them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? If the vineyard is not to be taken from you and given to others, what is the meaning of Psal. cxviii. 22.? Does not that passage of Scripture plainly foretel, that the Messiah shall be rejected by the Jewish great men; and that though they crucify him, he shall become the head of the corner, or head of the church? Now, what else is this, but that he shall be believed on by the Gentiles, and unite them to the church of God, as a head cornerstone unites the two sides of a building? Accordingly, Luke expresses the connection of our Lord's answer with their denial more clearly thus: xx. 17. And he beheld them and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Matth. xxi. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes: The rejection of Messiah by the Jews, the reception he met with among the Gentiles, and their admission into the church, are all brought to pass by the providence of God, and are very wonderful events. 43. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. For the reason that God himself has long ago expressly foretold this judgment as to happen you, and because it is a most righteous and equitable judgment, I assure you it will fall upon you, however much you may make a mock of it. The outward economy of religion, which you have long enjoyed very unprofitably, shall be taken from you, and given to the Gentiles, who, whatever you may think of them, will improve it far bet ter than you have done. These words confirm the interpretation given above of Matt. xxi. 44. For had the priests spoken seriously, our Lord needed not have been at the pains to produce texts of scripture to prove what they had so fully acknowledged. 41. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, which the builders have rejected, but which God will make the head of the corner, shall be broken; see Rom. ix. 33. Whosoever ignorantly opposes Messiah, shall thereby receive great harm to himself, in allusion to one's stumbling on a stone thrown aside as useless, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Our Lord seems here to have had in view Dan. ii. 34, where the destruction of all the opposers of Messiah's kingdom is described thus: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and be came like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the earth." Our Lord's meaning is, that all the opposers of - Messiah's Messiah's kingdom, called, ver. 43. the kingdom of God, and by Daniel, the kingdom of the God of heaven, ii. 44. shall be utterly destroyed according to Daniel's vision of the image. The first clause of Matt. xxi. 44. seems to describe the sin and punishment of the common people, who were misled by their teachers to ope pose Christ; the second describes the sin and punishment of the great men, who, being chiefs in the rebellion, led the way to the rest, and had an active hand in resisting the authority of Mes siah. The chief priests perceiving the drift of our Lord's parables, were highly incensed, and would gladly have apprehended him, to punish him that moment; but they durst not. It is true, they were not afraid of God, who is the avenger of such crimes, but they were afraid of the people, who constantly crowded round Jesus in the temple, and had openly acknowledged him as Mes siah. Matt. xxi. 45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them, (Mark, Luke, had spoken this parable against them.) 46. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. See on Luke xix. 48. § 114. CXVI. The parable of the marriage-supper is delivered the second time. See § 92. Matt. xxii. 1,-14. Mark xii. 12. THE rulers being afraid to apprehend Jesus, he was at liberty to proceed in the duties of his ministry. Accordingly he delivered another apologue, wherein he described on the one hand the bad success which the preaching of the gospel was to have among the Jews, who, for that reason, were to be destroyed; and on the other, the cheerful reception it was to meet with among the Gentiles, who thereupon were to be admitted into the church of God. Matth. xxii. 1. And Jesus answered, and spake unto them again by parables, and said, (see the form and circuma stances of this parable explained on Luke xiv. 16. § 92.) 2. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage-supper for his son. God's gracious design in giving the gospel to men, and the success with which the preaching of it will be attended, may be illustrated by the behaviour of a cer tain king, who, in honour of his son, made a great feast, to which he invited many guests. This marriage-supper, or great feast, signifies the joys of heaven, Rev. xix. 9. which are fitly compar ed to an elegant entertainment, on account of their exquisiteness, fulness and duration. And they are here said to be prepared in honour Ver. 2. Made a marriage, &c.] The word yauss not only signifies a marriage, but the feast at a marriage, or any great entertainment whatever; in which latter sense it seems to be used here, as I think may be gathered from the moral meaning of the parable. honour of the Son of God, because they are bestowed on men as the reward of his obedience. Matth. xxii. 3. And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. The invitation which preceded the call at the hour of supper, signifies the vocation of the Jews, by which they became the people of God, and in consequence of which, they had the call given them at the hour, that is, when the fulness of time approached, had the gospel, the call to the great feast of heaven, preached to them, first by John Baptist, and next by Jesus himself. And they would not come: The Jews, though pressed by the preaching both of Messiah's forerunner, and of Messiah himself, to enter into hea ven, would not obey; for they rejected the gospel. 4. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage. After Christ's resurrection and ascension, the apostles were sent forth to inform the Jews that the gospel-covenant was established, mansions in heaven were prepared, and that nothing was wanting, but that they would cheerfully accept of the honour designed them. 5. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them: These messengers were as unsuccessful as the former ones. The men all undervaluing the favour offered them, mocked at the message, and went about their business; only some of them, more rude than the rest, insulted, beat, and slew the servants that had come to call them. The success of the call, and the treatment which the king's servants met with, was designed to represent the ill success which the gospel and its ministers might expect among the Jews, who anciently were God's elected people, and on that account were to have the first offers of the gospel made to them. They would generally reject it, preferring their farms, their merchandise, and other gainful employments, to the practice of piety, the favour of God, and the enjoyment of heaven. Nay, to obstinacy they would add insults and cruelty, persecuting unto death the ministers who exhorted them to believe. The invitation to the marriage-supper of his son, sent by this king to his supposed friends, was the highest expression of his regard for them, and the greatest honour that could be done to them. Therefore when they refused it for such trifling reasons, and were so savagely ungrateful as to beat, and wound, and kill, the servants who had come with it, it was a most outrageous affront, an injury that deserved the severest punishment. Accordingly the king, in great wrath, sent forth his armies to destroy those murderers, and burn their city. 7. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and • Ver. 7. He was wroth, &c.] It is needless to object that the circum stances and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city. This branch of the parable plainly predict ed the destruction of the Jews by the Roman armies, called God's armies, because they were appointed by him to execute vengeance on that once favourite, but now rebellious people. Mat. xxii. 8. Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. What Paul and Bar nabas said to the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, may fitly be produc ed here, as the accomplishment of this part of the parable, Acts xiii, 46. « Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo we turn to the Gentiles. 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us." 9. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10. So those servants went out into the high-way, and gathered together all, as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. In this latter part of the parable, the calling of the Gentiles is represented by the king's servants going forth and compelling all they met to come in, (see Luke xiv. 21. § 92.) whether they were maimed or blind, or halt, worthy or unworthy, good or bad; for they made no distinction. 11. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment. It seems that before the guests were admitted into the hall of entertainment, they were taken into some apartment of the palace, where the king viewed them, to see that they were all dressed in a manner suitable to the occasion. Here he found one that had not on a wedding-garment, and being provoked at the affront, he ordered him to be immediately thrust out of the palace, and to be cast bound into some dark prison, there to lie with other criminals in great misery. 12. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hi ther, stances of this parable are improbable; as it was never heard of in the world, that subjects refused the invitation of their sovereign to the mar riage of his son. For allowing this to be so, it only aggravates the crime of the Jews the more, with respect to whom it was literally true. The honour which God offered them in the gospel, and which they rejected. being far greater than the honour that is put on a subject by the invitation of his prince. Moreover, the joys of heaven, which they were called to, and which they refused, do infinitely transcend the pleasures of any royal banquet. • Ver. 12. And he saith unto him. &c.] It may seem strange, that in such a number of men gathered to this feast, there was only one found who had Bet on a wedding-garment, and that he should have been punished with such severity for wanting what he could not be expected to have, considering that he was compelled to come, while he was performing a jour ry perhaps, or sitting begging under the hedges, as appears from Luke Nevertheless, the heinousness of his offence, and the equity of 3 C VOL. II. the ther, how durst thou come in, not having a wedding-garment? and he was speechless. 13. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him inte outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This the sentence that was passed upon him, will fully appear, if we call to mind a circumstance, which because it was commonly known at that time, is not mentioned in the parable. The Easterns, among whom the fashion of clothes was not changeable as with us, reckoned it a principal part of their magnificence, to have their wardrobes stored with rich habits. Thus Job, speaking of the wicked, says,, chap. xxvii. 16. “ Though they heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay." Accordingly, in Scripture, when the uncertainty of earthly treasures is spoken of, they are represented as subject not only to rust, hut to moths, Matt. vi. 19. James v. 3. The matter is evident likewise from Horace; for he tells us, that when Lucullus, the Roman general, who had enriched himself with the spoils of the East, was asked if he could furnish a hundred habits for the theatre, he replied, he had five thousand in his house, of which they were welcome to take part or all. chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt, Si posset centum scena prebere rogitus, Qui possum tot? ait: tamen et quæram, et quot habebo Esse domi chlamydum, partem vel tolleret omnes. We may therefore naturally enough suppose, that this king having invited guests to his feast, from the high-ways and hedges, would order his servants to make each of them a present of splendid apparel, as a farther mark of his respect, and that they might be all clothed in a manner becoming the magnificence of the solemnity. For it cannot otherwise he understood, how among such a number, collected in such a manner, only, one should have been found wanting a wedding-garment, especially as we are told, that they gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good. Besides, that the great men of the East were wont to make ostentation of their grandeur, and to express their respect for their favour. ites, by gifts of this kind, is evident from the presents which Joseph bestowed on his brethren in Egypt, Gen. xiv. 22. "He gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment." It appears likewise from the agreement which Samson entered into with the guests at his marriage-feast, Judges xiv. 12. "Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you; if you can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then will I give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of gar ments. 13. But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments." To conclude, in the fourth Odyssey, ver. 47-51. Homer tells us, that Telemachus and Pisistratus happening to arrive at Manclaus' house in Lacedæmon, while he was 80lemnizing the nuptials of his son and daughter, the maids of the house washed the strangers, anointed them, dressed them, and set them down by their master at tai le. Without all doubt therefore, the man that was seritenced to be bound and cast out of doors, had been offered a wedding gar ment, or sumptuous apparel, along with the rest, but would not receive it, and so haughtily came in dirty and ragged as he was. The king looking on this as a great insult, inflicted upon the person that was guilty of it, a punishment suitable to the demerit of his offence. What Calvin says concerning the wedding garment in the parable, de |