The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-07-13

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little for that and a little for another,
but enough for all. "Whosoever will,
let him come" Each man an full of
himself. Promises for the young,
promises for the old, promises for the
lowly. promises for the blind. for the
halt, for the o%utcast, for the abandon
ed. Pardon for all, comfort for all,
mercy for all, heaven for all. Not
merely a cupful of gospil supply, u
100 gallons. Aye, the tears of godly
repentance are all gathered up into
Gods bottle, and some day, standing
before the throne, we Will lift our cup
Of delight and asked that ii be filled
with the wine of heaven, and Jesus,
from that bottle of tears, will begin to
pour in the cup, n We Will cry:
Stop Jesus, We do not want TO drink
our OWL tears" And Jesus will say,
Know We not that the tears Of the
earth, are the wine of heaven" Sor-
row may endure for a night but joy
cometh in the morning
HIDES HIS OWN GRIEFS-
L remark, further. Jesus does not
own griefs. He might have sat down
in that wedding and said: Il have SO
much trouble, so much poverty, so
much persecution, and the cross is
coming. / shall not rejoice, and he
gloom of my face and Of my sorrows
Sldll NC last ONSI oil luAS SIOQp- %
sale not Jesus. He said to himself:
Here are two persons starting out in
married life. Let it be a joyful occa-
sion. / will hide my own griefs. 1
will kindle their joys. There are many
not so wise as that. / know a house
hold where there are many little chill
dren, where for two years the musical
instrument a been kept shut because
there has been trouble in the house.
Alas for the folly Parents saying:
w Will have no Christmas tree his
coming holiday because there has been
trouble in the house. Hush that laugh
ing up stairs! How can there be any
joy when there has been SO much trou-
ble?" And so they make every thing
consistently doleful and send their sons
and daughters to ruin with the gloom
they throw around them.
Oh, my dear friends, do you not
know those children will a trouble
enough of their own after a while?
Be glad they C annot appreciate all
yours. Keep back the cup of bitter
ness from your daughters lips. When
your head is down in the grass of the
tomb, poverty may come to her, betray-
al to her, bereavement to her. Keep
back the sorrows as long as YOU can.
Do you not know that that son may af-
ter awhile have his heart broken?
Stand between him and all harm. You
may not fight his battles long. Fight
them While you may. Throw not the
child OF your own dependency over his
soul. Rather, be like Jesus, who came
10 the wedding hiding his own griefs
n klndling the joys of others. So I
have seen the sun on a dark day Strug-
CLING amidst clouds, black, ragged,
N p~ortentious, but after awhile the
sun, with golden pry, heaved back the
And the sun laughed to the
lake, and the lake laughed to the sun,
and from horizon to horizon, under
the saffron sky, the water was all
turned into wine.
NOT AGAINST LUXURIES.
1 learn from this miracle that Christ
is not impatient with the luxuries of
life. 1t was not necessary that they
should have that wine. Hundreds of
people nave been married without any
wine. We do not read that any of the
other provisions fell short. When
Christ made the wine, it was not a
necessity, but a positive luxury. I do
not believe that he wants us to eat
bread and sleep on hard mattresses
unless we like them the best. / think
If circumstances will allow, we have
a right to the luXuries of dress, the
luxuries of diet and the luxuries of
residence. There is no more religion
in an old coat tina in a new n We
"a serve God drawn by golden plated
harness as certainly as when we go
afoot. Jesus Christ will dwell with
US under a fine ceiling as we'll us under
a matched roof.
What is the difference between a Chi.
nese mud howell and an American
home? What is the difference between
the rough ear skins of the Russian
! .boor and the outfit of an American
gentleman? Nc difference except that
which the gospel of Christ, directly OF
indirectly, has caused. When Christ
shall have yanquished all the world,
1 suppose every house will be a man
sion and every garment a robe and
every horse an arch necked coursel
and every carriage a glittering vehicle
n every man a king and every wo-
man a queen and the whole earth a
paradise, the glorieS of the natural
worldharmonizing with the glories OF
the material world until the very bells
of the horses shall jingle the praises
of the Lord
I learn, further, from this miracle
that Christ has no Impotence with fes-
tai joy; otherwise he would not have
accepted the invitation to that wedd-
ing. He certainly would not have done
that which increased the hilarity
There may have been many in that
room who Were happy, but there was
not one of them that did so much fol