The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1891-01-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
An Appeal to Those Without the
Heavenly Fold.
There Is Yet Room for the Prodlgal, and
Gods Hand ls Ever Ready TO
Reach Out to welcome
His Return.

New York City from the text:
Other sheep l have which are not of this
fold.-John X, l6
There is no monopoly in religion.
The grace of God is not a nice little
property fenced off all for ourselves.
It is not a Kings park at which we look
through barred gateway, wishing we
might go in and pluck the flowers and
look at the deer and the statuary. 1t is
fathers orchard, and there are bars
to let down and gates to swing open.
In my boyhood days, next to the coun-
try school-house where l went, there
was an apple orchard of great luxuri-
ance, owned by a very lame man who
did not gather the apples and they went
to waste by scores of bushels. Some
times the lads of the school, in the sim
fulness of a nature inherited from our
first parents who fell through the same
temptation, would climb over the fence
and take some of these apples and
notwithstanding the fact that
| there was a surplus, and all 60
| ing to waste, the owner of that or
| chard reckless of making his lameness
worse, would take after these lads, and
shout: Boys, drop those apples, or I'll
set the dog on you" Now there are
| Christians who have severe guard over
the Church of God. They have a rough
and unsympathetic way of treating out
siders 1t is n great orchard into which
God would like to have all the people
come and take the richest and ripcst
fruit, and the more they take the better
II . yhn
stand with a hard and severe nature
guarding the Church of God. and all the
| time afraid that some will get these ap-
Piles when they really ought not to
| have them.
Mcdonald, the Scotchman, has, on
| the Scotch hills, a great flock of sheep.
| Mcdonald has four or five thousand
| head of sheep. Some are browsing in
| 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
have thirty sheep; have been counting
them" "Oh, MOP" says Mcdonald, Il
| have four or five thousand" 'Ah!'
says Cameron, you are mistaken; /
have just counted them: there are
thirty" why" says Mcdonald, do
you suppose that is all the sheep l
have? ! have sheep on the distant hills
and in the valleys, ranging and roam
ing everywhere. Other sheep have l
which are not of this fold"
So Christ comes. Here is group of
| Christians, and there is group of
| Christians. Here is a Methodist fold,
here is a Presbyterian fold, here is a
Baptist fold, here is a Lutheran fold,
| and we make our annual statistics, and
we think we can tell you just how many
Christians there are in the world; how
many there are in the church, how
many of all these denominations We
aggregate them, and we think we are
giving an intelligent and accurate &C
count; but Christ comes, and He says:
you have not counted them right
There are those whom you have never
seen, those of whom you have never
heard. ] have my children in all parts
of the earth. on all the islands of the
Yea, on all the continents, in all the
| Mountains and in all the valleys. Do
you think that these few sheep you
have counted are all the sheep have?
There is great multitude that no man
can number. Other sheep have l which
are not of this fold"
Christ, in my text, talks of the con-
version of the Gentiles as confidently as
though they had already been con-
verted He sets forth the idea that His
people will come from all parts of the
earth, from all ages, from all circum-
stances, from all conditions. ''Other
sheep have l which are not of this
sold"
There are those here, perhaps, who
say: 1T is now ten, fifteen years since
was in the habit, the regular habit,
of church-going." l know all about
your case. am going to tell you some
thing that will be startling at the first,
and that is, that you are going to be-
come the Lords sheep. "Oh," you say,
that is impossible; you don't know my
case; you don't know how far am from
any thing of that kind" / know all about
your case. ! have been up and down
the world. | know why some of you
do not attend upon Christian services.
go further, and make another an
noucement in regard to you, and that
is, you are not only to become the
Lords sheep, but you are going to be
come the Lords sheep this hour. God
is going to call you graciously by His
spirit you are going to come into the
fold of Christ. This sermon shall not
be so much for those who are Chris
tians. have preached to them hun
dreds and thousands of times. The ser
mon that preach now is going to be
chiefly for those who consider them
selves outsiders, but who may happen
to be in the house, and the chief EN-
ployment 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 tC
pieces on Mars Rock, why did that brave
minister of the Gospel, of whom we
have all read, go out in the life-boat:
Why did he not stay and look after the
passengers that got ashore; wrapping
fannels around them and kindling fires
for them and preparing them food:
There was plenty of work to be done or
the shore for those who had already
escaped. All! that brave man knew
that there were others who would take
care of those, and so he said
"Man the life-boat! Pull away my
lads, pull away! Yonder is a man
there is woman freezing in the rigging.
Pull away l see the oar-blades bend