The Washington herald., 1915-03-28
THE SCIENCE OF PRAYER.
by FLORENCE WILLARD nay

Prayer and the answer to prayer ara
governed by the law of action and re-
action. impression and response. call
unto Me. and I will answer thee. and
show thee great and mighty things.
which thou knowcst not" They shall
call on Ny name, and I will hear them;
Will say. It Is My people: and they
shall say. the Lord 4. my God"
Vibration Is produced by the impress
sion made through tho act OF prayer.
causing action and reaction in accord
ance with the nature Of the impression
made.
This vibrating activity, which causes,
action and reaction. presupposes some
thing to be acted upon which Is capable
OF response. This medium has been
found to be the fundamental substance
Of the universe. the omnipresent con-
seriousness in which all live. move and
have their being. It Is moro common
~ known by the name Of spirit tho
hrst great cause and creator Of all
that Is, ever has been, or ever shall DO.
This being. whom we name God. is
Intelligent life and substance, filling all
space and all things. There Is no
place where 1t is not. There is no
NaSe SHi ohy II Is q rear, SUD
stantial something. not nothing Il Is
ever present in each and all never
absent or apart from any place. body
or thing. This truth must be realised
in order to become free from the false
beliefs IN vacancy and nothingncss and
the consequent results In lack and in
srfficiency which follows
Through faith and PRAYER comes tho
perception of this interior presence and
Yenlitv which "a tho v-iciv
ton of all things. and of which all
things are made. Through faith we IN
derstand that the worlds were framed BY
the word of God. so that things which
are seen were not made Of things which
do appear"
When this inner substance is recog-
nized it will respond and take form IN
any manner desired through the cor
centrated prayer or affirmative word
spoken within II. The word Is the idea
or Thought image OF the thing that Is
desired and prayed for
The creative energy. the Holy Spirit
begins to manifest Immediately. after the
likeness and In accordance with the
| character of the image formed in the
mind. Therefore say unto you that
whatsoever things ye desire when We
pray believe that ye receive them and
ye shall have them" That Is. when
anything has been formulated by thu
| operation of mind. through the process
of thinking or prayer. It has already
become n fact in existence. and. In due
time. it will appear In manifested form.
! In accordance with its kind and nature:
if not neutralized or destroyed by doubt.
which would cause the mind to act ad-
versely to Il by creating thought IN op-
position and thus hinder its manifesto
| ton in answer to the prayer ''If thou
canst believe. all things are possible to
him that believeth.'' For verify say
! unto YOU that whosovere shall say unto
this mountain BE thou removed. and bs
| thou cast into the sea- and shall not
| doubt in his heart but shall bol1evo tina.
those things which he saith shan como
! to pass lie shall have whatsoever he
! saith
In order to work effectively Ia creating
that which is wanted. through prayer or.
speaking the word. the mind should be in
q calm. clear. passive state, so that tho
mental image formed be clssr-cut and)
well defined. after which care should bs
taken to keep tho mind in an attitude OF
quiet and confident expectation. I some
times think and speak of this attitude OF
expectancy as pulling on the rope OF ex-
pectation. A gentle. steady mental pull
is maintained until tho thing Ia drawn
into visibility. Tho thing is formulated
in mind. then drawn into manifestation
by a lively faith. belief In its coming,
expectation and desire
When the law and process are known.
then can be clearly seen the reason why
steadfastness of purpose and unchange-
ableness Of mind must DO cultivated and
maintained in order to obtain perfect re-
suits through the means Of prayer and
by speaking the word The prayer OF
faith steadfastly maintained. when right
eously used. Is answered and must
necessarily be so. as It acts according to
an immutable law. This la wor principle
is as fixed and certain as the law OF
mathematics. but the problem must be
worked out In accordance with the prin-
ciple in order to get correct answers. II
the answers are incorrect II ID owing to
failure to understand the principle. and
one should apply oneself all tho more
ass.duousiy to the task of gaining knovl;
edge of ths- principle involved until II u
understood and results obtained accord
insiy.