_Wherefore?_ Because we have been urged to pray--entreated to pray--commanded to pray. Because every thing desirable hath been promised to prayer. Not in the Hebrew scriptures, however it may be with the Greek. To thanksgiving and submission, there may be vouchsafed a continual to favor; but to importunity, as urged upon you in your scripture, my poor brother, _nothing_. Lo! the headsman touches the foot of the scaffold! Wilt thou not pray with me, oh Adonijah! my brother and my prince! No! my brother that _was_--no! The Lion of Judah hath not yet learned to lick the uplifted hand of mortal man. Get thee behind me Zorobabel, _my brother_! Go thy way, and leave me to my trust in the God of our fathers. Why should I pray with thee--with thee! an apostate from the sepulchre of kings and prophets--I that never have prayed but with the princes, and the Judges and the High-Priest of our people? Get thee gone, my brother! It is not for such as I to tempt the Lord of Hosts, or to persuade the Ancient of Days. Do not thou tempt me. Stay, brother--stay! Did not Jacob wrestle in prayer with the angel of the Lord, all the night long? With the angel of the Lord?--yea--But never with the Lord himself, as thou wouldst have me. And saying this, he gathered up his robe and shook it, and turned away from his brother sorrowing. Man! thou art beside thyself--much learning hath made thee mad--cried his brother, reaching forth his arms to Adonijah. The whole Hebrew scriptures are against thee--what are they all but a Book of prayer and supplication? Prophets and Bards and Kings and Judges, yea, even the High Priesthood, are against thee! Why shouldst thou pray, thou unconquerable Hebrew?--why!--that thy proud heart may be made human--that thy understanding may be enlightened--that thou mayst be made to know and believe that there is another and a better Scripture. Pray to thy Father, which is in Heaven, as thou wouldst that thy children should pray to thee, even for that which thou hast already determined to grant them--oh, pray to Him! that He may see the disposition of thy heart, as thou wouldst see theirs. What though thou art mindful of their wants, and well acquainted with their hearts and purposes, and always ready to gratify them, is it not a condition with thee--even with _thee_, Adonijah, that they should acknowledge their dependence upon thee, and their utter helplessness of themselves? And why should it not be so with our Heavenly Father? with Him whose angels are about thee and above thee, a perpetual atmosphere of warmth and light. Ha! the multitude are breaking up!--they are coming this way! I hear the tramp of horsemen--a moment more and we are apart forever. A flash!--The Philistines are upon thee, O my brother! That brother looked up and smiled. Wilt thou not pray with me? No--once for all--no! Never with a converted Jew--never with a christian!--never with thee, thou but half a christian! Farewell then!--farewell forever.