Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-02-27

Sermon Preached from tho Seventh
Verse of the Fifteenth Chapter of Tho
Gospel According to St. Luke.
OsKALoosA, Feb. 21.-Rev. DR.. Tai
mage preached here today to an
enormous audience. He expects to
be absent from home about ten days,
during which period he speaks in as
many cities. The subject of his SER
mon was Heavenly Congratula-
tons" Ills evident intention was to
make worlds that seem a great way
off from each other appear very
near. His text was taken from Luke
Nv, Z, Likewise joy shall be IN
heaven oTcr one sinner that re-
penteth, more than over ninety and
+ nine lin just persons who need no re-
pentance.
a lost sheep! Nothing can bemor
thoroughly lost. l look through the
window of shepherds house at
night. The candles are Lighted. The
shepherd has just placed his staff
against the mantoG. Flo has taken
off his coat, shaken out of it the dust
and hung it up. l 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 children and the
ncighbors say to him, Come, now,
tell us how you, found the poor
thing" We'll. he says, this morn
ling | went out to the yard to look at
the flock. No sooner had l looked
over the fence than I saw something
wrong. The fact was that they did
not count right. Ninety-fve, ninety
six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, nine
ty-nine-only ninety-nine. Melon
aid you know we had a hundred.
And | wondered which one was gone,
and l began again, and l counted
ninety-fvo, niretysix, ninety-seven,
ninety-eight, nincty-nine. Well, l
whistled up the dogs. and l started on
the fields and across the bridges, and
tracked the moors, and Ileaped the
gullies, but no bleating of the poor
thing did l hear. I said to myself,
The lamb must have fallen into a
ditch. OF pack of wolves from the
mountains must have torn it to
pieces and sucked its life out. But I
could not give it up. You see it was
a pet lamb. 1t was that one with
the black spot ON the right shoulder
that used to come and lick my hand
as I 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 tha1G Then l FASTENED to
the top of the hill and I looked down,
and there l saw the poor lamb. 1t
had fallen into the ditch, and
as l came where it was and bent
over the ditch and stopped down
to lift the poor thing out, | wish
you could have seen tho loving and
inploring and tender way it looked
at me. lifted it out and it was all
covered with the slush and the mud.
1t was IN awful thing to do. but |
lifted it C. it, and it was SO lame and
SO weak i.Ncould not walk alone, so L
threw it over my shoulders, and l
started homeward; and the condi-
ton of that lamb you may judge of
from tho coat which l have just
hung I'D. But trarnped on and on
until it is safe in the yard, poor
thing! Thank God, thank Godl'
Then tic 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, md 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.
JOY OVER A REPENTANT SINNER.
With such tenderness and r1lsticity
of illustration does Christ represent
the souls going off and the souls
coming back, when he says, Like
wise 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 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 10 gossips in glory
going around to chatter and laugh
when man fails; 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 it, for there
is joy in heaven among the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth. "
I can very easily understand how
there should be JOY in heavy over q
Pentecost with three thousand souls
saved in one day-no mystery about
that; I can understand how there
should be joy in heaven over the
Parish of Schotts, when four hundred
souls v-ore saved under one sermon
of Mr.. Livingston; can understand
how there sho1ld be joy in heaven
over the great awakening in the time
of IIarland Page, when in one year
four hundred and seventy-thrce
thousand souls were brought to God
in the United States; can under
stand worry easily how there should