Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-01-24

est ueiSnDor may De 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 panthers
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, II 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 fun
or sap, the cedars OF Lebanon which
he hath planted. where the birds make
their nests; as for the stork, the fir
trees are her house. The high hills are
| a refuge for the wild goats and the
rocks for the comics. Thou makest
darkness, and 1t is night, wherein all
the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
Tho young lions roar after their prey
and seek their meat from God. The
sun ariseth. they gather themselves to-
gether and lay them down in their dens
Man goefh forth unto his work aud to
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 do
you like that sublime pastoral?
Overcome EVIL.
My subject also reminds us of the
Importance Of keeping our chief nipple
ment for work in good order. I think
that young theological student on the
banks OF Jordan was to blame for not
examining the ak before be lifted II
that day against tree. He could in
moment have found out whether the
helve and the head were firmly fas-
tened. The simple fact was the ak
was not In good order or the strongest
stroke that sent the edge into the hard
sycamore would not have left the i'm
plement headIess. So God has given
every one of us an AK with which to
hew. Let us keep IL IN good order,
having been eharpened by Bible study
and strengthened by prayer. The rea-
son we sometimes fail in our work IS
because we have q dull AK or we do
not know how Alright to swing it. The
head ia not Alright on the handle. At
the time we want the most skill for
work and perfect equilibrium we lose
our head. We expend In useless ex-
element the. nervous energy that we
ought TO have employed in direct,
Straightforward work. Your ak may
be pen or q type or yardstick or a
scales or tongue which In legislative
hall or business circles or Sabbath
class or pulpit is to speak for God and
righteousness, but the ak will not be
worth much until It has been sharp
ened on the grindstone of aff1iction.
Go tight through the world, and go
right through all the past ages, and
show me one man or woman who has
done anything for the world worth
speaking Of whose ak was not ground
on the revolving wheel of mighty trou-
bic. 1t was not David, for he was de-
throned and bounded by unfiiial Alb
SALON.. Surely IT was not Paul. for he
was shipwrecked and whipped with
thirty-nine stripes from rods OF elm
wood on HIS way to beheadment Sure
ly IL was not Abraham Lincoln, called
by every vile name that human and
satanic turpitude could invent and de-
picted by cartoonists with more mean
ness than any other man ever suffered,
on the way TO meet a bullet crashing
through his temples.
God Does the Impossible.
But 1 have come to the foot OF the
Alps, which we must climb before we
can see the wide reach of my subject.
See In all this theme how the impossi-
bilities may be turned into possibilities.
That ak head was sunken in the mud
diest river that could be found. The
alarmed student OF Elisha may know
where 1t went down and may dive for
II and perhaps fetch 1t up, but can the
sunken Ak head be lifted without a
hand thrust deep into the mud at the
bottom of the river7 No; that is i'm
possible. 1 admit, so far as human
power is concerned. 1t is impossible.
but with God all things are possible.
After the tree branch was thrown upon
the surface OF Jordan "the iron did
SWIM"
Some one asks me, did you ever
see iron swimT Yes, yes; many a
time. 1 saw soul hardened until
nothing could make it harder. All
styles of sin had piled that soul. It
was petrifed as to all fine feeling. 1t
had been hardening for thirty years.
1t had gone into the deepest depths.
1t had been given up as lost The IA
Their had given 1t up. The mother, the
last to do so. had given 1t up. But one
day In answer to some prayer q branch
OF the disfoliaged tree OF Calvary was
thrown into the dark and sullen
stream. and the sunken soul responded
to its power and rose into the light.
and. to the astonishment Of the church
and the world, 'the iron did SWIM" /
have seen hundreds Of cases like that.
When the dying bandit on the cross
beside Christ's cross was converted.
When Jerry McAuley, a ruffian gradu-
ate OF Sing Sing prison. was changed
into great evangelist, so useful I'm
reclamation OF wandering men and wo.
men that the merchant princes of New
York established for him the Water
Street and Cremorne missions and
mourned at his burial. amid the lamen-
s~sNohc W u city w Atn NeWtOu, the
disappearing sailor, under the power
Of the truth was brought to Christ and
became one OF the mightiest preachers
or the gospel that England ever saw.
When John Bunyan, whose curses
shocked even the prosane OF the fish
market, was so changed in heart and
life that he could write that wonder
full dream. THE Pilgrims Progress"
In such way that uncounted thou
sands have found through it the road
from the "city of destruction" to the
celestial city" In all these cases /
think iron was made to swim. wor-
chip the God who can do the impossi-
BILE
Lost and Restored.
You have a Maynard boy. Only God
knows how you have cried over him.
You have tried everything for his ref
ormation. Where Is he now-in this
city, In this country or has he crossed