Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-05-19
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

subject: "Herding the Sheep'-rraYs
That His Flock May Listen to Ihe ZIP
ing of the Good Shepherd biddng
Them to Renounce Sin and Ask Pardon.
TEXT: "The Lord is my shepherd."-
Psalms xiii, 1.
What with post and rail fences and our
pride in Southdown, Astrakhan and Flem-
ish varieties of sheep, there Is no use now
of the old-time shepherd. Such a one had
abundance of opportunity Of becoming
q poet. being out Of doors twelve hours a
day, and ofttimes waking up in the night
on the hills. II the stars orthe torrents or
the sun or the flowers had anything to
say, he was very apt to hear it. The Et-
trick Shepherd of Scotland who afterward
took his seat in the brilliant circle of Will
son and Lockhart, got his wonderful poetic
inspiration in the ten years in which he
was watching the focks OF Mr.. Laidlaw.
prose of the Scotch shepherd. One OF
these Scotch shepherds lost his only son,
and he knelt down in prayer and was over
heard to say, 80 Lord, it has seemed good
in Thy providence to take from me the
staff Of my right hand at the time when to
in need Of 1t, and how shall climb up the
hill of sorrow and auld age without 1t Thou
mayst ken, but dinna!"
David, the shepherd boy, is watching his
fathers sheep. They are pasturing on the
very hills where afterward Lamb was
born Of which you have heard much, "the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world David, the shepherd boy,
was beautiful, brave, musical and poetic.
I think he often forgot the sheep in his
reveries. There in the solitude he struck
the harp string that is thrilling through all
ages. David the boy was gathering the
material for David the poet and David the
man. Like other boys, David was fond of
using his knife among the sapiings. and he
had noticed the exuding Of the juice of the
tree, and when he became man he said,
1.-The trees of the Lord are full of sap"
David the boy, like other boys, had been
fond of hunting the birds nests, and he
had driven the old stork off the nest to find
how many eggs were under her, and when
he became a man he said, "As for the stork,
the fir trees are her house." In boyhood
he had heard the terrific thunderstorm
that frightened the red deer into prema-
ture sickness, and when he became a man
he said, '"The voice OF the Lord maketh
the hinds to calve." David the boy had
lain upon his back looking up at the stars
and examining the sky, and to his boyish
Imagination the sky seemed like piece of
divine embroidery, the divine fingers work
ing in the threads of light and the beads of
stars, and he became man and wrote,
when 1 consider thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers When he became an old
man, thinking of the goodness of God, he
seemed to hear the bleating of his fathers
sheep across many years and to think OF
the time when he tended them on the Beth
lehem hills, and he cries out in the text,
1.-The Lord is my shepherd
II God will help me, l will talk to you Of
the shepherds plaid, the shepherds crook
the shepherds dogs, the shepherds past
ure grounds and the shepherds fiocks.
And first the shepherds plaid. 1t would
be preposterous for a man going out to
n nl1f on
splendid apparel. The potter does not work
In velvet; the serving maid does not put on
satin while toiling at her duties: the shep-
herd does not wear splendid robe in which
to go out amid the storms and the rocks
and the nettles; he puts on the rough ap-
parel appropriate to his exposed work. The
Lord our Shepherd, coming out to hunt the
lost sheep, puts on no regal apparel but
the plain garment OF our humanity. There
was nothing pretentious about it. l know
the old painters represent a halo around
the babe Jesus, but do not suppose that
there was any more halo about that child
than about the head of any other babe that
was born that Christmas eve in Jud&a. Be-
coming man, he wore seamless garment.
The scissors and needle had done nothing
sack with three holes in it-one for the
neck and two for the arms. Although the
gamblers quarreled over it that is no evil
dence of it's value. 1 have seen two rag
pickers quarrel over the refuse of an ash
barrel. No, in the wardrobe of heaven he
left the sandals of light, the girdles of
beauty, the robes of power and put on the
besoiled and tattered raiment of our hui
manity. Sometimes he did not even wear
the seamless robe. What is that hanging
about the waist of Christi Is it a badge OF
authority? Is it a royal coat of arms? No,
it is towel. The disciples feet are filthy
from the walk on the long way and are not
fit to be put upon the sofas on which they
are to recline at the meal, and so Jesus
washes their feet and gathers them up in
the towel to dry them. The work Of saving
this world was rough work, rugged work,
hard work, and Jesus put on the raiment,
the plain raiment. of our flesh.
Next l mention the shepherds crook.
This was a rod with a curve at the end
which, when sheep was going astray, was
was pulled back. When the sheep were not
going astray the shepherd would often use
1t as sort Of crutch, leaning on it, but
when the sheep were out of the way the
crook was always busy pulling them back
Al! we, like sheep, have gone astray, and
we would have fallen long ago over the
precipices.
Here is a man who is making too much
money. He is getting very vain. He says
after awhile I shall be independent Of al
the world. oh, my soul, eat, drink and bt
merryl" Business disaster comes to him
What is God going to do with him? Has
God any grudge against him? Oh, no. Goo
is throwing over him the shepherds crook
and pulling him back into better pastures
Here is man who has always been we'll
He has never had any sympathy for in.
yalids. He calls them coughing, wheeling
nuisances. After awhile sickness comes tc
him. He does not understand what God il
going to do with him. He says, 'Is the
Lord angry with me?" Oh no. With the
shepherds crook he has been pulled back
into better pastures. Here is happy
household circle. The parent does moi
realize the truth that these children are
only loaned to him, and he forgets from
what source came his domestic blessings
Sickness drops upon those children and
death swoops upon little one. He says
"Is God angry with me?" No. His shep-
herds crook pulls him back into better
pastures. do not know what would have
become Of us IL it had not been for the
shepherds crook. Oh, the mercies of oul
troubles! You take up apples aud plums
from under the shade of the trees, and the
very best fruits OF Christian character we
find in the deep shade Of trouble.
When l was on the steamer coming across