Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-09-01


wedding gifts of kings bride.
| step across the bending. twisting,
winding Ohio river. filled with Its
great freight boats and lined with its
mighty railroads. aud ! enter the
black. smoking heart Of q great city
and stand Ia one of the huge foundries
that have made pittsburg no famous
around the world. see the stalwart
workmcn moving about the fires: In
heir weiItlness 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 II be-
zones molten us IL river OF fire. Then
see the river of fire rolled out into
huge bars and tempered aud allowed
10 cool. What are you doing. work.
men:" ! ask. Making steel" What!
Making steel out of that filthy, base
iron ore:" Yes: steel Is nothing more
or less than crude iron purified by fire
and tempered Alright. That iron ore
shall yet be changed into steel rails,
over which the huge locomotives will
run. and into steel beams to hold up
the bridges that will span the rivers.
and into steel columns which will
make 1t possible for the twenty story
office buildings to lift themselves In
our large cities. Iron ore could never
do this unless II had It's alloys or baser
metals taken out OF It." What Is true
OF the pottery industry and the steel
l.. Il
which are built about the sands aud
the sodns and 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 purifies us
by the hot fires Of trouble. He burns
us aud keeps on burning US that We
may he like unto himself So | begin
TO SEE that when Christ says. Il am
come 10 send lire upon the EARTH" he
may mean fire that shall purge and
purify us and make us lit for his COM
partnership IN heaven.
The san Francisco Fire.
| have already mentioned the San
Francisco lire | was In that city
while ii was burning | saw some OF
the buildings in flames and heard there
some of the tottering walls being
dynainited. hut the most impressive
place To me In all San Francisco was
where | stood amid the smoldering
walls of its UNANIMOUSLY famed China
town. \ prominent San Francisco
minister was with me ut the time. We
had not spoken for some time when
he said: is ii not awful; And yet.
awful as 1t Is. you must bear In
mind one fact-this in the first time
for fifty years man has ever been able
To look upon Chinatown and call IL
morally pure and clean" Friend. you
have been having a hard time of late.
Your troubles have been coming thick
aud fast. My. how quickly your
money went Your baby. Ii seemed
she left you in the twinkling OF an
eye You are still pale and weak from
that last dangerous illness. You are
like chinatown. The walls may seem
10 be broken and blackened. but they
are clean walls. God has been purify
Ing you by his hot fires of trouble. lie
ont of your sinful heart. In the hot.
kissing. secthing furnaces OF trouble
he has been making you like unto him
self and is accomplishing you by his
arms of love. Hear ye not his SEN
tencc. II am come 10 send fire upon
the carth:'
But Gods fires do not allude only 10
the flames of creation and OF puritica-
ton. Without doubt they allude to the
fires of battle and carnage as well. II
n human being will not be purified by
the hot furnaces of trouble. then he
must tight God and fight him 10 the
death. In the book of Ecclesiastes We
read. There Is time TO rend and
time 10 sew. n time to keep silence and
time 10 speak. II time to love and
time 10 hate. time Of war and n time
of peace" Yes. there is time for
gospel carnage. And Christ further
more said, He that IL not with me Is
against me. and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad" In other
words. you and / must be mustered
under Christ's standard and warm our
selves by the camptires or else we
must 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 cnnfIagrations of an invading army
upon the march. as we'll as the signal
flames which shall announce TO the
world n universal peace.
A Curse or "a Blessing.
Now. war may be a curse or II may
be n blessing. II depends upon the
purposes or causes for which We fight.
And when speak thus have we'll in
mind the awful cost. Give me the
money that has been spent In war"
said a noted speaker, ''and will pur.
chase every foot of land upon the
globe. will clothe every man. woman
aud child In an attire OF which kings
and queens would lie proud. will
build schoolhouse on every hillside
and In every valley" That eulogy OF
the power OF peace was most beau
tifully said. but. though past wars