vengeance which he has declared to be the universal penalty of impenitence. This is true, not of individuals alone, but of churches also. Witness the fate of the seven churches of Asia, founded by the apostle St. Paul himself; witness the northern part of Africa, where, in the first centuries of the Christian era, the word of God flourished and had free course. And although the perpetuity of the Church at large is guaranteed by its divine Author, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, yet particular branches of it may altogether cease, or may fall into fatal lethargy; like suckers from the root of a tree, or unfruitful limbs from the body of it, they may be lopped off as hurtful to the main stock, or allowed to remain dead and lifeless—a warning to others. The privileges vouchsafed to them will be taken away, and transferred to others, who will bring forth the fruits of righteousness.

The threat denounced against the Jewish nation by the Saviour, 'Therefore I say unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,' may be verified in other cases also. And as the religious faith and practice of any Church or nation is the aggregate faith and practice of the individuals who compose that body, it is the bounden duty of each single member to take care that he shows his sense of the spiritual privileges vouchsafed to himself and to his brethren. Let each be on his guard 'to walk worthy of the light while they have the light, lest darkness come upon them.' Let

each strive to glorify God within his own circle and sphere of action, and to abstain from all cause of offence to his brethren, that so he and they may be like 'trees planted by the water side, bringing forth their fruit in due season.' Let each, according to his several ability, by patient continuance in well doing, bear witness to the truth that the blessings of the Gospel, unless used and improved, may be altogether withdrawn. It is worse than useless to talk of the graces and perfections of the Church of Christ, unless these be evidenced by the consistent conduct of those who call themselves its members. God is indeed 'a righteous Judge, strong and patient;' but there is for each single individual a point beyond which his longsuffering will not be provoked. Each day that any one continues'a hearer of the word and not a doer;' each moment that he professes to bring forth fruit worthy of his high calling in Christ Jesus, but remains barren and unfruitful, he is tempting God to withdraw from him that Spirit, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; apart from whom the soul of man is dead, and without whose graces brought forth abundantly no one will be accepted at the great tribunal of the Son of Man.

THE GREAT SUPPER.

LUKE xiv. 16-24.

and

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, 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. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.

HIS parable must not be confounded with that of

THIS

the Marriage of the King's Son, recorded by St. Matthew xxii. 2, (see page 54), although the two have some points of resemblance. They were spoken on different occasions; the one given by St. Matthew was delivered in the temple; that found in St. Luke's gospel was addressed to those with whom our Lord was eating bread at the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees. They were moreover spoken at different periods of our Lord's ministry.

The circumstances connected with the parable of

the Great Supper are as follows. One of those who sat at meat with the Saviour, hearing the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, was apparently forced to utter the exclamation, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.' Nor does this remark seem to have been made through any feeling of scorn, or intentional hypocrisy. For, as our Lord had just before mentioned the recompence which would be rendered to the just at the resurrection, so this man, in a spirit, it would seem, of satisfaction at his own privileges as one of the children of Abraham, includes himself as certain to have his share of that recompence. In the parable therefore our Lord intended to expose the false security of those who are invited to the blessings of his spiritual kingdom, but who forfeit that invitation by an undue regard to earthly interests.

18. A piece of ground, or, as the word is elsewhere rendered in our version, 'a farm.'

19. Five yoke of oxen. Five pairs of oxen, intended to be yoked together for agricultural purposes. To make trial of them.'

To prove them.

21. The halt.

The lame,' as the original word is in other passages translated.

23. Compel them. The same word is translated in Galat. vi. 12, 'constrain.' It has the meaning of earnest entreaty and pressure, but not of any actual compulsion.

24.

I say unto you, &c. These words form part of the parable, and are supposed to be spoken by the

master of the feast, and are not the remarks of our Lord on his own narrative.

None of those men. The word 'those' in the original is an emphatic word, and refers to those others who had been invited, but had rejected the offer.

This parable is prophetical, and sets forth, at least in its direct application, the behaviour of the Jewish people with reference to those gracious offers made to them through the Son of God. The ground on which the children of Abraham rejected the teaching of the Saviour, and denied his claim to be the Messiah, was that Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed only a spiritual kingdom, and sought to exercise only a moral influence over them, whereas the Jews had set their hopes on a temporal dynasty, and an earthly prince of great power and majesty. The result was that though many of them were inclined to listen to the Saviour's words, and to acknowledge his power of working miracles, yet when they found their longings disappointed, and that they were invited only to repentance and self-denial, they were alarmed at the prospect of embracing his Gospel, and shrunk back within the limits to which their worldly aims and carnal expectations were confined.

The parable proceeds to foretel how, after the Gospel had been rejected by the Jews, the offer of its privileges would be made to the Gentiles. The alacrity with which the invitation would be received by the Gentiles is contrasted with the backwardness