Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-03-06
LIKE SHEEP ASTRAY.
AND REV. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS IT
MEANS EVERYBODY.

The First Half CT the Text Is an Indiot-
ment. but tho Last Opens tho Door Wide
" to Reaven-A Glad Gospel Sound at
the Nations Capital.
WASHINGTON, March 1.-The gospel
sends out It's gladdest sound in this sermon
from the nations capital. Immense
throngs pack and overflow the church to
which Dr. Talmage breaches twice each
Sabbath. His text this morning was
Isaiah lii, 8: "All we, like sheep, have
gone astray We have turned every one to
his own way, and tho Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity Of us all :"
Once moro ring the old gospel bell
The first half Of my next text is an indict-
ment, "All we, like sheep, have gone
astray" Some one says; Can't you drop
that first word? That is too general; that
sweeps too great a circle. F" Some man
rises in tho audience, and he looks over on
the opposite side of tho house aud says:
There Is a blasphemer, and ] understand
how he has gone astray, and there in an
other part of tho house is a defaulter, and
he has gone astray, and there is an impure
person, and he has gone astray." Sit
DOWN, my ufOlH6Hg anu 4Obh AT i4uluts MY
text takes us all in. 1t starts behind the
pulpit, sweeps the circuit of the room and
comes back 10 the point whore 1t started,
when 1t says, IAN we, like sheep, have
gone astray."
can very easily understand why Mar
tin Luther threw up his hands after he had
found the Bible and cried out, "Oh, my
sins. my sinsp' and why tho publican, ac-
oording TO the custom to this day in the
east, when they have any great grief, be-
gan to beat himself and cry as he smote
upon his breast, "God be merciful to me-
a sinner" I was, like many Of you,
brought up IN the country, and 1 know
some of the habits of sheep, and how they
get astray, and what my text means when
it says, GAN We like sheep, have gone
astray." Sheep get astray in two ways
either by trying to get into other pasture
or from being scared by the dogs. In the
former way some Of us got astrny. We
thought the religion Of Jesus Christ put
US on short commons. We thought there
was better pasturage somewhere else. We
thought if We could only lie down on the
banks Of distant stream or under great
oaks on tho other sido of some hill we
might be better fed. We wanted other
pasturage than thai which God, through
Jesus Christ. gave our soul, and we wan
dered on, and we wandered on, and we
were lost. We wanted bread, and We found
garbage. Tho farther we wandered in
stead of finding rich pasturage we found
blasted heath and sharper rocks and moro
singing netties. 40 pasture. How was
it in the clubhouse when you lost your
child? Did they como around and help
you very much? Did your worldly assooi-
ates console you very much? Did not the
plain Christian man who came into your
house and sat up with your darling child
give YOU more comfort than all worldly as
sooiates? Did al the conyivial songs you
ever heard comfort you in chat day Of be-
reavement SO much as the song they sang
to you-perhaps the very song that was
sung by your little child the last Sabbath
afternoon of her lifef
There is a happy land
Far, far away,
Where saints immortal reign
Bright, bright as day
Man, Soul.
Did your business associates in that day
of darkness and trouble give you any es-
peoial coincidence? Business exasperated
you, business wore you out, business left
you limp as a rag, business made you mad.
You got dollars, but you got no peace.
God have mercy on the man who has moth
ing but business TO comfort him The
world afforded you no luxuriant pasturage
A famous English actor stood on the stage
impersonating, and thunders Of applause
came down from the galleries, and many
thought it was the proudest moment Of all
his life, but there was man asleep just in
front of him, and the fact that that man
e. Il nj
the occasion for him, and he cried: Wake
uni Wake upP' So ono little annoyance
in life has been more peryading to your
mind than all tho brilliant congratulations
and success. Poor pasturage for your soul
YOU find in this world The world has
cheated YOU, the world has belied you, the
world has misinterpreted you, the world
has prosecuted you. 1t never oomforted
you. Oh, this world is a good rack from
which horse may pick his food; it is a
good trough from which the swine may
crunch their mess, but 1t gives but little
food to a soul blood bought and immortal
What is a soul? 1t is a hope high as the
throne of God What is a manP You
say, at is only man." 1t is only man
zone overheard in sin. 1t is only man
gone overheard in business life. What is
a manp The battle-ground Of three worlds,
with his hands taking hold Of destinies Of
light or darkness. A mani No limo can
measure him. No limit can bound him.
The arohangel before tho throne cannot
outliye him. The stars shall die, but he
will watch their extinguishment. The
world will burn, but he will gaze at the
confiagration. Endless ages will march
on. He will watch the procession. A
mani The masterpiece Of God Almighty.
Yet you soy, 1T is only a man. Can a
nature like that be fed on husks Of the
Substantial comfort will not grow
On natures barren soil;
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toll.
Some of you got astray by looking for
botter pasturagc, others by being scared /
by the dogs. The hound gets over into the {
pasture field. The poor things 1y in every
direction. In few moments they arc
torn OF the hedges, and they are FLASHED of
the ditch, and the lost sheep never gets
home uuloss the farmer goes after it.
There is nothing so thoroughly lost as e
lost sheep. 1t may have been In 1857,
during the financial panic, or during the
financial stress in the fall of 1878, when
you got astEay. You almost became an
ntheist. You said, "Where is God that /
honest men go down and thieves prospect"
You were logged Of creditors, you were
logged of tho banks, you were logged Of I
worldly disaster, and some Of you went I
into misantbropy, and some of you took to I
strong drink, and others Of you fled out OF .
Christian association, and you got astray. /
Oh, man, that was tho last time when you I
ought to have forsakea God Standing .
amid the laundering Of your earthly fail I
ures, how could you get along without \
God to comfort you, and God to deliver
you, and a God to help you, and God to
save you? You tell mo you have been
through enough business trouble almost
to kill you. know it. ! cannot under
stand how the boat could live ono hour in