Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-02-26
DIR. TALMAGE In IOWA.
HE DISCOURSES ON HEAVEN
LY CONGRATULATIONS"
A Striking AMI Earnest Appeal for VI
to Repent and Lead Better Lives,
for There VIII 10 JOY In
Heaven.


one sinner that repcnteth, more than
ninety and nine just persons who neod no
repentance"
A lost shecpl Nothing can be moro thor
oughly lost. l look through tho 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 it the
dust and hung it up. l see by tho candle
light that there are neighbors who have
come in The shepherd, tagged out with
the long tramp, sits down on a 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" he
says, this morning l went out TO the yard
10 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, ninty- nine--only nino-
ty-nine. M'Donald, you know we had a
hundred. And l wondered which one was
gone, and l began again, and / counted
ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven, nine
ty-eight, ninety-niuc. Well l whistled up
the dogs, and started on the fields and
across the bridges, and tracked the moors,
and l leaped the gullies, but no bleating of
the poor thing did hear, | said TO myself:
THE lamb must have fallen into ditch
or a pack OF wolves from the noun
tains must have torn it to pieces
and sucked its life OUT But i could
not give it up. You see il 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 l crossed the
field, and somehow l could not give ii up.
So ] went on and on and on until after
aw lille heard tho dogs bark, and ] said
What's thatP Tnen l ha;tened 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 whore it was aud
bent over the ditch, and stopped down
to lift the poor thing out, l 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 1t was an
awful thing TO do, but lifted il out, and
it was so lame and so weak it could not
walk alone, SO / threw it over my should
ers, and started homsward; and 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
] 'pA sANA VIC ShppAOANp Wiz oPANhh
the table and brought out the best fare
that the cabin could afford, AMI they sat
up very late that njght, and they talked
and they laughed, and they sang, and tney
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 Carist represent the
. cOrlfG of nd enr1fe ia
back when he says: Likewise there is
Joy in heaven among the angels Of God
over one sinner that repanteth more than
over ninety aud 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 10 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 q man falls; but
ere are many souls in glory who are
I glad 10 run about and tell it when i Iuan is
saved. The news goes very quick from
! gate TO gate, and from north wall 10 south
/ 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 heaven
among the angels OF God over one sinner
that repenteth.n / can very easily under
stand how there should be Joy in heaven
I over a Pentecost with three thousand
souls saved in one 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.
/ Livingston; l can understand how there
should be Joy in heaven over the great
awakening in the time of Har.and Page,
when in one year four hundred and
seveuty-three thousand souls were brou sht
to God in the United States; l can under
stand very easily how there should be Joy
in heaven over five hundred thousand
souls converted in 1897, in tlis country
but mark you, my text announces there is
Joy IN heaven among the angels of God
over one just one sinner that repenteth.
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 81
ST. Paul rings only on rare occasions, foI
/ instance, at the death or the birth OF
king. Have you seen a cathedral with
four towersi and have you heard them
all strike into one great chime of glad
nessl Here is a man who is moral He
is an example 10 gfeat many PROBES
sors of religion in some things; he never
did a mean thing in his life; he pays all
his debts, and is good citizen and a good
neighbor, but he says he is not a
christian Some day the Holy Spiri,
comes into his heart and he sees that he
cannot depend upon his mortality for sal
walton. lie says: 20 Lord God, / have
been depending upon my good works,
find am sinner, and l want thy saliva
ton. Lord for Jesus sake, have mercy
on me-" And God pardons him, and i'm
mediatcly one of the towers of HEAVIER
strikes a silvery chime, for there are four
towers to the heavenly temple. Here is
man who is bad no knows be is bad, anC
everybody else knows he is bad, but b,
Is not an outcast far from being al
outcast. He moves in respectable circles.
But one day, by the power of the Holy
Ghost he rouses up TO see his sipfulnes:
and he says 20 Lord. have mercy, 1 an
wanderer. and without Thee perish
Have mercy" God hears him. and imme
diately two OF the towers of heaven strik,
silvery chime. But here is an outcast
He was picked up last night out o