Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-07-03
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "Astray, But Recovered"


dstrdy 3 and the Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquityo Of rs oti."-Isaiah lii, g.
Within ninety years at the longest all who
hear OF read this sermon will lie in eternity.
During the next fifty years you will nearly
all be gone. The next ten years will cut a
wide swath among the people. The year
1891 will to some be the finality. Such con-
siderations make this OCCASION absorbing
and momentous. The first half of my text
is an indictment, "All we like sheep have
gone astray." Some one says: Can you
not drop the first word2 That is too general;
that sweeps too great circle" Some man
rises in the audience and he looks over on
the opposite side Of the house AMI hs says:
There is a blasphemer, and / understand
how he has gone astray And there in an
other part Of the house is defrau1er, an
he has gone astray. And there is an impure
person, and he has gone astray.'
Sit down, my brother, and look at homo.
My text takes us all in. 1t starts behind the
pulpit, sweeps the circuit OF the room and
comes back to the point from where il
started, when it says: "All we like sheer
have gone astray." / can very easily under
stand why Martin Luther threw up his hands
after he had found the Bible and cried out,
"Oh my sins, my sins aud why the publ
can, according to the custom TO this day in
the East, when they have any great grief,
began to beat himself and cry as he smote
upon his breast, Col be merciful to me a
sinner"
/ was, like many of you, brought up in the
country, and | know some Of the habits of
sheep and how they get astrav, and what my
text means when it says, "All we like sheep
have gone astray." Sheep get astray in two
ways, either by trying to get into other pas
ture, or from being scare by the dogs In
the former way some Of us got astray. We
thought the religion of Jesus Christ short
commons We thought there was better pas
turage somewhere else. We thought if we
could only lie down on the banks OF distant
streams or under great oaks on the other side
Of some hill we might he better fed.
We wanted other pasturage than that
which God through Jesus Christ gave our
soul, and we wandered on and wandered on,
and we were lost We wanted bread and
we found garbage. The further we wan
dered, instead Of finding rich pasturage we
found blasted heath and saarpened rocks
and more singing nettles. No pasture. How
was it in tho worldly groups when you lost
your child2 Did they come around and con-
sole you very much3 Did not the plain
Christian man who came into your house
and sat up with your darling child give you
more comfort than all worldly associations.
. Did all the convivial songs YOU ever hearJ
comfort you in that day Of bereavement 50
much as the song they sang 10 you perhaps
the very song that was sung by your little
child the last Sabbath afternoon Of her
life?
There is happy land, far, far awAr,
Where saints immortal reign, bright, bright -
day.
Did your business associates in that day Of
1or-na-u nd l., ..s.-
coincidence; Business exasperate1 you,
business wore you out business left
you limp as a rag, business made
you mad. You got dollars. but YOU got No
peace. God have mercy on the man who has
nothing but business to comfort him. Tbs
world afforded you no luxuriant pasturage
A famous English actor stood on the sta 20
lmpersonating, and thunders Of applause
came down from the galleries and many
thought it was the pTouiest moment Of his
ne; Dut there was a man asleep Just in front
OF him, and the fact that that man was in
different and somnoient spoiled all the occa-
SION FOR BIN, and he criel wake no. wake
upm
20 one little annoyalc, has been more
peryading 70 ycIr mind taaa all thu bril-
lant congratulations AMI successes. Poor
pasturage for your soul you found in this
world. The world has cheated you the
world has beiied yOu the world has misn-
terpreted you. the world has peTs 9cute1 you.
1t never comtorted you. On. this world Is
a good rack from which horse may PICK
his hay; 1t Is a good trough from which the
swine may crunch their mess; but 1t gives
but little food to q soul blood bought and
immortal.
What is a soul? l. IS a hope high as the
throne of God. What is a man? You say,
lit is only man" It IS only a man gone
overheard in business life. What is a mans
The battle-ground Of three worlds. with his
hands taking hold of destinies OF light or
darkness. A man No line can measure him.
No limit can bound him. The archangel be-
fore the throne cannot outlive him. The stars
shall die. but ne will watcn thairextinguish-
ment. The world will burn, but he will
gaze on the conhagration. En- Hess ages will
march on: he will watch the procession. \
mani The masterpiece Of Col Almighty
Yet YOU say, at is only man" Can a ma
ture like that be fed on husks Of tho wilder
nessy
Substantial comior: viii not grow
On natures barren soil;
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toll
Some Of you got astray By looking for
better pasturage: Others by being scared OF
ture field. The poor things fly in every di-
rection. In few moments they are torn Of
the hedges aud they are FLASHED of the ditch,
and the lost sheep never gets home unless
the farmer goes after it, There is nothing
so thoroughly lost as n lost sheep. It may
have been in 1851. during the filancia, panic,
or during the financial stres, m the fall OF
1913. when you got astray. You almost be-
came an atheist. YOu said, "Where is Col,
that honest men 60 down and thieves pros
PERI You were dosgel OF creditors. Won
were logged OF the banks, you were dog &C
OF worldly disaster, and some Of you went
into misanthrOpy, and some OF you took -
strong drink, and others OF you ed out o.
Christian association, AMI you go' as.ray Q
man! that was the last time when vou ought
to have forsaken God.
Standing amid tho laundering Of your
earthly fortunes, how could you get along
without a God 10 comfort you. and Col 10
deliver you, and a God t. help you, and Il
God TO save you: You tell me you have been
through enough business trouble almost 10
kill you. | know it. | cannot understand
how the boat could live one hour in that
chopped sea. But do not know by what
process you got astray; some in one way, and
some in another, an1i you could really seq
the position some Of you occupy before God
this morning, your soul would burst into an
agony Of tears and you would pelt the heav-
ems with the cry: God have mercyw Sinai's
batteries have been unlimbsrel above your
soul, and at times you have heard it thunder:
"fhe wages OF sin is death" "All havo
sinned and come short oil the glory Of God
by one man sin entered into tho world, AMI
death by sin; aud 50 death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned.' The soul
that Siuneth il shall die y
When Sebastopol was being bombarde ],
two Russian frigates burned all night in the
harbor THROWING glare upon the trembling
fortress, and some of you are standing in tho
night Of your souls trouble. The cannonads
and the cOnfagration, tho multiplication OF
your sorrows AMI troubles | think must
MAKE the wings Of Gods lowering angels
SILVER to the tip.
But the last part OF my text opens door
wide enough to let us all cut aud to let all
heaven in. Sound it on the organ with all
the stops out. Thrum it on the harps with
all the strings atune. With all the melody
possible let the heavens sound it to the earth
and let the earth tell it to the heavens
"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity OF
us ALL" am glad that the prophet did not
stop to explain whom he meant by hin"
Him of the manger. Him of the blo)ly
sweat Him OF the resurrection throne, Him
Of the cruciixiOn agony. "Ol Him the
Lord hath laid the iniquity OF us ALL
oh" says some man. that is not goner-
Gus that is not fair; lot every man carry his
own burden and pay his own debts" That
SOM Is reasonable. If | have an Obligation