2. The feast, too, is prepared —
[" The beasts," the sacrifices, " are killed ;" and " the wine," for the purpose of rendering its flavour more exquisite, is " mingled." The entertainment is, in reality, a feast upon a sacrifice. And what is that sacrifice on which the whole world may feast, but the sacrifice of Christ, " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ? " Precisely such a feast was the passover, which Hezekiah kept unto the Lord. He kept it for the space of fourteen days ; during which time not less than two thousand bullocks and seventeen thousand sheep were sacrificed, and all Judali were feasted s. But the Lord
a See Matt. xxii. 1 — 4. Luke xiv. IG, 17. •' Prov.viii. 1,22 — 31. f^ 1 Cor. i. 24. d Col. ii. 3. e See Note \
f Cant. ii. 4. e 2 Chron. xxx. 22 — 2G.
Jesus Christ, the true Passover, is sacrificed for all, and will afford an ample feast for all, not for a limited time only, but through the endless ages of eternity. As for the wine, which is so essential to a feast, what is that but the consolations of the Spirit, of which all shall partake who eat of this divine repast? For " Christ's body is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed*^:" and in the ordinances of divine grace, both the one and the other are offered to every child of man. In fact, this is the very feast which the Prophet Isaiah spoke of as to be established under the Christian dispensation : "In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined ' :" and in the ministration of the gospel is this now set forth more amply than if " all the beasts upon the mountains were slain for us, or the cattle upon a thousand hills."]
Let me, then, without further delay, announce to you, II. The invitation given —
For the preserving of the propriety of the parable. Wisdom, as a Queen, is said to " send forth her maidens." But Christ, whom wisdom represents, sends forth his Ministers to call men to the feast.
The persons invited are, *' the simple, and those who want understanding" —
[This, I grant, is a humiliating description ; and it seems to designate the poor only and the ignorant. But, permit me to say, that it comprehends those also who stand the highest in their own estimation for wisdom and prudence. For who, in the whole universe, betray their folly more than those who " seek to fill their belly with the husks that the swine eat of, whilst in their Father's house they might find bread enough and to spare ?" Yet this is the very state to which the learned, no less than the illiterate, reduce themselves, whilst seeking their happiness in the world rather than in God, and in the perishing vanities of time and sense rather than in the substantial blessings of eternity. I appeal to all of you, whether this be not the conduct of all by nature, and whether experience do not prove to all the folly of it ? This is well represented in Scripture, as " filling our belly with the east wind "^ :" and I ask of all, whether such conduct do not merit the imputation cast upon it in my text ? I ask, too, whether, to persons of this character, the invitation be not most fitly sent ? You cannot but confess, however successful you may
•' John vi. 55. ' Isai. xxv. G. ^ Job xv. 2.
772.] wisdom's feast. 93
have been in your pursuit of earthly objects, " in the fuhiess of your sufficiency you have been in straits '."]
To you, then, is the invitation given —
[To you, says Wisdom, " Come and eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." Your past conduct has involved you in guilt and misery ; both of which shall be removed by partaking of the feast provided for you. The sacrifice of Christ was exjoressly offered as an atonement for your sins ; and if you partake of it in faith, your iniquities shall all be blotted out as a morning cloud. " Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood," says our blessed Lord, "hath eternal life™:" yes, he has both a title to it, and the very beginning of it in his soul. As for " the wine that is mingled" for you, not all "the wine in Lebanon " can aflford you such consolation and refreshment as the Holy Spirit will to those who receive his gracious communications.