The Opelousas courier., 1891-02-28
REV. DR., TALMAGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's
SUNDAY Sermon
TEXT: "Qthsr sheep Ihavs which are moi
OF this fold."-John X. 18 u"

y no monopoly in religion. TIL
! srao " Sod is not a nice little propert,
fenced on all for ourselves. It is not a king;
paIk, at which we look through a barre
sa0eway, wishing we might go In and plucl
1ae lower and look at the deer and th,
s. &c it is fathers orchard, and Their
a1s Dars % let down and gates to swing omen
In my boyhood days, next to the co,,ntr,
scnooinouse where 1 went, there was on
p orchard Of great luxuriance. owned hJ
a very lame man who did not gather tht
apples, and they went to waste by scores OF
! bushels. Sometimes the lads of the school.
20 Ine sinfulness of a nature inherited from
our nrst parents, who fell through the same
temptation, would climb over the fence and
ake some OF these apples, and n~otwithstand-
ing the TACT that there was a surplus. and
all going to waste, the owner of that orchard.
reckless OF making his lameness worse, would
take after these lads and shout. stBoys. dron
tnose apples or I'll set the dog on your
NOW there are Christians who have severe
guard over the Church Of God. They have
a rough and unsympathetic way of treating
outsiders. 1t is a great orchard into which
BOG would like to have all the people come
and take the richest and the ripest fruit. and
tnee more they take the better He likes it.
But there are those who stand with a hard
and severe nature guarding the Church of
God, and all the time afraid that some will
get these apples when they really ought not
to have them,
Have you any idea that because YOU were
napGized at g months of age, and because
you nave all your life been surrounded hv
haioWed influences, you have a right to one
whole side of the Lords table, spreading
yourself out SO nobody else can sit there's
You will have to haul in your elbows. for
there viii comea great multitude to sit at
the table and on both sides Of you. You are
not going to have this monopoly Of religion,
Other sheep have I which are not of this
Mcdonald, the Scotchman, has on tba
Scotch hills q great flock of sheep. Mcdonald
cas- four or five thousand head of sheep.
Some are browsing on the heather, some are
On the hills, some are in the valleys. a few
are IN the yard. One day Cameron comes
over to Mcdonald and says: Mcdonald. you
ave thirty sheep: I have been counting
them" On, no" says Mcdonald. 'Ihave
four or five thousand" "Ahr' SAYS Came
ron, ':you are mistaken. I have Just counted
them. There are thirty" 'sWhy," says Nc
Donald, do you suppose that is all the sheep
| have? lay sheep on the distant hills and
IN the valleys, ranging and roaming every
where. Other sheep have / which are not Of
this fold"
So Christ comes. Here is a group of
Christians, and there is a group OF Chris
eN%HS3 A1aO IACbAOUlSU 4O4U. here IS Il
Presbyterian fold, here is a Baptist fold, here
is a Lutheran fold, and we make our annual
statistics, and we think we can tell SHou Just
now many Christians there are in the world,
dow many there are In the church, how
many in all these denominations. We ag-
sregate them, and we think we are giving
an Intelligent and an accurate account; but
counted them right. There are those whom
you have never seen, those Of whom you
have never hessd. / have My children i'm all
parts of the eaiEb, on all the islands of the
sea, on all the continents, in all the mount
ain and in all the valleys. Do you think
that these few sheep you have counted are
all the sheep / haveP There is a great null
titude that no man can number. Other
sheep have / which are not of this fold"
Christ in my text talks Of the conversion
of the Gentiles as confidently as though they
had already been converted. He sets forth
the idea that His people will come from all
parts of the earth, from all ages, from alteir-
c~umstanees, from all conditions. "Other
sheep have [ which are not of this fold"
In the first place remark the Heavenly
Shepherd will find many of His sheep among
those who ere at present non-churchgoers.
There are different kinds of churches. Some
times you will ind a church made up only of
Christians. Everything seems finished. fhe
church reminds you of those skeleton plants
from which by chemical preparation all the
greenness and the verdure have been taken,
and they are cold and white and delicate IN
beautiful and finished. All that is wanted is
a glass case put over them. The minister on
the Sabbath has only to take an ostrich
feather and brush off tho dust that has ac-
cumulated in the last six days of business.
and then they are as cold and beautiful and
delicate as before. Everything is finished
fnishegntsrmons, finished music, finished
architecture, finished everything.
Another church is like an armory, the
sound of drum and fife calling more recruits
to the Lords army. We say to the appli-
Here is the bath in which you are to be
cleansed, here is the helmet you are to put on
your head, here are the sandals YOU are to
put over your feet, here is the 6feastpiate
you are to put oyef your heart, here is the
sword you are to take in your right hand and
fight His battle with. Quit yourselves like
men,
There are those here. perhaps. who say,
sIt is now ten, fifteen years since | was ip
the habit, the regular habit, of church going"
/ know all about your case: ! AM going u
tell you son thing that will be startling at
the first. and that is that you are going to
become the Lords sheep. sOh,n y6a say,
that is impossible; you don't know my
case, you donst NOW how far ] am from any
thing Of that kind know all about your
case. / nave been up and down the world.
I know why some Of you do not attend upon
Christian services.
go further, and make another
ment in regard to you, and that Ia, you are
not only to become the Lords sheep, butyou
are going to become the Lords sheep this
hour. Gods going to call you graciously by
His spirit; You are going to come INTO the
fold of Christ. This I'M shall not be so
n1,ch for 4hoco yyh0 arn ChrisfianS have
preached to them hundreds and thousands of
times. The sermon that / preach now is go
ing to be chiefly for those who consider them
selves outsiders, but who may happen to be
in the house, and the chief employment of
the Christian people here to-day will be to
pray for those who are not accustomed to
attend upon Christian ~sanctuaries.
When the steamer atlantic went to pieces
on Mars Rock, why'd that brave minister
of the Gospel, of whom we have all read, go
out in the lfeboata Why did he not stay
and look after the passengers that got ashore,
wrapping hannels around them, and kindling
fires for them, and preparing them food?
There was plenty of work to be done on
shore for those who had already escaped.
Ali that brave man new that there were
others who would take care of those, and so
he said, Man the lifeboati Pull away, my
lads, pull awayl Yonder Is a man; there is
a woman freezing In the rigging. Full
awayr I see the oar blades bend in the
strong pull of the oarsnen. Then they come
up to the wreck. The woman is frozen. She
'rops into the wave-alasi poor woman
nd washes out to sea. But then Dir. Ancient
avs: There is a man yet hanging to the
igging. Pull away, my ladsi pub awayF'
hey come up, aad he says: Hold now
there Ave minutes and w will saw you.
Steady steady Now give me your hand.
Leapf Thank God, he is savedl Thank God,
he is savedIn