Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-28

| In order to understand the full force of
this figure. you need to realize, fist of all,
! that our race is in sinking condition. You
sometimes hear people talking ofwhat they
consider the most beautiful words in our
language One man says it is ''home" AL
''ther says it is the word ''mother," anoth-
sr says it is the word "Jesus" but | will
ell you the bitterest word in all onr Ian.
guaGe. the word most angry and baleful,
The word saturated wi II the most trouble,
the word that accounts for all the loath-
someuess. and the pang, and the outrage.
aud the narrowing, and that word is 'tsin."
You spell it with three letters, and yet those
| three letters describe the circumference and
pierce the diameter of everything bad in the
universe. Sin! it is a sbilaut word. You
cannot pronounce it without giving the siss
of the flame or the hiss of the serpent. Sin!
And then if you add three letters to that
word it describes every one of us by nature
sinner. We have outraged the law of
| God, not occasionally or now and then, but
perpetually. The Bible declares it. Hark!
1t thunders two claps: "The heart is de-
ceitful above all things and desperately
| wicked" "The soul that sinneth, it shall
die" What the Bible says our own con-
science affirms. After Judge Morgan had
sentenced Lady Jane Grey to death his con.
science troubled him so much for the deed
that he became insane, and all through his
insanity he kept saying: "Take her away
from me! Lady Jane Grey. Taks her away!
Lady Jane Grey" It was the voice of his
conscience. And no mau ever does any
thing wrong, however great or small, but
his conscience brings that matter before
him, and at every step of his misbehavtor it
says, "Wrong, wrong" Sin is a leprosy,
sin is paralysis, sin is consumption, sin
is pollution, sin is death. Give it a fair
chance and it viii lswamp you, body, mind
and soul forever. In this world it only
gives faint intimation of its virulence.
You see patient in the first stages of ty-
phoid fever. The cheek is somewhat flush
ed, the hands somewhat hot, preceded by
slight chill. "Why," you cay, ''typhoid
fever does not seem to be much of dis
ease." But wait until the patient has been
six weeks under it, 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 disease.
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. Oh, il we could see our unpar-
doned sins as God sees them our teeth
together, and our respiration would be
choked, and our heart would break. If
your sins are unforgiven, they are bearing
down on you; and you are slnking-sinking
away from happiness, sinking away from
God, sinking away from everything that is
good and blessed.
Then what do We want? A swimmer!
A strong swimmer! A swift swimmer!
And blessed be God, in my text We have
him announced. s'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 a
swimmer goes out to rescue any one he puts
off his heavy apparel. He must not have
any such impediment about him if he is 60
ing to do this great deed. And when
Christ stepped forth 10 save us he shook off
the sandals of heaven, and his feet were
free, and then he stepped down into the
wave of our trangressions, and it came up
over his wounded feet, and 1t came above
the spear stab in his side-aye, it dashed to
the lacerated temple, the high.water mark
of his anguish. Then, rising above the
flood, "He stretched forth his hands in the
midst of them, as he that swimmeth
spreadsth forth his hands to SWIM"
If you have ever watched swimmer, you
play. The arms are fexed, the hands drive
the water back, the knees ale active, the
bead is thrown back to escape strapgula.
ton, the whole body is in propulsion. And
when Christ sprang into the deep to save
| us, He threw His entire nature into it-all
| His GoGhead, His omniscience, His good
ness, His love, His omnipotence-head,
heart, eyes, hands, feet. We were far out
on the sea and so deep down in the waves
and SO far out from the shore, that nothing
short of an entire God could save US, Christ
leaped out for our rescue, saying: "Lo!
come to do thy WILL" and all the surges of
human and satanic hate beat against him,
and those who watched him from the gates
of heaven feared He would go down under
the wave, and instead of saving others,
would himself perish; but, putting His
breast to the foam, and shaking the surf
from his locks, he came on and on, until be
is now within the reach of every one here.
Eye omniscient, heart infinite, arm omnipo-
tent. Mighty to save, even unto the utter
most. Oh, it was not half God that tram
pied down believing Gennesaret. 1t was
not quarter of God that mastered the
demons of Gadara. It was not two-thirds
of God that lifted up Lazarus into the
arms of his overjoyed sisters. 1t was not a
fragment of a God who offered pardon and
peace to all the race. No. This mighty
swimmer threw his grandeur, his glory, his
might, his wisdom, his omnipotence and
his eternity into this one act IT took both
hands of God to save us-both feet. How
do prove il? On the cross were not both
hands nailed? On the cross we're not both
feet nailed? His entire nature involved in
our redemption!
| If you have lived much by the water, no.
tice also that if any one is going out to the
rescue of the drowning he must be indepen-
dent, self-reliant, able to go alone. There
may be 6. time when he must spring out to
save one, and he cannot get o life boat, and
he goes out and has not strength enough to
bear himself up, and bear another up, he
will sink, and instead of dragging one
corpse out OF the torrent, you will have two
| to drag out. When Christ sprang out into
the sea to deliver US he had no life buoy.
His father did not help him. Alone in the
wine press. Alone in the pang. Alone in
the darkness. Alone in the mountain.
Alone in the sea. Oh, if he saves US he
shall have all the credit, for ''there was
none to help" No oar. No wing. No
ladder When Nathaniel Lyon fell in the
battle charge in front of his troops, he had
a whole army to oaeer him. When Mar
| Snal Ney sprduS lutO tuo SoH1esb suu piuuS-
ed in the spurs till the horse's danks squirt
ed blood, all France applauded him. But
Jesus alone! "Of the people there was
none to help" "All forsook him and fled. %
o, it was not fotilla that sailed down and
saved US. 1t was not cluster of go-dolas
that came over the wave. 1t was one per-
son independent and alone, spreading out
his hands among us as swimmer spread
| eth forth his hands to swim.o
Behold, then, to-day the spectacle of a
drowning soul and Christ the swimmer.
believe it was in 1S4S, when there were six
English soldiers of the Fifth Fusiliers who
were hanging to the bottom of capsized
boat-a boat that had been upset by a
squaIl three miles from shore. It was in
the night, but one man swan nightly for
the beach, guided by the dark mountains
that lifted their top through the night. He
came to the beach. He found shore man
| IL. L -. L.