The Penn's Grove record., 1892-02-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Heavenly Congratulations"

no repentance Lake XIV, 2.
A lost sheepi Nothing can be more thor
oughly lost. look through the window of
a shepherds house at night. The candles are
lighted. The shepherd has just placed his
staff against the mantle. He has taken off
his coat, shaken out of it the dust aud hung
it up. | see by the candle light that there
are pei2hbors who have come iu. The
shepherd. tagged out with the long tramp,
sits down OH a bench, and the wife and the
children and the ~neighbors say TO him,
'Eome, now, tell US how you found the poor
thing" SWELL" he says, this morning l
went 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-ive, ninety-six, ninety-seven,
ninety. eight, ninety-nine-only ninety-nine'
Mcdonald, you know we had a hundred.
And Lwonder which one was gone, and L
began again, and | counted ninety-five,
ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, nine
ty-nine. Well, | whistled up the dogs, and
l started on the fields and across the
bridges, and 1 tracked the moors, and |
leaped the guilies, but no bleating of the
| poor thing did | hear. L said to myself,
The lamb must have fallen into q ditch,
or a pack of wolves from the mountain
must nave torn it to pieces and sucked
its life but But 1 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 1 crossed the field,
and somehow l could not give it up. So 1
went on and on and on until after awhile l
heard the dogs bark, and l said, Whats
thatY Then 1 FASTENED to the top of the
hill. and i looked down and there / saw the
poor lamb. 1t had fallen into the ditch
and as | came where it was and bent over
the ditch and stopped down to lift the poor
thing out, | ' wish you could have seen the
loving and imploring and tender way it
looked at me. L lifted it out. and it was all
covered with the slush and the mud. It was
an awful thing to do, but | lifted it out, and
twas so lame and so weak it could not walk
alone, so l threw it over my shoulder
and L started homeward, and the con-
dition of that lamb you may judge of from
the coat which | have just hung up. But 1
tralnped on and on until it is safe in
the yard, pool thingi Thank God, thank
GodF' Then the shepherds wife spread
the table and brought out the best
fare that the cabin could affrrd,
aud they sat up very late that night,
and they talked, and they laughed, and they
sang, and they ate, aud they drank, and they
danced, and told over and over again the
story of the lost sheep that was found.
With such tenderness and r~usticity of
illustration does Christ represent the souls
| going of 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 10 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 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 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 "
i can very easily understand how there
should be joy in heaven 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.. Living
ston, l can understand how there should be
joy in heaven over the great awakening in
the time of Harland Page, when in one year
four hundred and seventy-three thousand
souls were brought to God in the United
States; i can understand very easily how
there should be joy in heaven over five hum
dred thousand souls converted IN 1857, in
this country, but mark you, my text an
nounces there is joy in heaven among the
angels OF God over one, just one, sinner that
~repenteth.
eathedrals have two, three, four towers.
Did you ever hear them all ring at once? l
am told that the bell in the cathedral of st.
Paul rings only on rare occasions, for in
stance, at the death or the birth Of a king.
Have you seen a cathedral with four towers.
m have you heard them all strike into one
great chime of gladness? Here is a man who
Is moral. He is an example to a great many
professors of religion in some things; he
never did a mean thing in his life; he pays
all his debts, and p a good citizen and a 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 l lave been depending upon
my good works. l indI am a sinner, and l
want Thy salvation. Lord, for Jesus's sake,
have mercy on mer' And God pardons
him, and Immediately one of the towers Of
heaven strikes a si,very chine, for thacs
are four towers to the heavenly temple.
Here is a man who is bad: he knows be is
bad, and everybody else knows he is bad. but
heis not al outcast-far from being an out
cast. He moves in respectable circles. But
one day, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
he rouse up to see his sinfulness and he says:
20 Lord, have mercyi | am a wanderer,
and without Thee. | perish. Have mercyg p
God hears him, and Immediately two of the
towers OF heaven strike a silvery chime.
But here is an outcsst. He was picked up
last night out of the gutter and carried to
the police station. He has been in the peni-
tertiary three times. He Is covered and
soaked with loathsomeness and abomination.
Arousing from his debauch, he cries out:
30 God. have mercy on me. Thou who
didst pardon the penitent thief, hear me cry
for mercy" And the Lord listens and par
dons, and no sooner is the poor wretch par
doned than three of the great towers of
heaven strike up a silvery chime. But here
Is a walf OF the street. She passes under the
gaslight, and your soul shu1ders with a
great horror. No pity for her. No com-
misera ton for her.
As she passes down the street she hears a
song in a midnight mission, and she listens
to that song she hears:
An may come, whoever will,
This Man receives poor sinners still
She puts into that harbor, she kneels by the
rough bench near the door; she says: 80
Lordi Thou who didst have mercy on Mary
Magdalen, take my blistered feet off the red
hot pavement of hell" God SAYS, my
daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee; go in
peace" Now, all the four towers of heaven
strTKe a srvery cnIme, ana tney VINO pass
through the celestial streets say. '"Whats
that Why, the worst sinner must nave
been saved. Hear all the four towers ring
and ring and ringr' 'Ani there is joy in
heaven among the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth,"
My subject impresses you, I think, with
the thought that it is possible for us to aug
ment the happiness Of heaven. People think
that souls before the throne are as happy as
they can be. / deny it. Look at that mother
before the throne of God. When she died
she left her son in this world a vagabond.
son repented OF his iniquities and came
to God. The report of that salvation has
reached heaven. Do you tell me that mother
before the throne of God has not her joy
richly augmentedi There is many a man in
house to-day who could go out with a
torch and kindle a new bonfire of victory
On the hills of heaven. If you would this
day repent aud come to God, the news of
your salvation would reach heaven, and
then, harkl to the shout of the ransomed.
Your little child went away from you into
the good land. While she was here you
brought her all kinds of beautiful presents.
Sometimes you came home at nightfall
with your pockets full Of gifts for her, and
no sooner did you put your night key into
the latch than she began at you, sayine,