The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-07-01
ASTRAY, BUT RECOyERED.
An Tvangelistic Sermon by Rev
I. Dewitt Talnage, d. d.
Like Sheep the Whole Human Race Has
! Left the Gospel Pasturagc, and the
Iniquity OF Us All Eas been Laid a.
Upon Christ-A Chance Tor All
Obe Saved. t

Brooklyn Tabernacle last Sunday was
OF SO decidedly evangelical character
as to prove conclusively that while so
many eminent preachers of the day are
drifting away from the old-fashioned
gospel he remains firm in the paths of
orthodoxy. His subject was "Astray,
but Recovered" and his text, Isaiah
lii, Q; "All we like sheep have gone
astray; and the Lord. hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all" Fol-
lowing is the sermon:
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 wide swath among
the people. The year 1891 will to some
be the fnality. Such considerations
make this occasion absorbing and mo-
mentous. 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 gen.
eral; that sweeps too great circle"
Some man rises in the audience and he
looks over on the opposite side of the
house, and he says: There is bias
phemer, and understand how he has
gone astray And there in another part
of the house Is defrauder, 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 MS all in. 1t starts be-
hind the pulpit, sweeps the circuit Of
the room and comes back to the point
where it started, when 1t says: "All we
like sheep have gone astray." l can
very easily understand why Martin
Luther threw up his hands after he had
found the Bible and cried out: "Ohl my
sins, my SINS" and why the publican,
according to the custom to this day in
the east, when they have any great
grief, began to beat himself and cry as
he smote upon his breast: God be mer-
ciful TO me, sinner"
/ was, like many Of You, brought up
In the country, and know some of the
habits Of sheep, and how they get
astray, and what my text means when
1t says: "All we ike sheep have gone
astray.p Sheep get astrsy in two ways.
either by trying to get into other pas
ture, or from being scared by the dogs.
In the former way some ofus got astray.
We thought tho religion Of Jesus Christ
short commons. We thought there was
better pasture somewhere else. We
thought II we could only lie down on
the banks of distant streams, or under
great oaks on the other side of some
hill, we might be better fed. We wanted
other pastures 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 ending rich pas
turage, we found blasted heath and
sharper rocks and more singing net
ties. No pasture. How was II IN the
worldly groups when you lost your
child2 Did they come around and con-
sole 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 as
sociations2 Did all the convivial songs
you ever heard comfort you in that day
Of bereavement so much as the 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 es
day.
day Of darkness and trouble give you
any especial coincidence? Business en-
ssperated you, business wore you out,
business left you limp as rag, busi-
ness made you mad. You got dollars,
but you got no peace. God have mercy
on the man who has nothing but busi-
ness to comfort him. The world af-
forded you no luxuriant pasturage. A
famous English actor stood on the stage
impersonating, and thunders Of APP
plause 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 front Of him and the
fact that that man was Indifferent and
somnolent spoiled all the occasion for
him, ard he cried "Wake up, wake upl"
so one little annoyance in life has been
more pervading to your mind than all
the brilliant congratulations and sue
cesses. Poor Easturage for your soul
you found in this world. The world
has cheated you, the world has behed
you, the world has misinterpreted you,
the world has pcrsecuted YOU. IL never
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