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tongue. Remember, therefore, the authority of him who commanded us thus to pray, and remember, also, in obedience to his commandment, both when and wherever ye pray, to say, "Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

DISCOURSE XIX.

MATT. chap. xxii. ver. 11.

When the King came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment."

THE parable of the Marriage Supper, as it is related to us in the Gospel of St. Matthew, consists of two separate parts, having a distinct reference, but a common connection; a distinct reference as to the subjects, and a connexion common as to the object they have in view.

The first of these two portions of the parable records the invitation of those whom the King had originally intended to be his guests; and who, though at first they seem to have expressed no disinclination to accept the honour, yet, when actually called upon to fulfil their promise, refused, upon various but frivolous pretences, to obey the call; and proceeding still farther in their folly, did add wickedness to contempt, and destroy the ser

vants who bore the message from their Master. "A certain King 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 feast; 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, and another to his merchandize. And the remnant took his servants and entreated them despitefully and slew them." Such was their conduct; and their punishment was made as awful as their crime deserved. "The King was wroth

when he heard thereof, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city." His offended majesty was kindled into vengeance, and the offenders themselves were slain and their habitation left desolate.

It is here that the instructive lesson conveyed in the first portion of the parable ends; but it is only to make way for one still more impressive on the second, which recounts the substitution of other guests in the room of those who had thus proved themselves unworthy of the offer, and the conduct which the King observed towards these new guests when they had waited upon him. For his care and kindness would not that the good

things which he had prepared should be lost and wasted. He therefore "sent forth his servants to gather together as many as they should find, both good and bad; and the table was furnished and filled with guests. But 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 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."

To the conduct of this King our Saviour compares the conduct which has been and will be pursued by the Ruler of the kingdom of Heaven; both the manner in which the Almighty hath hitherto acted in the dispensations of his grace on earth, and the principles upon which he will hereafter act in the distribution of glory to mankind in Heaven. The proceedings of the Ruler of "the kingdom of Heaven," with regard to that kingdom, both as it comprehends the kingdom of grace here and the kingdom of glory hereafter, are like unto those of a certain King who made a marriage," and in honour of the marriage, a marriage feast, " for his son."

With this view of the leading object and primary intention of the parable, it will be easy to perceive the propriety of the comparison, to trace the resemblance even in its minutest points, and explain every particular circumstance by which it is adorned and amplified.

The marriage itself, of course, represents the marriage of the Lamb of God, the Son of the everlasting King, "when his wife shall have made herself ready."* It figures out that full and final union of Christ and his Church, in the last and great day of the Lord, when " having sanctified and cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, he shall present it unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish," "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This is a great mystery; but I speak after the manner of the Apostles; and if we are justified by their authority in considering the marriage of the King's Son, in the parable, as signifying unto us that mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church, which God hath ordained to be consummated at the final consummation of all things, we may venture also upon the same authority to regard the wedding Supper as a lively figure of that spiritual supper, "those good things which God hath

*Rev. xix. 7. + Ephes. v. 26. + Rev. xxi. 2.

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