point in the series of natural causes far removed beyond the
limits of our experience and observation; and thus "the answer to prayer
may be effectually given without any infringement on the known
regularities of Nature." Dr. Chalmers adverts to this second solution in
replying to an objection which might possibly be raised against the
first, namely, that "we see no evidence of the constancy of visible
nature giving way to that invisible agency, the interposition of which
it is the express object of prayer to obtain;" and he suggests that, in
the vast scale of natural sequences, which constitute one connected
chain, the responsive touch from the finger of the Almighty may be
given "either at a higher or a lower place in the progression," and
that if it be supposed to be "given far enough back," it might originate
a new sequence, but without doing violence to any ascertained law, since
it occurs beyond the reach of our experience and observation. This
solution we hold to be not so much an effective argument in favor of the
efficacy of prayer, as a conclusive answer to a particular objection
against it. It is sufficient to show that, with our very limited
knowledge, we act presumptuously in deciding against the possibility of
an answer to prayer such as _may_ leave the established course of Nature
unaltered; but there is no necessity, and no reason, for supposing that
the responsive touch _can only_ be given at a point to which our
knowledge does not extend, or that, were our knowledge extended, we
would have less difficulty in admitting it _there_, than in holding it
to be possible at any lower term in the scale of sequences.

The third "hypothetical solution" is that of those who hold that a
Divine answer to prayer may be conveyed through _the ministry of
angels_, or the agency of intelligent, voluntary, and active beings,
employed by God, in subordination to His Providence, for the
accomplishment of His great designs. The existence of such an order, or
rather hierarchy, of created intelligences is clearly revealed in
Scripture; and it is rendered credible, or even probable, by _the
analogy of Nature_, since we observe on earth a regular gradation of
animal life from the insect up to man, and we have no reason to suppose
that the gradation is suddenly arrested just at the point where the
animal and the spiritual are combined. But not only their existence,
their _active agency_ also, as "ministers fulfilling His will," as