The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-02-03
ALL THINGS READY.
Dr.. Talmage Discourses OH the Cos
pei Feast.

An Invitation Which should he Needed by
AiI-"Come, for All Things Are Now
Ready The Holy Spirit
Bids You Come.
A sermon of remarkable power was
recently preached at brooklyn by Rev.
Il. Dewitt Talmage, the subject being
"Festivity." The text selected was
Luke, xiv. Il: Come, for all things are
now ready Said the noted preacher:
1t was one of the most exciting times
in English history when Queen Eliza
beth visited Lord Leicester at Kenil-
worth castle. The moment of her ar
rival was considered so important that
all the clocks of the castle were stopped,
SO that the hands might point to that
one moment as being the most signifi-
cant of all. She was greeted to the
gate with floating islands, and torches,
and the thunder of cannon, and fire.
works that set the night ablaZe, and q
great burst of music that lifted the
whole scene into perfect enchantment.
Then she was introduced in a dining
ahohh ia Aunh iCo vi "iiSh
the world; 400 servants waited upon
the guests; the entertainment cost
IS, 900 each day. Lord Leicester made
that great supper in Kenilworth castle.
Cardinal Wolsey entertained the
French ambassadors at Hampton court.
The best cooks in all the land prepared
for the banquet; p~urveyors went out
and travelled all the kingdom over to
find spoils for the table. The time
came. The guests were kept during
the day hunting in the kings park,
so that their appetites might be keen;
and then, in the evening, to the sound
of the trumpeters, they were intro
duced into a hall hung with silk and
a-glitter with imperial plate, and laden
with the rarest Of meats, and a-blush
with the costliest wines; and when the
second course Of the feast came, it was
found that the articles of food had
been fashioned into the shape of men,
birds and beasts, and groups dancing,
and jousting parties riding against
other with lances. Lords, and
princes, and ambassadors, out of cups
filled to the brim, drank the health,
first Of the king OF England, and next
Of the king of France. Cardinal Wolsey
prepared that great supper in Hampton
court
But i have to tell you of a grander
entertainment. My Lord, the King, is
the banqueter. Angels 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 unfading
buty, are the b%anqueting place. The
harmonies of Heaven are the plate,
and I am one of the servants coming
out with both hands filled with invita-
tons, scattering them everywhere;
and, Oh! that for yourselves, you
might break the seal of the invitation
and read the words written in red ink
of blood by the tremulous hand of a
dying Christ: Come unto me, for all
things are ready"
There have been grand entertain
ments where vas a taking off-the
wine gave out, or the servants were re-
bellious, or the light failed; but l have
gone all around about this subject and
looked at the redemption which Christ
has provided, and l come here to tell
you IL is complete, and l swing open
The door of the feast, telling you that
''all things are now ready"
In the first place | have to
that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is
ready. Cardinal Wolsey came into the
feast after the first course; he came in
booted and spurred, and the guests
arose and cheered him. But Christ
comes in at the very beginning of the
feast; aye, he has been waiting eight
teen hundred and ninety-four years for
his guests. He has been standing on
His mangled feet; He has had His sore
land on His p%unctured side, or He has
oeen pressing His lacerated temples
waiting, waiting. 1t is wonderful hat
He has not been impatient and hat
lie has not said; shut the door and
let the laggard stay out" but He
has been waiting. No banqueter aver
waited for his guests SO patiently
as Christ has waited for us. To prove
how willing He is to receive us, 1
gather all the tears that rolled down
His cheeks in sympathy for your sor-
rows; / gather all the drops of blood
thai channeled His brow, and His back,
and His hands and feet, in trying to
purchase your redemption; gather all
the groans that He uttered In midnight
chill, and in mountain hunger, and in
desert lonliness, and twist them into
one cry-bitter, agonizing, overwhelm-
ing. l gather all the pains that shot
from SPEAR, and spike, and cross, jolt
ing into one pang-remorseless, grind
ing, excruciating. L take that one
drop OF sweat on His brow, and under
the gospel glass that drop enlarges
until ! see in it lakes of sorrow and an
ocean of agony. That Being standing
before you now, emaciated, and gashed,
and CORY, coaxes for your love with a
pathos in which every word is a heart
break and every sentence a martyrdom.
How q you think he trifies!
A~hasueras. prepared a feast for $50
days; but this feast is for all eternity.
Lords and princes were invited to that;
you and l and all the world are invited
Il this. Christ is ready. YOu know
that the banqueters Of the olden time
used to wrap themselves in robes pre-
pared for the OCCASION; SO my Lord
Jesus hath wrapped Himself in all that
Is beautiful. See how fair He is! His
eye, His brow, His cheek, so radiant
that the stars have no CLEAN and the
morning no brilliancy compared with
1t. His lace rejecting all the joys Of
the redeemed, His hand having the ON
pipotent surgery with which He
opened blind eyes, and Strengthened
crooked limbs. and hoisteed the pillars
of Heaven, and swung the twelve
gates which are twelve pearls There
are not enough cups in Heaven to dip
up this ocean Of beauty. There are not
ladders enough to scale this height of
love. There are not enough cymbals
to clap, or harps to thrum, or trumpets
to peal forth the praises of this One al
together fair. Oh, thou flower Of eter.
nifty, thy breath is the perfume Of
Heaven! Oh, blissful daybreak, let all
people clap their hands in thy radiance!
Chorus! Come, men, and saints, and
cherubim, and seraphim, and archan-
gel-all heights, all depths. all immen-
stiles! Chorus! Roll him through the
heavens in a chariot Of universal &C
claim, over bridges of hosannas, under
arches Of coronation, along by the
great towers Ginning with eternal jubi-
lee. Chorus! Unto Him who hath
loved us, and washed us from our sins
In His W blood, to Him be glory,
world without end!'
have a word of five letters, but no