The Bossier banner., 1892-04-28
JOY IN HEAVEN.
Rev T. Dewitt Talmage Discourses
on Heavenly Congratulations"
The Joy Among the Angels Over Sop'
Saved and the Glorious Welcome
to Such Into the Ranks OF
the Redeemed.

"Heavenly Congratulations" was the
subject of recent sermon by Rev. L.
Dewitt Talmage in the Brooklyn taber-
nacle, the text being:
Likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sin
ner that repenteth, more than over ninety and
nine just persons who need no repentance
Luke XVI.
A lost sheep! Nothing can be more
thoroughly lost. I look through the
window of 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 and hung it
up. see by the candle light that there
are neighbors who have come in. The
shepherd, tagged out by the long
tramp, sits down on q bench, and the
wife and children and neighbors say to
him: "Come now, tell us how you
found the poor thing"
"Well," he says, "this morning l
went out to the yard to look at the
flock. No sooner had looked over the
fence that l saw something wrong.
The fact was they did not count right.
Ninety-fve, ninety-six, ninety-seven,
ninety-eigth, ninety-nine-onlyn ninety
nine Mcdonald, you know we had
one hundred. And l wondered which
one was gone, and 1 began again, and
counted ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety
seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine.
Well, whistled up the dogs, and l
started over the fields and across the
bridges. and tracked the moors and
leaped the gullies, but no bleating of
the poor thing did l hear l 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 its life out"
But l could not give it up. You see
1t was a pet lamb. T. was that one
with the black spot on the right shoul-
der, that used to come and lick my
hand as l crossed the field, and some
how could not give it up. So went
on, and on, and on, until after awhile
/ heard the dogs bark, and l said:
"What's that?"
Then fastened to the top the hill,
and / 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 STOPPING down to
lift the poor thing out, l wish you
could have seen the loving, and implor-
ing 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 l lifted it out,
and it was so lame and so weak it
could not walk alone, so l threw it over
my shoulders and started homeward;
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
thing! 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.
With such tenderness and rusticity of
Illustration does Christ represent the
souls going off, 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 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 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."
l 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 par
ish of Schotts, when four hundred souls
were saved under one sermon of Mr.
Livingston; l can understand how
there should be 10y. in Heaven over the
great awakening in the time of Har-
land Page, when in one year four hun.
dred thousand seventy-three souls
were brought to God in the United
State; l can understand very easily
how there should be Joy in Heaven
over Ave hundred Thousand souls con.
verted in 1857, in this country; but
mark you. my text announces there il
Joy in Heaven among the angels o.
God over one, just one sinner, that re
penteth.
Some cathedrals have one tower
some cathedrals have two, three, foul
towers Did you ever hear them al
ring at once? l am told that the bel
in the cathedral of st. Paul, rings only
on rare occasions, for instance, at tn,
death or birth of king. Have you seer
cathedral with four towers? and hav.