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BIBLE HISTORY OF PRAYER.

OLD TESTAMENT.

GENESIS.

THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD BEGUN.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.—Gen. iv. 26.

THIS is the first passage in the Inspired Volume, in which prayer is mentioned. But, was it the design of the sacred historian to teach us, that now, in the 235th year of the world, the date of the birth of Enos, men began for the first time since the fall, to worship God by prayer and other acts of devotion? This is incredible. The worship of the Supreme Being commenced, we must believe, in the garden of Eden. The "morning stars" were not alone in their songs of praise in view of the new born world. Adam and Eve would naturally and instinctively lift their voices, in expressions of homage and praise to their Creator. Did their fall obliterate the remembrance of that homage and praise? Did their expulsion from that happy abode efface their sense of dependence upon Him, who had given them being? As

They hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way—

Had they no desire to ask pardoning mercy at the hand of the Lord? Whatever may be the proper answer to these particular questions, it cannot be doubted, that the fallen and now unhappy pair were taught, where and in what manner to worship their displeased, but forgiving Sovereign. They

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