Editorial January 2, 1915 Issue

Unceasing Prayer

Annie M. Knott

There are many sincere Christians who feel that the demands set forth in the Bible are beyond the possibilities of mortals, and to this students of Christian Science would agree. It is only as the spiritual facts of being are accepted that the Master's declaration, "With God all things are possible," is seen to be a definite promise to those who really desire to be "with God" in all they think, say, and do. This of course calls for the spiritualization of one's entire thought; indeed it reiterates the declaration of Christ Jesus, "Ye must be born again."

In the Old Testament are many religious requirements which called for so much time that a great number of men were set apart for the purpose of adequately carrying on the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish religion. This probably had the effect of satisfying the laity that all was being done in this direction which the law of Moses required, yet we find that the prophets saw much farther than this. They did not hesitate to say that obedience was better than sacrifice, and righteousness far more acceptable to God than slain beasts. Jeremiah even declared that God had never commanded these sacrifices, but that His requirements were wholly spiritual. The psalmist tells us that the sacrifices of God are "a broken and a contrite heart," and he says that seven times a day he offered this kind of sacrifice.

Although there is no hint that Daniel ever belonged to a priestly order, we find that he spent much time in prayer, and that it was the kind of prayer which brought him the aid of omnipotence. We read that on one occasion an edict went forth for the destruction of all the wise men in Babylon because the astrologers had failed to interpret a certain dream of the king. We are then told that Daniel and his three companions sought God with all their hearts, the result being their deliverance. Daniel's prayer as given in the second chapter of the book which bears his name is of profound significance to the student of Christian Science, in that it is a declaration of the wisdom and power of infinite Mind, and of the impartation of these divine qualities to those who refuse to acknowledge any power but the divine. This further illustrated in his deliverance from the lions, which shows how true prayer lights the pathway to dominion over all that is unlike God.

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