Connecticut western news., 1892-02-25
IN OSKALOOSA, IOWA.
DR. TAlAAGE BREACHES BEFORE AN
 ENORMOUS AUDIENCE.

Heavenly Congratulations the Subject of . Sermon Preached from the Seventh verse of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gospel According to St. Luke
 OsKALoosA, Feb. 21.-Rev. Dr. Tal- mage preached here today to an enormous audience. He expects to be absent from home about ten days, during which period he speaks in as many cities The subject of his ser mon 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 xv, 2, Likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that re- penteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no re | pentance." -a..@
 A lost sheepl Nothing can be more thoroughly lost. look through the window of shepherds house al night. The candles are lighted. Tn, shepherd has just placed his staf1 against the mantel. He has taken of his coat, shaken out of it the dust and hung it up I see by the candle light that there are neighbors who have come in.
 The shepherd, Tagged out with the long tramp, sits down on 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 morn ing went out to the yard to look at the flock. No sooner had looked over the fence than I saw something wrong. The fact was that they did not count right. Ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight, nine
 ty-nine ninety-nine. McDon
 aid, you know we had hundred. And I wondered which one was gone, and 1 began again, and I counted ninetyfve, ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety-nine. Well, l whistled up the dogs, and l started on the fields and across the bridges, and I tracked the moors, and leaped the gullies, but no bleating of the poor thing did I hear. said 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 it's life out But l could not give it up. You see it was pet lamb. It was that one with the black spot on the right shoulder that used to come and lick my hand as crossed the field, and somehow l could not give it up. So I went on and on and on until after awhile 1 heard the dogs bark, and I said, Whats tha.f Then 1 hastened to the top of the hill and looked down, and there I saw the poor lamb. It had fallen into the ditch, and as I came where it was and bent over the ditch and stopped down to lift the poor thing out, I 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 It was an awful thing to do, but I lifted it out, and it was so lame and 90 weak it could not walk alone, so I threw it over my shoulders, and l started homeward; and the condi- ton of that lamb you may judge of from the coat which I have just hung up. But tramped on and on until it is safe in the yard, poor thingl 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 and over and over again the story of the lost sheep that was found.
 JOY OVER REPENTANT SINNER.
 With such tenderness and rusticity of illustration does Christ represent the souls going off and the souls coming back, when he says, Like wise there is joy in heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that trepenteth, 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 new leaf, and to pray for forgiveness and help. Just as soon as man does that they
 lear right away of it in heaven.
 There are no gossips in glory going around to chatter and laugh when man fails; 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 heavy over Pentecost with three thousand souls saved in one day-no mystery about
 that; I can understand how there should be joy in heaven over the Parish of Schotts, when four hundred 1 souls were saved under one sermon O. 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; I can under stand very easily how there should be joy in heaven over five hundred l 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.