THE GREAT REFINER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 45.

THE GREAT REFINER.

"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

'Tis sweet to know that he who tries The silver, takes his seat Beside the fire that purifies, Lest too intense a heat, Raised to consume the base alloy, The precious metal, too, destroy.

'Tis good to think that well he knows The silver's power to bear The ordeal to which he goes, And that, with skill and care, He'll take it from the fire, when fit For his own hand to polish it.

'Tis blessedness to feel that he, The piece he has begun, Will not forsake 'ill he can see— To prove the work is done— An image, by its brightness shown, The perfect likeness of his own.

But, ah! how much of earthly mold, Dark relics of the mine, Purged from the ore, must he behold— How long must he refine Ere in the silver he can trace The first faint semblance to his face!

Thou Great Refiner, sit thou by, Thy promise to fulfill! Moved by thy hand, beneath thine eye, And melted at thy will, Oh! may thy work forever shine, Reflecting beauty pure as thine.

—Selected.