Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-10-23

| you are saving 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 take hold of him. But,
blessed be God, Jesus Christ is SO
| strong swimmer 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 martyr
did in o1den times when he cried out:
'None but Christ! None but Christ"
| 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 re-
| deemed spirit!
Don't Struggle.
I have sometimes thought what a
| spectacle the ocean bed will present
when in the last day the water is all
| drawn off. 1t will be 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 q
spectacle In the last day, when the
water is drawn off! But, oh, how
much more solemn IL 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 catastrophe, putting out for their
souls, spreading forth his hands as a
swimmer spreadeth forth his hands
to SWIM" but they thrust him in the
sore heart, and they smote his fair
cheek, and the storm and darkness
swallowed them up. I ask you to lay
hold of this Christ and lay hold OF him
now. You will sink without him.
From horizon to horizon not one sail
In sight, only one strong swimmer,
with head flung back and arms out
spread.
1 hear many saying: "Well, I would
like to be Christian. 1 am going to
work to become a Christian" My
brother, you begin wrong. When a
man Is drowning and a strong swim
mer comes out to help him, he says to
him: Now, be quiet. Put your arm on
my arm or on my shoulder, but don't
struggle, don't try to help yourself, and
I'll take you ashore. The more you
struggle and the more you try to help
yourself the more you impede me.
Now, be quiet and I'll take you
ashore" When Christ, the strong
swimmer, comes out to save a soul.
the sinner says: That's right. I am
glad to see Christ, and 1 am going to
help him in the work of my redemp-
ton. I am going to pray more, and
that will help him, and am going to
weep extravagantly over my sins, and
that will help him." No; it will not.
Stop your doing. Christ will do all or
none. You cannot lift an ounce, you
cannot move an inch, in this matter Of
your redemption.
Lay Hold of Christ.
This is the difficulty which keeps
thousands Of souls out of the kingdom
Of heaven. 1t is because they cannot
consent to let Jesus Christ begin and
complete the work of their redemp-
ton. why" you say, then is there
nothing for me to dow Only one
thing have you to do, and that is to
lay hold of Christ and let him achieve
your salvation and achieve it all. I
do not know whether make the mat
for 1oi 7 civ 1Y1Iv 70
show you that a man cannot save him
self, but that the Almighty Son OF
God can do it and will do it If you ask
him. Oh, fling your two arms, the
arm Of your trust and the arm of
your love, around this omnipotent
swimmer of the cross!
"Have you ever stood by and seen
some one under process of resuscitation
after long submergence? The strong
swimmer has put him on the beach aft
er a struggle in the waters. To excite
breathing in the almost lifeless body
what manipulation, what friction of
the cold limbs, what artificial move
ment of the lungs, what breath of the
rescuer blown into the mouth of the
rescued! And when breathing begins,
and after awhile the slight respiration
becomes the deep sigh, and the eyes
open, and the blue lips take on a smile,
what rejoicing, what clapping Of
hands all up and down the beach, what
congratulation for the strong swimmer
and for all who helped in the restora-
ton, what shouting Of HE lives, he
livesw Like this is the gladness when
a soul that has been submerged in sin
and sorrow is coming to- What de-
sire on the part of all to help, and,
when under the breath of God and I'M
der the MANIPULATION by the wounded |