|
- 12 -
(Prayer for the sick)
"The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the
Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere request
that God will heal the sick has no
power to gain more of the divine presence
than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of
such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, making
it act more powerfully on the body through a blind
faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out
another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief
in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which
acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding
of the divine healing Principle as manifested
in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious
protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to
God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a
drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its
power from human faith and belief. The drug does
nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal
belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a
drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.
The common custom of praying for the recovery of the
sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come
from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief
may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of
human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.
(Love impartial and universal)
Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper,
and not help another who offers the same measure of
prayer? If the sick recover because they
pray or are prayed for audibly, only petitioners
(per se or by proxy) should get well. In divine
Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves
|
