The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-03-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN OSKA-
LoOSA, IA, SUNDAY, FEB. II.


The Nearness of the Celestial and the
Terrestrial-Joy in Heaven Over the
Repenting of One Sinful Soul.
TUSCALOOSA. Feb. 21.-Rev. DIR. 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-
tons" His evident intention was to make
worlds that seem a 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
repentcth, more than over ninety and nine
just persons who need no repentance"
a lost sheep Nothing can be more thor
oughly lost. | look through the window
of shepherds house at night. The can
dies are lighted. The shepherd has just
placed his staff against the mantel He
has taken of 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 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 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. \inety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven,
ninety-eight, ninety -nine-only ninety-nine
Mcdonald, you know we had a hundred
And / wondered which one was gone, and L
began again, and / counted ninety-five,
ninety-siX, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, nine
LYNNE. Well, l whistled up the dogs, and
/ started on the fields and across the
bridges, and | tracked the moors, and |
lcaped 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 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 lat one with the black spot
or the right shoulder that used to
come and lick my hand as | 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 that| 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
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 TODD, but lifted it out,
and it was so lame and so weak it could not
walk alone, so l threw it over my Shout
ders and / started homeward, and the con-
dtion of that lamb you may judge of from
the coat which have just hung up. But
| trGmped 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, 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 TUE PENITENT.
With such tenderness and rusticity of IL
lustration does Christ represent the souls
going of and the souls coming back, when
he IS, Likewise there is JOY in heaven
anlouE 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 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 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 citi-
zen 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 a Pentecost
with three thousand souls saved in one
day-no mystery about that; | can under
stand how there should be 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 the time of Harland
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 be joy
in heaven over five hundred thousand souls
converted in 1884, 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 once?
/ 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 gladnessl
Here is a man who is moral He is an ex-
ample to "a great many professors of reli-
gion in some things; he never did mean
thing in his life; he pays all his debts, and
is good citizen and "A good neighbor, but
he says be is not 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 mep And God pardons
him, and Immediately one of the towers Of
heaven strikes u silvery chime, for there
are four towers TO the heavenly temple
Here is a man VINO is bad; he knows he is
bad, and every body else knows he is bad, but
he is not an outcast-far from being an out
cast. He moves in respectable circles. But
one day, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
he rouses up TO see his sinfulness and he
says: 80 Lord, have mercyl am wan
derer, ana without thee / perish. Have
mercyl'' God hears him, and Immediately
two Of the towers of heaven strike silvery
chime.