The age-herald., 1902-01-26
Dr. Taln1age's Sermon.

l are times when he have not only right to borrow but 1t Is a duty to borrow There are times when we ought to lend for Christ in his sermon on the mount de- elared, Prom him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" It is right that one borrow the means of getting an : education. the young student of my text. borrowed the ax. It Is right to borrow means for the forwarding of com mercial ends. Most of the vast fortunes that now overshadow the land were matched out of a borrowed dollar.
 If in any assembly 1t were requested that those who had never borrowed hold up their hands, none would be lifted, or if here and there a hand were lifted we would know that 1t was a case of inveracity. Borrowl Why, we are bor- rowing all the time. We borrow from the Lord the sunlight that shows us our way. the water that shakes our thirst, the food that refreshes us three times a day the pillow on which we slumber. We borrow gladness from our friends; we borrow all elevated surroundings. The church borrows all it's beauty from the Christ who founded -it.Jn- our songs and sermons we borrow from the raptures of heaven.
 1 nity and that constant borrowing im- plies a return For what we borrow from 1 God we must pay back in hearty thanks and Christian service. in improvement of 1 ourselves and helpfulness for others. For 1 what we borrow in the shape or protection | from good government we must pay back in patriotic devotion. For what we borrow from our parents in their good example and their hard work wrought for us in | cradle womanhood for all the ages to come we ought to be paying back. The hallelu- iahs of heaven will be returned for cru ciflxion agony.
 Debt a Calamity.
 Haydon the painter said his ruin began the day he began to borrow money, and he wrote in his diary. Here began debt and obligation, out of which have never been an never shall be extricated as long as 1 live" Dr. Johnson said: Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience You will find 1t a calamity" We have right to borrow for the absolute necessities. expecting to pay back again. but we ought never to borrow for the luxuries. According to the Laws of Amasis'' in Egypt if man died without paying that which he had borrowed he was deprived of all obse- quies. If that law were in vogue in our
  funerals,
 Furthermore. let us admire these young men of Elisha's theological seminary for the fact that they were earning their own way The most of those today who are successful in the professions, medi- eating the sick or advocating the law or preaching the gospel, fought their own ! way on the up Those are the kind of men who know what education Is worth and know how to use 1t. Many of us remem- Der that in college days the sons of af- | fluent fathers. with plenty of money to | spend and horses to drive and libraries crowded with books. never read and ward | robes that kept them In perplexity as to which of many garments was appropriate for the weather that day. were worth to ] the world nothing since. while the young l men in college who had to economize l three months in order to get some book l they needed and who could hardly raise money for their diploma have since wrought mighty for God and the truth, 1 turning the world upside down because l it was wrong side up
 l In the summer watering places north, l south east and west. in the great ho- 1 tels serving at table and in baggage room l are theological students who are in pre- | paration for the ministry, earning in July and August the means by which they may study the other months of the year.
 
 They will be the Herschels in the obser- vatories, the Dr. Motts in your medical colleges, the Rufus Choates in your court rooms, the Bishop McIlvaines in your pull pits. Let them not now be ashamed of the ax with which they hew the beam , for Elisha's seminary.
 Superiority of God.
 Those students in the valley of palms by the Jordan had physical strength and hardhood that would help them in their mental and spiritual achievements. We who are toiling for the worlds bet terment need brawn well as brain. strong bodies as well as illumined minds and consecrated 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 early life they were compelled to use ax or blow or fail or hammer while many who were brought up in the luxuries of life give out before the battle Is won. They are keen and sharp of mind. but have no physical endurance. They have the ax head. but no handle. The body Is the handle of the soul.
 Let all those who toll for their educa- tion remember they are especially favor ed and If things go against them and 1 the ax head should fly the helve that very indictment may some time turn out ad- | vantageousy, as the accident by the ] river Jordon, which seemed to finish the young students capacity to help build the l new seminary, resulted in splendid dem- 1 onstration of the power of Elisha's God 1 to help any one who helps himself. No ax that was ever yielded has wrought so we'll as that ax the handle and head of which parted.
 l Notice, also, how God Is superior to every law that he has made even the strongest law of nature, the law of gray itation. The stick that Elisha threw into the Jordon floated, but the ax head sank. 1 By memorable law 1t must go down into l the depths of the Jordon, yet without so much as a touch the hard. heavy metal | sought the surface. There it is. the float l ing aX head. What a rebuke to those who reject miracles on the ground that l they are contrary to nature, as though made the law! Again and again in Bible made the law! Again and again in Bible times was that law revoked! Witness 1 the scene on the banks of the same Jor- dan. where, in after time the ax head sank and rose. Elijah stood there wear ing cape of sheepskin. when there was 1 mighty stir in the air and a flashing equipage descended. Elijah stepped into