"ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs
of salvation," is explicitly and frequently declared as well as
exemplified in Scripture; and this, too, would be, on the supposition of
their existence, in strict accordance with _the analogy of Nature_,
which shows that the lower orders of being are placed under the care
and control of the higher. Mr. Boyle, accordingly, makes frequent
reference, in his Theological treatises, to _the ministry of angels_, as
subordinate agents, through whose instrumentality many of the designs of
Providence may be carried into effect; and President Edwards enlarges on
the same theme.[212]

The fourth "hypothetical solution" is that of those who hold that God
has so arranged His Providence from the beginning as to provide for
particular events as well as for general results, and especially to
provide an answer to the prayers of His intelligent creatures. This
solution is more general than any of the _three_ former, and may even be
comprehensive of them all. It regards prayer as an element which was
taken into account at the original constitution of the world, and for
which an answer was provided, as the result of natural laws or of
angelic agency, employed for this express end by the omniscient
foreknowledge and wisdom of God. It is the solution that has obtained
the sanction of some of the highest names in Science and Theology.

"I begin," says Euler, "with considering an objection which almost all
the Philosophical Systems have started against prayer. Religion
prescribes this as our duty, with an assurance that God will hear and
answer our vows and prayers, provided they are conformable to the
precepts which He hath given us. Philosophy, on the other hand,
instructs us that all events take place in strict conformity to the
course of Nature, established from the beginning, and that our prayers
can effect no change whatever, unless we pretend to expect that God
should be continually working miracles in compliance with our prayers.
This objection has the greater weight, that Religion itself teaches the
doctrine of God's having established the course of all events, and that
nothing can come to pass but what God foresaw from all eternity. Is it
credible, say the objectors, that God should think of altering this
settled course, in compliance with any prayers which men might address
to Him? But I remark, _first_, that when God established the course of
the universe, an