Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1892-02-25
DIR. TALMAGE IN IOWA.
HE pIscoURsES ON HEAVEN,
I.Y CONGRATULATIONS"
A Striking AMI Earnest Appeal for u
to Repent and Lead Hotter Lives,
for There win lie JOY in
Heaven.

to Repent and Lead Hotter Lives,
for There VIII lie JOY ia
OsKALoosA. Ia, Feb. 2l.-Dr. TalmaGe
preached here Sunday to AN enormous
congregation The subject of his
sermon was Heavenly Congratula-
tions." His text was taken from Luxe Isl
Z: Likewise JOY shall be in heaven over
one sinner that rep,nteth, mors than
ninety aud nine just persons who neel no
repentance"
A lost sheep! Nothing can be moro thor
oughlv lost look through tue window
of shepherds house at night The
candles are lighted. The shepherd has Just
placed his staff against the manteL He
has taken off his coat, shaken out OF 1t the
dust and hung it up | see by the candle
light that there are neighbors who have
come in The shepherd, tagged out with
the long tramp sits down on bench, and
the wife and the children and the neigh
bors say to him: Come now, tell US how
you found the poor thing well, ;" no
says, this morning vent out to the yard
to look at the flock. No sooner had looked
over the fence than | saw something
wrong. The fact was they did not count
right. Ninety-iive, ninety-six, ninety.
seven, ninety eight, ninty -nine--Only nine-
ty-nine. M'Donald, you know we had a.
hundred. Aud | wondered VIII ch one was
gone, and | began again, and ] counted
ninety-fve, ninety-siX, ninety-Seven, nine
ty-eght, ninety Well ] whistled up
the dogs, and started on the fields and
across the bridges, and tracked the moors,
and leaped the gullies, but no bleating OF
the poor thing did | hear, | said to myself:
The lamb must have fallen into a ditch,
or a pack of wolves from the noun
tains must have torn it TO pieces
and sucked it's life out But | could
not give it up. You see it was pet
lamb II was that one with the black
spot on the right shoulder that used 10
come and lick my hand as | crossed tho
field, and somehow could not give it up.
So / went on and on and on until after
awhile heard the dogs bark, and said:
What's thatr Then ha5tened to the
top of the hill, and looked down, aud there
/ saw the poor lamb, 1t had fallen into
the ditch. and as l came where it was and
ben. over the ditch, and stopped down
to lift the poor thing out wish you could
and tender way it looked at me. ] lifted
it out and it was all covered with
the slush and the mud 1t was an
awful thing TO do, but lifted it out, and
it was so lamo and so weak it could not
walk alone so l threw it over-my should
ers, and started homewar1; AMI the con-
dition of that lamb, you may judge OF
from the coat which have just hung up.
but tramped on and on until it is safe in
the yard, poor thing! Thank God, thank
Godn Tnen the shepherds wife spread
the table and brought out the best fars
that the cabin could afford, AMI th1y 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 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 repanteth moro than
over ninety and nine Just persons that
need no repentance" To repent is &c
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 docs 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 man Is
saved. The news goes very quick from
gate to gate, and from north wall TO sOutt
wall, and from east wall TO west wall, and
in three minutes every citizen of heaven
has heard of il; for "there is JOY in HEAVIER
among the angels of God over one sinne
that repenteth.n / can very easily under
stand how there should be JOY in HEAVIER
over Pentecost with three Thousand
souls saved in one day-no mystery
about that; l can understand hoy
there should be Joy in heaven ovel
the Parish of Schotts, when four hundred
souls were saved under one sermon of Mr.
Livingston; can understand how there
should be joy in heaven over the grea
awakening in the time of Harland Page
when in one year four hundred an,
seventy-three thousand souls were brough
to God in the United States; l can under
stand very easily how there should be iol
in heaven over five hundred Thousand
but mark you, my text announces there /
Joy in heaven among the angels of Go
over one, just one sinner that repenteth.
Some cathedrals have one tower; SON
cathedrals have two, three, f5.c tower!
Did you ever hear them all ring at once
am told that the bell in the cathedral
St. Paul rings only on rare occasions, f
instance, at the death or the birth of
king Have you seen a cathedral wit
four towers and have you heard the
all strike into one great chime Of gla'
nessl Here is man who is moral. II
IS an example to a great many profei
sors of religion in some things; he new
did a mean thing in his life; he pays q
bis debts, and is good citizen and a Cos
neighbor, but he says he is not
christian. Some day the Holy Spr
comes into his heart and he sees that
cannot depend upon his mortality for 81
I yation. He says: % Lord God, | ha'
D been depending upon my good works
find am a sinner, and want thy sally
ton. Lord for Jesus sake, have mer
On me-" And God pardons him, and i
] mediately one of the towers OF heay
strikes a silvery chime, for there are TO
towers to the heavenly temple. Here is
man who is bad he knows he is bad, a
everybody else knows he is bad, but
is not an outcast, far from being
= Dutcast. He moves in respectable circle
But one day, by the power of the HI
Ghost, he rouses up to see his sinfuln
and he says: 20 Lord have mercy,
wanderer. and without Thee peri
Have mercy" God hears him, and iml
} diately two Of the towers OF heaven str
silyery chime. But here is an outci
He was picked up last night out
the gutter and carried TO the pol
:" station. He has been in the pen'tenti
= three times. He is covered and soaI
r. with loathesomeness and abom.nati
o, Arousing from his debauch, he cries G
n. 20 God, have mercy on me. Thou '
= lidst pardon the penitent thief, hear
cry for mercy" And the Lord list