The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-08-24
THE DELUGE OF SIN.
Dr. Talmage on the Flood That
Threatens the World.
Christ the Mighty swImme That Is Res
o"ins Souls From the Waters of Evil
HIS Sacrifices For Mankind
Trusting the Lord.

IN q recent sermon at Seattle, Wash.
Ter, Rev. I. De Witt Talmage, of Brook
lyn, took his text from Isaiah XIV. IL:
he shall spread forth his hands in the
h'dst OF them, as be that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands TO swim" He
said:
AT this season of the year m%ultitudes of
PeoPle wade INTO the ponds and lakes and
rivers and seas. At first putting ont cau-
tiously from the shore, but having learned
the rIght stroke of arm and foo they let
the waters roll over them and in wild plee
olVe or hoat or swim. So the text will be
very suggestive: He shall spread forth
ms hand IN the midst of them as he that
swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to
swim"
Inc fisherman seeks out unfreuuented
hooks. You stand all day on the banks of
q river in the hroiliug sun and fling out
your line and catch nothing, while the ex-
pert angler breaks through the jungle anu
goes Dy the, shadow of the solitary rock,
and in a place .hers-ao. fisherman has
been for ten years throws out his line, and
comes home at night, his face shining and
mis- basket full. l do not know why we
ministers of the Gospel need always be
nshing in the same stream and
preaching from the same text
that other people pfehch<frasms 64n 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 me when | come across a theme
which j feel no. one else has treated and
my text Is one of that kind. There are
paths in Gods Word hat are well beaten
by Christian feet. When men want to
quote Scripture they quote the old pas
RaRaa TINT avarNy nna hnu haul NNba,
1hey want a chapter read. they read q
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
opulenr gallery of paintings. As you
come out your friends say to you: ''Did
you see the Rembrandt" mo-" Did
o see that Rubens?" No." did YOU
see hat Titian?" NO" "Did you see
that Raphael?" "No." "WelI," says
your friend, ''then you didn't see the
Louvre.n
Now, my friends, / think we are too
much apt to confine ourselves to one of the
great corridors of this Scripture truth and
30 much so that there is not one person
out OF a million who has ever noticed the
all-suggestive and powerful picture in the
words OF my text. This text represents
God as a strong swimmer, striking out to
push down iniquity and save the souls of
men. II shall spread forth His hands
In the midst of them, as he that swimmeth
spreads forth his hands to swim" The
ngure Is bold and many -sided. Most of
you know how to swim. Some of you
learned 1t in the city school, where this
art Is taught; some of you in boyhood, in
the river near your fathers house; some
nf Unrr afunn no., -.
w~omanhood, 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 downwar 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 trying to loosen sail, bringing
him back to the deck amid the huzzas of
the passengers and crew. If a man has
not enthusiasm enough to cheer in such
circumstance he deserves himself to drop
into the sea and have no one help him.
The Royal Humane Society of England
was established in 177i; its object to ap-
plaud and rewar 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,
eAIlNn m - kaU- a. 49, ~
ottho man or woman who saved some one
from drowning. But. my friends, il it Is
Nuch a worthy thing to save a body from
the deep, / ask you If it is not a worthier
thing 10 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 s%preadeth
forth his hands to SWIM"
In order to understand the full force of
this figure, you need to realize, first of all,
that our race is in a sinking condition.
You sometimes heal people talking of
what they consider the most beautiful
words In our language. One man says it
IL "home," another man says it is the
word s'mother," another SAYS it is the
word 'Jesus." but l will tell you the Bit
terest word In all our language, the word
- - &BA DhANAafN thO Ola ohluI
ated with the most trouble, the word that
accounts for all the loathsomeness and
the pang, and the outrage, and the har-
rowing; and that word is ''sin." You
spell 1t with three letters, and yet those
three letters describe the circumference
n pierce the diameter of every thing
bad In the universe. Sin it is a sibilant
word. You can not pronounce il without
giving the siss Of the flame or the hist of
the serpent Sini And then il you add
three letters to hat word it describes
every one of as by ma ture-sinner. We
have outraged the law of God, not occa-
sionally, or now and then, but perpetual
ly. The Bible declares IL. Harkl 1t
thunders two claps: "The hear, is de-
ceitful above all things and desper-
ately wicked" 1.-THE soul that sim
meth, 1t shall die" What the Bible says
our own conscience Gffirms. After Judge
Morgan had sentenced Lady Jane Grey to
death his conscience troubled him so much
for the deed that he became insane, and
all through his insanity he kept saying:
"Take her away from mel Lady Jane
Grey. Take her awayl 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
eVory step Oh his mlsDephVlOr III says:
"Wrong, wrong" Sin is a leprosy, sin is
a paralysis, sin is a consumption, sin is
pollution. sin Is death. Give it n fair
chance and it will swamp you. body. mini
and soul forever. In this world il only
giyes a faint intimation of its virulence.
You see a patient In its first stages OF
typhoid fever. The cheek is somewhat
flushed, the hands somewhat hot, pre-
coded by a slight chill. "Why," you say,
"typhoid fever does not seem to be much
of q disease" But wait until the patient
has been six weeks under II, and all his
energies have been wrung out, and he is
too weak to lift his little finger, and his
intellect Is gone, then you see the full
havoc OF the disc, Sc. Now, sin in this
world Is an ailment which is only in its
very first stages; but let it get under full
way and it Is an all-consuming typhoid.
q, IL we could see our unpardoned sins as
God sees them, our teeth would chatter
and our knees won Id knock together, and
our respiration would be choked, and our
heart would break. II your sins are I'M
forgiven they are bearing down on you,
aud you are notwithstanding away from
happiness, SINKING away from God, sink
ing away from every thing that is good
and blessed.
Then what do we wantp A swimmerI
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 spreadeth forth his hands to
swim" You have noticed that when