The Yale expositor., 1894-09-21


mage, who is still absent on his roInd-
the-world tour, has selected for his
sermon through the press For to-day;
Holy Compulsion the text being
Lvke IA "a "And compel them to
come in"
The plairest people in H'our day have
luxuries which the kings and queens
of olden ltimes never imagined. i
walked up and down the stairs of
HolyroOd palace-a palace that was
considered one of the wonders of the
world---and said, Can it be possible
that this is all there was of this re-
puted wonderful plSce?" And this is
the case in many other instances.
There are fruits in Westchester
coUaty and on Gong Island farms
Ear better than the pomegranates and
apricots of Bible times. Through all
tho ages there hare been scenes of fes-
| tivity, and the wealthy man of my
text plans a great entertainment and
| invites his friends If one builds
beautiful home, he wants his ac-
/ guaintances to come and enjoy it If
one buys an exquisite picture, he
wants his friends to come and appre-
ciate it; and it was lauda bic thing
l'when the wealthy man of my text,
\ happy himself, wanted to make other
people happy. And so the invitations
went out; but something went very
much wrong You can imagine the
embarrassment of any one who has
provided grand feast when he finds
out that the guests invited do not in
tend to come. There is nothing that
so provokes the master of the feast
as that
Well, these people invited to this
great banquet of the text made most
frivolous excuses The fact was, /
suppose that some of them were Of
Tended that this man had succeeded so
much better in the world than they
had. There are people in all occupa'
tions and professions who consider it
a wrong TO them that any body else is
advanced. ! suppose these people in
vited to the feast said among them
selves, I'VE are not going to admins
ter to that mans vanity, ne is proud
enough now; we won't 20; beside
that we could all give parties il we
made our money the way that man
makes his"
So when the messengers went out
with the invitations there was unaui-
nous refusal. One man said, "Oh, !
have bought farm, and l mUstgo and
look at it," lie was a land speculator,
and had no business to buy land until
he knew about it. A Frivolous eX-
cuse. Another man said, II have
bought five yoke of oxen" The prob
ability is he was speculator in live
stock. He ought to have known aboat
the oxen before he bought them. De-
side that if he had been very anxious
to get to the feast he could have
hooked them up and driven them on
the road there. Another frivolous eE-
cuse. Another man said, "0h, j have
married wife, and can't Gomez
when if he had said TO his wife, Il
have an invitation to a splendid din
ner; it is highly complimentary to me:
/ should very much like TO go; will
you go along with meT' she would
have said, ITO be sure / will go "
Another frivolous excuse. The fact
was that they did not want to go.
Now" said the great man of the
feast, Il will not be defeated in this
matter; / have with an honest pur-
pose provided banquet, and there
are scores of people who would like to
come if they were only invited. Here,
my man, here, yoz go out, and when
you End blind man, give him yoar arm
and fetch him in; and when VOC find
lame man, give him a crutcA and
fetch him in; and when you end a
poor man, tell hitz that there is n
plate for him in my mansion; and
when you find some one who is so
ragged ana wretched that he has
never been invited anywhere, thcS, by
by the kindest tenderness and the
most loving invitation any one ever
mad. compel him to come in"
Oh, my friends, it requires no acute
mess on my part, or on your part, to
see in all this affair that religion is a
banquet The table was set in Pales-
tine a good many years ago, and TIE
iSciples gathered around it, and they
thought they would have a good time
all by themselves, but while they sat
by he table the leaves began to grow
and spread. end one leaf went to the
east and another leaf went to the
west, until the whole earth was COW
cred up with them, and the clusters
from Ehe heavenly vineyard were
piled .lp on the BOARD, and the trum-
pets and harps ef eternity made up
the orchestra, aud as this wine of God
is pr, ssel TO the lips of & SHINING,
bleed ing suffering, dying, groaning
world, a voice breaks from the
heavens, saying, Drink, o friends;
yea, drink, o Believed" o blessed
Lord Jesus, the best friend ever had,
the best friend any man ever had,
was there ever such table Was
there ever such a banquet?
From the cross uplifte1 high,
Where the Saviour designs to die
What melodious sounds l hear
Bursting oni he ravished ear
Heavens Tedeeming WORK is done,
Come, and welcome; sinner, come
Religion is joyous thing, do not
a., Eo.- a. Eo,,4