Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-10-26
CHRIST THE RESCUER
REV. DR.. TALMAoE'S LESSON OF THE
STRONG SWIMMER.
4rhs HeIpfuIness of Religion For
Those Who Struggle Against Adj
verse circumstances - Putting I'm
plicit Trust In the Saviour.

rhe Helpfu1Dess of Religion For
Those Who Struggle Against Adj
verse Circumstances - Putting Inn
plictt Trust In the saviour.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1891
WASHINGTON, Oct 22.-In this dis
course DIR. Talmage employs very bold
figure of the Bible to bring out the help
fulness II religion for all those in any
kind OF struggle. The text is Isaiah XIV,
ii, HE shall spread forth his hands in
the midst of them, as he that swimmcth
epreadeth forth his hands"
In the summer season multitudes of
people wade into the ponds and lakes and
rivers and seas to dive or float or swim.
In world the most Of which is water
all men and women should learn to swim.
Some OF you have learned the side stroke
introduced by George Pewters in 1880,
each stroke of that kind carrying the
swimmer q distance of six feet, and some
Of you may use the overland stroke in
vented by Gardener, the expert who by
It won the 500 yard championship in Man
chester in 1852, the swimmer by that
stroke carrying his arm in the air for
more len gthened reach, and some of you
NAV tread the water as though you had
been made to walk the sea, but most of
you usually take what is called the breast
stroke placing the hands with the backs
upward, about five inches under the wa
ter, the inside of the wrists touching the
breast, then pushing the arms forward
concident with the stroke of the feet
struck out to the greatest width possible,
and you thus unconsciously illustrate the
meaning of my text HE shall spread
forth his hands in the midst of them, as
4, IL Ia
hands to swim"
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
hooks. You stand all day on the bank Of
river in the broiing sun and fling out
your line and catch nothing, while an
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 l do not
know why we ministers of the gospel
need always be fishing in the same stream
and preaching from the same texts that
pther people preach from. / cannot un-
derstand the policy OF the minister who
In Blackfriars London, England, every
week for 80 years preached from the
Epistle to the Hebrews. 1t is an exhil-
aration to me when / come across
tneIue WHICH Jetl HO Out tiSt las lltdt-
ed; 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 chapter that all the other
people have been reading, so that the
church today is ignorant Of three-fourths
of the Bible.
You go into the Louvre at Paris. You
confne yourself to one corridor Of that
opulent gallery Of paintings. AS you
come out your friend says to you, did
you see that Rembrandt" NO" did
you see that Rubens?' NO" Odd you
see that Titan" NO" Did you see
that RaphaelY' No" "Well," says
your friend, then you did not see the
Louvre" Now, my friends, l think we
are too much apt to confne ourselves to
one of the great corridors of Scripture
truth, and so much so that there is not
one person out Of a million who has ever
noticed the all suggestive and powerful
picture in the words of my text.
Pushing Down Iniquity.
This text represents God as a strong
swimmer, striking out to push down in
EQUITY and save the souls of men. He
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 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 womanhood,
while summering on the beach of the
sea. 1t is a good thing to know how to
swim, not only for yourself, but because
you will after awhile perhaps have to
help others.
l 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 passengers and crew. Ii
man has not enthusiasm enough to
cheer in such circumstances, he deserves
himself to drop into the sea and have
no one help him. The Royal Humane
Society of England was established in
1I'4, its object to applaud aud reward
those who should pluck up life from the
deep. Any one who has performed such
a deed of daring has all the particulars
of that bravery recorded in a public rec
ord and on his breast medal done in
blue and gold and bronze, anchor and
monogram and inscription, telling to fu
ture generations the bravery of the man
or woman who saved some one from
drowning. But if it is such a worthy
thing to save a body from the deep
ask you if it is not a worthier thing tC
save an immortal soul. And you shall
see this hour the Son OF God step forth
for this achievement. He shall spread
forth his hands in the midst Of them, al
be that swimmeth spreadeth forth hi
hands to swim"
In order to understand the full force o
this figure, you need to realize that on
race is in sinking condition. You some
times hear people talking of what the.
consider the most beautiful words in GU
language. One man says it is "home,
another man says it is the word moth
err" another says it is the word Jesus,
but ! tell you the bitterest word in al
our language, the word most angry ant
baleful, the word saturated with tn
most trouble, the word that accounts 70
all the loathsomeneSs and the pang AM
the outrage and the narrowing, and tina
word is "sin." You spell it with tire
letters, and yet those three letters dc
scribe the circumference and pierce tn