The Alaska citizen., 1915-12-06

and joys of life Half an hour afteI the meal is cooked is too late 10 come. The house wife would then be vexed for the waiting. Things are cold and uninviting. But now
 all is ready. The man who says T will tarry for seven or eight years until I have finished my business life, and then l will come" will doubtless find the feast rather hot he might die in the meantime ard the viands he badly burned. II the things are ready now, the argu- ment is come now Yes. just nov. when the heart is heavy and the mind is careless, and the spirit is wandering, when the sins are scar let and the future looks it's darkest just right now is the time to come. Delay is as unreasonable as 1t is treacherous, now that all things are ready
 No man need wait until he is ready. But one says "I am not ready" Well, if you insist, you are not ready It is clear that all the readiness a sinner needs is a willingness to come and partake of the feast Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after right eousness. for they shall be filled" If man is hungry he likes the Once hungry man gets to feast that God provides, he will stay and feast there forever Willingness to come is everything. A readiness to believe that Jesus is sufficient for your sins is all the preparation yo'l need to come. "All things are now ready, the gospel is ready, therefore you are to come"
 It is to be noted that the unreadi- ness of those who were bidden arose out of their possessions and out of their abilities. One would not come because he bought piece of ground and must go and see it. It would have been better judgment if he had seen the ground before he pur- chased it. Some swindler must have sold him a piece of land under a lake. Another had bought yoke of oxen and he must go and prove them. He had best hitched them and tried them before his purchase. Now he may have a worthless pair for which he has paid larger price than he can again realize out of them. Another has married a wife and therefore Il cannot come Just the reason why he ought to come About the first thing a man does when he gets married is to feast his wedding party and he and his wife are sure to be included. Ex- cuses are seldom reasons. When a man thinks himself to be rich he will not come to the Savior. H. thinks he can take care of himself, and the Lord will surely give him d trial at the matter. It is not what man has not but what he has that keeps him away from Jesus. A man who feels himself guilty will feel he ought not to come, perhaps, but a man who stays away because of selfrighteousness will never come. No man will sit down to a feast if he is not hungry. Possessions of this world keep men away. This world is like a floating island and the fellow who hitches his bark to that island will float with the island. He has no sure abiding place. But the fellow who anchors his ship to God will find he has a firm hold of the rock. and God can quiet the storm in his heart.
 Personal condition does not unfit a man from coming to Christ. Some were poor, some were "maimed, some halt" some blind" and these were. found everywhere-in the highways and hedges. Poverty or disease or accident or misfortune cannot bar man from the king dom. No, never. The only thing that can bar, or will bar any man from the heavenly feast that God has provided for all, for everybody is sin. It is sin that has separated men from God and it is sin that will keeep them away. Here is a man who has not had anything to eat for several days. See him at the feast. See. things are disap- pearing Here is a woman who is picked up on the street, maimed and bleeding. Give her a place at the feast. See the satisfaction spreading over the face as she par takes of the feast prepared. These two have nothing and are in want Jesus can supply that. These two have everything to keep them away from the feast. Sin. has written deep the lines of wreck and ruin But they also possess hunger, and in their hunger they came, or were brought by the messenger. You have net read the Bible in ten or twenty years and don't want to come. Quite right you are, and you will not want to come, perhaps