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On Prayer
Prayer is an expression of the finite mind in an effort to approach the Infinite. The making of a prayer must, therefore, be limited by the knowledge, wisdom, and attributes of the finite. Likewise must the answer be conditioned by the vision, aims, ideals, and prerogatives of the Infinite.
When a prayer is apparently unanswered, the delay often betokens a better answer.
The prayers of time, when indited by the spirit and expressed in faith, are often so vast and all-encompassing that they can be answered only in eternity
The answers to the prayer of the mortal mind are often of such a nature that they can be received and recognized only after that same praying mind has attained the immortal state.
The prayer of a God-knowing person may be so distorted by ignorance and so deformed by superstition that the answer thereto would be highly undesirable. Then must the intervening spirit beings so translate such a prayer that, when the answer arrives, the petitioner wholly fails to recognize it as the answer to his prayer.
All true prayers are addressed to spiritual beings, and all such petitions must be answered in spiritual terms, and all such answers must consist in spiritual realities. Spirit beings cannot bestow material answers to the spirit petitions of even material beings. Material beings can pray effectively only when they "pray in the spirit."
No prayer can hope for an answer unless it is born of the spirit and nurtured by faith.
Do not hesitate to pray the prayers of spirit longing... All genuine spirit-born petitions are certain of an answer. Ask and you shall receive.
(from 1848)
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