The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-08-30
THE DELUGE OF SIN.
DR.. Talmage on the Flood That
Threatens the World
Christ the Mighty Swimmer That is Res
cuing Souls From the Waters of Evil
His Sacrifices For Mankind
Trusting the Lord.

Ter, Rev 7. De Witt Talmage. of Brook
Ign, took his text from Isaiah XIV. IL:
He shall srread forth his hands in the
midst of them, as he that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands 10 swim" He
said.
At this season Of the year multitudes of
people wade into the ponds and lakes and
rivers and seas. At first putting out eau
tiously 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 will be
very suggestive: He shall spread forth
his hand 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 banks of
a river in the troiling 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. l do not know why we
ministers Of the Gospel need always be
fishing in the same stream and
preaching from the same text
that other people preach from. / can not
understand the policy Of the minister
who, in Blackfriars. London, Eng, every
week for thirty years preached from the
Epistle to the Hebrews. 1t is an exhil-
aration to ms when come across theme
which / feel 40 one else has treated and
my text is one of that kind. There are
paths in Gods Word that are we'll beaten
by Christian feet. When men want to
quote Scripture they quote the old pas
sages that every one has heard. When
they want a 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
confine yourself to one corridor of that
opuienr gallery Of paintings. As you
come out your friends saw to you: stDid
you see the Rembrandt" no" Did
you see that Rubens?" No." did you
see that Titian~ No" "Did YOU see
that Raphael." NO" well" saws
your friend, "then you didn't see the
Louvre"
Now, my friends, l think we are too
much apt to confine ourselves to one of the
great corridors of this Scripture truth and
out of a million who has ever noticed the
all-sugge.tive and powerful picture in the
words OF my text. This text represents
God as strong swimmer, striking out to
push down iniquty and save the souls of
men. He shall spread forth His hands
in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth
spreads forth his hands to swim" The
figure is bold and many sided Most of
VI Enn hnxr 70 -,
learned it in the city school, where this
art is taught; Some of you in boyhood. in
the river near your fathers house; some
of you since you came to manhood and
womanhood, while summering on the
beach of the sea- You step down in the
wave, you throw your head back, you
bring your elbows to the chest you put
the palms on your hands downward and
and the soles of your feet outward, and
you push through the water as though
you had been born aquatic 1t is a
grand thing to know how to swim,
not only for yourself. but because you
will after awhile, perhaps, have to help
others. l do not know any thing more
stirring or sublime than to see some man
like Norman Mckenzie leaping from the
ship Madras into the sea to save Charles
Turner, who had dropped from the royal
yard while try ing to loosen sail, bringing
him back to the deck amid the huzzas of
the passengers and crew. If man has
not enthusiasm enough to cheer in such
circumstances he desc, yes himself to drop
into the sea and have no one help him.
The ROYAL Humane Society of England
was established in l774; its object to ap-
plaud and reward those who should pluck
up life from the deep. Any one who has
performed such a deed of daring has all
the particulars of that bravery recorded
IN a public record, and on his breast a
medal done in blue, and gold, and bronz';
anchor. and monogram, and inscription.
telling TO future generations 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 a body from
the deep, ask You if it is not a worthier
thing to save an immortal soul? And you
shall see this hour the Son of God step
forth for 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 cur race is in sinking condition.
what they consider the most beautiful
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 l will tell you the bit
ierest word in all our language, the word
most angry and baleful, the word satur-
ated with the most trouble the word that
accounts for all the loathsomeness. and
md he 81
rowing; and that word is "sin." You
spell it with three letters, and yet those
three letters describe the circumference
and pierce the diameter of every ling
bad in the universe. Sin! it is a sibilant
word. You can not pronounce it without
giving the siss of the fame or the hiss Of
tine serpent Sin! 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 occa-
sionally, or now and then, Tut perpetual
w. The Bible declares it Hark! 1t
thunders two ciaps: The heart is de-
ceitful above all things and desper-
ately wicked" THE soul that sim
meth, il shall die" What the Bible says
our own conscience afirms. After Judge
Morgan had sentenced Lady Jane Grey to
death his conscience trouble him so much
for the deed that he became insane, and
all through his insanity he kept saying:
Take her away from me! Lady Jane
Grey. Take her away! Lady Jane Grey"
1t was the voice of his conscience. And
no man ever does any thing wrong, how
ever great or small, but his conscience
brings that matter before him, and at
every step of his misbehavior it says:
"Wrong, wrong' Sin is leprosy, sin is
a paralysis, sin is a consumption. sin is
pollution. sin is death. Give it q fair
chance and it will swamp You, body. mind
and soul forever. In this world it only
niras q faint infimnfinn of It's virnlenca