WHILE Christian Scientists are agreed that the course of wisdom is to do a certain amount of mental work each day, it may be helpful to investigate the subject more closely. When Mrs. Eddy's instructions regarding such daily work are carefully studied, it is seen not only how necessary she considered this work, but also how careful she was to furnish in this connection precepts which cover the entire ground. To appreciate this point we have but to turn to her words in her Message to The Mother Church for 1896, as recorded on page 127 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings": "One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importunately." This admonition shows unquestionably that our revered Leader looked upon the subject of prayer as a vital one.
That Mrs. Eddy regarded the intelligent use of the Lord's Prayer as essential to the spiritualizing of thought is evident from the prominence given to it in Christian Science church services, the order of which she arranged. The provision for the repetition in the Sunday services of the Lord's Prayer, with the spiritual interpretation of its meaning as given by her in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 16, 17), shows that she deemed this prayer of supreme importance in clarifying and healing the thought of the congregations.
Our Leader also gave to Christian Scientists the "Daily Prayer" which is found in Article VIII, Section 4, of the Manual of The Mother Church. A glance at her interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, in Science and Health, will show that the phrase, "Thy kingdom come," which she cites in the "Daily Prayer," has a more profound application than may appear on the surface; for there she clarifies this phrase by the affirmation, "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present."
