It is recorded by Lyman P. Powell in his book entitled "Mary Baker Eddy" that a celebrated journalist who had just returned from China, after an interview with Mrs. Eddy, marveled at her intimate and comprehensive knowledge of its social, political, and economic conditions. Others also, visiting Mrs. Eddy, were astonished at her grasp of world affairs, and were greatly impressed with her untiring efforts to bring England and America together in closer bonds.
But what was it that enabled the Leader of the Christian Science movement to become such a mighty influence for good in universal consciousness? Daily she prayed for the whole world. Thus, how natural that her thought should become so illumined with spiritual vision that she should discern the course of world events and have foresight of whatever affected the destiny of the race! She felt the throbbing pulse of the nations and discerned the world's great needs. Going against the aggressive suggestions of mortality, she walked through the mental avenues of mankind with compassionate understanding, and revealed the scientific way to benefit and lead on humanity through prayer and the power of demonstration. In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 193) she writes to a branch church in California, "The privilege remains mine to watch and work for all, from East to West, from the greensward and gorgeous skies of the Orient to your dazzling glory in the Occident, and to thank God forever 'for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.'"
Again Mrs. Eddy states (ibid., p. 147): "From the interior of Africa to the utmost parts of the earth, the sick and the heavenly homesick or hungry hearts are calling on me for help, and I am helping them." Here is revealed the magnitude of Mrs. Eddy's concept of prayer in its universal application, in the way of awakening and arousing world consciousness from the slumbering dreams of materialism to the spiritual idea of Life. Well did she know that such awakening would overthrow humanity's belief in evil and disarm the anti-Christ until the earth should be transformed through spiritual understanding.
But just what may be the prayer that can reach the whole world? Is it not a conscious, animating vision of all-inclusive godly love? As the sunrise brings light to the earth, so does prayerful thought, illumined with divine Science, encompass world consciousness with the radiance of divine Love, with the luminosity of spiritual intelligence and moral power. Through this spiritual effulgence the purposes and plots of evil are confounded and brought to nought, and the vision of the Christ with its transforming influence lessens the world's resistance to Truth. Thus, how imperative to understand, amid the world's chaos, the ever-operating Principle of love and life which embraces the race in the divine destiny of universal salvation!
In prayer, where great vistas of Mind are opened to thought, distance is eliminated. To omnipresence there can be neither coming nor going. Ideas that emanate from God emanate from infinity, and therefore are infinite in character. Illumined with spiritual ideas, consciousness is unconfined by the mileage of the globe, and neither geographical nor territorial beliefs can restrict the light of Mind or the universal and impartial blessings of prayer. Thoughts motivated by holy inspiration and selfless love can never be confined to the individual mentalities in which they seem humanly to be active, but, breathing forth an atmosphere of Love, they unite with divine power in awakening universal thought, thus protecting and promoting civilization through spiritual means. After the World War, many soldiers recounted specific instances where they were miraculously protected through the prayers of those at home, thus proving that distance in no way could hinder the powerful effects of prayer. Indeed, there is no region or locality in the remotest parts of the globe where the radiance of prayer cannot reach and be healingly effectual.
Praying deeply and intelligently for the good of all mankind sooner or later becomes a sacred and regular part of the mental work of the Christian Scientist. At first, however, it may seem to him that the world is so much bigger than he, that he has cause to question the effectiveness of his efforts to be helpful on so large a scale. Yet, are not the infinite wisdom, goodness, and understanding gained in prayer greater and more powerful than all the misconceptions of a so-called material world? In referring to the "spirit of anti-Christ," St. John wrote, "Even now already is it in the world," but adds, "Ye are of God, little children, and . have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." Before the open expanse of infinite Truth, the material concept of the world becomes as a mere shadow of human belief. Surely, the universality of the brotherhood of man, when reflected through spiritual understanding, is greater than the unreal concept of a world of chaos and disunity.
But in working for the world, for what are we to pray? Is it for a world of materialism to be saved; for mortals to cease killing one another and vainly strive to be at peace in materiality? No. In the student's universal work, fervently he prays that all mankind may awaken to an understanding of Truth and surrender to the majesty and might of the Christ-idea, which harmonizes world affairs according to the governing, controlling Mind of the universe, even the workings of divine Principle. In such prayer, the clouds of earth disappear and "the light of the world" is seen to be dawning everywhere.
With this vision, primitive Christianity and magnanimity fill the heart, and a deep love flows out with compassion and mercifulness to the whole human family. This impersonal, impartial, and universal love partakes of such Christly qualities as complete self-surrender, obedience to God, and divine grace, and is the most powerful influence in the universe. Through this moral might of love, thought is demonstrably capacitated to refuse to give acquiescence to the belief that evil can dominate the world. Indeed, this living love is with power to fulfill the Master's command to be of good cheer and overcome the material concept of the world. That the world of hope and true aspiration might not perish, the divine sonship appeared to human consciousness in Christ Jesus. Again, in this day, that the world may not perish, imperatively needed are the qualities of divine Love, as revealed in Christian Science, that they may permeate and mold public thought with confidence in good, scientifically unifying mankind and harmonizing world affairs.
With illumined outlook, no longer can we be confined or encircled by our own personal interests or self-limitations, or float along with popular opinion. Communing with God, we learn to regard ourselves not as persons in a universe of matter, but as individual states of consciousness with infinite possibilities for universal good, to be fulfilled through the functioning of divine Love. Through prayer we see beyond human perspectives of nations and in some measure are able to read the "signs of the times" with spiritual insight and divine intelligence, even as Joseph and Daniel of old interpreted the dreams of the kings in connection with the affairs of their lands. Aroused to the power of prayerful thought in the vast realm of universal welfare, the student of Christian Science penetrates all phases of apathy and personal prejudices with exalted purpose and holy resolve. Uninfluenced by racial emotions or mass propaganda, he prayerfully and humbly aligns his thought on world affairs with the highest moral standards. He stands for the sacred rights of all nations and peoples as earnestly as he does for his own, and rises to unite with the spiritual forces that are transforming human thinking.
The individual student is not alone in this universal work. The silent prayers in the church services are for the congregations, and the fulfillment of these prayers does not stop at healing and blessing only those present. The far-reaching effectiveness of the prayers of the churches is clearly portrayed in these words in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 189): "The silent prayers of our churches, resounding through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one pulpit to another and from one heart to another, till truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer, shall encircle and cement the human race." With every individual church member praying daily for the universal awakening of humanity, the holy light of Mind will shine out from The Mother Church and its branch churches upon all peoples, revealing far and wide the divine Principle which sustains the equipoise of world thought and imparts the love that makes for universal redemption and salvation.
The midnight hour is upon us when the darkest beliefs of evil are meeting the inexhaustible energies of good in world conflict. With human ways and means failing, many nations are beginning to see and depend upon the great power which lies in true prayer. The President of the United States has urged all Christians to "work and pray for the establishment of an international order in which the spirit of the Christ shall rule," saying: "In such an order alone will our cherished freedoms, including the freedom of conscience, be secure. Let us unite in labor and in prayer to hasten its coming." This call to action in the mental realm by the government to aid in meeting the spiritual needs of the world, certainly should receive as active and definite fulfillment as the call to actual battle.
Surely, we who understand the power of prayer to enlighten and liberate human consciousness can give time and thought each day to lay aside our personal affairs and prayerfully commune with the primeval harmony of being, that its radiance and song may reach across land and sea. Then, when oppression and tyranny would eclipse the rights of freedom and frustrate the progress of civilization, we shall not stand helpless in dismay and despair. Instead, we shall be capacitated to fulfill our responsibility in following our Leader as spiritual, scientific workers in connection with world affairs.
Thus does the heart of humanity feel the impress of divinity and respond to the Love that tenderly broods over every moral and sacrificial purpose, seeking the welfare of mankind, bringing to pass divine, prophetic events. So it is discovered that Spirit moves upon the scene of human affairs even when all may seem lost, reversing and destroying with divine intelligence the supposititious modes of evil. While personal sense does not discern the form which spiritual intervention may take, yet Biblical history records great victories which prove that the workings of divine Principle achieve where the human mind fails. Indeed, from the altitudes of spiritual vision, as reached in prayer, the light of the divine idea, prolific with fraternity and unity, shines out upon all peoples, penetrating the darkness of paganism, atheism, and false ideologies, and bringing comfort and healing to a heavenly homesick humanity. Thus, wherever we may be, in isolated places or busy centers, we are capacitated to help in the defense and advance of the human race through fervently praying for the world.
