WHAT DETHRONES PRAYER
is unanswered prayer. When men pray for things which do not come that
way--pray with sincere belief that prayer, unaided and alone, will
compass what they ask--then, not getting what they ask, they often
give up prayer.
This is the natural history of much atheism, not only an atheism of
atheists, but a more terrible atheism of Christians, an unconscious
atheism, whose roots have struck far into many souls whose last breath
would be spent in denying it. So, I repeat, it is a mistaken
Christianity which allow men to cherish a blind belief in the
omnipotence of prayer. Prayer, certainly, when the appropriate
conditions are fulfilled, is omnipotent, but not blind prayer. Blind
prayer is a superstition. Prayer, in its true sense, contains the sane
recognition that while man prays in faith, _God acts by law_. What
that means in the immediate connection we shall see presently.
What, then, is the remedy? It is impossible to doubt that there is a
remedy, and it is equally impossible to believe that it is a secret.
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