throughout this address supposing myself to be speaking to those whose
heart's desire is to fulfil the will of God in all things; not those who
are contented to depart from the spirit of that will, whenever they can
devise plausible arguments to countenance such departure.

The cases both of precept and example through the Old Testament
affording so stringent and so universal a rule against the association
of any name with the name of the Almighty in our prayers; before we can
conclude that Christians have a liberty denied to believers under the
former dispensations, we must surely produce a declaration to that
effect, clear, unequivocal, and precisely in point. Nothing short of an
enactment, rescinding in terms the former prohibitory law, and
positively sanctioning supplications and prayers to saints and angels,
seems capable of satisfying any Christian bent on discovering the will
of God, and resolved to worship Him agreeably to the spirit of that will
as it has been revealed. But let us read the New Testament from its
first to its very last word, and we shall find, that the doctrines, the
precepts, and the examples, the pervading reigning spirit of the entire
{47} volume, combine in addressing us with voices loud and clear. Pray
to God Almighty solely in the name and for the sake of his dear and only
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and offer no prayer, no supplication, no
intreaty, to any other being or power, saint or angel, though it be only
to ask for their intercession with the great God. But this involves the
whole question, and must be sifted thoroughly. Let us then review the
entire volume with close and minute scrutiny, and ask ourselves, Is
there a single passage, interpreted to the best of our skill, with the
aid of those on whose integrity and learning we can rely, which directly
and unequivocally sanctions any religious invocation of whatever kind to
any being except God alone? And then let us calmly and deliberately
resolve this point: In a matter of so vital importance, of so immense