In our daily round of activities we often see or hear something that reminds us to be more alert in watching our thinking in regard to our own welfare or safety as well as that of others.

One year during what is known in the United States as "National Fire Prevention Week" some posters that brought to public attention the importance of guarding against fire hazards bore the warning, "Don't Give Fire a Place to Start." The public was advised to keep all storerooms free of rubbish as one of the ways to prevent fire.

While the writer was pondering this advice, he thought of the following passage from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy (pp. 392, 393): " When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance."

Part of Mrs. Eddy's definition of "fire" reads (ibid., p. 586): "Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction." The writer realized that our mental storehouse, our consciousness, must be kept free from these fire-inducing thoughts. The practice of Christian Science enables us to detect the combustible hazards of erroneous thought and to clear them from our mental storehouses before they have an opportunity to burst into flame. One may rightly ask: "Just how does Christian Science practice accomplish this desired result? Just how does one build up an invincible defense against sin and sickness?"

The answer is found in the life and the teachings of the master Metaphysician, Christ Jesus, and in the writings of Mrs. Eddy. It was dear to Mrs. Eddy that Jesus employed only the power of the divine Mind in his healing and redemptive mission. She knew also that protection against evil in any form comes from knowledge of the truth. Hence Jesus' statement, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Through the study of Christian Science we learn that all mankind's difficulties are the result of error—of un spiritual, or material, thinking. But the truth entertained in the thought of men and nations is always a panacea. One might add, "It will keep you free."

Knowledge of the truth not only spiritualizes consciousness but also builds our our defense against the fiery darts of mortal mind—all that opposes itself to God. Every evil suggestion claims opposition to God good, and is destroyed at the door of the consciousness which is filled with purely spiritual thoughts. This state of thought offers nothing on which error can act; there is no accumulation of rubbish.

In order to realize divine protection, we must be constantly alert to replace thoughts of hate with love, lust with purity, fear with confidence in God. All un spiritual thinking must yield to thoughts of Truth and Love. No flames of disease and discord can break out in the experience of one whose mind is filled with good thoughts.

On page 161 of Science and Health, our Leader writes: "You say, 'I have burned my finger.' This is an exact statement, more exact than you suppose; for mortal mind, and not matter, burns it. Holy inspiration has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace; while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion."

The spiritualized consciousness of these young men made them invulnerable to the flames. Their realization of God's power delivered them from destruction even though the furnace was heated "one seven times more than it was wont to be heated" (Dan. 3:19). Their fearlessness and their unwavering trust in God were rewarded. They walked from the furnace untouched by the flames and without even a smell of smoke on them. Their consciousness of the Christ, the true idea of sonship, which the king saw as a fourth man, had nothing in it which could burn.

We learn in Christian Science that fear is the cause of much disease; so we must keep our thoughts free from fear when we are threatened by any form of evil. Love is the divine antidote for fear. The Apostle John said (I John 4:18), "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." Life unafraid is a life untouched by sin, disease, and death. As we continue to gain a clearer understanding of divine Love and express it consistently in our daily living, we are insulating ourselves against the firebrands of fear, for love in action is our God-given protection.

When we consistently realize the omnipotence of God and our oneness with divine Love as its emanation, we are protecting ourselves, as well as those upon whom our thoughts rest, from the fiery darts of the aggressor, mortal mind. As we keep our minds filled with good, there will be no room for erroneous thoughts, no place where fire can find a place to start. We can rest in the assurance of God's promise of protection (Isa. 43:2), "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."