Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-29
ASTRAY, BUT FOUND.
The Way All Sinners Who Are Lost
May Save Themselves.
SIN MAKES EACH AND ALL CROSS.
DR.. Talmage breaches Sermon of an
Evangelical Character.
DOOR THROUGH WHICH ALL MAY ENTER

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcH.l
BROOKLYN, June 2S. DIR. Talmage'
sermon to-day is of so decidedly evangelical
a character as to prove conclusively tha
while so many eminent preachers of the da.
are drifting away from the old-fashionec
gospel he remains firm in the path of ortho
doxy. His subject is "Astrsy, but Recov
d.. ered,' and mis- text, Isaiah xiii, 6: "An WI
. like sheep have gone astray: anC
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity O
us all"
Within 90 years at the longest all who heal
or read this sermon will be in eternity. Dur
ing the next 50 years you will nearly all bt
gone. The next ten years will cut wide
swath among the people. The year 1881 vii
to some be the finality. Such consideration
make this occasion absorbing and momen
tous. The first half of my text is an indict
ment: "An we like sheep have gone astray.
Someone says: "Can you not drop the first
word? that is too general; that sweeps toe
great a circle" Some man rises in the au
dience and he looks over on the other side
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 us all in. 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 dis
tant streams, or under 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
Oh, and we were lost. We wanted bread and
we found garbage. The further we wan
dered, instead of finding rich pasturage, We
found blasted heath and sharper rocks and
moro singing nettles. NO pasture. How
was it in the worldly groups when you lost
sole you very much7
Business Left You Limp.
Did your business associates in that day of
darkness and trouble give you any especial
coincidence? Business exasperated you,
business wore you out, business left you
limp as q rag, business 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 afforded
YOU no luxuriant pasturage. What is a soul?
1t is hope high as the throne OF God. w hat
IS q man2 You say: ut Is only man." 1t
i only a man gone overheard in sin. 1t is
only a man gone overheard in business life.
worlds with his hands taking hold OF des-
tinieS of light or darkness. man! No line
can measure him. No limit can bound him.
The archangel before the throne cannot out
live him. The stars shall die, but he will
watch their eNtinguishment. The world
will burn. but he will gaze on the conf1agra-
ton. Endless ages will march on; he Will
watch the procession. A man! The master
piece OF God Almighty. 1ety you say: "1t is
only man. Can a nature like that be fed
on husks OF the wilderness2
l. n Nlo
financial panic or during the financial stress
IN the fall of 1873, when you got astray. You
almost became an atheist You said: where
is God, that honest men go Gown and thieves
prosper?" You we're dogged of creditors, you
were dogged of the banks, you were dogged
OF worldly disaster, and some OF you went
into misanthropy, and some of you took to
strong drink, and others of you fed out of
Christian association, and you got astray.
o. man, that was the last time when you
ought to have forsaken God. Standing amid
the laundering of your earthly fortunes,
how could you get along without God to
comfort you and a God to deliver you, and a
God TO help you, and n God to save youf You
ness trouble almost to kill you. know it.
cannot understand how the boat could live
one hour in that chopped sea. But do not
know by what process you got astray; some
in one way, and some in another, and il YOU
could really see the position some of you
occupy before God this morning, your soul
would burst into an agony of tears and you
would pelt the heavens with the cry: "God
have mercy!"
A Door 60 Let All Heaven In.
But the last part of my text opens a door
wide enough to let US all out and to let all
heaven in. Sound it on the organ with all
the stops out. Thrum it on the harps 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 iniquity of us ALL"
u = ,l,sNNs H.
explain whom he meant by Him" Him of
the manger, Him of the bloody sweat Him
of the resurrection throne, Him of the cruci-
fNiOn agony. "On Him the Lord hath laid
the iniquity OF US ALL"
''OI'' says some man, "that is not generous
that is not fair; let every man carry his own
burden and pay his own debts" That sounds
reasonable II 1 have an obligation and
] have the means to meet it,
and l come to you and ask you
10 settle that obligation. you rightly
say, PAY your own debts" If YOU and are
walking down the street, both hale hearty
and well. and ask you to carry me, you say
and say rightly: walk on your own feet"
But suppose you and l were in regiment
and I was wounded in the battle and fell un-
conscious at your feet from gunshot frac-
lures and dislocations what would YOU do?
1ou would call to your comrades saying,
Come and help me- this man is helpless;
bring the ambulance, let us take him to the
hospital" and / would be dead lift in your
arms, and you would lift me from the ground
lance and take me to the hospital and have
all kindness shown NE. Would there be
anything mean in your doing thatf Would
there be anything Oemeaning in my accept
ing that kindness? o! no. You would be
mean not to do il. That is what Christ does.
Christ comes and looks down in your face
and says: II have come through all the
laceratiOns of these days. and through all
the tempests of these nights: have come to
bear your burdens and to pardon your sins
and to pav YOUR debts Put them on NV
shoulder, put them on My heart.' "On Him
the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us ALL"
Sin Makes All Cross.
Sin has almost pestered the life out of
some of you. At times it has made you
cross and unreasonable, and it has spoiled
the brightness of your days and the peace of
your nights. There are men who have been
Tiddled of sin. The world gives them no
SOla"e. GOsSamer and volatile the world
while eternity, as they look forward to it,
Is black as midnight. They writhe under
the Stings OF a conscience which proDoses to
give no rest here and no rest hereafter: and
yet they DO not repent, they do not pray
they do not weep. They do not realize TINT
just the position they occupy is the position
occupied by scores, hundreds and thousands
OF men who never found any hope.
II this meeting should be thrown open
and the people who are here could give their
testimony, what thrilling experiences we
should hear on all Sidesi There is man in
the gallery who would say: II had brilliant
surroundings, had the best education that
one of the best collegiate institutions of this
country could give, and l observed all the
moullities of life, and / was self-righteous
and 1 thought l was all right before God as 1
am all right before men; but the Holy Spirit
came TO mo one day and said: You are a
sinner: the Holy Spirit persuaded me of the
fact. While had escaped the sins against