Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-01-31
'Dr,TALMAGE SERMON
TnE GREAT DIVINE'S ELO0UEN
MESSAGE.
Subject: Gates Are Wide Open - No Man
il Barred From Receiving Gods
Grace 49, Christ's Sheepfold Contains
Flocks of All Denominations.
copyright 13l. ]


NEW YORK CITY. On the occasion of
The twentieth anniversary OF the Bowery
mission, DR.. Talmage preached to vast
, audience at the New York Academy OF
Music Ministers of all denominations
| were present. The text was, John Y, IS,
| "Other sheep | have which are not OF this
fold"
There is no monopoly in religion. The
grace of God is not d little property that
we may fence off ana nave ali 10 our
selves. 1t IS not kings park, at which
we look through a barred gateway, wish
ing that we might go in and see the statu-
airy and the deer and the royal Conserva-
tory. No; it Is a Fathers orchard. and
everywhere there 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-
/ pies owned by very lame man Who. al
| though there were apples in the place per
/ petually decaylng and by scores and scores
! of bushels. never would allow any OF lis to
! touch the fruit. Sometimes the lads of the
! school. in the sinfulness Of nature IN
! herlted from our first parents. wro were
ruined by the same temptation. invaded
! that orchard, but they soon retreated To-:
! the man came after them at a speed reck-
less Of making his lamen9ss worse ard
cried out, Boys, drop those apples or [
will set the dog on you
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 unsympathctic way OF accosting out
! siders, as though they had no business
there, though the Lord wants all to
come and take the choicest and the ripeSt
fruit on the premises. Have yor an idea
that because you were baptized at eight
months Of age and because YOU Aave all
hpn ho1l ir,ii
You therefore have right to one whole
side of the Lords table spreading your
self out and taking up the entire room? |
tell you no. You will have to haul in
your elbows, for we will place on either
side of you those whom vou never ey-
pected would sit there; for. as Christ said
to His people long ago, SO He says to you
and to me, Other sheep [ have which are
not of this fold
Mcdonald, the Scotchman, has thou
sands of head of sheep. Some of them are
browsing on the heather, some of them
are lying down under the trees, some are
strolllng over the mountains, some of
them are in his yard. They are scattered
all around IN many places. Cameron, his
nelghbor, comes over and says: Il see you
have thlrty-six sheep. I have just counted
them" NO. says Mcdonald, Il have a
great many more sheep than you found in
this yard. Some are here, and some are
elsewhere. [ have 1000 or 5000 in my
hocks. Other sheep [ have which are not
of this fold" So Christ says to us. Here
is knot of Christians, but they make up
a small part of the flock. Here is the Epis-
copal fold, the Methodist fold, the Luth-
eran fold, the Congregational fold. the
Presbyterian fold, the Baptist and the
Pedo-Baptist fold, the only difference be-
tween these last two being the way in
which they wash the sheep, and so they
are scattered all over. And we come with
our statistics and say there are so many
thousand Of the Lords sheep, but Christ
responds: mo, no; you have not seen
more than one out of a thousand of My
flock. They are scattered all over the
earth. Other sheep l have which are not
of this fold'"
OF all the merciful institutions which
bless this city not one more thoroughly
enters into the spirit of the text than does
the Bowery mission, whose twentieth ami
versary we to-day celebrate. During the
past year 5000 souls have been saved
through its instrumentality, and during it's
existence it has put its temporal and spir-
itual benedictlon upon hundreds of thou
sands Sand of the poor and suffering and lost.
With the bread of this life in one hand
and the bread of eternal life in the other, |
1t is doing stupendous work, and tc all
Its patrons Christ is saying: Il was hun
cry, and We fed Me; naked. and We clothed |
Me; sick and in prison, and We visited Me- |
ihasmucn as We dld 1t unto Me. one OF the |!
least of these, We did it to Me"
We need, as churches, to go into SYM
pathy with the great outside world and let |
them know that none are so broken heart |
ed or hard beset that they will not be well |
coined. No" says some fastidlous Chris |
tan, Il do not like to be crowded in |
church. DO not put any one in my pew
My brother, what will you do IN heaven,
when great multitude that no man can
number assemblies? They will put fifty in
your pew: What are the people assembled !
IN Ghrlstlan churches compared with the
mlghtler millions outside? Some churches
are like hospital, that should advertise
that It's patients must have nothing worse
than tOOthache or runrOundS but no bro
ken heads, no crushed ankles or fractured
limbs. Bring there for treatment moder-
ate sinners, velvet coated sinners and sin
ners with gloss on.
1t was as though at a great battle there
were left 10000 wounded and diving on the
field, and three surgeons gave all their
time to half dozen patients in barn hos
pltal. The Major General comes in and
says to the doctors: Come out here and |
look at the 10000 dying for lack of surgical
attendance" NO. say the three doctors
standing there tanning their patients, 1--WE
have half dozen important cases here
and we are attending to them, and when
we are not positively busy with thei,
wounds 1t takes all our time to keep the
flies off wv
In this awful hattie Of sin and sorrow
where millions have fallen on millions. do
not let lis spend all our time in taking care
OF few people, and when the command !
cop1es, Go into the world" say Dracfi-
ca!v, No, | cannot go; [ have a few
cholce cases, and [ am busy keeping off the
flies" o-- TIC