News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-02-25
IN OSKALOOSA, IOWA.
DR.. TALMAGE 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.. Tai
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-
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 re-
penteth, more than over ninety and
nine just persons who need no re-
pentance.
A lost sheep! Nothing can be more
thoroughly lost. look through the
window of a shepherds house at
night The candles 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 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 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 1 saw something
wrong. The fact was that they did
not count right. Ninety-fve, ninety
six, ninety seven, ninety-eight, nine
ty-nine- ninety-nine. Melon
aid, you know we had hundred.
And l wondered which one was gone,
and l began again, and / counted
ninety-fve, ninety-six, ninety-seven.
ninety eight, ninety nine. Well, |
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 / hear / said to myself, |
The lamb must have fallen into
ditch, or 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 | crossed the field, and somehow
could not give it up. So | went on
and on and on until after awhile l
heard the dogs bark, and I said,
What's thatP Then l fastened to
the top of the hill and looked down,
and there I saw the poor lamb. 1t
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, 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 to do, but /
lifted it out, and it was so lame and
so weak it could not walk alone, so l
threw it over my shoulders, and l
started homeward; and the condi-
ton of that lamb you may judge of
from the coat which 1 have just
hung up. But tramped on and on !
until it is safe in the yard, poor
thing Thank God, thank Godp
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 A 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 repenteth, more than over ninety
and nine just persons that need no
repentance" To repent is to feel
UlldI YOU tIO OctNt. anu " 10 SOIIH .
about it and to turn over new leaf,
and to pray for forgiveness and help.
Just as soon as man does that they
hear 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
LII ! 4 |
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."
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
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 1857 in
this country; but mark you, my text
announces there is joy in heaven
,rnong the angels OF Goa 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? l 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 king. Have you seen a cathe-
dral with four towers? And have
you heard them all strike into one
great chime of gladness2 Here is a
man who is moral. He is an exam
pie to great many professors of re-
hgion 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 he is not
a Christian.
Some day the Holy Spirit comes 7
into his heart and he sees that he s
cannot depend upon his morality for I