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tent and satisfaction of mind, that peace of God which passeth all understanding, those delights of a pure conscience and an upright heart, that affectionate support of all good men, those consolations of the Holy Spirit, that trust and confidence in God, that consciousness of the divine favour and approbation, those reviving hopes of everlasting glory, which every good man and sincere Christian never fails to experience in the discharge of his duty. These are the things which will cheer his heart and sustain his spirits, amidst all the, discouragements he meets with, under the pressure of want, of poverty, of affliction, of calumny, of ridicule, of persecution, and even under the terrors of death itself, which will recompense him a hundred fold for all the sacrifices he has made to Christ and his religion, and impart to him a degree of comfort and tranquility and happiness, far beyond any thing that all the wealth and splendour of this world can bestow. That this is not a mere ideal representation, we may see in the example of those very persons to whom this discourse of our Saviour was addressed. We may see a picture of the felicity here described, drawn by the masterly hand of St. Paul, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. "We are, says he (speaking of himself and his fellow-labourers in the Gospel) we are approving ourselves in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." We have here a portrait, not merely of patience and fortitude, but of cheerfulness and joy under the acutest sufferings, which is no where to be met with in the writings of the most

celebrated heathen philosophers. The utmost that they pretended to was a contempt of pain, a determination not to be subdued by it, and not even to acknowledge that it was an evil. But we never hear them' expressing that cheerfulness and joy under suffering, which we here see in the apostles and first disciples of Christ.Indeed it was impossible that they should rise to these extraordinary exertions of the human mind, since they wanted all those supports which bore up the apostles under the severest calamities, and raised them above all the common weaknesses and infirmities of their nature; namely, the consciousness of being embarked in the greatest and noblest undertaking that ever engaged the mind of man, an unbounded trust and confidence in the protection of heaven, a large participation of the divine influences and consolations of the Holy Spirit, and a firm and well grounded hope of an eternal reward in another life, which would infinitely overpay all their labours and their sorrows in this. These were the sources of that content and cheerfulness, that vigour and vivacity of mind, under the severest afflictions, which nothing could depress, and which nothing but Christian philosophy could produce.

Here then we have a full explanation of our Lord's promise in the passage before us, that every one who had forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for his name's sake, should receive a hundred fold, should receive abundant recompence in the comfort of their own minds, as described in the corresponding passage of St. Paul, just cited; which may be considered not only as an admirable comment on our Lord's declaration, but as an exact fulfilment of the prediction contained in it. For that declaration is plainly prophetic; it foretells the persecution his disciples would meet with in the discharge of their duty; and foretells also, that in the midst of these persecutions they would be undaunted and joyful. And there cannot be a more perfect completion of any prophecy, than that which St. Paul's description sets before us with respect to this.

But we must not confine this promise of our Saviour's to his own immediate followers and disciples; it extends to all his faithful servants in every age and nation of the world, that part with any thing which is dear and valuable to them for the sake of the Gospel. Whoever has passed any time in the world, must have seen that every man who is sincere in the profession of his religion, who sets God always before him, and who seeks above all things his favor and approbation, must sometimes make great and painful sacrifices to the commands of his Maker and Redeemer; and whoever does so, whoever gives up his pleasures, his interests, his fame, his favourite pursuits, his fondest wishes, and his strongest passions, for the sake of his duty, and in conformity to the will of his heavenly Father, may rest assured, that he shall in no wise lose his reward. shall in a degree proportioned to the self-denial he has exercised, and the sufferings he has undergone, experience the present comfort and support here promised to the apostles; and shall also, though not to the same extent, have an extraordinary recompence in the kingdom of heaven.

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Let no one then be deterred from persevering in the path of duty, whatever discouragements, difficulties, or obstructions he may meet with in his progress, either from the struggles he has with his own corrupt affections, or from the malevolence of the world. Let him not fear to encounter, what he must expect to meet with, opposition, contumely, contempt and ridicule; let him not fear the enmity of profligate and unprincipled men; but let him go on undaunted and undismayed in that uniform tenor of piety and benevolence, of purity, integrity, and uprightness of conduct, which will not fail to bring him peace at the last. Let him not be surprized or alarmed if he is not exempt from the common lot of every sincere and zealous Christian; if he finds it by his own experience to be true, what an apostle of Christ has long since prepared him to expect, that whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus shall in

one way or other suffer persecution. But let him remember at the same time the reviving and consolatory declaration of his divine Master; "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for

in heaven."

great is

your reward

1

LECTURE XVIII.

MATTHEW xxii.

I NOW pass on to the twenty-second chapter of St. Matthew, in which our blessed Lord introduces the following parable:

"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 merchandize; 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 burnt 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 could find, 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 in hither, not having on a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; for many are called, but few are chosen."

The primary and principal object of this parable is to represent, under the image of a marriage feast, the invitation given to the Jews to embrace the Gospel, their rejection of that gracious offer, the severe punishment inflicted upon them for their ingratitude and obstinacy, and the admission of the Heathens to the privileges of Christianity in their room.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son."

That is, the dispensations of the Almighty, with respect to the Christian religion, which is called the kingdom of heaven, may be compared to the conduct of a certain king, who (as was the custom in those times, especially among the eastern nations) gave a splendid feast in consequence of his son's marriage. And in this comparison there is a peculiar propriety; because both the Jewish and the Christian covenant are frequently represented in Scripture under the similitude of a marriage contract between God and his people.* "And he 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." This signifies the various and repeated offers of the Gospel to the Jews; first by John the Baptist, then by our Saviour himself, then by his apostles and the seventy disciples, both before and after his ascension.

But all these gracious offers the greater part of the nation rejected with scorn. They would not come to the marriage; they made light of it, and went their See Isaiah liv. 5. Jeremiah iii. 8. Matth. xxv. 5. 2 Cor. xi. 2.

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