Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-08-19
SUNK In SEAS OF SIN.
THE GREAT SWIMMER COMES TO SAVE
MANKIND.
A Bold and Original Sermon BY Dr.. Talmags-A
New Figure-Christ Came 10 Rescue
the SlnkiDg-Lay Hold on the
Strong Swimmer Now.

In the midst OF tnemI as ne tnat bWlmmetl
spreadeth forth his hands to SWIM" Th
preacher said
At this season Of the year multitudes o
people wade into the ponds and lakes ant
rivers and seas. At fret putting on
cautiously from the shore, but having
learned the righ. stroke Of arm and foo t
they let the waters roll over them, and il
wild Rlee dive or float or swim. So th'
text will be very suggestive: HE shal
spread forth his hand in the midst of them
as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth hil
hands to SWIM"
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
nOoks. You stand all day on the bank ol
river in the broiling sun, and fling out
your line, and catch nothing, while the
expert angler breaks through the jungle
and goes by the shadow of the solitary
rccS, and in 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. I cannot understand the
policy of the minister who, in Blackfriars,
London, Eagland, every week for thirty
years preached from the Epistle to the
Hebrews. 1t is an exhilarstion TO me
when come across theme which | feel
no one else has treated, and my text is
one Of that kind. There are paths in
God's Word that are well beaten by Chris
tian feet. When men want to quote
Scripture, they quote the old passages that
every one has heard. When they
want chapter read, they Iead a
chapter that all the other people
have been reading, so that the church TO-
day is ignorant of three-iourths of the
Bible. You 90 into the Louvre at Paris.
You confine yourself to one corridor of that
opulent gallery of paintings. As you come
out your friend says to yOu, ibid you see
Rembrandt?D NO" "Dd you see that
Rubens?' 'No' did you zee that
Tidau?p mo" "Did you see that Ra-
phael?u 'No." WELL" says your
triend. ''then you didn't see the Louvre. "
Now, my friends, think we are too much
apt to ccnfine 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 no
ticed the all suggestive and po6erful pic
ture in the words Of my text.
This text represents God as a strong
swimmer, striking out to push down lnl-
auity and save the souls Of men. HE
shall spread forth his hands in the midst
Of them, and he that swimmeth spreadeth
forth his hands 20 swim" The figure IS
bold and many sided.
In order to understand the full force OF
this figure, you need to realize, first OF all
that our race is in sinking condition.
You sometimes hear people talking OF
what they consider the most beautiful
words in our language. One man says 1t
is 'home," another man says it Is the
word mother" another says it 10 the
word Jesus" bat l will tell you the bit
terest word in cur language, the word most
angry and baleful, the word saturated
with the most trouble, the word that ac-
counts for sll the losthscmeness, and the
pans. and the outrage, aud the narrowing;
and that word is ''sin." You spell it with
three letters. and yet those three letters de-
scribe the circumference and pierce the di-
ameter of everything bad in the universe.
Sin 1t is sibilsns word. You cannot
pronounce it without giving the siss Of the
flame or the hiss of the serpent. Sin And
then if you add three letters to that word
it describes every one of US by nature-sin-
ner. We have outraged the law of God,
not occasionally, or now and then, but per
petually.
Then what do we want? A swimmer
A strong swimmer! A swift swimmer
And, blessed be God, in my text we have
him announced. "He shall spread forth
his hands in the midst of them, as he that
swimmeth spread forth his hands to swim. "
You have noticed when swimmer goes
out to rescue any one he puts off his heavy
apparel. He must not have any such I'M
pediment about him if he is going to do
this great deed. And when Christ stepped
forth to save us be shook off the sandals Of
heaven, and his feet were free; and then
he stepped down into the wave Of our
transgressions, and it came up over his
wounded feet, and it came above the spear
stab in his side-aye, it dashed to the
lacerated temple, the high water mark Of
his anguish Then, rising above the tood,
''he stretched forth his hands in the midst
of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth
forth his hands to swim"
If you have ever watched a swimmer,
yOu notice thSt his whole body Is brought
into play. The arms are tlexed, the hands
drive the water back, the knees are active,
the head is thrown back to escape strangu'
lstiOD, the whole body is in propulsion
And when Christ sprang into the deep tC
save us, he threw his entire nature into II
ALL his Godhead, heart, eyes, hands, feet
We were far out in the sea and so
DEEP DOWN IN THE WAVES
And so far out from the shore that nothing
short of entire God could save us. Christ
leaned out for our rescue, saving: "Lol
come to do thy will" and all the surges o
human and satanic hate beat against him,
and those who watched him from the gates
of heaven feared he would 20 down under
the wave, and instead Of saving Others
would himself perish; bat, putting nj;
breast TO the foam, and shaking the surl
from his locks, ne came on and
ON. until he is now within the
reach of every one here. Ever omni
scient heart infinite, arm Omnipotent
Mighty TO save, even unto the uttermost
On il was not half a God that trampleo
down believing Gennesaret. 1t was not
onsrter of 3 God that mastered tht
demons of Gadara. 1t was not two-third'
Of faGod that lifted up Lazarus into the
arms of his over-joyed sisters. 1t WAS moi
a fragment of a God who offered pardon
and paaes to all the race. No. Thl;
miCbty swimmer threw his grandeur, hi
gIoTv his might, his wisdom, his omni
potence and his eternity into this one act
| n TOOK both hands of God TO save us-oott
feet. How do 1 prove it? On the cross
we're rot both hands nailed9 On the cross
we're not both feet nailed? His entire ma
tnre involved in our redemption!
If Won have lived much by the water
Won notice also that if any one is COINS
ont 10 the rescue of the drowning ne mus
be independent, self-relisnt, able to g
alone. There may be a time when he mus
spring out TO save one, and be cannot ge
a Efeboat, and he goes out and has no
strength enough to bear himself mp
and bear another up, be will sink, and IN
stead of dragging one corpse ont of tn
/ torrent YOU will have two to drag out
When Christ sprang out into the sea u
! deliver us he had no life buoy. Hi