St. Tammany farmer., 1901-09-07
is VERY REFRESHING|
DR.. Talmage, in This Discourse, So
Represents Religion.


He Invites All the World to Come and
Receive It-Christ's Eternal
Fountains satisfy the
Copyright, 1901. by Louis Klopsch. N. IL
Washington.
In this discourse DR.. Talmage repre-.
sents religion as great refreshment.
and invites all the world to come and
receive it; text, Genesis, 1858. eve
cannot until all the focks be gathered
together and till they roll the stone
from the wells mouth: then we water
the sheep"
A scene in Mesopotamia, beautifully
pastoral. A well of water of great
value in that region. The fields around
about it white with three locks of
sheep lying down waiting for the wa
tering. hear their bleating coming
on the bright air and the laughter of
young men and maidens indulging in
rustic repartee. I look off, and see
other docks Of sheep coming. Mean
while Jacob, stranger, on the inter-
esting errand of looking for . wife,
comes to the we'll. A beautiful shep-
herdess comes to the same well. I see
her approaching, followed by her IA
Tiers sheep. It was . memorable
meeting. Jacob married that shep-
herdess. The Bible account OF it is:
"Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his
voice and wept." It has always been
mystery to me what he found to cry
about! But before that scene oc-
cured Jacob accosts the shepherds and
asks them why they postpone the
shaking Of the thirst of their sheep
and why they did not Immediately pro-
ceed to water them. The shepherds
reply to the effect: 1--WE are all good
neighbors, and as . matter of cour-
tesy we wait until all the sheep Of the
neighborhood come up. Besides that,
this stone on the wells mouth is some
what heavy, and several of US take hold
OF 1t and push it aside, and then the
buckets and the troughs are filled and
the sheep are satisfied" "We cannot
until all the hocks are gathered to-
gether and till they roll the stone from
the wells mouth; then we water the
sheep"
Oh, this is q thirsty world! Hot for
the head, and blistering for the feet,
and parching for the tongue. The
worlds great want is cool, refresh
ing, satisfying draft. We wander
around and we find the cistern empty.
Long and tedious drought has dried
up the worlds fountain, but CEN
turies ago Shepherd, with crook in
the shape Of cross and feet cut to
the bleeding, explored the desert pas
sages of the world and one day came
across a well q thousand feet deep,
bubbiing and bright and opalescent.
and looked to the north, and the south,
and the east, and the west, and cried
out with voice strong and musical,
that rang through the ages: "Ho,
everyone that thirstet tn, come ye to the
waters!"
Now a great flock OF sheep to-day
gather around this Gospel well. There
are great many thirsty souls. 1won-
der why the q, cks of all nations do
not gather, why so many stay thirsty,
and while I am wondering about it my
text breaks forth in the explanation,
saying: 1--WE cannot until all the focks
be gathered together and till they roll
the stone from the wells mouth: then
we water the sheep"
If herd of swine come to well,
they angrily jostle each other for the
precedence; if drove Of cattle come
to q well, they hook each other back
from the water, but when . flock of
sheep come, though hundred of them
shall be disappointed, they only ex-
press It by sad bleating, they come to-
Rether peaceably. We want great
to come around the Gospel
well. I know there are those who do
not like crowd; they think crowd
is vulgar. If they are oppressed for
room in church, it makes them posi-
lively impatient and belligerent. We
have had people permanently leave
church because SO many other people
came to II. MOI SO u1Q lueSe OTleuld1
shepherds. They waited until all the
flocks were gathered, and the more
flocks that came the better they liked
1t. And so we ought to be anxious
that all the people should come. Go
out into the highways and the hedges
and compel them to come in. Go to
the rich and tell them they are indi-
gent without the Gospel of Jesus. Go
to the poor and tell them the affluence
there is in Christ. Go to the blind
and tell them of the touch that gives
eternal illumination. Go to the lame
and tell them of the Joy that will make
the lame man leap like hart. Gather
all the sheep OF all the mountains,
None so torn of the dogs, none SO sick,
none so worried, none SO dying as to
be omitted. Why not gather great
flock? All this city is flock, all New
York is flock, all London is hock,
all the world is flock.
This well of the Gospel is deep
enough to put out the burning thirst
~ the 600. .OOO. 900 of the race. Do