The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-07-09
ASTRAY BUT SAVEID.'
There Are No Exceptions for All
People Have Committed
Sins.
Some Of Us Have Done Wrong in
One Way and Some in
Another.

and his text, Isaiah ill.,, 6: Cali we
like sheep have gone astray:. and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us ALL" y
Within 80 years at the longest all
who hear or read this sermon will be
in eternity. During the next SO years
you will nearly all be gone. The next
10 years will cut wide swath among
the people. The year 1891 will to
some be the finality. Such considera-
tions make this occasion absorbing
and momentous. The first half of my
texts an indictment: "All welike sheep
have gone astray.' "Some one says,
"Can you not drop the first word?
that is too general; that sweeps too
great circle" Some man rises in the
audience and he looks over on the op-
posite side of the house and he says:
'"There is blasphemer, and I under
stand 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. Ny text
takes us all in. It 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" I can very
easily understand why Martin Luther
threw up his hands afterhe had found
the Bible and cried out,
ooh, 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 merciful to
me, a sinner"
/ was, like many of you, brought up
IN the country, and I know some Of
the habits OF sheep, and how they get
astray, and what nv text means
when it says, Gail we like sheep have
gone astray.' Sheep get astray in
two ways: either by trying to get in
to other pasture, or from being scared
by the dogs. In the former way some
OF usgot astray. We thought the rell-
glon OF Jesus Christ short commons.
We thought there was better pas
turage somewhere else We thought
live 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 pasturage than that which God
through Jesus Christ gave our soul,
and we wandered on, and we wander
ed 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
health and sharper rocks and more
stlnging 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 darling child give you more
comfort Il ~
THAN ALL WORLDLY ASSOCIATIONS?
Did all the convivial songs YOU ever
heard comfort you in that 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 afternoon ofherlife?
There is happy land, far far, away.
"here saints immortal reign, bright, bright
as day.
Did your business associates in that
day OF darkness and trouble give you
any especial condolences? 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
nave mercy on the man who has moth
Ing but business to comfort him. The
world afforded you no luxuriant pas
turage. A famous English actor stood
on the stage impersonating, and thun-
ders OF applause came down from the
galleries, and many thought it 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, and he cried
"Wake up, wake upH' So one little
annoyance in life has been more per-
vadlng to your mind than all the bril-
liant congratulations and successes.
Poor pasturage for your soul YOU
found in this world. The world has
cheated you, the world has be-
lied you, the world has misinter-
preted you, the world has prosecuted
you. 1t never comforted you. O!
this world is q good rack from which
a horse may pick his hay; it is a good
trough from which the swine may
crunch their mess; but it gives but lit
tile food to a soul blood-bought and
immortal. What is a soul? It is a
hope high as the throne OF God
WHAT is A MAN?
You say: ut is only a man" 1t is
only a man gone. overheard in sin. It
is only @ man gone overheard in
business life. What is a man? The
battle ground OF three worlds, with
his hands taking hold Of destinies Of
light or. darkness. A man! No line
can measure him. Nolimit can bound
him. The archangel before the throne
cannot outlive him. The stars snail
die, but he will watch their extinguish-
ment. The world will burn, but he
will gaze on the contlagration. End
less ages will march on, he will watch
the procession. A man! Themaster-
piece OF God Almighty. Yet you say:
SIT is only q man." Can n naturel ike
that be fed on husks fthe wilderness?
Substantial comfort will not GROW,