The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-08-29
ing man, Drought to his senses, seized
hold cf tho a lbo f..c,e,z a I'd loil a., Tho

ing man, Drought to his senses seized
hold of the albatross and held on. The
futtering of the bird kept him on the
wave until relief could come. Would
now the dove of Gods convicting,
converting and saving spirit might
flash from the throne upon your soul,
and that you, taking hold of its potent
wing, might live and live forever.
LAY HOLD OF THIS STRONG SWIMMER.
want to persuade you to lay hold
of this strong swimmer. NO" you
say, ''it is always disastrous for
drowning man to lay hold of swim
mer." There is not a river or lake
but has calamity resultant from the
fact that when a strong swimmer went
out to save sinking man, the drown
ing man clutched him, threw his arms
around him, pinioned 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 bis
back. You do not want him to take
hold of you while you take hold of
him. But, blessed be God, Jesus
d
comes not to our back, but to our face,
and he asks us to throw around him
the arms of our love, and then prom
ises to take us to the beach, and he
will do it. Do not trust that plank of
good works. Do not trust that shiv-
cred spar of your own righteousness.
Christ only can give you transporta-
ton. Turn your face upon him as the
dying martyr did in olden days when
he cried out: ''None but Christi None
but Christi 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.
| have sometimes thought what a
spectacle the ocean bed will present
when in the last day the water Is
all drawn off. 1t will be line of
wrecks from beach to beach. There is
where the harpooners went down.
There is where the line of battle ships
went down. There is Where the mer-
chantmen went down. There is where
the steamers went down, a long line
of wrecks from beach to beach. What
a spectacle in the last day when the
water is drawn off But oh, how
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
awful catastrophe, putting out for
their souls, spreading forth his hands
as swimmer spreadeth forth bis
hands to SWIM" but they thrust him
in the sore heart, and they smote his
fair cheek, and the storm and dark
ness 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 in sight. Only one strong
swimmer, with head flung back and
arms outspread. | hear q great many
In the audience saying: "Well, I
would like to be Christian. / am
going to work to become Christian.
My brother, you begin wrong. When
man is drowning, and strong
swimmer comes out to help him, he
says to him: ''Now be quiet. Put
your arm on my arm or on my
shoulder, but don't struggle, don't try
to help yourself, and I'll take you
ashore. The more you struggle and
the more you try to help yourself,
the more you impede me. Now be
quiet and I'll take you ashore" When
Christ, the strong swimmer, comes
out to save soul, the sinner says:
That's right. / am glad to see Christ,
and | am going to help him in the
work of my redemption. I am going
to pray more and that will help him;
and am going to weep extravagantly
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, in this matter of your
redemption
This is the difficulty which keeps
thousands of souls out of the kingdom
of heaven. 1t is because they cannot
consent to let Jesus Christ begin and
complete the work of their redemp-
ton. "Why," you say, ''then is there
nothing for me to doa" Only one
thing have you to do, and that is to
lay hold of Christ and let him achieve
your salvation and achieve it all. I
do not know whether I make the
matter plain or not. I 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
it, if you ask him. @, fling your two
arms, the arms of your trust and love,
around this omnipotent swimmer OF
the cross.
SAVED SAVED! 81
That is a thrilling time when some
one swamped 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 inhala-
ton, and opens his eyes upon the by
ISLANDERS, shout of JOY rings up and
down the beech. There is JOY because
life has been saved. 0, we who have
been swamped In the seas of trouble
and SIM we gather around you.
Would that this might be the hour
when you begin to live. The lord
Jesus Christ steps down, he gets on
his knees, he puts his lip to your lip,
and would breathe pardon and life
and heaven into your immortal soul.
God grant that this hour there may
be thousands of souls resuscitated.
stand on the deck of the old Gospel
ship amid crowd of passengers, all
of them hoping that the last man over
board may be saved. May the living
Christ this hour put out for your safe
ty, spreading forth his hands in the
midst of you, as swimmer spreadeth