Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-09-29

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and religions of the world. Zoroaster
and the Parsces regarded the solar
| fire as q throne or medium of the
divine Fire; they believed that fire
was the Supreme element: their reli-
giouS reverence for it arose from this
faith.
We find similar ideas in the Greek
philosophers. Zeno and his followers
looked upon fire as the visible mani
| festation of the divine essence: it was
to them the ultimate force and first
principle of the Universe. Pythagoras
Emp edoclest and Herr clitus taught
| that fire gave birth to all things
that all life had its source in an
Eternal Fire.
In the Bible, fire is used as symbol
ito represent the greatest and sub
FINEST truths. The glory of God
''was like devouring fire." says the
prophet. His throne was fiery flame,
a fiery stream came forth from Him.
Isaiah speaks of Jehovah cleansing by
the spirit of burning. Malachi pro-
phecies that the coming of Christ
shall be like a ''refiner's fire." His
Forerunner, John, spoke Of Him and
His Ministry as Baptism by fire, !"
and Christ himself said, 81 came to
send fire on the earth"
This ancient Interpretation of the
Universe has the support of modern
science. All our discoveries confirm
its truth. Science says that the uni
verse is made of atoms, these atoms
are units of force. What then is
force? 1t is only the abstract name
for fire. Let us turn to our science
for illustrations. If we study Botany
we get a wonderful revelation of
the nature and purpose Of fire. In all
plant life there is a continual burning
Every bush is afiame. Through every
living cell the fiery oxygen works, in
certain processes the fire becomes
active enough to show the heat, a
single blossom produces heat enough
to affect the thermometer. All
flowers are fires, One great genus is
rightly named phlox-a flame.
This burning is essential to life;
without it the plant would die. The
burning does not destroy it. but Gre
ateS it anew. In each cell the fire
generates new force and out of that
new creations come. One result IS
beauty. The leaves are refined to
softer petals, they grow radiant with
gold and purple, proclaiming to US the
spiritual law-that the finest beauty
is attained by burning out of the
grosser substances. Here we see the
ancient miracle of the burning bush.
Physiology is another illustration of
the same fact. The life of man is
sustained by a fire which burns with
in him. Breathing is real burning
and consumes organic substances in
the body just as the fire does which
heats our homes. Breathing takes
che oxygen from the air, combines
it with other elements; there is the
same evolution of heat, giving off
waste matters in our breath as in
smoke. Respiration is a genuine fire.
And here, too, the fire does not destroy
the life but is necessary to it, it
consumes the WORKOUT substances
from muscles, nerves, lungs heart,
brain and bone, but every organ is
renewed with fresh material. Life is
dependent on this constantly active
process Of destruction and renewal.
erything that lives has so much
fire. The secret of living is to know
how to keep warm. Dying is tie
SLOW ebbing; away of vitality, it is
getting cold,
Fire is the symbol of a reality which
is active and manifest in countless
forms. There is solar heat, electr-
city, light. There is animal heat
the nervous fluid There is spiritual
heat-the radiant thought, the
emotion of love. All these are vari-
Gus forms Of one life. The bloom of a
flower, the lightning flash the
brightness of thought-the noble
passion of love-aIl these are but
different manifestations of one. Su-
preme Power which works in all.
There is a force which enters the
plant as the heat and light; it
pulsates throughout the whole solar
atmosphere, giving glow to all it's
elements; this force is in communi-
cation with every form of life, there
are veins, pathways in all bodies by
which this Fire of life flows into them.
This is also true of the intellectual
life. Thought is fire. "While [ was
musing the fire burned" said the
psalmist. Thought is. an act of
breathing. Aswe think we inhale fresh
truth: it consumes old ideas just
as oxygen burns away the old cells
in the body.
There is pure atmosphere for the
mind. We live intellectually by new,
vitalizing ideas. Thinking is a
creative activity: we come in contact
with inspirations, a Higher Mind
touches us-quickens US, imparts new
vigor, a marvellous energy of search
and inquiry; the mind expands, changes,
the thoughts of men are renewed, the
theories of tho most ORC burnt ~, HI