Prayer is a sacred and an entirely individual link with God, indeed it is humanity's one point of contact with an unseen Father, and Christian Science does not sunder this bond, but strengthens it in each of the old weak points. Notwithstanding this fact, one sometimes meets young students who, while expressing the deepest reverence for the teachings of Christian Science, own to a feeling of some uncertainty with regard to the question of prayer. Perhaps these have been rudely awakened to the incorrectness of their old methods of communion with God, and then left to grope for themselves in search of the better way. Such a peremptory manner of dealing with those whom we want to help is scarcely better than would be the confiscation of a lame man's stick before he is fitted to walk without it. The spirit of prayer cannot be conveyed by mere words, and while it is of immense importance that each one should learn to "pray aright," in order that he may enjoy the blessings so freely found in Christian Science, we must remember that no one can actually teach another either how to pray or how not to pray. In seeking to share our new-found joy in the practical efficacy of prayer, the most we can do is to speak of God as we now perceive Him to be, a God of unfailing harmony and beneficence. If we gently seek to enlarge our friends' concept of God, and open their eyes to the ever-ready power of good, it logically follows that they will, without any need of personal admonition, adapt the tone of their prayer to the clearer perception of the deific nature which they are gaining. Gratitude and confidence will by degrees take the place of weak unbelief, and the "peace of God" will assuredly enter their hearts as it has our own.
It is neither wise, kind, nor of any practical value to seek to alter the individual's prayer at the very outset, before his concept of God has had time to undergo a corresponding change, for by so doing we place him in the predicament of losing faith in prayer in the old sense, before he has gained the spirit of the new. Furthermore, we may be conversing with a person whose faith in prayer exceeds that which we felt previous to our acquaintance with Christian Science, and this person may have prayed earnestly where we prayed not at all. The study of the Christian Science text-book spiritualizes the reader's thought, and corrects one by one all the old misconceptions; thus we see that every neophyte who will read it may be spared that bleak period during which he is apt to feel cut off from his former sense of God, and as yet unable to take in the new, though he dimly perceives it to be true. Some people turn readily to the new, while with others patience must have its perfect work.
The old prayer of appeal and fear belittled God without exalting humanity; it sought to bring God down into the sordid slums of human belief, instead of rising towards the serene atmosphere of Spirit where solace is always to be found. Mrs. Eddy says, "Spirit's senses are without pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide from them the harmony of all things and the might and permanence of Truth"(Science and Health, p. 215). If Spirit could lower its standard, there would remain no cure for the world's misery, for there would be no such thing as unadulterated good. Through Christian Science human thought struggles bravely above "the earth-clouds drear and wild," and rejoices to find that through this reflection of reality some sufferer has been freed from his sense of sickness or his bondage to sin.
