The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-16
Making the Iron Swim.

While certain young man of the
school of the prophets was hewing timber
on the bank of the Jordan, the axe-head
few off and sank in the muddy water.
"He must have been an industrious man."
said DR.. BUSHNELL cor he would not have
wanted an axe ; he must have been poor
man, or he would not have needed to bor-
row it; he must have been an honest man,
or he would never have exclaimed, Alas,
master, for it was borrowed" Elisha
asks him where it fell whereupon the
man of God breaks off stick and casts it
into the turbid river, and 10 "the iron
did SWIM" The young man puts forth
his hand, takes it up, and goes on with his
task of hewing timber for that primitive
theological seminary at Jericho. Here
was direct forthputting of the divine
power. AS the honor of his servant was
involved, and a loss was to be repaired,
God repaired it in a miraculous manner.
Instead of acting by what we call the
laws Of nature, he acted directly upon that
piece of metal, and made it rise from the
depths of the stream. 1t was precisely
such special display of the divine power
as that by which he replenished widows
cruise of oil, and raised dead child to
life. With God all things are possible.
This resurrection of the axe-head was
very extraordinary occurrence; science
would pronounce it an impossibility. But
our faithful God has wrought vast num-
Der of unlikely things, in order to reward
the faith of those who put their trust in
him. He loves to hestow special blessings
on fearless preachers of his gospel, on
hard-toiling missionaries, on heroic phil
anthropists, and on his struggling chill
dren in their hard fight with legions of
adversaries. He still sends ravens to feed
his prophets. 81 knew that our heavenly
Father would not forget u.s." said log
cabin missionary in northern Minnesota,
when he walked home ten miles from a
post-office and handed his sick wife thirty
dollars from an unknown friend in Brook
Ign. God still fills the empty cruise of
pious poverty. He still makes the iron
swim. When Francke began his orphan
house at Halle, and George Muller opened
similar institution at Ashley Down, they
both started with no other capital than
faith. To human eyes their projects, and
their plans for carrying them out, seemed
visionary. They both laid hold of their
enterprises with practical sagacity, and
with strong, unwavering faith asked God
to give them his direct aid. While they
were busy at their posts, God was busy in
moving generous hearts to supply them
with money. To one of these philanthro-
pists over two millions of dollars have
been sent in unsolicited donations Faith
did its duty, and God made the iron swim.
There is prodigious leverage for our
faith in this glorious doctrine of a special
Providence. 1t enables us to remove
mountains of difficulty it nerves us to
face obstacles that seem impossible. A
godly mother, for example, dedicates her
only son to the gospel ministry. How to
educate him out of poor widows scanty
purse, is puzzling question. She is
richer in faith than in silver and gold,
and decides that the lad shall be sent to
college. Just then the will of deceased
relative is opened, and legacy for the
lad is found in the will. He is educated
for the work OF preaching Jesus, and lives
to-day to unfold to thousands the promises
of that God who can make the iron swim.
This doctrine, which the son of the proph.
cts learned on the bank of the Jordan, has
been very precious and helpful one to
the writer of this article. | count it a
matter for thankfulness that have never
dCCcpICu q Cdu W oil easy pldC6. vi
the contrary, three out of the four charges
which have undertaken were exceeding
ly unpromising, and of the fourth, an EN-
inent man said, sit will come TO nothing
My first charge was with feeble flock
where l could "count noses as they
struggled in at the door; only two mem
bers of the church could offer prayer in
meeting-one of those an Irish gardener
p,,t x.,ha,, fhi,, b A.
and / was half inclined to flee to Tarshish
God poured out his Spirit suddenly ant
powerfully, and the iron began to swim
These are not miracles exactly but they
are evidences that he who hoated tn,
prophets axe in the Jordan still lives, anC
loves to reward faith and to answer prayer
An unconverted heart is often like to tina
axe-head it is heavy and it is hard, anC
tendeth downward. But the divine Spiri
can make it move upward. Remembe
this, ye disheartened parents, who hav
waited long and prayed without ceasinl
for the conversion of your children. b.
not weary in well doing. Make your re
ligion winsome. Watch for opportunities
While you expect God to hear you
prayers, be careful to hear them also your
selves. Ye praying wives also, whom
every OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES separates IrOu
your impenitent husbands, do not Civ
up. A loving, gentle wife in my congre
cation, who spent a whole Sabbath il
pleading for her husbands soul, cam
down on Monday morning to conduct fam
lily worship-as it was her won't to dc
To her amazement and delight, he said T.
her; "Well, wife, you have done this quit
long enough please hand me that Bible.
He read the chapter, and the next morn