The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-08-16
MANS WAY--CHRIST'S WAY ?
ABLE AND SCHOLARLY SERMON BY
 KEY. DR. SETTLER.

Now, or in the By-and-by.
 The Rev. Dr. Stifier preached yester- day at the First Baptist church. He was pastor of that church ten or fifteen years ago, and was much beloved by his people and since then has been one of the leading professors in Crozier Theological seminary, New York state His sermon was able and scholarly, and the theme of it was "Christs Good Wine" Prof. Stif1er took for his text John ?: 10: Every man at the be- ginning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunk then that which is worse, but thou hast kept the good wine until now"
 Rev. pr. Stifler said in part: Men may be too old or too young to marry, but they are never too poor. This mat rimonial scene in Cana of Galilee was in a poor family. Else why did they enter upon its festivities with an in sufficient supply of wine. and why have we as guests the wife of the carpenter of Nazareth, her as yet unknown son, and those humble men, His disciples, gathered from the fishing boats of Galilees sea? Poverty was the cause of the first miracle The festivities are at their height. But while all is cheer in the dining hall, there is sadness and apprehension in the store room. The mother of the bridegroom whispers to Mary, who must have been intimate in the family, that the wine is falling whispers it no doubt with tears in her eyes Mary finds her son and says to Him: They have no wine
 Now how Mary knew her son could remedy the awkward lack we have no means of knowing. She had just come up from the Jordan, where He had been baptized. As yet He had wrought no miracle for this one in which the conscious water saw its God and blush ed was His very first. But Mary knew her son. It is the very highest compli ment both to Him and to her, that she at once hastens to him with the do- mestic peril. She already knew Him as a helper"
 Prof Stifer recounted the beautiful story and said that the miracle not only manifested the glory of His power. but the glory of His way of dealing with men-to make every good thing to be succeeded by a better-to put the golden age in the future. Continuing he said: "Christ's way contrasts with that of the world. Men soon come in satiety to say, who will show us any Good? they must pay premiums for the invention of a new pleasure-good wine first, afterward that which is worse, but gIfe kingdom of heaven is first the blade, then the ear then the full corn in the ear-every good succeeded by a better. Mans sun may rise to the ze- nth, but what else is the zenith but the beginning of decline But Christ's sun is like Gideon's, that comes to it's full height to stand still and shed it's glory.
 ''The text suggests two grand themes: Mans way, or the worlds way in ref erence to the enjoyments, the use and the outcome of life; and secondly, Christs way, the good last. The rulers speech to the bridegroom sufficiently indicates mans ways or the world s way. Every man, at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and afterward that which is worse. And hence poetry can only smile when she sings of our youth. She touches the minor chords of her Tyre when she speaks of age. The roses on the cheeks of twenty become the wrinkles on the face of sixty. The text was spoken before a, bridal altar. In welded life, the honeymoon comes first. That life ends in leaving solitary man or a solitary woman with broken heart. The cradle of mans life is full of growing. His last breath goes out in tbo po1o iy, his throat--good wine first, afterward that which is worse. Who ever says innicent as age?' It is always Innocent as a child Age invariably gives us that F. which is worse, the guilt of sin. Our youth is generous and free hearted; age is always less so, if indeed 1t be not cold and calculating. Every mother sees the golden halo of promise crown ing the brow of her child but In how many cases must it soon be admitted the halo has vanished-the wine has failed"
 The preacher then went on to speak of the bright but delusive prospects that the world offers young hearts. He drew examples from history, citing Ma poleon's ambition to master Europe, and getting St. Helena; Caesar craved the Roman empire and got Brutus' steel; Moses might have been a prince in the house of Pharaoh, but leaves Egypt and starts for Canaan, but after forty years fails to realize and lies down in an unknown grave.
 Human hopes are like human life It begins lying on a warm bosom; it ends lying amid cold, damp clods. It has it's alpha in a downy cradle; it reaches 1t omega in the coffin Vanity of vanities' said He who had experience cd the utmost the world could give, "The text holds in the worlds use of us As rule men are used as horses. While the horse can pull or run he may have his oats, his blanket and his stable. When age robs him of power he is turned out to die. The world has no memory of what we have done. Whenever we can no more continue to doweare forgotten. Hundreds of names that sparkled in papers and magazines twenty years ago are as dull already as withered bouquet. Men only look at rockets while they are going up. But ft is just as far down as up: up in light and glory. down in darkness and silence. with none to mark us