Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/74

66 divine Mind as one pleads with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as humanly circumscribed,—an error which impedes spiritual growth;” “God is not influenced by man;” “Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it;” “Do we expect to change perfection?” By this kind of reasoning prayer is not prayer but simply meditation. Again we have the use of an English word with all its meaning extracted. Mrs. Eddy should say simply that she rejects prayer and substitutes for it meditation. Consider that the perfection she is thinking of is not the perfection of the divine character or of a personal God, but the perfection which she attributes to the universe. She cannot think of God as we think of a great and good man whose very perfection and permanency of character and whose moral worth are revealed in his yielding to the cry of the weak and needy. Mrs. Eddy's divine perfection is nothing but the order and harmony of the universe which she imagines is, has been and ever will be perfect. So to ask for what is not or will not be is to pray for what is supposed to be discord or evil, and as these cannot possibly be, prayer is a waste of breath. Do not forget that Mrs. Eddy is a pantheist. Her god is something impersonal. She says also of praise: “God is not moved by