The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-08-29

1SsSs -
SEATTLE, w. T., Aug. al.-The Rev.
7. De Witt Talmage, d. D., of Brook
lyn, preached here today. 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" The preacher
said.
At this season of the year multitudes
of people wade into the ponds and
lakes and rivers and seas. At first
putting out cautiously 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 midst of them, as he
that swimmeth spreadeth forth his
hands to swim"
The fisherman seeks out unfrequent-
cd hooks. 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 at night, his face
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.
/ cannot understand the policy of the
minister who, in Blackfriars, London,
England, every week for thirty years
preached from the Epistle to the He
brews. 1t is an exhilaration 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 Gods Word that are we'll
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 a chapter that all the other people
have been reading, 50 that the church
today Is ignorant Of three-fourths of the
Bible. You go 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, "Did you see that Rembrandt2n
mo" did you sec that Rubens1"
No" 'Did you see that Titian2"
No" Did you see that Raphael2"
mo" "Wel1," says your friend,
''then you didn't SEQ the Louvre" :"
Now, my friends, l 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 O million who has
ever noticed the all suggestive and
powerful picture in the words of my
text
A BOLD FIGURE.
This text represents God as strong
swimmer, striking out to push down
iniquity and save the souls of men.
HE shall spread forth his hands in
tho midst of them, as he that swim
meth spreadeth forth hts 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. 1t is grand thing TO know
how TO swim, not only for yourself,
but because you will after while,
perhaps, have 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 had dropped from
the royal yard while trying to loosen
the sail, bringing him back to the
deck amid the huzzas of the passen-
gers and crew. If man has not en-
thusiasm enough to cheer in such cir
cumstances he deserves himself to drop
the sea and have no one help him. into
The Royal Humane society of Eng
land was established in 1774, its object
to applaud and reward those who
should pluck up life from the deep.
Any one who has performed such q
deed of daring has all the particulars
of that bravery recorded In public
record, and on his breast medal done
in blue, and gold, and bronze; anchor,
and monogram, and inscription, tell
ing to future generations the bravery
OF the man or woman who saved some
one from drownin,. But, my friends,
II it is such worthy thing to save a
body-from the deep, ask you if it is
not a worthier thing to save an inn
mortal soul2 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 spreadeth forth
his hands to swim"
THE RACE IN A SINKING CONDITION.
In order to understand the full
force of this figure, you need to real
ize, first of all, that our race is in a
sinking condition. You sometimes
hear people talking of what they con-
slider the most beautiful words in our
language. One man says it is "home,
another man says 1t is the word mo
ther.n another says ii is the word
Jesus but / will tell you the bitter
est word III all our language, the word
most angry and baleful, the word sat
urated with the most trouble, the word
that accounts for all the loathsome-
ness, and the pang, and the outrage,
and the narrowing; and that word is
''sin." You spell it with three
letters, and yet those three letters
describe the circumference and pierce
the diameter of everything bad in the
universe. Sinl it IS sibilant word.
You cannot pronounce it without Civ
ing the siss of the flame or the hiss of
the serpent Sinl And then if you
add three letters to that word it de-
scribes every one of us by nature
sinner. We have outraged the law
of God, not occasionally, or now and
then, but perpetually. The Bible de,
clares it. Harkl 1t thunders two
claps; THE heart is deceitful above
ali things and desperately wicked. =
ssThe soul that sinneth, il shall die. >
What the Bible saws our Own con