The Brookhaven leader., 1891-05-21
THE MARRIAGE FEAST.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Presents
the Lords invitation
A Banquet of Choice viands Prepared fos
All who VIII Come and Psrtake-A
Feast of the Holy Spirit,
Free to the World.

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The following discourse was deliver
ed by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the
new Brooklyn tabernacle, his subject
being Invitation to Wedding The
| text was:
Come, for all things are now ready.
Holy festivities to-day. We gather
other 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 a dead Christ; we are cele-
brating the marriage of the Kings son.
1t was an 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 that moment as the
one surprising all others in interest.
The doors of the great banqueting hall
| were opened. The queen marched In
| to the sound of the trumpets. Four
| hundred servants waited upon the
guests. 1t was a scene that astonished
all nations when they heard of it. Five
thousand dollars day did the banquet
cost as it went on 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 ambassadors 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 were
shown into the banqueting hall. with
table aglitter with imperial plate, and
| ablush with the very costliest wines,
| and the second course of the feast was
| made of food in all shapes of men and
birds and beasts, and dancing groups,
and jousting 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 grander entertainment.
Ny 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 un-
| fading beauty, are the banqueting
| place; the harmonies of eternity are the
| music, the chalices of God are the
| plate, and / am one of the servants
| come out with invitations to all the
| people, and oh, that you might break
the seal of the invitation and read in
| ink of blood, and with the tremulous
hand of dying Christ: Come. come,
| for all things are now ready"
| Sometimes there have been great dis
| appointments at banquet. The wine
| has given out, or the servants have been
| rebellious, or the lights have failed;
but I walk all around the banqueting
table of my Lord to-day, and / find
everything complete, and swing open
the door of this banqueting house and
say: "All things are now ready"
Illustrating my text, I 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 I have to tell you that our ban
queter, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes in
. at the beginning of the feast. Ay, He
has been waiting for His guest, waiting
| for some of them one thousand eight
hundred and ninety-one years; waiting
with mangled feet, waiting with hand
on the punctured side, waiting
with hand on the lacerated tenn
Piles, waiting, waiting! Wonder ii
is that the banqueter did not
get weary and say: "Shut the door and
let the laggards stay out: ''No, He has
been waiting. How much He is in
earnestl Shall / show you? gather
up all the tears that flooded His cheek
in sympathy, all the blood that chan
neled His brow and back and hand and
foot, to purchase our redemption.
gather up all the groans coming from
midnight chill and mountain hunger and
| desert loneliness, and put them into
one bitter cry-I gather up all the pangs
that shot from cross and spike and
spear, into one groan--I take one drop
of sweat on His brow, and / put it un-
der the glass of the Gospel, and it en-
larges to lakes of sorrow, to oceans of
agony. That Christ to-day, emaciated
and worn and weary. comes here. and
with pathos in which every word is a
heartbreak, and every sentence q mar
tyrdom, He says to you and He says to
me: Come, come, for all things are
now ready"
Ahasuerus made feast that lasted
one hundred and eighty days. This
lasts forever. Lords and princes were
invited to that. You and are invited
to this. Yes, He has been waiting. He
Is waiting now. Other kings wrap
themselves In robes of beauty and
power before they come into ban
quet So does Christ. Oh, He Is the
| fairest of the fair. In His hand is the
Omniponent surgery that opened blind
eyes and Strengthened crooked limbs,
and hoisted the pillars of Heaven, and
swung the twelve gates which
are twelve pearls. Oh, what a
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