Russell H. Conwell - Praying for Money

It would be no more surprising for the discovery of a means of directspirit communication with the spiritual life than it was to be convincedthat Marconi had discovered a sure method of telegraphing andtelephoning without wires. The discovery of the laws which madeelectricity a servant of mankind was an astonishing revelation which wasas unbelievable as is the law of spiritual telepathy. Human telepathy,which is a mysterious means of communication between persons without theuse of known material agency, is in the initial and experimental stage.But the possibility of such thought transference is generally admitted.The psychical researchers into that science should be encouraged inevery way. On the eve of every such advance in human achievement therealways appear a host of superstitious dreamers and wild prophets, evenin the study of science, who hinder the sane searcher and often becloudthe mind of the student who is on the direct road to the neededdiscovery.

Spiritualism, which is here used as a comprehensive term, frequentlyconfuses the deliberations of honest truth-seekers with the advertisedworks of deceivers, but it includes much in its curriculum that is worthcareful study. Among the host of disordered or weak minds who claim somuch that is foolish in connection with spiritual revelations there area respectable number of thoughtful, conservative searchers who cannot beeasily deceived. In all the successful "isms" in a Christiancivilization, and in all the popular religious sects, there is ever somebasic truth. Some one idea is so true and so strongly emphasized that itoften carries along a back-breaking load of absurd theories. Thethoughtless throng hears of several well-authenticated cases of fraud,or of absurd teaching, in connection with spiritual meetings, ormessages, and leaps to the conviction that all claims of so-calledspiritualists are not worthy of consideration. So many thousands havetried so sincerely to recall their dead without the least sign of ananswer that they refuse to examine the testimony of great men, like SirOliver Lodge, whose belief differs from their belief. They will not readwhat great minds have expressed on the subject. But the greatdiscoveries recently made in materialistic sciences have led thoughtfulmen to hope for great discoveries in the relation of this existence toanother life. This expectation, or strong hope, made the study of thespiritual revelations and conditions at the Temple a most thrillingoccupation.

The reports of the answers to prayer so often use the words "happened tothink" that the observer cannot escape the conviction that either theliving human mind does send spirit messages or that some mysteriouspower acts for it in forwarding messages. The great list of mysteriousimpulses and intuitions which were noticed in those interesting seasonsof prayer could not have been all accidental nor could they be classedunder the natural laws of cause and effect. The connection between thecause as seen in the prayer and the effect as related in the"happened-to-think" result is often wholly hidden.

A mother in Philadelphia prayed for her prodigal son and at that exacttime the son, alone in a Chicago hotel, felt an uncontrollable influenceto turn back to his home. A father prayed that his son might decide tobe a missionary, and the son, a sailor off the coast of South America,at that same moment made the decision. A wife prayed that her husbandmight be sent home sober. At the time she was kneeling by the kitchentable he was waiting at the saloon to be served with brandy, but he"happened to think" that his mother had prayed for him on her deathbedand he could not take the liquor.

A doctor, sadly defeated in his fight for the life of his patient, wentto his bedroom and prayed for light, and he "happened to think" that thepatient might have swallowed some piece of metal. There was no report ofthe like symptoms in any case he could find in the medical books. But sodeep was the impression that he secured a powerful magnet and drew forththe death-dealing needle. A merchant had an offer for his entire stockwhich seemed favorable, and, as he was in need, the offer seemedprovidential. But while the suggestion from the pulpit that eachworshiper pray for success in his occupation was being adopted he prayedfor his business. At that hour his son in Denver was also praying inchurch. When he there thought of his father he decided fully to go homeand enter business with him. So completely did he decide that the nextmorning he telegraphed to his surprised and delighted father that hewould come home if his father needed his assistance. The joy of havinghis son at home again overcame his determination to complete afavorable bargain, and he declined the offer promptly. Before the sonreached Philadelphia a sudden change in the paper market doubled thesale value of the father's stock.

One writer for a daily newspaper was meditating on some object of prayerin the silence of the praying congregation when the idea of a textbookon journalism for college use came to his mind for the first time. Itled directly to a series of syndicate articles which enabled him topurchase the home for which he had been praying. A mechanic who had beenout of work, owing to a fire, prayed for a job. At the same time abuilder who was a stranger in the church was praying for a competentpartner. When the prayers were finished they "happened" to look at eachother across the church and each wondered why the other looked at him sointently. The pews in which they sat were at right angles and it was anatural thing for the occupant of one pew to glance at the inmate ofthe other pew. After church each approached the other with thesimultaneous expression, "It seems to me that we have met before." Butthat was their first meeting. Their firm is now engaged in largeconstruction work in concrete houses and factories. A servant girl in asmall home prayed for a dress suitable for church and at that hour hermistress was visiting a friend who remarked that the photograph of adeceased daughter greatly resembled the visitor's servant girl. A fewminutes later the friend of the mistress said: "I wonder if mydaughter's dresses would fit your servant? If they will fit her, thereare here two new gowns that the dressmaker sent home after my daughter'sdeath."

So a young man, without advanced education, prayed hard for anopportunity to get mental training to fit him for the ministry. At thesame moment a principal of a New Jersey academy was in the gallery farremoved from the young man and he prayed for direction in finding asuitable janitor. The academy principal mentioned his need to one of thechurch members who "happened" to know the young man. It was arrangedthat the young man should work for his board and tuition and have fivehours a day for study. The worshiper described himself in his sketch ofthe answer to his prayers as one whom "God has led into the fulfillmentof all his highest ambitions." He is pastor of a strong church inCleveland. A little tot prayed for a "singing doll," and her mother toldher that a doll was too small a matter to pray for. But the fatheroverheard the conversation, and, after purchasing the most costly one hecould find at his noon hour, he left it on the little one's bed in thenight when everyone else was supposed to be asleep.