Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-01-23

palms by the Jordan had a physical
strength and hardhood that would
help them in their mental and spirit
ual achievements. We who are toiling
I Ior The worlds betterment need Drawn
as we'll az brain, strong bodies as well
as illumined minds and consecrated
souls.
Let all those who toll for their edu-
cation remember they are especially
favored, and II things go against them
and the AK head should fly the helve
that very Underwent may some time
turn out advantageously, as the acct
dent by the river Jordan, which SEEM
ed 20 finish the young students capac-
ity to help build the new seminary,
resulted in a splendid demonstration
or the power of Elishas God to help
any one who helps himself No ak that
was ever welded has wrought so well
as that ak, the handle and head of
which parted
Notice. also, how God is superior to
every law that he has made, even the
strongest law of nature. the law of
graVltation. what rebuke to those
who reject miracles on the ground that
they are contrary to nature, as though
the law were stronger than the God
who made the law, Again and again
In Bible times was that law revoked.
There Christ stood by his disciples
on the Mount of Olives after his COM
ing out of the sepulcher. No ladders
let down for his ascension, but his feet
lift from the hill, and he goes up until
the curtain of cloud drops. and he is
invisible. Law of gravitstion again
embarrassed. Enoch. Methuselah's
father, escaping death, went up bodily
and will have no need of resurrection.
So viii all the good who shall be still
alive at the end of the world. They
will not need wings. Every one of the
millions of our planet who loved and
served the Lord. il then alive, will "be
caught up" as the Bible says, body as
well as soul. the law of gravitation
paralyzed. God mightier than any law
he ever created. Oh, like the mir
acles because they show God independ-
ent of everything
Notice also the divine power In the
| backwoods. Wonderful things were
| done at the cities Of Jericho and Jeru-
salem and Babylon and Nineveh, and
| the great cities Of our time have seen
the divine power. but this miracle of
my text was in the backwoods, far
away from the city, in the lumber dis
| tricts, where the students had gone to
cut timber for the new theological
seminary. And IL this sermon shall
come. as it will come, like my other
| sermons for the last thirty years. with
out missing week, let me say to
those far away from the house of God
and in the mountain districts that my
text shows the divine power in the
backwoods. The Lord by every stream
| as he certainly was by tho Jordan, on
every mountain as surely as he was on
Mount Zion, on every lake as on tt
berias, py every rock as by the one
whose gushing waters slaked the thirst
of the marching Israelites.
| Do not feel lonely because your near
| est neighbor may be miles away, be-
cause the width OF the continent may
separate you from the place where
your cradle was rocked and your faith
er's grave was dug. Take your Bible
will permit. and after you have lis
tened 10 the solo of bird in the tree
tops or the long meter psalm of the
| thunder, read those words of the Bible,
which 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
refuge for the wild goats and the
rocks for the comics. Thou makest
darkness. and Ii 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 to-
gether 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 works! In
wisdom hast thou made them all. The
earth is full of thy riches" How do
you like that sublime pastoral?
My subject also reminds us Of the
Importance OF keeping our chief i'm
.plement for work in good order. l
think that young theological student
on the banks of Jordan was to blame
for not examining the ak before he
lifted 1t that day against tree. He
could in a moment have found out
whether the helve and the head were
firmly fastened. The simple fact was
the ak was not in good order or the
strongest stroke that sent the edge
into the hard sycamore would not
have left the implement headless. So
God has given every one of us an ak
with which to hew. Let us keep 1t in
good order, having been sharpened by
Bible study and strengthened by
prayer.
Your ak may be pen or type
or yardstick or scales or tongue
which in legislative hall or business
circles or Sabbath class or pulpit is to
speak for God and righteousness, but
the AK will not be worth much until
it has been sharpened on the grind
stone of affection.
But have come to the foot of the
Alps. which we must climb before we
can see the wide reach OF my subject.
See in all this theme how the impossi-
bilities may be turned into possibili-
ties. That ak head was sunkcn in the
muddiest river that could be found.
The alarmed student of Elisha may
know where it went down and may
dive for 1t, and perhaps fetch it up.
but can the sunken ak head be lifted