It is sufficient to show that, with our very limited knowledge, we act presumptuously in deciding against the possibility of an answer to prayer such as _may_ leave the established course of Nature unaltered; but there is no necessity, and no reason, for supposing that the responsive touch _can only_ be given at a point to which our knowledge does not extend, or that, were our knowledge extended, we would have less difficulty in admitting it _there_, than in holding it to be possible at any lower term in the scale of sequences.
The third "hypothetical solution" is that of those who hold that a Divine answer to prayer may be conveyed through _the ministry of angels_, or the agency of intelligent, voluntary, and active beings, employed by God, in subordination to His Providence, for the accomplishment of His great designs.

The existence of such an order, or rather hierarchy, of created intelligences is clearly revealed in Scripture; and it is rendered credible, or even probable, by _the analogy of Nature_, since we observe on earth a regular gradation of animal life from the insect up to man, and we have no reason to suppose that the gradation is suddenly arrested just at the point where the animal and the spiritual are combined.

But not only their existence, their _active agency_ also, as "ministers fulfilling His will," as "ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation," is explicitly and frequently declared as well as exemplified in Scripture; and this, too, would be, on the supposition of their existence, in strict accordance with _the analogy of Nature_, which shows that the lower orders of being are placed under the care and control of the higher.

Mr.Boyle, accordingly, makes frequent reference, in his Theological treatises, to _the ministry of angels_, as subordinate agents, through whose instrumentality many of the designs of Providence may be carried into effect; and President Edwards enlarges on the same theme.[212] The fourth "hypothetical solution" is that of those who hold that God has so arranged His Providence from the beginning as to provide for particular events as well as for general results, and especially to provide an answer to the prayers of His intelligent creatures.

This solution is more general than any of the _three_ former, and may even be comprehensive of them all.