The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-03-04
JOY IN HEAVEN.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on Heav-
enly Congratulations
Joy In Heaven over Redeemed Sinners
Parable of the Lost Sheep Applied to
neutrality-suspicious. of Repentance
The Comfort of Religion.


took for his subject Heavenly Con-
gra3ulations" His text was 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" DIR. Tai
mage said:
A lost sheepl Nothing can be more
thoroughly lost 1 look through the
window of shepherds house at night.
The candles are lighted. The shep-
herd has just placed his staff against
the manteL He has taken off his coat
shaken out of it the dust and hung it
up. 1 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 the 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 1 saw something was wrong
TIE fact was they did not count right.
Ninety-fye, ninety-siX, ninety-seven.
ninety-eight, ninety-nine-onlyn ninety
nine. Mcdonald, you know we had
one hundred. And l wondered which
one was gone, and 1 began again, and
Icounted ninety-fve, ninety-six, ninety
seven, ninety-eight ninety-nine- Well,
l whistled up the dogs, and started on
the fields and across the bridges, and l
tracked the moors, and / leaped the
gullies. but no bleating of the poor
thing did 1 hear. / sail to myself:
The lamb must have fallen into
ditch, or a pack of wolves from the
mountains must have torn it to pieces
and sucked its life out But 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 / could not give
it up
$50 went on and on until after
awhile 1 heard the dogs bark. and l
said: What's that?' Then hastened
to the top of the hill, and looked down,
and there saw the poor lamb. 1t had
fallen into the ditch, and as 1 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 wav
it looked at me. I 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 1
threw it over my shoulders, and 1
started howeward; and the condition
Of that lamb, you may judge
of from the coat which l have
just hung up, but l tramped on and
on until it is safe in the yard, poor
thingI Thank God, thank Godr' 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 aud over aud
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 COM
ing back when He says: Likewise
there is Joy in Heaven among the an
gels of God over one sinner that re-
penteth 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 help. Just as soon as man does
that they hear right away of it in
II
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, ana 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 re-
penteth-
I can very easily understand how
there should be Joy in Heaven over a
pentecost with 8, 900 souls saved in one
day-no mystery about this; can un-
derstand how there should be joy in
Heaven over the parish of Schotts
when 400 souls were saved under one
sermon of Mr.. Livingston; can under
stand how there should be Joy in
Heaven over the great awakening in
the time of Harland Page, when in one
year 47S, 900 were brought to God in the
United States; can understand very
easily how there should be joy in
Heaven over 500,00 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 once? am told that the bell
in the cathedral at st. Paul rings only
on rare occasions, for instance, at the
death or birth of king. Have you
seen a cathedral with four towers, and
have you heard them all strike into one
strikes silvery chime, for there are
four towers to the heavenly temple.
Here is a man who 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 outcast He moves in
respectable circles. But one day, by
the power of the Holy Ghost, he rouses
up to see his sinfulness aud he says:
20 Lord. have mercy, l am a wanderer,
and without Thee 1 perish. Have
mercy" God hears him AMI inme-
diately 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 to the police station: He
has been in the penitentiary three