down a stick, and cast it in where the axe had sunk, "and the iron did swim." *

In the perfect conviction of the truthfulness of his narrative, the writer makes no attempt to disguise, or to explain, the miraculous nature of the event. There is in these few words, "the iron did swim," a world of argument, in this respect, that the writer did not deceive himself as to the fact that the laws of nature seemed here infringed, and that yet he believed the event to have actually taken place, as here related. How "the iron did swim" is not told, nor do we understand it; nor perhaps would we have understood it, even if it had been told. For, perhaps in this seeming disordering of the order of nature, there may have been a higher order, as yet unknown to us; beneath this apparent disturbance of laws, the operation of a higher law. We simply do not know the circumstances under which this sudden up-flowing of water took place, in consequence of which the iron came to the surface. But the question as to our belief of the fact itself cannot be discussed separately from that of our belief of the Scriptures as a whole. If, on rational and sufficient grounds, we believe the truth of the Scriptures, we shall, of course, believe the reality of this event. This, however, may be safely said, that in answering the question whether this event took place, we have nothing to do with that other question, how it took place. We

*Here again our Authorised Version is substantially, though not literally, correct. The word rendered "to swim occurs only in two other passages of the original: in Lam. iii. 54, "Waters flowed over mine head," and in Deut. xi. 4, "He made the water of the Red Sea to overflow" their horses and chariots. The parallel, both in the miracle and in the wording, seems to lie in this latter passage. The quality of the iron was not permanently changed, but He miraculously caused it to "flow up," or by sudden agency in the water beneath to come to the surface.

believe many things, of which we neither know nor can explain the "how." The "how" of many of the commonest events and processes is as much beyond our ken, as how "the iron did swim." How our bodies grow, how food is turned into nourishment, and nourishment portioned off into the various constituent elements of the body-how these, and a thousand other processes, which daily and hourly pass under our sight, are carried on, is quite as much a mystery as how "the iron did swim." That we observe them so constantly does not help us to understand their how, any more than hearing every day an unknown tongue would make us understand it. Yet we believe these events, and on good grounds. And there is the most abundant evidence for the truth of the Scriptures; so that we believe what they record, even while, confessedly, we may not always understand how these events took place.

ness.

Yet, in a certain sense, we possess a test of their truthfulWe may almost bring them to the test of experience. We believe that, in answer to simple, trustful prayer in the Name of Jesus, all difficulties can be overcome, and will disappear; we believe that all things will be overruled for good, contrary to what might seem the ordinary course of nature, as contrary to it, and as unlikely of occurrence, as that "the iron did swim." And so firmly do we believe this, and so truly is this belief grounded on the words of our Saviour, that we are willing to stake our belief in the Scriptures and in Christianity itself on the result of applying this test of experience, that men make trial of it, and go to God through Christ in the Scriptural manner-but without prescribing how "the iron is to swim." Would that we could persuade men to make the experiment, and they would see such things, and greater things than these, because Jesus is gone to His Father!

The poor we have always with us, and to them there may be some special lessons of hope and trust in the story of the restored axe. That the Hand of God supplies daily wants, that He succours in the humblest labour, and gives relief in pressing difficulties, is indeed most precious, alike for rich and poor. For before Him, and in deepest reality, we are all poor; we all need Him; we all live upon Him. It is simplest truth, though clad in most gorgeous imagery, “The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." But to receive directly from the Hand of the Lord the axe with which to cut down the trees of the field-to recognise God, and to have Him with us in our daily work, to receive from Him the instruments even of humblest labour, is to have that labour sanctified and glorified, and in anticipation already to experience how the curse of labour's sweat is wiped away from the brow of His ransomed children.

"Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and com. passed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."— 2 KINGS vi. 8-16.

POLITICS and religion-what have they in common? This fundamental principle: "The Lord reigneth." With this conviction we look at passing events, not as uninterested, far less as dismayed, spectators. The saying of a German divine, that next to the Bible, a Christian cannot find more edification than in the newspapers, may seem paradoxical. Yet a deep truth underlies it. If the progress of human affairs were merely a struggle of forces, evenly or unevenly balanced; if it depended on the cunning or craft of men who shall prevail, or what shall obtain, we might give way to anxious thoughts. But it is not so. Through the tangled web of human affairs runs one great design. The government is

upon His shoulder, Who sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father. It is indeed true, that trial awaits every child of God, and a conflict sharper than any yet waged, the Church as a whole. As soldiers of the Lord Jesus, we are prepared, and look for the day of battle, not boastfully, but confidently and calmly. We know that the result will not only be victory, but a far brighter and happier morrow, without divisions and heartburnings, and without watchful enemies around; not a lonely morrow, but one in the sunlight of His Presence.

We take an interest in everything: in politics, in science, in art, in society, in life. We would not, even if we could, put an arrest upon anything. These are all streams, tributary to the great River of Life. These must all contribute to the Redeemer's Kingdom. Every progress is really progression towards that perfection, though at the time it may seem otherwise. Every truth is another treasure gained, every achievement another voice raised, every progress another advance made; and each treasure must be laid at His feet, each voice proclaim Him Lord, every advance bring us nearer to the end. We are not jealous of the discoveries of science; we hail them, though we may mourn the aberrations of some of those who make them, and who, while enriching their kind, themselves remain poor in the toil. We are not distrustful of art, though we may deplore its misapplication. We are not

afraid of progress, of the spread of thought, of knowledge, or of free inquiry, though we would fain save those who are trampled down by the crowd in the onward movement. We are not afraid; "our craft" is not in danger, our Church is not in danger, our truth is not in danger, our heaven is not in danger, our God is not in danger, and therefore our faith is not in danger. From every seeming evil, as from a root deep buried in the ground, springs high and lasting good;