St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-09-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Discourse on the Sheep Who
Live Outside the Fold
FI,e Non-Church Goers, Rejecters of
Christianity and the Victims of Evil
Habits-From These the Shepherd
will Call Many of His Sheep.

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
aoId.-John X, 16.
There is no monopoly in religion. The
grace of God is not a little property that
we may fence Off and have all to ourselves.
Tits not kings park at which we look
through barred gateway, wishing that
we miSht 60 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 everywhere
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 deoaying, and by scores and
scores of bushels, never would allow any
of us to touch the fruit One day, in the
sinfuIness of 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 speed reckless of max
ing his lameness worse, and cried out:
''Boys, drop those apples, or III set the
dog on you"
Well, 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
and unsynpatheic 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 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
five thousand head of sheep. Some of them
are browsing on the heather, some of them
are lying down under the trees, some of
them are 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, ~I have great
many more sheep than that. Some are
here and some are elsewhere. They are
scattered all around about I have four
or five thousand in my focks. Other
sheep have, which are not in this fold.
So Christ says to US: Here is knot of
Christians and there is knot of Christ
ians, but they make up small part of the
flock. Here Is the Episcopal fold, the
Methodist fold, the Lutheran fold, the
Congregational fold, the Presbyterian
fold, the Baptist and the Pedo- Baptist
fold-the only difference between these
last two being the mode Of sheep washing;
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 a thousand Of my flock. They
are scattered all over the earth, and sother |
sheep have, which are not of this fold.'"
Christ in my text was prophesying the |
of the Gentiles with as much |
confidence as though they were already
and he is to-day, in the words |
Of my text, prophesying the coming Of |
great multitude of outsiders thatyou never |
supposed would come in, saying to you |
and saying to me:
Other sheep have, which are not OF this |
fold.
In the first place 7 remark that the |
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 greenness and |
verdure taken off of them and are leftcold |
and white and delicate, nothing wanting |
but glass case to put over them. The |
minister of Christ has nothing to do with |
such Christians but to come once week, |
and with ostrich feather dust off the ac-
of the last six days, leaving
hem bright and crystalline as before. But
The other kind of a church is an armory
with perpetual sound of drum and fife,
gathering recruits for the Lord Of Hosts.
We say to every applicant:
tsDo you want to be on Gods side, the
;afe side and the happy side? If so, come
N the arnory and get equipped. Here is
bath in which to get cI ansed. Here are
andals to put upon your feet. Here is a
lelmet for your kow. Here is breast
,late for your heart. Here is a sword for
rour right arm, and yonder is the battle
ield. Quit yourselves like men,"