Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-03-04
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Heavenly Congratulations"

orer ninety and ntTle Just persons 1Oho need
no repentance. Luke XIV, z.
A lost sheep! Nothing can be more thor
oughly lost. look through thu window OF
a shepherds house at night. The candles are
lighted. The shepherd has just placed his
staff against the mantle. He has taken off
his coat, shaken out Of it the dust and hung
it up. [ see by the candle light that there
are Deighbors who have come in. The
shepherd tagged out with the long tramp,
sits down a bench, and the wife and the
children and the neighbors say to him,
Come now, tell US how you found the poor
thing" wv ell" he says, this morning |
went out to the yard to look at the flock.
No sooner had l looked over the
fence than l saw something wrong.
The fact was they did not count right.
Nlnety-fve, nlnety-slx, ntnety-seven,
ninety eight, ninety-nine-only ninetv-nine.
Mcdonald, you know we had hun ired.
And l;wonder which one was gone and /
began again, and / counted ninety-five,
ninety-sIx, ninety-seven, ninety eight nine
ty-nine. Well [ whistled up the dogs, and
I started on the fields and across the
bridges, and [ tracked the moors, and [
leaped the gullies, but no bleating of the
poor thing did [ near. l said to myself
The lamb must have fallen into ditch,
pack of wolves from the mountain
must have torn it to pieces and sucked
up. You see it was a pet lamb. 1t
that one with the black spot
on the right shoulder that used to
come and hex my hand as [ crossed the field
and somehow | could not give it up. So
went on and on and on until after awhile l
heard the dogs bark, and [ said What's
that? Then [ fastened to the top of the
hill, and looked down and there | saw the
poor lamb. 1t had fallen into the ditch
and as came where it was and bent over
the ditch and stopped down to lift the poor
thing out, | wish you could have seen the
loving and imploring and tender way it
looked at me. lifted it out, and it was all
covered with the slush and the mud It was
an awful thing to do, but lifted it out, and
1t was so lame and SO weak it could not walk
alone, so [ threw it over my shoulder
and [ started homeward, and the con-
ditlon of that lamb you may judge Of from
the coat which have just hung up. But L
tramped on and on until it is safe in
the yard. poor thing! Thank God, thank
Godr' Then the shepherds wife spread
the table and brought out the best
fare that the cabin could afford,
and they sat up very late that night,
and they talked, and they laughed, and they
sang, and they ate, and they drank, and they
danced, and told over and over again the
story OF the lost sheep that was found.
With such tenderness and rusticity of
Illustration does Christ represent the souls
going off and the souPs coming back when
He says, Likewise there is JOY in heaven
among the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth, more than over ninety and
nine just persons that need no repentance"
To repent is to feel that you are bad and to
be sorry about it, and to turn over a new
leaf, and to pray for forgiveness and help.
just as soon as a man does that, they hea'
right away of it in heaven.
There are no gossips in glory goina
around to chatter and laugh when man
tails, but there are many souls in glory who
are glad to run about and tell it when man
Is saved. The news goes very quick from
gate to gate, and from north wall to south
wall, and from east wall to west wall, and in
three minutes every citizen of heaven has
heard OF 1t, for there is JOY in heaven
amohg the angels Of God over one sinner
that repentetn.'
can very easily understand how there
should be JOY in heaven over Pentecost
with three thousand souls saved in ole day
no mystery about that, l can understand
how there should be joy in heaven over the
Parish of SchOttS, when four hundred souls
were saved under one sermon of Mr.. Living
ston; can understand how there should be
Joy IN heaven over the great awakening in
the time of Harland Page when in one year
four hundred and seventy-three thousand
souls were brought to God in the United
States; can understand very easily how
there should be joy in heaven over five hum
dred thousand souls converted in 1857, in
this country, but mark you, my text an
nounces there is joy in heaven among the
angels Of God over one just one, sinner that
repenteth.
I~OAtS cdLQeuEalS nave one tower; some
cathe1rals have two, three, four towers.
Did you ever hear them all ring at CHce? I
am old that the bell in the cathedral OF ST.
Paul rings only on rare occasions. for In
stance, al the death or the birth OF king.
Have you seen cathedral with four towers,
and have lou heard them all strike into
great chime or gladneSs? Here is a man who
Is moral. He is an example to great many
professor of religion in some things; he
never did mean thing in his life; he pays
4
nelghDor, but ne says he Is not Christian.
Some day the Holy Spirit comes into his
heart and he sees that he cannot depend
upon his morality for salvation. He says:
- Lord God | have been depending upon
my good works. | find | am sinner, AMI l
want Thy salvation. Lord, for Jesus's sake,
have mercy on mem AMI God pardons
him, and Immediately one of the towers of
heaven strikes 4 silvery chime, for there
are four towers to the heavenly temple.
Here is a man who IS bad; he knows he Is
bad, and everybody else knows he is bad, but
heis not an outcast-far from being out
cast He moves in respectable circles. But
one day, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
ne rouses up to see his sinfulneSs and he says:
20 Lord, have mercy | am a wanderer
and without Thee | perish. Have mercyw
God hears him, andimmediately two OF the
towers o heaven strike silverY chime.
But here is an outcast. He was picked up
last night out Of the gutter and carried to
the police station He has been in the peni-
soaked with loathsomeness and abomination.
Arousng from his debauch he cries out:
20 God, have mercy on me. Thou who
diGst pardon the penitent thief, hear me cry
fcr mercy" And the Lord listens and par
dons, and no sooner is the poor wretch par
doned than three of the great towers of
heaven strike up silvery chime. But here
Is wait of the street. She passes under the