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CHAPTER I
PRAYER | |||
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THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are |
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possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him,
an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say or think on this subject, I speak from experience. | ||
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Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im-
molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christian- | ||
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ization and health of mankind. Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from | ||
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trusting God with our desires, that they may be
moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds. PAGE 2 Right motives | ||
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What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to
make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us, | ||
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to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous- | ||
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ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return
unto us void.
Deity unchangeable | ||
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than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchang- ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for | ||
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ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov- ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip- service, for He already knows all. | ||
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Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at- tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that | ||
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God will save us is not all that is required. The mere habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as | ||
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humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit- ual growth.
God's standard | ||
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intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any- thing He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall | ||
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we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-
ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire does bring us nearer the source of all existence and | ||
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blessedness.
Asking God to be God is a vain repetition. God is PAGE 3 | ||
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He who is immutably right will do right without being reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not | ||
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sufficient to warrant him in advising God.
The spiritual mathematics | ||
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rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own | ||
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work? His work is done, and we have only to avail
ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless- ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation. | ||
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The Divine Being must be reflected by man, - else man is not the image and likeness of the patient, tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to | ||
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understand God is the work of eternity, and demands
absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.
Prayerful ingratitude | ||
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theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni-
present, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind. We plead | ||
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for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the | ||
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blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech. | ||
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If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in- sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro- | ||
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nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only
acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from PAGE 4 | ||
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divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati- tude of barren lives. Efficacious petitions | ||
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What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire
for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the com- | ||
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mandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has | ||
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done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." | ||
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The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas- ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not | ||
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acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness
to be partakers of Love.
Watchfulness requisite | ||
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make us love Him; but the longing to be better
and holier, expressed in daily watchful- ness and in striving to assimilate more of | ||
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the divine character, will mould and fashion us
anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the Science of Christianity through demonstration of the | ||
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divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness
will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring experience. Veritable devotion | ||
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Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual
understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer, watchfulness, and devout obedience enable | ||
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us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers, superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love, and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate- PAGE 5 | ||
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rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps him from demonstrating his power over error. Sorrow and reformation | ||
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Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step re- quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity, | ||
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- namely, reformation. To this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for | ||
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what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall | ||
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be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run- ning over." Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always | ||
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in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and | ||
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affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin- ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther, the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin | ||
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through suffering.
Cancellation of human sin | ||
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only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and
Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying, | ||
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prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin because he fancies himself forgiven.
Diabolism destroyed | ||
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"destroy the works of the devil." We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de- struction of all evil works, error and disease included. PAGE 6 | ||
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We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip- tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us." Pardon and amendment | ||
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Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner. God is not separate from the wis- | ||
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dom He bestows. The talents He gives we must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition | ||
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that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and
that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence. To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means | ||
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of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin
will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be- lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach | ||
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heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand
the divine Principle of being.
Mercy without partiality | ||
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higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or un- | ||
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sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
the safety-valve for wrong-doing.
Divine severity | ||
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out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound
her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of- fence unto me." He came teaching and | ||
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showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down." It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, | ||
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who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas- ter confirms this description. PAGE 7 | ||
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The only civil sentence which he had for error was, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence | ||
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that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found
in his own words,- showing the necessity for such forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed | ||
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the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de- prives material sense of its false claims.
Audible praying | ||
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solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro-
duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply into these things, we find that "a zeal . . . | ||
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not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac- tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo- | ||
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tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.
Emotional utterances | ||
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stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided
men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo- ments a higher experience and a better life | ||
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with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self- satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di- | ||
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vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied. Danger from audible prayer | ||
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The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp- tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut- tering desires which are not real and consoling | ||
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ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection
that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for- giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion. PAGE 8 | ||
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A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self- justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite. | ||
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We never need to despair of an honest heart; but
there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi- cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to | ||
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hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond
with their character. They hold secret fellowship with sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like | ||
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unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."
Aspiration and love | ||
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comment upon him? If he reached the loftiness of his prayer, there would be no occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu- | ||
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mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,-
this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that | ||
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shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray- ers are like charity in one respect,- they "cover the multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what- | ||
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ever fervency of expression does not always mean a desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses | ||
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the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart
and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do we not already know more of this heart than we are | ||
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willing to have our neighbor see?
Searching the heart | ||
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only can we learn what we honestly are. If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa- tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not PAGE 9 | ||
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rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"?
During many years the author has been most grateful | ||
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for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen-
sure,- in the falsehood which does no one any good.
Summit of aspiration | ||
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questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish- ness, satisfied with having prayed for some- | ||
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thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin-
cerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, | ||
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we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless
them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is | ||
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a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith.
Practical religion | ||
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heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"? This command includes much, even the sur- render of all merely material sensation, affec- | ||
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tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.
It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, | ||
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and material sense and human will have no place.
The chalice sacrificial | ||
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to attain this point? No! Then why make long
prayers about it and ask to be Christians, since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our | ||
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dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right. PAGE 10 | ||
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Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed- | ||
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ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord, we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him. The world must grow to the spiritual understanding | ||
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of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor- rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are | ||
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willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions
will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in demonstration of power and "with signs following." | ||
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Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error. Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables | ||
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us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life.
Perfunctory prayers | ||
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praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the doors to earn a penny by grinding out a prayer. But the advance guard of progress has | ||
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paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution.
Asking amiss | ||
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apprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness, or we should certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip- | ||
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tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always | ||
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best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer- ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss." PAGE 11 | ||
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Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer, "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of | ||
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forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, "Go, and sin no more."
Remission of penalty | ||
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may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it only saves the criminal from one form of punishment. The moral law, which has the | ||
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right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu-
tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law brings penalty in order to compel this progress. Truth annihilates error | ||
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Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they are corrected) leaves the offender free to re- | ||
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peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already
suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but | ||
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wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in- dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering. Desire for holiness | ||
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Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor- tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we | ||
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desire holiness above all else, we shall sac-
rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road | ||
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to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable
Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual | ||
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desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life. PAGE 12 Prayer for the sick | ||
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"The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re- | ||
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quest that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of | ||
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such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak-
ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out | ||
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another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under- | ||
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standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested
in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con- scientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to | ||
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God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a | ||
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power from human faith and belief. The drug does
nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a | ||
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drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.
The common custom of praying for the recovery of the | ||
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from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science. Love impartial and universal | ||
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Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper,
and not help another who offers the same measure of prayer? If the sick recover because they | ||
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pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti- tioners (per se or by proxy) should get well. In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail them- PAGE 13 | ||
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selves of God as "a very present help in trouble."
Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and | ||
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bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."
Public exaggerations | ||
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beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we are not secretly yearning and openly striv- ing for the accomplishment of all we ask, | ||
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our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward | ||
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us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de- sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is | ||
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sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon- estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and | ||
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we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real
wishes with a torrent of words.
Corporeal ignorance | ||
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prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi- | ||
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nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle, Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal | ||
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creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely
physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re- flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The | ||
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world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind to the reality of man's existence, - for the world of sen- sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body. PAGE 14 Bodily presence | ||
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If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo- tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we | ||
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would gain, we are not "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" in the demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas- | ||
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ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon- stration and understanding of Life as revealed in | ||
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Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love,- by Spirit, not by matter. Spiritualized consciousness | ||
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Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of matter, - and the body will then utter no | ||
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complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir- | ||
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itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I | ||
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go unto my Father," - [because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material | ||
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sense.
Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate- | ||
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standing and the consciousness of man's dominion
over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak | ||
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"as one having authority."
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, PAGE 15 | ||
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which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Spiritual sanctuary | ||
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So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to | ||
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error, it is open to Truth, and vice versa.
The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses, but He knows all things and rewards according to | ||
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motives, not according to speech. To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent, | ||
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that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine
Principle, Love, which destroys all error.
Effectual invocation | ||
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closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must | ||
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deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We | ||
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must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an- swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and | ||
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let our lives attest our sincerity.
Trustworthy beneficence | ||
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purity, and affection are constant prayers. Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and | ||
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they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi-
ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness. PAGE 16 Loftiest adoration | ||
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A great sacrifice of material things must precede this advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer | ||
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is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra- tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth | ||
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that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.
The prayer of Jesus Christ | ||
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ter said, "After this manner therefore pray
ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt | ||
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among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does not affect the meaning of the prayer itself. | ||
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In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original
properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti- | ||
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tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars. Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and | ||
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sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir- itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick. | ||
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Here let me give what I understand to be the spir- itual sense of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father which art in heaven, | ||
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Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name. | ||
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Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present. PAGE 17 | ||
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Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Enable us to know,- as in heaven, so on earth,- God is | ||
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omnipotent, supreme.
Give us this day our daily bread; Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections; | ||
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And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And Love is reflected in love; And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from | ||
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evil; And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death. | ||
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For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All. |
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