Did Watchman Nee Commit Plagiarism?

Few years ago I came across Harry Ironside notes on the New Testament, which really helped me to understand that all the truths I enjoyed in the LR have actually been taken from the "degraded Christianity."

While reading H. Ironside I bumped into the paragraph about the drowning man, which reminded me Wachman Nee's famous example in his book. Two paragraphs are below: 1st from H. Ironside, another from Watchman Nee. Please note H. Ironside have written it earlier than Watchman Nee - in 1942.
Sorry for the lengthy paragraphs, I think the context is important too.

H Ironside excerpt from Notes of the Gospel of John:
"See what it says in verse 6: “When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?” Jesus “knew that he had been now a long time in that case.” Yes, eight years longer than Christ Himself had been on earth that man had been in this illness. Why did He wait so long? That the man might come to the end of himself. You and I would not have come to Christ if we had not been brought to see our insufficiency. You have heard of the poor man who fell into the water. Unable to swim, he went down once and came up again, and went down again. A strong swimmer stood on the pier, looking on, and the people cried, “Why don’t you leap in and save that man?” He said nothing, but let the man go down again, and then he threw off his coat and plunged in and brought him safely to shore. They said, “Why did you wait so long before you went in to save him?” He answered, “He was too strong before. I had to wait until his strength was gone. I had to wait until he could do nothing himself, until he was helpless.”

I think Jesus was waiting for that. When the man was brought to the pool first he had high hopes. “It won’t be long until I can get in,” he thinks, and then someone else got in before him. Over and over again he had gone through this disappointing experience, and now he is ready to give up in despair. It is the despairing soul that Jesus loves to meet in grace. He saves the one who admits, “I cannot do anything to deliver myself.”

See how the Lord dealt with this man. “When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?” A very simple question. He puts it to everyone. Is my reader unsaved? The blessed Lord is saying, “Would you be made whole?” Do you want to find God’s salvation? “Wilt thou be made whole?” Do you want to know the delivering grace of God? What is your answer? Do you want to be made whole?

And now the excerpt from Watchman Nee:
"One summer I was preaching the gospel in the villages with over twenty brothers. The weather was hot, and we could not take our bath indoors. Therefore, we all went to the river to take our bath. While a few brothers were swimming, one brother had a cramp and began to drown. He kicked his limbs frantically and shouted for help. One of the brothers among us was Wei-san Wang, who was very good at swimming. He had served in the navy. I urged him to quickly jump into the water to save the drowning brother. Yet he stood in the same place and would not move. I was quite desperate and somewhat angry at him for loving his own life so much. When the drowning brother was nearly exhausted and sinking, Brother Wang jumped into the water and swam toward him. With one arm around the drowning one's waist and swimming with the other arm, Brother Wang brought him safely to shore. Later I asked Brother Wang, "Why did you not save him earlier? You could have saved him some suffering, and he would not have taken in so much water." He said, "If I had tried to save him earlier, he would have been struggling for his life and would have grabbed on to anything he could have gotten hold of, and both of us would have drowned. There is a secret to saving a drowning man: Do not save anyone who is living and do not save anyone who is dead; only save those who are half dead. Do not save the dead because it is hopeless to save them. Do not save the living, because they are still kicking with their strength. When you approach them, they will hold on to you and neither they nor you will be able to swim, and both will drown. This is why you should save only those who are half dead, those whom you can grab hold of, but who cannot grab hold of you. In this way, you will be safe, and they will be saved."

We are like the man who was drowning. God will only save us after we have exhausted all of our strength. But the problem is that men often try to make it when they know very well that they cannot make it. We pray, make resolutions, and struggle. This makes it impossible for God to save us. We must be like the drowning man who had exhausted all of his strength in struggling and striving; then God will save us. If we are still kicking with our arms and legs and still making up our minds and struggling, we are still trying to make it and are not yet depleted of our strength. God will wait and not do anything. He will wait until we give up trying to save ourselves, and then He will step forward to save us. Therefore, we must not only be clear that we cannot make it, but must also give up trying to make it. Satan loves to see us stepping forward to fight with him. Once we step forward, he wins the victory. His trick is to induce us to move. As soon as we move, he wins. God has to wait until we drop both of our hands and have completely surrendered. Only then will we overcome. This is the meaning of letting go. Letting go is dropping all of our ability and setting aside our own life completely. By acknowledging that we cannot make it and by saying that we have no intention to try to make it, we will overcome."
***ADMIN NOTE: The above quote appears to have come from The Collected Works of Watchman Nee Set 2 Middle Period (1934-1942) LSM 1993

The brother from Watchman Nee's story is from navy so quite possibly he learned this while serving there. But still I find the similarities quite striking.
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