QUERIES ON PRAYER. 425 
thinking and expression, than any general de¬ 
scription. 
Many of their questions referred to the exercise 
of prayer, for punctual attendance to which they 
have been uniformly distinguished. Prayer for 
Divine direction accompanied their earliest inqui¬ 
ries on the subject of religion; and when in any 
district even two or three were desirous of becom¬ 
ing the disciples of Jesus Christ, they were accus¬ 
tomed to associate together for this purpose. 
Private prayer has long been almost universal, as 
well as the practice of imploring a blessing on 
their food; and although they at first asked whe¬ 
ther they must not learn to pray in the English 
language ? whether God would not be angry, if 
they should use incorrect expressions in prayer ? 
or whether, when they had retired to their gardens, 
or the bushes adjacent to their dwellings, and were 
there engaged in prayer, their attention should be 
diverted by an intruder, they should leave off or 
continue ? Sometimes they would ask, whether 
engaging in conversation, and praying, with very 
wicked persons, such as had been murderers, &c. 
would not appear in some degree sanctioning or 
extenuating their crimes ? With more frequency, 
however, and greater eagerness, they often in¬ 
quired how they could prevent evil thoughts 
arising in their minds during seasons of devotion 
—how they could avoid repeating words of prayer 
unattended by devotional desires—and how they 
could at all times engage the heart in this exer¬ 
cise ? I recollect a father and a mother asking 
with ardent solicitude, whether it would be right 
to take their little boy, or girl, with them to the 
bushes or the garden, talk with it in this retire¬ 
ment, and teach it there to pray to God ? Prayer 
