The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-03

wave urstil reiief could come. Would
now that the dove OF Coils
ing converting and saving spirit might
fash from the throne upoa your soui
and that you. taking hold O. its potent
wing, mfght live and live forever
The world has had strong swimmers
besides the one Of the text. perhaps the
creates among them Matthew Webb
Of the British mercantile marine serv-
ice He feaped from h deck OF the
Russia the Cunard steamer, to save
the life OF q safaor who had fallen over
board No wonder the passengers sub
sc~io.d FOR him a large reward and the
Royal Humane Society 81 london dec
GRATED him with honors A mighty
swimmer was he, by the strength OF his
own arm and foot pushing through the
waters from B1ackwak pier 20 Graves
II pier. is miles, and from Dover TO
Calais. - miles. where he crossed. yst
he a drowned at last in our Nj
agara's whirlpool. But n strong
swimmer OF my text PUT out alone 10
swim q wrathier sea and for vaster
distance. even from world 10 world. %
saw Us who were sTamped In CUNT
and woe. and brought Us 10 the shore
OF safety. Through he At last went
down into the whirlpool OF human and
satanic rage He descended into he'll"
NOT 4 NEW INVENTION.
New models have been invented for
rescuing a drowning body. but rhere
has been no new invention Tor reSculng
a drowning soul In 17S5 Lonsf IIikin.
a London coach builder. fiuted up a
Norway yawi as a ifeboa and called
il the Insubmergfbae. and that has
been improved upon until from all the
coasts of the round world perfect He
boats are ready TO put out for the relief
Of marine disasters In l6 years the
French Society For Saving Life From
Shipwreck. by their lIfebioats and gun
apparatus saved 2.129 lives The Ger
man Association for the Rescue OF
Life from Shipwreck, the Royal Ma
tional Lifeboat institution and our
United States life saving service
have done a work beyond h power
Of statistics 10 commemorate. What
rocket lines and sling life buoys and
tally boards and morcars and ham
mocks and cork mattresses and life
saving stations filled with machinery
for saving the bodies of the drowning!
But let ms here and now make ii plain
that there has been no new way In
vented for the moral and eternal res
cue of a struggling soul Five hundred
attempts ait such cOntT1vance nave been
made, but AID of them dead failures.
Hear liz! There is none other name
under heaven given among men where
by we must be saved" than h name
of Jesus The mighty swimmer of my
text comes down off the beach of heav-
en- and through the breakers, cannes
buffeted and bruised, and. reddening
the waves from his own decorations, he
cries: Lay hold of my arm! Put your
head on my shoulder Hear the beating
of my loving heart! Be We saved, for I
am God, and there is no other!"
/ want to persuade you to lay hold
of this strong mo" you
say; lit is always disastrous for a
drowning man TO lay hold of a swim
mer." There is no a i've or lake but
has a calamity resultant from the fact
that when a strong swimmer went out
to save a sinking man the
man clutched him. threw his arms
around him, pinioned his arms, and
they both went down together. When
you are saving a man in the water,
you do not want TO come up by his face.
You want to come up by his back. You
do not want him to hold you while you
AXE hold of him. But, blessed be God,
Jesus Christ is SO strong a he
comes not to our back, but to our face,
and he asks us to throw around him the
arms of our love and then promises to
take us to the beach, and he will do it.
Do not trust that plank of good works.
Do not trust that shivered spar of your
own righteousness. Christ only can
give you safe transportation. Turn
your face upon him, as the dying mar
tyr did in olden times when he cried
out. None but Christ. None but
Christi Jesus has taken millions to
the land, and he is willing to take you
there. oh, what hardness to thrust
him back when he has been swimming
all the way from the throne Of God,
where you are now, and is ready to
swim all the way back again, taking
your redeemed spirit!
DON'T STRUGGLE.
| have sometimes thought what a
spectacle the ocean bed will present
when the last day the water is all
drawn off. 1t will be a line of wrecks
from beach to beach. There is where
the ~harpooners went down. There is
where the line of battle ships went
down. There is where the merchant
men went down. There is where the
steamers went down, a long line of
wrecks from beach to beach. What a
spectacle in the last day, when the
water is drawn off! But, oh, how
much more solemn if we had an eye to
see the spiritual wrecks and the places
where they foundered! You would find
thousands along our roads and streets.
Christ came down in their awful ca
t~astrophe, putting out for their souls,
spreading forth his hands as a SWIM
mer spreadeth forth his hands to
SWIM" but they thrust him in the sore
heart, n they smote his fair cheek,
and the storm and darkness swallowed