The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-02-15
CALI. TO OUTSIDERS.
SERMON 6v Or. TAlMA6E AT THE
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.


Help.
New YORK, Feb, 10. Three thousand
persons were turned away from the
Academy of Music this afternoon, be-
ing unable to gain admission. A few
minutes after the doors were opened the
auditorium and galleries were densely
crowded. Rev, Dr.. Talmage's sermon
for the day was "A Call to Outsiders, "
tho text chosen being John X, 10, Goth
or sheep | have which are not Of this
fold
There il no monopoly in religion. The
grace Of God is not little property
that we may fence Off and have all to
: ourselves 1t is not kings park at
which we look through the barred gate
way, wishing that we might go in and
see the deer and the statuary and pluck
the flowers and fruits in the royal con-
servatory No 1t is the Fathers or
ohard, and everywhere thore are bars
that we may let down and gates that we
may swing open.
In my boyhood next to the country
schoolhouse there was an orchard OF ap
Piles, owned by very lame man, who,
although there were apples in the place
perpetually decaying and by scores and
scores of bushels, never would allow
any of us to touch the fruit One day,
in the sinfulness Of a nature inherited
from our first parents, who were ruined
by the same temptation, some of us in
vaded that orchard, but soon retreated,
for the man came after us at a speed
reckless of making his lameness worse
and cried out, Boys, drop those APP
Piles, or I'll set the dog on you"
In Strange Company.
Well, my friends, there are Christian
men who have the church under severe
guard. There is fruit in this orchard for
the whole world, but they have a rough
and unsympathetic way of accosting
outsiders, as though they had no bust
ness here, though the Lord wants them
all to come and take the largest and
ripest fruit ON the premises Have you
an idea, because you were baptized
at 10 months of age, and because you
have all your life been under hallowed
influences, that therefore you have a
right to one whole side of the Lord S
table, spreading yourself out and taking
up the entire room? tell you no. You
will have to haul in your elbows, for
shall place on either side of you those
whom you never expected would sit
there, for, as Christ said to his favored
people long ago, so he says to you
and to me, "Other sheep l have which
are not of this fold"
Macdonald, the Scotchman, has four
or five dozen head Of sheep Some of
them are browsing on the heather; some
of them are lying down under the trees;
some of them are in his yard-they are
scattered around in eight or ten differ
ent places Cameron, his neighbor,
comes over and says: 81 see you have
80 sheep. | have just counted them. !"
mo, " says Macdonald, Il have a great
many more sheep than that. Some are
here and some are elsewhere. They are
scattered all around about. l have 4, 900
or 5000 in my flocks. Other sheep
have which are not in this fold"
So Christ says to us. Here is knot
of Christians, and there is knot of
Christians, but they make up small
part of the flock. Here is the Episcopal
fold, the Methodist fold, the Luther
an fold, the Congregational fold, the
Presbyterian fold, the Baptist and
the Pedo- Baptist fold, the only differ
ence between these last two being tho
mode of sheep washing, and so they are
scattered all over, and we come with
our statistics and say there are SO many
thousands of the Lord S sheep, but Christ
responds: mo, no. You have not seen
more than one out of 1000 Of my flock.
They are scattered all over the earth.
Other sheep | have which are not of
this fold O."
Christ in my text was prophesying the
conversion of the gentiles with as much
confidence as though they were already
converted, and he is now, in the words
of my text, prophesying the coming of
a great multitude of outsiders that you
never supposed would come in, saying
to you and saying to me, "Other sheep
| have which are not of this fold. -
Stray Sheep.
In the first place, remark that the
heavenly shepherd will find many of his
sheep among the nonchurchgoers. There
are congregations where they are all
Christians, and they seem to be COM
pletely finished, and they remind one of
the skeleton leaves which by chemical
prena ration have had all the greenness
and verdure taken off them and are left
cold and white and delicate, nothing
wanting but a glass case to put over
them The minister of Christ has moth
ing to do with such Christians but to
come once week and with ostrich
feather dust off the accumulation of the
last six days, leaving them bright and
crystalline as before. But the other
kind of q church is an armory, with
perpetual sound Of drum and fife, gath.
ering recruits for the Lord of Hosts We
say to every applicant: 80 you want
to be on Gods side-the safe side and
the happy side? If SO, come in tho ar
mory and get equipped. Here is bath
i'll which to be cleansed Here are san
dals to put upon your feet. Here is a
helmet for your brow. Here is breast
plate for your heart. Here is sword
for your right arm, and yonder is the
battlefield Quit yourselves like men. :"
There are some here who say, Il
stopped going to church 10 Or 20 years
ago My brother, is it not strange that
you should be the first man | should
talk to today? | know all your case. |
know it very we'll You have not been
accustomed to como into religious, as
semblage, bat | have a surprising an-
nouncement to make to you--you are
going to become one of the Lord s
sheep All, you say, st is inpos-
sible. Yon don't know how far ! am
from ANYTHING Of that kind " know