The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-10-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE'S SUNp.AY
DISCOURSE.
Subject; Lay Hold of Christ-The Hcip-
fulDess of Religion in Fighting Life's
Battle-Be Bold For the Right and
Trust in the Son of God

| Copyright Louis Klopsch 1921
WAsHtNoToN, ID. C.-Iu this discourse d I.
Talmage employs very bold figure OF the
| Bible to bring out the helpfulness OF re-
| llgion for all those In any kind OF struggle.
The text is Isaiah XIV, IL, HE shall spread
| forth his hands In the midst of them as he.
that swlmmeth spreadeth forth his hands"
In the summer season multltudes of peo-
pie wade into the ponds and lakes and
| rivers and sens to dive or float or swim In
u world the most of which is water all mon
ana women should learn to swim. Some of
you have learned the side stroke intro
duced by George Pewters in 1850, each
stroke OF that kind carrying the swimmer
n distance OF six feet, and some OF YOU NAV
use the overland stroke invented by Gar
dener, the expert who by It won the 800
| yard championship In Manchester in 1862
| the swimmer by that stroke carrying his
| arm in tie air for n more heightened reach.
and some of you mny tread the water as
| though you had been made to walk the sea-
but most of you usually take what Is call
Cd tho brenst stroke, placing the hands
| with the backs upward, about Ave inches
under the water, the inside OF the wrists
! touching tho breast, then pushing the
| arms forward coincident with the stroke of
the feet struck out to the greatest width
possible, and you thus unconscously illus
| trate the meaning Of my text, "He shall
! spread forth his hands IN the midst OF them.
| us ne that swimmeth spreadeth forth his
| hands TO swim"
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
| nookS. You stand ull day on the bank Of
u river in the brolllng sun and fling out
| your line and catch nothing, while nm OK
| pert angler breaks through the Jungle and
| goes by the shadow OF the solitary rock
| and, In place whore no fisherman has
| been for ten years, throws out his line and
| comes home mt night, his face shining and
| his basket full. 1 do not know why we
ministers of the gospel need always be
| hshtng In the same stream and preaching
| from the same texts that other people
| preach from. | cannot understand the
| policy of the minister who in Backfrlnrs,
| London, England, every week for thirty
| years preached from the Episte to the
| Hebrews. 1t is an eXhiluration to me
| when l come across II theme which feel
no one else has treated, and my text is one
| of that kind. There are paths in Gods
| word that are well beaten by Christian
| feet. When men want to quote Scripture,
| they quote the old passages that every one
! has heard. When they want n chapter
read, they read "a chapter that all the other
people have been reading, so that the
church oday is ignorant OF three-fourths
| OF the Bible.
You 30 into the Louvre at Paris. You
con'lne yourself to one corridor OF that
opulent gallery paintings. As you come
out your friend says to you, Did you see
that hembrandtT" mo" did you see
N
Titian?' mo" "Dld you see that Rnph-
ael?" NO" "Well," says your friend
"then you did not see the Louvre" Now
| my friends, think we are too much apt to
conflne ourselves to one OF the great corrl-
dors of Scripture truth, und so much so
| that there Is not one person out OF u mil
| lion who has ever noticed the all sugges-
tive and powerful picture In the words of
| my text.
This text represents God as strong
| swimmer, striking out to push down iniq-
ulty and save the souls of men. "lle 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 1t 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 womunhood, while sum-
| mering on the beach of the sea. 1t Is u
good thing to know how to SWIM not only
tor yourself, but because you will after
| awhile perhaps have to help others.
do not know anything more stirring or
| sublime than to see some man like Norman
| Mckenzie leaplny 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. II man has not enthusi-
| asm enough to cheer in such circum-
| stances, he deserves himself to drop into
| the sen and have no one help him. The
Royal Humane Society OF England was es-
tablished in l774 its object to applaud and
reward those no should pluck up life from
the deep. Any one who has performed
such II deed of daring has all the particu-
| lars OF that bravery recorded in Il public
record and on his breast II medal done in
blue and gold and bronze, anchor and mon
| ogram and inscription, telling to future
| generations the bravery of the man or
| woman who saved some one from drown
ing. But il 1t is such n worthy thing to
| save body from the deep ask you II 1t Is
not worthler thing TO save an immortal
! soul Aud you shall see this hour tho Son
| OF God step forth for this achievement.
"He shall spretd forth his hands in the
midst OF them, as he that swimmeth
| spreadeth forth his hands to swim"
In order to understand tho full force OF
this figure, you need to realize that our
| race Is In a sinking condition. You some-
| times hear people talking of what they
| consider the most beautiful words in all
our language. One man snys it Is "home,"
| another says 1t Is the word "mother," an
| other says 1t the word "Jesus," but tell
you the bitterest word In all our language,
the word most angry and baleful, the word
saturated with the most trouble, the word
| that accounts for all the loathsomeness
and the pang and the outrage and the har.
/
! it with three letters, and yet those three
| letters describe the circumference and
! pierce the diameter of everything bad in
! the universe. Sin Is slbilnnt word. You
cannot pronounce 1t without giving the
! siss of the flame or the hiss of the serpent.
SIM And then II you add three letters to
| that word 1t 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
1t. Hark 1t thunders two claps: "The
heart Is deceitful above all things and des-
perately wicked" "rne soul that sinneth,
IL shall die" What the Bible says our
( own conscience afflrms.
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 no
kept saying: "Take her away from mel
Lady Jane Grey! Take her away Lady
Jane Greyl' 1t was the voice OF conscience
And no man ever does anything wrong,
however great or small, but the conscience
brings that matter before him, and ut
every step OF his misbehavor 1t says,
"Wrong. wrongl" Sin is leprosy; SIN IL IL
paralysis; sin is n consumption, sin ls pollu-
lion; Sin is death. Give It fair chance,
/ and it will swamp you and me, body, mind
! and soul, forever. In this world 1t only
! gives taint intimatlon OF its vlrulence.
/ ~ NG,.A L.. I.g n...N .NgNn .