A BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 29, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 5

A BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION.

In notes on Mal. 3, as given in the Cottage Bible, we find the following beautiful illustration,—an illustration which has in it a germ of comfort and peace for every tried and tempted child of God:—

Ver. 3. Shall sit as a refiner.—A band of pious females were accustomed to meet weekly to read and converse upon the Scriptures. This text came under consideration; one remarked that a peculiar emphasis seemed to rest on the verb sit, and as she was acquainted with a refiner of metals, she would make inquiries of him. She inquired of him, on her return home, if it was customary to sit whilst purifying silver.

“Oh, yes, madam, we always sit.”

“But why do you sit?”

“Because it is necessary to watch the metal with great care; for if it is suffered to remain beyond a certain point, the silver itself is materially injured; so that whilst we blow the coals to increase the heat, we must sit and carefully watch for the moment when it is purified.”

“But how do you know when it is purified?”

“That, madam, is very easy—it is the moment that the silver clearly and perfectly reflects the image of my face.”

Let the Christian remember that in all his afflictions and trials, Christ is blowing the coals—is making the furnace hotter: that he sits and watches his saints until his own blessed image is reflected in them; then are they purified.