to whom the loving tidings of salvation have been sent, lest through ingratitude and rebellion they also be cast out of the light of God's countenance, and be no longer numbered among that chosen heritage whose privilege it is to labour in the holy vineyard of the Church of Christ. And as the holiness, or the wickedness, of any nation is made up of the actions and lives, either good or evil, of its individual members, so will the continuance of the light which has been vouchsafed to them depend on the ready obedience and cheerful compliance with which each one, who has been admitted into the ark of Christ's Church, strives to fulfil the terms of his spiritual engagement. Thus the increase or the removal of that candlestick which God has lighted will follow according as many of those who have promised to fight manfully under Christ's banner stand to their promises, and acknowledge, or deny, the authority of Him who is the Saviour of the world.

***

THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON.

:

MATT. xxii. 2—14.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

HIS parable, which must not be confounded with

THIS

the one somewhat similar, recorded by St. Luke, cap. xiv. 16 (see infrà, page 90), forms part of those discourses which the Saviour delivered to the Jewish people in the Temple immediately before his betrayal and death. It is introduced by the expression, found in several passages in the Gospels, 'Jesus answered,'

which only implies that the parable has a reference to what had gone before.

2. The kingdom of heaven is like, &c. The dealings of God, in conferring the blessing of his heavenly kingdom, resemble the conduct of the king represented in the parable.

Marriage. That is, 'a marriage feast.'

3. To call them that were bidden. Those who had been before invited.

6. Entreated them spitefully. Rather, according to the original, 'treated them with insult.'

9. Highways. The literal rendering of the expression here used would be the passages of the roads.' It means the intersection of one road by another. The word in verse 10, translated 'highways,' is simply 'roads,' or 'streets.'

II. Which had not on a wedding garment. It was a common practice among the ancients, and especially in the east, to provide for guests suitable attire, corresponding to the dignity of the entertainer; and thus to sit down to a feast without the robe furnished by the master of the house would be considered a great insult.

12. Friend. The word used was the common form of address from a superior to an inferior. See St. Matthew, xx. 13.

He was speechless. As having no excuse to offer.

14. Many are called, but few chosen. This was probably a proverbial expression. It also forms the conclusion of the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.

This parable seems naturally to divide itself into two parts; the first from verse 2 to 7, in which is set forth the refusal of those who were originally invited to partake of the marriage feast; while the second part, verse 8-14, represents the conduct of one of those who were subsequently called in to fill the vacant places of the guests who had declined to attend. The first part resembles in many particulars the preceding parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, and evidently refers to the wilful rejection by the Jewish people of God's loving invitations, to their treatment of those who, from time to time, were sent to renew to them his offers of reconciliation, and to the signal punishment which was at length inflicted on them by the overthrow of their church and nation.

The second portion of the parable represents the call of the Gentiles to profit by those blessings which the Jews had rejected, and their acceptance of that offer. It then proceeds to illustrate the temper and the spirit in which many of those who had been made partakers of the blessings of the Gospel covenant would receive the divine favour, and the method of God's dealings towards them. This part of the parable conveys a lesson suitable for the members of the Church of Christ in all ages. The Saviour elsewhere teaches, particularly in the parable of the Tares and the Wheat, that both bad and good will be found in his Church, that to both these classes the free gift of salvation is tendered, that to both the

means of grace are offered, to both the hope of heaven and the fear of hell are held out as the reward of an improvement of these privileges, or the penalty of a disregard of them. The parable supplies the warning that men may receive the invitation of the Gospel, and may, to outward appearance, be admitted to its blessings, and yet be found in the end to have no portion among the true guests of the heavenly feast. The guest who came in to the feast not having a wedding garment is a type of a large class, who, while they enjoy visible communion with the Church of Christ on earth, are yet wanting in that personal quality of a saving faith which is the only title to the divine favour a faith which clings steadfastly to the Son of God, as the one hope of acceptance, and at the same time 'worketh by love.' Such a quality is indeed the free gift of God; it appertains to no man through any merit of his own, but it is promised to all who seek for this favour as the reward of a steadfast abiding in Christ, and a patient continuance in well doing. This proper garment, this one thing necessary to salvation, though it be the result of the free grace of God, is, nevertheless, dependent on the free will and co-operation of each baptised member of Christ. This essential qualification, which is the one criterion between the real and nominal believer, will not be bestowed save upon those who second heartily the influence of the Holy Spirit, through whom alone comes the will and the power to live up to the standard of the gospel of Christ.