to furnish with these garments all his guests indiscriminately. The man, therefore, who appeared at the feast in this parable without the customary garment, had really no excuse; and when censured for doing so, we are told he was "speechless."

The insult of which he was therefore guilty towards the master of the feast, whose hospitality he was partaking, drew forth the sentence,

"Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."*.

Cast this guest, who is guilty of the gross indignity of rejecting the wedding garment prepared for him, from the light and splendour of the scene which he disgraces by his presence, into the darkness of the highway from which he was called.

Here we behold, under a striking similitude, the fearful doom of those professing Christians who think they shall enjoy the blessings of Christ's heavenly kingdom, of his everlasting festival of love, while they are destitute of those graces and virtues, that purity and righteousness, which are often, in the figurative language of Scripture, styled the "wedding garment"-" the white raiment of the saints." For

"Many are called, but few are chosen."‡

Many are called to the Gospel feast-many are invited to partake of its blessings, and all are offered, through the influences of the Holy Spirit, that righteousness which alone can qualify them to partake of these blessings-" but few are chosen;" comparatively few study to make their calling and election sure; to acquire, through the power of

*Matt. xxii. 13.

Rev. iii. 4.

Matt. xxii. 14.

divine grace, those holy dispositions and virtues which alone can render them meet to be admitted to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to partake of the felicities of heaven.

This parable contains much important instruc

tion.

1. It affords a lively display of the mercy and goodness of God, in providing for the blessings of redemption.

What scenes more joyous than those of a marriage, where rank and splendour unite to inspire the most dignified festivity? What more grateful and exhilarating on this joyful occasion, than a feast, where every luxury that generous wealth can bestow, excites and gratifies the senses? Behold the striking similitude by which are denoted the goodness and the mercy of God in providing the blessings of redemption. For man, blind, and guilty, and miserable, who was wandering in the high way that leads to destruction, and exiled through sin from the comforts of God's favour, a feast is prepared. The almighty Sovereign, whom, by his wilful transgressions, he has insulted and offended, in the fulness of infinite love provides for him the richest blessings. The offender against the Majesty of heaven, he is offered a free and full pardon. The slave of error and of prejudice, whose corrupt reason enveloped him with the darkest shades of idolatry and superstition, he sees the light of the divine glory in the face of Jesus Christ. His soul held in bondage by sin, he is offered a translation into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. His bosom agitated by passions fierce as the whirlwind, he is presented with that peace of God which passeth all understanding. He, who sprung from the

dust, is descending to the dust again, and may say to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my brother and my sister, beholds prepared for him a garment of immortality, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And he, whose guilty soul, the bottomless pit opens to receive, may look, as his destined abode, to the courts of heaven, to that city of the living God, where are joy and gladness, and from which sorrow and sighing flee far away.

2. The merciful and gracious God who prepares for his offending creatures blessings so exalted, urges their acceptance of these blessings by the most powerful and persuasive methods.

He sent his only Son into the world, that, moved by this astonishing instance of love, guilty man might be induced to accept the salvation which, through the sufferings and death of this glorious personage, is wrought for him. The word of inspiration, affording a lively display of all those blessings which God has prepared for those that love him, abounds with the most animating calls, the most urgent and tender entreaties to accept these blessings. By the admonitions of conscience, by the dispensations of his providence, by the secret suggestions of his Holy Spirit, by the service of the church in her ministry, sacraments, and ordinances, does that compassionate God, who willeth not the death of a sinner, urge and entreat him to turn from those sinful pursuits that terminate in shame, remorse, and misery, and to partake of those permanent and exalted joys which flow from him, who is the fountain of life and felicity. The voice of their almighty Sovereign is constantly addressed to sinful men-"All things are ready." Blessings are pre

pared for you, as transcendent in the enjoyment which they afford, as they are lasting in duration; the light of divine truth, the pardon of sin, peace of conscience, the comforts of the Holy Ghost, the joys of the divine favour, a resurrection to glory, ineffable bliss in the kingdom of heaven above, these are the blessings which court your acceptance. Come then and "drink of the waters of life;" eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Come, celebrate with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, that celestial festival, the joys of which are pure, transporting, and eternal.

In what manner is this gracious invitation regarded among men? The parable before us affords the astonishing, the melancholy information-" They make light of it;" they make light of the overtures of mercy from the God of heaven; they make light of the tender invitations of his eternal Son." They go, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise"-they prefer the sensual pursuits and pleasures which too often corrupt the heart, and fill it with shame and remorse-pursuits which often terminate in vanity and vexation of spirit-pleasures which, in a few years, will vanish in the darkness of the grave, and which, for a day or an hour they cannot call their own, to those pure joys of a good conscience, those rich consolations of the divine favour, those pleasures in the presence of their God and Saviour which never fade. Contemning that great salvation revealed in the Gospel, they too, like the unbelieving Jews of old, "trample under foot the Son of God, crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame."*

* Heb. x. 29.

These despisers of God may behold in the parable under consideration, the awful vengeance which will overtake them. They may behold it in the denunciations of that parable executed upon the unbelieving Jews and upon impenitent Jerusalem. Alas! the awful fury which burst upon Jerusalem and overwhelmed the Jews, is a sure but a feeble emblem of the vengeance preparing for those who despise or neglect the mercy and grace of God. A great and terrible day is coming, when the sun shall be turned into blackness, and the moon into blood; when the elements shall melt with fervent heat; when the heavens shall depart as a scroll; when the earth shall be burnt up; and when, in the midst of these scenes of terror, the Judge of the world shall appear in the glory of his Father, and with his holy angels, to take vengeance on those who believe not God and obey not his Gospel. Such a day is predicted; such a coming of the Son of man is foretold; such awful scenes are unfolded in the oracles of truth. When this day comes; when the Son of man thus appears; when the last judgment takes place, which decides for ever the happiness or misery of the myriads of mankind; oh! how will all who now live unmindful of their God and Saviour, neglecting or contemning his mercy and his grace, bewail their guilt and their folly-bewail, but too late-their tears and their cries will be those of endless agony and despair; for God hath pronounced, the "worm dieth not," "the fire is not quenched."

But this instructive parable does not only denounce vengeance against those who reject the counsel of God for their salvation; it unfolds also the awful destiny of nominal Christians; of those VOL. III. 14