Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-07-06
THEMARRIAGEFEAST
Joyous Features of the Christian
Religion Clearly Presented.
DR.. Talmage Invites the whole
World to Join I'm Its Holy
Merrinent-The Wedding
I'm Cana.
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.1
WASHINGTON. July

copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.1
Washington. July I.
A remarkable illustration of the
nbiquity of English-speaking people
is furnished by the requests that have
reached DR.. Talmage in northern Eu-
rope for sermon in out-ef-the-way
places where he did not expect to find
single person who could understand
him. There, as here, he presents re-
Ggion as festivity and invites all the
world to come as guests and join in
It's holy merriment; text, John IL, 10:
''Thou hast kept the good wine until
now"
This chapter invites us to a marriage
celebration. tits a wedding in COM
mon life, two plain people having
pledged each other, hand and heart,
and their friends having come in for
because there is no pretension. In each
other they find all the future they
want. The daisy in the cup on the
table may mean as much as score OF
artistic garlands fresh from the hot
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
a princess. It seems hard, after the
parents have sheltered her for 1s years,
that in few short months her af-
fections should have been carried off
by another, but mother remembers
how it was in her own case when she
was young, and so she braces up I'M
til the wedding has passed and the
banqueters are gone, and she has cry
all alone.
Well, we are to-day at the wedding
in Cana of Galilee. Jesus and His
mother have been invited. 1t is evil
dent that there are more people there
than were expected. Either, some peo-
pie have come who were not invited
or more invitations have been sent out
than it was supposed would be &C
copied. OF course there is not a suffi-
cient supply of wine. You know that
there is nothing more embarrassing to
a .housekeeper than. scant supply.
Jesus sees the embarra ssment, and he
comes up Immediately to relieve it. He
sees standing six water pots. He or
ders the servants f0 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 your
selves. No logwood in it, no strychnine
in it, but first-rate wine. I will not now
be diverted, to the question SO often
discussed in my own country whether
| it is right to drink wine. I am de-
! scribing the scene as it was. When God
makes wine, He makes the very best
wine, and 100 gallons of it standing
around in these water pots-wine sc
good that the ruler of the feast tastes
it and says: "Why, this is really bet.
ter than anything we have had. Thou
hast kept the good wine until now
Beautiful miraclel A prize was offered
to the person who should write the
best essay about the miracle in Cana
Long manuscripts were presented in
the competition, but a poet won the
prize by just this one line descriptive
of the miracle: "The conscious water
saw its God and blushed.''
| We learn from this miracle, in the
first place, that Christ has sympathy
with housekeepers. You might have
thought that Jesus would have said
81 cannot be bothered with this house.
hold deficiency of wine. It is not fol
me. Lord of Heaven and of earth, to
become caterer to this feast. I have
vaster things than this to attend to-
Not so said Jesus. The wine gave out
and Jesus by miraculous power came
to the rescue. Does there ever come
a scant supply in your household
Have you to make very close calcula
ton? 1t is hard work for you to carry
on things decently and respectfully
If SO, don't sit down and cry. Don't &C
out and fret, but go 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 your house
unconsecrated by the voice of prayer
If you have microscope, put under il
one drop of water and see the insects
| 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.
| I learn also from this miracle that
Christ does things in abundance. ]
think a small supply of wine would
have made up for the deficiency.
think, certainly, they must have had
enough for half the guests. One gal.
lon of wine will do; certainly five gal
Ions will be enough; certainly ten. But
Jesus SoeS on, anu ne gives them 81
| gallons and 40 gallons and so gallons
and 20 gallons and 100 gallons and 13C
gallons of the very best wine. It is
just like Him-doing every thing on the
largest and most generous scale. Does
Christ, our Creator. go forth to make
loaves? He makes them by the whole
forest full; notched like the fern or sill
vered like the aspen or broad like the
palm; thickets in the tropics, Oregon
forests. Does He go forth to make
flowers? He makes plenty of them;
| TINY flame from the hedge, they hang