The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-21

WHICH mas seldom attracted particular
attention: text. ii Kings vi, q, The
iron did swim"
A theological seminary in the valley
or 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 be enlarged or an en-
tirely new building constructed. What
will they do? Will they send up to
Jerusalem and solicit contributions for
his undertaking.? Will they SEND out
agents 10 raise the money for u new
theological seminary? Having raised
the money. will they send for cedars
or 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 il them
selves. They 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
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 sycamore is q
stout, strong tree and good for timber.
Mr.. Gladstone asked Inc if l had seen
in Palestine any sycamore tree more
beautiful than the one we stood under
at HawardCn. | told him | had not.
The sycamOres near the Jordan are
now attacked by Elisha's students. for
they must have lumber for the new
theological seminary. | suppose some
of the students made an awkward
stroke. and they were eXtemporized
aXmen. Stand from under! Crash
gees one of the trees and another and
another. But something now happens
so wonderful that the occurrence will
tax the credulity of the ages. so Won
derful that many still think it never
happened at all. One of the students.
not able TO own an AK, had borrowed
one. You must remember that while
the TX of olden time was much like our
modern AK, it differed in the fact that
instead of the helve or handle being
thrust into q socket in the iron head
the head of the AK was fastened on the
handle by q leathern thong. and so it
might slip the helve. A student of the
seminary was swinging his Ak against
one of those trees. and whether it was
at the moment he made his first stroke
II the chips few or was after he had
cut the tree from all sides so deep that
it was ready to fall we are not told.
but the AK head and the handle parted.
Being near the riverside. the Ak head
dropped into the river and sank to the
muddy bottom. Great was the stu
dents dismay. If it had been his own
Ak, it would have been bad enough, but
the Ak did not belong to him. He had
no mean to buy another for the kind
man who had loaned it to him. but
God helps the helpless. and he gener-
ally helps through some good and SYM
pathetic soul. and in this case it was
Elisha. who was in the woods and on
| the river bank at the time. He did not
see the Ak head fly of. and so he asked
the student where it dropped. He was
/ shown the place where il went down
into the river. Then Elisha broke off
q branch of a tree INT 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 restored
property. Now you see the meaning Of
my text, 1.-The iron did swim"
The Iron Did Swim.
Suppose n hundred years ago some
one had told people that the time
would come when hundreds Of thou
sands Of tons of iron would float OF
the Atlantic and Pacific iron ships
from New York to Southampton. from
London to Calcutta. from San Francis
: co to Canton. The man making such
a prophecy would have been sent to
an asylum or carefully watched as in
competent to 60 alone. We have oil
I'm our day seen iron swim. Now, IL
' man can make hundreds OF tons OF
metal float. | am disposed to hin
thai the Almighty could make an ak
head float.
What" says some one. would be
the use Of such a miracle?" OF vast.
Of infinite. of eternal importance. Those
students were preparing for the min
istry. They had joined the theological
seminary to get all it's advantages.
They needed to have their faith
strengthened; they needed to be per-
suaded that God can do everything;
they needed to learn that God takes
notice of little things: that there is 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 ak head had their faith
REINFORCED, and nothing that they had
found ort in the classroomS of that
learned institution had ever done more
in the way Of fitting them for their
coming profession.
l hear from different sources that
there is q great deal Of infde!ity in
some of the theological seminaries OF
our day. They think that the garden
of Eden is an ~allegory. and that Moses
did NOT urito tho ppntofeuph and that