The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-03-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
An Interesting Discourse Upon
Heavenly Congratulations"
The Joy in Heaven Over the Saving sf
One Human souI-Heaven Nearer
Go Us than We are
Aware Of


following discourse in the Brooklyn
tabernacle, taking for his text:
Likewise Joy shall be in Heaven over one sin
ncr that repenteth, more than over ninety and
nfna just persons who need no repentance
Luke xvi
"A lost sheepl Nothing can be more
thoroughly lost. / look through the
window of shepherds house at night
The candles are lighted. The shepherd
has just placed his staff against the
mantle. He has taken of his coat,
shaken out of it the dust and hung It
up / see by the candle light that there
are neighbors who have come in. The
shepherd, tagged out by the long
tramp, sits down on n bench, and the
wife and children and neighbors say 20
him; Come now, tell us how you
found the poor thing"
WELL" he says, "this morning I
went out TO the yard to look Mt the
flock No sooner had looked over the
fence that I saw something wrong.
The fact was they did not count right.
Ninety-fve, ninety-six, ninety-seven,
ninety-eigth, ninety-nine-only ninety
nine. Mcdonald, you know we had
one hundred. And wondered which
one was gone, and began again, and
counted ninety-fye, ninety-six, ninety
seven, ninety-eight, ninety mine.
Well, whistled up the dogs, and
started over the fields and across the
bridges, and I tracked the moors and !
leaped the gullies, but no bleating of
the poor thing did 1 hear. / said to
myself: THE lamb must have fallen
into O. ditch, or a pack of wolves from
the mountains must have. torn it to
pieces and suckedsits life out"
But could not give it up. You see
It was a pet lamb. 1t was that one
with the black spot on the right shout
der, that used to come and lick my
hand as crossed the field, and some
how could not give it up. So went
on. and on, and on, until after awhile
l heard the dogs, bark, and said:
whats that2" - 81 kFA&kf
Then fastened to the top the hill,
and I looked down, and there saw the
poor lamb. 1t had falleninto the ditch,
and as came where it was, and bent
over the ditch, and STOPPING down to
lift the poor thing out, / wish you
could have seen the loving, and implor-
ing ana tender way it looked Mt me.
lifted it ont and it was all covered
with the slush and the mud. 1t 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 shoulders and started homeward;
and the condition of that lamb you
may judge of from the coat which i
have Just hung up. But / tramped on
and on until it is safe in the yard, poor
thingl Thank God. thank Godl
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 dranlz, and
tI ey danced, and told over and 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 souls 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
DCTSOuS bDdG nCCu nO IL
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 hear right away of it in
Heaven.
There are no gossips in glory, going
around to chatter and laugh when a
man falls; but there are many souls in
glory who are glad TO run about and
tell it when a 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 it; for ''there is Joy in
Heaven among the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth."
" can very easily understand how
there should be Joy in Heaven over a
Pentecost with three thousand souls
saved in one day-no mystery about
that; can understand how there
should be Joy in Heaven over the par
ish of Schotts. when four hundred souls
were saved under one sermon of Mr..
Livingston; i can understand how
there should be Joy in Heaven over the
great awakening in the time of Har-
land Page, when in one year four hun
dred thousand seventy-three souls
were brought to God in the United
State;sF can understand very easily
how there should be Joy in Heaven
over FIVE hundred thousand souls con-
verted in 1857, in this country; but
mark you. my text announces there is
10y in Heaven among the angels of
God over one, just one sinner, that re-
penteth- fr2
! Some cathedrals have one tower;
some cathedrals have two, three, four
towers. Did you ever hear them all
ring at once? am told that the bell
in the cathedral of St Paul, rings only
on rare occasions, for instance, at the
death or birth of king. Have you seen
cathedral with four towers2 and have
you heard them all strike into one
great chime of gladness- Here is q
man who is moral He is an example
10 a great many professors of religion
In some things; he never did mean
thing in his life; ne pays all his debts,
and is good citizen and good neigh
Dor, but he says he is not Christian.
Some day the Holy Spirit comes into
his heart, and he sees that he can not
depend upon his morality for salvation
He says: 20, Lord God, have been de-
pending upon my good works; / find L
am a sinner, and j want Thy salvation.
Lord, for Jesus sake, have mercy on
met And God pardons him, and inn
vr,adinfalvz opa Of the foyvers nf Heavan