'HE is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. 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.'--MALACHI iii. 2, 3.
A FEW ladies in Dublin, who often met together to read the Word of
GOD, one day occupied their attention with the passage now before
the eye of the reader. One of the ladies expressed her opinion
that 'the fuller's soap and the refiner of silver' were only the
_same_ image to convey the same view of the sanctifying influence
of the grace of CHRIST. 'No,' said another, 'they are not the same
image; there is something remarkable in the expression, 'HE shall
_sit_ as the refiner and purifier of silver.'' On going into the
town, this lady called on a silver-smith, and desired to know the
process of refining silver, which he fully explained to her. 'But
do you _sit_, Sir,' she asked, 'while you are refining?' 'Yes,
Madam, I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace; since
if the silver remain too long, it is sure to be injured.' She at
once saw the beauty and comfort of the expression. CHRIST sees it
needful to put his people into the furnace, but HE is seated by
the side of it--HIS eye is steadily fixed on the work of
purifying--and his wisdom and his love are both engaged to do all
in the best manner for them. As the lady was returning to her
friends, to tell them what she had heard, as she turned from the
shop-door, the silver-smith called her back, and said, he had
forgotten one thing, and that was, he only knew the process of
refining to be complete by seeing his own image in the silver.
When CHRIST sees his own image in his people, the work of
purifying is accomplished.
It may be added, that the metal continues in a state of agitation,
until all impurities are thrown off, and then it becomes quite
still; a circumstance which heightens the analogy of the case; for
how
'Sweet to be passive in His hand,
And know no will but HIS!'
* * * * *
DOES 'M.' well to be angry? We 'referred publicly' to his query touching
our choice of prose or poetry, _at his own request_, in a playful, but
certainly not in an intentionally 'offensive' manner. And now, a 'good
that was intended us' is clean gone forever! Very well--we must submit,
with what grace we may.' 'My 'spected bredren,' said a venerable colored
clergyman, on a recent occasion, 'blessed am dat man dat 'spects noth'n,
'cause he an't gwine to be disapp'inted!' We solace ourselves with this
scrap of Ethiopian philosophy. · · · The experiments alluded to below, in
the happiest vein of the amusing 'Charcoal-Sketcher' of Philadelphia, have
been frequently tried in this city, we understand, but with very
infrequent success. Pulling teeth while the patient is asleep is not
'practised to a very great extent in _this_ community;' for no sooner is
the glittering instrument of torture 'placed in communication' with the
jaw, than it is found to 'disturb the Mesmeric function' to an
extraordinary degree:
'MANY who would be valiant in battle, turn pale at sight of the
dentist's chair. To stand up to be shot at in a duel is unpleasant
to the nerves, and to storm a breach requires a considerable
modicum of determination; but to pull the dentist's bell and not
to run away; to walk boldly in and not to request a postponement,
though it gains one no laurels and probably would not help to
secure a political nomination on the score of heroism, is pure
unadulterated valor; intrinsic--deriving no aid from association
or example; nothing from the instinct of discipline or the thirst
for glory. In encountering other dangers, there is a large hope,
too, of impunity. An expectation of survival, a fond trust to be
with the unhurt, always exists. But here, in that morocco throne,
so grotesque, so mystical, so strange in all its aspects; your
mouth wide open and your head thrown back--what hope can there be?
To be hurt is an inevitable thing. We are in the clutches of a
fate, and must realize our mortal frailty. To march to this with a
whistle; neither to kick the smaller dogs on our route, nor to
thrust little children aside spitefully; to take our usual
interest in the occurrences of the street as we pass along to
execution; to laugh, to jest, to talk of the weather with the
identical man as he rattles his glittering instruments and smiles
upon their brightness; to shake hands with him and to make a
tolerable pretence of being glad to see him, is an effort, though
we may have never encountered a war, equal to that which wears
medals and puts pensions in its pocket. There is some comfort,
however, to the afflicted in the fact that there have been of late
symptoms of a combination of animal magnetism with dentistry,
which affords a gleam of consolation. The exhibitors in New-York
frequently have teeth extracted from mesmerised patients, to prove
that in many cases they are insensible to pain--a thing which has
been done very often in private in this city, and in many
instances with complete success. What a cause for rejoicing would
it be then, if the proper degree of 'impressibility' were general
with those who have failing and recreant teeth, that the dentist
and his magnetiser might be one and indivisible? Surgery in all
its branches would be benefitted by the same connection; but this
strange physical condition is not an invariable concomitant of the
mesmeric state; so that valor, such as that to which we have
already alluded, cannot go completely out of use, even if all
could be subjected to the nervous influence of the magnetiser.'
* * * * *
'PHAZMA,' the cleverest of our western poets, who has written so many
beautiful things for the New-Orleans '_Picayune_,' presents us lately with
the subjoined tender sonnet. He has 'discharged' it as well as if he had
previously read the directions of our eastern 'manufacturer of the
article,' in our last issue: