Swimming for Life

“He shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spieadeth forth his hands to swim.” — Isaiah xxv., 11.

T^’^HE fisherman seeks out unfrequented nooks. You — L stand all day on the bank of a wide river in the broiling sun, and fling out your line, and catch nothing; while the 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 of the Gospel need always be fishing in the same stream, and preaching from the same texts that other people preach from. I can not understand the policy of the minister who, in Blackfriars, London, England, every week for thirty years preached from the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is an exhilaration to me when I can come across a theme which I feel has not yet been treated, and my text is one of that kind. There are paths in God’s Word that are well beaten by Christian feet. When men want to quote Scripture, they quote the old passages that every body has heard. When they want a chapter read, they read a chapter that all the other people 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 confine yourself to one corridor of that opulent gallery of paintings. As you come out 3’our friend says to you, “Did you see that Rembrandt?” “No.”

“Did you see that Eubens?” “No.” “Did you see that Titian?” “No.” “Did you see that Raphael?” “No.” “Well,” says your friend, “then you didn’t see the Louvre.” Now, my friends, I think we are too much apt to confine ourselves to one of the great corridors of this gallery of Scripture truth, and so much so that there are not three persons in the house to-night who have ever noticed the all -suggestive and powerful picture in the words of my text.

This text represents God as a strong swimmer striking out to push down iniquity and to save the souls of men. “He shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim.” The figure is bold and many-sided. Most of you know how to swim. Some of you learned it in the city school, where this art is taught; some of you in boyhood, in the river near your father’s house; some of you since you came to manhood or womanhood, while summering on the beach of the sea. You step down in the wave, you throw your head back, 3’ou bring your elbows to the chest, you put the palms of your hands downward and the soles of your feet outward, and you push through the water as though you had been born aquatic. It is a grand thing to know how to swim, not only for yourself, but because you will after a while, perhaps, have to help others. I do not know any thing more stirring or sublime than to see some man like Norman M’Kenzie 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 amidst the cheering of the passengers and the crew. If a man has not enthusiasm enough to hurra in such circumstances, he deserves himself to drop into the sea and have no one help him. The Eoj-al Humane Society of England was established in 1774, its object to applaud and reward those who should pluck up life from the deep. Any one who has performed such a deed of daring has all the particulars of that bravery put down in a public record, and on his breast a medal done in blue and gold and bronze, anchor and monogram and inscription telling to future generations the bravery of the man or woman who had saved a soul from drowning. But, my friends, if it is such a worthy thing to save a body from the deep, I ask you if it is not a worthier thing to save an immortal soul? And you shall see, to-night, 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, first of all, that our race is in a sinking condition. You sometimes hear people talking of what they consider the most beautiful words in our language. One man says it is “home;” another man says it is the word “mother;” another says it is the word “Jesus;” but I will 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 outrnge, and the harrowing; and that word is “Sin.” You spell it with three letters, and yet those three letters describe the circumference and pierce the diameter of every thing bad on earth and in perdition. Sin! it is a sibilant word. You can not pronounce it without giving the siss of the flame or the hiss of the serpent. Sin! And, then, if you add three letters to that word, it describes every person in this house, and

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every one in the world — sinner. That is y011 and me. We have outraged the law of God; not occasionally, or now and then, but perpetually’. The Bible declares it. Hark! it thunders, two claps, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” “The soul that sinneth, 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.” It was the voice of his conscience. And no man ever does any thing wrong, however great or small, but his conscience brings that matter before him, and at every step of his misbehavior it says, “Wrong, wrong.”

Sin is a leprosy, sin is a paralysis, sin is a consumption, sin is pollution, sin is death. Give it a fair chance, and it will swamp you, body, mind, and soul, forever. Li this world it only gives a faint intimation of its virulence; but after for a thousand quadrillion of years it has ransacked your soul — what then? You see a patient in the first stages of typhoid fever. The cheek is somewhat flushed, the hands somewhat hot, preceded by a slight chill. “Why,” you say, “typhoid fever does not seem to be much of a 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 lift his little finger, and his intellect is gone, then you see the full havoc of the disease. Now, sin in this world is an ailment which is only in its very first stages; but after the grave, it is rending, blasting, all -devouring, all-consuming, eternal typhoid. Oh, if we could see our unpardoned sins as God sees them, our teeth

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would cLatter, and our knees would knock together, and our respiration would be choked, and our heart would break! If your sins are unforgiven, they are bearing down on you, and you are sinking, sinking away from happiness, sinking away from God, sinking away from every thing that is good and blessed, sinking forever.

Then what do we want? A swimmer! A stronr 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 spreadeth forth his hands to swim.” You have noticed that when a swimmer goes out to rescue any one, he puts off his heavy apparel. He must not have any such impediment about him if he is going to do this great deed. And when Christ stepped forth to save us, he shook off the sandals of heaven, and his feet were free; and he laid aside the robe of eternal royalty, and his arms were free; and then he stepped down into the wave of our transgression, and it came up over his wounded feet, and it came above the spear-stab in his side’ — ay, it dashed to the lacerated 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 swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim.”

If you have ever watched a swimmer, you notice that his whole body is brought into play. The arms are flexed, the hands drive the water back, the knees are active, the head is tossed back to escape strangulation, the whole body is in propulsion. And when Christ sprung out into the deep to save iis, he threw his entire nature into it, all his Godhead, his omniscience, his goodness, his love, his omnipotence — head, heart, eyes, hands, feet. Ave were so far out on the sea, and so deep down in the waves that nothing short of an entire God could save ns. Christ leaped out for our rescue, saying, “Lo! I come to do thj will,” and all the surges of human and Satanic hate beat against him; and those who watched him from the gates of heaven feared he would go down under the wave, and, instead of saving others, would himself perish; but, putting his breast to the foam, and shaking the surf from his locks, he came on, on, until he is to-night within the reach of every one here. E^^e omniscient, heart infinite, arm omnipotent. Mighty to save, even unto the uttermost. Oh, it was not half a God that trampled down bellowing Gennesaret! It was not a quarter of a God that mastered the demons of Gadara. It was not two-thirds of a God that lifted up Lazarus into the arms of his overjoyed sisters. It was not a fragment of a God that offered pardon and peace to all the race. No. This mighty swimmer threw his grandeur, his glory, his might, his wisdom, his omnipotence, and his eternity into this one act. It took both hands of God to save us, both feet. How do I prove it? On the cross, were not both hands nailed? On the cross, were not both feet nailed? His entire nature involved in our redemption!

If you have lived much by the water, you have noticed also that if any one is going out to rescue the drowning, he must be independent, self-reliant, able to go alone. There may be a time when he must spring out to save one, and he can not get a life-boat; and if he goes out, and he has not strength enough to bear himself up and bear another up, he will sink, and, instead of dragging one corpse out of the torrent, you will have two to drag out. When Christ sprung out into the sea to deliver us, he had no life-buoy.

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His Father did not help him. Alone in the wine-press. Alone in the pang. Alone in the darkness. Alone on the mountain. Alone in the sea. If he saves us, he 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 sprung into the contest, and plunged in the spurs till the horse’s flanks spurted blood, all France applauded him. But Jesus alone! “Of the people there was none to help.” “All forsook him and fled.” Oh, it was not a flotilla that sailed down and saved us! It was not a cluster of gondolas that came over the wave. It was one person, independent and alone, “spreading out his hands among us as a swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim.”

Behold, then, to-night, the spectacle of a drowning soul, and Christ the swimmer. I believe it was in 1848 when there were six English soldiers of the Fifth Fusiliers wdio were hanging to the bottom of a capsized boat — a boat that had been upset by a squall three miles from shore. It WMS in the night; but one man swam mightily for the beach, guided by the dark mountains that lifted their top through the night. He came to the beach. He found a shoreman who consented to go with him and save the other men, and they put out. It was some time before they could And the place where the men were; but after a while they heard their cry, “Help! help!” and they bore down to them, and they saved them and brought them to shore. Oh that to-night our cry might be lifted long, loud, and shrill, till Christ the swimmer shall come and take us, lest we drop a thousand fathoms down! for a man who will not pray will perish.

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If you have been much by the water, you know very well that when one is in peril help must come very quickly, or it will be of no use. One minute may decide every thing. Immediate help the man wants, or no help at all. Now, that is just the kind of a relief the sinner wants. The case is urgent, imminent, instantaneous. See that soul sinking. Son of God, lay hold of him! It is his last hour of mercy Be quick! be quick! Oh, I wish you all understood 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 he 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 fluttering of the bird kept him on the wave until relief could come. “Would that to-night the dove of God’s convicting, converting, and saving Spirit might flash from the throne upon your soul, and that you, taking hold of its potent wing, might live, and live forever.

I want to persuade you to-night to lay hold of this strong swimmer. “No,” 3’ou say, “it is always ruin.” There is not a river or a lake but has a calamity resultant from the fact that, when a strong swimmer went out to save a sinking man, the drowning man clutched him, threw his arms around him, pinioned his arms, and they both went down together. When you are saving a 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 take hold of you while you take hold of him. But, blessed be God, Jesus Christ is so strong a 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

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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 transportation. Turn your face upon him to-night as the dying martyr did in olden days when he cried out, “None but Christ! None but Christ!” Jesus has taken millions to the land, and he is wnlling to take you there. Oh, what hardness to shove him back when he has been swimming all the way from the throne of God to where you are to-night, and is ready to swim all the way back again, taking your redeemed spirit!

I have sometimes thought what a spectacle the ocean bed will present when in the last day the water is all drawn ofF. It will be a 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 merchantmen went down. There is where the steamers went down. What a spectacle in the last day when the water 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 these streets. Coming here to-night, if you had such superb eyesight, standing at the door while yet this room was empty, you might then have seen thousands of such marks of wrecks scattered all through these pews, the places where on other Sabbaths immortal men were invited to heaven, and refused it. Christ came down in their awful catastrophe, putting out for their soul, “spreading forth his hands as a swimmer sprcadeth forth his hands to swim;” but they thrust him in the sore heart, and they smote his fair cheek, and they perished; the storm and the darkness swallowing them up. Are there any here now who feel that they are shaking? Do they feel the need of a Divine arm? Christ is ready now to step out for their present and their eternal salvation. I ask yoli to lay hold of this Christ, and lay hold of him now. You will sink without him. Oh that God this moment would break the madness of those who will not have the mercy and the favor of that Christ who is the only Saviour the world ever has had, or ever will have! Say, do you want to die? Do you covet ruin? Do you despise heaven? Have you lifted the poniard with which to stab the life of your immortal soul? Sinner, thou knowest not where thou art! On the verge of what woe. On the waves of what sea, “Sinking. Sinking. Sinking, From horizon to horizon not one sail in sight. Only one strong swimmer, with head flung back and arms outspread as “he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim.” I pray God that he will lead you into the peace and hope of the Gospel! You will never have so fair a chance as this very one in which to accept of the Lord Jesus Christ,

I hear a great many in the audience saying, “Well, I would like to be a Christian to-night. I am going to work to become a Christian.” My brother, you begin wrong. When a man is drowning, and a strong swimmer comes out to help him, he says to the man, “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 Jesus, and I am going to help him. I am going to do this, that, and the other thing that will help him;

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and I am going to praj more, and that will help him; and I am going to weep extravagantly over my sins, and that will help him.” No, my brother, it will not. Stop your doing. Christ will do all or none. You can not lift an ounce, you can not move an inch, in this matter of your redemption. This is the difficulty which keeps thousands of souls out of the kingdom of heaven. It is because they can not consent to let Jesus Christ begin and complete the work of their redemption. “Wh3’,”you say, “then is there nothing for me to do?” Only one thing have you to do, and that is, to lay hold of Christ, and let him achieve y• our salvation, and achieve it all. I do not know whether I make the matter plain or not. I simply want to show you that man can not save himself, but that the Almighty Son of God can do it, and will do it, if you ask him. Oh, fling your two arms, the arras of your trust and love, around this omnipotent swimmer of the cross!

My sermon is about ended, and the stenographer has taken it down with his pencil. Oh that the iloly Spirit might write it on all 3’Our hearts! How many will be saved through this particular service? How many will be lost? These are the two questions with which I came upon this platform. After the benediction there will be two strong currents, one current bearing mightily toward heaven, the other bearing mightily toward hell; and in one or the other of these currents you will be caught. In the one you will be carried out to where it empties into the ocean whose waves are fire, and whose ships are fire, and whose beach is fire, or you will be carried into a current which will empty into a sea whose surges beat eternal music against the throne of God. Oh, it is a solemn minute! Have you ever seen them trying to resuscitate a half-drowned person? You remember the manipulation. You remember they tried every possible art. You remember how they knelt down and put their lips to the lips of the insensible patient, and breathed and breathed, trying to get the lungs to work; and at last, when he just gave one feeble sigh, they shouted all around the room, “He lives! he lives!” And now, to-night, your drowning soul, 0 sinner, I hope, is by the grace of Christ to be resuscitated. AYe have gathered around you. Would that this might be the hour when you begin to live! The Lord Jesus Christ steps down, he gets on his knee, he puts his lip to your lip, and would breathe pardon and life and heaven into your immortal soul. God grant that this hour there may be thousands of souls resuscitated from this awful spiritual drowning. I stand on the deck of the old Gospel ship amidst a crowd of passengers, and yet my soul is wrung with sorrow because I see some of j-ou overboard, and I can not help you. May the living Christ this hour put out for your rescue, “spreading forth his hands in the midst of you, as a swimmer spreadeth forth his hands to swim.” Oh that salvation might come to your house this night! You want religion yourselves, and your families need the same religion. Another opportunity for heaven is closinsf, closing, closing.

“Ye sinners, seek his grace,
His wrath ye can not bear;
Fly to the shelter of his love,
And find salvation there.”