us grace, we beseech Thee, that though we cannot see Thee as yet with our bodily eyes, we may yet fully believe in Thee to our souls' eternal health and joy. Look mercifully upon Thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Be thou ever present with him to cheer him in the midst of his gloom. Open out to him, by Thy Holy Spirit, the things that belong to his peace. Help his infirmities, that he may know and adore, and love Thee, as the great Healer of that vile leprosy of sin wherewith we are all miserably defiled in our carnal nature. May he know and feel his utter unworthiness in Thy sight. Grieved and wearied with the burden of his sins, may he come and worship Thee as his great deliverer. Give him to know, through Thy Holy Spirit, that Thou hast touched him by Thy precious Blood, and that he is cleansed by Thee from his impurities. Have mercy also we pray Thee, good Lord, upon his suffering body. Oh do Thou, who art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, put away this sickness from him, if Thou seest it to be good for Thy glory, and his own eternal peace. Because Thou didst never refuse to hear the cry of those who sought a cure of Thee when Thou didst go forth visibly in the earth to do good, hear the voice of our supplication now. Give to our sick brother the leper's consciousness of impurity and earnest cry for mercy. Give to him the centurion's faith

and humility. Build him up henceforth upon Thyself the sure foundation, and may all take knowledge of him that he has been with Thee. Hear us, we beseech Thee, in these our supplications, for Thy tender mercies' sake. Amen.

XXV.

THE PARABLE OF THE KING'S SON.

St. MATTHEW xxii. 1-14.

THE parables of our blessed Lord ought to be esteemed very precious by the believer at all times, and especially so, perhaps, in the season of sickness. For when through its sympathy with the suffering body, the mind has its powers weakened, when the memory becomes defective and can retain only feebly, at best, those portions of God's holy word that left deep and earnest impressions upon it in the days of health and energy, the simple, beautiful parables of the Gospel are most acceptable. They

are glorious word-pictures: they do not overstrain the powers of the mind, but stand out before it to be gazed at, and pondered upon, just as we should fix our attention upon some noble painting. May God so bless our meditations upon the beautiful parable just read, that during the rest of a day which may otherwise be weary to you, you may be enabled to keep it before your mental vision, to have your interest in it long sustained, to find in looking upon it, containing as it does a typical resemblance of a scene that will most assuredly come to pass in eternity, absorbing pleasure, Christian hope and peace and joy.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding." From all eternity, my brother, God the Father, the Heavenly King, has been preparing that feast which has been spoken of in The Book of The Revelation, as the Marriage Supper of The Lamb. It seems to form the commencement of heavenly bliss for all those who are privileged to be guests thereat. You and I are invited to partake of it. You and I are invited by the heavenly King to become members of that mystical and invisible Church which is the Lamb's wife. We have been called repeatedly by the King's servants, by the inward voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and

by His dearly beloved Son the Bridegroom. Oh let us see to it, that we may gratefully, and joyfully obey the call, for earth with its fading delights, its ensnaring pleasures, its moral corruption, sickness, death, has nothing to offer us equal to the joy of that Marriage Supper.

If we have not our eyes opened by faith to discern all that is behind the curtain that hides the invisible world from our mortal gaze, we are in danger-yea, grievous danger of sharing in the madness and the guilt of those persons in the parable, who made light of these gospel invitations. I cannot think how, unless our hearts are fearfully hardened, we can so neglect the things that belong to our peace. The signs of the times are so plainly proving to us, that events foretold in God's Holy Word centuries ago, and which are gradually coming to pass in these latter days, have existed in the counsels of Jehovah from all eternity. How very very soon will the time come, when that which is written (Rev. xix. 6—9) will be a real event, of which all the people of God will be conscious, and at which they will be present

"I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself

ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

After this, shall we be absorbed, one in his farm, another in his merchandise, others in treating with contemptuous indifference those who are the messengers to us of such glad tidings? That terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, is a witness to us, as it has been to all ages since it was foreshewn, of the entire truth of Immanuel's words. "When the King heard thereof, He was wroth: and He sent forth His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." To take the places they have forfeited, we the Gentiles, through the grace of the King, the Giver of the marriage feast, have been called in from the high-ways and bye-ways of life-from the paths of earthly joy and sorrow, wealth and poverty, health and disease. Multitudes will assuredly be gathered in. May you and I, my brother, see their glad faces, hear their glad voices, be with them throughout eternity, and above all, cast our crowns before the throne of God and of the Lamb, to Whose grace alone we owe salvation.

But let us take especial heed to what our blessed Lord and Master teaches us at the close of this