The Grenada sentinel., 1899-10-28
.Jesus," but I tell you tie bitterest

counts for all the loathsomeness ant
the pang and the outrage and the har
rowing, and that word is "sin." Yo,
spell it with three letters. and yet thos'
three letters describe the circumference
and pierce the diameter of everything
bad in the universe. Sin is sibi!an
word. You cannot pronounce it with
out giving the siss of the flame or th'
hiss of the serpent. Sin! And then i
YOU add three letters to that wore
it describes everyone of us by nature
sinner. Wehave outraged helaw of God
not occasionally, or now and then. bu1
perpetuaAy. The Bible declares it
Hark! 1t thunders two clcps! 1.-THE
heart is deceitful above all things anc
lesperatel. wicked" "The soul that
sinneth. it shall die" What the Bible
says our own conscience attirms.
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 hel
away from me! Lady Jane Grey! Take
her away! Lady Jane Grey!" 1t was
the voice of conscience. And no man
ever does anything wrong, however
great or small, but his conscience brings
that matter before him, and at every
step of his misbehavior it says: Wrong,
wrong!" Sin is leprosy; sin is par
alysis; sin is a consumption; sin is
pollution; sin is death. Give it a fair
chance, and it will swamp you and me,
body, mind and soul, forever. In this
world it only gives faint intimation
of its virulence. You see patient in
the first stages of typhoid fever. The
cheek is somewhat flushed, the hands
somewhat hot, percceded by slight
chill. "Why," you say, typhoid fever
does not seem to be much of a disease" ."
But wait until the patient has been six
weeks under it, ard all his energies
have been wrung out, and he is too weak
TO lift his little finger, and his intellect
gone. then you see the full havoc of
the disease. Now, sin in this world is
IN uiln!cnt which is only in its first
stages, but let it get under full way
and it is an all-consuming typhoid. Oh,
If we could see our unpardoned sins as
God sees them, our teeth would chatter
ard our knees would knock together,
and our respiration would be chokcd,
and our heart would break. If your
sins are unforgiven, they are bearing
down on you and you are sinking
sinking away from happiness, sinking
away from God. sinking away fro,.l
everything that is good and blessed.
Then what do we want? A swimmer
"a strong swimmer, swift swimmer!
And blessed be God. in my text we have
linn announced. He shall spread forth
His hands in the midst of them, as He
that swimmeth stretcheth forth his
hands to swim" You have noticed that
when a swimmer goes to rescue anyone
he puts off his heavy apparel. He must
not have any such impediment about
him if he is going to do this great deed.
And when Christ stepped forth to save
lis He shook off the sandals of Heaven,
and His feet were free, and then He
stepped down into the wave of our
transgressions. and it came over His
wounded feet. and it came above the
spear stab in His side-aye, it dashed
TO the laccrated temple, the high-water
mark of Ills anguish. Then. rising
above the flood. "He stretched forth His
hands in the midst Of them, as he that
swimmcth sprcadeth forth his hands
TO swim"
If you have ever watched swimmer.
YOU notice that his whole body is
brought into play. The arms are fexcd,
The hands drive the water back, the
knees are active. the head is thrown
back to escape strangulatior. the whole
body is in propulsion. And when Christ
sprang into the deep to save us lie
threw His entire nature into it--all His
Godhcad, 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 res
cue. saying: "Lo, I 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, put
ting His breast to the foam and shaking
the surf from His locks, He came on
and on until He is now within the reach
of everyone here, eye omniscient, heart
infinite, arm omnipotent, mighty TO
save, even unto the uttermost.
Oh, it was not half God that tram
Piled down believing Gennesaret; it was
not quarter of u 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;
it was not fragment of God who Of
fered pardon and peace to all the race.
No. This mighty swimmer threw His
grandeur, His glory, His might, His wis
dom, His omnipotence and His eternity
into this one act. 1t took both hands of
God to save us-both feet. How do
prove it? On the cross were not both
hands nailed? On the cross were not
both feet spiked? His entire nature