THE LOST AXE-HEAD
‘And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.’
There are two conditions of real personal power in the world. One is the power of insight, and it is that which redeems life from being regarded as commonplace. Everything is tinged with heavenliness for those who see heaven’s light above all, and the possession of this power gives that dignity of conception to life which is one of the secrets of power. The other condition is the strength of personal assertiveness, the power of personal action. These two gifts Elisha possessed.
But there is a third qualification still which is needed, in order that these two powers may be brought into contact with life. Great men are men who are in touch with their own age. A man may have insight and energy of character; but if he have no power of adjusting his capacities in language understood of the men amongst whom he lives, all that power will be thrown away. The scene before us explains that Elisha was largely possessed of this gift. He identifies himself with the men of progress; he allies himself to their individual life. He allows the freest scope of individual activity, but yet preserves them in the great unification of their work.
I. It is not the cry of the Jewish Church only, it is the cry of all ages, ‘The place is too strait.’ The history of the Church of Christ is the history of a thousand regrets. The spirit of prejudice surrounds every aspect with which we regard life and Church movement. It is difficult for a man bred in one communion to believe in the types of saintship which have become the favourites of another.
II. Whenever a new doctrine or a new truth has come up in the history of the Church, it has been held in the first instance by men who lived by it and tied their own lives to it.—Truth is not a thing of the intellect only; it descends into our moral nature; it grafts upon our affections and conscience. The natural history of a doctrine is this: when men are taking it rightly, using it as for God, rightly handling it, it is a power in their hands. Taken up for the purpose of evading the claims of God which other truths may be making upon their minds, it becomes evacuated of its power; it is impotent, it is buried underneath the stream of constantly changing time. When men believed in the inspiration of God and the Bible, it was a power to them; but when this dropped down into a belief that every jot and tittle was part and parcel of God’s inspiration, then they merely crystallised into a dogma what was a great and living truth.
III. You are surrounded by workers.—Your mind is often disturbed among the many cries and many sounds; but believe it, each of you has his own beam, and God can put into your hand the weapon which you are to use in hewing it down. Go forward, and be not afraid.
—Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter.
Illustration
‘When the episode happens, which often does happen in the story of great movements—when one man’s heart is smitten through with despondency, when the work is still before him, but the power of carrying on the work has dropped from his hand, slipping into the stream which is ever ready to drown our best endeavours, Elisha stands beside a man in despondency, cheers his spirit, which is overwhelmed by hopelessness, and restores to him hope, capacity, and power. This is a man who is, in a great sense, a true prophet of this day, not simply posing for personal admiration, not merely asserting himself and destroying the capabilities of those about him, but with that sweet flexibility and that wondrous firmness combined, which is capable of giving movement to the young life about him, and at the same time drawing them into the one great purpose of existence. And thus it seems to me that the scene spreads beyond its own age. It is a type of all great movements, and it gives us a fitting attitude of those who would direct and control such movements.’