might
incline to pursue!

Miracles! Is it then so much more wonderful that water should be turned
into wine, than that a little water and a little earth, under the rays
of the sun, should be turned into the beautiful flowers and luscious
fruits of our gardens and orchards? These same elements are even now
maturing gapes, which, with a little management, under merely natural
forces, directed by a human will, may produce wine fit for the wedding
feast of a king.

Or, in another line of thought, we may ask, Is it much more difficult to
call back a living soul and unite it again to its former body than in
any way to produce that soul at first?

These and the like considerations apply to the subject of prayer, and
the special favors which it is believed to bring. We men are perpetually
turning the forces of nature where we please, and for the most special
purposes: can we for a moment imagine that the Almighty has less of this
power of control than we?

LETTER OF HON. R. J. WALKER, IN FAVOR OF THE REELECTION OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN.

_London, September_ 30, 1864.

[The 'Letter of Hon. R. J. Walker' herewith offered to our readers,
is no ephemeral production, to perish with the passing hour. The
views therein offered, the vital principles discussed, the details
given, the facts handled, have a wide bearing on the future policy
and destiny of our country. Marked by the practical wisdom of the
experienced statesman, while glowing with the fervor of the
patriotic citizen, we have induced him to permit us to include this
Letter in the loyal pages of the CONTINENTAL, where so many of his
important financial essays have already appeared. Our readers will
find it a worthy and logical sequence from the premises heretofore
sustained therein by his able pen.--ED. CON.]

The succession of days and years and centuries is noted in calendars;
but it is great events, constituting historical epochs, that mark the
progress and destiny of our race. Decisive battles, vast reforms, civil
or religious, great scientific discoveries or mechanical inventions,
dynastic changes, political revolutions, the union or dismemberment of
states, the birth or death of republics, the rise or fall of
empires--these are the deep notches in the groove of time, the mighty
landmarks in the pathway of humanity. It is the fate of the American
Union, involving the liberty of our country and mankind, t