Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-02-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN Os<A-
LooSA, IA, SUNDAY, FEB. 81.

Repenting of One Sinful Soul.
OsKALoosA. Feb. 2l.-Rev. Dr. Talmage
preached here today to an enormous audi
ence. He expects to be absent from home
about ten days, during which period he
speaks in as many cities The subject of
his sermon was Heavenly Congratula.
tions." His evident intention WAS to make
worlds that seem great way Off from
each other appear very near. His text
was taken from Luke XIV, Z, Likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine
just persons who need no repentance.
A lost sheepl Nothing can be more thor
oughly lost. | look through the window
Of shepherds house ut night. The can
dies 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. | see by the candle
light that there are neighbors who have
come in. The shepherd, tagged out with
the long tramp, sits down on Il 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 went cut 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-fiye, ninety six, ninety seven,
ninety eight, ninety nine-only ninety mine.
Mcdonald, you know we had hundred.
And | wondered which one was gone, and
began again, and | counted ninety five,
ninety-six, ninety seven, ninety eight, nine
ty-nine. Well, ! whisted 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 d.i | hear. | said to myself,
THE lamb must have fallen into ditch,
or pack of wolves from the mountain
must have torn it to pieces and sucked
its life out But could not give it
up. You see it was pet lamb, 1t
was that one with the black spot
on the right shoulder that used to
come and lick my hand rs | crossed the
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 thatY Then FASTENED to the top
Of the HILL and looked down and there
saw the poor lamb 1t had fallen into the
ditch, and us | came where it was and bent
C Or the ditch and stopped down to lift the
trthing out, wish you could have seen
loving and imploring and tender way
IL Boxed 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 lame and so weak it could not
walk alone, so threw it over my shout
ders and started homeward, and the con
dition of that lamb you may judge of from
the coat which have just hung up. But
l tramped on and on until it is safe in the
yard, poor thingl 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, an
they drank, and they danced and told owe
and over and over again the story Of the
lost sheep that was found,
JOY OVER THE PENITENT
With such tenderness and rusticity OF il
lustration 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 repcnteth, 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 a
new leaf, and to pray for forgiveness and
they hear right away of it in heaven.
There are no gossips in glory going
around to chatter and laugh when man
falls, but there are many souls in glory
who are glad to run about and tell it when
n 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 citi
zen of heaven has heard of it, for there is
joy in heaven among the angels of God
over one sinner that ropenteth,"
can very easily understand how there
should be joy in heaven over Pentecost
with three thousand souls saved in one
day-no mystery about that; | can under
stand how there should hc Joy in heaven
over the Parish of SchOtts, when four hun |
dred souls were saved under one sermon of
Mr. Livingston; | can understand how
there should be joy in heaven over the
great awakening in tho time of llarlaud |
Page, when in one year four hundred and
seventy-three thousand souls were brought |
to God in the United States | can under |
stand very easily how there should bc JOY
in heaven over five hundred thousand souls |
converted 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 repenteth
Some cathedrals have one tower; some |
cathedrals have two, three, four towers |
Did you ever hear them all ring at onceY !
] am told that the bell in the cathedral of |
st. Paul rings only on rare occasions, for
instance, at the death or the birth OF a
king. Have you seen a cathedral with !
four towers, and have You heard them all |
strike into one great chime of gladucss? |
Here is n man who is moral. lie is an eX
ample to n great many professors Of reli |
gion in some things; he never did mean |
thing in his life; he pays all his debts, and |
is u good citizen and good neighbor, but |
he says he is not a Christian.
Some day the Holy Spirit comes into his |
heart and he sees that he cannot depend |
upon his morality for salvation He says |
20 Lord God, have been depending upon |
my good works. find am a sinner and |
want thy salvation Lord for Jesus' sake, |
have mercy on mel' And God pardons |
him, and Immediately one Of the towers of |
heaven strikes n silvery chime, for there
are four towers to the heavenly temple. |
Here is man who is bad, he knows he is .
bad, and everybody else knows he is bad, but |
he is not an outcast-far from being an out
cast. He moves in respectable circles. Bat
one day, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
he rouscs up to see his sinfulness and he
says: 30 Lord have mercy | am wan
derer, and without thee ! perish. Have |
mercy" God hears him, and Immediately /
two of the towers of heaven strike silvery
chime
But here is an outcast. He was picked /
up last night out of the gutter and carried
60 the police station. He hes been in the
penitcutiary three times. llo Is covered
mud s,uL.,N ,,-ftb l,atbenr,oppee and nbOu1-