St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-11-25
A STRONG SWIMMER.
From Him Dr.. Talmage Draws a
Noble Lesson.

The Always Ready Helpfuiness I
Religion for Those who St-ug.
glo Against Adverse CIR.
cumstnnces.
Copyright. Louis Klcpsch, lS99)
Washington,
In this discourse DIR. Talmage en-
ploys very bold figure of the Bible I
bring out the helpfulness of religion TO
all tho Sc in any kind of struggle. Th
text is Isaiah 25:11: He shall sprea,
forth His hands in the midst of them, a
he that swimIneth spreadeth forth hi
hands,"
| In the summer season multitudes O
people wade into the ponds and lake
| aud rivers and seas to dive or float O
| swim. In q world the most Of which i
water all men and women should lear,
to swim. Some of you have learned tn,
side stroke introduced by George Pew
tiers in 1850, each stroke of that kint
carrying the swimmer distance of 81,
feet. and some of you may use the over
hand stroke invented by Gardener, til,
expert who by it won the 500 yard cham
pionship in Manchester in 1862, til,
swimmer by that stroke carrying hi.
arm in the air for q more heightened
reach, and some of you may tread the
water as though you had been made tc
walk the sea, but most of you usually
take what is called tie breast stroke
placing the hands with the backs up.
ward, 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 posi-
BILE. and you thus uncorsciously illus
trate the meaning of my text: "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 unfrequent-
ed hooks. You stand to-day on the
bank of river in the broiiing 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 a 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
tf the Gospel need always be fishing in
'lhe same stream and preaching from
The same texts that other people preach
from. / cannot understand the policy
of the minister who, in Blackfriars,
London, England, every week for 30
years preached from the Epistle to the
Hebrews. 1t is an exhilaration to me
when l come across q theme which 1
feel no one else has treated, and nv
text is one of that kind. There are
paths in Gods Word that are weh beat
en- by Christian feet. When men want
to quote Scripture, they quote the old
passages that everyone has heard.
When they want a chapter read, they
read a chapter that all the other peo-
pie have been reading, so that the
church to-day is ignorant of three
fourths of the Bible.
You go into the Louvre, at Paris. You
yourself to one. corridor of that
opulent gallery of paintings. As you
come out your friend says to you: did
rou see that Rembrandt" ''No." ibid
vou see that Reubens?" "No." 'Did
rou see that Titian?" NO" Ibid you
Zee that Raphael?" "No." "Wen,"
ays your friend, "then you did not see
he Louvre" Now, my friends, think
We are too much apt to confine ourselves
o one of the great corridors of Scrip
ure truth, and so much so that there is
lot one person out of a million who has
yer noticed the all suggestive and pow
'rful picture in the words of my text.
The text represents God as strong
WINNER. striking out to push down in
quity and save the souls of men. "He
hall spread forth His hands in the
midst of them, as he that swimmeth
preadeth forth his hands to SWIM"
The figure is bold and many sided.
lost of you know how to swim. Some |
+ you learned it in the city school,
vhere this art is taught; some of you
n boyhood, in the river near your
ather's house; some Of you since you
anne to manhood or womanhood, while
on the beach of the sea. tits
good thing to know how to swim, not |
My for yourself, but because you will |
fter awhile perhaps have to help 9TH
rs.
1 do not know anything more stirring |
r sublime than to see some man like |
'orman Mckenzie leaping from the
hip Madras into the sea to save Charles |
urner. who had dropped from the roy
! yard while trying to loosen the sail,
ringing him back to the deck amid the
uzzas of the passengers and crew. If
man has not enthusiasm enough to
heer in such circumstances, he de-
,rves himself to drop into the sea and
ave no one help him. The Royal HUI
lane society of England was estab-
she'd in 1774. its object to applaud and
.ward those who should pluck up life
ON the deep. Anyone who has per-
,rmed such deed of daring has all the
articulars of that bravery recorded in
public record, and on his breast a
edal done in blue and gold and bronze.
,chor and monogram and inscription,
ling 10 future generations the brav-
y of the man or woman who saved
'me ono from drowning. But il it is
lch worthy thing to save body from
e deep ask you if it is not worth
r thing to save an immortal soul. And
N shall see this hour the Son of God
ep forth for this achievement. "He
all spread forth His hands in the
idst of them, rs he that swimmeth
forth his hands to SWIM"
In order to understand the full force
this figure, you need to realize that
II race is in sinking condition. You
metimes hear people talking of what
ey consider the most beautiful words
our language. One man says it is
ome," another man says it is the word
,other," another says it is the word
esus." but I tell you the bitterest
,pd in all our language, the most an
, and baleful, the word saturated
th the most trouble, the word that ac-
UNITS for all the loathsomeness and
e pang and the outrage and the har-
wing, and that word is ''sin." You
el it with three letters, and. yet those {
rec letters describe the circumference
n YoiorNn tho dso m ntor ~ avorr&b;rr /