heaven is like unto a marriage feast. unto a marriage | for our sins."-Righteousness and acceptance with God are ready;-for all Christ's people are accepted in him who is himself the beloved of the Father.-Peace is ready; for it is the gift of Christ; and he gives it, not as the world gives, he bestows it, such as the world can neither give nor take away,-and, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.Holiness is ready, by the operation of Divine grace upon the heart ;for the ascended Saviour claims, on behalf of his people, the fulfilment of that promise, "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."-And, lastly, Heaven is ready;-for the Lord Jesus himself declared, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." "And we know," says St. Paul, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ready: come unto the marriage. Such is a representation of the offers and invitations of divine mercy as they are continually addressed to men in the pages of the Gospel, and by all ministers who faithfully deliver the message contained in the written word.-Nor is this language addressed merely to a few; but, as St. Luke especially St. Luke especially reminds us, the guests invited to partake of the great supper are many. Great is the marriage supper of the king, and many are the bidden guests. But let us consider especially the message which the servants are commissioned to deliver.-" All things are ready,-come unto the marriage!" Or, as it is in St. Luke, "Come, for all things are now ready." How clear a delineation of the message which is continually delivered to ourselves in the Gospel! God tells us, by his Spirit with his word and his ministers, that all things necessary for our salvation and happiness are now ready and He mercifully invites us to come to him and to partake of the provision which has been so liberally made. All things are ready. Pardon is ready for those who repent them truly of their sins past; for it has been purchased by the Redeemer's blood; and "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation And, as the Gospel thus assures us that all things are now ready, so also it conveys to us, one and all, an earnest invitation to partake of the spiritual and eternal blessings which have been so graciously provided. "Come, for all things are now ready." See also Isa. lv. 1; and Rev. xxii. 17.-With a deep sense of Divine love and grace,under a full conviction of our misery and need, and in the name of Christ, let us continually repair to the bountiful giver of all good, seeking pardon, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and receiving at his hands the fulfilment of his promises in the supply of our need, the support of our weakness, and the grant of eternal life. But in what manner was the summons received by the persons in the parable?—It is said, they would not come; they made light of it;-and, as St. Luke says, they all with one consent began to make excuse!-Men sometimes find excuses for not embracing that real, spiritual, practical religion which is not according to their taste. Some men, indeed, when they are bidden to the heavenly feast, say plainly, 'We will not come. Religion does not suit us. We do not choose to comply with its demands. We do not value, or we do not believe, its promises. We are resolved to go on in that contrary way which appears to us far better. We will not comply with the demands of the Gospel.' These are bold sinners; and it is to be feared that too many such are to be found in our own day and generation. They set themselves in open opposition to the authority of God, and even abuse and persecute the messengers of his mercy. God grant that none of us may ever be numbered among these daring workers of iniquity, these reckless votaries of pleasure or the world! But there are others, who like the persons in the parable before us, merely make light of the invitation, or say, 'We cannot come.' They are not so bold as to give a plain and positive refusal. They profess that they are willing to accept the gracious offer; and they promise, and perhaps hope, that, at some future time, they will comply with it. But then they say also that, for the present, there is some difficulty or impediment in the way, by which they are hindered and kept back. They begin to make excuse. They are so courted by pleasure, or so burdened with care, or so oppressed by want, or so controlled by the solici tations, example, or influence of friends, or, in some way or other, they are placed in so unfortunate and difficult a position,-that it is quite impossible for them, at present, to turn from their vain or sinful course of life, and to give their hearts to God. Alas! the Bible contains a thousand warnings, instructions, and entreaties, which ought to convince such men how little their excuses will avail before God! And even slight reflection may reveal to us the large amount of folly, weakness, and guilt which such excuses certainly involve.-And yet these excuses are often very plausible, and are sometimes founded upon worldly occupations and engagements, which, in themselves, are lawful. Some of the men in the parable went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise; and in St. Luke they are represented as making these occupations a plea for their absence from the supper.-Let us beware, and seek continually for Divine grace, lest the common and lawful occupations of life should become stum bling-blocks in our way to heaven,means of keeping us back from faith in the Redeemer, from our exercise of Christian duty, from the enjoyment of Gospel privileges, from the service, the favour, and the presence of our God. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth.-Some persons seem to imagine that God is so merciful, that he either cannot, or will not, punish sin, and be angry with the sinner. But this is not what the Bible teaches. To abuse God's mercy is to provoke his righteous indignation,-it is to draw upon ourselves a certain and an awful punishment. He who swore in his wrath, concerning thankless and rebellious Israel, that they should not enter into his rest, will one day punish with everlasting destruction from his presence all those who, under any pretence whatever, will not accept and obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. When the Jews, as a marriage.-When nation, had rejected Gospel mercy, then the offers of that mercy were sent to the Gentiles. These offers have been conveyed even to ourselves, in this distant region of the earth. And the commission which has been given to the ministers of the Gospel, and to the means of instruction and grace, with reference to ourselves, is (to adopt the language of St. Luke) Compel them to come in! Compel them, not by persecution and force, but by persuasion and entreaty,urge them by a demonstration of the truth, by declaring the love of God in Christ, by announcing the richness of the feast (the value of salvation), and the largeness of the offer (the freeness of God's grace),-press upon them all the motives of the Gospel, and remind them of those happy multitudes who have already entered in and received the blessing. By all wise and lawful means compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and we know what follows. "Let every one examine himself, and take care that he sit not down as a privileged guest, without the fitting preparation,-the wedding garment. Faith gives admission to the feast; and love and holiness, which are the life and work of faith, prepare the soul for the celestial nourishment. Happy the man who thus receives the bounties of his Lord; but wretched he who, charged and conscious stricken, sits speechless and condemned! Dreadful is the state of that man on whom the Lord Jesus shall pass sentence of eternal darkness, and hopeless exile from the blessings. of religion, and the mercies of God!" May none of us be found among those who, having abused and resisted the grace and mercy of the Gospel, will be at last shut out for ever from the happiness of heaven! PSALM IV. Know that the Lord divides his saints 15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute mo ney. And they brought unto him a 'penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and 'superscription? k 21 They say unto him, Cæ sar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. 23 'The same day came to him the Sadducees, " which say that their is no resurrection, and asked him, 24 Saying, Master, Master, " Moses said, if a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, " not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abra ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. i Mark xii. 13.—Luke xx. 20- In value sevenpence halfpenny. ch. xx. 2.-1 Or, inscription.-k ch. xvii. 25. Rom. xiii. 7.- Mark xii. 18. Luke xx. 27.-m Acts xxiii. 8.- Deut. xxv. 5.-o Tob. iii. 8.-† Gr. seven.John xx. 9.-q 1 John iii. 2.- Ex. iii. 6. 16. Mark rii. 26. Luke xx. 37. Acts vii. 32. Heb. xl. 16.-8 ch. vii. 28. Reader. There is but little difficulty in the way of a clear understanding of the meaning of the several portions of this passage.-It may be remarked that Tiberius was the Cæsar, or emperor of Rome, at the time when our Lord gave this memorable answer concerning duty to the civil government. The coin on which the head of the emperor was struck, together with an appropriate inscription or legend, was the Roman denarius.-The law to which reference is made in ver. 24, is found in Deut. xxv. 5; and the expression to "raise up seed unto his brother" means, that the children of the se cond marriage should be reckoned in the genealogy, or among the posterity, of the deceased brother.With respect to ver. 32, it must be remembered that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead several hundred years when God said to Moses 'I am their God;' and the point to be considered is that God said not I was their God, (i. e. while they lived) but I am their God (now),-whence it follows that they had not been destroyed or blotted out of existence. They lived unto God-within his view and under his protection. READER.-Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's. "This answer," it has been well said, “is full of consummate wisdom. It establishes the limits, regulates the rights, and distinguishes the jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. The image of princes stamped on their coin denotes that temporal things belong to their government. The image of God stamped on the soul denotes that all its faculties and powers belong to the Most High, and should be employed in his service. "But, while the earth is agitated and distracted with the question of political rights and wrongs, the reader will naturally ask, What does a man owe to Cæsar?-to the civil government under which he lives? Our Lord has answered that questionThat which is Cæsar's. But, what is |