The Red Cloud chief., 1891-07-10
GONE ASTRAY.
DR.. Talmage Stands By the Ortho-
dox Gospel
Wandering Away Like Lost sheep But Re-
turning to the Fold-God's Mercy In
Time OF Need~Christ the
Saviour.

In a recent sermon at Brooklyn Rev.
7. Dewitt Talmage showed his adber.
to the old-fashioned GOSPEL and
his firmness in orthodoxy. His subject
was: "Astray, but Recovered" and his
text, Isaiah, lii 6: 'All we like sheep
have gone astray; and the Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all" Dr.
Talmage said:
Within ninety years at the longest all
who hear or read this sermon will be 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 considerations
make this occasion absorbing and mo-
mentuous. 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 word? That is
too genera; that sweeps too great a
circle" Some man rises in the audi
ence and he looks over on the opposite
side of the house and he says: "There
is a blasphemer, and / understand how
he has gone astray. And there. in an
other part of the house, is a defraudcr,
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.
Ii starts behind the pulpit, sweeps the
circuit of the room and comes back to
the point where it started, when il says:
"All we like sheep have gone ~astray."
Sheep get astray in two ways; either
10y 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 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 SOU and
we wandered on and we were lost. We
wanted bread and we found garbage.
The further we wandered, instead of
finding rich p~asturage, we found blasted
health and sharper rocks and o
singing nettlcs. No pasture. How
was it in the worldly groups when you
.ost your child? Did they come around
and console you very much? 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 associa-
tons? Did all the convivial songs You
ever heard comfort you i'm hat 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 of her life?
There is a happy land. far. far away.
Where saints immortal reign, bright, bright
~ dav.
Did your business associates i'm that
day of darkness and trouble give you
any especial coincidence? Business ex-
asperated you, business wore you out,
business loft you limp as a rag, bust
ness made you mad. You got dollars,
but you got no peace. God nave mercy
on the man who has nothing but bust
ness to comfort him. The world af-
fordcd you no luxuriant pasturage. A
famous English actor stood on the
stage impersonating. and thunders of
applause came down from the galleries,
and many thought il was the proudest
moment of all his life; but there was a
man asleep Just in IRON 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"
81 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 i'm this world. The world
has cheated you. the world has belied
Won, the world has misintcrpreted you,
the world has prosecuted you. 1t never
comforted you. o, this world is a good
rack from which q horse may pick his
hay; il is a good trough from which the
swine may crunch their mess, but II
gives but little food to n soul blood
bought and immortal. What is a soul?
II is a hope high as the throne OF God.
What is a man? You say: 1T is only
a man" IL is only a man gone over
board in sin. II is only a man gone
overheard i'm business life. What is a
man? The battle ground of three
worlds, with his hands taking hold OF
destinics of light or darkness a man
No line can measure him. No limit
can bound him. The archangle before
the throne cannot outlive him. The
stars shall die, but he shall watch their
extinyuishment The world will burn,
but he will gaze on the conf1agration.
Endless ages will march On. he will
witch the procession. A man! The
masterpiece of God Almighty. fetyou
saw: st is only a man" Can u nature
like that be fed on husks of the wilder
ness?
Substantial comfort will not grow
On natures barren soil:
All we can boast till Christ we know
l. vanity and toll
Some of you got astray by looking
for better pasturage: others by being
scared of the dogs. The hound gets
over into the pasture field. The poor
things fly in every direction In a few
moments they are torn of the hedges
and they are FLASHED of the ditch, and
the lost sheep never gets home unless
the farmer goes after IT. Their Is
nothing so thoroughly lost as a lost
sheen. 1t NAV have been in 1857, dur
ing the financial panic or during the
financial stress in the fall of 1878, wheu
Won got astray. You almost became an
atheist You said: where is God.
that honest men 60 down and thieves
~prosper?" You were dogged of credit
ors, YOU were logged of the banks you
were logged of worldly disaster, and
some of you went into misanthr"py'
and some of you took TO strong drink
and others of you fed out OF Christian
association. and you got astray.
q, man. that was the last time when
vor oucht To have forsaken God. Stand
ING amid the laundering of your earthly
fortunes. how could you get along with
ont a God to comfort you, anu a Tod 70
deliver you. and a tod to help you' and
a God to save you? iou tell me you
have been through enough business
troubles almost to kill you. know It
I.,nnot understand how the boat could
I;v, one hour in that chopped sea- But
-o- hr what proceSS You got