Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-08-29
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMaGE.s
STERLING DIsCoURsEs.
Subject: THE Strong Swimmer. y
preached at Seattle, wy

=
tIs t'te ht,@st 81 them, as he that s,cimmefh,
spreddeth forth his hands 10 srei, isais
XIV. II. i'si'u
AT this season of the wear multit,,das If
people wade INTO the ponds and lakes and
rivers and seas. At first putting ont carr
nousiy from the shore, but having learned
ene rlgn1 stroke OF arm and foot. they let the
"asers ron over Them, and in wild glee dive
OF noab or SWIM. So the text will he very
suggestive; He shall spread forth His hand
IN tne midst OF them, as he that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands to swim.n
Inc fisherman seeks out unfreouented
hooks. hou stand all day ON the bank
Oh a river m the broiling sun, and fling
out your line and catch nothing while
the expert angler breaks fhrongb
the jungle and goes by the shadow
OF the solitary rock, and in a place where
no fisherman has been for ten wears
throws out his line and comes home at
nlgnt, ms lace 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 the same
text that other people preach from. | cam
not understand the policy of the minister
VINO, IN Blacdriars, London, England. every
week ior thirty years preached from the
Epistle to the Hebrews. 1t is an exhiliara
tlon to me when come across a theme which
feel no one else has treated, and nv text is
one OF that kind. There are paths in Gods
Word that are well beaten by Christian feet.
when men want quote Scripture they quote
the old passages that every one has heard
When they want chapter read they
read 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 opuent gall
lery OF paintings As you come out your
friend says to you: did you see that Rem
| hr-a,. NJ
bensg' No" Ibid you see that TitianY'
No" ibid you see that Raphaelg'
ssNo.n .'Well'n saws 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 suggest
i've and powerful picture in the words of my
text
This text represents God as a strong SWIM
mer, striking out to push down iniquity and
save the souls of men. "He shall spread
forth His hand 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 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 or wo-
manhood, 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 of your hands
downward and the soles of your feet outward,
and You push through the water as though you
had been born aquatic. Ii is grand thing to
know how to swim, not only for yourself,
but because you viii after while, perhaps
rave to help Others, do not know anything
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 dropped from the royal yard
while trying to loosen the sail, bringing him
back to the deck amid the huzzas of thapas-
sengers and crew. If a man has not elthu-
sasm enough to cheer in such circumstances
he deserves himself TO drop into the sea and
have no one to help him. The Royal HUI
name Society of England was established in
1874, its object TO applaud and reward those
who should pluck up life from the deep.
Any one who has performed such
deed of daring has all the particulars
of that bravery recorded in a public
record, and on his breast medal done IN
blue and gold, and bronze; anchor, ana
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 worthy thing 70
save body from the deep, | ask you if it is 1
not a worthier thing to save an immortal
souls And you shall see this hour the Son OF
God step forth for this achievement lie I
shall spread forth His hand in the midst of I
them. as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
his hands to swim
In order TO understand the full force Of this 1
figure. YOU need to realize, first of all that /
our race is in sinking condition. You
sometimes hear people talking of what they 4
consider the most beautiful words IN our IAN
guage One man says it is home, another
SAYS it is the word mother, another says 1t /
49, - - r. 1ts-fIl fall xfrstf hsa
bitterest word in all our language, the
word most angry and baleful, the word sat
urated with the most trouble the word that /
accounts for all the loathsomenesS. and the I
pang, and the outrage, and the narrowing
and that word is ''sin. y on spell III with
three letters, and yet those three letters de-
scribe the circumference and pierce the
diameter of everything bad in the universe.
SIM il is a sibianr word. You cannot
nronounce it without giving the
siss of the flame or the Mss OF
the serpent. Sin, And then II you add
three letters to that word It describes every
one Of MS bv nature-sinner We have QUO
RACED the law Of God. not occasionally. or
now and then. but perpetually. The Bible
declares II Hark, 1t thunders two ciaps:
.sThe heart is deceitful above all things ana
desperatelv wicked The soul that sinneth-
il shall die What the Bible says our own
Conscience affirms After Judge Morgan
had sentenced Lady Jane Gray to death his
conscience troubled him so much for the deea
mat he became insane and all through his
insanity he kept saying: @Iaks ner away
from mel Lady Jane Grey axe ner
awa s Lady Jane Grey" 1t was the voice
Of his conscience And no man ever does
ANYTHING wrong. however great or small; but
h;s conscience brings that matter before him.
and at every step Of his msbshavlor 1T i says
ssVVrcnp. wrongn Sin is leprosy- SIN Is
.rt,{ in Is a consumption, SIN Is
POLLUTION POLLUTION sin is death. Give it a fair
Chance and it win swamp you; ooaE,
mind and soul forever. In this world 1t only
1,ss faint intimation Of its virulence. Non
see patient in the first stages Of syPh sSa
,eNei. sa,,,,Srhat hot preceded by a slight
e nsnIS why. You say, typhoid fever does
not seem to be much q d us es n Dus ~'
UNI uS, an h;e energies have been wrung out and
he IS too weak to Lift his ,b Little vd nngs
ana .,L i f,,u havoc Of the disease Now
she in io- this world is an Sllment
which is only in its very iist oas -