The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-03-28

Notes ON the Lesson for April
1.-THE Marriage
Feast"
From the Chicago STANDARD. ]

rom tno tnicuso oteuuhiu.l
The lesson for above date may be found In
the first fourteen verses OF the twenty-second
chapter OF Matthew
'''The kingdom Of heaven is like unto" 1t
Is like unto great many things. Learn
from Christ's sinillitudes by heavens ordi-
nation and our Lords sanction, the common,
everyday things of earth picture forth the
ineffable mysteries of the skies. Gods stars
shine IN the pools Gods eyes look AT us from
the flowers, his voice Is In the fountain aud
the tempest IA heavenly admiration, this
earthly estate @What is it lkey" 1t is what
men will always wait to know See the sHkes"
of the Bible. There are between three and
four hundred Come lot US make man after
our likeness" reads the first chapter Of Gen
esis. Presently great master IN Israel Is
speaking of "a prophet, OF thy brethren, Ike
me. +" 1t seems but a little while and we be-
hold She Spirit descending IKE dove and
lighting on hlm" whose lips thenceforth are
iull of words OF gracious likening ;-"tike one
of those, like To grain OF mustard seed,
like heaven" "like TO a treasure" "tike mer
chant" "iike to net" Siike a householder"
Earth was full OF celestial reminders TO the
heaven born King. And at last John is saying
for our infinite comfort, ~We shall be IKE
him. !" Let us seek to be like him in spir-
Itual senstiveness Keep in the reverent
spirit of Hene and Wordsworth, and Colt
hold, and the pious sages OF old Let
the earth preach to Us daily sermons about
heaven.
Books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
A marriage for hiS son. Feastng is pleas
ant And If 1t be marriage-teast, IT Is
doubly delightful. When, however, the
King gives IT. and spreads and serves it in
honor of his own son, who shall DO able to
compass the sumptuous splendorg God once
and again sets forth the p an of redemption
by the image of royal bridal banquet Sup
! pose We begin to view il as suchy Live and
| rejoice as the child of king, waiting for
| nls inhprltanrA Eripn0 hlu1on >
Are you! Are you? Go in this hope; talk
about il more. There is room for all Why
hide our privilege as if fearful that others
will take our seat? Do you recall the old
! colored auntie? She found the Lord and all
to herself she rejoiced IN Him. Poor, simple
soul, she was afraid some one would take her
| hope from her And no WONDER for they
had taken everything else But one day she
slipped into whlte-foiks meeting Some
one rose and spoke of the love of Jesus
! why, he's got Him." cried the astonished
woman. Another spoke in a like glad strain
And he's got HIM" she cried. Another, aud
! another, and another followed, TILL the over
! Joyed slave broke out, BLESS the Lord, they
| ali got Him"
Send forth his servants 10 cali There
! needs little urging TO a supper If one b.
I hungry, just word IL enough or beckouinS
hand, or door thrown open. But the Lord
! goes farther; having hidden, he sends forth
hls servants to call Here il, In part, the er-
! rand of the child of God 1t il to summon 10
the feast We hear that call very far bac6
Moses lifts II on The mount Aaron peaks
! IL from behind the temple curtains David,
! Isaiah, Malachi reiterate IN the hearing of the
! people. John the Baptist though speaking
| in stern tones, was but the harbinger OF a
! feast Christ himself gave 1t fullest enuucia-
ton, and his, IF any man thirst let him
| come unto me and drink" answers to the
gospel cry of that elder prophet, "Ho, every
one that thirsteth, CONE ye." Every minister,
every Christian to-day is voice sent forth TO
call who'll buy the gift of God?" cries the
! Alexandrian water-carrler. who'll take the
! gift of God?" calls the Christian
They icouid not come. Who? the Jew? Yes
! for he was first hidden, and he declined the
invitations; Is declining it still But we need
not wear out our wrath or our pity on those
! Hebrews of old. There were "would-nots"
outside of Palestine. There are deaf ears still
amongst @the hidden" There are children OF
the kingdom with their backs on the feast II
we understand this lesson in its first applica-
ton TO refer TO tho so-called elect then see
what a multitude OF nominal Christians there
are eating at the worlds tables rather than in
the Lords ~banqueting hall" @Woodshed
| Christians, i call them, said Munhall, refer
ring to those persons who claim conversion
and yet stay outside of the church. What
better, so far spiritual feastIng is concern
ed, are some who have even made the great
confessions, Called to banquet, but they
looutd not No, not could not; dared not;
simply and solely lcould not That tells the
truth.
They made light Of IT, That was what they
did at the second call, when all things were
ready That was their response, for example,
to the "voice Of one crying in the wilderness,
| Prepare We the way Of the Lord" Jew and
Gentle, they made light oft How you say.
| By simply going ~their ways" deliberately,
defantly and doggedly; zone to his farm,
another TO his merchandise" The word, lit
| orally, means nothing more than to overlook
1t was en- ough for the publican simply to de-
cline to exact no more" than "was appointed
for the soldier To forget to do violence 10 no
man" That was making light OF the Jordan
proclamation To make light of the preach
ing OF to-day one need not point his finger at
the pulpit in deris on; one need not boot
aloud at the old gospel He can Just go his
way regardless, working his farm, managing
his merchandise, Christian that he Is, as If the
word had not been spoken. He is making
light of it. Enough that, indeed to make
high sport for Satan and his angels. An in
| consistent Christian. No heed for him to
laugh The devils will do the laughing for
| him.
The remnant took his servants To be sure,
murder is Of piece with disloyalty. Gains
righteousness followed shortly after Ewes
disoDedionce. One needs only to look on
Jeremiah imprisoned, and John beheaded
| and the Son of God crucfied TO see the legiti-
mate fruits OF alienation from heaven. So
far as we give scorn TO Gods message, we
| hurl stones at his messengers. When we are
declining and denying Gods gracious truth
| We are etanulnS with the mulUIuue ABOUT the
cross and hooking at the meek face hanging
there. Part and parcel with all prosecutors
of righteousness are those who break with
righteousness. Verify the Christ is ofttimes
wounded in the house of his friends
burned mp their city That made an end
Of the poor nothings of earth to which they
had gone their ways. Where now was thor
merchandise" Where their spite? All suf-
fered alike Destroyed az murderers, their
city burned up before the armies of the King.
II is the certain end of all who fight against
God. 1t is, as Psalm IL says, ~the portion of
their cup" And yet these were hidden 10
partake OF the cup of the Lord. They chose
earth rather than heaven, and reversed the
choice of beauty for ashes. That was bad
preference
Not haVing wedding garment 1t is the
lesson of unworthiness recapitula'el \.
Whether hidden first or called from the high
ways none but the worthy shall enter: aud
he who comes in ~to behold the guests" can
abide no disloyalty. II is the Sons feast.
and all who enter must put on the Sons gar
ments of righteousness made ready for them
That absent garment meant more than a
sin Of omission; ID was positive contempt OF
court; IL was deliberate denial of the King 8
colors. He did not have wedding garment
| because he "would not" aud he went out
with the others who would not" to his own
| place.