The Forrest City times., 1891-01-16
DO YOU ATTEND CHURCH 2
IF NOT, DR. TALMAGE BREACHES
 THIS SERMON FOR YOU,

Why Some People Reject Christian.
 ity.-Gospel-Harden Sinners the
 Most Difficult to Convert.-The
 Heavenly Shepherd and His sheep
 BROOKLYN, N. r., Jan. 1.-The follcw- ing powerful sermon to non-church goers was delivered by Dr. Talmagc this morning in the Academy of Music in this city, and Academy of Music. At the latter service the new choir of two hundred voices rxost 1 effectively led tho musical exercises> Dn Talmage's text was John 10, l6: "Otner sheep have which are not of this fole.s
 There is no monopoly in religio-. The grace Of God is not nice little. property fenced of all for ourselves. t is not a kings park, at which we lo ok throus'o n a barred gateway, wishing we might ivo in and pluck the flowers and hook at tye deer anu .he s'aVary. IL IS ( fathers Orchard, and there are bars to ses down, and gates to swing open. 'N
 In my boyhood AVS, next to the country nvnoso "n re I went there was an appie orcnaiu ~f steat luxsriance, owned
 I 4 mn who dG not gather the afp,es, any thes went to waste by scores VI ousu' xs Sometimes the lads of the senoo| q the sinfulness of natme inher- .rem osr first parents who fell through .no sss'ne temptation, would climb over the fe nsee and take some of these apples, and notwithstanding the fact that there was s'urplus, and all going to waste, the owner ' of that orchard, reckless of making his
 lamencss worse. would take after these | fa1e 1l zi,a or I'll set the dog on you!' Now there
 arc Christians who keep severe guard over
 the Church of God. They have 3 rough
 and uusympathetic way of treating outsid-
 CTS. It is great orchard Into which God
 would like to have all the people come and
 take the richest and the ripest fruit, and
 the more they take the better he likes it. But there arc those who stand with hard
 and severe nature guarding the Church of God, and all the time afraid that some will get these apples when they really ought not | to have them.
 Have you any idea that, because you
 were baptized at eight months of age, and because you have all your life been sur
 rounded by hallowed influences, you have .
 right to one whole side of the Lords table, spreading yourself out so nobody else can
 sit there? You will have to haul in your
 elbows, for there will come great multi tude to sit at the table. and on both sides
 of you. You arc not going to have this
 monopoly of religion. "Other sheep have
 l which are not of this fold"
 Christ, in my text, talks of the conver-
 sion of the Gentiles as confidently as
 though they had already been converted
 He sets forth the idea that his people W i'll come from all parts of the earth, from all
 ages, from all circumstances, from all con-
 ditions- ''Other sheep have which are
 not of this fold.'
 In the first place, l remark, the
 Heavenly Shepherd will find many of his
 sheep among those who are at present
 non-church-goers. There are different
 kinds of churches. Sometimes you will
 find church made up only of Christians Everything seems finish hed. The church
 reminds you of those skeleton plants from
 which. by chemical preparation, all the greenness and the verdure have been taken, and they are cold. and white, and delicate, and beautiful, and finished. All
 that is wal nted is glass case put over l them. The minister on the Sabbath has only to take an ostrich feather and brush | of the dust that has accumulated in the last six days of business, and then they are as cold and beautiful and delicate as
 before. Everything is fnished: finished sermons, finished music, finished archi- lecture, finished everything.
 There are those here, perhaps, who say, 1 ''lt is now ten, fifteen years since was in the habit, the regular habit, of church. going" know all about your caso am going 10 tell you something that will be startling ut the first, and that is. that you are going to become the Lords sheep 1 "Oh," you say, that is impossible; you don't know my case; you don't know how far am from anything of that kind" l know all about your case. have been up and down the world. I know why some of you do not attend upon Christian ser vices
 l go further, and make another announcement in regard to you, and that 1 is, you arc not only to become the Lords | sheep but you arc going to become the Lord sheep this hour. God is 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 for those who are Christians l have preached to them hundreds and thousands of times. Tho sermon that l preach now is going to be chiefly for those who consider themselves 1 outsiders but who may happen to be in the house. and the chief employment of the Christian people here today will be 10 pray for those who are not accustomed to attend upon Christian sanctuaries. You are now this hour in tho tide of Christian influences. You are going to be swept in; your voice Is going 10 be heard in prayer; you are going to be consecrated to God; you are going to live life of use fitness. and your death bed is going ts be surrounded by Christian sympathixers; and devout men will carry you 10 your burial when your work is done. and these words will be chiselled for your epitaph: .Pre- cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints-" And all that history is going to begin today. ''Other sheep have which l are not of this fold.' Again remark, the Heavenly Shepherd | is going to find many of his sheep among l those who are now rciecters of Christianity. 1 do not know how you came to reject | Christianity. do not know whether 1t | was through hearing Theodore Parker l preach, or whether if was reading Rcnan's i Life of Jesus. or whether It was through l 1t may be--probably Is the caso-that you l were disgusted with religion and disgusted | with Christianity because some man who | professed 10 be Christian defrauded you l and he being a member of the Church. and ! you taking him as representative Of the Christian religion, you said. ''Well, if | that's religion, l don't want any of it."
 do not know how you came to reject | Christianity, but you frankly tell me you do reject it; you do not think the Bible |