LECTURE XVIII.

THE GREAT SUPPER; OR, THE INVITATION REFUSED.

LUKE XIV. 16-24-"A certain man 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. 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 which were bidden shall taste of my supper."

THE Lord has seen fit to devote yet another parable to this fearful wickedness of rejecting his overtures of mercy. There have been many volumes published under the title of Table-Talk. But if one should be published, entitled: Our Redeemer's Table-Talk, it would differ strikingly from most others, not only in the wisdom of his remarks, but also in manifesting his supreme desire to benefit his hearers. This was a part of a conversation at the table where he was a guest;

and was suggested by a remark of some person present; probably a Pharisee, who took it for granted that he should be included in the number of the "blessed" who should "eat bread in the kingdom of God." To this remark the Lord replied in the words. of this parable; in which he intended to show this person and all who heard his words, that they who do not sit down to "eat bread in the kingdom of God," will have only themselves to condemn. In the parable of the Two Sons we had a covert refusal of obedience to God's commands. Here we have open refusals to comply with his invitations, palliated by excuses. The first application of the story is, doubtless, to the Pharisees, who had heard the invitations of John the Baptist, and the Saviour. The Master was angry with their wicked rejection of his invitation. The anger of Christ seems never to have been called forth but by the self-righteous and hypocritical effrontery of those men. The second invitation was given by the apostles in the streets and lanes of Jerusalem and Judea. Then the messengers were sent to "the highways and hedges" of the Gentiles.

This scene is re-enacted in every period of modern history. The same kinds of excuses are still offered to conscience, and to the Saviour, for refusing to accept salvation on his conditions. One pleads the claims of business, and another the claims of society, or the difficulties arising from his social position.

Men still refuse to come to God's feast; and give their refusal as decent an appearance as they can. But the Master of the feast makes nothing of their excuses; indignantly regarding the refusal as a refusal. That is the point of supreme moment in this case; the refusal

to come to the feast of God's grace; which is not diminished, but aggravated by the reasons assigned for it. Our subject is, therefore,

God's invitation rejected, with apologies. And I call you, first, to see when and how men refuse God's invitation.

I. THE REFUSAL TO COME TO THE FEAST OF SALVA

TION.

Some regard the Scriptures as merely instructive ; some, as a general directory to the various duties of life. But this parable shows the Saviour's view of the Word of God. It declares that,

1. There is a feast provided; and that by a very wealthy person; and on a scale of great magnificence. A feast is designed to entertain our social feelings, by bringing together persons likely to be agreeable to each other; and to supply our bodily wants in the most agreeable manner.

God has thus provided, on the most magnificent scale, for man's personal and social necessities. These we shall notice again more definitely.

2. An invitation is sent forth. No one can go properly to such an entertainment, but on an invitation. To invite to this feast has been one great part of the employment of God's servants in every age. And the parable gives a sketch of the history of these invitations. First, they were confined to one favored nation. When they treated it with utter indifference, then the message went forth to the nations whom they despised as "poor, maimed, halt, and blind." And then to show the generosity, condescension, and earnestness of the Master of the house, the servants are

commanded to go and search out the most remote and the most degraded persons they could find.

The invitation is put in very various forms; always meaning to induce the same act on the part of the invited, and to proffer the same blessings on the part of the inviter. When Jesus says, "Come unto me ye that labor," he invites man to find an eternal peace to his soul, by a penitent confidence in Christ, and an affectionate obedience to him. It is a distinct offer of eternal life, on his part; to be accepted by a distinct act on the part of him who needs that life. To repent of sin and believe in Christ, is going to the feast; not to repent, nor to commit the soul to him, is refusing to go to the supper.

Now let us see why the Master of the house was angry; or, in other words,

II. WHY GOD REGARDS HIMSELF INSULTED BY THIS REFUSAL, AND BY THE VARIOUS APOLOGIES THAT ATTEMPT TO JUSTIFY IT.

1. It is a contempt of our own highest good, and of God's richest bounties. God is dealing with man on two different principles; by confounding which, men are perpetually making most fatal mistakes. There are blessings he bestows, without any reference to our treatment of him or them. He sends his rain upon the earth for the just and the unjust. To get enough bread you have only to be a good farmer, merchant, artificer, or laborer. To become rich, you need not come to Christ. But there are blessings suited to the profoundest necessities and the noblest capacities of your being, which can be had only by accepting this invitation. We certainly want food and raiment, and

money, and shelter, and a thousand things beside. But we all have wants that lie infinitely deeper in our being, and affect us in our vast connections with the universe of God, and with eternity. These wants unsupplied, the riches of the earth and the glory of an archangel could not satisfy us; we remain poor, poor indeed. Our great necessities may be comprised in three classes: we want a radical change in our relations, in our characters, in our prospects. Take our relations to the government and law of our Maker. They are terrible. Hear one utterance: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law, to do them." Then hear another: "There is no man that liveth, and sinneth not." Now we may hide that law, that government, that God, that sin from our eyes, as one may paint his pallid cheeks to hide the signs of wasting disease. But there it is; sleeping, waking, at home or abroad, in the shop or the sanctuary, that law ever holding its tremendous curse over man. The relations of every impenitent person to God are such, that if he could see them, he would give no sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids. His relations to Providence are such as would make him ashamed to receive another favor if he rightly understood them. God is supporting him as you support a base and dissipated son; without complacency, without satisfaction; only hoping he may possibly repent. His relations to Satan are fearful; beause he is a servant pleasing Satan; is deceived by him, and enchained by him. His relations to the Gospel are painful; because it increases his responsibility by presenting duties which he only neglects; by revealing the love of God only to be spurned by him. His relations to Death, to Judgment,