The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-02-16
CALL TO OUTSIDERS.
DIR. Talmago Discourse5 on the
Freedom of RELIGION.
There Is W Monopoly in the Grace of Sod
The whole World IS Taken Under
the Protecting Wing Of
the Lord.

lyn br Res. +. lie Wit Ialmagc was
~ can to Outsiders the tex being
from John y. 10: Other sheep ! have
which are not Of this fold" DIR. Tai
mage said:
There is no monopoly in religion.
The grace of God is not II little proper
" which we may fence of and have all
To ourselves. II is not n kings park,
At which we look through a barred
gateway, wishing we might go in and
see the dccr and the %statuary, and
pluck the flowers and fruits in the
royal conservatory. No, it is the Faith
cr's orchard, and everywhere there are
bars that we may let down and gates
hat we may swing open.
In my boyhood, next to the country
school house, there was an orchard OF
apples, owned by n very lame man, who,
although there were apples in the place
perpetually d%ecaying, and by scores
and scores of bushels. never would al
low any of us to touch the fruit. One
day, in the sinfulness of "a nature in
herited from our first parents, who
were ruined by the same temptation,
some of us invaded that orchard; but
we soon rctreated, for the man came
after us at a speed reckless of making
his lamencss worse, and cried out:
Boys. drop those apples, or I'll set
the dog on you!'
Well, my friends, there are Christian
men who have the church under yer
guard. There is fruit in this orchard
for the whole world; but they have a
rough and unsympathetic way of &C
costing outsiders as though they had
no business here. though the Lord
wants them all to come and take the
largest and ripest fruit on the premises.
Have you an idea that because you
were baptized at 13 months of age, n
because you have all your life been UNI
der hallowcd influences, that you have
a right TO one whole side of the Lords
table, spreading yourself put and talk
ing up the entire room? / tell you
no. You will have to haul in your ell
bows, for7I 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 ! 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,
trees. some of them are in his yard;
they are scattered around in eight or
ten different places. Cameron, his
neighbor, comes over und says: II see
you have thirty sheep; / ave counted
them" NO" says Macdonald, II
have q great many more sheep than
that. Some are here and some are
elsewhere. They are scattered all
around about. | have four or five
thousand in my floclss. Other sheep l
have, which are not in this fold"
So Christ says to IS. Here is 4 knot
of Christians. and there is a knot of
Christians. but they make up n small
part of the flock. Here Is the Episco-
pal fold, the Methodist fold, the Luth-
cran fold, the Congregational fold, the
Presbyterian fold. the Baptist and the
Pedo-I;aptist fold. the only difference
between the last two being the mode
of sheep washing; ana so they are scat
tered all over; and we come with our
statistics, and say there are so mauv
thousands of the Lords sheep; but
Christ responds; No, no; you have not
seer more than one out of a thousand Of
My flock. They,are scattered all oyer
the earth. Other sheep ] have which
are not of this fold"
Christ, in my text, IA p~rophesying
the conversion of the Gentiles with as
much confidence rs though they were
already converted, and He is now, in
the words of nv text, p~ropllesying the
coming of q great multitude OF outsid-
ers that you never supposed would
come in, saying to you and saying to
me: ''Other sheep ] have which are
moi of this fold.p
In the first place, l remark, that the
Heavenly Shepherd will find many of
His sheep among the non-churchgoers.
There are congregations where they
are all Christians, and they seem to be
completely finished, and they remind
one of the sksleton-leaves, which, by
chemical preparation. have had all the
greenness and verdure taken off them,
and are left cold and white and deli
cate, nothing wanting but n glass
case TO put over them. The minister OF
Christ has nothing to do with sfch
Christians but 10 come one a week,
and with ostrich feather dust off the
accumulation of the last six days,
leaving them bright and crystalline, al
before, But the other kind Of q