, or
ceremonies; it is a spiritual service, in which the mind and hea