Article May 3, 1913 Issue

APPLIED TRUTH

MABEL ALBERTA SPICER.

Error can do but one thing, namely, destroy itself, or rather its seeming self; for Christian Science teaches us that error has no real selfhood. The literature and history of all countries and ages abound with instances of evil bringing its own doom, of the eventual triumph of right, this coming about as the natural operation of moral and spiritual law. The most striking among these, however, are the instances where this law was understandingly applied, with confidence in its unfailing operation; for in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy we read: "The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and vague conjectures emit no such effulgence" (p. 504).

In no place is this truth more clearly and beautifully illustrated than in the case of the three young Hebrews who were thrown into the fiery furnace. During their captivity these princes of Israel had proved that they could trust God in all emergencies, and there is no indication of fear when they are summoned before the king and accused of failing to worship the golden image that he had set up. To his indignant question, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" they respond fearlessly: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

The effect of such a bold answer upon a king of those times can easily be imagined. In his rage, he ordered the furnace prepared for the offenders, and so intense was the heat that it consumed the men who threw them into the furnace; yet all that the flames did to the offenders was to destroy their bonds, so that they were able to rise and walk about. Astonished, the king approached the mouth of the furnace and, addressing them as the "servants of the most high God," bade them come forth. They had entered into this fiery experience "bound," and now, through the understanding of the spiritual law revealing man as inseparable from his Maker and ever intact, they came forth "loose," unharmed by the flames, which had had no power save to destroy the bonds that held them,—error destroying itself.

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