The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-10-24
THE STRONG SWIMMER.
Sermon by Rev. II. Dewitt Tai
mage at Seattle, w. Tt.
Christ and His Power to Save Sinners IL
Illustrated by the Feats of Daring and
Humanity Practised by the
s'Strong Swimmer"

tie, w. T., Rev. /. Dewitt TaImage took
for his subject the "Strong Swimmer"
His text was:
He shall spread forth His hands in the midst
OF them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
his hands to swim.-Isaiah XIV, II.
At this season of the year multitudes Of
people wade into the ponds, and lakes,
and rivers and seas. At first putting out
cautiously from the shore, but having
learned the right stroke of arm and foot,
they let the waters roll over them, and in
wild glee dive, or float, or swim. So the
text viii be very suggestive:
He shall spread forth His hands in the midst
Of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
his hands to swim.
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
hooks. You stand all day on the bank of
river in the broiling sun and fling out
your line and catch nothing, while the ex-
pert angler breaks through the Jungle
and goes by the shadow of the solitary
rock and in a place where no fisherman
has been for ten years, throws out his
line and comes home at night, his face
shining and his basket full. do not
know why we ministers Of the Gospel need
always be fishing IN the same stream and
preaching from tho same text that other
people preach from. l can not under
stand the policy of the minister
who. in Blackfrisrs, London, En-
gland, every week for thirty years
preached from the Epistlc to the He
brews. 1t Is an exhilaration to me when
/ come across a theme which feel no
one else has treated, and my text is one
OF that kind. There are paths in G ODDS
word that are well beaten by Christian
feet. When men want to quote Script
ure, they quote the old passages that
every one has heard. When they want
chapter read, they read a chapter that all
the other people have been reading, so
that the Church to- day is ignorant of
three-fourths of the Bible. You go into
the Louvre at Paris. You confne your
self to one corridor of that opulent gall
lery ct paintings. AS you come out your
friend says to you:
did you see that Rembrandt"
tsNo.u
ibid you see that Rubens?"
ssNo.u
did you see that Titian7"
stNo."
s'Did you see that Raphael?"
s'No.D
WELL" says your friend, ''then you
didn't see the Louvre"
Now, my friends, / think we are too
much apt to confine ourselves to one of
the great corridors of this Scripture
truth. and so much so that there is not
one person out of million who has ever
noticed the all-suggestive and powe rful
picture in the words of my text.
This text represents God as strong
swimmer, striking out to push down in
EQUITY and save the souls of men.
He shall spread forth His hands in the midst
Of them. as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
his hands to swim.
The figure is bold and many sided.
Most Of you know how to swim. Some
of you learned in the city school, where
this art is taught; some of you in boy
hood, in the river near your fathers
house; some of you since you came to
manhood or womanhood while summer
ing on the beach of the sea. You step
down in the waves, you throw your head
back. you bring your elbows to the
chest, you put the palms Of your hands
downward and the soles of your feet
outward, and you push through the water
as though you had been born aquatic. 1t
Is great thing to know how to swim,
AOf oAA&g Al 9Ou5C4lg Dub ONCduS6 yOu VIII
after awhile, perhaps, have to help to
save others.
do not know any thing more stirring
or sublime than to see some man like Nor
man Mckenzie leaping from the ship
Madras into the sea to save Charles Tur-
ner, who had dropped from the royal
yard while trying to loosen the sail,
bringing him back to the deck amid the
huzzas of the passengers and crew. If a
man has not enthusiasm enough to cheer
in such circumstances he deserves him.
self TO drop into the sea and have no one
help him. The Royal Humane Society of
England was established in 1774; its OBJ
ject to applaud and reward those who
should pluck up life from the deep. ANY
one who has performed such a deed of
daring has oil the particulars of that
bravery recorded in public record, and
on his breast medal done in blue and
gold and bronze, anchor and monogram
and inscription, telling to future genera
lions the bravery of the man or woman
who saved some one from drowning.
But my friends, if it is such a worthy
thing to save body from the deep, ask
you II 1t is not a worthier thing to save
an immortal soul? And you shall see this
1OAk eAO Sun VI SOu SL6p IOfEl Tor THIS
achievement.
He shall spread forth His hand in the midst
OF them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
his hands TO swim.
In order to understand the full force
of this figure, you need TO realize, first of
all. that our race is in sinking condi-
fion. You sometimes bear people talk
ing of what they con slider the Is-ost beau
tiful words in our language. One man
says it is home" another man says it is
the word mother" another says it is
the word Jesus" but will tell you the
bitterest word in all our language, the
word most angry and baleful, the word
saturated with the most trouble, the
word that accounts for all the loathsome-
ness, and the pang, and the outrage, and
The narrowing, and that word is ''sin.n
You spell it with three letters, and vet
those three letters describe the circum-
ference and pierce the diameter of every
thing bad in the universe. SinI it is a
sibilant word. You can not pronounce it
without giving the siss of the fame or
the hiss of the serpent. Sinl And then
If you add three letters to that word it
describes every one of us by nature
sinner. We have outraged the law of
God, not occasionally, or now and then.
but perpetually. The Bible declares it.
Harkl It thunders two claps: "The heart
is deceitful above all things and desper-