on, ministry, death,
and resurrection of Christ. Banquets had before this period been
provided by the king, and enjoyed by the favoured circle of his guests;
much advantage was possessed by the Jews over the Gentiles in every way,
but especially in that to them were committed the oracles of God. But
the feast depicted in this parable was the last and best; it was the way
of salvation in its completed state. As the king made known his
intention before it was carried into effect, and intimated to the guests
that they would be summoned as soon as the preparations were complete;
so a period of preparation, and promise, and expectation intervened
between the incarnation and the sacrifice of Christ. To the Jewish
commonwealth the promise was made in the birth of the babe at Bethlehem,
and they were invited to be upon the watch for the moment when the
kingdom should come in its power.

When the fulness of time had come, the Lord himself undertaking the work
as well as assuming the form of a servant, carried to the chosen people
the message, "Come, for all things are now ready." His immediate
followers and their successors repeated and pressed the invitation. It
is worthy of notice that the servants, when they went out with the
commission of the king, did not announce the feast as a new thing, then
for the first time made known; they spoke of it as that which was
promised before, and actually offered them; they summoned those who had
previously been fully informed that the feast was provided for their
use. These favoured but unthankful people were not taken at their word;
after the first refusal, another and more urgent invitation is sent. The
successive reiterated mission of the servants to the class who were
originally invited, may be understood to point to the ministry of the
Lord and the seventy until the time of the crucifixion, and the second
mission of the apostles after the Pentecost, and under the ministration
of the spirit. Both invitations were neglected and rejected by the
people to whom they were sent; Christ came unto his own, and his own
received him not.

Significant are the differences in the treatment which the message and
the messengers received from different classes within the privileged
circle of the first invited. We learn here the solemn lesson that though
there is much diversity in the degrees of aggravation with which men
accompany their rejection of the Saviour, all who do not receive him
perish in