0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

24	          IS THERE NO INTERCESSORY PRAYER? 

  	    All prayer that is desire is intercessory; but kindling
  	desire loses a part of its purest spirituality if the lips try to
 
   
No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy                                                 39


 1	express it. It is a truism that we can think more lucidly
  	and profoundly than we can write or speak. The silent
 3	intercession and unvoiced imploring is an honest and po-
  	tent prayer to heal and save. The audible prayer may be
  	offered to be heard of men, though ostensibly to catch
 6	God's ear, — after the fashion of Baal's prophets, — by
  	speaking loud enough to be heard; but when the heart
  	prays, and not the lips, no dishonesty or vanity influences
 9	the petition. 
  	    Prophet and apostle have glorified God in secret prayer,
  	and He has rewarded them openly. Prayer can neither
12	change God, nor bring His designs into mortal modes; but
  	it can and does change our modes and our false sense of
  	Life, Love, and Truth, uplifting us to Him. Such prayer
15	humiliates, purifies, and quickens activity, in the direction
  	that is unerring. 
  	    True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to
18	love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer
  	is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer
  	begets an awakened desire to be and do good. It makes
21	new and scientific discoveries of God, of His goodness and
  	power. It ...shows us more clearly than we saw before,
  	what we already have and are; and most of all, it shows
24	us what God is. Advancing in this light, we reflect it;
  	and this light reveals the pure Mind-pictures, in silent
  	prayer, even as photography grasps the solar light to por-
27	tray the face of pleasant thought. 
  	    What but silent prayer can meet the demand, "Pray
 
   
No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy                                                 40


 1	without ceasing"? The apostle James said: "Ye ask,
  	and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it on
 3	your lusts." Because of vanity and self-righteousness,
  	mortals seek, and expect to receive, a material sense of
  	approval; and they expect also what is impossible, — a
 6	material and mortal sense of spiritual and immortal
  	Truth. 
  	    It is sometimes wise to hide from dull and base ears the
 9	pure pearls of awakened consciousness, lest your pearls
  	be trampled upon. Words may belie desire, and pour
  	forth a hypocrite's prayer; but thoughts are our honest
12	conviction. I have no objection to audible prayer of the
  	right kind; but the inaudible is more effectual. 
  	    I instruct my students to pursue their mental ministra-
15	tions very sacredly, and never to touch the human thought
  	save to issues of Truth; never to trespass mentally on in-
  	dividual rights; never to take away the rights, but only
18	the wrongs of mankind. Otherwise they forfeit their
  	ability to heal in Science. Only when sickness, sin, and
  	fear obstruct the harmony of Mind and body, is it right
21	for one mind to meddle with another mind, and control
  	aright the thought struggling for freedom. 
  	    It is Truth and Love that cast out fear and heal the sick,
24	and mankind are better because of this. If a change in
  	the religious views of the patient comes with the change to
  	health, our Father has done this; for the human mind
27	and body are made better only by divine influence. 
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