nt obviously represents the ministry of the Gospel in every
form and in all times. The message is addressed in the first instance to
them "that were bidden." The Gospel was not first proclaimed to the
heathen: begin at Jerusalem was the Master's command, and that command
was fulfilled in spirit and letter by his servants. To the lost sheep of
the House of Israel the Lord came in person, and to them the apostles
addressed their Lord's words at the beginning of their ministry. The
history of the event in the Acts of the Apostles corresponds exactly
with the prophetic delineation in this parable: it was when the Jews
rejected the Gospel, that the messengers turned to the Gentiles.

The invitation addressed to the favoured circle first is, "Come, for all
things are now ready;" all preceding dispensations were a preparation
for Christ. When the fulness of time had come, those who had been all
along brought up within the lines of the privileged people, were invited
to behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. This is
repeated in the experience of every generation, and every individual,
that grows up within the circle of Christian ordinances, as soon as the
mind comprehends the message of mercy. As each attains maturity, he is
informed that all things are now ready; he is invited and pressed to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that he may be saved.

To "make excuse," does not here mean to invent an excuse, and falsely
state, as a reason, that which is, in point of fact, not the motive
of the act. To make excuse, both in the original Greek ([Greek:
paraiteisthai]) and in the English translation, signifies simply to
plead to be excused. The grounds on which the plea is urged, may in any
case be true or false; but in this case, it is highly probable that the
grounds stated were in themselves facts, and that they were, in part at
least, the true grounds of refusal. Whether the first would have gone
to the feast, if he had not at that time bought a property, we do not
certainly know. A man who is intensely unwilling to go, when one reason
fails, will find or make another; but in this case, the probability is,
that anxiety to see his purchase was the real, or at least, a real
obstacle. The same observation is applicable to the other two examples.

But although we concede that the obstacles are real, we do not thereby
help the case of those who neglect the Gospel; we must go one step
deeper into the strata of dec