Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-19

! come. Would that now the dove of
God 5 eonvicting, converting and saw
ing spirit might flash from the thron Q
upon your soul, and that you. taking
hold of its potent wing, might live and
live forever.
LAY HOLD OF THIS STRONG SWIMMER.
l want to persuade you to lay hold of
this strong swimmer mo, f'sSoti say,
cit is always disastrous for a drowning
man TO lay hold of a swimmer - There
is not river or lake but has a calamity
resultant from the fact that when a
strong swimmer went out to save sink
ing man, the drowning man clutche d
him, threw his arms around him, pin =
Toned his arms, and they both went down
together. When you are saving a man in
the water You do not want to come up by
his face; you want TO come up by his
back. You do not want him to take hold
OF you while you take hold of him. But,
blessed be God, Jesus Christ is so strong
a swimmer He comes not TO our back but
to our face, and He asks Hs to throw
around Him the arms of our lOye, and
then promises to take us to the beach and
II will do it. Do not trust that plank of
good works. Do not trust that shivered
spar of your own Righteousness. Christ
only can give you transportation. Turn
your faF6 upon Him, as the dying martyr
did in olden days when he cried out:
''Noue but Christ! None but Christie
Jesus has taken millions to. the land and
He is willing to take you there. Oh,
what hardness to shove Him back when
He has been swimming all the way from
the throne of God to where you are now,
and is ready to swim all the way back
again, taking your redeemed spirit. l
have sometimes thought what a spectacle
the ocean bed will present when in the
last day the water is ali drawn off.
1t will be q line OF wrecks from
beach to beach. There is where
the haTpooners went down. There is
where the line of battle ships went down.
There Is where the merchantmen went
down. there the steamers went down,
long line Of wrecks from beach
to beach. What spectacle in
the last day when the water is drawn off!
But oh, how much more solemn if we had
an eye TO see the spiritual wrecks and
the places where they foundered. You
would find thousands along our roads and
streets. Christ came down in their aw-
full catastrophe, putting out for their
soul, ''Spreading forth His hands as
swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to
SWIM but they thrust Him in the
sore heart, and they smote His fair
cheek, and the storm and darkness
swallowed them up. [ ask you to lay
hold Of this Christ and lay hold OF Him
now. You will sink without Him. From
horizon TO horizon not one sail i'll sight.
Only one strong swimmer, with head
flung back and arms outspread. l hear
Il great many in the audience saying:
"Well, l would like to be Christian. 1
am going to work to become Christian. y
My brother, you begin wrong. When a
man is drowning. and strong swimmer
comes out to help him, he says to the
man: ''Now be quiet. Put your arm on
my arm or on my shoulder,
but don't struggle, don It try to
ashore. The more you struggle and
the more you try to help yourself. the
more you impede me. Now be quietand |
IN take you ashore. - When Christ, |
the strong swimmer, comes out to save |
soul, the sinner says: ''That' right. l |
am glad to see Christ, and | am going to |
help Him in the work of my redemption. |
am going to pray more, and that will |
help Him; and 1 am going to weep eX- |
travagantlv over my sins, and that will |
help Him. - No, my brother, it will |
not. Stop your doing. Christ will do |
all or none. You cannot lift an ounce,
you cannot move an inch i'll this matter
of your redemption.
This is the difficulty which keeps !
thousands Of souls out of the Kingdom o!
heaven. It is because they cannot con-
sent to let Jesus Christ begin and COM
plete the work of their redemption.
% Why, - you say, "'then is there moth
ing for me to do?'' Only one thing
have you to do, and that is to lay hold
of Christ and let Him achieve your sal
walton and achieve it all. I do not
know whether I make the matter plain
or not. [ simply want to show you that
a man cannot save himself, but that The
Almighty Son of God can do it, and will
do it, if you ask Him. o, fling your
two arms, the arms of your trust and
love, around this omnipOtent swimmer
Of the cross.
Saved Saved
That is a thrilling time when some one
swanped in the surf is brought ashore
and being resuscitated. How the people
watch for the moment when he begins to
breathe again, and when at last he takes
one full inhalation, and opens his eyes
upon the by-stauders, a shout of joy
rings up and down the beach. There is
JOY because a life has been saved. o,
We who have been swamped in the seas of
Would that this might be the hour when
you begin to live The Lord Jesus Christ
steps down, he gets on His knee,
He puts His lip to your lip, and would
breathe pardon and life and heaven into
your Fmmortal soul. Coo grant that this i
hour there may be thousands of souls rs-'
suseitated. I stapd on the deck ofthe
old gospel ship amid tcerowd Of passep-
gers, ri Of them hoping thatpthe last
mapo7erboard may becsaved. May the
living Christ this hoursTut out for your
safety % spreading forth Ills hands in the
midst dfSou, IS 4 swimmer spTeAdeth
forth his hands to swim. =
CDR. Thgpalond's Loud ST aEfsl-
farrRE6re. IAwH cure The sstsI ~ gTa-
= ates5eas9 iHstsssthan tlfisty days. Al i,
druggists. ,..sssssesSsssss Y
Tees 20 cents so.FSzsa Pound.
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