IT is as true today as it was twenty centuries ago, that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," for Christian Science is proving daily that such prayer is potent to heal the sick and to reform the evil-minded. The secret and subtle purposes of evil never permeate the atmosphere of true prayer, which is in no way associated with evil or occultism. This prayer never tramples upon individual rights, never asks for something that would injure a human being or that does not belong to God's man. It never asks for spiritual blessings upon any form of sin or sensuality, or seeks forgiveness of any sin that the human heart is unwilling to relinquish. It never importunes God to descend to the level of material belief and to see things as mortals see them. It never entertains a doubt as to what the will of God is. It never petitions God for material possessions which are no part of the divine consciousness. It is not a prayer of words or "vain repetitions." It does not "ask amiss." It does not importune God to do something which, from His viewpoint, is already done. It is not the exercise of blind human faith or human will-power, nor of that consciousness which admits the reality and power of both good and evil.
The prayer that heals scientifically is one of enlightened faith and understanding. It is a prayer that knows the truth about God and man. Said Jesus, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This was said to those who "believed on him," not to unbelievers, which would indicate that something more than blind faith or belief was necessary, if they would be made free: they must know or understand the true nature of God. More than this, they must understand what man is. Believing that God's man is anything less than spiritual and perfect, would disqualify one from praying understanding. Why? Because prayer is answered only when the unity of God and man is recognized, and such unity could not be realized so long as man is believed to have a mind of his own, separate and apart from God, or in possession of any attributes unlike his creator. "I and my Father are one," said Jesus. It was this recognition of man's unity with God that enabled Jesus to say, "I knew that thou hearest me always.." He also said, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Can any one today reach the Father except through a correct or scientific apprehension of Him? Will guessing and theorizing ever enable any one to reach the divine source of health and happiness? If so. why the admission of millions of unanswered prayers that have been offered up by professing Christians the world over? The experience of countless thousands of the best of people would certainly justify the assertion that there has been something radically wrong in the world's concept of prayer.
Outside of Christian Scientists there are few indeed who have sufficient trust and confidence in their prayers to rely implicitly upon them in the hour of urgent need. Multitudes pray for the restoration of the sick, but they do not thereby relinquish their hold on material means, and resort to the argument that God made all the herbs' of the field for medicine. Christian Science accepts the Scriptural statement that God made "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew;" and when the doctor of medicine grasps the spiritual import of the Scriptures and finds out that "all is Mind and Mind's idea" ( Science and Health, p. 49), he will gladly dispense with his material remedies, and have faith in God alone, who heals all manner of disease without the intervention of either the human mortal mind or its subjective state called matter. His prayers will then heal the sick and at the same time correct the moral fault of the patient, something that medicine never has accomplished.
