The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-08-04
TALMAGE SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE ABLF Dl.
VINE

g subject: The Miracle at Can,-1esson o,
$ Changing the Water Into Wine-Chris'
Teaches That We Should Not Shadow
Joys of Others With Our Own Griefs'
! Copyright l3J9.l
WASHINGTON, D. CA remarkable
illustration of the ubiQuity Of English
1 speaking people is furnished by. the re-
quests that have reached DR.. 1anage N
Northern Europe for sermon IN out-of-
the-wav places, where he did not expect to
! find single person who could understand
him. There, as here, he presents religion
as fcstvity and invites all the world to
come as guests and Join in It's holy merri-
ment, text, John ii, 10, Thou hast kept
J the good wine until now
This chapter invites us to a marriage
celebration 1t is a wedding in common
life, two plain people having pledged each
other, hand and heart, and their friends
having come in for congratuation. The
Joy is not the less because there IS no pre-
tension. In each other they find all the
future they want. The daisy in the cup
on the table may mean rs much as a score
OF artistic garlands fresh from the hot
house When a daughter goes off from
home with nothing but a plain tathcr's :
blessing and a plain mothers love, she Is
missed as much as though she We're a prIn-
cess IL seems nara, AFTER tHe parents
have sheltered her for eighteen years that
in few short months her affections
should have beer, carried off by another,
but her mother remembers how it was IN
her own case when she was young, and so
she braces up until the wedding has passed
and the banqueters are gone, and she has
a cry all alone.
Well, we are to-day at the wedding in
Cana Of Galilee. Jesus and His mother
10 hot boz,
are more people there than were expected.
Either some people have come who were
not invited or more invitations have been
| sent out than it was supposed would be ac-
| cepted. Of course there is not sufficient
supply of wine. You know that there is
nothing more embarrassing to house
keeper than scant supply. Jesus sees
the embarrassment, and He comes up i'm
mediatey 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. | will not now
! be diverted to the question so 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
| lie makes the very best wine, and l30 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 a poet won the prize by Just this one
line descriptive of the miracle: The con.
scious water saw its 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. 1t is not for Me, Lord of heaven
and OF earth, to become caterer to this
feast. | 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 i'll your household! Have
you to make a very close calculation? Is it
hard work for you to carry on things de-
Gently and respectfully! If so don't sit
down and cry. Don't go out and fret, but
60 to Him who stood in the house in Cana
of Galiee. Pray in the parlor. Pray in
the Kitchen Let there be no room in all
your house uncOnsecrated by the voice of
prayer. Ii 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
lie will take care of you and feed you.
A boy asked if he might sweep the snow
from the steps of house. The lady of
the household said Yes; you seem very
poor He says, II am very poor" She
'ayss, Don't you sometimes get discouraged
and feel that God is going to let you
starve?' The lad looked up in the wom-
ans face and said. ''Do you think God
will let me starve when | trust Him and
then do the best l cam" Enough theo-
logy for older people! Trust in God and
do the best you can. Amid all the worrl-
ments of housekeeping go to Him. He
will help you control your temper and SUI
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. ! commend you to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the best adviser and the
most efficient a!d-the Lord Jesus who
performed His first miracle to relieve a
housekeeper.
learn also from this miracle that Christ
does things in abundance. | think a
small supply oi wine would have made up
for the deficiency. l think certainly they
.mu-. .nv"sn INC suvo.s
One gallon of wine will do; certainly five
gallons will be enough; certainly ten. But
Jesus goes on, and lie gives them thirty
gallons and forty gallons and fifty gallons
and seventy gallons ard 100 gallons and
l3) gallons OF the very best wine. 1t is
Just Ike 1lim-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 ful-notched like the fern or silvered |
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. They fame from
the hedge, they hang from the top OF the
grapevine in blossoms, they roll IN the |
blue wave OF the violets, they toss their
white surf in the spiraea- enough for
every chi!d's hand a flower, enough to
make for every brow a chaplet, enough
with beauty to cover up the ghastlness of
all the grave. Does He go forth to create
water? He pours it out not by the cup
iul. but by river full, a Lake full, an
ocean full, pouring it out until all the |
Garth has enough to drink and enough with |
which to wash.
Does Jesus provide redemption? 1t is
not little salvation for this one, little
for that and a 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 |