Milford chronicle., 1906-08-31

"Ihese archWayS would form perfect
trellis where the vines could cling
Then. the first view the visitor has OF
the house is from this driveway. In
stead of planting most Of your flowers
toward the east side of the house l
would plant them ON the west" "Ah,
said my friend nothing | would like
better than that but my flowers will
not grow here You must remember
that the sun rises in the east and that
means that during the morning hours
the west side of my house is shut out
from the light of the sun. That means
the ground here is always cold. Seeds
and flowers must have heat in which
to grow" Heat means life for the
vegetable world, and cold always
means death So you see that fire is
not always destructive, but is the sym
bol OF life Now, when / hear Christ
say. Il am come to send fire upon the
earth" in a broad sense l seem to
hear Christ say, 4 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
er up the 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 the rivers" Oh the Won
ders Of nature as revealed in the mi
raculous creations of ifel Have you
ever ceased TO be amazed at the first
sentence of the Apostles Greed, Il be-
lieve in God the Father Almighty. Max
er of heaven and earth, and in Jesus
Christ. his only Son, our LordT
Need of 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 debating
society the Earl of Rochester i'll order
to fill out the list of debates, tried to
prove that this world had no need Of
an overriding or Il creating Providence.
After hc had finished his speech and
won the applause Of his auditors he
turned and said, "How can 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 Creator?" 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 tree
or in the throbbing heart of a mortal
and yet immortal man.
But l find that fire is the symbol Of
publication as we'll as Of creation.
When Christ says he will send fire,
remember that one Of his purposes is
to take the dross out of the hard me-
tailic heart. This is as truly a 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 I am impressed with the fact
that Christ continually has to make us
over and purify us, even as the nuggets
of gold must be 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 Antiseptic.
We have all been contaminated by
sin from the very atmosphere which
we have breathed. To a 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 antiseptic
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
al ertures 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 |
touch us upon the streets are not al |
ways pure hands. The lips which |
speak to us are not always pure lips. |
Behold, we were born in sin; we 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 .
need Of Christ the Purifier as we ever
had of Christ the Creator of our souls
and physical bodies.
Now, how does Christ purify our
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. l say to the potter: What
are you doing? Why are you making
those fires so hotY' ''To bake the