sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven —
[The king, in the parable, was filled with indignation at the intrusion of the unworthy guest. He ordered him to be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness *•. This fitly represents the vengeance that will be inflicted on all such intruders. They may come in for a while and join themselves to the Lord's people; but when the King himself shall see the guests, he will fix his eyes on them : he will cast them out from the place they had so presumptuously occupied. They shall never dwell in the mansions of light and glory above ; but take their portion in the regions of dai'kness and despair, and there bewail for ever their irremediable delusions.]
Nor will their punishment in any respect exceed their guilt —
[Tlie intruder, in the parable, could make no reply to the king's address ^ He knew that he had disregarded the ofier of a wedding garment; and presumptuously supposed that his own was good enough for the occasion. Thus he had poured contempt on the liberality and kindness of the king; and was therefore compelled by his own conscience to acknowledge the justice of the sentence passed upon him. Who then amongst us shall expect to imitate him with impunity ? To us has our Lord repeatedly offered a wedding garment. Us has he often counselled to receive his robe of righteousness^. We have been invited to go to him for the influences of his Spirit*. Shall we then expect admission into heaven if we reject his offers ? Or shall we accuse him of severity if he cast us head- long into hell ? Surely if we rest in any thing short of justi- fication by his blood and renovation by his Spirit, we shall stand self-condemned for ever.]
Improvement —
L For conviction —
1 The room where the company was entertained being richly illu- minated, the person cast out of it is said to be cast into outer darkness. How awfully applicable to those who shall be cast out of heaven !
r He might have urged, That being brought suddenly out of the highways he had neither time to borrow, nor money to purchase, a wedding garment. But this would have been to no purpose. Opulent persons had large wardrobes for the accommodation of all their guests. Lucidlus, at Rome, was famed for having at least two hundred changes of raiment, or as Horace, by a poetical licence, says, five thousand. No doubt, therefore, a proper garment would have been lent him for the occasion, if he had chosen to accept it.
s Rev. iii. 18. t John vii. 37—39.