Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1902-01-24
1.-THE IRON DID SWIM"
Rev. DR.. Talmagc Tells of Some of
The Wonders Of Divine
Power.
Superior 10 Every Law Of Nature Which He
Has Made for Mankind.

Has Made for Mankind
WASHINGTON, -. C.-In this DISCOURSE
DIR. Talmage makes practical use of an oc-'
currcncc IN the Orient which has seldom!
attracted particular attention; text, II
Kings vi, 6, "Thc iron did swim"
A theological seminary in the valley of
palms near the River Jordan, had become.
go popular in the time of Elisha, the pro-
phet, that more accommodations we're
needed for the students. The classrooms
and the dormitories must be enlarged or.
an entirely new building constructed
What will they do? VIII they send up to,
Jerusalem and solicit contributions for
this undertaking? viii they send out.
agents to raise the money. for new theo-
money, will they send for cedars of Leb-.
anon and marble from the quarries where
Ahab got the stone for the pillars and
walls Of his palace? No; the students
propose to build it themselves. They
were rugged boys, who had been brought
up in the country and who had never
been weakened by the Injuries 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 Jor-.
dan. The sycamore IS a stout, strong
tree and good for timber Mr.. Gladstone
asked me if I had seen in Palestine any
sycamore tree mere beautiful than the one
we stood under at Hawarden. l told him
l had not ~..
The sycamores near 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 extenporized axemen.. Stand.
from under! Crash goes one OF the trees
and another and another. But something
now happens SO wonderful that. the occur
renee win tax the credulity of the ages, 60
wonderful that many still think it never
happened at all. One Of the students, not
able to own an axe, had borrowed one.
You must remember that while the axe of
folden time was much like our modern axe,
it differed in the fact that instead of the
helve or handle being thrust into socket
in the iron head the head Of the axe was
fastened on the handle by leathern
thong and so it might slip the helve. n
student of the seminary was swinging his
axe against one Of those trees, and whether
it was at the moment he made his first
stroke and 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 axe head and the handle parted.
Being near the riverside, the axe head
dropped into river and sank to the muddy
bottom. Great was the students dlsmay.
IF it had been his own axe, 1t would have
been bad enough, but the axe did not be-
long to him. He had no means to buy an
other for the kind man who had loaned !!
to him, but God helps through some good
and sympathetic soul, and in this case 1t
was Elisha who was in the woods and on
tie river bank at the time. lie, did not
see the axe head fly of, and so he asked
the student where it dropped. lie was
shown The place where it Went down INTO
the river Then Elisha broke off branch
: Of a tree and threw it into the water. and
the axe head rose from the depths Of the
river and foated to the bank, so that tbs
student had Just to stoop down and take
up the restored property. Now you see
the meaning OF my text, The iron did
swim"
! Suppose a hundred years ago some one
had told people the time would come when
hundreds of thousands of tons or iron
would float on the Atlantic and Pacific
iron ships from New York to Southamp'
ton. from London to Calcutta, from San
Francisco to Canton. The man making
such a prophecy would have, been sent to
an asylum or carefully watched as incom'
petent to 90 alone. We have all IN our
.day seen iron swim. Now, if man can
make hundreds OF tons of metal hoat, l
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 NH
mite, OF eternal Importance. Those. stu
dents were preparing Tor the. ministry.
They had joined the theological seminary
to get all its advantages They needed, to
have their faith strengthened; they needed
to be persuaded that God can do every,
thing; they needed to learn that God
takes notice OF little things; that there -
no emergency Of lifc where lie 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 REINFORCED, and
nothing that they found ont in the class
rooms Of that learned institution bad ever
done mere in the way OF fitting them tor
their coming profession.
! her from different sources that there
is a great deal OF iDfidelity in some OF the
theoloeical seminaries Of CIR day. They
think that the Garden OF Eden IS al ale
cory. and that Moses did not write the
Peataterch, and that the book Of JOB IS
ONLY drama. and that the book OF Jonah
is an unreliable fish story, and that water
was not turned into wine, although the
bartender row by large dilution turns
wire into water and that most OF the So
called miracles of the Old and the New
Testaments were wrought by natural
causes. When those infdels graduate
from the theological seminary and take
the pulpits OF America as eXpounders o.
the Holv Scriptures, what advocates they
will be Of that gospel for the truth OF
which the martyrs died.
Hail the Poycarps and Hugh Latimers
and John Knoyes Of the twentieth cen,
tirv. believing the Bible is true III spots
Would TO Cod that some great revival OF
religion might sweep through all the thco'
logical semirayies OF this land, confirming
the faith of tie coming eXpounders OF an
entire Bible!
Furthermore, in that scene Of the text
God sanctions borrowing and sets forth
the Importance of returning. | do not
| think there would have been any miracle
performed il the young man had owned
| The axe that slipped the helve. The young
man cried out il The hearing OF the pro.
phet. "A,as, master, for it was borrowed"
| He had a right to borrow. There are
times when We have not only right to
! borrow, but il is duty to borrow. There
| are times when we ought to lend, for Christ
| in His sermon on the mount declared,
'From him that would borrow OF thee turn
not thou away"
It is right that one borrow the means
Of getting an education, as the young stu
dent of my text borrowed the axe. 1t is
| ,inht to harrow means for the forwarding
! of commercial ends. Most Of the vast for
| tunes that now ovcrshadow the land were
Matched out Of a borrowed dollar. -