XXI. SERM. would, notwithstanding, be embraced by the Gentiles; that the first, therefore, in the esteem of his Almighty Father would foon be the last; and that though many were called, there would be few chofen. To convince them, therefore, that he was no ftranger to the fate which he was ordained to meet with, nor to the manner in which their cruel treatment of him would be avenged on themselves and their posterity, he illuftrates and enforces his knowledge of both by the excellent parable before us, which we fhall fee was moft aptly conducted, and moft fignificantly expreffed of those divine truths which it was meant to inculcate. In the profecution of this fubject, therefore, I propose, First, Briefly to recapitulate the principal circumstances and occurrences, as recounted in the parable. Secondly, XXI. Secondly, to explain and interpret the SERM. feveral parts of it, in a manner the most plain and intelligible. And, Thirdly and lastly, to draw a few moral conclufions from it, which may probably be of service to us in regard to our future conduct. And Firft, then, I fhall briefly run over the principal circumstances of the parable as it lays before us. A certain king made a marriage for his fon. The celebration of nuptials hath, in all ages and nations, and among all ranks and degrees of men, claimed to itself a peculiar privilege of exemption from care and labour, and a more than ordinary indulgence in fcenes of mirth and festivity: it was natural, therefore, to imagine, that a rich and powerful prince would folemnize them with all XXI. SERM. all the pomp and ceremony fuitable to fo joyful an occafion; and accordingly we find him preparing a great and noble feast, and inviting his nobles and fubjects to come immediately to his palace to taste his bounties, and to partake of his felicity. To thefe he fends his fervants, to inform them that they were impatiently expected by him. Behold, fays he, I have prepared my banquet; my oxen and my fatlings are killed; and all things are ready: come unto the marriage feast. After fo gracious an invitation, one would naturally conclude they would most willingly and most gladly have accepted it and that, as the king was fo condescending, they would have entered into his gates with thanksgiving, and filled his courts with praise. But fuch is the perverfe and wayward difpofition of mankind, that what when abfent we defire with eagerness and follicitude, when present we refuse ; XXI. refuse with flight and contempt. If the SERM. king had not asked them to the feast, they would probably have refented it as an affront; and yet, when he did, they confidered it as an injury. They all, fays the parable, with one confent, begun to make excufe. Of all thofe who were invited to the wedding, not one would come. To preserve, however, some dif- · tant appearance of civility, to gloss over their rudeness as well as poffible, and palliate their ingratitude, they began to make excuse. Reasons, we know, are always to be found, even for things the most unreasonable; and excufes are feldom wanting, where men have an inclination to make them. The first faid, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and fee it; I pray thee bave me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. XXI. SERM. excufed. And another faid, I have mar ried a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Of these excufes it may be observed, that they were all fuch as carried with them a fpecious external appearance. Business must be purfued, the means of life must not be neglected; the feveral duties, relations, and connections of it, must be attended to. The truth of the circumftance and affertion could not, perhaps be denied, nor was the neceffity of complying with it to be difputed: the excuses, therefore, must be admitted, though at the fame time it was easy to fee that they were but excufes: another day might, no doubt, have ferved as well to see the farm, or to prove the oxen': even he that had married a wife might have fpared a few hours after his own nuptials to do his duty, and celebrate alfo the nuptials of the king's fon; but the truth was, they were, as men gene rally |