The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-05-15
ALL THINGS NOW READY
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Greatest Of Banquets.
The Saviour Ever Ready to Receive All
The Church Open to All Who Desire to
Enter-NO Invitation Necessary
Come Now.


-vitatiOn to a Wedding" and his text
Luke xiv. II: Come; for all things are
now ready" He said
Holy festivities to-day. We gather
our sheaves into the spiritual garner.
Our joy is like the Joy of Heaven.
Spread the banquet, fill all the chalices.
We are not to-day at the funeral of
dead Christ; we are celebrating the
marriage of the Kings son.
1t was exciting time in English
history when Queen Elizabeth visited
Lord Leicester at KenilwOrth castle.
The clocks in all the towers and
throughout the castle were stopped at
the moment of her arrival. so continu-
ing TO point to the moment as the one
surprising all others in interest. The
door of the great banquet hall was
opened The queen marched in to the
sound of the trumpets. Four hundred
servants waited upon the guests. It
was a scene that astonished all nations
when they heard of it. Five thousand
dollars day did the banquet cost as il
went day after day. She was
greeted to the palace gates
with floating islands and
torches, and the thunders of cannon and
fireworks that set the night ablaze, and
"A burst of music that lifted the whole
scene into enchantment. Beginning in
that way, it went on from joy to joy.
and from excitement to excitement, and
from rapture to rapture. That was the
great banquet that Lord Leicester
spread in Kenilworth castle.
Cardinal Wolsey entertained the
French am bassadors in Hampton court
The best cooks of all the land provided
for the table The guests were kept
hunting in the parks all the day so that
their appetites might be keen, and then
in the evening hour they We're shown
into the banqueting hall, with table
aglitter with imperial plate and abiush
second course of the feast was made of
food in all shapes, of men and birds and
beasts, and dancing groups and joust-
ing parties riding upon each other with
uPlifted lances. Lords and princes and
ambassadors, their cups cleaning to
the brim, drank first to the health of
the king of England, and then to the
health OF the emperor of France. That
was the banquet that Cardinal Wolsey
spread in Hampton court.
But to-day, my brothers and sisters,
invite you to a grander entertainment.
My Lord the King is the banqueter.
Angels of God are the cup-bearers; all
the redeemed are the guests; the halls
of eternal love, frescOed with light and
paved with Joy and curtained with I'M
fading beauty are the banqueting place;
the harmOnies of eternity are the music;
the chalices of God are the plate; and 1
am one of the servants come out with
invitations to all the people; and o, that
you might break the seal of the invita-
ton and read in ink of blood and with
the tremulous hand of a dying Christ:
Come, come, for all things are now
ready
Sometimes there have been great dis
appointments at a banquet The wines
have given out, or the servants have
been rebeiliOus, or the lights have
failed But I walk all around the ban
quoting table of my Lord to-day, and I
nd fI,fr nd 7
the door of the banqueting house and I
ssay: ''All things are now ready"
Illustrating my text go on and in
the first place say that the Lord Jesus
Christ is ready. Cardinal WOlsey did
not come into the banqueting hall until
the second course of the feast, and
when he entered booted and spurred,
all the guests arose and cheered him,
but have to tell you that our ban
.queter, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes in
at the beginning of the feast. Aye, he
has been waiting for his guests; wait
ing for some of them 1891 years; wait
ing with mangled feet; waiting with
hand on the punctured side; waiting
with hand on the lacerated temples
waiting, waiting! Wonder il is that
the banqueter did not get weary and
say: ''Shut the door and let the lag
CARDS stay out" No, he has been wait
ing. How much he is in earnest! Shall
show you? I gather up all the tear:
that flooded his cheek in sympathy; al
the blood that channeled his brow anC
back and hand and foot to purchase
our redemption 1 gather up all the
groans coming from midnight chill anC
mountain hunger and desert loneliness
and I put them into one bitter cry;
gather up all the pangs that sho'
from cross andespilSe and spear, int
one groan; take one drop of sweat OF
his brow, and put 1t under the glass
Of the gospel and it enlarges to lake.
of sorrow, to oceans of agony. Tha
Christ to-day, emaciated and worn anC
weary, comes here, and with patho
in which every word is a heartbreal
and every sentence a martyrdon, HI
says to you and he says to me: Come
come, for all things are now ready.
Ahasuerus made a feast that lastet
$50 days. This lasts forever. Lord