The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-07-12


casion. | will hide My own griefs. | will
kindle their low" There are many not so
wise as that. | know household where
there are many little children, where for
two years the musical instrument has been
kept shut because there has been trouble
in the house. Alas for the folly Parents
saying: I'VE will have no Christmas tree
this coming holiday because there has
been trouble in the housed Hush that
laughing up stairs How can there be
any Joy when there has been so much trout
bie?" And so they make everything con-
sistently 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 have trouble enough
of their own after awhile? Be glad they
cannot appreciate all yours. Keep back
the cup Of bitterness from your daughters
lips. When your head is down in the
grass of the tomb poverty may come to
her betrayal to her, bereavement to her.
Keep back the sorrows as long as you can.
Do YOU not know that that son may. after
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 chill OF your own
dependency over his soul. Rather be like
Jesus, who came to the wedding hiding
His own grief and kindling the joys OF
Others So | have seen the sun on DARK
day struggling amid clouds, black, ragged
and portentous, but after awhile the sun,
with golden pry, heaved back the black.
ness, and the sun laughed to the lake, and
the lake laughed to the sun, and from hori-
zon to horizon, under the saffron sky, the
water was all turned into wine.
| 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 have been
married without any wine. We do not read
that any of the other provisions fell short.
When Christ made the wine 1t was not
necessity, but a positive luxury; do not
believe that He wants us to eat hard bread
and sleep on hard mattresses unless we
like them the best. | think, If clrcum'
stances will allow, we have a right to the
uxuries of dress, the luXuries OF diet and
the luxuries of residence. There is no
more religion in an old coat than in a new
one We can serve God drawn by golden
harness as certainly as when we go atoot.
Jesus Christ will dwell with us under q
fine ceiling as we'll as under a matched
roof
What is the difference between Chi
nese mud howell and an American home?
What is the difference between the rough
bearskins of the Russian boor and the
outfit OF an American gentleman! No
difference except that which the gospel OF
Christ, directly or indirectly, has caused.
When Christ shall have vanquished all the
world [ suppose every house will be a
mansion, and every garment robe, and
every horse an arch necked courser, and
every carriage a glitterlng vehicle, and
every man a king, and every woman
queen, and the whole earth a paradise, the
glories of the natural world harmonzinl;
with the glories of the material world un-
til the very bells of the horses shall jingle
the praises OF the Lord.
| learn further, from this miracle that
Christ has no Impotence with testal JOY;
otherwise He would not have accepted the
invitation to that wedding. He certainly
would not have done that which increased
the hilarity. There may have been many
in that room who We're happy, but there
was not one of them that did so much 1or
the joy of the wedding party as Christ
Himself. He was the chief OF the ban
queters. When the wine gave out, lie sup
piled it, and so, take it, He will -lot deny
us the Joys that are positively testal.
Who was it that sent the raven tapping
on the window? The same God that sent
the raven to feed Elijah by the brook
Cherith. Christ in the hour extremity!
You mourned over your sins. You could
not find the way out. You sat down and !
said; God will not be merciful. lie has
cast me off" But in that the darkest hour
of your history light broke from the throne
and Jesus said 'Oh, wanderer, come
home have seen all thy sorrows. In
this the hour of thy extremity l offer thee
pardon and everlasting life!"
Trouble came. You were almost torn
to pieces by that trouble. You braced
yourself up against it. You sad, i VIII
be stole and will not care" But before
you had got through making the resolution
it broke down under you. You felt that
all your resources were gone, and then
Jesus came.
In the fourth watch of the night the
Bible says, "Jesus came walking on ;he
sea-" Why did He not come in the first
watch or in the second watch or in the
third watch? I do not know. He came
in the fourth and gave deliverance to Lis
disciples Jesus in the last extremity.
[ wonder if it will be so in our very
last extremity. We shall fall suddenly
sick, and the doctors will come, but in vain.
We will try the anodynes and the stimu-
lants and the, bathings, but all IN >, vain AIN
one to hold us back, but the hands of eter-
nifty stretched out to pull us on. What
then? Jesus will come to us, and as we
say, Lord Jesus, ] am afraid of shat wa
ter; | cannot wade through to the other
side" He will say, Take hold OF My arm,
and we will take hold of His arm, and then
He will put His foot in the surf OF the
wave, taking us on down. deeper, deeper,
deeper, and our soul will cry, "All Thy
waves and pillows have gone over me-"
They cover the feet, come to the knee and
pass the girdle and come to the head, and
our soul cries out, Lord Jesus Christ,
cannot hold Thine arm any longer. Then
Jesus will turn around, throw both His
arms about us and set us on the beach lar
beyond the tossing of the pillows. Jesus
in the last extremity,
That wedding scene is gone now. The
wedding ring has been lost, the t&nkards
have been broken, the house is down, but
Jesus invites us to a grander wedding
You know the Bible says that the church
is the Lambs wife, and the Lord will at
ter awhile come to fetch her home. There
will be cleaning of torches in the sky, and
the trumpets of God will ravish the air
with their music, and Jesus will stretch out
His hand, and the church, robed in white,
will put aside her veil and look up into the
face of her Lord the King, and the Bride
groom will say to the bride: Chou hast
been faithful through all these years The
mansion is ready. Come home. Thou are
fair, nv love!" and then He shall put upon
her brow the crown of dominion, and the
table will be spread, and it, will reach
across the skies, and the mighty ones of
ID