The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-02-06
DIR. TALA[AGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

7ubject: Gates Are Wide Open - No Man
is Barred From Receiving Gods
Flocks of All Denominations.
Gcoryright 1901
NEW York CGTY.-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 X, l6,
"0ther sheep have which are not of this
fold"
There is no monopoly in religion. The
grace of God is not little property that
we may fence off and nave all To our-
selves. It is not kings park, at which
we look through a barred gateway. wish
ary and the deer and the royal conserva.
everywhere there are bars that we may
let down and gates that we may swing
o!s.n.
In my bovhood 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 decaying and by scores and scores
of bushels, never would allow ary of lis to
touch the fruit. Sometimes the lads of the
school. in the sinfulness of nature in
herited from our first parents, wro were
ruined by the same temptation, invaded
that orchard, but they soon retreated, for
the man came after them at speed reck-
less of making his lameness worse and
cried out, "Boys, drop those apples or I
will set the dog on you"
Well, nv 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 rough
and unsympathetic 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 you an idea
that because you were baptized at eight
months of age and because you have all
your life been under hallowed influences
side of the Lords table, spreading your.
self out and taking up the entire room? I
tell you no. You will have to haul in
your elbows, for we will place on either
side cf you those whom you never es.
pected would sit there; for. as Christ said
to His people long ago, go He says to You
and to me, "0ther sheep I 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 living down under the trees, some are
strolling over the mountains. some OF
them are in his yard. They are scattered
all around in many places. Cameron, his
neighbor, comes over and says: II see You
have thirty.six sheep. I have Just counted
them" "No," says Mcdonald. u 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
focks Other sheep I have which are not
of this fold" So Christ says to us. Here
is a 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
Pedo- Baptist fold, the only difference be-
tween these last two being the way in
which they wash the sheep, and 80 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 "No, no; you have not seen
more than one out of thousand OF My
flock. They are scattered all over the
earth. Other sheep I 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
yersary we to-day celebrate. During the
past year 5000 souls have been saved
through it's instrumentality, and during its
existence it has put its temporal and splr'
itual benediction upon hundreds Of thou
sands of the Door and suffering and lost
With the bread OF this life in one hand
and the bread of eternal life in the other
it is doing a stupendous work, and to all
it's patrons Christ is saying: Il was hun,
cry, and ye fed Me; naked. and ye clothed
Me; sick and in prison, and We visited Me
Inasmuch as ye did it unto Me. one OF the
least of these, ye 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 wei
coined. "No," says some fastidious Chris
tian. "I 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 a great multitude that no man car
number assemblies? They will put fifty In
your pew What are the people, assembled
in Christian churches compared with the
mightier millions outsider, Some churches
are like a hospital, that should advertise
that its 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 a gloss on. .,
It was as though at great battle there
were left 10000 wounded and dying on the
field, and three surgeons gave all their
time to half dozen patients in barn hos
pital. The Major General comes in and
says to the doctors: Come out here and
look at the 1000 dying for lack OF surgical
attendance. ~ ""No,"- the three doctors
standing there tanning theiif patiehts, we
have a half dozen important cases here
and we are attending to them, and when
we are not positively busy with their
wounds it takes all our time to keep the
flies off,"
In this awful battle of sin and sorrow
where millions have fallen on millions, do
not let us spend all our time in taking care
of few people, and when the command
Genes, "Go into the world" say practi'
cally, "No, I cannot go; l have few
choice cases, and am busy keeping off the
flies"
We need as churches, to stop lombard
ing the old iron.clad sinners that have
been proof against thirty years of Chris
tian assault and take aim in other direc'
tions.
Years ago I visited New England fac
tory village. went up to the door of a
factory, and l saw on the outside the
words, mo admittance" OF course
went in, and coming to the second door
saw the words, mo admittance." Getting
clear on into the factory saw they were
making pins, useful pins, and nothing but
pins. So l think there is sometimes an
exclusiveness among some of the churches.
The outside world comes up and looks
at the door and there is something which
seems to say, "No admittance," and the
world comes up to the pew door and sees
and