if you are in Him even as your Covenant Lord and Head. But He hath bruised the head of the You may

serpent, and you shall do the same. rejoice, for as surely as you must suffer, so surely shall you also conquer. In your victory and in your joy, and in your triumph, you shall be also as your master. "He hath spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the weakness, and conflict, and suffering of the cross. You shall do the same; for you are one with Him, and He with you."

"O most gracious, most gentle, most patient Lord Jesus! who wast manifested to destroy the works of the devil and to save us from the guilt and the power of sin, we humbly beseech Thee to make us strong in our weakness, and victorious in Thy might, by giving unto us the heavenly strength of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

SERMON XII.

CALLED AND CHOSEN.

MATHEW XX. 16.

MATHEW XXII. 14.

"For many be called, but few chosen."

"For many are called, but few are chosen."

HAVE you ever asked yourself this plain ques tion-Is the one thing needful, the one great object of my life? Does religion occupy the first place with me? Do I listen to my call from God in a spirit of carelessness and unconcern, or do I answer it with the

civil excuse, "I must give the cares of the world the first place, the pleasant things of the world the first claim? Then, and then only will I think of my soul, of my God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of death, and of judgment, of

heaven, and of hell. I stand here as your appointed minister, and I have a solemn, sacred right to ask this question-one that I cannot forget, one that you cannot dispute. I stand before you, in the presence of God, knowing that life is most uncertain to me and to yourselves; and I cannot consent to trifle with you, though the more earnestly I plead, the less I may be heeded; though the more abundantly I love, the less I be loved; and though I should be counted as an enemy, because I tell you the truth.

I. It is remarkable that the words of the text should be found as an illustration of two parables which are distinct and different from each other. In the narrative of the one parable, we read that a master hired labourers at different hours of the day, to work in his vineyard, and that when he called them at the end of the day to settle with them, those who had been earliest called, murmured against the good man of the house, because he chose, of his own free will and kindness, to give to those who had been called at the eleventh hour the same money that he had given to them. But the master answered one of them and said, "Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst thou not agree with for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way. I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? Is thine eye

evil, because I am good?" "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.” The other parable is that of the marriage of the son of a certain king, and the account given of those guests that were bidden and would not come, no neither for the first nor the second invitation. They made light of it and went their ways, and the remnant took his servants and spitefully entreated them and slew them. Then the king sent forth his armies and slew those murderers, and burnt up their city. But again he sent out his free and gracious invitation into the highways, and gathered together all, as many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment, and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. In eastern countries it was the custom to wear long white robes at festivals, and these robes were provided by the giver of the feast, (just as white gloves and wedding favours are provided by the bridegroom at a wedding in this country,)

and he who appeared at a festival to which he had been bidden without the garments suited for the occasion was justly looked upon as intending to put an affront upon him who prepared the feast, for it was plain enough that he had not chosen to put on the white robes which had been provided. We see this mentioned in the first chapter of the prophet Zephaniah, at the seventh and eighth verses, in the most solemn manner; the custom and the application of the custom to the highest subjects are there dwelt upon. "The day of the Lord (even Jehovah) is at hand; for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel." By this wedding garment is meant the godliness which God looks for and loves in His children; not the profession, but the practice; not the seeming, but the reality; in short, the christian character. It is the garment no man has by nature, but it is the gift of God to all who will accept it. Of the words of the text in these two different parables, I would observe that the one relates to God's calling and election, the other to the neglect and want of diligence, the utter carelessness often shewn by man to make his calling and election sure. In the parable of the labourers in the