without spirits. And the enterprise was abandoned, and never again resumed.

The learned and philosophical Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, referring to the foregoing and similar events in the early history of this country, says: "I am bound, as an inhabitant of New England, solemnly to declare, that, were there no other instances to be found in any other country, the blessings communicated, to this would furnish ample satisfaction that God answers prayer, to every sober, much more to every pious man. Among these, the destruction of the French armament under the Duke d'Anville ought to be remembered with gratitude, and admiration, by every inhabitant of this country. Impious men, who regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, may refuse to give God the glory of his most merciful interposition. But our Ancestors had, and it is to be hoped their descendants ever will have, both piety and good sense, sufficient to ascribe to JEHOVAH the greatness and the power, and the victory and the majesty; and to bless the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever."*

The eventful history of the Scotch Covenanters present many striking instances of what we believe were direct answers to prayers. Alexander Peden, with some others, having been pursued for a long distance, on ascending a hill, found themselves so exhausted that they could go no farther, when Peden said, "Let us pray here, for if the Lord doth not save us, we are all

* System of Theology, Vol. IV., p. 127.

dead men." He then fell upon his knees and prayed, saying, "O Lord, this is the hour and power of thine enemies: send them after those to whom thou hast given strength to flee, for our strength is gone. Twine them about the hill, O Lord, and cast the lap of thy cloak over thy poor servants, and save us at this time, and we will keep it in remembrance, and tell to the commendation of thy goodness, thy pity and compassion, what thou didst for us at such a time." And in this he was heard, says the historian, for a cloud of mist immediately intervened between them and their persecutors; and ere it cleared away the pursuers received orders from head-quarters to go in pursuit of others.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, England reached a crisis, the most momentous doubtless in the history of that country. Roman Catholic Europe and Reformed Europe were struggling for death or life. The English Government was at the head of the Protestant interest; at the head of the opposite party was the mightiest prince of the age, a prince who ruled over Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, the East and West Indies, of whom the leading powers of the day stood in respectful awe. This prince, Philip II. of Spain, a morose and cruel bigot, urged and supported by the Pope of Rome, determined upon the invasion and conquest of England, and devoted the wealth of the Indies to the building of ships, raising armies and purchasing stores for that purpose. While all this was going on, England was not idle, but made all possible preparation to meet and repel the Invader. The Protestants of all Europe regarded

with intense interest the approaching contest, which would decide, not only the liberties and religion of England, but the fate of their own religion also. Prayers, therefore, from the first, were offered to God without ceasing in the churches and families and closets of the Protestants for the safety of England and the defeat of the enemy. "The Puritans, even in the depths of the prisons to which the Queen had sent them, prayed, and with no simulated fervor, that she might be kept from the danger of the assassin, that rebellion might be put down under her feet, and that her arms might be victorious by sea and land."* And these fervent prayers, as the issue proved, were not offered in vain. At length, the fleet of Philip, The Invincible Armada, as it was proudly styled, sailed forth from the Tagus. It proceeded up the English Channel in the form of a crescent, of which the horns were seven miles asunder. The motion of this fleet, the greatest that had ever ploughed the ocean, was slow though every sail was spread; "the winds," says Camden, the chronicler of the times, "being as it were tired with carrying them, and the ocean groaning under their weight." It was a force indeed that might well have struck terror into the heart of any people; but the English had committed their cause to God. And behold now the result-not an individual of the mighty armament was permitted to set foot on British soil. Foiled plans, daring assaults, and destructive storms overtook them in quick succession; and disaster followed

*Macaulay's History of England, Vol. I., p. 48.