Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-08-30

to grow" Heat mcan life for tho
vegetable world. and cold always
means death. SO you SEQ that fire is
not always destructive, but Is tho SYM
Dol Of life. Now. when I hear Christ
say, II nm come to send fire upon the
%carth," in n broad sense I seem to
hear Christ say, II am come in order
to put children into the cradles Of the
nurseries and to weigh down the or
chard branches with fruits and to COW
or up tho harvest fields with golden
headed grain and to fill the gardens
with busy bees and to hatch out the
salmon eggs which have lain In the
shadows Of tho rivers" Oh, the won-
ders Of nature as revealed in the mi
%raculous creations Of lifel HIVE you
ever ceased to be amazed ut the first
sentence Of the Apostles Creed, II be-
lievc In God the Father Almighty, Max
er Of heaven and earth, and in Jesus
Christ, his only Son, our Lord"
Need Of a Providence.
Utter folly is it to deny the Father
hood of God and the divinity Of Jesus
Christ as revealed in the creations Of
nature. Many years ago in n debating
society the Earl of Rochester, in order
to fill out the list of debates, tried to
prove that this world had no need Of
an overruling or a creating Providence.
After he had finished his speech and
won the applause Of his auditors he
turned and said, How can q man who
walks upright, who sees the wonderful
creations of God and has the use of his
senses and reason use them to the de-
nying Of his Crcator:" So say we all
of us. When we witness the miracu-
lous effects of heat In the creation of
life, we bow before the great God who
has built the fires Of reproduction upon
every hillside and in every valley,
whether we see that life illustrated in
the wing Of a bird. the leaf Of a tree
or in the throbbing heart of q mortal
and yet immortal man.
But l find that fire is the symbol Of
publication as well as of creation.
When Christ says he will send fire, l
remember that n of his purposes Is
to take the dross out of the hard me
tallic heart. This is as truly n part Of
his mission as to create the seeds Of
life and by heat burst those seeds into
the white blossoms Of the springtime.
The more l study Christ's life the
more / am impressed with the fact
that Christ continually has to make us
over and purify MS, even as the nuggets
of gold must he burned in the smelling
furnaces to separate the alloy from the
true gold. What" you say; "all?'
Yes; all. There Is no exception to the
rule. We have all erred and strayed
like lost sheep. We have all followed
too much the devices and the desires
of our own hearts. There is none that
doeth good-no. not one.
Atmosphere Not Antfscptic.
We have all been contaminated by
sin from the very atmosphere which
we have breathed. To n certain extent
it is possible in an operating room to
keep the patients wound free from
poisonous infection. In the first place,
the patient before being operated upon
has his body thoroughly cleansed.
Then he is etherized and carried to the
operating table. There every instru-
ment and every piece of furniture
and cloth has been made a%ntiseptic
to receive the patient. There the
nurses and the doctors are all dressed
In pure, clean. antiseptic linen. They
even wash their hands, their faces and
their hair in carbolic solution. The
very atmosphere is filtered through
apertures covered with gauze. Thus is
the sick patient cared for in the oper-
ating room. The attendants are thus
careful that no external dust or impu-
rity touch that patient. But the atmos-
phere we breathe in life is not made
antiseptic from sin. The hands that
ways pure hands. The lips which
speak to us are not always pure lips.
Behold, we We're born in sin; VIC have
grown up amid the vitiating atmos-
phere Of sin. Though we have again
and again bowed at the mercy seat
and made the publican's prayer, God
be merciful to me-, a sinner" yet today
we find that we have just as great a
need Of Christ the Purifier as we ever
had Of Christ the Creator of our souls
and physical bodies.
Now, how does Christ purify u
lives? 1t Is done by the hot fires of
trouble. A fire is always the best of
all purifiers. 1 stand at one Of the
great kiln doors Of an East LIVERPOOL
pottery. I say to the potter: what
are you doing? Why are you making
those fires so hot?' ITO bake the
clay" he answers. "Why do you bake
the clayY" l ask. "To get the impuri.
ties out of It," he answers. Then l
stand and hear the roaring noise Of
those seething flames. They leap. they
hiss, they try to burn asunder the
heavy, massive brick walls which are
combining them. AS l peer through
the little hole l seem to hear the clay
calling: Let me out. Oh, let me out.
They are burning me to DEATH NO."
answers the potter; Eve are not de-
~stroying YOU; we are merely taking
the Impurities out of you" Not only do
they burn some of the clay once, but
twice and even thrice. Each time the
furnaces are made hotter. Then the
clay comes forth as the beautiful vase,
perhaps with its sides painted into a
flower garden by a master artist or
into the exquisite features of a beauti-
FIJI maiden TO be among the trca snred