Article November 25, 1911 Issue

A PURIFYING PROCESS

JOEL T. ACTON.

Several years ago, while living in a cabin in the heart of the Rocky mountains, the writer visited a miner who operated near by a gold mining and refining plant, and who kindly explained the various processes followed. From the depths of a tunnel which penetrated the mountain, large block of porphyry and quartz were brought to the mill at the foot of an incline and there dumped into large hoppers. Under these hoppers was set in motion a mass of ponderous, noisy machinery that quickly reduced the ore to a fine sand, and a stream of clear water constantly playing on this sand, washed the grosser, lighter particles of dirt down the steep, rocky gulch. The ore was indeed washed and was clean, but not all. There remained in the pans below what appeared to be a glittering, beautiful black sand, which we were told contained, though it was effectually hidden from our view, the rich yellow gold. This black sand was so near the weight and otherwise so closely resembled the gold, that mere washing was useless and a more drastic measure had to be employed.

This sand with its hidden treasure was, therefore, gathered into cups, or retorts, and placed in a furnace. As the fiery blast increased, that which hid the gold was seen to melt, then to be consumed, and issuing in vaporlike smoke above the cups' rim, was wafted away. When asked his purpose in gazing intently at short intervals into the top of the melting-pot, the operator explained that nothing could endure the blast except the gold, and even this was melted to a shining yellow liquid, which, when pure, was smooth and placid and reflected perfectly the operator's face as he looked in from above the crucible. When satisfied with the appearance of the molten gold, he removed the retort from the furnace. Then the precious metal was weighed, and was soon added to that vast treasure which forms the firm foundation of a government's credit and a solid basis for a world's commerce.

Since receiving this simple lesson from the rugged miner with his melting-pots, the writer has found in Christian Science the abundant health and strength he was then seeking in climate and atmosphere, and though but a little distance has as yet been gained on the upward journey, this lesson is plainly seen to point to a broader, larger process, viz., the separation of truth from error in human consciousness. Divine Science reveals the Father, ever searching out and seeing in His spiritual creation His own perfect likeness! To human sense the process requires the melting, refining crucibles of Love's furnace, the never dying glow of which burns away the delusive sands, destroying all that is unlike God, "melting and purifying even the gold of human character" (Science and Health, p. 565), until there is absolutely nothing left "that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed" (Science and Health, p. 340). Thus, too, do the purifying waters of healing come to humanity through channels of His choosing, cooling the fevered brow, moistening the parched lips, washing away the grosser sands and soil of disease beliefs, and cleansing the garments until every thread is white and glistening as the snow on the mountain-peak.

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