Milford chronicle., 1906-08-31

step across lue DtnuluSt lMlSlllEs
winding Ohio river, filled with its
great freight boats and lined with its
mighty railroads, and l enter the
black, smoking heart of great city
and stand in one of the huge foundries
that have made Pittsburg so famous
around the world. l see the stalwart
workmen moving about the fires. In
their weirdness they look like the NOV
Ing spirits of Dante's Inferno" Then
see the men tossing the iron ore into
The huge receptacle in which it be-
romes molten as a river Of fire. Then
see the river of fire rolled out into
huge bars and tempered and allowed
to cool. "What are you doing, work
menf" | ask. Making STEEL 'What!
Making steel out of that filthy, base
iron oref" Yes; steel is nothing more
or less than crude iron purified by fire
and tempered Alright That iron ore
shall vet be changed into steel rails,
over which the huge locomotives will
run. and into steel beams to hold up
tie bridges that will span the rivers,
and into steel columns which Will
make it possible for the twenty story
Office buildings to lift themselves in
our large cities. Iron ore could never
do this unless it had its alloys or baser
metals taken out of it," What is true
of the pottery industry and the steel
industry is also true of the hot fires
which are built about the sands and
the sOdas aud the lines and salts Of
the glass industries. These fires not
only make these substances molten,
but they also burn all the impurities
out of them Thus Christ puriies US
by the hot fires of trouble He burns
us and keeps on burning us that we
may be like unto himself. So l begin
TO see that when Christ says, Il am
come to send fire upon the earth" he
may mean fire that shall purge and
purify us and make us fit for his com
paniOnship in heaven.
The SAN Francisco Fire.
1 have already mentioned the San
Francisco fire / was in that city
while it was burning. l saw some Of
the buildings in flames and heard there
some of the tottering walls being
dynamited. But the most impressive
place to me in all San Francisco was
where l stood amid the smOldering
walls of its infamously famed China
town 4 prominent San Francisco
minister was with me Mt the time. We
had not spoken for some time when
he said: rs it not awful? And yet.
awful as it is, you must bear in
mind one fact-this is the first time
for fifty years man has ever been able
TO look upon Chinatown and call it
morally pure and clean" Friend, you
nave been having a hard time of late
Your troubles have been coming thick
and fast. My, how quickly your
money went. Your baby! 1t seemed
she left you in the twinkling of an
eve. You are still pale and weak from
that last dangerous illness. You are
like Chinatown. The walls may seem
to be broken and blackened, but they
are clean walls. God has been purify
ing you by his hot fires of trouble. He
has been smelling the drOss Of sin
out of your sinful heart. In the hot,
kissing, seething furnaces of trouble
he has been making you like unto him
self and is encompassing you by his
arms of love Hear ye not his sen
teuce, Il am come to send fire upon
the earthT
But Gods fires do not allude only to
the flames of creation and of puritica-
ton. Without doubt they allude to the
fires of battle and carnage as well. If
a human being will not be purified by
the hot furnaces of trouble, then he
must fight God and fight him to the
death. In the book of Ecclesiastes we
read, "There is a time to rend and
time to sew, a time to keep silence and
time to speak, a time to love and a
time to hate, a time of war and time
of peace" Yes, there is a time for
gospel carnage And Christ further
more said, HE that is not with me is
against me, and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad" In other
words, you and I must be mustered
under Christ's standard and warm our
selves by the eampfres or else we
muse be enrolled among the cohorts Of
his enemies and have different counter
signs and different purposes for which
we fight. These fires of my text are
the confagratiOns of an invading army
upon the march, as well as the signal
flames which shall announce to the
world a universal peace.
Curse or "A Blessing.
Now, war may be a curse or it may
be a blessing. 1t depends upon the
purposes or causes for which we fight.
And when 1 speak thus have well in
mind the awful cost. "Give me the
money that has been spent in war"
said a noted speaker, "and I will pur-
chase every foot of land upon the
globe / will eiothe every man, woman
and child in an attire of which kings
and queens would be proud 1 will
build a sehoolhOuse on every hillside
and in every valley" That eulogy Of
the power of peace was most beau
tifully said, but, though past wars
may have shed rivers of blood, 1 do
not believe the awful gashes of the
grave trenches were too deep
or too wide for the blessings which