The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-03-25

1
| darkness, and it is 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 60 his labor until
the evening. O Lord, how manifold are
| Thy works. In wisdom hast The made
| all. The earth is full of Thy riches How
| do YOU like that sublime pastoral9
| = Ny subject also reminds MS of the i'm
| ,portance of keeping our chief implement
| for work in good order. / think that young
thcological student on the banks OF Jor-
dan -w'Us-ro pIame for not examining the
axe before he lifted it that day against n
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 to 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 is because we
have dull axe or we do not know how
Alright to swing it. The head is not Alright
on the handle. At the time we want the
most skill for work and perfect eduili-
brium we lose our head. We expend in
useless excitement the nervous energy that
u
straightforward work.
b Your axe may he a pen or n type or n
yardstick or scales or tongue which in
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 it has been sharp
,ened on the grindstone of affection.
T. 10 right through the world and 60
riGEt through all the past ages, and show
me one man or woman who has done any,
Thing for tho world trnrtl, &c
whose axe was not ground on the revolv-
ing wheel of mighty trouble It was not
David, for he was dethroned and bounded
by unilal Absalom. 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.
p Surely It was not Abraham Lincoln
called by every vile name that human
and satanic turpitude could invent and de-
picted 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 impossibilities may
be turned into possibilities. That axe
head was sun<en in the muddiest river
that could be found. The alarmed student
OF Elisha may know where it went down
and may dive for 1t and perhaps fetch it
upr buC can the hunkcu axe nelQ DE lGteQ
without hand thrust deep into the mud
at the bottom of the river? No; that Is
impossible. l admit, so far as human pow
er ls 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 swimV Yes, yes; many a time.
saw a soul hardened until nothing could
make it harder. All styles of sin had
Mi aH fl,.N . ,.bE 20 ~
fine feeling. 1t had been hardening for
thirty years. 1t had gone into the deep
est depths. 1t had been given up as lost
The father had given 1t up The mother
the last to do so, had given it up. But
one day III answer to some prayer u branch
of the disfoliaged tree of Calvary was
thrown into the dark and sullen stream,
and the sunken soul responded to its pow
or and rose into the light, and, to the as
constituent OF the church and the world
dreds of cases like that When the dying
bandit on the cross beside Christ was con.
verted. When Jerry McAuley, a ruftian
graduate OF Sing Sing prison, was changed
lnto great evangelist, so useful IN recla
nation of wandering men and women that
the merchant princes of New York estaR
lished for him the Water street and Gre
morne missions and mourned at his burial
amid the lamentations of a city. When
Newton, the disappearing sailor, under the
and became one of the mi0htiest preachers
of the gospel that England ever saw.
I When John Bunyan, whose curses
shocked even the profane of the fish mar.
ket, was so changed in heart and life that
ne could write that wonderful dream, "The
Pilgrims Progress" in such n way that un.
counted thousands have found through it
the road from the Getty OF destruction" tc
the celestial city" In all these cases /
think iron was made 60 swim. ! worship
the God who can do the impossible
! You have a hayward boy. Only God
knows how you have cried over him. You
have tried everything for his reformation.
Where IS he now-in this city, in this
country, OF has he crossed the sea? oh"
you say, Il do not know where he Is. lie
went away IN the sulks and did not say
where be was going" You have about
made up your mind that you will 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 to persuade him to do bet.
ter, How different was the feeling Of that
hard fist against your face from his little
hand in infancy patting your check
Father! Mother! That Is an impossible
that I would like to see God take hold OF
the conversion OF that boy, for he Will
never be anything but a boy to you
though you should live to see him fifty
years Of age. Did YOU say his heart ii
NhFQs HOW ndluf IdTu AZ stone. C3.
YOU say harder than that Hard az
iron" But here is God who can lift
the soul that has been deepest down
Here is a GGd who can raise a soul out
of the blaclest depths OF sin and wretch.
edness.- Here is a God who can make iron
swim .fthe God of Elisha. the God of the
young student that stood i'm dismay on the
banks OF the Jordan at the time of the lot
axe head Lay hold of the Lord in a pray,
er that viii take no denial.
<Alas, there arc Impossihie5 before thou.
sands OF pcOplc-colicd TO do work that 10
is impossible for them TO do called to bear
burdens that It Is impossible for them &c
bear, called to endure suffering that 10 i,
impossible for them to endure Read al
the gospel promises, rally all your faith
and. while YOU viii always be called to
wor5hip the God OF hone, to-day. with AZ
the cOncentcred energies Of my soul i inn.
plorc YOU TO bow down aud Worship tho
God who can turn the imposHbles into
the posHbes. II was no trivial purpose
but for grand and glorious uses / have
spoken 90 you to-day of the borrowed. tho
lost and the restored axe head
tCopyriaht. 1909. L. Kiopsch.I