Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-01-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
MIRACLE OF THE ~ HEAD WhiCh
FLOATED At ELisHA'S Com.SAND.
Natures Laws Suspended to Show the
Power Of God--Examples of Notable
Conversions strange as the Text The
Iron Did SWIM"

course DT. IdlIudSe IldhtS pTdctlCdi
use of an occurrence in the orient
which has seldom attracted particular
attention; text. II Kings, vi, 6. THE
iron did swim"
A theological seminary in the valley
of palms, near the river Jordan, had
become so popular in the time of
Elisha. the prophet. that more accom-
modations were needed for the stu
dents. The classrooms and the dor
mitories must be enlarged or an en-
tirely new building constructed. What
will they do? Will they send up to
Jerusalem and solicit contributions for
this undertaking? Having raised the
money, will they send for cedars Of
Lebanon and marble from the quar-
ries where Ahab got the stone for the
pillars and walls of his palace? No;
the students propose to build 1t them
selves. All they ask is that Elisha,
their professor and prophet, go along
with them to the woods and boss the
job. They start for the work, Elisha
and his students. Plenty of lumber
in those regions along the Jordan.
The sycamores are attacked by Eli
shas students, for they must have
lumber for the new theological sem
mary. Crash goes one of the trees
and another and another. But some
thing now happens so wonderful that
the occurrence will tax the credulity
of the ages, so wonderful that many
still think 1t never happened at all.
One of the students, not able to own
an AK, had borrowed one. You must
remember that while the AK of the
olden time was much like our modern
ak, it differed in the fact that instead
of the helye or handle being thrust
into a socket in the iron head the head
of the ak was fastened on the handle
by leathern thong. and so it might
slip the helve. A student of the SEM
mary was swinging his ak against one
OF those trees, and the ak head and the
handle parted. Being near the river
side, the AK head dropped into the
river and sank to the muddy bottom.
Great was the students dismay. II 1t
had been his own AK, it would have
been bad enough, but the ak did not
belong to him. He had no means to
buy another for the kind man who
had loaned 1t to him, but God helps
the helpless. and he generally helps
through some good and sympathetic
soul. and in this case 1t was Elisha,
who was in the woods and on the riv-
er bank at the time. He did not see
the ak head fly off, and so he asked
the student where it dropped. He was
shown the place where 1t went down
into the river. Then Elisha broke off
branch of a tree and threw it into
the water, and the AK head rose from
the depths of the river and floated to
the bank, so that the student had just
to stoop down and take up the re-
stored property. Now you see the
meaning of my text, THE iron did
SWIM"
Suppose a hundred years ago some
one had told people that the time
would come when hundreds of thou
sands of tons of iron would float on
the Atlantic and Pacifc-iron ships
from New York to Southampton. from
London to Calcutta, from San Fran
cisco to Canton. The man making
such prophecy would have been sent
to an asylum or carefully watched as
incompetent to go alone. We have al
in our day seen iron swim. Now. II
man can make hundreds of tons Of
metal float, | am disposed to think
that the Almighty could make an az
head float.
What" says some one. would be
the use of such a miracle?" or vast
of infinite, of eternal Importance
Those students were preparing for the
ministry. They had Joined the theolog
ical seminary to get all its advantages
They needed to have their faitt
strengthened; they needed to be per.
sua led that God can do everything;
they needed to learn that God takes
notice of little things; that there is nc
emergency of life where he is not will
ing to help.
hear from different sources thai
there is great deal OF infidelity IL
some of the theological seminaries O
so-called miracles of the Old and tn,
New Testaments were wrought by nat
ural causes. When those infdels grad
uate from the theological seminar,
and take the pulpits of America a.
expounders of the Holy Scriptures
mil ha 80
gospel for the truth of which the mar
/ tyrs died, Would to God that som,
great revival OF religion might sweel
through all the theological seminariei
of this land, confirming the faith o
the coming expounders of an entir,
Bible!
Furthermore, in that scene OF tn,
text God sanctions borrowing and set
forth the importance Of returning
There are times when We have no
only a right to borrow, but 1t is dut!
to borrow There are times when W,
ought to lend, for Christ in his sermon
on the mount declared, From hin
that would borrow of thee turn no
thou away" II is right that one Dor
row the means of getting an education
as the young student of my text Dor
rowed the AK. 1t is right to borrow
means for the forwarding of CONNER
cial ends.
We borrow time; we will borrow
eternity, and that constant borrowing
implies a return. For what we borrow
from God we must pay back in heart,
thanks and Christian service. in i'm
provement of ourselves and helpful
ness for others. For what we borroy
In the shape of protection from goo
government we must pay back in pa
triotic devotion. For what we borroy
from our parents in their good exam
Pile and their hard work wrought 70