The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-22

Los Angeles July 15,-The familiar par
able OF the klng's wedding supper is pre-
scented by the preacher In this sermon
In a new light and Is made the basis for
unlimited Invitation to all classes, Tho
text Is Matthews xxi, 10, 1.-THE wedding
was furnished with guests"
Some people are born eseetics They
love to travel the rough roads instead
OF the smooth. They profess to desplse
every form of comfort and ease. Like
John the Baptist, they would clothe
themselves IN skins and banquet upon
loousts and wild honey. They believe that
primitive man In his dugout, eating his
raw meat and herbs as he hunts them
day by day. Is better type Of the
human race than Is the modern man liv-
ing in dollhouse and sleeping upon a
feather bed and protecting himself from
the rains Of summer and the colds of
winter with umbrellas and rubbers and
storm overooats. Like Emperor William L
Of Germany, they believe that, though
they may live In palace, yet the body
rests better upon the hard camp cot, the
relic of many battlehelds and the coarser
the food they eat the more physical and
mental strength they will have.
The banquet hall may have bad name
on account of the gourmets and gluttons
who make out of its table a shrine, yet
one of the most important political social,
ecclesiastical, financial and literary fac
tors of tho world has been the banquet
hall When Gladstone Disraell'
Salisbury and a Balfour wanted to ex-
plain the state policy of the British gov
eminent, where did they utter their man
ifestoes? They again and again spoke to
the British empire and to the world over
the banquet table, which was spread to
celebrate the induction of new lord
mayor of London into office. When Henry
w. Grady wanted to bind the new north
to the new south with the golden CORDS
of love. where did he do 1t? AT the
New England banquet hall in New YORK
city in 1886 to celebrate Forefathers DAY.
How did New York and America honor
the electrical triumphs OF the inventor OIL
the telegraph Samuel q. b. MorseI by
a public dinner on December n, 1868. HOW
did New York honor the cable triu1nphs
of CYRUS W Field? In the same way, by
a public banquet three years later How
does the New York Chamber of Commerce
rot only cement the business interests OF
the new world together but also pIlhs
before its chief merchants and manufac-
turers the greatest hnancers of the world,
to give them words of advlceE by thelr
annual banuuets. And how did the Amer
lean pulpit honor one of its greatest
theologians a few years ago-the kew.
DR.. Herrick Johnson, than whom there
was not at that time a more powerful per-
sonalty In any professional chair In the
west? BY a public banquet given In Chi
cago in January 1903 The brainy men or
this country do not gather in the pam
quet han for a great feast OF material
viands nearly as much as for leasl
OF intellectual, moral and spiritual toods,
Thus | am glad today that this symbol
of my text Is found in a banquet hall
Furthermore, It Is found in the most tas-
cinating of all banquet halls-namely at
a wedding feast.
The Guests Were Secured.
You know this parable without our 60
ing into details. The king wanted to make
a great feast to celebrate the wedding
of his SON. The loving father invites many
guests to the wedding, but they all reIuse
to come. Then the king says to his SER
want; go out Into the highways and the
hedges and compel them to come. Ihen
the servants go and bring In the new
guests. Now, it Is my purpose to talk
out for you the different characteristics
of the men, the women and the children
who were finally persuaded to sit down at
the wedding feast of the royal Son or
God Jesus Christ.
Let US find vantage ground to stand
on Let us, in the first place, learn how
we can best study the personal charac-
teristies of these wedding guests. Shall
we do this by entering the brilliantly
lighted banquet hall and watching the ac-
lions of the guests who are gathered
about the table? Nay. You cannot tell
what man is like when he Is dressed up
and out for an evening entertainment. In
order to find out what he truly is you
must go and talk with him at his work.
His Sunday clothes are not the true index
of his life. Many a man has gone to
an evening reception in a borrowed dress
suit Many a woman who Is most elabor-
ately appareled for party is slattern
when in her own home Thus In order to
find out the different characteristics or the
wedding guests we should follow one OF
the servants who goes forth by the king s
command to gather in the guests for the
wedding.
Those Who Accepted.
Now, what did the king say? go ye,
therefore, into the highways and as many
as We shall find bid to the marriage"
That means: "Oh, servant, as soon as you
get into the street, give this wedding in
vitatlon to the first men and women and
children you meet Make no exceptions
to this rule. Slight no one. Ask all who
will to come" Now, whom do you sup
pose the servant naturally first accosted?
Probably the most conspicuous person in
the street. 1t was doubtless the rich
merchant of the military chieftian, as
tride his war charger or 1t was the royal
prince driving In his chariot. These men
were naturally the most conspicuous IN
that crowded thoroughfare, therefore they
were the first to whom | think the SER
want went and said: "Comel The king
bids thee come to the marriage of his
SON Come, and come nowV But many
of these rich men, the intellectual leaders,
refused to come Very likely they were
among those whom the king had invited
and who may have already refused the
invitation Some of all classes refused to
come But there were many of the intel
lectual world who did come, and thous-
ands of the Intellectual leaders or the
world nra coming foduN