The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-07-03
The Lord VIII Push None Away.

The Lord VIII Push None away
BROOKLYN. n. Y, June %, 1891
DIR. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered a
stirring sermon yesterday on the sub
ject, "Astray, but Recovered" choos-
ing for his text Isaiah, lii, 6: "All we
like sheep have gone estray; and the
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity CT
us all"
Within ninety years at the longest al
who hear or read this sermon will be II
eternity. During the next fifty years
you WI, nearly all be gone. The next
ten years will cut a wide swath among
the people. The year 1891 will TO some
be the 0finality. Such considerations
make this occasion absorbing and mo-
mentous. The first halfof my text Is
an Indictment: "All we like sheep have
gone astray." Some one says: Can
you not drop the first word? That Is
too general: that sweeps to great a cir
Gle" Some man rises in the audience
and he looks over on the opposite side
of the house and he saws: There is a
blasphemer. and | understand how
he has gone astray. And
there in another part of the
house is defrapder. and he has gone
astray, and there is an impure person
and he has gone astray" Sit down, my
brother. and look at home. My text
takes US all in. 1t starts behind the
pulpit. sweeps the circuit of the room
and comes back to the point where it
started, when it says: "All we like
sheep have gone astray." | can very
easily understand why Martin Luther
threw up his hands after he had found
The Bible and cried out: 80. my sins,
my sins, :" and WHY the publican, accord
Ing to the custom to this day in the east,
when they have any great grief, began
10 beat himself and cry as he smote
apOn his breast: God be merciful to
ne a sinner | was, like many of you.
brought up in the country, and | know
tome of the habits Of sheep and how
they get astray, 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 another pasture or
from being scared 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 pasturage somewhere else
We thought if we could only lie down
on the banks of distant streams or I'M
der the great oaks on the other side of
some hill we might be better fed. We
wanted other pasturage than that
which God through Jesus Christ gave
our soul and we wandered on and we
wandered on and we were lost. We
wanted bread and we found garbage.
The further we wandered, instead OF
finding rich pasturage. we found
blasted heath and sharper rocks
and more singing nettles. Nopasture.
How was it in the worldly groups when
YOU lost your child? Did they come
around and console you very much? Did
not the plain christian man who came
into your house and sat with your darl-
ing child give you more comfort than
all worldly associations? Did all the
convivial songs YOU ever heard comfort
you in that day of bereavement so much
as the song they sang to 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 away.
Where saints immortal reign. bright. bright
as day.
Did your business associates in that
day of darkness and trouble give you
any especial coincidence? Business eX-
asperated you. business wore you out,
business left you limp as 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. The world afforded
you no luXuriant pasturage. A famous
English actor stood on the stage imper
sonating, and thuuders Of applause came
down from the galleries, and many
thought it was the proudest moment of
his life: but there was man asleep just
in front of him. and the fact that that
man was Indifferent and somnolent
spoiled all the occasion for him. and he
cried, wake up. Wake up
So one little annoyance in life has
been more pervading to your mind than
all the brilliant congratulations and
successes. Poor pasturage for your
soul you found in this world. The
world has cheated you, the world has
belied you, the world has misinter-
preted you, the world has prosecuted
you, 1t never comforted you! O! this
world is a good rack from which a
horse may pick his hay; it is a good
trough from which the swine may
crunch their mess, but it gives but lit
tie food to a soul blood bought and i'm
mortal. What is soul? 1t is hope
high as the throne of God. What is a
man? You say: 1T is only a nan" 1t
is only man gone overheard in sin. It
is only a man gone overheard in bust
ness life. What is man? The battle
ground of three worlds, with his hands
taking hold of dsstinies of light or
darkness. A man! No line can meas
ure him. No limit can bound him. The
srchangel before the throne cannot out
live him. The stars shall die but he
will watch their extinguishment. The
world will burn. but he will gaze on the
CONFEDERATION. Endless ages will march
on. he will watch the procession. A
man! The masterpiece of God Almighty.
Yet you say, 1T is only a man." Can a
nature like that be fed on husks Of the
wilderness?
When Sehastapol was being bonn
barded, two Russian frigates burned all
night in the harbor, throwing a glare
upon the trembling fortress: and some
OF you are standing in the night Of your
souls trouble. The cannonade and the
conHsgraton, the multiplication OF your
sorrows and troubles think must make
the wings of Gods lowering angels
SILVER to the tap.
But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let US all out and
to letall heaven in Sound il on the
organ with all the stops out. Thrum it
on the harp 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 inieuity of
us all" am glad that the prophet did
not stop TO explain whom he meant py