Chapter 1: Prayer

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   1  He who is immutably right will do right without being
       reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
   3  sufficient to warrant him in advising God.
             Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the
       principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The
   6  rule is already established, and it is our                  The spiritual
       task to work out the solution. Shall we                    mathematics
      ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own
   9  work? His work is done, and we have only to avail
      ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless-
      ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.
  12       The Divine Being must be reflected by man,--else
      man is not the image and likeness of the patient,
      tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to
  15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands
      absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.
            How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit
  18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni-
      present, infinite, and then we try to give                   Prayerful
      information to this infinite Mind. We plead              ingratitude
  21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of
      benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good
      already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the
  24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.
      Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of
      thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
  27       If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and
      yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in-
      sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro-
  30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only
      acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and
      remember our blessings. While the heart is far from

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