If the axe had been let alone, it might have been at the bottom of the
river now. The man who felt its loss called on a higher power than his
own. He told his sorrow to one who had sympathy for him. Do we cry unto
God about those who have sunk out of our reach? The lapsed masses, as we
call them, were not all born so. Many of them have been Sunday scholars,
and some of them church members. How do we feel about them? Does the
thought of their degradation ever bring an "alas!" from our hearts?
Elisha's God is nearer to us than the prophet was to the man who lost the
axe. "Call on Him WHILE He is near."
"The iron did swim." How was it done?