The Bossier banner., 1891-09-03
ASTRAY, YET RECOVERED.
An Appeal to the Stray Sheep by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage.
Drifting from the OId-Fashioned Gospel
May Afford Temporary Diversion,
But the Old Fold and the Old
Shepherd are the Best.

i nc IO1lOW1ng discourse, aprOpOS OF
the tendency of the times to drift from
orthodox beliefs, was delivered by Rev.
I. Dewitt Talmage in the new Brook
lyn tabernacle from the text:
All we, like sheep, have gone astray; .
and the Lord hath laid on Him the in
iquIty of us all.-Islaah ILL.,, 6.
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 consider
ations make this occasion absorbing
and momentous. The first half of my
text is an Indictment: "All we like
sheep have gone dstray." Some one
says: Can you not drop the first
word? That is too general; that
sweeps too great a circle" Some man
rises in the audience 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 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 as 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." l can very
easily understand why Martin Luther
sc dc Sff h. Lol
the Bible, and cried out: 20! my sins,
my sinsl' and why the publican, ac-
cording 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 merci-
full 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 like sheep have gone
astray." Sheep get astray in two ways:
either by trying to get into other pas
ture, or by 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 be better fed. We want
ed 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 find
ing rich pasturage, we found blasted
heath and sharper rocks and more
stinging nettles, No pasture. 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 up with your dar.
ling child, give you more comfort than
all worldly associations? Did all the
convivial songs you ever heard comfort
you in that day of bereavement sc
much as the song they sang to you, per
haps the very song that was sung by
your little child the last Sabbath after.
noon 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 or
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 i'm.
personating, and thunders of applause
came down from the galleries, and
many thought it was the proudest mo-
ment of all his life; but there was man
asleep just in front of him, and the fact
that that man was Indifferent and SOM
nolent spoiled all the occasion for him,
and, he cried, wake up, wake upT' Sc
one little annoyance in life has been
more pervading to your mind than all
the brilliant congratulations and sue
cess. Poor pasturage for your soul you
found in this world The world has
cheated you, the world has belied YOU.
the world has misinterpreted you, the
world has prosecuted you. 1t never com.
forted YOU Of this world is good rack
from which horse may pick his hay; it is
good trough from which the swine may
crunch their mess; but it gives but little
food to the soul blood bought and i'm
mortal. What is a soul? 1t is hope
high as the throne of God. What is a
man? You say: ''It is only a man" It
Is only man gone overheard in sin. 1t
is only man gone overheard in busi-
ness life. What is man? The battle
ground of three worlds, with his hands
taking hold of destinies of light or dark
ness A mani No line can measure
him. No limit can bound him. The
archangel before the throne can not
out.ive him. The stars shall die, but
he will watch their extinguishment.
The world will burn, but he will gaze
on the confagration. Endless ages
viii march on; he will watch the pro-
cession A man! The masterpiece of
God Almighty. Yet you say: ''It is
only man." Can a nature like that
no fed IN hnSLa of tho xxyiIda,.,aseo