["Prayer," from the Star, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Jan. 6, 1923]

Certainly it is impossible for two people to reach an agreement regarding the efficacy of prayer unless they are one as to the nature of prayer. Civilized man has succeeded to some extent in dissociating prayer from supplication and conciliation. But comparatively few people are sufficiently conscious of the life of the Spirit to have any ... grasp of the nature of prayer. Intellectual grasp, fortunately, is not the first essential of faith, and there are a great number who pray better than they know. Dean Inge, in his latest book, makes an illuminating and candid statement concerning prayer: "It is only occasionally that I can pray with the spirit and pray with the understanding also; a very different thing from 'saying one's prayers.' ... The sweet sanctities of home life, and especially the innocence of young children, more often bring me near to the felt presence of God." Fortunate beyond description is he who is able to pray, for prayer is an experience. This experience must be sought, to be gained; and for those who have had the experience there is no question of the "efficacy" of prayer.

[From the Bee, Omaha, Nebr., quoted in the Republican, Fresno, Calif., April 25, 1923]

A Chinaman has opened a session of the Ohio Legislature with prayer. It is the first time anything of the sort ever happened, a novelty in the life of our nation. Prayer is offered daily in the legislatures and in Congress, because our nation has for its motto "In God We Trust," and, under God, its existence. But a Chinaman has never been asked to pray for a law-abiding body in the United States until Dr. Hong stood up at Columbus and lifted his voice in earnest supplication. Did he address himself to any of the numerous gods listed in the theism of his native land—those to whom his ancestors bowed their heads? Buddha and Brahma were forgotten, the gods of little and big put aside, and the prayer began, "O God, Father of all nations." That is what mankind is coming to admit, slowly, perhaps, but truly. Father of all nations, of all races, whose loving care and kindness is for all men, not for a particular sect or people. Along with this goes the brotherhood of man. Is that out of reach? If God is Father of all nations, is He not also Father of all men? How were we taught to pray? "Our Father, which art in heaven." That is the beginning of the prayer. All the way back, so far as human thought or utterance may be traced, we find men addressing themselves to the great All-Father. If there is wickedness, sin, and misery in the world, it is man-made.

[Rev. Henry Stiles Bradley, in the Evening Express, Portland, Maine, March 5, 1923]

The object of prayer is not to change or break God's laws, but to conform to the highest laws in the spiritual realm; therefore we pray that His will and not ours be done, because His will is inspired by infinite wisdom and infinite love. We do not pray in order to inform infinite wisdom of our needs, for He knows them far better than we; but, in communion with our heavenly Father, to become more aware of our own lack, therefore we pray in sincere modesty and humility. We do not pray in order to persuade a reluctant God to give us what we want. He is always eager to give us the best we can take. We pray in order that we may be developed and prepared to take the best. ... When we realize that God is the great Father from whom we sprang, who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and the source of every noble thought and purpose, our prayer to Him takes the form of thanksgiving for His countless mercies and blessings. It is the child's utterance of loving appreciation to its Father for favors received.

[Bishop of Bendigo in the Advertiser, Victoria, Australia, Jan. 15, 1923]

To get a right conception of spiritual healing it is necessary that we have a right conception of the character of God. If we think wrongly of God and God's nature, it will affect our conception of man; and there will be retrograde reactions on our character, our worship, and even on our bodily health. Let us think of one great saying, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." ... God is light, i. e., the perfect Principle, which manifests itself always and everywhere as truth and wisdom and beauty and life. And because He is Truth and wisdom and Life, there can be in Him no ... disease, decay, ugliness, or ultimate failure of achievement. And this God of love, power, holiness, and health, in proportion as we draw near to Him, draws near to us. ... In the early church, as the New Testament shows, healing of the body was a normal part of Christianity. But as time rolled on, this ministry was neglected. ... The outstanding thing is the breakaway from the crude materialism of a generation ago. Then, matter (according to popular thought) was everything, and spirit nothing. ... But there has been a wonderful swing of the pendulum in the last twenty-five or thirty years away from these doctrines, which are now left far behind, as altogether obsolete. ... Not matter, but Spirit, is now the dominant note in modern thought. ... Let me recommend two things. First, pray daily; secondly, study afresh, as if you have never studied before, Christ's healing work in the New Testament.

[From the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., Feb. 15, 1923]

Any one who understands his Bible and believes it ... knows that healing the sick through prayer is one of the things most clearly taught in the Word, and was the outstanding characteristic of the earthly ministry of our Lord. And mere belief that God answers prayer entitles the believer to pray with confidence for bodily healing as much as for any other blessing. Those who profess to believe in prayer, and do not believe in praying for the sick to be healed, have a very difficult explanation to make, and one for which there is no Scriptural basis. Losing is the opposite of winning. Losing a blessing is the opposite of receiving one. So losing healing is the opposite of receiving it. We receive healing from the Lord in response to faith or belief, and we lose it because of unbelief. ... Do not try to mix pills and prayers, faith and liniment. Do not think that the Lord needs a hot water bag to relieve you of a toothache. Let your faith ... rise higher than being an annex to a drug store; and then when your prayer has been heard, give God the glory, and you will both get and keep your healing.

[From the Bulletin, Walla Walla, Wash., Feb. 22, 1923]

Men need to become conscious of the fact that there is but one source of supply. All competitive policies, all underhanded transactions in the business world, are based on the idea that wealth, or substance, is limited, and that it is therefore necessary for man to struggle and strive for everything that he gets. Every experienced salesman knows that, frequently, when he has put forth the greatest efforts, he has received the least returns; and that at other times, although the salesman felt that he had not worked so hard, business came to him in abundant measure. Observance of these facts should teach us that there is something that is more effective in securing for us the things that we desire than the mere external effort we put forth. Outer effort is needed, but it is not all. Reception of thoughts or words builds an inner realization of the meaning which they convey. Recognizing by thought and word that we rely on God alone for supply, quickens the sense of contact with Him. Recognition forms a channel through which His bounty can be manifest.

[From Unity (Unitarian publication), Chicago, Ill., March 8, 1923]

Prepare your hearts for prayer. ... Take no thought for the morrow, what you shall eat and what you shall drink, and wherewithal you shall be clothed, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things, and no one can take you from His kindness while you trust in Him. The Lord is your shepherd; you shall not want if you will follow Him. ... Except you become as little children you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. ... Open your hearts trustfully and teachably that the glory of the life eternal may enter. ... You who are cherishing some hatred of a fellow-man, some ugly, unforgiving malice in your soul, cast out now this twisted snag that thwarts your spirit's life. Forgive your brother, that you too may be forgiven.

[From the Republican, Fresno, Calif., April 19, 1923]

Statistics gathered and assembled by a religious council of nation-wide scope indicte that the increase in church membership in this country in 1922 was about fifty per cent greater than the average annual growth in the last five years. ... It can hardly have escaped the notice of church people that an unprecedented number of secular meetings are opened with prayer these days. These things, taken in conjunction with the church membership data referred to, signify that there is mighty little occasion to despair about the spiritual and religious state of the country.

[From the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., March 24, 1923]

News dispatches tell of a coal mine at Valier, Illinois, where the miners gather in a daily prayer service at the bottom of the main shaft before dispersing into the maze of smaller passages for work. Prayer is a powerful agency. Sinners have been brought to redemption through its use. History is full of apparently miraculous responses to its supplications. The service is said to be proving popular at Valier, and future developments should be watched with interest.

[The Bishop of St. Albans, in the Bedfordshire Standard, Bedfordshire, England, Jan. 12, 1923]

I tried to put before clergy and laity what I believed we ought to go for: to get back to Christ's methods of doing his work; to seek to do Christ's work in Christ's way. ... We need to teach our people the art and science and practice of prayer. ... It is not only the Christian theory of prayer that we need to teach our people, but the actual practice of it; how to set about it; how to learn to be quiet and keep quiet; ... what to pray for and how to do it.

[From the Tribune, New York, N. Y., Feb. 26, 1923]

"Wrong thinking is the main cause of accidents, and right thinking will prove the only sound method of cure," said Dr. William A. McKeever, magazine editor and writer.