The Tupelo journal., 1910-09-09
THE KINGS
MARRIAGE FEAST
School Lesson for Sept. IL, 1910
Specially Arranged for This Paper

0OLA1S lEHl.- MANY AI0 SA~s
but few are chosen."-Matthew 22:h-
TIME.-Tuesday, April !, A. d. 80. Three
days before the C~rucifixion.
PLACE.-The Temple court at Jeru-
salem.
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
The Kingdom Of Heaven Like a
Wedding Feast.-Vs. !, 2. And Jesus
answered the unspoken needs, desires.
and questions of the people. BY para
bles, the most picturesque method,
compelling attention, but not antagon-
istic. The enemy could not easily at
tack 1t. while to those who wished
to know it was full Of light.
The kingdom Of heaven. the new
order which he came to establish on
earth, In which each citizen lived &C.
cording to the laws Of heaven. The
king represented God. The son was
Jesus Christ.
This feast represents all the bless.
ings which God has provided In his
gospel, enjoyed in large here.
and perfected in heaven. The en-
phasis is on the marriage, the union
between Christ and his people. 1t Is
the highest ideal of love and friend
ship. 1t expresses intimate fellowship
with God, the mutual love and delight
In one another, the protecting care on
the one hand and perfect trust on the
other, the unity Of purpose, OF char
acter, of hope, the abiding forever In
one perfect home, all of which belong
to the union of Christ with believers.
The Invitation.-Vs. 8, A.. And sent
forth his servants to call them that
were hidden. Literally, ito call the
called" to summon those who had pre-
viously been invited; because they
had no timepieces, and the hour when
the feast could be ready was very un-
certain. This custom Is not now OBJ
served very strictly among the COM
mon people, nor in cities where west
ern have greatly modified the
Oriental; but in Lebanon it still pre-
walls. If a sheik begs, or emeer In
vites, he always sends a servant to
call you at the proper time. These
having refused to come, he SEN forth
other servants, who were n o merely
to invite to, but to command the feast,
with a view to create a desire" Be-
hold, l have prepared my dinner: my
oxen and my fatlings, |. e., smaller
animals, as lambs, calves. specially
fed for the occasion. All things are
ready; come. There was no threaten
ing, but only a loving, earnest invita-
ton, as If they might have misunder-
stood the first invitation, or not real
lied its value.
How the Invitation Was Received
VS.. SO. They refused without giving
any reason, they would not come. They
simply did not regard the invitation
as worth attending to. They treated
It with indifference. They plead other
interests. Their farm duties, their
business gains, weighed more than
their kings service and good will.
Others displayed active opposition.
They did not like the king. They
hated his rule, his commands, his en-
forcement of law. These interfered
with their UNJUST gains.
Their excuses were like the one
(which Mark Twain's oriental made
for himself when, having declined to
lend an ak, saying he needed 1t himself
to use in eating soup, and being re-
minded that one does not eat soup
with an ak, he replied: When one is
determined not to do a thing, any ex-
euse is good enough.
The king was wroth. Any
ordinary earthly king would be angry
at the insult, and indignant at the fol-
ly of those that refused, and would
feel the necessity Of Furnishing those
who openly rebelled In the act of re-
fusing. There was no other way OF
preserving his kingdom. Gods IAN
GER is never passion, desire to
harm even the worst. of beings, but a
burning indignation against wrong.
against the ruin Of his children and of
the hope of the world, and also a feel
ing of the necessity of Furnishing
wrong-doing in order to save all.
Gods plans neve fail, but If one In
strumentality refuses to carry them
out, others are chosen to take its
place.
They which were hidden were not
worthy, as they had shown by their
treatment of their opportunities.
Go yet therefore into the highways.
Or, "the partings Of the highways"
the cross-road-. the places where
great numbers meet. "the broad, well.
trodden ways Of the world"
Gather together all both
bad and good, whoever was willing to
come and by that very act. showed
that they wanted to be good.
The fullness Of the time had come.
The preparations were complete.
Everything was prepared for the re-
demption Of man-heaven, love, the
atonement, the strongest motives, the
power OF the Holy Spirit. The world
was in the best condition for the COM
Ing of Christ. Never before or since
has there been so fitting a time-one
government, one language, peace,
roads. synagogues of the Jews every.
The Staying OF the animals Ia
allusion to sacrifice. Only when
the Lamb was slain on Calvary were
all things ready for the marriage. The
long preparations for the Gospel were
the forerunner had done
his work; Jesus himself had come
from Heaven, and had taught the
Jews the divine message, and ever
now he was uttering his last words.
The time had come when the Jews
must decide whether they would nc.
cept the Messiah or not.
The lending Jews had varv mnrh ~