Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-09-29
Fire ELEMENT IN IIEE--WHAT
is THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF HELP
Interesting Lecture Given by Rev. B. J. H. Shaw at
the First Congregational Church
Last Sunday.

have long since become utterly, de-
ceased and persisted by its corruption,
but the fire of patriotism has always
saved Society from destruction; this fire
has ever been kept burning brightly
/ by loyal men and women: il has risen
into flames of moral indignation
against social wrongs and consumed
them by the pure breath of growing
righteousness.
Fire, then, is the great essential to
all existence. Constant renewal is
necessary to life The WORKOUT It's
sues of the body must be replaced by
new: and this cannot be done without
the agency Of fire. The same process
OF renewal is vital to the moral life.
The baser thoughts must burn up in
glowing heat of moral enthusiasms.
Publications saves life from decay and
all publication is by burning.
Fire and life are one -only different
names for the same great reality.
Fire is the symbol of that which
yitalizes and purifies whatever lives.
All life, all power, all beauty, all
growth, all progress are from and by
this Supreme, sacred, divine element.
A study of these facts removes that
dread of fire which was the result of
our ignorance. We find it is not a
| h1t Of hnc
friends.
The real truth is, that fire only
destroys the useless, the imperfect,
the bad, it creates what is wiser and
perfect, it is a benefcent power and
works for the salvation Of individuals
and nations.
If we study the work ngS Of evil We
shall find a fire within which burns it
up.
1t is a universal law that all wrong
dOings brings suffering. The use of
pain is warning; it is there to tell
us that some law has been violated.
1t is the same with mental suffering;
it comes to make US conscious of
wrong, we may not feel the pain or
have the mental distress Immediately
and yet We know it is the very nature
of law that bad consequences begin
from the first act of tranSg resSiUn.
There is no escape from the effects
of disobedience. they may be felt soon
or only after lapse of time, but it is
absolutely certain we shall suffer
And why is it SO certain? 1t is so
because suffering is the inevitable re-
suit of transgression; the suffering
comes by the working of this law; it is
not something arbitrary, inflicted from
without. Further than this, the results
of the transgression go on working un-
til we become conscious Of the wrong
Now, what l point out here, is the
fact, that all suffering for sin is mental;
it is the consciousness of wrong; the
conscience has been enlightened. If a
man does not feel guilty he will not be
troubled. If he does not know that
certain actions and habits OF life are
immoral he will have no stiDgs OF con-
science. Mental suffering begins with
the knowledge of wrong, and the suf-
fering grows more distressing as the
IcOnvictiou Of sin becomes vivid and
intense.
| The suffering makes the wrong in
tolerable, hence it must lead to its
abandonment. A man cannot con-
tinue in sin when his conscience
troubles him; there is no rest for him
until he obeys that imperative voice
Suffering is not meant to be Il pun
iShment, it is d discipline, Il remedial
agency. This is the law of its work
ing. It's Influence on life is Tor the
good of life, it comes to enlghten, to
purify and refine.
Suffering for sin, then, cannot be
everlasting; that is impossible for it is
contrary to all the laws Of Nature and
to its effects on human life. We
know it as motive power which i'm
pels us to seek deliverance from the
evils which cause 1t, it passes away.
we cease to suffer as we learn ana
begin to do what is right, it is always
working a moral change.
Suffering is d fire, there is Il purify
ing clement in it.
This is the teaching of our text,
"Our God is consuming Fire" "We
are saved through fire.
1t is uncomfortable to US that God
will have place of eternal torment;
that would be inconsistent with His
goodness, it would be denial of God,
for If His goodness cannot conquer
evil then evil. is supreme The moral
progress Of the world. however, shows
it is not; through all the ages fire of
publication has been kept burning;
some good has been present with the
evil working in it, shining on it by
| the light of an ideal, begetting dis
/ content, filling the soul with a moral
loathing, quickening better impulses.
Men have had flashes of light. kind
lings OF purer desire, in all this the
divine fire was doing it's work. search
ing the thoughts, trying the motives,
consuming the baser elements and
bringing them out from the great
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