The Baptism of Fire: Machinery Without Power
By Arthur
SUPPOSE we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and they told us they intended to batter it down, we might ask them, “How?” They point to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no power in that; it is heavy, but not more than half a hundred or, perhaps, a hundred weight; if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort, they would make no impression. They say, “No, but look at the cannon.” Well, but there is no power in that; a child may ride upon it, a bird may perch in its mouth. It is a machine, and nothing more. “But look at the powder.” Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may pick it. Yet this powerless powder and powerless ball are put into the powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that cannon-ball is a thunder-bolt, which smites as if it had been sent from heaven. So it is with our Christian machinery of this day; we have all the instruments necessary for pulling down strongholds, and oh, for the baptism of fire!—Arthur.