The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-07-18
[Copyright lsUu.l

JOYS Of Others With Our Own Griefs
lcopyr,ght lsOul
WASHINGTON, D. CA remark3o!lSe i
illustration of tie ubiquity, OF Enghsl
eneokinr people is furnished by. the re-
Quests that have reached DR.. TalmSge in
Northern Europe for a sermon In out-of'
! the.way places, where he did not expect to
find a single person who could understand
him. There, as here, he presents religion
as a festivity and invites all the world TO
come as guests and join in its holy merrl.
ment; text, John ii, 10, Thou hast kept
the good wine until now"
This chapter invites us to marriage
celebration. It is a wedding in common
life, two plain people haying pledged each
other, hand and heart, ana their TRENDS
having come in for congratuiation. The
ioy is not the less because there !s no pre-
tension. In each other they ind all the
future they want. The daisy: IN the cup CUP
on the table may mean as much as score
! of artistic garlands fresh from; the hos'
i house When a daughter goes off from
| home with nothing but plain fathers
| blessing and a plain mothers love, she IS
| missed as much as though she were prln.
cess: It seems. hard, after the parents
have sheltered her for eighteen years that
in few short months her affections
should have been carried off by another,
| but her mother remembers how it was-ln
/ her own case when she was young, and SO
she braces up until the wedding has passed
l. and the banQueters are gone, and she has
pa cry all alone. !.
Well we are to-day at the wedding in
Cana Of Galilee. Jesus and His mother
| have been invited. 1t IS evident that there
are more people there than were expected,
Either some people have come who were
! not invited OF more invitations have been
sent out than it was supposed would be ac.
ceoted. Of course there is not sufficient
sli1ifiy of wine. You know that there Is
! nothing more embarrassing to- house
keeper than a scant supply. Jesus sees
: the embarrassment, and He comes up Inn
mediately to relieve it. He sees standing
six water pots. He orders the servants to
fill them with water; then He waves His
. hand over the water, and Immediately it
is wine-real wine. Taste of it and see for
yourselves; no logwood in it, no strychnlne
in it, but first rate wine. 1 will not now
be diverted to the question 80 often dis
cussed in my own country whether 1t IS
right to drink wine: am describing the
scene as it was When God makes wine
He makes the very best wine, and l3O gal
Ions of it standing around in these water
pots-wine so good that the ruler of the
feast tastes it and says: why, this is
really better than anything we have had!
Thou hast kept the good wine until now"
Beautiful miracle! A prize was offered to
the person who should write the best es-
say about the miracle in Cana. Long man
uscripts were presented in the competition,
but poet won the prize by just this one
line descriptive of the miracle: The con-
scious water saw it's God and blushed."
We learn from the miracle, in the first
place, that Christ has sympathy with
housekeepers. You might have thought
that Jesus would have said: Il cannot be
! bothered with this household deficiency OF
wine. It is not for Me, Lord OF heaven
and OF earth, to become caterer to this
feast. l have vaster things than this to
gave out, and Jesus, by miraculous power,
came to the rescue. Does there ever come
a scaM supply in your housenuiI? Have
YOU to make very close calculation? Is IL
hard work for you to carry on things de-
Gently and respectfully? II so, don't sit
down and cry. Don't 60 out and fret, but
20 to Him who stood in the house in Cana
Of Galilee. Pray in the parlor Pray in
the kitchen! Let there be no room in all
your house unconsecratcd by the voice of
prayer. If you have a microscope, put
under it one drop of water and see the in.
sects floating about, and when you see
that God makes them and cares for them
and feeds them come to the conclusion that
He will take care of you and feed you.
A boy asked if he might sweep the snow
from the steps of a house. The lady OF
the household said, eyes; you seem very
poor" He says, Il am very poor" She
; says, Don't you sometimes get discouraged
and feel that God is going to let you
starve?" The lad looked up in the, won,
ans face and said, DO you think God
will let me starve when | trust Him and
then do the best 1 CAM" Enough theo.
logy for older people! Trust in God and
do the best you can. Amid all the worr-
ments Of housekeeping go to Him. He
will help you control your. temper and su-
pervise your domestlcs and entertain your
guests and manage your home economies.
There are hundreds of women weak and
nervous and exhausted with the care of
housekeeping. l commend you to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the best adviser and the
most efficient aid-the Lord Jesus who
performed His first miracle to relieve a
housekeeper.
learn also from this miracle that Christ
does things in abundance. L think
small supply of wine would have made up
1
must have had enough for half the guests.
One gallon of wine will do; certainly five
gallons will be enough; certainly ten. But
Jesus goes on, and He gives them thirty
gallons and forty gallons and fifty gallons
and seventy gallons and 100 gallons and
$50 gallons of the very best wine. 1t is
/ just like Him-doing everything on the
largest and most generous scale. Does
Christ, our Creator, go forth to make
leaves? He makes them by the whole for
est full-notched like the fern or lvered
like the aspen or broad like the palm,
thickets in the tropics, Oregon forests,
makes plenty of them. They flame from
the hedge, they hang from the top of the
| grapevine i'll blossoms, they roll in the
! blue wave of the violets, they toss their
white surf i'll the spiraea-enough for
! every child's hand Il flower, enough to
/ make for every brow chaplet, enough
With beauty TO cover up the ghastliness of
all the grave. Docs He go forth to create
water! He pours it out not by the cup
full, but by river full, lake full, an
ocean full, pouring it out until all the
earth has enough to drink and enough with
which to wash.
Does Jesus provide redemption? It is
not a little salvation for this one, a little
for that: and little for the other but
enough for all. "Whosoever will, let him
come" Each man an ocean full for him
self; promises for the young, promises for
the old, promises for the lowly, promises
for the blind, for the halt, for the outcast,
for the abandoned; pardon for ALL com.
fort for all, mercy for all, heaven for all
not merely cupful of gospel supply, but
l3O gallons. Aye, the tears of godly re.
pentance are all gathered up into Gods
bottle, and some day, standing before the
throne, we will lift our cup of delight and
| 1lo1 L. II e