The Penn's Grove record., 1891-01-23
KEV. DIR, TAIN All.
The Brooklyn Iiv1nc-s SUNDAY
Sermon,

TEXT; "Otker sheep Th1vs which are aol
Of this fold."-John K, 10.
There IS no monopoly in religion. The
grace Of God is not a nice little property
fenced off all for ourselves. 1t is not e Kings
park, at which we look through a barred
gateway, wishing we might go in and pluck
the flowers and look at the deer and the
statuary. 1t is a fathers orchard, and there
are bnrs to let down and gates to swinE open.
In my boyhood deys, next TO the country
schoolhouse where / went, there was an
apple orchard OF great luxuriance, owned by
a very lame man who did not gather the
apples, and they went to waste by scores OF
bushels. Sometimes the lads o. the school,
in the ~sinfulness of q nature inherited from
our first parents, who fell through the same
temptation, would climb over the fence aud
AXE some of these apples, and notw.thstand-
ing The fact that there was q surplus, and
all going to waste, the wue Of that orchard,
reckless OF making his lameness worse, wdUld
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 u~nsympathetic way OF treating
outsiders. 1t is q great orchard into which
God would like to have all the people coms
and take the richest and the ripest fruit, and
the more they take the better He likes it.
But there are those who stand with a hard
aud severe nature guarding the Church of
God, and all the time afraid that some will
get these apples when they really ought not
to nave them.
Have you any idea that because you were
baptized at eight months ofage, and because
you have all your life been surrounded by
hallowed influences, you nave a right to one
whole side of the Lords table, spreading
yourself out 50 nobody else can sit thsreg
You will have to baul in your elbows, for
there will comes great multitude to sit ct
the table and on both sides of you. You are
not going to lave thism monopoly of religion.
Other sheep have which are not OF this
fold"
Mcdonald, the S~cotchman, has on the
Scotch hills a great flock of sheep. Mcdonald
has four or five thousand head of sheep.
Some are browsing on the heather, some are
on the hills, some are in the valleys, q few
are in the yard. One day Cameron comes
over to Mcdonald and says; 'McDonald, you
have thirty sheep. 1 have been counting
them" 'Oh, mop says Mcdonald. 'Ihave
four or five thousand" "Ahr' says Came
ron, you are mistaken. 1 have just counted
them. There are thirty" why" says Nc.
Donald, do you suppose that is all the sheep
l have? Ihave sheep on the distant hills and
in tire valleys, ranging and roaming every.
where. Other sheep have l which are nos OF
this fold."
So Shrlsb comes, fIeEe Is u group OIL
Christians, and there is a group of Chris
tians; here is q Methodist fold, here is @
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 in all these denominations. We az
gregate them, and we think We are giving
an intelligent and an accurate account, bu5
fkrist anp1ac ond Fo Surg. tfVor havra mt
counted them right. There are those whom
you have never seen, those of whom you
have never heard. Ihave My children in all
parts of the Garth, on ell the islands of the
sea, OIL all the continents, in ali the mount
aims and in all the valleys. Do you thinis
that these few sheep o a. counted are
all the sheep l have? There is a great null
titude that no man can number. Other
sheep have l 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 all cir
cumstances, from all conditions. 'Other
sheep have l which are not Of this fold"
In the first place. remark the Heavenly
Shepherd will find many Of His sheep among
those who are at present non-churchg0ers,
There are different kinds of churches. Some
times you will find a church made up ouIy of
Christians. Everything seems finished. Ghe
church reminds you OF those skeleton plants
from which by chemical preparation all the
g~reenness and the verdure have been taken,
and they are cold and white and delicate and
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 the dust that has &C.
cumulated in the last six days Of business,
and then they are as cold and beautiful and
delicate as before. Everything is finished
finished sermons, 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-
cants, "Come in aud get your equipment.
Here is the bath in which you are TO be
cleansed, here is the helmet you SIRE to put on
your head, here are the sandals you are to
put over your feet, here is the b~reastplate
you are to put over your heart, here is tue
sword you are to taken your right hand and
fight His battle with. Quit yoursslv yes like
men,"
There are those here, perhaps. who say,
sit is now ten, fifteen years since l was in
the habit, the regular habit, Of church going"
I know all about your case, / am going to
tell you something that will be startling at
the first, and that is that you are going to
become the Lords sheep. "Oh," you say,
ludt IL lulppsSll4Gs NOu uOit y hhVH LILY
case; you don't know how far am from any.
thing of that kind" know all about your
case. I have been up and down the world,
/ know why some Of you do not attend upon
Christian services.
Igo further, and make another ~aauouncs-
men in regard to you, and that is, 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 sermon shall not be So
much f. these who are Christians. / have
preached to them hundreds and thousands o.
times. The sermon that I preach now is 60
ing to be chiefly fer 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 Ue to
pray for those who are not accustomed to
attend upon Christian sanctuaries.
When the steamer Atlantic went to pieces
on Mars Rock, why did that brave minister
1f the Gospel, of whom We have all read, 90
out in the lfeboat? Why cid he not say
md look after the passengers that got ashore,
wrapping tiannels around them, andEin hing
fires for them, and preparing them iCul3
There was plenty OF work to be done On
shore for those who had already escaped.
All! that brave man knew that there were
others who would take care OF those, ana 50
he said, Man the hieboatl Pull away, my
lads, pull nwayl Sonde is a man; tEer4 IS
q woman freezing in the rigging. PJ}i
swayw / see tue oar blades bend n the
strong pull of the oarsmen. Then they come
up to the wreck. The woman is frozen, She
drops into the wave-alas! poor woman
and washes out to sea. But then .Ir. Ancient
says: "There is a man yet hanging to the
iigging, Pull away, my ladsi pull away"
They come up and he says; Hold now
there five minutes and We will save you.
Steady! steadyl. Now give me your hand.
neapl Iaank GOD, be IS saysdi IAaIk God,
be is saved"
So there are men now in the breakers.
They have made @ shiPwrsck o. life. WEAa
we come out 70 save them, some are swept og
swept off before we can reach them-a~d
there arc others still hanging on. StsaJy
there among the slippery p.scas! St aiy
Leap into this itebcat! Now is your cnsnes
or Aeaven! This hour some Q; you ara &C.
ne 10 be saye1. FIR away from Got I'm
are sglns 10 be tTOG h- ui-4 d. ~ -. s.--.
have ] v'hic1 H- .''f7
You are now This hour IN the tide Of
christian influences, You are gong 10 be
swept T.; your vo!cs IS going to he hsard in
prayer; you are going to BE- cansacratad tt
God; you are going to live a lfs OF useful.
aess, n your deathbed is going 10 be SIR.
roundedby Christian synpasnize"s. aad de-
vout men will carry you to your burial when
your work is done, and these WORDS will be
chiseled for your epltaphi "Prec,ogs N TIE
sight of tha lord ia the daoth NJ HE r-ip+eB