The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-02-02
READY FOR A FEAST.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE BREACHES AN Ell
OOUENT SERMON ON FESTWlTY.

ASahHucUTr anu Angels are INC OupDedT
ers-An Effective and Earnest Gospe
Plea to the Unconverted.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 2S.-The usual largC
audience assembled in the Tabernacle to
day and listened to a sermon of remark
able power and interest by Rev. DR.. Tai
mage, the subject being "Festivity.
The text selected was Luke xiv, II
"Come, for all things are now ready"
1t was one of the most exciting times
in English history when Queen Elizabeth
visited Lord Leicester at Kenilworth
castle. Ehe moment of her arrival was
considered so important that all the
clocks of the castle were stopped, so that
the hands might point to that one mo-
ment 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
Rblaze, and great burst of music that
lifted the whole scene into perfect en-
chantment. Then she was introduced in
dining hall the luxuries of which as
tonished the world. Four hundred serv-
ants waited upon the guests. The enter
tainment cost So, 900 each day. Lord Lei
cester made that great supper in Kenil-
worth 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
e,,o,1e fo, 4Ia +a11 Tho Thu
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 introduced into hall hung with
silk and cloth of gold, and there were
tables aglitter with imperial plate and
laden with the rarest of meats and
ablush 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 each
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.
REMARKABLE BANQUET.
But have to tell you of grander en-
tertainment. My Lord the King is the
banqueter. Angels are the cupbearers.
All the redeemed are the guests. The
halls of eternal love, frescoed with light
and paved with joy and curtained with
unfading beauty, are the banqueting
place. The harmonies of eternity are the |
music. The chalices of heaven are the
plates, and I am one of the servants COM
ing out with both hands filled with invi- |
tations, scattering them everywhere, and,
ah, that for yourselves you might break
The seal of the invitation and read the
words written in red ink of blood by the
hand of dying Christ, "Come
now, for all things are ready"
There have been grand entertainments
where was taking off-the wine gave
out, or the servants were rebellious, or
The light failed. But / have gone all
around about this subject and looked at
5he redemption which Christ has provid-
olete, and | swing open the door of the
east, telling you that 'all things are
1ow ready"
In the first place, have to announce
hat the Lord Jesus Christ himself is
'eady. Cardinal Wolsey came into the
east after the first course. He came in
booted and spurred, and the guests arose
md cheered him. But Christ comes in at
he very beginning of the feast-aye, he
las been waiting 1894 years for his
,uests. He has been standing on his
nangled feet, he has had his sore hand
N his punctured side, or he has been
PRESSING his lacerated waiting,
Waiting. 1t is wonderful that he has not
,een impatient and that he has not said,
Shut the door and let the laggard stay
nut" but he has been waiting
No banqueter ever waited for his
,uests so patiently as Christ has waited
or us. To prove how willing he is to
eceive us, gather all the tears that
oiled down his cheeks in sympathy for
our sorrows; gather all the drops of
Hood that channeled his brow, and his
ack, and his hands and feet, in trying
0 purchase your redemption; | gather
II the groans that he uttered in mid !
light chill, and in mountain hunger, and
4 desert loneliness, and twist them into $
ne cry-bitter, agonizing, overwhelm-
az. t
/ gather all the pains that shot from
pear and spike and cross, jolting into
ne pang-remorseless, grinding, excru- {
Iating. take that one drop of sweat {
n his brow, and under the gospel glass I
nat drop enlarges until / see in it lakes t
sorrow and an ocean of agony. That {
cling standing before you now, ENACT (
ted and gashed and CORY, coaxes for t
Dur love with pathos in which every Y
ord is heart break and every sentence I
martyrdom. How can you think he
ifies? :
FOR THE DELAYED GUESTS. O
Ahasuerus prepared feast for $50 v
sys, but this feast is for all eternity. b
ords and princes were invited to that. s
on and and all our world are invited b
this. Christ is ready. You know that 0
10 banqueters of olden time used to n
rap themselves in robes prepared for