LEWIS AND THE "LIONS"

[Of Special Interest to Children]

LULU M. STALKER

Lewis had gone to the Christian Science Sunday School for three years. There he had been told of God's constant love and protection. He had learned the Ten Commandments, the law God gave His people through their leader, Moses. And he had learned the Beatitudes, the rules Christ Jesus gave us to live by.

Lewis liked best of all the stories of great people in the Bible, which were told from time to time in the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly. One of these was of Daniel in the den of lions. Daniel's enemies got the king to issue a decree that for thirty days no one should pray to any god or man, except the king.

Daniel, however, remained true to his God, kneeling in prayer three times a day as had been his custom. Because he defied the decree, Daniel was thrown one day into the den of lions. But on the following morning he was found to be unhurt.

When this story was in the lesson, Lewis' mother read to him the whole of the sixth chapter in the book of Daniel. They talked of Daniel's obedience to God and of how he stood alone, for not even the king could help him. But because Daniel relied on God and faced the lions unafraid, he was safe. And he came out of their den unharmed.

One sunny spring morning a friend of Lewis' and his mother's asked them to go for a ride in the country. In his eagerness to accept the invitation, Lewis laid his hand on the car door just as someone swung it shut. As he drew his hand back, the woman who was driving, forgetting that Lewis and his mother were Christian Scientists, cried out and said she would take him at once to the hospital.

Lewis" mother quickly covered his hand and silently repeated a statement by Mary Baker Eddy, found in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 424): "Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony."

Aloud she thanked her friend for her loving offer and added, "We'll just go back in the house for now and ride some other day." She and Lewis wanted to be alone with God in order to destroy this false dream of an accident.

In the house Mother sat down beside Lewis and began talking of the man God made, in whom there can be no hurt or pain because he is spiritual. At first the pain seemed so bad Lewis could hardly listen to her declarations of Truth. Soon he grew calmer and began really to listen. Finally he begged, "Mommy, tell me all about Daniel, please."

Once more she told him the story. She mentioned the complete trust in God and His promises which Daniel must have had, no matter what the picture before him seemed to be. Soon Lewis fell asleep and slept for more than an hour. Awaking, he burst into the kitchen, asking his mother to please call their friend and tell her that they were ready to go for the ride.

When Lewis was preparing for bed that evening, he and his mother expressed gratitude for the healing thoughts which had helped him. His mother asked him why he always wanted to hear the Daniel story.

"Why, don't you know. Mom? My Sunday School teacher says that each one of us can be like Daniel. God didn't make anything that could hurt us. Error is just a name, whether it is called a lion or something else. Error can't really hurt us if we know the truth, any more than those lions could hurt Daniel. Only we have to prove it. We have to just stand right up to error and not be afraid."

Mother picked up the Concordance to the textbook and said, "Let's see what our Leader has to say about lions." Turning to page 514 of Science and Health, she read, "Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless."

Then Mother reached for the Bible. "Listen to what Daniel told the king." She read (Dan. 6:22), "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me."

Suddenly she asked Lewis if he remembered anything Mrs. Eddy says of angels. Lewis did, for a sentence about angels had been in a Lesson-Sermon not very long before. He repeated it (Science and Health, p. 298), "Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their individualism may be." His face brightened, "Why, Mom!" he exclaimed, "the same angels which took care of Daniel's lions took care of mine, didn't they?"

Lewis had proved that God's presence and power, His truth and love, will really guard and protect us no matter what our "lions" are called. His angels, or "pure thoughts," will "shut the lions' mouths" now just as surely as they did for Daniel.

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