REV. DR. TALMAGR
Tha Eminent Brooklyn Divine's. Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "4 Call (to Ontsld. rs."
Text: "Other sheep I have which are not
of this fold' John x., 16.
There is no monopoly in religion. Tha
grace of. God is not a little property that w
may fen.?e off and have all to ourselves. If
is not a king's park at which we may lools
through the barred gateway, wishing thai
we might go in and see the deer and thd
etatuary and pluck the flowers and fruits iq
the royal conservatory. No. It is thf
Father's orchard, and everywhere there ar
bars that we may let down and gates that w
may swing op ii.
jIn my boyhood next to the country school
house there was an orchard of apples, owned
by a very lame man, who, although there .
wer.e apples in the place perpetually decaying
and by scores and scores of biishels, never
would allow any of us to toiich the fruit.
One day, in the sinfulness of a nature inher
ited from our first parents, who were ruined
by the same temptation, some of us invaded
that orchard, but soon retreated, for the man
came aftor us at a speed reckless of making
his lameness worse and cried put, ''Boys,
drop those apples, or I'll set the dpg on you.'
Well, my friends, there are Christian men
who have the church under selvere guard.
There is fruit in tnis orchard fcir the whole
world, but they have a rough and un
sympathetic way of accosting outsiders, as
though they had no business here, though
the Lord wants them all to come and take
tho largest and ripest frnit ojx . the premises.1
Ilave you an idea, because you Were baptized
at thirteen! months of algeand because you
have all your life been uncter hallowed in
fluences, that therefore you have a right to
ono whole side of the Lord's table, spreading
.yourself out and taking up the entire room?
), tell you no. You will have to haul in your
. T.bows, for I shall place on either side of ydu
t xose whom you never expected would sit
,ti' ere, for, as Christ said to His favored peo
ple long ago, so He says to you and to
me, "Other sheep l have which are net of
this fold."
MacPonald, the Scotchman, ha3 fdur or five
dozen head of sheep. Some of them are
. browsing on the heather; some of them are
lying down under the trees; some of them are
in his yard they are scattered around in eight
, or ten different places. Cameron, his neighbor, '
comes over and says: ''I see you have thirty
sheep. I have just counted them." "No,'
says MacDonald, "I have a great many mom
sheep than that. Some are here and somu
I are elsewhere.. They are scattered all around
about. I have 4000 or 5000 in my flocks.
Other sheep I have whieh are not in this
fold."
i So Christ says to us. Here is a knot oi
Christians, and there is a knot of Christians,
but they make up a small part of the flock.
Here is the Episcopal fold, the Methodist
fold ' the Lutheran fold, the Congregational
fold, the Presbyterian fold, the Baptist and
the Pedo-Baptist fold; the only difference be
tween these last two being the mode of sheep
"washing, and so they, are scattered all over,
and we come with our statistics andsay there
are so many thousands of the Load's sheep,
but Christ responds: No, no. You have
not seen more than one out of i000 of Jly
flock They are scattered all over-.the earth.
Other sheep I have which are not of thii
fold.' "
Christ in my text was prophesying the con version
of the gentiles with as uiuch confl
dence as though they were already ?on verted,
and He is now, in the words o my text,
prophesying thet coming of a great multitude
of outsiders that you never supposed would
come in, saying to you aud saying tome,
"Other sheep I have which are not of this
fold." .
In the first place, I remark that tho
neavenly Shepherd1 will find many, of 'His
sheep among the nonchurchgoers. There are
congregations where they are all Christians,
and they seem to be completely finished, and
they remind one of the skeleton leaves which
by chemical preparation have had? all the
greenness, and verdure taken off jthem and
are left cold and white and delicate', nothing
wanting but ' a glass case to put over
them. ' The minister of Christ has noth
ing to do with such Christians but to
come" once a week and with ostrich
- feather dust off the accumulation of the
last six days, "leaving them bright -and
crystalline as before. But the other kind oi
a church is an armory, with perpetual sound
of drum and fife, gathering -rue rails for the
Lord of Hosts. Wo sny to every applicant:
"Do you want to be ou God's side the safe
side and the happy side? If so, come in the
armory and get equipped Here is a bath in
which to be cleansed. Here are sandals to
put upon your feet. Heta is a helmet for
your brow.. Here is a. breastplate for your
heart. Here is a sword for your right arm,
and yonder is th battlefield. Quit your
selves like men.'
There are some here who. say, "I stopped
going to church ten or twenty years ago."
My brother, is it not strange that you should
'be the first man I should talk to to-day? I
know all your case. I know it very well. You
have not been accustomed to come into relig
ious assemblage, but I have a surprising an
nouncement to make to you you are going
to become one oi the Lord's sheep. "Ah,
you say, "it is impossible. You don't know
how far I am from anything of that kind." I
know all about it. . I have wandered up and
down the world, and I understand your case.
I have a still more startling announcement
to make in regard to you you are not only
going to become one of the Lord's sheep, but
you will become ono to-day. You will stay
after this service to be talked with about your
soul. People of God, pray for that man.
That Is the only use for you here. I shall not
break off so much as a crumb for you, Chris
tians, in this sermon, for I am going to give
it all to the outsiders. "Other sheep I have
Which are not of this fold."
When the Atlantic want to pieces on Mars
rock, and the people clambered upon tho
beach, why did not that heroic minister of
the gospel of whom we have all read sit down
and take care of those men - on the beach,
wrapping them in flannels, kindling fire for
them, seeing that they got plenty of food?
Ah, he knew that there were others who
would do that. He says: "Yonder are men
and women freezing in the rigging of that
wreck. Boys, launch the boat." And now
I see the oar blades bend under the strong
pull, but before they reached the rigging a
woman was frozen and dead. She was
washed off, poor thing. But hesays, "There
is a man to save." and he cries out: "Hold
on five minutes longer, and I will save you.
Steady; steady. Give me you hand. Leao
Into the lifeboat. Thank God, he is saved!"
- So there are those here to-day who are
6afe on the shore of God's mercy. I will not
spend any time with them at all, but I see
there are some who are freezing in the rig-,
ging of sin and surrounded by perilous
storms. Pull away, my lads! Let us reach
them. Alas, one is hashed off and gone.
There is one more to be' saved. Let us push
out for that one. Clutch the rope. Oh.
dying man, clutch it as with a death scrip.
Steady, now, on tlte slippery places. -Steady,
There saved, saved! Just as I thought.
For Christ has declared that there are some
still in the breakers who shall come ashore.
"Other sheep I have which are not of thii
fold."
Christ commands His ministers to be fish
ermen, and when I go fishing I do not want
to, go among other churches, but into the
wide world, not sitting along Hohoku9 j
- creek, where eight or ten other persons are j
sitting with, hook and line, but, like the fish- !
ermen of Newfoundland, sailing off and
dropping net away outside, forty or -fifty
miV-'3 from shore. Yes, there are nonchureh
goers here who will come in. Next Sabbath
they will be here again or in some better
church. They are this moment being swept
into Christian associations. Their voice will
be heard in public prayer. They will die iD
peace, their bed surrounded by Christian
sympathies and to be parried out by devout
men to be buried, and on heir graves be
chisled th$ words, "Precious in the .sight ol
the Lord is'the death of His saints." And on
resurrection day yOu will get up with the
dear children yeuhave already buried and
with your Christian parents who have already
won the palm. And all the grand and glor
ious history bogins this hour. "Other sheep
I have which are not of this fold."
I remark again, the Heavenly Shepherd is
going to And a great many of His sheep
among those who are positive rejectors of
Christianity. I do not know how you came
to reject Christianity. It may have been
through" hearing Theodore ParKr preach, or.
through reading Renan's "Life of Jesus," or
through the infidel talk of some young man .
In your store. It may have been through the.
trickery of some professed Christian man
who disgusted you with religion. I do not
ask you how you became so, but you
frankly tell me that you do reject
it You do not believe that Christ is
8 dTvme i" ncitrg; airnougn- yoxr a-rrrrrr
that He was a very good man. You do
not believe that the Bible was inspired of
God, although you think there are somo
very fine things in it. You believe (that the
Scriptural description of Eden was only an
allegory. There'are fifty things that I be
lieve that you do not believe. And yet you
are an accommodating man. Everybody
that knows you says that of you. Ifj I should
ask youto clo a "kindness Tor me, pr Tt cny
on else should ask of you a kindness, you
would do it. Now. I have a kindness to ask
of you to-day. It is something thatlwill cost
you nothing and will give me great)!) delight.
I want you by experiment to try the power of
Christ's religion. If I should comg to you.
and you wera very sick, and dotora had
given tou up and said there was np chance
for yon, and I should take out a bottle arxS
say: )"Here Is a medicine that will Ijpure you.
It has cured fifty people, and it 'Will cure
you," you would say, "I have no confidence
In it. I would say, " Won t you take it to
Oblige me?" "Well," you would say. ''if it's
any accommodation to you; I'll take it." :My
Mend, will you be just as accommodating in
matters of religion? T'here are some of you
who have found out that this world cannot
satisfy your soul. You are like the man who
told me one Sabtath after the service was
over: "I have tried this world and found it
an insufficient portion. Tell me of some
thing better." You have come to that. You
.are sick for the need of divine medicament.
NowT come and tell you of a physician
who will cure you, who has cured hundreds
and hundreds who; were as sick as you are.
"Oh," you say, "I have no confidence in
Hiin." But will you not try Hircjij? Accom
modate mo in this matter; ' oblige me in this
matter: just try Him. Iam vorypertain ne
will cure you. Ycfu reply, "I nave no es
pecial confidence in Kim, but if you ask me
as a matter of accommodation introduce
Him." So I introduce Him Christ, the
Physician who has cured more blind eyesand
hp.ilpiJ mrfl phftct v wnnn.k anrl hnnnr) tin
1 more broken hearts . than all the doctors
i since the time of culapius. That Divine
Physician is here. Are you uot ready to try
him? Will you not, as a pure matter -of ex
periment, try Him and state your case be
fore Him this hour?- Hold nothing back
from Him. If you cannot pray, if you do
not know how to pray any other way, say ;
"O Lord Jesus Chist, this is a strange thing
forme to do. I know nothing about the
formulas of religion. These Christian peo
ple have been talking so long about. what
Thou canst do f or.me I am ready to do what
ever Thou commandest me to do. I am
ready to take whatever Thou commandest me
So take. If there be any ptwer in religion, s
these people say, let me nava the advantage ci
it" Will you try that experiment now? I do
not at this point of my discourse say that
there is anything in religion, but I simply
jay try it, try it. Do not take my counsel or
the counsel of any clergyman, if yon despise
clergymen. Perhaps we may be talking pro
fessionally; perhaps we may be prejudiced in
the matter; perhaps we may be hypocritical
In our utterances; perhaps cur advice Is not
worth taking. Then take the counsel of some
very respectable laymen, as John Miltonr the
poet; as William Wiiberforce, the statesman;
is Isaac Newton, the astronomer; as Robert
Boyle, the philosopher; as Locke, the meta
physician. They never preached or pretended
to preach, and yet putting down, one his
telescope, an 1 another Ms parliamentary
scroll, and a lother his electrician's wire, they
all declare the adapt ednes3 of Christ a re
ligion to the wants 'and troubles of the world.
If you will not take the recommendation of
ministers of the gospel, then tke the recom
mendation of highly respectable laymen.
O men, skeptical and struck through with
unrest, wouid you not like to have some of
the peace which broods over our souls to-day?
I know all about your doubts. I have been
through them all. I have gone through all
the curriculum. I have doubted whether
there is a God, whether Christ is God, I hava
doubted whether the Bible was rue, I have
doubted the immortality cf th9 soul, I
have doubted my own existence. I have
doubted everything, and yet out of that hot
luxuriant, sunshiny land of gospel hope And
peace andcemfort, and so I have confidence
n preaching to you and asking you to come
n. However often you may have spoken
against the Bible, or however much you may
have caricatured religion, step ashore from
that recking and tumultuous sea. If j&a. go
home to-day adhering to your infidelities,
you will not. sleep one wink. YouSio not
want your children to come up with your
skepticism. You cannot afford to die in thai
midnight darkness, can you? If you do not
believe in anything else, you believe in lovft
a father's Io7e, a mother's love, a wife'3
love, a child's love. Then let me tell you
that God loves you more than them all. Oh,
you must come in. You will come in ! The
great hea"rt of Christ H,chea to have you come
in, and Jesus this very moment whether
you sit or stand locks into your eyes and
ay3, "Other slieeo I Lave which are not of
this fold." ' '
Again I remark that the Heavenly Shep
herd is going, to find a great many sheep
among those who have been flung of evil
habits. It makes me sad to see Christian
people give up a prodigal as lost. There are
those who talk as though the grace of God
tvere a chain of forty or fifty links, and after
they had run out there was nothing to touch
the depth of a very bad case. If they were
hunting and got oft the track of the deer,
they would look longer among -the brakes
and bushes for the lost game than they have
been looking for that icst soul. Peopjp tell
us that if a man have deliriumtremens twice
he cannot be reclaimed; that&ter a woman
has sacrificed her integrity she vannot be re
stored. The ! Bible has distinctly intimated
that the Lord Almighty is ready to pardon
490 times that is seventy times seven. There -are
men before the throne of God who have
wallowed in every kind of sin, but saved by
the grace of Jesus and washed in His blood
they stand there radiant now. There ar
those who plungedr into the Very lowest of
all the hells in New -York who have for the
tenth time been lifted up, and finally, by the
grace of God, they stand in heaven glor
iously rescued by the grace promised to the
chief of sinners. I want to tell you that God
loves to take hold of a very bad case. When
the church casts yen off, and when the club
room casts you off Jnd when society casts
you off, and wheri business associates casts
you off, and when father casts you off, and
when mother casts you off, and when every
body casts you off, your first cry for help will
bend the eternal God clear down into the
ditch of your suffering and shame.
The -Good Ternplat3 cannot save you, al
though they are a grand institution. The
Sons of Temperance cannot fave you, al
though they are mighty for good. Signing
the temperance pledge cannot save you,
although I believe in it. Nothing but the
grace of the eternal God can save you, and
that will if you will throw yourself on it.
There is a man in this house who said to me:
."Unless God helps me I cannot be delivered.
I have tried everything, sir, but now I have
got in the habit of prayer, and when I come
to a drinking saloon I pray that God will take
me safo past, and I pray until I am past. He
does help me." For every man given to
strong drink there are scores of traps set.and
when he goes out on business to-morrow ha
.will be in infinite peril, and no one but the
everywhere present God can see that man
through. Oh, they talk about the catacombs
of Naples, and the catacombs of Borne, and
the catacombs of Egypt the burial places
under the city where the dust of a great mul
titude lies but I tell you New York hat It3
catacombs, and Boston its catacombs, and
Philadelphia its catacombs. They are the un
j . . . ... .
aergrouna restaurants, iuu oi aeaa men 3
bones and all uncleanlines3. Young man, you
know it. God help you. There is no need oi
going into the art gallery to see in the skill
ful sculpture that wonderful representation
of a man and. his son3 wound around with
serpents. There are families represented in
this house that are wrapped in the martyrdom
of fang and scale - and venom a "living
Laocoon of gha3tliness and horror. What are
you to do? I am not speaking into the, air.
I am talking to hundreds of men who must
be saved by Christ's gospel or never saved at
all. What are you going to do?
Do not put your trust in bromide of po
tassium, or in Jamaica ginger, or anything
that apothecaries can mix, pot your trust
only in the eternal God, and He will see you
through. Some of you do not have tempta
tions every day. It is a periodic temptation
tiat coaxes every six weeks, or every three
months; when it seems as if th powers of
darkness kindle around about your toni
the fires, of th : pit. It is well enough it
such a time, as soma of you do, to seok'm ep
ical counsel, but your first and most impor
tunate cry must be to God. If the fiin.
yiii aras you iu me biaugater, make th-i
do it on your knees. O God, now that the
on them than
city pavement
paroxysm of thirst is coming again udoh
that man, help him ! Fling backint j th- ivt
of hell the flend that assaults his soul tais
moment. Oh, my heart ache3 to see men tj0
on in this fearful straggle without Carlst.
There are in this house those whos hands
so tremble from dissipation that th't-y can
hardly hold a book, and yet I have to tell
you that they -will yet preach the gospel, aud
on commTinion days carry around conse
crated bread, acceptable to everybody be
cause of their holy life and their conseerate,t
behavior. The; Lord Is going to save you
Your home has got to be rebuilt. Your phvsil
cal health has, got to be. restored. Your
worldly business has got to be reconstructed.
The church of God is going to rejoice over
your discipleship: "Other sheep I
which are not of this fold." .
While I have hope for all prodigals, there
Are some people in this house whom I give
up. I mean those who have been churoa
goers all their life, who have maintained out
ward morality,! but who, hotwithstaadinir '
twenty, thirty, forty years of Christian ad-
vantages, have pever yielded their heart to
Christ. They are gespei hardened. I could
sail their names now, and if they would rise
-ap they would, rise up in scores. .Uospel
ibardenad! A sermon has no mora effect un.
the shining moon on thV
As Christ says, "The publi
cans ana nanots wui go int tne tmgdom of
God before thein." They have resisted all
the importunity of divine mercy and have
gone during these thirty years through, most
powerful earthquakes of religious feeling,
and they are farther away from God than
ever. After awhile they will lie down sick,
and some day it will be told that they ara
dead. No hope!
But I turn toj outsiders with a hope that
thrifl3 through! my body and souL "Other
sheep I have which are notof this fold."
l'ou are not gospel hardened. You have not
heard or read many sermons during the last
few years. As you came in to-day everything
was novel, and all the services are suggestive
of your early day. How sweet the' opening '
hymn sounded in your ears, and liow blessed
is thi3 hour! Everything suggestive , of
heaven. You do not weep, but the shower is
not far off. You sigh, and you have noticed
that there is always a sigh in ths wind before
the rain falls. ) There are those here who
would give anything if they could find re
lief -in' tears. They say : "Oh, my waste!
life! Oh, the bitter past ! Oh, the graves over
which I have j stumbled I Whither shall
I fly? Alas for the iuture! Everything is
darkso-dark,o dark! God help me! God
pityme!" Thank the Lord for that last ut- .
terance. You have begun to pray, anc when
a man begins to petition that sets aTrheaven r
flying this way, and God steps in and beats
back the hound3 of temptation to their ken
nels, .and around about the poor wounded
soul puts the coyer of His pardoning mercy. .
Hark, I hear 'something something fall!
What was that? j It is the bars of the fence
around the sheepfold. The shepherd lets
them down, and the hunted sheep of the
mountain bound in, some of them their
fleece torn with; the, brambles, some of them .
their feet lame with the dogs, but bounding
in. Thank, God! "Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold."
' JDAJ1E TO DIE? .
must die, and maydie very soon. . Dare you
die today? Is your house and your heart set
in order, so that! you can meet your Judge
with a smiie, and not with fear? Wereynu to -sit
at the gate of glory and wait for charges
against your life (before your entrance.) would
you dare to meet them? Would your children
come up and say, bo has done his duty to us;
his prayers, and councils, and life have ever
pointed to the path of purity I Would the
church testify that you have been faithful to
every obligationana kept your covenant vows
with scrupulous exactness? Would your min
ister affirm that' you had stayed his hands,
huu ever siooa reaay to ,co-operaie wilu mm
in efforts to save; souls? "Would the impeni
tent s'ay, you have ceased not to warn us and
beseech us to come to Christ? The Sabbath
school, and the heathen, and the destitute of
our land, would j they declare that you have
done your duty? God lias his eyf on ali these
thin -rs, and will judge you according to the
truth in all these cases. . Sly brother, have
you done your whole duty, so that vou can give
in your account without fear of aecu3ation.in
regard to your various responsibilitied? Are
you worldly, penurious, eold, formal, seldom
in the prayer-meeting,raorose in your family,
careless about the salvation of souls? Oh
how the eye of God will search you, and Low
you will quail before l.im I Dare you go into
his presence in such a state? Are you in such
a state? Then, how dare you die? But you
11 m - . r. 1 1 t 1 11
win cue. xou cannot avoid it. suddenly, u
Is likely you may be called. How dare you
live so careless, and hoard . up your money
without regard te a dying world? You are a
steward, and are squandering your Lord's
substance. Sunpbse you should employ a man
at 30 a month, to manage your business in
your absence. On j7our return, you find he
has neglected your business, rode around in
your carriage, spent his time in pleasure and
folly, or in hoarding jlhe income of your farm
for hi. own good. You call him to an account
and demand why he has behaved thus, and
he replies, just to show how you treat your
God, what couki you say? With 6uch treat
ment, dare you meet your God? If you live
tnus, dare you die? . Let us search and try
our ways and prepare to meet our God.
Aiorning star.