The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1894-03-01
A STORY OF FESTIVITY.
Rev. DR.. Talnago Repeats the Di-
vine Invitation.
"Come, For All Things Are Now heady
A Bidding to the Great anu
Glorious Feast of jesus
Unbounded Love.

tabernacle, being based on the text
Come, for all things are now ready.-Luke,
xiv, II.
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
significant of all. She was greeted to
the gate with floating islands, and
torches, and the thunder of cannon,
and fireworks that set the night
ablazc, and great burst of music that
lifted the whole scene into a perfect
enchantment. Then she was intro
duced in a dining-hall, the luXuries of
which astonished the world; four hum
dred servants waited upon the guests;
the entertainment cost five thousand
dollars 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; purveyors
went out and travelled all the kingdom
over to find spoils for the table. The
time came. The guests were kept dur
ing 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
1oth of 10 hi
glitter with imperial plate, and laden
with the rarest of meats, and a-blush
with the costiieSt 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
each other with lances. Lords, and
princes, and ambassadors, out of the
cups filled to the brim, drank the
health first of the king of England,
and next of the king of France. Car
dinal Wolsey prepared that great sup
per in Hampton Court.
But 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, fres-
coed with light, and paved with joy,
and curtained with unfading beauty,
are the banqueting place. The har-
monies of eternity are the music. The
chalices of Heaven are the plate, and
am one of the servants coming out
with both hands filled with invita-
tions, 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 dy-
ing Christ: Come now, for all things
are ready
There have been grand entertain
ments where was q taking off-the
wine gave out or the servants were
rebellious, or the lights failed. But |
have gone all around about this subject
and looked at the redemption which
Christ has provided and l come here
to tell you it 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 announce
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,
cen hundred and ninetv-four years for
His guests. He has been standing on
His mangled feet; He has had His sore
hand on His puntured side, or He has
been pressing His lacerated temples
waiting, waiting. 1t is wonderful that
He has not been impatient and that He
has not said: ''Shut the door and let
the laggard stay out" but He has been
waiting. No banqueter ever waited
for his guests so patiently as Christ
has waited for us. To prove how will
ing He is to receive us, l gather all the
tears that rolled down His cheeks in
sympathy for your sorrows, | gather
all the drops of blood that channeled
His brow, and His back, and His hands
and feet in trying to purchase your re-
demption; l gather all the groans
that He uttered in midnight
Will, anu III luOuHJdi munger, and
in desert loneliness, and twist them
into one cry-bitter, agonizing, over
whelming. gather all the pains that
shot from spear, and spike, and cross,
jolting into one pang-remorseless
grinding, excruciating. l take that
one drop of sweat on His brow, and
under the Gospel glass that drop en-
larges until l see in it lakes of sorrow
and an ocean of agony. That Being
standing before you now, emaciated,
and gasped. and CORY, coaxes for your
love with pathos in which every word
is heartbreak and every sentence a
martyrdom. How can you think He
trifles!
Ahasueras prepared a feast for one
hundred and eighty days; but this
feast is for all eternity. Lords and
princes were invited to that, You, and
l. and all our world are invited to this.
Christ is ready. You know that the
banqueters of olden time used to wrap
themselves in robes prepared for the
occasion; SO, my Lord Jesus hath
wrapped Himself in all that is beauti