Editorial July 14, 1923 Issue

Protection

Duncan Sinclair

What is the reason for the widespread belief that time and again men are saved from accident or catastrophe by a power outside of and greater than themselves? Many can tell of some occasion of seeming disaster when they have been saved as by a miracle; many can relate how in what seemed dire extremity of sickness they have been relieved from distress and healed; and all of these will admit that the saving or the healing was the result, not of some material agency, but of a power which to them appeared to be altogether apart from matter and from any efforts of their own. Some will say, in explanation, that God must have intervened in their behalf. And that is nearer the truth than, perhaps, the majority will care to admit; for be mankind ever so ignorant of the fact, spiritual law never ceases in its activity; and spiritual law is the healing and saving law of God.

The prophet Daniel knew a great deal about God's law and its operation, and the conditions under which it acts. It was because of this knowledge that on being cast into the den of lions at the command of King Darius, he remained uninjured; so that when the king, having repented him of his deed, came to the den, Daniel was able to say to him, "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me," adding the reason for his protection,—"forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." Innocency was Daniel's protection. He was one of the most spiritually-minded of the Hebrew prophets; and in proportion to his spirituality he rose above materiality, even to the extent of controlling the rapacity of the lions.

In a similar way Daniel's three companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were saved after being "cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." Before they were committed to the flames they said with perfect assurance to Nebuchanezzar, "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." Were not their faith and understanding magnificent? What was the result? As it is recorded in the book of Daniel, on their bodies "the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." Here again, innocency was their protection. Their trust in God, their faith in spiritual being, was so great that the so-called laws of matter failed to act in the destruction of their bodies.

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