The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-25
PURIFIER OF CHARACTER.
A Sermon BY President ]. Reid, OF
tho College Of Mon
tAna.
The Text, He Shall Sit az q Ro-
finer and Purifier Of
Silver.

finer and Purifier OF
Silver.
DaIiy From the Crucibis VI Temptation
tho Soul Comes Forth Stronger
and Parer.
Rev. j. Reid, president Of Ths College OF
Montana, occupied tbs pulpit Of tho Pres
byterian church ia this city yesterday. The
president il one of the leading Freshly
terrain clergymen in the northwest and his
u~ttsranoes always attract wide attention.
He took m his text HE shall nit a. 1 rs-
finer and purifier Of silver Nal. III: 8.
The burden Of the prophet Malachi il tho
dsgeneracy Of Gods paopls, Israel. He
speaks Of the Judgments Of the Lord that
we're impending over tho whole nation, the
priests Al we'll a. the people. Amid tho
greatest idolatry and apostacy the prophets
never lost faith in tho future Of the people
whom God had choaen. They predict the
coming Judgments on account Of sin, but
as tho rays of the sun may be seen piercing
tbs rift in the black storm cloud 40
through the dark and son4bre back
ground Of Judgment may be
seen ths light Of mercy and
the hops Of I returning and r~epsntant peo-
pie. Az we follow Malachi through his
prophecies We see hanging over Israel the
dark storm clouds ready to burst upon
thsm in awful fury, but IN their rugged
and jagged borders May DO seer the edge Of
the silver lining, Jshovah's love for them.
The prophet breaks out in the third chap
ter: Behold, | will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me,
and the Lord whom ye sack shall suddenly
come to his temple. But who may abide
the day Of His coming? And who shall
stand when He appeareth? For Flo is like
a rsinsr's fire, and like fuller's soar; and He
shall sit az q refiner and purifier OF silver"
The process of refining the precious metals
was we'll known in early times. Gold was
found in tho ore and also in i free state in
the washings Of the river beds. There were
the bold %RrgoAauts, or gold hunters, Of an
cient times, who braved the dangers Of land
and sea in their search for the golden
fleece" Their adventures were traditions,
even in Homer's time. Human nature has
been much the same in every age. The
experience, and we may believe he used it
because il would be clearly understood by
the people. They had seen tho rsfner sit
beside his orucible peering anxiously upon
the silver within, n as he skinned off
the dross ho continues to Ut until he can
see his own image clearly reflected. and the
clear, unbroken reflection Of his W coun-
tenanco told him the metal was pure.
Let us see whether We may not draw
Some practical lessons from these words,
and apply them, if possible, TO the social
life around rs, and 70 our own lives. First,
the human soul is silver and has ever bssn
silver. When God created man We are
told that he stamped upon. him his image,
but sin marred this divine image in ths
human soul, and this will account for the
1secn the ors raised from the mino. None
but the expert could tell there
there waas anything but the worthless
quartz, but il is crushed and roasted, SO
that the sulphur and other foreign ele-
ments may be got rid Of. II is thrown into
tense heat melts the refractory ore,
and the metal may DO ssen coming forth
and running down, leaving the Stag and
dross behind. As silver Is seldom found
frse from dross and foreign impurities in
its natural state. 50 the soul in its nat
that we look on and wonder there is any
silver there. So refractory ID it that the
precious metal may remain hidden, though
men may use every means to reduce it or
separate II from tl0 various elements with
which it il combined.
Many mines of precious metals have been
abandoned as Improbable, not because
the gold or the silver was not there in eu6i-
Gent quantities. but because it was impris-
cned in . certain kind of ore which miners
call refractory. The precious metal was
there, but no mechanical or chemical pro-
cess is yet known by which it can be sep
arated in paying quantities. Electricity is
looked upon 40 the great solvent of tho
fature in breaking up the chemical atfini-
ties which hold the silver and gold in their
mysterious grasp. Lying within our reach,
no doubt. is the agent. BY which, if We but
knew how to turn it to account. we could
make tho rebellious rock give forth its
treasures. How MUCK refractory ore there
il about us in human life. We have talked
and prayed u tried various plans to
them if possible, and all our efforts
to separate them from the refractory ele-
ments with which they are combined. and
i'll which they are imbedded, seem in vain.
They svado our futile efforts. The ques-
ton of all questions is to-day, .How shall
vironment of our American ~cities?" As
the agent lies at hand by which the rocks
shall be compelled to give up their treas
ures, 80 the agent by which we are to reach
mon lies within our grasp. We need not to
invent a new gospel. We need to learn
aoW " usc OiAs W. "AsI AeSuS 70 Uo
men in the spirit in which Christ went to
them if We would have them come under
the influences of his refining and Purifying
POWER. We nave not yet learned to use
effeCtually the old gospel with it's electrify-
ing and magnetic power.
Second. Still Christ is sitting as the re-
finer and purifier, and his work is just as
e1fectual as it has ever been. When Christ
comes into our modern education as he
ought it will mean first of all character.
Nh feeling is becoming more general
that unless education shows its influence
on the morals, making the child or student
morally better. purer within, and making
him at the came time sweater and kinder
and stronger in outword conduct, 1T is uu-
worthy the name. He comes. too, rs the
greatest inspiration in culture. He makes
us quick to %apprehend art in literature, in
nature. Education, if it is what it ought
to be, will not only enlighten, it will enrich
tho life giving it new impulses, filing it
with higher and nobler aspirations.
In SO far as his spirit enters into modern
civilization it il refined and purified.
The social problems that perplex men,
the smonldering discomfort. the i%nterna-
tionnl difficulties, the %yearnings fora larger
liberty, and all these other questions which
are being agitatod throughout Christendom,
Christ and the spirit he reveals will prove a
solution to them all. through Mi these
agitations and struggles, the race il rising
to a higher and purer life. Through tho
furnace of conflict and strife, the gold ia
hcinp purifaH As il ia in social