Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-21
Significance of the Parable Which St
Matthew Has Recorded.
HIS KING is THE KING OF HEAVEN,
The Servants, Those Who Carry the Word
to Civilized and Pagan.
SIN BRINGS ITS OWN PUNISHMENT
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. ]

it; and we are informed as Il
what happened to them because they de
clined it. St Matthew has recorded tn
story in his twenty-second chapter.
The story is a parable. The word parabl
means "laid alongside. A parable is I
story which we are to lay alongside Of tn
story of our own lives. 1t gets its signifi
cance from that comparison. 1t is told jus
for that purpose; that we may lay it along
side OF our daily thinking and speaking, apc
SO learn something from it Christ mean
that in His parallels we shall see ourselves
either as we are or as we may be. Tht
moral Of every parable is "thou art the man. ,
The King in this parable is the King
of heaven. The Son is the Son of God
The wedding feast is the blessed privilege o.
communion with God, communion now on
earth, and after this life in heaven. The
wedding fesst is the joy Of the presence Of
God. It is that which, entering into all the
higher and worthier pleasures OF life, makes
them pleasant. In all noble literature, In
all beautiful painting and carving, in all
helpful speech, in all inspiring example,
In all association with men and women who
in all true thought, and lives in all true
life.
MEANING OF THE FEAST.
Nothing in this world that is good, but is
good because God is in 1t. Wherever we
rise from any lower level to any higher
level we get nearer to God. That is what
the wedding feast means. The invitation to
it is an invitation to better ourselves, to
olyo tka g szl~
worthy thoughts and live more worthy lives.
And because the highest part OF our nature
is the spiritual part OF us-the soul-and
the worthiest thinking of which we are
capable is meditation upon God, upon His
care for US, and our duty toward Him, and
the noblest of all ambition is to be like
God, as He is revealed in His Son, the
wedding least means that especially. The
invitation to it is especially an invitation
to deeper religious lite, to- an increase of
faith, of love, and of service, to closer
allegiance and discipleship.
Thus the invitation and the wedding
feast mean different thing to every differ
ent man. The wedding feast is always that
worthiest duty or happiest privilege which
is just next above US. To one it means the
curbing of an evil temper, to another the
culture of spirit OF more generous help
fulness, to another the decisive act
of enrolment among Christ's con essed
disciples, to another the lifting of sanity
life a little closer to the cross. That good
thing which you ought to do or to be next is
the wedding least And because all duty
and service and all aspiration culmlnate in
the life beyond this, the wedding feast is
heaven-that closest presence OF God which
we name heaven.
BEARERS OF THE INVITATION.
who bear Gods invitation to this wedding
feast And that means that the servants
are all the helpful men and women in the
world. Everybody who Is helping to uplift
anybody is Gods servant. delivering His in
vitation. The call of God to the wedding
feast comessto every human soul. Every
body is invited. Christ, the True Light,
lighteth every man that is born into the
world. By the voice of His servants with
out, and by the voice of His spirit within.
God speaks to every human soul.
Not one soul in all the world
but is hidden to this banouet
of God No soul OF man may sav, Good
has never spoken to me, has never sent me
an invitation, has never called me-" He
has. Every aspiration after what is better.
every longing after what is higher, is the
souls answer to some call of God. Whoever
has seen the sky at night, or heard the ring
ing of church bells or known anybody who
was better than himself, or looked into the
face of death, has heard a call from God.
The call of God divides men into two
great classes-those who refuse and those
who follow it. The story, so far as we will
study it to-day, concerns only one of these
great classes-the refusers.
THOSE WHO REFUSED.
The servants bring back to the King an
answer from the invited guests: ''They
would not come" Such an answer is capa-
BILE of either one of two interpretations. 1t
may mean sin, or it may mean a mistake,
It may mean rebellion, or it may mean
misunderstanding.
The King is unwilling to believe that this
answer means rebellion. He suspends his
judgment, in the meantime interpreting it
as misunderstanding. For God Is infinitely
patient with men; "strong and patient"
the psalmist tells us, and provoked" His
blessed patience sorely tried 'every day."
We can never understand the miracle of
Gods patience till we understand the mira
Gle of Gods love.
1t is deeply significant, this suspension of
judgment, this strong desire to think even
better of men than they deserve. By and
by, it is true, the King sends his armies,
but not yet. God is not mans taskmaster.
we must not think that God is not the in
finite watchman looking upon the race with
eager eyes to spy out human short-coming,
God is mans friend-the divine friend who
knows every man thoroughly; is kind in His
and is ever waiting to be gracious.
BLAMED THE SERVANTS.
The patient host attributes the declining
Of the invitation to some misunderstanding.
Perhaps it is the fault of the servants. The
servants have made some error in the mes
sage. Either they have not made it plain
enough or they have forgotten some i'm
portant details of it, or they have so deliv-
cred it as to take all the attractiveness and
welcome out of it, or perhaps they have
been altogether un:aith ul, and have not
delivered 1t at all. The King sends other
servants with another message, palmer and
more urgent, saying, "TelI them which are
hidden, behold, have prepared my dinner,
my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and ali
things are now ready. Come to the mar
riage."
Some of Gods invitations are declined
because they are misunderstood. And the
is very often the fault of
the servants. For God reveals truth to men
through men. Some truth God speaks
straight Himself to every human heart, but
other truth God teaches men through men.
In certain sense the invitation to the |
wedding east comes to every human soul,
TO some wedding least, to some higher |
service. In another sense, the invitation |
comes only as Gods servants bring 1.-THE |
invitation to the knowledge of certain great |
truths about God, the invitation to the |
service OF God in the doing OF certain ac-
,eptable duties, the invitation to the priv
lege of Gods help in His church-to this |
Wedding Ieast God sends the Invitations by
His servants.