The gracious show'r, unlimited and free,
Shall fall on her-when heaven denies it thee.
Of all that wisdom dictates, this the drift,
That man is dead in sin-and life a gift.'

This consolatory truth is strikingly exemplified in the sequel of the following parable. A cerman made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city-into the highways and hedges, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.'

That the conclusion of this parable primarily refers to the rejection of the Jewish nation for their unbelief, and to the subsequent promulgation of the gospel to the Gentiles, for whom that people entertained the most sovereign contempt, I have not the smallest doubt. But that the Pharisees, and doctors of the law, to whom it was delivered, understood it in this sense is not probable. Their notions of the expected Messiah and his kingdom were so secularized, that they lost sight of the spiritual blessings to be derived either to themselves or to others from his appearance in the world: and were, besides, so cir-, cumscribed, owing perhaps to the exclusive priF

vileges by which they had been so long distinguished from other nations, as to make it questionable whether they had, notwithstanding the perspicuity of ancient prophecies on this subject, any idea that these nations were to participate the same goodness in any other way than by becoming proselytes to Judaism. It is therefore perfectly natural to suppose that, while our Lord predicted the awful consequences which were to follow his being rejected by that ungrateful nation, he intended the parable should, at the same time, be strikingly applicable to these whited sepulchres who had, by their doctrine and contemptuous treatment of himself, so largely contributed to accelerate its ruin.

By the servant being sent into the streets and lanes, the highways and hedges; these Pharisees and doctors of the law must have perceived that the Master of the feast was determined to furnish his table with guests whom they utterly abhorred: that by so doing he was, in fact, contrasting the vice attached to these despicable wretches with their virtue, and practically declaring that neither their abject situations, nor their detestable atrocities, were any bar to entertainment at his table; or, to speak without a figure, and in reference to Christ and his kingdom; that the multiplied transgressions of these outcasts of society would not hinder the bestowment of his mercy, nor were they so incompatible with the nature of his mission, nor so likely to operate to his prejudice, as the abominable. pride and self-righteousness which the scribes and Pharisees constantly manifested by their conduct.

Now it must have been extremely mortifying to these restless persecutors of Christ, to find that their vacant seats were to be occupied by the refuse of mankind-by harlots, publicans, and

profligates. They were too proud and too carnal to view themselves as sinners standing in need of such a Saviour as Christ professedly was. They expected a Messiah that would set up a temporal kingdom; that would emancipate them from the bondage of Rome, and exalt the nation to independence, opulence, and splendour. But when they found that our Lord's kingdom was not of this world, they opposed all his claims as the true Messiah; stigmatized his character with the most reproachful epithets, and persecuted him with unrelenting malice. They saw that his humility favoured not their pride, and that his meekness was not likely to raise him from the footstool of the Roman empire to the throne of the world.'.

·

But what gave perhaps the greatest offence, and for which the Saviour of men was most despised and calumniated, was his unwearied attention and kindness to those whom the Pharisees emphatically denominated sinners. These blind guides, leaders of the blind, were too haughty to acknowledge his divine mission: it did not quadrate with their erroneous sentiments and ambitious views. They were punctual in the discharge of various religious and moral duties that were to be seen of men-in paying tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, such as judgment, mercy, and faith. It was therefore imagined that they were entitled to distinguishing marks of respectful attachment-that, if Jesus were really the Messiah, he would certainly have testified in the most public manner his approbation of their sanctimonious appearance, and have recommended them as perfect models of piety and virtue. They were ready to obtrude on his silence the query of their ungrateful progenitors: What profit is it that we

have kept his ordinances?—Wherefore have we fasted and thou takest no knowledge?' But when they found that neither their religious nor their political notions met with his concurrence, they were exceedingly enraged; they aspersed the Holy One of Israel, and called the messenger of peace, a deceiver-a fomenter of sedition-a blasphemer of his God-and an enemy to Cæsar.

These, and similar remarks will, I trust, demonstrate that the love of God to man is absolutely sovereign and free; and that no worthiness is sought for in the object on whom its blessings are conferred. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.' Were the glorious gospel revealed only, or principally to the wise and prudent, it would, as the excellent Charnock expresses it, be viewed as a discovery made to reason rather than to faith and were divine grace communicated to the comparatively pure, it would be considered as a debt which the Almighty lay under some sort of obligation to discharge; but when both are bestowed on objects that are uncommonly depraved-that have nothing to plead in extenuation of their guilt-there is no room for glorying, but he that glorieth must glory in the Lord.

Let it however be remembered that the love of God, freely exercised towards his elect, is never to be viewed as detached from their head and surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. In him they were chosen in his comeliness they are comely: in his righteousness they are righteous: in him shall

they be blessed, and in him shall they glory. In them personally considered dwelleth no good thing. But they were chosen in him to grace here, and to glory hereafter. He as the head, they as the members: they are one with him, and where he is, there shall they be also. As mediator of the covenant, he is the Father's elect, in whom he is well pleased: and the love of the divine Father to sinners is abundantly manifest in his choosing them in him as their head-in making a covenant with him on their behalf-in afterwards quickening them by his Spirit-in the bestowment of grace, and in causing all things to work together for their good till he bring them to glory. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins-What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?-Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us-Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

As, therefore, we have such indubitable evidence of the everlasting love of God to sinners,