The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-21
THE STRONG SWIMMER.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage breaches
Sermon at Seattle, w. T. 4 Z
How Christ, the Mighty swimmer. STRIKES
Out 60 Save sinful and Perishing
worid-All Can be saved Who
WIN Accept His Aid.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., preached
q sermon recently at Seattle, W. T. His
text was Isaiah XIV. IL: "He shall spread
forth his hands in the midst of them, as he
that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands
TO swim.n Following is the sermon:
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 middle Of them, as he that
swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands TO
swim.n
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
n0oks. You stand all day on the bank Of
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 rock, and In
place where no fisherman has been for ten
years, throws out his line and comes home
atnight his face shining and his basket full
] do not know why we ministers Of the gos-
pei 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, England, every week
for thirty years preached from the Epistle
10 the Hebrews. II is an exhilaration tome
when / come across theme which feel no
one else has treated, and my text Is one Of
that kind There are paths in Gods word
thatare well beaten by Christian feet. When
men want to quote Scripture, they quote
the old passages that every one has heard.
When they want a chapter read they read
chapter that all the otherpeople have been
reading, so that the church to-day Is ignor-
ant Of three-fourths OF the Bible. You go
into the Louvre at Paris. Youconfne your
self TO one corridor Of that opulent gallery
Of paintings. As you come out your friend
says 10 you, "Did you see that RembrandtP
'rNo." "Did you see that Ruebensin "No."
"Did you see that Titianl" mo" "Did
you see that Raphaelin 'No." "Well,"
says 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 30 that there is not one person
"
all suggestive and powerful picture in the
words Of my text
The text represents God as strong swim
mer, striking out to push down iniquity and
save the souls Of men. "He shall spread
forth his hands 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 IL in the city school, where this
Nrt Is taught; some Of you in boyhood, in
the river near your fathers house; some Of
you since you came 10 manhood or woman
hood, 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 out
ward, and you push through the water as
though you had been born aquatic. IL Is a
grand thing 10 know how TO swim, not only
for yourself, but because you will, after
while, perhaps, have 10 help others. do
not know any thing more stirring or sub
lime than 10 see some man like Norman Nc
Kenzie leaping from the ship Madras into
the sea TO save Charles Turner, who had
dropped from the royal yard while tryingto
loosen the sail, bringing him back TO the
E deck amid the huzzas Of the passengers and
crew II man has not enthusiasm enough
TO cheer IN such circumstances he deserves
himself 10 drop into the sea and have no one
10 help him. The Royal Humane Society Of
England was established In 1774, It's 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
Nhax - Iak 1oH In,
public record, and on his breast medal
done In blue, and gold, and bronze; anchor,
and monogram, and inscription, telling to
future generations the bravery Of the man
OF woman who saved some one from drown
ing. But my friends, II 1t Is such a worthy
thing to save body from the Deep ask
you II Il Ia not q worthier thing 10 save an
immortal souli And you shall see this hour
the Son OF God step forth for this achieve
rdent "He shall spread forth his hand in
the midst Of them, as he that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands 10 swim"
In order TO understand the full force Of
this figure, you need 10 realize, first Of all,
that our race isin a sinking condition, You
sometimes hear people talking Of what they
consider the most beautiful words In our
language. One man says II is "home," an
other man says IL Is the word mother" an
other says IL Is the word Jesus" but ! will
tel you the bitterest word in our language,
thdword most angry and bale ful, the word
saturated with the most trouble, the word
thataccOtnts for all the loathsomeness, and
thepang, and the outrage, and the narrowing
and that word IL "sin." You spell II with
three letters, and yet those three letters
describe the circumference and pierce the
diameter Of every thing bad in the universe.
Sini II Is a sibilant word You can not pro-
nounceit without giving the siss Of the flame
or the hiss Of tho serpent Sin And then II
you add three letters TO that word II describes
every one Of us by nature We have
outraged the law Of God, not occasionally,
or now and then, but perpctually. The Bible
declares IT, Harki Il thunders two claps:
"The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wiclted.r ''The soul that sin
meth, 1t shall die" (" What the Bible says our
own conscience afiirms. After Judge
Morgan had sentenced Eady Jane Gray 10
death his conscience troubled him so much
for the deed that he became insane and
all through his insanity he kept saying;
israke her away from me- Lady Jane Grey.
Take her away Lady Jane Grey" II was
the voice OF his conscience. And no man
ever does any thing wrong, however great
or small, but his conscience brings thatmat-
ter before him. and atevery step Of his mis-
behavior II says; "Wrong wrong" Sin is
o leprosy, sinis paralysis, sin IS consump-
tion, sin IL pollution, sin is death. Give II q
fair chance and II will swamp you, body,
mind and soul forever. In this world Il