Refining the Gold

“THERE is a place for the gold where they fine it.” This line from the book of Job — so strong in its monosyllables — describes a spiritual as well as a chemical process. Over and over again in the Bible godly character is described by the happy simile of gold. It would be easy to run out the points of resemblance. All nations, from the polished to the savage, have agreed in regarding it the most beautiful of metals. It typifies the “beauty of holiness.” It is an imperishable metal. When they opened the tomb of an old Etrurian king, buried twenty-five centuries ago, they found only a heap of royal dust. The only object that remained untouched by time was a fillet of gold which bound the monarch’s brow. So doth true godliness survive. the havoc of time and the ravages of the grave. Gold is the basis of a solvent currency; and genuine fear of God is the basis of all the virtues which pass current among humanity. The essence of all piety is obedience to God. It is the eternal law of right put into daily practice. Too much is said in these days about the aesthetics of religion and its sensibilities. Religion’s home is in the conscience. Its watchword is the word ought. Its highest joy is in doing God’s will.

Gold is a product of the Divine Hand. So is true godliness. Brass is a human compound; but no human skill has ever discovered the philosopher’s stone which can transmute the baser metals into gold. All these modern pulpiteers who prattle so glibly about “developing manhood,77 and “educating the divine element in every man’s heart,77 etc., are engaged in the same bootless folly of attempting to create gold out of what is essentially base and corrupt. Two things God teaches us unmistakably — viz., man is by nature utterly depraved, and regeneration is the divine work. All the gold that shone so brightly in Abraham on the mount of sacrifice; all the gold that withstood the furnace of Babylon and came out so pure in tempted Daniel, was the direct creation of the Almighty Spirit. Paul never babbled nonsense about developing his own manhood. He humbly affirmed that “by the grace of God I am what I am.” “I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” The end and aim of Christ’s redeeming work is to produce godly character. The purpose of God’s providence with his children is to test their graces, and to improve and strengthen them. All is not gold that glitters. Genuine godliness is the “gold tried in the fire.” The Apostle Peter unfolded a grand truth when he said “that the trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold, which perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” Our religion must be severely tested to prove its priceless value. An army officer went to several of

Mr. Moody’s meetings lately to “find out if there was any thing in the Christian religion.” A better way to know what Christ is worth to a human soul would be to try Christ for himself in his own heart and daily life. If it gave him forgiveness of past sins and power to resist present temptations; if it held him fast against the under-currents of passion and selfishness and lust if it purified his heart and sweetened his temper and lifted him into communion with God, he would require no endorsements from Mr. Moody to prove to him its golden qualities.

The chief purpose of our Heavenly Father in his dealings with his redeemed children is to improve their graces. Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit. God has a great many places for his gold, where he refines it. There is often so much alloy of pride, and self-will, and covetousness, and cowardice, and unbelief, even in genuine Christians, that they require the “fining-pot” and the furnace pretty often. We do not usually speak of prosperity as a state of severe trial; but so it is. A sharper test could not be applied to most Christians than to subject them to sudden prosperity. How the sunshiny days do bring out the adders! On the other hand, a sunny career of health, wealth, and social eminence often brings out a beautiful display of humility and unselfish devotion to Christ’s cause and the good of others. When I see a certain prosperous merchant robbing himself of his ease in order to drive his various schemes of benevolence, and quitting his own drawing-room in order to visit the poor waifs of his mission school, I feel sure that God can trust that man with a large income. Popularity is a sore trial, that often develops a fearful amount of dross. But not always. The best evidence that our brother, Moody, has yet given of his staunch bullion is that; he can bear being lifted to a most perilous popularity without his head growing dizzy. There is only one other more severe test to which he could be subjected, and that would be to lose all this eminent favor of his fellow-men and to find himself powerless to attract crowds to listen to his message. If he could submit to such an humiliation as meekly as he has borne his exaltation, we would deem him a nugget of gold an ‘’hundred carats” fine.

God oftener uses adversity as a purifier. The wintry snows that lie before my window here (at Saratoga) this morning will kill the vermin. So God sends wintry seasons upon his children, to kill certain species of besetting sins. He often casts his people down, in order to see whether they will cast him off. Poverty is a place for his gold, where he fines it. Nowhere does the soul discover more the preciousness of the unsearchable riches of Christ than when the furnace of adversity has consumed all his earthly pelf. Arthur Tappan was never richer toward God than when, in the commercial crash of 1837, he handed his watch to his assignee and said: “I give up every thing to my creditors.” It was a hot ordeal to subject such a man to; but he came forth as gold.

We pastors often go into sick-rooms which are “fining-pots” for the King’s own. In such places of suffering, we have seen the drosses run off day by day, and have heard the patient heart sing in the Refiner’s ear:

“Pain’s furnace-heat within me quivers, God’s breath upon the flame doth blow, And all my heart in anguish shivers And trembles at the fiery glow; And yet I whisper, * As God will!* And in the hottest fire — hold still.”

There may be some readers of this chapter who wonder why a just and loving God has subjected them to such repeated or to such long-continued trials. Our only answer is that the Divine Purifier sees that they need all this experience of the furnace. The chemist who is purifying silver over a hot flame always keeps the crucible on the fire until he can see his own face reflected in the clear metal as in a mirror. My brother or sister, when the dear Jesus who “sitteth as a refiner” over your heart can see his own image reflected in you, then will the chastising discipline be finished. Then he can break the crucible, and pour thy gifts and thy influence into such a mould as may suit best his all-wise purpose. He requires pure gold, to make the “vessel to his own honor.”