The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-04-01
WAITING FOR YOU.
Heaven Is Much Closer Than
Some People Think.
The Distance From Earth IL Only a Flash
"A Chair Beside Your Loved Ones IL
vacant and Waitlng-Sermon by Rev.
r.. Dewitt TaImage, ID. ID.

from Luke XIV, z: Likewise Joy shall
be in Heaven over one sinner that re-
penteth, more than over ninety and
nine Just persons who need no repent
ance."
A lost sheep! Nothing can DO more
thoroughly lost | look through the
window of a shepherds house at night
The candles are lighted. The shepherd
has lust placed his staff against the
mantel lie has taken off his coat,
shaken out of it the dust and hung it
up. see by the candle light that there
are nclghbors who have come in. The
shepherd tagged out with the long
tramp, sits down on a bench, and the
wife and children and the neighbors
say to him: Come, now, tell us how
YOU found the poor thing"
well" he says, "this morning I
went out to the yard to look at the
flock. No sooner had looked
over the fence than l saw something
wrong. The fact was they did not
count right. Ninety-fve, ninety.six,
ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety mine
only ninety-nine. Mcdonald, you
know we had hundred. And / won
dered which one was gone, and began
again, and / counted ninety-five,
ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight,
ninety-nine. Well whistled up the
dogs and l started on the fields and
across the bridges, and tracked the
Noores, and l leaped the gullies, but
no bleating of the poor thing did l
hear. said to myself: The lamb must
have fallen into a ditch, or pack
OF wolves from the mountains must
have torn it to pieces and sucked its
life out But could not give 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 l
went on and on until after awhile
heard the dogs bark, and said: What's
thatP 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 l came where 1t was
and bent over the ditch, and stopped
down to lift the poor thing out l wish
you could have seen the loving and I'm
ploring and tender way il looked at
me. ] lifted it out, and it was all COW
cred with the slush and the mud 1t
was an awful thing to do, but
lifted it out, and it was so lame and 20
weak it could not walk alone, 80
threw it over my shoulders and start
cd home yard, and the condition of that
lamb you may judge of from the coat
which l have just hung up But
tramped on and on until it is safe in the
yard, poor thing! Thank God, thank
God!' 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 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
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 man does
that, they hear right away OF it in
Heaven. There arc 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
Penticost with 5000 souls saved in one
day-no mystery about that; l can un-
derstand how there should be JOY in
Heaven over the Parish of Schools,
when four hundred souls were saved
under one sermon of Mr.. Livingston;
can understand how there should be
Joy in Heaven over the great awaken
ing in the time of Harand Page, when
in one year 473, 900 souls were brought
20 God in the United States; / can un-
derstand very easily how there should
be joy in Heaven over 500, 900 souls con-
verified in 1857 in this country; but mark
you, my text announces there is JOY in
Heaven among the angels of God over
one, just one sinner that repen:eth
Some cathedrals have one tower;
some cathedrals have two three, four
towers. Did you ever hear them all
~;nc, - o-oaO Iap, told that the hell