unbounded faith in a
sanitary system approved by a first-class surveyor. Can there be any
possible doubt that, when the laws of meteorology are as well known as
those which govern the tides or the thunderbolts, the archbishops will
cease to order any more prayers for the purpose of controlling the
elements?

Then, there is another aspect of petitionary prayer which demands a
passing notice. It actually represents the Supreme Being as an
individual who will interfere with what are manifestly natural laws to
suit the convenience or even the whim of the votary; and worse than
that, that the course of events will be so ordered as to meet the
requirements of the individual supplicant, to the exclusion of the
needs, the convenience or circumstances, of numberless other human
beings who may be seriously incommoded, possibly even wronged, if the
first votary's supplications are granted. It is of little avail to
have recourse to the mechanical theory that infinite power is capable
of so adjusting matters as to satisfy everybody. These are words and
phrases more sonorous than satisfactory. When, for instance, war
breaks out between two Christian powers, the Almighty is at once
petitioned to crown both combatants with victory, and that done,
victory is always assumed by the conqueror to mean that the Divine
blessing has been with him to the exclusion of his adversary. But the
remarkable fact to the impartial observer uniformly is, that victory
always rests with those who have made the best preparations, conducted
the campaign in the most skilful manner, and fought with the greatest
determination, or as Napoleon curtly put it, that as far as he could
see, Providence was always on the side of the strongest battalions.

I recently heard read a lady's letter in which she poured forth her
most fervent gratitude to heaven because her husband had been elected
to a certain influential position over the heads of seventy
competitors. Unless sixty-nine other equally desirable posts were
magically created by Divine power, it seems difficult to understand, on
the supposition that the election was the arbitrary act of God, how the
claims of all were satisfied in this individual instance. The truth is
that the prayer of petition ought instantly to cease as infantine,
irrational, and irreverent. The serious man cannot bring himself to
offer up vocal prayers for temporary or spiritual benefits, which are
manifestly attainable by the ca