The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-01-24

4 - F
| the last thirty years, without missing
4 week, let me say 20 those far away from
the house OF God and in the mountain
| districts that my text shows the divine
| power in the backwoods.
| The Lord by every stream az He GER
| tainly was by the Jordan, on every mount
ain as surely as He was on Mount Zion,
| on every lake "a on TiberIas, by every
| rock as by the one whose gushing waters
slaked the thirst OF the marching Israeli
| ties.
Do not feel lonely because your nearest
neighbor may be miles away, because 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's scream, God will help
you, whether at tie time the forest around
you raves in the midnight hurricane or you
suffer from something quite Insignificant,
like the loss OF an axe head. Take your
Bible out under the trees, II the weather
viii permit, and after you have listened 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; az 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 il night, wherein all 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 together and lay
them down in their dens. Man goeth
forth unto his work and 20 his labor until
the evening. o Lord, how manifold are
Thy works. In wisdom hast Thou made
all. The earth is full OF Thy riches" How
bc vou Elyo that gtblirnp paztoralr
My subject also reminds Us. Of the i'm.
p0rtance OF keeping our chief implement
for work in good order think that young
theological student on the banks of Jor-
dan was TO blame for not examining the
axe before he lifted it that day against a
tree. He could in a moment have found
out whether the helve and the head were
firmly fastened. The simple fact was that
the axe was not IN good order or the
strongest stroke that sent the edge into
the hard sycamore would not have left
the implement headless. SO God has given
every one of US an axe with which 10 hew.
Let us keep 1t in good order, having
been sharpened by Bible study and
strengthened by prayer. The reason we
sometimes fail IN our work IL because we
have n dull axe or we do not know how
Alright 10 swing it. The head is not Alright
on the handle. At the time we want the
most skill for work and perfect equil-
DRUM we lose our hcau. we cNpthu III !
useless excitement the nervous energy that /
we ought TO have employed in direct, !
straightforward work
Your axe may be a pen or 4 type or n
yardstck or a scales or tongue which IN F,
legislative hall or business circles or Sab
bath class or pulpit IS to speak for God !!
and righteousness, but the axe will not (
be worth much until 1t has been sharp |
ened on the grlndstonc Of aflictlon
Il . hn F,rlI nd
right through all the past ages and show
me one man or woman who has done any. |
thing for the world worth speaking of |
whose axe was not ground on the reyolv. !
ing wheel Of mighty trouble. II was not |
David for he was dethroned and bounded |
by unGial Absaom. Surely it was not !
Paul, for he was shipwrecked and whipped |
with thirty.nne stripes from rods OF elm
wool on his way to beheadment.
Surely it was not Abraham Lincoln, /
called by every vile name that human
and satanic turpitude could invent and de-
pictcd by cartoonists with more meanness
than any other man ever suffered. on the
way to meet bullet crashing through his
temples.
But | 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 impossiblltes may |
be turned into possibilities. That axe
head was sunken In the muddlcst river
that could be found. The alarmed student
of Elisha may know whore 1t went down
and NAV dive for it and perhaps fetch il
up, but can the sunken axe head be lifted
without a hand thrust deep into the mud
at the bottom of the river? No; that Is
impossible. | admit, so far "a human pow
or Is concerned, it IL 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 SWIM" Yes. yes; many a time. |
saw soul hardened until nothing could
make II harder All s<e~ss OF sin had
piled that soul IL was pctrlied as to all
fine feeling. 1t had been hardening for
thirty years. IL had gone into the deep
est depths. 1t had been gwen up as lost.
The father had given 1t up. The mother,
the last to do SO, had given 1t up. But
one day in answer TO some prayer "A branch
of the disfolaged tree OF Calvary was
thrown into the dark and sullen stream,
and the sunken soul responded to Its pow.
cr and rose into the light, and, to the as
tonishmcnt of the church and the world,
"the iron did swim l have seen hun
drcds of cases like that. When the dying
bandit on the cross beside Christ was con-
vcrted When Jerry McAuiey, a ruihan
graduate of Sing Sing prison, was changed
into great evangelist, so useful IN reCla'
nation OF wandering men and women that
the merchant princes OF New York estab.
hshcd for HIM the Water street and Gre
mornc missions and mourncd at his burial,
amid the lamentations OF city. When
Newton. the blasphcmlug sailor, under the
power of the truth was brought TO Christ
and became one of the mightcst preachers
Of the gospel that England ever saw.
When John Buuyau, whose curses
shocked even the protane OF the hsh mar
lct was 80 changed IN heart and life that
he could write that wonderful dream, Inc
Pilgrims Progress, IN such way that un-
counted thousands have found through 1t
the road from the city OF destruction to
the celestial city. In all these cases
think iron was made 10 swim. | worship
the God who can do the impossible.
Yul have a wayward boy. Only God
knows ho.y YOU have cried over him You
have tried everything for his reformation.
Where i he now-in this city, IN this
country. or has he crossed the sea- oh.
Won saw. Il do not know where he Is. lie
went away IN the sulks and did not say
whore he was going" You have about
made up your mind that You viii never
hear from him again. Pretty hard pay he
gives YOU for all your kindness and the
nights YOU sat up with him when he was
sick Perhaps he struck YOU one day when
YOU were trying 20 persuade him to do bet
ter How different was the feeling OF that /
hard hst against your face from his little
hand in infancy patting your cheeckl /
Father Mother That Is an impossible /
that | would like 90 sec God take hold OF. /
the conversion OF that boy. tor he viii I
never be anything but boy To YOU. /
thourh Won should live TO sec him fifty !