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 favour 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. He 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 recompense in the kingdom of heaven.

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 tenour 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 surprised 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 had 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 great is your reward in heaven."

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 ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize; and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. They not only slighted and treated with contempt the words of eternal life, and preferred the pleasures and the interests of the present life to all the joys of heaven, but they pursued with unceasing rancour the first preachers of the Gospel, and persecuted them even unto death.

"But when the king heard thereof he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed these murderers, and burnt up their city." This points out, in the plainest terms, the Roman armies under Vespasian and Titus,

* See Isaiah liv, 5; Jer. iii, 8; Matt. xxv, 5; 2 Cor. xi, 2.

which, not many years after this was spoken, besieged Jerusalein, and destroyed the city, and slaughtered an immense number of the inhabitants. This terrible devastation our Lord here predicts in general terms, as he does more particularly and minutely in the twenty-fourth chapter; and he here represents it as the judgment of God on this perverse and obstinate people for their rejection of the Christian religion, their savage treatment of the apostles and their associates, and their many other atrocious crimes. This punishment, however, is here, by anticipation, represented as having been inflicted during the marriage feast; though it did not in fact take place till afterwards, till after the Gospel had been for some time promulgated.

"Then said 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."

It may be thought, perhaps, at the first view, that our Lord has here introduced a circumstance not very natural or probable. It may be imagined, that, at a magnificent royal entertainment, if any of the guests happened to fail in their attendance, a great king would never think of supplying their places by sending his servants into the highways to collect together all the travellers and strangers they could meet with, and make them sit down at the marriage feast. But, strange as this may seem, there is something that approaches very near to it in the customs of the eastern nations, even in modern times. For a traveller of great credit and reputation, Dr. Pococke, informs us, that an Arab prince will often dine in the street before his door, and call to all that pass, even to beggars, in the name of God, and they come and sit down to table; and when they have done, retire with the usual form of returning thanks *.

This adds one more proof to the many others I have already pointed out in the course of these Lectures, of the exact correspondence of the various facts and circumstances recorded in the sacred writings to the truth

* Pococke, vol. i, pp. 57 and 182. See also Diod. Sic. lib. xiii, pp. 375, 376. Y

of history, and to ancient oriental customs and man

ners.

This part of the parable alludes to the calling in of the Gentiles, or heathens, to the privileges of the Gospel, after they had been haughtily rejected by the Jews. This was first done by St. Peter, in the instance of Cornelius, and afterwards extended to the Gentiles at large by him and the other apostles, conformably to what our Lord declares in another place: "Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God; but the children of the kingdom," that is, the Jews, "shall be shut out*." And in this gracious invitation, no exceptions, no distinctions, were to be made. The servants gathered together all, as many as they found, both bad and good; men of all characters and descriptions were to have the offers of mercy and salvation made to them, even the very worst of sinners: for it was these chiefly that our Saviour came to call to repentance; "for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick t:" and of these, great numbers did actually embrace the gracious offers made to them; for our Lord told the Jews, "the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before yout."

In this manner was the wedding 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 said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in 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."

In order to understand this part of the parable, it must be observed, that among the ancients, especially in the East, every one that came to a marriage feast was expected to appear in a handsome and elegant dress, which was called the WEDDING GARMENT. This was frequently a white robe; and where the guest was a stranger, or was not able to provide such a robe, it was usual for the master of the feast to furnish him with one; and if he who gave the entertainment was of high rank and + Ib. xxi, 31.

* Matt. viii, 11.

+ Ib. ix, 12.