The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-12-26

NEAR CANA, Dec. 22.-The Rev. 7.
De Witt Talmage, D. D., preached
here today on "a Marriage Feast"
taking for his text John ii, 10: .'Thou
hast kept the good wine until now"
He said:
Standing not far off from the demol-
ished town of what was once called
Cana of Galilee, I bethink myself of
our Lords first manhood miracle,
which has been the establishment of
the ages. My visit last week to that
place makes vivid in my mind that
beautiful occurrence in Christ's minis
try. Ny text brings US to wedding
in that village. It is a wedding in
common life, two plain people having
pledged each ether, hand and heart,
and their friends having come in for
congratulation. The joy is not the
less because there is no pretension.
In each other they find all the
future they want. The daisy in the
cup OH the table may mean as much as
a score of artistic garlands fresh from
the hothouse. When daughter goes
off from home with nothing but
plain fathers blessing and a plain
mothers love, she is missed as much
as though she were princess. 1t
seems hard, after the parents have
sheltered her for eighteen years, that
III few short months her affections
should have been carried off by an
other; but mother remembers how il
was in her own case when she was
young, and SO she braces up until the
wedding has passed, and the banquet
ers are gone, and she has a good cry
all alone.
Well, we are today at the wedding
in Cana of Galilee. Jesus and his mo-
Their have been invited. Itisevident that
there are more people there than were
expected. Either some people have
come who were not invited, or more
invitations have been sent out than it
was supposed would be accepted. OF
course there is not enough supply of
wine. You know that there is moth
ing more embarrassing to a house
keeper than a scant supply. Jesus
sees the embarrassment, and he comes
up Immediately to relieve it. He sees
standing six water pots He orders
the servants to fill them with water,
then waves his hand over the water,
and Immediately it is wine-real wine.
Taste of it, and see for yourselves;
no logwood IN it, no strychnine in it,
but first rate wine. Twin not now be
diverted to the question so often
discussed in my own country, whether
it is right to drink wine. I am de-
scribing the scene as it was When
God makes wine he makes the very
best wine; and one hundred and thirty
gallons of it standing around in these
water pots-wine SO good That the ruler
of the feast tastes it and says: why,
this is really better than anything we
have hadl Thou hast kept the good
wine until now" Beautiful miracle
A prize was offered to the person who
should write the best essay about the
miracle In Cana. Long manuscripts
were presented in the competition, but
poet won the prize by just this one
line descriptive of the miracle:
The unconscious water saw its God, and blushed
We learn from this miracle, in the
first place, that Christ has sympathy
with housekeepers. You might have
thought that Jesus would have said:
II cannot be bothered with this house
hold deficiency of wine. 1t is not for
me, Lord of heaven, of earth, to be-
come caterer to this feast. / have
vaster things than this to attend to. !"
Not so said Jesus. The wine gave out,
and Jesus, by miraculous power, came
to the rescue. Does there ever come a
scant supply in your household Have
10 Il 1xo,,1 Lot; q
Is it hard work for you to carry on
things decently and respectfully If
SO, don't sit down and cry. Don't go
out and fret; but go to him who stood
in the house in Cana of Galilee. Pray
in the parlori Pray in the kitchen !
Let there be no room in all your house
unconsecrated by the voice of prayer.
If you have a microscope, put under
it one drop of water, and see the in
sects floating about; and when you
see that God makes them, and cares
for them, and feeds them, come to the
conclusion that he will take care Of
you and feed you, oh, We of little faith !
TRUST IN GOD.
A boy asked if he might sweep the
snow from the steps of q house. The
lady of the household said: YES; you
seem very poor" He says: Il am
very poor" She says: Don't you
sometimes get discouraged, and feel
that God is going to let you starvef"
The lad looked up il. the woman's face
and said do you think God will let
me starve when trust him, and then
do the best cant" Enough theology
for older peoplel Trust in God and
do the best you can. Amidst all the
worriments of housekeeping, go TO
him; he will help you control your
temper, and supervise your domestics,
and entertain your guests, and man
age your home economies. There are
hundreds of women weak, and ilerv-
Gus, and exhausted with the cares of
housekeeping. / commend you to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the best adviser
and the most efficient aid-the Lord
Jesus who performed his first miracle
to relieve housekeeper.
learn also from this miracle that
Christ does things in abundance.
think small supply of wine would
have made up for the deficiency. /
think certainly they must have had
enough for half of the guests. One gall
lon of wine win do; certainly five gal
Ions will be enough; certainly ten. But
Jesus goes on, and he gives them
thirty gallons, and forty gallons, and
fifty gallons, and seventy gallons. and
one hundred gallons, and one hundred
and thirty gallons OF the very best
wine.
1t is just like him, doing everything
on the largest and most generous scale.
Does Christ, our creator, go forth TO
make leavesi He makes them by the
whole forest full: notched like the
fern, or silvered like the aspen, or
broad like the palm; thickets in the
tropics, Oregon forests. Does he go
! forth TO make Aowersi He makes plen-
ty of them; they lame from the hedge,
| they hang from the top of the grape
vine in blossoms, they roll in the blue
wave OF the violets, they toss their
| white surf into the spir9a-enough for
every child's hand flower, enough
| to make for every brow a chaplet,
enough with beauty TO cover up the
| ghastliness of all the graves Does
he go forth TO create water2 He pours
it out, not by the cupful, but by a
river full, a lake full, an ocean full,
pouring it out until all the earth has
enough to drink, and enough with
| which to wash.
Does Jesus, our Lord, provide re
| dernptionf 1t is not little salvation
for this one, little for that, and = liz
tie for the other; bat enough for alb
ssWhosoeyer will, let him come.
Each man an ocean full for himself.
Promises for the young, promises fol
the old, promises for the lowly, prom
ises for the blind, for the halt, for ths
outcast, for the abandoned Pardon