He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.
I. The invitation itself is in Matthew 22:3-4. There is a double call. God will not take the first repulse, but will try again before He will quit a people. More particularly the first call was by the prophets, the second by the apostles. All things are ready, if we are ready.
II. The success of this invitation or offer of grace. Some slighted it, others rejected it with malice. Excusing is refusing.
III. The issue (Matthew 22:7). “When the king heard thereof,” etc. Contempt of the gospel, joined with persecution of the preachers of it, bringeth utter ruin and devastation.
The next part of the parable (Matthew 22:9-10).
I. The charge to invite.
II. The servants’ obedience and their success. A people may want God, but God cannot want a people to serve Him. All that give their names to God are not found; there is a mixture of good and bad. So sometimes the church is full, but heaven never the fuller; for though they receive the gospel, they do not receive it in full power and efficacy.
III. You have the carriage of the king towards the hypocritical guests.
I. The discovery. All that receive the gospel must look to have their sincerity tried, for the King will visit and observe the guests (Matthew 22:14). The meaning is, that in the throng and multitude of converts, if there be but one that is insincere, God can espy him, and find him out. Repentance and reformation of life is the new garment of the soul; that only will become the gospel feast.
II. The expostulation. God loveth to make the sinner convinced and condemned in his own conscience, that He may be clear when He judgeth, and justified in all His proceedings with Him. The man was speechless. They that embrace the gospel and live in an unmortified and impenitent manner can have nothing to plead by way of excuse.
III. The doom and sentence (Matthew 22:13). Conscience in hell will have a special kind of accusing, and self-tormenting in our reflecting on the refusal of the remedy. Christ will pronounce a heavier doom if we obey not the gospel, to which we profess to submit. It is dangerous to come to God’s feast without a wedding garment.
I. What is God’s feast? In the gospel all kinds of comforts and spiritual gifts and graces are ready prepared, and freely offered to us. God hath made excellent provision for the entertainment of His own family. This feast serveth for two uses.
1. For the honour of God, to show His magnificence and royalty, and the glory of His exceeding great grace and mercy in Jesus Christ (as Ezra 1:3-4), the choicest blessings. Love is gone to the utmost; beyond God there is nothing; God reconciled and God enjoyed are the chiefest blessings we can enjoy.
2. For the comfort and refreshment of sinful man. There is in it all we can expect in a feast.
(1) Ample satisfaction to every soul that is spiritually hungry and thirsty (Psalms 36:8; Psalms 22:26). There is no defect or want in God’s feast. But many prefer husks before the fatted calf. Swinish pleasures before these chaste delights. These besot the heart awhile, but they cannot satisfy it.
(2) Joy, pleasure, delight. What will cheer the heart and conscience? The pardon of sin is the true reviving thing (Matthew 9:2).
(3) God useth us as friends. We may sit down at His table. But what an honour it is to sit down at the feast of the King of Kings! It is a token of our reconciliation with Him, for eating together is an act of friendship.
II. What is coming to this feast? It is to profess ourselves Christians, and using the ordinances which belong thereunto.
III. What is the wedding garment? It is usual in Scripture to set forth sin by nakedness, and grace by a garment (Revelation 3:17-18). Graces are a beautiful ornament to the soul as garments are to the body. It is such a garment as becometh the solemnity of the marriage-feast of the king’s son; the wedding garment is that new array which becometh such a solemnity. As it is a royal feast, it must be something more than ordinary excellency that is required of us; a spiritual feast, a spiritual excellency. Therefore the wedding garment is holiness, habitual and actual, which is the glory of God, and the beauty of God and His people (Revelation 19:8). I must now represent the danger of entering upon the profession of the gospel, or coming to this feast without such a wedding garment.
IV. Thy odiousness of the sin in these considerations.
1. Your profession is partial; there is a twofold profession in word and deed. In word when we own Christ, in whom we have believed: in deed, when we walk answerably.
2. One part of the profession condemneth the other; if we own a God and do not live answerably our belief condemneth our practice (Titus 1:16). So while they own Christ they do but mock Him; they profess to honour Christ by coming to His feast, but they dishonour Him and affront Him while they come m their own and ordinary apparel. The ungodly lives of Christians are a reproach to Christianity. You should adorn, but you disgrace the gospel (Titus 2:10). Religion as visibly acted and expressed by you should be found a beautiful thing.
3. One part of your profession is abused to corrupt and destroy the other; and the Christian name is only taken on to patronize unchristian practices (Jude 1:4.). They come to the gospel feast that they may the more securely live in their sins.
V. The certainty of discovery.
1. When you come as guests to the marriage-feast your business lieth not with men, but with God. The king cometh to see the guests. You may have a garment to cover you before men, but not before God. But when the Lord looketh to the guests, He is the party with whom you have to do. How will you do to escape His eye and search? (Galatians 6:7).
2. God loveth to unease hypocrites (Proverbs 26:26). His anger is more kindled against them because they profess such a nearness to Him.
3. Hypocrisy is hateful to God in anything, but especially in coming to the gospel feast. For that is a kind of daring of God, or a putting it to the trial whether He will discover you or no.
4. There are certain times when God cometh in a more ,especial manner to discover those that are unsound in the profession of the gospel.
God doth always see their hearts, but there are certain seasons when they shall know that He seeth them.
1. By trying judgments. When the tree is shaken the rotten apples fall.
2. Sometimes by offences (1Co 2:19).
3. At death a man should always be provided for that hour. We carry nothing out of the world but a winding-sheet and a wedding garment-the one for the soul, the other for the body.
4. In the Day of Judgment. When all the world is arraigned before Christ, and He distinguisheth the sheep from the goats, then will He expostulate with you. Where is your wedding garment?
5. The doom and punishment.
(1) They are not permitted to taste of the feast. God denieth them grace, and so they have but an empty ordinance.
(2) They incur eternal wrath (Matthew 24:51); they are excluded the feast, and cast into the dungeon.
Use. To persuade us to get this wedding garment.
I. Then you are welcome and acceptable to God. You are not intruders, but welcome guests.
II. Then you may be bold, and will not be dashed out of countenance.
III. This showeth you were real friends to the Bridegroom, that you mean to honour Him with such a conversation as floweth from faith and love to Christ (Galatians 5:6).
IV. Nothing doth more concern you than that you should not be Christians in vain, and profess Christ to your loss.
What remaineth, then, but that we look after the wedding garment.
I. Determine what it is. An holy conversation coming out of a renewed heart is this wedding garment (Matthew 12:34).
II. Get this wedding garment out of the King’s wardrobe. God delights in the graces of His own Spirit. No man is born clothed; we have it from God.
III. Wear your wedding garment. Not only get grace, but exercise it in all duties towards God and man (Revelation 16:15).
IV. Keep your garments undefiled, and unspotted from the world (Revelation 3:4).
V. Wash your garments often in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). (T. Manton, D. D.)
The wedding garment
We must consider what we are to understand.
I. By the wedding garment. It is the costume or spiritual dress necessary for the enjoyment of heaven-holiness often described as a garment (Job 29:14; Isaiah 61:10; Psalms 45:13; Revelation 3:18; Revelation 7:9).
II. The solemn scrutiny.
1. Was Divine.
2. Was personal, Religion is a personal concern.
III. The awful detection. We may form three conjectureS as to this robeless character.
1. It might have resulted from carelessness. He did not attend to the requirements of the king, etc. How many like him, etc. 2.:From procrastination. How many Such are always in God’s house.
3. From proud and wicked preference. Perhaps thought it not essential; had other views; would trust in the mercy of the king, or his own beautiful habiliments. How many of this class are there!
IV. The awful investigation.
1. It was public. Before all the guests. The enemies of Christ will be publicly confounded at the last day; clothed with shame and contempt.
2. It was reasonable. It gave an opportunity for the exhibition of righteousness. God will allow the sinner to plead.
3. It was overwhelming. He had no reason to assign, hence he was confounded.
V. The dreadful punishment.
1. The removal.
2. The sentence.
3. The misery.
Application.
1. Now, all that is necessary for heaven may be obtained, and that by all.
2. Let professors examine themselves, etc.
3. Let sinners be entreated. Listen to the voice of the gospel and live. (J. Burns, LL. D.)
The wedding garment
I. At this feast there was but one condition of acceptance-the wearing of a particular garment, Faith in Christ.
1. The wedding garment had no merit in itself: faith has no intrinsic worth.
2. It was all-important because commanded by the king: the fact that faith, as the instrument of justification, is ordained of God endows it with importance.
3. It was no arbitrary symbol.
4. It was highly significant.
II. There was one who failed to comply with this condition. Of whom is he the type?
1. He was in the guest-chamber.
2. He desired to eat of the feast.
3. He remained in the guest-chamber until the king came.
4. He may have been highly esteemed by the rest.
III. The probable reasons of his non-compliance. Pride, self-deception, pride of intellect. (R. Griffin.)
The hypocrite self-condemned
The guest referred to was speechless because-
I. He could not plead ignorance of the will of the king who had invited him to the feast.
II. He could not plead that in his case the wedding garment was not necessary.
III. He could not plead that a wedding garment was not placed within his reach.
IV. He had despised the wedding garment.
V. He was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. Learn the worthlessness of mere profession, and the necessity of being prepared for coming judgment. (Studies.)
The wedding garment
Between this man and the other guests there are some points of resemblance, and some of difference. Let us trace-
I. The points of resemblance.
1. He Was an invited guest. We are all called to the great feast.
2. He was a needy guest. All equally needy.
3. He was an expectant guest.
II. The points of difference.
1. They differed in their appearances.
2. They not only differed in appearances, but in their principles, in their states, in their conduct. He had neglected to observe the conditions on which admission was granted, etc.
III. The causes of the difference. Perhaps it was carelessness, pride, mind pre-occupied, etc.
IV. The consequences to which it led.
1. Detection.
2. Overwhelming confusion.
3. Destruction. (A. Weston.)
The wedding garment
I. The scrutiny of the king.
1. The manner of his discovery. He was not discovered till the king came in. Though the Lord knoweth them that are His, they that are His do not always know each other.
2. The language of the address, “Friend,” etc. God’s judgments proceed upon our self-assumed character. The man was not obliged to accept the king’s invitation. “Not having a wedding garment.” This was the affront.
II. The confusion of the criminal “He was speechless.” There was no excuse. Conscious guilt struck him dumb. Before the bar of God man will not be able to plead-the soul’s inborn sin. He could not plead inability to procure the garment. (D. Moore, M. A.)
The wedding garment
I. The points of resemblance between this man and the other guests.
1. He was an invited guest.
2. He was a needy guest.
3. He was an expecting guest.
II. The point of difference between the man here spoken of and the other guests. The wedding garment is, in short, a wedding spirit.
III. To what causes must we trace this difference between him and them. It must be traced to himself.
1. Perhaps carelessness, mere inconsideration, led to his refusal.
2. It may have been pride.
3. There was great irreverence in his conduct.
IV. The consequences to which it led.
1. Detection.
2. Confusion.
3. Destruction. (C. Bradley.)
The dreadful consequence of being found at last without the wedding garment
I. The discovery.
II. The trial.
III. The condemnation of this man. (T. Drummond.)
The rejected guest
1. The folly of the human heart as seen in the way in which men attempt to impose upon God.
2. Though only one rejected, the guests admitted far less numerous than those invited.
3. It was the man’s own fault that he had not the wedding garment.
4. The wedding garment is something more than outward conduct, for it escaped human observation. It was something which the king could alone discover. (C. J. P. Eyre, M. A.)
Speechless
1. You cannot say that the gospel plan is unworthy of your acceptance as a rational and immortal being.
2. You will be speechless because you cannot plead ignorance of the plan of salvation.
3. You cannot plead as an excuse for your wickedness the necessity of an irreligious life from the decrees of God. (A. Gilmour.)
The garment of life
Old stories and strange chronicles of other days come into the thoughts as we listen to the words of Christ. For instance, they tell us of one who sat, day after day, in her fair house, past which a strong river flowed toward the sea, and she ever wove and wove, and never looked up, nor heeded aught beyond that task; till, on one fatal day, there came by a vision of the pride and beauty of this world: then she looked up, and left her work, and was lost, and undone. And so may it be in many a life: there is work for us to do, and do it we must; here is a garment to be woven, and God has told us what is coming, and has set us at the task, here beside the great river of time, which shall become for each, ere long, the river of death. What are we at? Are our hearts in the task? Or are the eyes wandering, and is the thing like to be left for ever undone? (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
The wedding garment is essentially a habit of holiness and righteousness
It differs, specifically, from those vanities in which we take so much delight, in the following respects:
1. It is a clothing of humility; no robe of pride to dress up the sinner.
2. It truly corresponds to what the wearer is; no masquerade dress disguising the idle reveller or the stealthy conspirator.
3. It is a habit of the inner as well as of the outer man. A dress of the soul, the everyday costume of the devout and religious spirit, the inner habit which goes together with the outer, orderly, and sober life. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
The wedding garment: the maker and the materials
I. The maker. It must be woven by our own hands, if ever woven at all. No such thing as getting it made for you. Every man is his own artisan: there are no workshops, and no workmen, here or elsewhere, to fit for heaven the souls of those who will not make themselves ready. We can buy, according to our means, sufficient, or more than sufficient, of lavish or gorgeous apparel, for this world and this life; but not one thread or one finger’s breadth of that which we need for the life to come.
II. The materials. These are from God. They are the redeeming work of Christ, His perfect righteousness, and absolute holiness, His merits, the benefits of His cross and passion, His mighty resurrection and glorious ascension. To weave these materials into a garment, skilled and industrious fingers are needed: faith, hope, love. We must weave a true Christian habit by Christian acts; we must take what the Lord has done for us, and of it we must work a holy life; we must become like Him.
III. We shall have his help if we work hard. If we do our best, God will supply all the defects in our work, and make it good; sufficient for every need. Such garment as the child of God tries to make, in accordance with God’s will, may need much altering and setting right; it shall need to be shaped, and washed, and made white, till it become that radiant dress which the King shall see with pleasure. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
The wedding garment a festive robe
The garment must, surely, from the very nature of the image, have been intended to signify something public and visible, in which each wearer harmonises with all, and all with the spirit of the peculiar scene into which they are introduced, and to which the dress is appropriate. I would say, then, that by this remarkable symbol our Lord did not intend merely the inward principle of faith exclusively considered, nor yet merely the mysterious imputation of righteousness through identification with Christ (though these are, no doubt, necessary conditions and first steps to its possession); for apparel is, of all things, the most manifest and visible, and the wedding apparel is especially the apparel of joy. This festal garment of heaven, then, which each man must bring with him into the high presence of God, seems to be no other than that celestial temper which manifests itself by the infallible indications of a holy joy-that spiritual sympathy with the things of the spiritual world, which exhibits itself in cordial, irrepressible demonstration of the blessedness within; holy happiness, public and expressed; the “joy in the Holy Ghost”-no longer a secret, timid, half-uttered delight, but sparkling in the eye, and fearless in the voice; the “life” no longer “hid with Christ in God,” but “apparent with Him in glory.” I repeat it- inward, spiritual happiness, developed by the presence of God, and the consciousness of heaven, into visible manifestation-this is the wedding garment which Christ beholds and approves in “the saved.” (W. Archer Butler, M. A.)
Grace a garment
‘Tis usual in Scripture to set forth sin by nakedness, and grace by a garment. Graces are a beautiful ornament to the soul as garments are to the body. (T. Manton.)
False pretences in religion
I. The original and ground of this figurative expression, of having on the wedding garment. The constant and prevailing temper or disposition of any man’s spirit, can no way be Set forth more expressively than under the similitude of bodily garments, so investing the person as to be his proper and distinguishing attire.
II. Useful and practical observations.
1. How absolutely and indispensably God expects and requires, that every man who hopes to be admitted into the kingdom of heaven, should have his mind endued, and as it were clothed, with those habitual virtuous qualifications, which can no otherwise be acquired than by righteous practice.
2. There is such a thing as a false or ill-grounded hope; there are deceitful expectations, which may betray men into perdition.
3. The judgment of God will be according to right, in the sense that we understand just and right; in the sense, that even the wickedest of men shall not be able to deny, is according to righteousness and justice. The man convicted was speechless.
4. The reality of the concern God has for the salvation of men.
5. A very moving admonition, how dreadful at last will be the state of those whom the great goodness and long-suffering of God have not been able to bring to repentance, and to effectual amendment of life and manners. (S. Clarke.)
Personal dealings with individuals
The professors of the gospel will be personally examined.
1. There is a personal visit, “When the king came.”
2. There is a personal scrutiny, “He saw a man.”
3. There is a personal interrogation, “‘Friend, how camest thou in?”
4. There is a personal conviction, “He was speechless.”
5. There is a personal bondage, “Bind him.”
6. There is a personal exclusion, “Cast him into outer darkness.”
7. There is a personal torment, “Weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (J. T. Woodhouse.)
Providing festal garments
The framework of the parable probably pre-supposes the Oriental custom of providing garments for the guests who were invited to a royal feast. Wardrobes tilled with many thousand garments formed part of the wealth of every Eastern prince (Matthew 6:19; James 5:2), and it was part of his glory, as in the case of the assembly which Jehu held for the worshippers of Baal (2 Kings 10:22), to bring -them out for use on state occasions. On this assumption, the act of the man who was found “ not having a wedding garment” was one of wilful insult. He came in the “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), of his old life, instead of putting on the “white linen “ meet for a kingly feast (Ecclesiastes 9:8; Revelation 3:4-5), which had been freely offered him. (Dean Plumptre.)
The wedding garment given
A coloured minister was once discoursing on salvation, which he illustrated as follows:-“Suppose,” said he, “any of you wanted a coat, and should go to a white gentleman to purchase one. Well, he has one that exactly fits you, and in all respects is just what you need. You ask the price; but, when told, find that you have not enough money, and shake your head-‘No, massa; I am too poor; must go without,’-and turn away. But he says, ‘I know you cannot pay me; I have concluded to give it you. Will you have it?’ What would you do in that case? Would you stop to hem and haw, and say, ‘Oh! he’s just laughing at me; he don’t mean it?’ No such thing. There is not one of you who would not take the coat, and say, ‘Yes, massa, and thank you, too.’ Now, my dear friends, God’s salvation is offered to you as freely as that. Why won’t you take it as freely? You are lost, undone sinners, and feel that you need a covering from His wrath. If you could keep His holy law blameless, you might purchase it by good works; but ah! you are full of sin. Prayers and tears are worthless. You are poor indeed, and if this is all your dependence I don’t wonder that you are turning off in despair. But stop! look here! God speaks now, and offers you the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness that will cover all your sins, and fit all your wants, and He says that you may have it without money and without price.” (American Paper.)
Highways and hedges
We might do better if we went further afield. Our invitations to Christ, which fall so feebly on the ears of those who regularly hear us, would be welcomed by those to whom we never deliver them. We are fools to waste time in the shallows of our churches and chapels, when the deep outside teems with waiting fishes. We need fresh hearers: the newer the news to any man, the more likely is he to regard it as good news. Music-hall work, out-door preaching, house-to-house visitation have virgin soil to deal with, and there is none like it. Invite the oft-invited-certainly; but do not forget that those who have never been invited as yet cannot have been hardened by refusals. Beggars in the highways had never been bidden to a marriage-feast before; and so, when they were surprised with an invitation, they raised no questions, but gladly hastened to the banquet.
Lack of the wedding garment
Is there any common way of dealing with God’s invitation than that which this man adopted? He had no deep love for his king, no grateful and humbling sense of his kindness, no perception of what was due to him; but with the blundering stupidity of godlessness, thought selfishness would carry him through, and ran right upon his doom. What is commoner than this self-complacency, this utter blindness to the fact that God is holy, and that holiness must therefore be the rule everywhere; what is commoner than the feeling that we are well enough, that we shall somehow pass muster, that as we mean to take our places among the heavenly guests we shall surely not be rejected? How hard it is for any of us fully to grasp the radical nature of the inward change that is required if we are to be meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Conformity to God, ability to rejoice with God and in God, humble and devoted reverence, a real willingness to do honour to the King’s Son-these are great attainments; but these constitute our wedding garment, without which we cannot remain in His presence nor abide His searching gaze. It is the heart that you bear towards Him that will determine your destiny. No mere appearance of accepting His invitation, no associating of yourself with those who love Him, no outward entrance into His presence, no making use of the right language is anything to the purpose. What is wanted is a profound sympathy with God, a real delight in what is holy, a radical acceptance of His will-in other words, and as the most untutored conscience might see, what is wanted is a state of mind in you which God can delight in, and approve of, and hold fellowship with. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
Refusal of the wedding garment
Had the man any means of obtaining a dress more in keeping with the occasion? Was he not perhaps so poor that he could afford no preparation of any kind? Had this been so, it would have been pleaded in excuse. But no doubt the parable supposes that the not unusual custom of providing for the guests the needed garment had been adopted; a provision which this guest had despised and refused; he had pushed past the officious servants who would have clothed him. It is this that constituted the man’s audacity and guilt. Similar audacity in entering the king’s presence without putting on the robe sent by The king for that purpose, has been known to cost a prime minister his life. A traveller who was invited, with the ambassadors he accompanied, to the table of the Persian king, says: “We were told by the officer that we, according to their usage, must hang the splendid vests that were sent us from the king over our dresses, and so appear in his presence. The ambassadors at first refused, but the officer urged it” so earnestly, alleging, as also did others, that the omission would greatly displease the king, since all other envoys observed such a custom, that at last they consented, and hanged, as did we also, the splendid vests over their shoulders.” So at this, marriage, dresses had been provided by the king. The guests who had been picked off the streets were not told to go home and do the best they could for their dress, but in the palace, in the vestibule of the banquet-hall, each man was arrayed in the dress the king wished to see worn. Possibly the man who declined the offered garment had a dress of his own he grudged to cover. Possibly be thought he was as well dressed as need be. He would stroll in superciliously as a patron or spectator, thinking it very fit for those poor, coarse-clothed and dirty people to make use of the king’s wardrobe, but conscious of no speck or uncleanliness in his own raiment that should cause him to make any alteration of it. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
The wedding garment
I. The multitude of guests.
II. The unfitted one.
III. The merciless end.
Piety outwardly manifested
All organized beings are sustained by an inner economy of life, which is made manifest by an outer life. There is in us an inner life of thoughts, opinions, beliefs, emotions, and desires. These should be brought in conformity with the mind and Spirit of Christ. They correspond with the root of the tree, or with the seed which you hide end bury in the ground. Now, you are not satisfied with the root and the sap of the tree, or the germ power in the seed that you have hid in the earth. These hidden, buried, and unrevealed powers do not suffice. You want them to come forth and put on their gay garments, that your eye may be delighted and gladdened by their beauty. And you cut down the tree, you plough up the seed, if it puts on no wedding garment of blossom and fruit. So, say not my faith is right, my opinions are correct, my emotions are warm; for God wants more than these. He looks for fruit, for the beautiful wedding garment of a pure, sweet, loving, unselfish, and Christ-like life. The outward beauty, it is true, grows out of the hidden life. It is not put on. ,The beauty of the lily is not put on the flower, as a man puts on his coat. It grows out of the lily-like nature of the flower, many put on the manners of the Christian; but when they are only put on they drop off and expose the nakedness of the wearer when temptation comes, or when there is no end to be answered by keeping them on. Let us train ourselves, day by day, into the habit and feeling of the Christian spirit and temper, so that acts of Christian love, nobleness, and self-denial may grow out of us, as the beautiful form and colour grow out of the lily, and the sweet fragrance out of the rose. (R. Davey.)
The wedding garment
1. An enemy at the feast.
2. The king at the feast.
3. The judge at the feast.
4. The criminal at the feast.
5. The executioner. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Speechless at the judgment
There is no speechlessness at present, when we ply men with questions as to their being unprepared for eternity: they have all some specious excuse to plead, or some empty promise to make. But there will be no death-like silence hereafter, throughout the company of those who come up from the grave unclothed for eternity. Every particular of their lives will have crowded in upon the memory, and the consciousness of what they might have been will repress all murmuring at what they are. I have read the singular account of some who have been recovered from apparent death by drowning, and they say, that, as life went away, every action, every occurrence from infancy upwards, presented itself to the mind with overpowering vividness, so that the close was as it were the resurrection of their existence; they seemed to themselves to have lived the whole of life over again, in those fearful moments when they were grappling with death, so energetically and with so marvellous an accuracy did long-forgotten things pass before them, and the picture of their every day, and every week, and every hour, paint itself on the mental retina. And if there is to come at last this resuscitation of memory, oh! we cannot wonder at the speechlessness of those who are condemned at the judgment. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
“Called, but not chosen”
What of necessity must be the character of that man who has put on that robe?
1. He must be a humble man.
2. He may walk into the feast boldly in his confidence.
3. He must be joyous. It is a feast.
4. He must be loving. It is a feast to commemorate love.
5. The Christ that is on him will be the Christ that is in him. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)