LXIII. REFINER AND PURIFIER.

And he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness,'

Mal. iii. 3.

THIS passage is the only instance where these titles are found as substantives. That there is an allusion to the Redeemer, is evident from the very opening of the chapter. Maimonides understands the passage as relating to him: 'In the days of the king Messiah, when his kingdom is restored, and Israel shall be gathered to him, all will have their genealogies set right by his mouth, through the Holy Spirit that rests upon him, as it is said, he shall sit a refiner and purifier.'

These titles may be considered as among the most beautiful in all the Scriptures. They bring the Saviour at once before the mind in an exceedingly interesting light, and lead us to consider,

I. The nature of the mind.

II. The process by which it will be refined or purified.

III. The certainty of the work.

I. The nature of the mind. The very fact that the Redeemer of the world is presented before us as a Refiner and Purifier, shows the original purity of the

mind, or that there is an intrinsic value in its very nature. If man were entirely depraved, there would be no substance to refine or purify. And the appellations equally disprove the sentiment of endless suffering or that of annihilation. For in what sense could we consider Jesus as a Refiner and Purifier, if man should be annihilated or remain forever impure?

The soul was created in the image of God. It is a type of his own pure and exalted nature. It is very appropriately compared to gold, the most precious of all metals; the great standard of value by which all earthly things are tried. But man has become corrupt by wicked works. 'Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.'* But how is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!'† The soul seems like gold thrown back into its native mine, and intermixed with the basest material. Hence all need 'the refiner's fire and the fuller's soap.'

6

II. The manner in which the mind is to be refined or purified. And here the comparison between the precious metal and the soul may still be carried on. 'Gold, in its native state, having much of earthy and stony material mixed with it, is first of all broken in pieces, even to powder; then placed in a crucible, with some foreign substance as a solvent, and melted in a fire of intense heat. Gold requires a greater heat for its fusion than any other metal. The refiner stands or sits beside the fire, to superintend the pro

cess, to regulate the heat, and to watch the completion of the work. The work is completed when all the foreign substances are consumed or removed, in the form of dross, and the gold, without the loss of a single grain, is rendered so pure, that the refiner can see his own face reflected in the molten metal.'* Such is the process by which the Saviour will purify the human soul. Jehovah, speaking of the power of truth, says, 'Is not my word like as a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?' It would seem from the reasoning of the Apostle, that one of the ways in which Jesus was to refine the human soul, was by his own sufferings: 'Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' The Apostle has himself given us a fine illustration of the office of Jesus as a Refiner and Purifier: Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.'S Observe that the man is saved by the same fire that tries his work: 'he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.' How very careful was the Apostle in regard to the salvation of the soul!

III. The certainty of the work. On this point we need not dwell, for when we have once ascertained

* See a devotional work called 'My Saviour.' By Rev. JOHN EAST. P. 178. † Jer. xxiii. 29. § 1 Cor. iii. 13--15.

Tit. ii. 14.

what the Saviour came to perform, we may rest assured of its final accomplishment. We have his own words in regard to his ability: 'All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth.' In treating of salvation, then, it appears to the writer better to dwell upon its nature and extent, than upon its certainty, for there seems to be a manifest impropriety in showing the work Jesus came to perform, and then doubting its performance. We know this has been the usual course in the christian world; but we believe that it is as certain that Jesus will save the world as that he came into the world. The Scriptures speak as positively in the one case as the other. We proceed, therefore, to a moral application of our whole subject, and then we shall close the whole by an incident strikingly illustrative of the office of Jesus as a Refiner and Purifier.

What a blessed work is assigned to the Redeemer of the world! He sits as a Refiner and Purifier. He will perfect our whole nature, that we 'may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.' And we should remember that in the process of refining, not a single particle of pure gold is lost. So with the human soul. Nothing will be removed from it but its impurity. The Refiner and Purifier will make 'a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.' He will at last sit upon his throne as the grand Refiner and Purifier of a world.

But then we should remember that in this process we must be put into the furnace, and perhaps tried even seven times. But we have the consolation that the Refiner and Purifier will be there, and he will sit

watching over us till he can see his own face reflected in our hearts. How consoling to the afflicted and bereaved! And then the Refiner and Purifier has been himself in the furnace! And he knows all our frailties and all our weaknesses, and he will not call on us to suffer more than he himself has suffered before us. O, I can see my Saviour in the furnace at Jerusalem, and I see him come forth unharmed, yea, perfected: 'For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.'* And now, if we only had room, how gladly and cheerfully would we take up and illustrate the refining and purifying nature of human suffering; but we must bring our subject to a close, by the touching incident to which we have alluded as an illustration of our whole subject.

'Some ladies in Dublin, who met together from time to time, at each other's houses, to read the Scriptures, and to make them the subject of profitable conversation, when they came to the third chapter of the prophecy of Malachi, had some discussion over the second and third verses, respecting the method of purifying the precious metals. As none of the company knew anything about the process, one undertook to inquire of a silversmith, with whom she was acquainted, how it was effected, and particularly, what was the business of the refiner himself, during that operation. Without explaining her motive, she accordingly went to her friend, and asked him how

*Heb. ii. 10. See title CAPTAIN.