Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-03

Take her away from me, Lady Jane |
Grey, Take her away, Lady Jane |
Greyi" 1t was ,ae vJfce of conscience. |
And no man ever does anything wrong. |
however great or small, but his con-
science brings that matter before him.
and at every step of his misbehavior
it says. Wrong, wrong!" Sin is a lep-
rosy; sin is paralysis; sin is con-
sumption; sin is pollution; sin is death
Give it a fair chance and it will swamp
you and me. body, mind and soul, for
ever. In this world it only gives a
faint intimation of its virulence. You
SEQ a patient in the first stages of ty-
phoid fever. The cheek is somewhat
flushed, the hands somewhat hot, pre-
coded by slight chill Why" you
say, typhoid fever does not seem to
be much of disease" But wait until
the patient has been six weeks under
it. and all his energies have been
wrung out. and he is too weak to lit
his little finger, and his intellect gone.
thea you see the full havoc OF the
disease. Now, sin in this world is an
ailment which is only in its first
stages; but let it get under full sway
and it is an all-consuming typhoid. Oh.
if we could see our unpardoned sins
as God sees them, our teeth would chat
ter and our knees would knock to-
gether, and our respiration would be
choked, and our heart would break. If
your sins are unforgiven. they are
bearing you down. and you are sink
ing-sinking away from happiness,
sinking away from God. sinking away
from everything that is good and
blessed.
Then what do We want? A swim
mer, A strong swimmer! A swift
swimmer, And, blessed be God. in
my text we have him announced. He
shall spread forth his hands in the
midst of them, as he that swimmeth
stretcheth forth his hands to swim"
You have noticed that when a swimmer
goes to rescue any one he puts off his
heavy apparel He must not have any
such impeachment about him if he is
going to do this great deed. And when
Christ stepped forth to save us he
shock off the sandals of heaven. and
his feet were free AID then he stepped
down into the wave of our transgres-
sions. and it came UP over his wounded
feet. and it came above the spear stab
in his side-aye. it dashed to the lacer-
ated temple, the high-Water mark OF
his anguish. Then. rising above the
flood. He stretched forth his hands in
the midst of them. as he that swim
meth spreadeth forth his hands to
swim"
I have sometimes thought what
/ 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
Inc harpooners went down. There is
where the line of battleshipS 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
/ spectacle in the last day, when the wa
/ ter 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 catas-
trophe. putting out for their souls,
spreading forth his hands as swim
mer spreadeth forth his hands TO
swim: but they thrust him liz The sore
heart. and they smote his fair cheek
and the storm and darkness swallowed
/ them up. l ask you to lay ha.4 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 outspread
7 hear many saying, We'll. l would
like to be a Christian. | 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 your
self. and I'll take you to the shore. The
more you struggle, and the more you
try to help yourself, the more you i'm
pede 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. l am
glad to see Christ and | am going tC
help him in the work of my redemp
ton. l am going to pray more, ant
that will help him; and l am going tt
weep extravagantly over my sins, anC
that will help him" No; it will not
Stop your doing. Christ will do all OF
none. You cannot lift an ounce; you
cannot move an inch, in this matter O
your redemption.
This is the difficulty which keeps
/ thousands of souls out of the kingdom
of heaven. 1t is because they cannO
complete the work of their redemp
: ton why" you say, then is Their,
nothing for me to do?" Only one th:T,g
have you to do, and that is to la!
> hold of Christ and let him achiey;
your salvation, and achieve it all
do not know whether | make the mat
ter plain or not. l Simply want to show
you that a man cannot save himself
out that the Almighty Son of Go,
can do it, and will do it if you asl
him. Oh. fling out your two arms
, the arm of your trust and the arm o
your love-around this omnipoteI
swimmer OF the Cross.
/ Have you ever stood by and seer
some one under process of resuscitatiol