The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-11-08
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON,
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE Blythe NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Lay Hold of Chrlst--The Help
fulness of Religion In Fighting Life's
Battle-Be Bold For the Right and
Trust in the Son of God.
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1899. !

Bottle-be Bold For the Right ant
Trust in the Son of God.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch. 1891
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse DR.
Talpage employs a very bold figure OF th
Bible to bring out the helpfulness OF re
liglon 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 ht
that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands. d
In the summer season multitudes OF peo
pie wade into tho ponds and lakes am
a world the most Of which is water all m Ter
and women should learn to swim. Some o.
you have learned the slde stroke intro
duced by George Pewters In 1850, eact
stroke OF that kind carrying the swimmer
distance OF six feet, and some OF you may
use the overland stroke invented by Gar
dener, the expert who by 1t won the sol
yard championship In Manchester in 1862
the swimmer by that stroke carrying bis
arm In tie air for moro heightened reach
and some OF you may tread the water us
though you had been made to walk the sea
but most OF you usually take what Is call.
ed the breast stroke, placing the hands
with the backs upward, about five inches
under the water, the inside OF the wrists
touching the breast, then pushing the
arms forward coincident with the stroke OF
the feet struck out to the greatest width
possible, and you thus unconscionsly illus
trate the meaning OF my rext, "He shall
spread forth his hands In the midst OF them,
as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his
hands to SWIM"
The fisherman seeks out unfrequented
hooks. You stand all day on the bank of
river In the brolling sun and fling out
your line and catch nothing, while IN e1-
pert angler breaks through the jungle and
goes by the shadow OF the solitary rock
and, in az 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. I do not know why we
ministers of the gospel need always be
fishing in the same stream and preaching
from the saEie texts that other people
preach from. cannot understand the
policy OF the minister who In Blackfriars,
London, England, every week for thirty
years preached from the Eplstle to the
Hebrews. It Is an e1hiararion to me
when come across theme which feel
no ono else has treated, 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
church to. day Is ignorant OF three-tourths
Of the Bible.
You 90 into the Louvre at Paris. You
contine yourself to one corridor OF that
opulent gallery OF paintings. Asyou come
that Rembrandt?" "No." "Did you see
that Rubens?" "No." "Dld you see that
ritian?" "No." "Did you see that Raph-
aeI?" "No." "well," says your friend.
'then you did not see the Louvre" Now,
my friends, think we are too much apt to
sonflne ourselves to one OF the great. corri-
dors Of Scripture truth, and so much so
that there is not one person out OF q mil
lion who has ever noticed the all sugHes-
tive and powerful picture In the words OF
my text.
This text represents God as strong
swimmer, striking out to push down tntq-
uity and save the souls Of men. "He shall
spread forth his hands In the midst OF
them, as he that swim meth 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 womanhood, while sum-
mering on the beach OF the sea. It is a
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 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 passen-
gers and crew. II man has not enthusi-
- In ,,nh al
stances, he deserves himself to drop into
the sea and have no one help him. The
Royal Humane Society OF England was es-
tablished In 1774, its object TO applaud and
reward those " ho should pluck up life from
the deep. Any one who has performed
such a deed OF daring has oil the particu-
lars OF that bravery recorded In public
record and on his breast a medal done In
0lue 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 II 1t Is such a worthy thing to
save a body from the deep ask you IL 1t is
not O worthier thing to 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, as he that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands to SWIM"
In order to understand the full force OF
this figure, you need to realize that our
race is in sinking condition. You some
times hear people talking OF what they
consider the most beautiful words in all
our language. One man says 1t Is "home,"
another saws 1t Is the word "mother," an.
other SAYS 1t the word "Jesus," but I 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.
rowing, and that word is "sin." You spell
1t with three letters, and yet those three
letters describe the circumference and
pierce the diameter OF everything bad In
the universe. Sin is sibilant word. You
cannot pronounce 1t without giving the
siss of the flame or the hiss OF the serpent.
Sin! 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 perpetuully. The Bible declares
It. Hark! It thunders two claps: 1.-The
heart Is deceitful above all things and des-
peratelv wicked" "Tne soul that siDneth,
it shall die" What the Bible says our
own conscience affirms.
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 her away from me!
Lady Jane Grey! Take her away! Lady
Jane Grey!" 1t was thevoice OF conscience.
And no man ever does anything wrong
however great or small, but the conscience
brings that matter before him, and at
every step OF his misbehavior 1t says,
Wrong, wrong!" Sin is leprosy; sin Is a
paralysis: sin is q consumption, sin is pollu-
lion; sin Is death. Give 1t fair chance,
and it will swamp you and me, body. mind
and soul, forever. In this world 1t only
gives faint intimatlon OF its viruleace.
You SEE patient in the first stages OF ty.