Gold Nugget 264 - Grains of Gold

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      Socrates used to go about Athens testing and refining men’s ideas, and in his own unrivalled method extracting the few grains of gold from the mass of rubbish in young men’s minds.  Our Lord did a more valuable service, testing men’s hearts rather than their heads, their characters rather than their opinions. 

      So severe was this testing process that Christ pronounced a special blessing on all who stood it.  Yet Christ’s teaching held out the door of mercy to all.  He showed to the world that in the midst of the dross of some of the foulest lives there were grains of gold, gems of Divinity, which his purifying power could disengage. … The purity of his life made his very presence like the flame of a refiner’s fire. … it was when he came home to men’s hearts and was manifested to their consciences that the real testing began.

The Pulpit Commentary, Malachi p.42-43, Malachi 3:2, (E. S. Prout)

See also:  Luke 7:23

Gold Nugget 264

Grains of Gold

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