his truth and love, as the sun unceasingly sends out its light and heat; and if his blessings are not enjoyed, it is never because he does not give, but because men will not receive. What need, then, is there, it might be asked, to pray to the Lord to send more truth into the world, when he is always sending it in abundance, if only man will receive it?—and when, moreover, he is ever doing all that is possible to be done, consistently with man's freedom, to make him willing to receive. We know, also, that the use and effect of prayer for ourselves, is to produce a change, not in the Lord, but in our own minds, by opening them more fully toward the Lord, and thus rendering them more receptive of his blessings. In this manner, individual prayer is seen to be useful. But how can prayer for others, it may be asked, be of any utility, since both the parties concerned,—both he whom we pray to, and they whom we pray for,—are fixed each in his own state, and cannot apparently be affected by us or our prayers;—the Lord being already ever good, and doing all that can be done, and men being also fixed in their own way, and going on in such courses as they have chosen or are daily choosing, and thus receiving or rejecting the Lord's bounties according to their states? How then can our prayers for them be of any avail? In a word, how can our prayer that the Lord's kingdom may come, cause it any faster or more fully to come?
This inquiry is certainly an interesting and important one—and one, perhaps, not very readily answered. One thing however appears to be certain, that we are
