The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-01-24
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject God Does the Impossibie-sonns
Wonders OF Divine Power-soperior to
Every Law of Nature which He Hos
Made For Mankind.

logical seminary Having raised Tn,
money, will they send for cedars OF Leb
anon and marble from the quarries wher,
Ahab got the stone for the pillars anC
propose 20 build IL themselves. The,
were rugged boys, who had been brought
up in the country and who had never
been weakened by the luxuries OF city life
All they ask u that Elisha, their professor
and prophet, go along with them 20 the
woods and boss the job. They start foI
the work, Elisha and his students Plenty
OF lumber in those regions along the Jor
dan. The sycamore Ii stout, strong
tree and good for timber. Mr. Gladstone
asked me If ] had seen in Palestine any
sycamore tree more beautiful than the one
we stood under at Hawarden. | told him
/ had not.
The sycamores rear the Jordan are
now attacked by Elisha's students, for
they must have lumber for the new theo-
logical seminary. / suppose some OF the
students made an awkward stroke, and
they were extemporized axcmen. Stand
from under! Crash goes one Of the trees
and and another and another, PIT s2gethln,g
renee win tax the credulity OF the ages 50
wonderful that many still think it never
happened at all. One OF the students, not
able 90 own an axe, had borrowed one.
You must remember that while the axe Of
olden time was much like our modern axe,
IL differed in the fact that instead OF the
helye or handle being thrust into a socket
in the iron head the head of the axe was
fastened on the handle by a leathern
thong, and 40 II might slip the helve. a
student of the seminary was swinging his
axe against one of those trees, and whether
IL was at the moment he made his first
stroke and the chips flew or was after he
had cut the tree from all sides 20 deep
that IL was ready 10 fall we are not told,
but the axe mead and the handle parted.
Being near the riverside, the axe head
dropped into river and sank TO the muddy
bottom. Great was the students dismay.
II 1t had been his own axe, 1t would have
been bad enough, but the axe did not be-
other for the kind man who had loaned n
TO him. but God helps through some good
and sympathetic soul, and in this case IL
was Elisha who was IN the woods and on
the river bank at the time. He did not
see the axe head fly off and so he asked
the student where it dropped. He waI
shown the place where it went down into
the river. Then Elisha broke off a branch
Of tree and threw it into the water, and
the axe head rose from the depths of the
river and hOatcd TO the bank, 80 that tho
student had just TO stoop down and take
up the restored property. Now YOU sec
the meaning of my text, The iron did
swim"
Suppose a hundred years ago some one
had told people the time would como when
hundreds of thousands of tons OF iron
would float on the Atlantic aad Pacific
iron ships from New Yor, 10 Southamp.
ton, from London to Calcutta, from San
Francisco to Canton. The man making
such a prophecy would have been sent 10
an asylum or carefully watched as ncom,
petcnt to 60 alone. We have all in our
day seen iron swim. Now, If man can
make hundreds of tons of metal float, 1
am disposed to think that the Almighty
could make an axe head float.
What says some one. would be the
use of such miracle" OF vast, of inf.
mite, of eternal Importance. Those stu
dents were preparing for the ministry.
They had joined the theological seminary
to get all its advantages. They needed Co
have their faith strengthened; they needed
to he persuaded that God can do every.
thing; they needed 10 learn that God
takes notice of little things; that there ia
no emergency of life where He Is not will.
ing to help.
Standing on the banks Of that Jordan.
those students of that day of the recalled
axe head had their faith rc-cnforns|, and
nothing that they found out in the class
rooms of that learned institution had ever
done more IN the way of fitting them for
their coming profession.
| hear from different sources that there
is a great deal OF infdelity in some of the
theological scminarlcs of our day. They
think that the Garden of Eden Is an ale.
CORY, and that Moses did not write the
Pentateuch. and that the book of job Is
only a drama, and that the book of Jonah
is an unreliable fish story. and that water
was not turned into WINE, although the
bartender now by large dilutlon turns
wine into water. and that most of the SO
called miracles of the Old and the New
Tcstamcnts were wrought by natural
causes. When those inhdels graduate
from the theological seminary and take
{ he pulpits of America rs eXpounders ot
3 he Holy Scriptures, what advocates they
will be of that gospel for the truth ot
which the martyrs died.
Hail the Poycarps and Hugh LatimerH
md john kuoNcs OF the twentieth cen.
mry. believing the Bible y true in spotsl
Would to God that some great revival ot
rcligiou might sweep through all the thCo.
logical semiuares ot this land, confirming
the faith OF the coming cNpouuders OF an
entire Biblcl
Furthermore, in that scene of the text
God sanctions borrowing and sets forth
the Importance ot returning. | do not
thinl, there would have been any miracle
performed It the Young man had owned
the axe that slipped the hclve. The Young
man cried out in the hearing ot the pro.
phet. ALAS, master, for it was borrowed
lie had a right 10 borrow. There are
times when we have not only n right 20
borrow, but IL Is duty t. borrow. There
IRE times when We ought 70 lend. for Christ
in His sermon on the mount declared.
From him that would borrow OF thee turn
not thou away
1t Is right that one borrow the means
of getting an education. aS the young stu
dent Of my text borrowed the exc. lt Is
right 20 borrow means for the forwarding
OF commercial ends. Most of the vast Tor
tunes that now overshadow the land were
hatchcd ont OF a borrowed dollar.
Those students in the valley OF palms
by the Jordan had a physical strength
aud hardihood that would help them IN
their mental and spiritual achievements.
We who are tolling for the worlds better
mcnt need Drawn "a we'll as brain. strong
bodies as well "a illumincd minds and con-
sccratcd souls. Many of those who are
now doing the best work IN church and
state got muscle and power OF endurance
from the fact that IN cary lie they were
compelled to use axe or p,ow or Hail or
hammer. while many who were BROUGHT
up in the luXurics OF htc give out before
the battle l. won. They are keen and
sharp of mind but have no physical en-.
durauce. They have the axe head. bat no
handle. The body Is the handle OF the
soul.
There Christ stood hy His disciples on
the Mount of Olives alter His coming cut
oi the scpulcher. No ladders let down for
His ascension. but His feet hit from the
hill. and lie goes up until the curtain oi
-L--.l Lrn... nd IL. Il. LnA-.ahln l-..u .L