Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-07-31

the Partisan Louvre teaches 1t in more
xavs stan one There the Old master
has the laughing eyed maidens and the
voung men whispering their secrets in
their ears. There the table is groan-
ING under the most tempting of dishes.
There are the old folks and the chill
dren But there IN that wedding scene
the artist has assembled all the mem
hers of his own family and all his
friends His wife is there His mother
Is there. His children are all there.
His neighbors are there. Beautiful and
suggestive fact is that. 1t means as
Christ performed his first miracle in
Cana among his friends and neigh
bors we must begin our earthly Chris
tan service among those we love and
hold dear. Do not be gospel messen-
ger only to the heather. Go and find
yoJ1r 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 gospel ministry among his
neighbors, but he began that gospel
ministry in private way within the
ouietude of his own home. Mary, his
mother, had felt this divine influence
long before the outside world felt 1t
and saw 1t in Cana of GaliIee. How
do l know? The inference Is clear
from the chapter Of my text. When
the wine failed, Mary heard the women
Of the house talking together about the
mishap. This would be most natural
II the bride to be was Mary's own sis
ter and Jesus aunt. What then hap
pened? Why, Mary Immediately 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 ex-
tricate them out Of their difficulties If
he would? All, yes. Christ showed
his divinity first In his home. It is
right and necessary for us to begin our
ministry for Christ among our friends.
It is not, however, more important to
be a gospel messenger to our neighbors
than a gospel messenger in private to
our husbands, our wives, our parents,
our children, in the quiet sanctity of
our own homes Christ was a divine
Christ in carpenter shop before he
was a divine Christ making the water
blush crimson in Cana of Galilee.
But we must not circumscribe our
gospel ministry to our homes and our
neighbors and our friends. We must
not say, Because Christ performed
his first miracle at a wedding there
fore we will only attend the weddings
and the festivities of the young peo-
pie" We have a greater mission than
that. No sooner were these young
folks married and started out in the
world with gospel good 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 ulti-
mately slew him. He went to those
who would have nothing to do with
him. He went among the sinners and
the outcasts to carry to them the "bread
of life" He went to Mary Magdalene
and to the house Of despised Zaccheus.
He went everywhere where the sins Of
mankind were calling for the need Of
a Saviour. From amid the songs and
the merrymakings of this nupial ban
quet will you and I carry the message
of Christ to an outside sinful world :?
Will we preach Christ amid the cypress
as well as amid the orange blossoms?
! Will we preach Christ under the moan
ing. weeping willows as we'll as among
the singing multitudes of weddings Of
Galilee? at is better to go to the
house of .moarning than to the house
Of feasting" 1t is your duty to go to
both places. But remember, oh, Chris
tan, those who are preparing to enter
another world and to be married to
death need you as much as those who
are about to place upon their fingers
the wedding ring Of gold which will
encircle that finger after the flesh has
withered away in the grave.
copyright. 1906. by Louis Klopsch.l