When human consciousness first hears through the teachings of Christian Science that God, who is all good, is the only power, it eagerly reaches out to grasp the manifold blessings which accompany such a revelation. The realization that God's will can be done on earth now just as it is in heaven, first startles, then comforts humanity, and in proportion to that will's control of consciousness its divine reality is manifested. The duty of every man, therefore, is to make mental room for spiritual truth by ejecting material misconceptions. This process is the unceasing prayer of the righteous man, the straight and narrow way which leads to the visible kingdom of God on earth today.

There is a very prevalent misconception that righteous prayer is often unanswered, despite the Bible declaration that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The oft-repeated remark, "I have prayed and prayed for such a result and it has not been given me," leads to the careless conclusion that something is wrong with God, whereas it should awaken the individual to the fact that something is wrong with the prayer. Indeed something has been vitally wrong with most prayers, both before and since the coming of the Christian era, for the sick, the sinning, and the poor have not been healed to any great extent by this means. Yet throughout Bible history there are records of the healing of human ills, even of death itself, by the righteous or right prayer. Jesus used perfect prayer with perfect results, and it follows that it is of paramount importance for the world to gain the Christ-understanding of prayer in order to receive the Christ-answer. A great help in this direction is to be found on page 206 of Science and Health, where we read: "The exercise of the sentiments—hope, faith, love—is the prayer of the righteous. This prayer, governed by Science instead of the senses, heals the sick."

What a light is here thrown on Jesus' prayer in contradistinction to the ordinary methods! Humanity's petitions have been directed by the senses; Jesus' prayers were always governed by divine Science. Mankind's orisons usually arise from distress, and attempt to impress Deity with the sad condition of things. Jesus' prayers always started with God and reflected the divine harmony upon man. Mortals have been stimulated to pray by poverty and pain, sin and sorrow, death and destruction, while universal plenty and peace, spirit and salvation, life and limitless good, have been relatively ignored. The Master knew and proved at all times that man could be constantly conscious of his unity with God, as God is conscious of man's unity with Him. His prayers, starting not from the standpoint of material evidence but from divine understanding, were winged with the power of God, radiant with celestial glory, charged with instant fruition of good.

A clear illustration of this is to be found in the experience of the man with the withered hand, as related in the twelfth chapter of Matthew. It was on the Sabbath day, the great Jewish day of prayer, that Jesus found the maimed man in the synagogue, the house of prayer itself. He was surrounded by the Pharisees, men whose whole lives were given to the study and use of prayer. It is only natural to infer that Deity had often been fervently besought by these men to help the afflicted one, yet evidently without avail. It is notable that the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the healing of the man, not that they might learn how he was restored, but that they might accuse the Master of ungodliness. This attitude of mind was utterly devoid of love, hence the prayers proceeding therefrom were necessarily unproductive of good for themselves or others. How strange that they could have forgotten that love fulfils the law!

Jesus first rebuked the Pharisees' vain self-satisfaction and arrogance with a parable of love about the rescue of a sheep fallen into a pit; then followed his sublimely simple prayer for the needy man, based upon the all-power of good,—"Stretch forth thine hand,"—in striking contrast to the pharisaical method, as also was its result—instant healing. Christ Jesus did not beseech God to alter the man's condition, but he commanded human consciousness to awake to the fact that man is governed by God alone, and He is "supreme in the physical realm, so called, as well as in the spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 427). On page 11 of "Unity of Good" our Leader writes of this healing: "The palsied hand moved, despite the boastful sense of physical law and order. Jesus stooped not to human consciousness, nor to the evidence of the senses. He heeded not the taunt, "That withered hand looks very real and feels very real;' but he cut off this vain boasting and destroyed human pride by taking away the material evidence."

As in Jesus' time, so today the carnal mind, which is "enmity against God," good, ridicules and scorns this Christ-method of prayer, claiming that it is useless to try to heal sin and sickness by just being spiritually minded. However, such an untrue statement sinks into oblivion now as then, before the healing evidence of the prayer aflame with the understanding of divine Love. So-called prayers, which really are nothing more than grievances, complaints, and accusations against God, remain unanswered because they never reach beyond their own nothingness. God does not hear any statement of evil or reason for evil, neither does He need to know it in order continually to preserve man. But the prayer of faith, understanding, and praise, the prayer that acknowledges God's allness, never fails to reach divine wisdom, for it is ever one with it, flows out from it, and is continually answered by it. The wonderful definition of prayer, "To be spiritually minded is life and peace," is still true for all mankind, as true as when Paul used it; and its healing efficacy, when understood and applied, is unabated.

So the Christly scientific prayer, governed by Science and not by the testimony of the senses, availeth much today. It is the leaven of good. Rebuking cant and incredulity with its "signs following," it is reaching even the uttermost parts of the earth. Enveloped in the might of omnipotence, it is silencing the so-called voice of evil, annulling its seeming laws, dispelling its would-be presence, bringing to light the presence and power of God and His perfect man. It is establishing anew in the hearts of men and nations an abiding confidence in the willingness and ability of God to maintain the reign and rule of heavenly harmony on earth today. Thus true prayer—thought purged of mortal misconceptions, born of the understanding of Truth, impelled by faith, hope, and unselfed love—is being answered by the Father in abundant fruitage of good works, which will abound "more and more unto the perfect day."