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IN THE FURNACE

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 25, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 51, No. 17.

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IN THE FURNACE.

“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Mal. 3:3.
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.”
“O 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.—Cottage Bible.