Praying for Money
Praying for Money Chapter I Spiritual TelepathyChapter II Day of PentecostChapter III AxiomsChapter IV Praying for MoneyChapter V Unanswered PrayersChapter VI Prayer for OthersChapter VII Forms of PrayerCopyright
Praying for Money
Russell H. Conwell
Chapter I Spiritual Telepathy
IT would be no more surprising for the discovery of a means
of direct spirit communication with the spiritual life than it was
to be convinced that Marconi had discovered a sure method of
telegraphing and telephoning without wires. The discovery of the
laws which made electricity a servant of mankind was an astonishing
revelation which was as unbelievable as is the law of spiritual
telepathy. Human telepathy, which is a mysterious means of
communication between persons without the use 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 in
every way. On the eve of every such advance in human achievement
there always appear a host of superstitious dreamers and wild
prophets, even in the study of science, who hinder the sane
searcher and often becloud the mind of the student who is on the
direct road to the needed discovery.Spiritualism, which is here used as a comprehensive term,
frequently confuses the deliberations of honest truth-seekers with
the advertised works of deceivers, but it includes much in its
curriculum that is worth careful study. Among the host of
disordered or weak minds who claim so much that is foolish in
connection with spiritual revelations there are a respectable
number of thoughtful, conservative searchers who cannot be easily
deceived. In all the successful "isms" in a Christian civilization,
and in all the popular religious sects, there is ever some basic
truth. Some one idea is so true and so strongly emphasized that it
often carries along a back-breaking load of absurd theories. The
thoughtless throng hears of several well-authenticated cases of
fraud, or of absurd teaching, in connection with spiritual
meetings, or messages, and leaps to the conviction that all claims
of so-called spiritualists are not worthy of consideration. So many
thousands have tried so sincerely to recall their dead without the
least sign of an answer that they refuse to examine the testimony
of great men, like Sir Oliver Lodge, whose belief differs from
their belief. They will not read what great minds have expressed on
the subject. But the great discoveries recently made in
materialistic sciences have led thoughtful men to hope for great
discoveries in the relation of this existence to another life. This
expectation, or strong hope, made the study of the spiritual
revelations and conditions at the Temple a most thrilling
occupation.The reports of the answers to prayer so often use the words
"happened to think" that the observer cannot escape the conviction
that either the living human mind does send spirit messages or that
some mysterious power acts for it in forwarding messages. The great
list of mysterious impulses and intuitions which were noticed in
those interesting seasons of prayer could not have been all
accidental nor could they be classed under the natural laws of
cause and effect. The connection between the cause 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 exact time the son, alone in a Chicago hotel, felt an
uncontrollable influence to turn back to his home. A father prayed
that his son might decide to be 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 husband might be sent home sober.
At the time she was kneeling by the kitchen table 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 deathbed and he could not
take the liquor.A doctor, sadly defeated in his fight for the life of his
patient, went to his bedroom and prayed for light, and he "happened
to think" that the patient might have swallowed some piece of
metal. There was no report of the like symptoms in any case he
could find in the medical books. But so deep was the impression
that he secured a powerful magnet and drew forth the death-dealing
needle. A merchant had an offer for his entire stock which seemed
favorable, and, as he was in need, the offer seemed providential.
But while the suggestion from the pulpit that each worshiper pray
for success in his occupation was being adopted he prayed for his
business. At that hour his son in Denver was also praying in
church. When he there thought of his father he decided fully to go
home and enter business with him. So completely did he decide that
the next morning he telegraphed to his surprised and delighted
father that he would come home if his father needed his assistance.
The joy of having his son at home again overcame his determination
to complete a favorable bargain, and he declined the offer
promptly. Before the son reached Philadelphia a sudden change in
the paper market doubled the sale value of the father's
stock.One writer for a daily newspaper was meditating on some
object of prayer in the silence of the praying congregation when
the idea of a textbook on journalism for college use came to his
mind for the first time. It led directly to a series of syndicate
articles which enabled him to purchase the home for which he had
been praying. A mechanic who had been out of work, owing to a fire,
prayed for a job. At the same time a builder who was a stranger in
the church was praying for a competent partner. When the prayers
were finished they "happened" to look at each other across the
church and each wondered why the other looked at him so intently.
The pews in which they sat were at right angles and it was a
natural thing for the occupant of one pew to glance at the inmate
of the other pew. After church each approached the other with the
simultaneous expression, "It seems to me that we have met before."
But that was their first meeting. Their firm is now engaged in
large construction work in concrete houses and factories. A servant
girl in a small home prayed for a dress suitable for church and at
that hour her mistress was visiting a friend who remarked that the
photograph of a deceased daughter greatly resembled the visitor's
servant girl. A few minutes later the friend of the mistress said:
"I wonder if my daughter's dresses would fit your servant? If they
will fit her, there are here two new gowns that the dressmaker sent
home after my daughter's death."So a young man, without advanced education, prayed hard for
an opportunity to get mental training to fit him for the ministry.
At the same moment a principal of a New Jersey academy was in the
gallery far removed from the young man and he prayed for direction
in finding a suitable janitor. The academy principal mentioned his
need to one of the church members who "happened" to know the young
man. It was arranged that the young man should work for his board
and tuition and have five hours a day for study. The worshiper
described himself in his sketch of the answer to his prayers as one
whom "God has led into the fulfillment of all his highest
ambitions." He is pastor of a strong church in Cleveland. A little
tot prayed for a "singing doll," and her mother told her that a
doll was too small a matter to pray for. But the father overheard
the conversation, and, after purchasing the most costly one he
could find at his noon hour, he left it on the little one's bed in
the night when everyone else was supposed to be
asleep.A widow prayed for some leadership in the sale of some wild
land in Louisiana. Her relatives urged her to let it go, as the
"taxes will soon eat it all." But the unexpected payment of a debt
due her led her to feel that, as she had been temporarily provided
for, she would wait. In about seven weeks she read in a paper that
a company had struck oil on the next section to her estate. She
consequently leased the mineral privileges of her land at a high
price.