The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-08-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
q Discourse on the Sheep Who
Live Outside the Fold.
The Non-Church Goers, Rejeeters Of
Christianity and the Victims OF EVIL
Hablts-From These the shepherd
will Call Many of HIS Sheep.

Rev. T. Dewitt TaImage, in q recent
sermon at "The Hamptons," took for his
subject "The Sheep Outside the FOld,"
illustrating it from the text:
Other sheep have which are not of this
oold.-John 4, Is.
There is no monopoly in religion. The
grace of God is not little property that
we may fence off and have all to ourselves.
1t is not a kings park at which we look
through barred gateway, wishing that
we might go in and see the deer and the
statuary, and pluck the flowers and the
fruits in the royal conservatory. No, it is
the Father orchard, and verywhere
there are bars that we may let down and
gates that we may swing open.
In MY boyhood, next to the country
school house there was an orchard of
apples, owned by very lame man, who,
although there were apples in the place
perpetually decaying. and by scores and
scores of bushels, never would allow any
of us to touch the fruit. One day, in the
sinfulness of a nature inherited from our
first parents. who were ruined by the same
temptation, some of us invaded that
orchard, but soon retreated, for the man
came after us at a speed reckless OF max.
ing his lameness worse, and cried out:
''Boys, drop those apples, or I'll set the
dog on you"'
Wei, my friends, there are Christian
men who have the church under severe
guard. There is fruit in the orchard for
the whole world, but they have rough
mud unsymfatheiic way Of accosting out
siders, as though they had no business
here, though the Lord wants them all to
come and take the largest and the ripest
fruit on the premises. Have You an idea
that because YOU were baptized at thirteen
months of age, and because you have all
your life been under hallowed influences
that therefore you have a right to one
whole side of the Lords table, spreading
yourself out and taking up the entire
room: tell you, no. You will have to
haul in your elbows, for l shall to-day
place on either side of you those whom
you never expected would sit there; for,
as Christ said to the Jews long ago, SO he
says to you and to me:
Other sheep have which are not of this
fold
Macdonald, the Scotchman. has four or
fSethousand head of sheep. Some of them
are browsing on the heather, some of them
are lying down under the trees, some of
them ere in his yard; they are scat
tered around in eight or ten different
places. Cameron, his neighbor, comes
over and says:
81 see you have thirty sheep; have just
counted them"
"No,' says Macdonald, 81 have a great
many more sheep than that. Some ere
here and some are elsewhere. They are
scattered all around about. have four
Or five thousand in my flocks. Other
sheep have, which are not in this fold.
So Christ says to us: Here is knot %
Christians and there is a knot of Christ
tans, but they make up a small part OF the
Rock. Here is the Episcopal fold, the
Methodist foil, the Lutheran fold, the
Congregational fold, the Presby terrain
fold, the Baptist and the Pedo- Baptist
fold-the only difference between these
last two being the mode of sheep va shinc;
and so they are scattered all over and we
come with our statistics. and say there are
So many thousand of the Lords sheep; but
Christ responds:
"No. no; you have not seen more than
one out of thousand OF my flock. They
are scattered all over the earth, and 'other
sheep l have, which are not of this fold.'"
Christ IN my text was prophesying the
conversion of the Gcn,iles with as much
confidence as though they were already
converted, end he is to-day, in the words
of my text. prophesying the coming of a
great multitude of outsiders that you never
supposed would core in, saving to you
and saying to me:
Other sheep have, which are not Of this
fold.
In the first place l remark that the
Heavenly Shepherd will find many of his
sheep amid the non church goers. There
are congregations where they are all
Christians, and they seem to be complete
ly finished, and they remind one of the
skeleton leaves which, by chemical prepa-
ration, have had all the ereenness and
verdure taken off of them and are left cold
and white and delicate, nothing wanting
Tut glass case to put over them. The
minister of Christ has nothing to do with
such Christians but TO come once a week.
and with ostrich feather dust off the ac-
emulation of the last six days, leaving
them bright and crystalline as before. But
the other kind of church is an armory
with perpetual sound of drum and fife,
gathering recruits for the Lord of Hosts.
We say to every applicant:
"Do you want to be on Goi's side, the
safe side and the happy side. If SO, come
IN the armory and ge: equipped. Here is
. bath in which to get cl ansed. Here are
sandals to put upon your feet. Her. is
helmet for your brow. Here is a breast
plate for your heart. Here is a sword for
your right arm, and yonder is the battle
field. Quit yourselves like men,
There are some here who say: II stopped
going TO church ten or twenty years ago"
Ny brother, is it not strange that you
should be the first man should talk to to-
day. I know all your case. know it
very well. You have not been accustomed
to come into religious assemblies, bu.
have surprising announcement to make
TO you. You are going to be one of the
Lords sheep.
-'Oh" you say. ait is impossible; you
don't know how far away 1 am from any
thing of that kind"
know all about it. Ihave wandered up
and down the world, and l understand
your case I have . still more startling
announcement to make in regard to you.
fva are not only going to become one OK
the Lords sheep, but viii become one to-
day. You sill 60 from this service to talk
With some one about your soul. People Of
God, pray for that man!
Other sheep have. which are not Of this