Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-02
An Evangelical Sermon by Rev.
Dr.. TaImage at Brooklyn.
IN THE PATHS OF ORTHODOXY.
His Text 6cepts No 0ne-It Embraces the
Pulpit and the Home Circle.
The Narrow Pathway to Eternal Torment
and the Bright Highway to Ever
lasting Life BIazed for
All to See.
AsTRAY, But RECOVERED.

BRookIlS y, June 2S-Dr Talmage's ser
mon to-day is of so decidedly evangelical a
character as TO prove conclusiveLy. that
while so many eminent preachers Of the
day are drifting away from the old-fash-
Toned Gospel, he remains firm in the paths
of orthodoxy. His subject is, ''Astray, but
Recovered and his text. Isaiah, Iii, 6:
'All we, like sheep. have gone astray:
and the Lord hath laid On him the iniquity
Of US all -
Within ninety years at the longest all
who hear or read this sermon will be in
eternity. During the next fifty years you
viii nearly all be gone. The next ten years
vii! cut Z wide swath among the people.
The year 1891 viii 70 some be the tinality.
Such considerations make this occasion alb
Toiug and mOmentOuS. The first half Of
my text IS an indictment: ''AH we. like
sheep. have gone dstrdS. Some one says:
Can you not drop the first word That is
too general; that sweeps too great i circle. y
Some man rises in the audience and he
looks over on the opposite side of the house,
and ne says. There IS d oiaSphCmcr, and
! understand how he has gone astray. And
fheFu in another part OF the house IS a de
frauder. and he has gone &StrLy. And there
IS an impure person, and he has gone
:stray" Sit down, my brother, and look
"a home
NY TENT TAKES Us ALL IN.
Il starts behind the pulpit sweeps the cir
cult of the room and comes back to the
point where il etarted, when il says: ''All
We, like sheep, have gone astray." / can
very easily understand why Martin luther
threw up his hands after he had found the
Bible ana cried out 20. my sins, my
sins, 80 and why the publican, according 10
the custom t. this day in the East. when
they have any great grief, began TO beat
himself and cry Is ne SmOte upon his
breast: tod be- merciful 70 me, sinner. -
was, like many of you, brought up in
the country, and know some of the habits
of sheep. and how tney get a5trdY. and
what my text means when il says, ''All We,
like sheep nave zone ;IStray.' Sheep get
ASlray in TWO ways: either by trying Ia get
into another pasture. or from being scared
by the dogs. In the former way some of us
got aSlray. We thought the religion of
Jesus Christ short commons. We thought
there was better paStura"c 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 wanted other
pasturuge than that which God through
Jesus Christ gave our soul, and We wan
dered on, and we wandered on, and we We're
lost We wanted bread and
We FOUND CARRIAGE.
The further we wandered. instead of find
ing rich pasturage, we found blasted heath
and sharper rocks and more singing net
ties No pasture. How was il 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 than
all worldly associations. Did all the con-
yivial songs you ever heard comfort you in
that day OF bereavement so much as the
song they sang 10 You, perhaps the very
song that WAS sung by your little child the
last Sabbath afternoon OF her life!
There is = happy land. far far way.
Where saints immortal reign, bright, bright as
day
Did your business associates in that day
of darkness ana trouble give YOU any cS-
pccial coincidence; Business eXasperated
you, business wore You out. business left
you limp Is a rag, business made You mad.
You got dollars. but you got no peace. God
have mercy on the man who has nothing
but business to comfort him. The world
afforded You no luXUriant pasturaCe. \
famous English actor stood on the stage
impcrsonatiug. and thunGers of applause
came down from the galleries, and many
thought IL WAS the proudCSt 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 somnOcut spoiled all the
occasion for him, and he cried Wake up,
wake up" SO one little annoyance in life
HIS bAt'lA lllbit yl st'll 10 Your nlll lllttil
all the brilliant congratulations and sue
ccSses. Poor pastLrage for your soul you
found il this world The world has cheated
YOU, the world has belicd you, the world
has misiutcrpreted you. the world has per-
secuted vou.
IT NEVER CoMFoRTED Yor.
O this world IS 4 good rack from which
horse may pick his hay; it IS good trough
from which the swine may crunch their
me, but it gives but little food to soul
b.ooi-bought and immortal. What is
-oul! j. Is hope high is the throne of
Col What is Il man, You say: 1t is
only 4 man" Ii IS on!ya man gone over
board in sin. II is only 4 man gone over
board in business life What is a man?
hands taking hold of destinies of light or
darkness \ man. No line can measure
him. No limit can bound him. The
before the throne cannot outlive
h q. The stars shall die, but he win watch
their eNtingUishmcut The world will
barn, but ne will gaze on the Conhagration.
Endless ages will march on. ne will watch
the procession. y man. The masterpiece
Of God Almighty. Yet YOU say, n is only
= man" Can 4 nature like that be fed on
huskS NJ the wilderneSS3
Substantial comfort VIII not grow
on natures barren soil;
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toll.
Some of you got as;ray by looking for
better pasturage: others by being scared of
the dogs. The hound gets over into the
pasture field. The poor things fly in every
direction. In few moments they are torn
OF the hedges and they are FLASHED of the
ditch, and the lost sheep never gets home !
unless the farmer goes after ii. There is |
nothing so thoroughly lost as lost sheep |
j may have been in 1851, during the |
financial panic or during the financial |
stress in the fall of 1873, when you got |
sstray. You almost became an atheist. |
You said: Where is God. that honest |
men go down and thieves prosper?' You |
were dogEed of creditors, YOU were logged |
of the banks. YOU were logged of worldly |
disaster. and some of You went into mis- |
and some of you took TO strong |
drink. and others of you fled out of Christ
ian association, and You got astray. oh! |
man. that was the last time when you ought |
10 have fOrSaken God. Standing amid the |
laundering of YOUR earthly fortunes how
could you get along without God to COM
Tort You, and 4 God 10 deliver you, and q
God 10 help you, and Il God to save youl |
You tell me you have been through enough |
business trouble almost 10 kill you.
I KNOW IT.
can not understand how the boat could
i've 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 |
+ 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!n Sinai'S batteries have |
been unlimbered above your soul and at
lines you have heard it thunder: The
wages of sin is death '.All have Sinned |
md come short of the glory of Cod by
me man sin entered into the world. and