Praying consistently for right government of our nation and the world opens our thought to include all mankind in a more expansive view of God's salvation. Mrs. Eddy once requested that the members of her Church, who were gathered for a communion service in Boston, pray for their government. She said, "Pray that the divine presence may still guide and bless our chief magistrate, those associated with his executive trust, and our national judiciary; give to our congress wisdom, and uphold our nation with the right arm of His righteousness."Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 14 .
This was not a request to pray specifically for individuals in government and try to set things straight in their lives. On the contrary, scientific prayer for those in government aims to purify one's own thought. We pray to uplift our thought about others, leaving God to govern their affairs.
What are the common conceptions that we may be holding as true about government? Humanly speaking, it appears that governments, like human beings, have good and bad elements mixed together. But God never mixes good with evil to get a third quantity called mediocrity and mortality. God is good, without an evil element. He is perfect and immortal Mind, and man is His image, or likeness. God governs all; His government is all good, and all that He governs is good. Prayer leads us to the appropriate steps for supporting the human expression of government that most closely patterns God's.
