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

Christ sprang out into the sea to de-
liver US. he had no life buoy. His
Father did not help him. Alone in the
wine press, alone in the pang, alone in
the darkness, alone on the mountain,
shall have all the credit, for "there
was none to help" no oar, no wing, no
ladder! When Nathaniel Lyon fell in
the battle charge in front of his troops,
he had a whole army to cheer him.
When Marshal Ney sprang into the
contest and plunged in the spurs till
the horses TANKS spurted blood, all
France applauded him. But Jesus
alone! "Of the people there was none
to help" Cali forsook him and fed"
Oh, it was not a fotiIla that sailed
down and saved US. It was not a clus
ter of gondolas that came over the
wave. 1t was one person, independent
and alone, spreading out his hands
among us as a swimmer spreadeth
forth his hands to swimr
Behold, then, the spectacle of a
drowning soul and Christ the swim
mer, I believe it was in 1S48 when
there were six English soldiers of the
Fifth fusileers who were hanging to a
capsized boat-a boat that had been
upset by a squat three miles from
shore. It was in the night, but one
man swan nightly for the beach,
guided by the dark mountains that
lifted their top through the night He
came to the beach. He found a shore
man that consented to go with him
and save the other men, and they put
out. It was some time before they
could find the place where the men
were, but after awhile they heard their
cry, "Help, help" and they bore down
to them, and they saved them and
brought them to shore. Oh, that this
moment our cry might be lifted long,
loud and shrill till Christ, the swim
mer, shall come and take us lest we
drop a thousand fathoms under!
The Gospel Urgent.
II you have been much by the water,
you know very we'll that when one Is
in peril help must come very quickly,
or it will be of no use. One minute
may decide everything. Immediate
help the man wants or no help at all.
Now, that is just the kind Of relief we
instantaneous. See that soul sinking!
Son Of God, lay hold of him. Be quick,
be quick! Oh, I wish you all under
stood how urgent this gospel is.
There was a man in the navy at sea
who had been severely whipped for
bad behavior, and he was maddened
by it and leaped into the sea, and no
sooner had he leaped into the sea
than, quick as lightning, an albatross
swOoped upon him. The drowning
man, brought to his senses, seized hold
of the albatrOsS and held on. The f1ut-
tering of the bird kept him on the
wave until relief could come. Would
now that the dove of Gods convict
ing, converting and saving spirit might
flash from the throne upon your soul
and that you, taking hold Of it's potent
wing, might live and live forever.
The world has had strong swimmers
besides the one Of the text, perhaps the
greatest among them Matthew Webb
of the British mercantile marine serv-
ice. He leaped from the deck of the
Russia, the Cunard steamer, to save
the life Of sailor who had fallen over
board. No wonder the passengers sub
scrfbed for him large reward and the
Royal Humane Society Of 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 Blackwell pier to Graves
end pier, IS miles, and from Dover to
Calais, 80 miles, where he crossed, yet
he was drowned at last in our Nj
agara's whirlpool. But the strong
swimmer of my text put out alone to
swim a wrathier sea and for vaster
distance, even from world to world, to
save us who were swamped in guilt
and woe, and brought us to the shore
Of safety, although he at last went
down into the whirlpool of human and
satanic rage. "He descended into hellI'
Not a New Invention.
New modes have been invented for
rescuing a drowning body, but there
has been no new invention for rescuing
a drowning soul. In 1885 Lionel Lukin,
q London coach builder fitted up a
Norway yawl as d lifeboat and called
it the Interchangeable, and that has
been improved upon until from all the
coasts Of the round world perfect life
boats are ready to put out for the relief
Of marine disasters. In IS years the
French Society For Saving Life From
by their lifeboats 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 the power
of statistics to commemorate. What
rocket lines and sling life buoys and
tally boards and mortars and ham,
mocks and cork mattresses and life
saving stations filled with machinery
FOR saving tho h0dioS of tho 6r0wpiOOi