m, with the view of showing that there
are several methods of accounting for "the efficacy of prayer" in
perfect consistency with the established order of Nature.

The first is the theory of those who hold that there _is the same
relation between prayer and the answer to prayer_ as between _cause and
effect in any other sequence of Nature_. Prayer is supposed to be the
cause, and the answer the effect; and this by an invariable law,
established in the original constitution, and manifested in the uniform
course, of the world. To this solution Dr. Chalmers seems to refer when
he says, that "the doctrine of the efficacy of prayer but introduces _a
new sequence_ to the notice of the mind," that "it may add another law
of Nature to those which have been formerly observed," and that "the
general truth may be preserved, that the same result always follows in
the same circumstances, although it should be discovered that prayer is
one of those influential circumstances by which the result is liable to
be modified."[211] Now, if it be meant merely to affirm that, in the
administration of His providential government, God has respect to the
prayers of men as a consideration which affects their relation to Him
and His treatment of them, and that this rule is as invariable as any
other law of Nature, the principle that is involved in this solution may
be admitted as sound and valid; but if it be further meant, that prayer
and the answer to prayer are _in all respects_ similar to any other
instance of cause and effect, it must be remembered that the answer is
not the effect of the prayer, at least directly and immediately, but the
effect of the Divine will; and then the question suggested by Dr.
M'Cosh--whether _causality_ can properly be ascribed to our prayers with
reference to the Divine will?--would claim our serious consideration.
But in the former sense, as implying nothing more than that, in the
original constitution and the ordinary course of Providence, the same
effect is given to our prayers as to _any other moral cause or
condition_, it seems to be exempt from all reasonable objection, and to
afford a sufficient explanation of the difficulty.

The second "hypothetical solution" is that of those who hold that while
God, in answering the prayers of men, does not ordinarily disturb the
known or discoverable sequences of the natural world, yet His
interference may be alike real and efficacious though it should take
place at a