The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-06

a,fv a short distance from Nazareth. He did not leave home and go among strangers to find Q gospel field. He began right among the friends and companions of his youth. In all propapliity tnere was not n auest at this famous wedding who dld not personally know him. Not erown man or a grown woman was there hut hud seen him barefooted boy run ming over the Zebulun hills. There was not among all those guests one who had mol felt the touch of his personal hle upon his or her life. This personal toueh of Christ has to me q great lesson. The wonderful picture of the wedding in Cana of calilee in the Parisian Louvre teaches if fin more ways than one. There the old master has tho laughing eyed maidena and the young men whispering their sec rets in their ears. There the table IS Eroanlng upder the most tempting or dishes. There are the old folks and the children But there in that wedding scene tho artist has assembled all the members of his own family and all his friends. His wife is there. His mother Is there. Ills children are all there. His nelghbors are there. Beautiful and sug- gestlve fact Is that. It means as Christ performed his first miracle in cana among his friends and neighbors we must begin our earthly Christian service among those we love and hold dear. Do not be 0 ROApGl messenger OnlJ lO lAc ACoNhSAAs Go and find your neighbors and talk to them about the atonement of the cross. Find the heather at your very door
 Begin at Home.
 The further you go into this premise the more powerful becomes the gospel lesson. Not only did Christ begin his public gos- pei ministry among his neighbors, but he began that gospel ministry In private way within the quietude of his own home. Mary, his mother, had felt this divine in- fiuence long before the outside world felt 1t and saw it in Cana of Galilee How do I know? The inference Is clear from the chapter of my text. When the wine fail- ed Mary heard the women of the house talking together about the mighap. This would be most natural If the bride-to-be was Marys own sister and Jesus aunt. What then happened? Why, Mary m- mediately went and told Christ. Then she said to the servants, What he saith unto you do it' Do not these statements prove to you that Mary knew Jesus could extricate them out of their difficult ties if he would? An, yes. Christ showed his divinity first in his home It Is right and necessary for us to begin our min istry for Christ among our friends. It Is not however, more important to be q gospel messenger to our neighbors than gospel messenger In private to our hus- bands, our WIVES, our pdftllS. our cHii- dren, in the quiet sanctity of our own homes Christ was a divine Christ in a carpenter shop before he was a divine Christ making the water blush crimson in Cana of Gallee.
 But we must not circumscribe our gos- pei ministry to our homes and our neigh bors and our friends. We must not say, "Because Christ performed his first mir acle at wedding therefore we will only attend the weddings and the festivities of the young people" We have a greater mission than that. No sooner were these young folks married and started out In the world with gospel cheer than Christ went forth Into the world to continue that ministry He went among the strangers. He went to those who cursed and derided and ultimately slew him. He went to those who would hove nothing to do with him. He went among the sinners and the outcasts to carry to them the "hread of lifev He went to Mary Magdaene and to the house of despised Zaccheus. He went everywhere where the sins of man. kind were calling for the need of Sa- vior. From amid the songs and merry makings of this nuptlal banquet will you and I carry the message of Christ to an outside sinful worldX Will we preach Christ amid the cypress as well as amid outside sinful world? Will we preach Christ under the moaning. weeping wil- lows as well as among the singing multi tudes of weddings of Galiee? Tt Is bet ter to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,'' It is your duty to go to both places. But remember, oh. Christian those who are preparing to enter another world and to be married 10 death need you as much as those who are about to place upon their fingers the we'd ding ring of gold which will encircle that finger after flesh has withered away in the grave.
 Copyright, 1905, by Louis Klopsch.)