The Iola register., 1902-01-24

those words of the Bible, winch 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 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 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 to his labor until
the evening. o Lord, how manifold
are thy worl<sl In wisdom has thou
made them all. The earth is full OF
thy riches" How do you like that
sublime pastoralP
Ny subject also reminds us of the
Importance of keeping our chief inn
plement for work in good order.
think that young theological student
on the banks of Jordan was to blame
for not examining the AK before he
| lifted il that day against tree. He
could i'm moment have found out
whether the halve and the head were
| firmly fastened. The simple fact was
| the az was not in good order or the
strongest stroke that sent the edge
| into the hard sycamore would not
have left the implement hcodiess. So
! God has given every one Of MS an aX
with which to heW. Let us keep it
in rood order. having been sharpcned
bv Bible study and strengthened by
prayer The reason we sometimes
fail in our work is because we have
a duh AK or we do not know how
aripht to swing IL. The head is not
Alright on the handle. At the time
we want the most skill for work and
perfect equilibrium we lose our head.
We eNpcnd in useless excitement the
nervous energy that we ought to have
employed in direct, straightforward
work. Your ak may be a pen or a
type or yardstick or scales or a
tongue which in legislative hall or
business circles or Sabbath class or
pulpit is to speak for God and right
eousness, but the AK will not be
worth much until it has been sharp
ened on the grindstone of aiiliction.
Go right 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
BILE. 1t was not David, for he was de
throned and bounded by unfilial Alb
salon. Surely it was not Paul, for h'
b was shipwrecked and whipped WIFI
30 stripes from rods Of elm wood OF
, his way to beheadment Surely it wa'
not Abraham Lincoln, called by ever,
p vile name that human and satanic
e turpitude could invent and depicted by
cartoonists with more meanness thar
r any other man ever suffered, on tn,
, way to meet bullet crashing through
, his temples.
But | have come to the foot of tn
$ Alps, which we must climb before W
e can see the wide reach of my subject
d See in all this theme how the impossi
= biities may be turned into possibili
e ties That AK head was sunken in tn
I muddiest river that could be founC
V The alarmed student of Elisha ma
i know where it went down and ma
!. dive for ii and perhaps fetch ii up, bu
= can the sunken AK head be lifted witt
! out a hand thrust deep into the mud a
r the bottom Of the river? No; that
n impossible l admit, so far as huma
e power is concerned it is impossible
v but with God all things are possible
After the tree branch was thrown upo
= the surface of Jordan "the iron di
= swim"
o You have wayward boy. Only &c
d knows how you have cried over hir
It You have tried everything for his re
D ormation. Where is he now-in tn
r. city, in this country, or has he crosse
Ie the sea? "Oh," you say, 81 do NJ
"A know where he is He went away
a the sulks and did not say where
,r was going" You have about made l
20 your mind that you will never he'
,r from him again. Pretty hard pay
- gives you for all your kindness al
n the nights you sat up with him WHIT
he was sick. Perhaps he struck "
~ one day when you were trying TO pc
- suade him to do better. How ditfere
- was the feeling of that hard fl
w against your face from his little han
,"' in infancy patting your cheek! +
u. ther! Mother! That is an impossih
=" that l would like to see God take no
Vi of, the conversion of that boy, for
as will never be anything but boy
NJ you, though you should live to see hi
" so years of age. Did you say f
Sc heart is hard? How hard? Hard
nd stone? "Yes," you say; "harder TIL
as that. Hard as iron" But here is
an God who can lift the soul that h
IN been deepest down. Here is G
NV who can raise soul out of the blaC
ne est depths of sin and wretchedne
in Here is a God who can make ir
nd swim, the God of Elisha, the God
! hat pfn in, Il