Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-01-23

Favored, and II things go against them
and the AK head should fly tAe helve
that very Underwent may some time
tvrn out advantageously, as the acci-
dent by the river Jordan, which seem
ed to finish the young students capac-
ity to help build the new seminary,
Bosuited in splendid demonstrate
Of the power of Elisha's God to help
any one who helps himself. No ak that
was ever welded has wrought so well
as that ak, the handle and head Of
which parted.
Notice. also, how God Is superior to
every law that he has made, even the
strongest law of nature, the law of
gravitation. The stick that Elisha
threw into the Jordan hoated, but the
Ak head sank. BY memorable law it
must go down into the depths Of the
Jordan, yet without SO much as a
touch the hard, heavy metal sought
the surface. There it is, the floating
Ak head. What Il rcbuke to those who
reject miracles on the ground that they
are contrary to nature, as though the
law were stronger than the God who
made the law! Again and again in Bible
times was that law revoked, Witness
the scene on the banks of the same ,lor-
dan, where, in after time, the AK head
sank and rose. Elijah stood there,
wearing cape of sheepskin, when there
was a mighty stir in the air and a
flashing equipage descended. Elijah
stepped into it, and on wheels of fire,
drawn by horses of fire, he rose. Fifty
men for three days searched the noun
tans to see If the body of Elijah had
not been dropped among the rocks and
picked at by birds of prey, but the
search was in vain. The law of gravi
tation had been defeated.
wonders of Divine Power.
There Christ stood by his disciples
Oh the Mount of Olives after his com
Ing out of the sepulcher. No ladders
let down for his ascension, but his feet
lift from the hill, and he goes up until
the curtain Of cloud drops, and he il
invisible. Law of gravitation again
embarrassed. Enoch, Methuselahs ia
Their, escaping death, went up bodily
and will have no need of resurrection
So will all the good who shall be still
alive at the end Of the world. They
will not need wings. Every one of the
millions of our planet who loved and
served the Lord. if then alive. will BE
caught up" as the Bible says, body as
well as SOUL the law of grayltation
paralyzod. God mightier than any law
be ever created. oh, | like the mira
cles because they show God independ-
ent of everything,
Notice also the divine power in the
( backwoods. Wonderful things were
done at the cities of Jericho and Jeru-
salem and Babylon and Nineveh and
the great cities of our time have seen
the divine power, but this miracle of
my text was in the backwoods, far
away from the city, in the lumber dis
tricts, where the students had gone to
cut timber for the new theological
seminary. And if this sermon shall
come, as it will come, like my other
sermons for the last thirty years, with.
out missing a week. let me say to those
far away from the house OF God and
In the mountain districts that my text
shows the divine power in the back
! woods. The Lord by every stream as
he certainly was by the Jordan, on ev-
cry mountain as surely as he was on
! Mount Zion, on every lake as on III
bcrias, by every rock as by the one
whose gushing waters slaked the thirst
of the marching Israclites.
Do not feel lonely because your near
est neighbor may be miles away, be
cause the width of the continent may
separate You from the place where your
cradle was rocked and your fathers
grave was dug. Weakened though you
may be by lions roar or panther
scream, God will help you, whether at
the time the forest around you raves
IN the midnight hurricane or you suffer
from something quite Insignificant, like
the loss of an ak head. Take your
Bible out under the trees, if the wealth
er will permit, and after you have lis
tened to the solo of a bird In the tree
tops or the long meter psalm of the
thunder, read those words of the Bible
which must have been written out OF
doors; The trees of the Lord are full
of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which
he hath planted where the birds make
Their nests; as for the stOrk, the fiji
trees are her house. The high hills are
a refuge for the wild goats and the
rocks for the comics. Thou makesi
darkness, and 1t is night, wherein al
the beasts of the forest do creep forth
The young lions roar after their prey
and seek their meat from God. The
sun ariseth, they gather themselves to
Man gOeth forth unto his work and t.
his labor until the evening. o Lord
how manifold are thy works! In wis
dom hast thou made them all. The
earth is full Of thy riches" How dc
you like that sublime pastoral?
Overcome EVIL.
My subject also reminds us OF tn,
Importance of keeping our chief nipple
nent for work In good order. l thlnl
that young theological student on tn,
banks of Jordan was to blame for no
examining the AK before he lifted i
that day against tree. He could In
moment have found out whether tn,
tened. The simple fact was the Il,
was not in good order or the stronges
stroke that sent the edge into the hare