and here is a wonder, a world's wonder, a behold, which notes divers
things: 1. Behold it for an admiration. 2. Behold it for an excitation.
3. Behold it for consolation. 4. Behold it for instruction. Behold, and
be awakened; behold, and be excited; behold, and be comforted; behold,
and admire; behold, and wonder, that the King of heaven's Son will marry
your soul! Then behold, and come away to your own marriage; behold, lost
man shall get a Saviour, behold, the King's Son will be a Saviour to a
slave; behold, the King's Son will drink the potion, and the sick shall
get health; behold, the King's Son will marry Himself upon thee! "I will
marry thee unto Me in faith and in righteousness." "Thou that was a
widow and reproached," like a poor widow that has many foes, but few
friends; yet, says the Lord, "Thou shalt not remember the reproach of
thy widow-hood any more." Then behold, and come away to the marriage.
Now, "Who are these that are invited to the marriage?" I told you, 1.
The Jews are invited. 2. The Gentiles are invited; yea, you are invited;
I thank the bridegroom you are invited; I shall bear witness of it, when
I am gone from you, you are invited. And I thank the Lord, I have more
to bear witness of; yea, that which comforts my soul, by all appearance
the greatest part of you are come in, and by all good appearance ye have
the wedding garment. I hope God has a people among you; this I shall
bear witness of, when I am gone from among you; the greatest part has
lent an ear; the Lord bear it in upon your hearts with His own blessed
preference.
1. "He sent His servants forth." He gives many a cry Himself, and many a
shout Himself. Is not that one of God's cries, "Come unto Me, all ye
that are weary and laden, and I will ease you." O but that is a sweet
word, thou art a weary thing, with a sore load of sin upon the neck of
thy soul, and thou art like to sink under it, and art crying, what will
come of thee? He is bidding thee come away, and get a drink of the
marriage-wine to cheer thy fainting spirit; and if thou be weary, He
shall ease thee.
_Object._ Alas! Sin hinders me, that I cannot come; sin is so black and
ugly upon me, and so heavy, that I cannot come. _Ans._ "Come (says the
Lord) I will reason with you," that is, I will have your faults
discovered, and I will have you convicted of your faults; but when I
have reasoned with you, will I cast you away? Nay, but though your sins
were red as "crimson, they shall be made white as snow or wool."
_Object._ 2. Alas! but my sins are many, how can the Lord look upon me
or pardon me? _Ans._ "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, for He
will abundantly pardon; for My ways are not your ways, neither My
thoughts your thoughts; but as the heaven is high above the earth, so
are My thoughts, (in pardoning) higher nor yours" (in sinning). Come
away, poor thing, then, and get thy heart full of mercy; and because
such a fair offer is hard to be laid hold on, therefore He goes to the
market-cross, like an herald with a great O yes, that all men there may
be awakened. It is not little that will awaken sleeping sinners,
therefore He puts too an O yes. "Ho, come every one that thirsteth, buy
wine and milk without money, and without price. Why do ye spend your
money for nought?" Ye have spent your strength too long in vain; ye have
been feeding on husks too long; ye have forsaken mercy and embraced
vanity too long. Come away, and He "will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David."
2. "He sent forth His servants." This is a great wonder, that He calls
on His servants, and sends them to them; this is wonderful! He stood not
on compliments, who should be first in the play: ye would never have
sought Him, if He had not sought you; ye would never have loved Him, if
He had not loved you with the love of Christ. I would say a comfortable
word to a poor soul; is there any soul in this house this day, that has
chosen the Lord for the love and delight of his soul? Thou wouldst never
have chosen Him, if that loving and gracious God had not chosen thee. Is
there any soul in this house this day, that is filled with the love of
Christ? Thou wouldst never have loved Him if He had not loved thee
first. Is there any soul that is seeking unto Him in earnest? Be
comforted, He is seeking thee, and hast found thee, and gart thee seek
Him. I might produce scripture for all these, but the points are plain.
3. Lo, a greater wonder! "He sent forth His servants." Ye would think,
if any had wronged you, it were their part to seek you, and not yours to
seek them; or if any baser than another had done a wrong, it beseemed
him to be the most careful to take pains, and seek to him whom he had
wronged. But behold here a wonder! The great God seeking base man! the
offended God seeking offending man! And is this because He has need of
you? Nay, canst thou be a party for Him? Canst thou hold the field
against Him? Nay, "Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why
hast Thou made me thus?" Shall the crawling worm and the pickle of small
dust fight against the King of kings? Art thou able to stand out against
Him, or pitch any field against Him? Nay, I tell thee, O man, there is
not a pickle of hair in thy head, but if God arise in anger, He can
cause it seem a devil unto thee, and every nail of thy fingers, to be a
torment of hell against thee. O Lord of hosts, and King of kings, who
can stand out against Thee? And yet thou hast offended Him, and run away
from Him, and miskent Him, and transgressed all His commandments, and
hell, and wrath, and judgment is thy portion which thou deservest, and
yet the Lord is sending out His servants, to see if they can make an
agreement. Then, for God's sake, think on this wonder: for all this text
is full of wonders, all God's works are indeed full of wonders, but this
is the wonder of wonders. We then are God's ambassadors, I beseech you
to be reconciled to God. Should not ye have sought unto Him first, with
ropes about your necks, with sackcloth upon your loins, and with tears
in your eyes? Should not ye have lain at His door, and scraped, if ye
could not knock? And yet the Lord hath sent me to you, and our faithful
men about here, crying, Come away to the marriage: Come away, I will
renew My contract with you; I will not give you a bill of divorcement,
but I will give My Son to you; and your souls that are black and blae, I
will make them beautiful. Behold yet another wonder! When He has sent
out other servants, and they got a nay-say; yet He will not take a
nay-say. Ye know a good neighbour, when he has prepared a dinner for
another of his neighbours, sends out his servants, intimating that all
things are ready, the table is covered, and dishes set on; if once
warned, he refuses, he might well send once or twice to him, but at last
he would take a displeasure, and not send again: but behold a wonder! He
sends out His servants, in the plural number. But behold a great wonder!
After one servant is abused, He sends out others, and when they are
slain, and spitefully used by these who should have followed their call,
and come in; what does the Lord? Read the chapter before, and ye shall
see a great wonder; "He sent out His own SON:" when Moses cannot do it,
when the prophets cannot do it, when John the Baptist cannot do it;
well, says the Lord, I will see if My Son can do it; I have not a Son
but one, and that is the Son of My love, and I will make Him a man, and
send Him down among them, and see how they will treat Him: and when He
comes, they cry out, "There is the heir, let us kill him." But behold a
greater wonder! That after these servants are abused, and spitefully
handled; and after the Son Himself is come, and has drunken of the same
cup, after He has died a shameful death, and after they had put their
hands on the heir; yet, when all is done, the Lord sends servants upon
servants, preachers upon preachers, apostles upon apostles to call in
the people of the Jews, to see if they will marry His Son. Then behold
and wonder at all these wonders! and let all knees bow down before God.
Lord stamp your hearts with this word of God: God grant you could be
kind to Him, as He has been kind to you, and testified the same, by
putting salve to your soul, and bringing it into the wedding.
"He sent forth His servants." We may learn from this, that we who are
the brethren in the ministry must be servants, and not lords. I wish at
my heart, that we knew what we are, and that we knew our calling, and
what we have gotten in trust; for we serve the best Master in the world;
but I'll tell you He is the strictest Master that can be. I'll tell
thee, O minister, and I speak it to thee with reverence, and I speak it
to myself, There is a day coming, when thou must answer to God for what
thou has got in charge, thou must answer to God for all the talents thou
hast got, whether ten or two; for all have not got alike. But, dear
brethren, happy is the man, if he had but one talent, that puts it out
for his Lord's use; and Lord be thanked, that He will seek no more of
me than He has given me. There are many things to discourage a faithful
minister; but yet this may encourage us, that we serve the best Master,
and that is a sure recompence of reward that is abiding us. Indeed He
has not sent us out to seek ourselves, or to get gain to ourselves, He
has not sent us out to woo a bride to ourselves, or to woo home the lord
to our own bosom only: but He has sent us to woo a bride, and to deck
and trim a spouse for our Lord and Master. And ye that are ministers of
Glasgow ye shall all be challenged upon this; whether or not ye have
laboured to woo and trim a bride for your Lord: but I know that you will
be careful to present your flocks as a chaste spouse to Him. And we also
that are ministers in landwart, we are sent out for this errand, it
matters not what part of the world we be in, if we do our Master's
service; and the day is coming when thou must answer to God for thy
parish, whether thou hast laboured to present it as a chaste spouse to
Christ. It may gar the soul of the faithful minister leap for joy, when
he remembers the day of His Majesty's faithful meeting and his, when he
shall give up his accounts, and then it shall be seen who has employed
his talent well: then shall He say, "Well done, good and faithful
servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
ruler over many things; enter thou into thy Master's joy." Or rather
"Let thy Master's joy enter into thee, and take and fill thy soul with
it." Many a sad heart has a faithful watchman; but there is a day coming
when he shall get a joyful heart. But for whom especially is this joy
reserved? It is even for those "who convert many to righteousness; they
shall shine like the stars in the firmament, in the kingdom of their
Father." It is plain this belongs not to thee, O faithless watchman.
What hast thou been doing? Busking a bride for thyself? Busking a bride
for the Pope of Rome, the bishop of Rome, even for antichrist? becking
and bingeing to this table and that altar, bringing in the tapistry of
antichristian hangings, and endeavouring to set the crown on another
man's head, nor Christ's? But thou that wilt not set on the crown on His
head, and labour to hold it on, thou O preacher, the vengeance of God
shall come upon thee, the blood of souls shall be upon thee. Many a
kirk-man eats blood, and drinks blood; Lord deliver our souls from
blood-guiltiness. Dear brethren, let us repent, let us repent: I trow we
have been all in the wrong to the Bridegroom; shame shall be upon thee
that thinks shame to repent. I charge you all, before the timber and
stones of this house, and before that same day-light that ye behold, and
that under no less pain nor the loss of the salvation of your souls,
that ye wrong not the Bridegroom nor his bride any more. But we come to
our point:
We are servants and not lords. I see never a word in this text, nay, nor
in all the scripture that the Master of the feast sent out lords to woo
home his bride; He "sent out His servants," but not His lords. Read all
the Bible from the beginning to the ending, you shall not find it. Daft
men may dispute, and by respect may carry it away; but read all the Old
and New Testament both, and let me see if ever this lord prelate, or
that lord bishop, was sent to woo home his bride.
_Object._ 1. We have our prerogative from Aaron, from Moses, from the
apostles, from Timothy. _Ans._ I trow ye be like bastard bairns that can
find no father. So they shall never be able to get a father, for man has
set them up, and man is their father.
_Object._ 2. Find we not the name of bishop under the New Testament?
_Ans._ Yes; but not the bishop of a diocese, such as my Lord Glasgow,
and my Lord St. Andrew's; but we find a pastor or a bishop over a flock.
It is a wonderful matter to me, that men should think to reason this
way; for in the Old Testament there is not an office, nor an
office-bearer, but is distinctly determined in the making of the
tabernacle; there is not a tackle, nor the quantity of it, not a
curtain, nor the colour thereof, not a snuffer, nor a candlestick, nor a
besom that sweeps away the filth, nor an ash-pan that keepeth the ashes,
but all are particularly set down; yet, ye will not get a bishop, nor an
archbishop, nor this metropolitan, nor that great and cathedral man, no
not within all the Bible. The Lord pity them; for indeed I think them
objects of pity, rather than of malice. Christ is a perfect king, and a
perfect prophet. Thou canst never own Him to be a perfect priest and
king, that denies Him to be perfect prophet; and a perfect prophet He
can never be, except He has set down all the offices and office-bearers
requisite for the government of His house; but so has He done, therefore
is He perfect.
_Obj._ 3. But they will call themselves servants. _Ans._ 1. The fox may
catch a while the sheep, and the Pope may call himself _servus
servorum_, the servant of servants: and they will call themselves
brethren, when they write to us; but they will take it very highly and
hardly, if we call them brethren, when we write back to them again: but
men shall be known by their fruits, and by their works, to be what they
are, and not what they call themselves. But if they will be called
servants and yet remain lords, let them take heed that they be not such
servants, as cursed Canaan was, "a servant of servants shall he be."
Take heed that they be not serving men's wrath and vengeance, and not
servants "by the grace of God, and by the mercy of God," as they style
themselves. 2. Let them take heed that they be not such servants as
Gehazi was; he was a false servant, he ran away after the courtier
Naaman, seeking gifts, and said his master sent him, when (God knows)
his master sent him not; at the time he should have been praying to the
Lord, to help his poor kirk and comfort her; the curse and vengeance of
God came upon him, and he was stricken with leprosy for his pains; such
servants are these men who now sit down on their cathedral nests,
labouring to make themselves great like Gehazi: let them take heed that
their hinder end be not like his. 3. Let them take heed that they be not
such servants as Ziba was to Mephibosheth, who not only took away what
was his by right, but also went to the king with ill tales of poor
cripple Mephibosheth: such servants are these who not only rob the
church of her privileges and liberties, but also run up to the king with
lies and ill tales of poor Mephibosheth, the cripple kirk of Scotland.
4. Let them take heed that they be not such servants as Judas was, an
evil servant indeed; he sold his Master for gain, as ill servants do. Or
like these that strike the bairns when they are not doing any fault: and
they are ill servants who busk their master's spouse with antichrist's
busking. Wo unto them, and the man who is the head of their kirk, whose
cross and trumpery they would put on the Lord's chaste spouse. But if
they will call themselves servants, and yet remain lords, let them take
heed that they be not of this category that I have reckoned up. The Lord
make us faithful servants, and the Lord rid His house of them.
Time will not suffer me to go through the rest of the text, only I will
take a glance of some things which make for your use at this time.
_Quest._ How are their servants treated? _Ans._ Some of them get
_nolumus_ upon the back of their bill: some of them are beaten, and
spitefully used and slain. Dear hearts, know ye not how Moses was used?
how Aaron and Jeremiah, &c., were used? how Zechariah was slain between
the porch and the altar? how Jeremiah was smitten; and he that did it,
got his name changed into Magor Missabib, _terror round about_? Know ye
not that Zedekiah struck Micaiah; and how his threatenings against him
came to pass? Always we may learn from this, that the Lord's best
servants have been, and will be abused, and spitefully used? This is a
great sin lying upon Scotland, England and Ireland. Many faithful
servants in the three kingdoms have been spitefully used; their cheeks
burnt, their noses ript up, their faces marked; some of them put into a
stinking prison, where they had not an hour's health, and many of them
rugged from their flocks, and their flocks from them. Look over to the
kingdom of Ireland, the many desolate congregations that are there; many
a dear one there, that would have had a blyth soul, to have had your
last Sunday, or seen it, or to have assurance of such a day before they
come into Heaven. Pray for the peace of Zion, and pity those poor things
who would be content to go from one sea-bank to the other, to be in your
place to-day. And truly the blood of these poor things is crying for
vengeance to light where it should light; for the blame lies upon none
but the proud prelates. If I would pose you with this question, as you
will answer to God, Who have been the instruments of all this mischief?
I am sure the most ignorant among you can answer, None but the proud
beasts the prelates. The Lord give them repentance.
I know not how you have handled your pastors in this town, because I am
but a stranger; but trow ye that two silly men that came among you can
do any thing, if your own pastors had not laid the foundations: but, for
God's sake, honour and respect your pastors, I mean those of them that
keep the covenant of Levi. And ye that have broken it, and will not come
to renew it again, shame and dishonour will be upon you for evermore. I
have my message from the 2nd of Malachi, "I will pour contempt upon them
who have broken the covenant of Levi." Therefore let pastors and people
enter both within this covenant; for it is the sweetest thing in the
world, to see pastors and a people going one way. Therefore come away
all of you unto the wedding, come and subscribe the contract, put your
heart and hand to it. Blessed be God for what already ye have done.
Some of the servants got a nay-say, and some of them were beaten; hence
we learn, that every minister will not be beaten, nor will get the
stroke to keep; but if a minister get a nay-say, it will make him as sad
as if he had gotten sore strokes. If a minister get a nay-say that has
been travailing these many years in the ministry, and yet cannot get one
soul brought unto the Lord, that will make him as sad as sore strokes
will do. When an honest minister has laboured many years painfully in
the sweat of his brows, and has never had another tune, but, Come away,
come away unto the marriage; and when he walks among them, and sees
never one coming in, nor never one that has on the wedding garment, what
will be the complaint of the poor man? O then he will cry out with
Isaiah, "Lord, who believes my report, and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been made naked? Lord, I have laboured in vain, and spent my
strength for nought." What will come of me, after so many years' travail
in the ministry? I have not brought forth one child. The Lord forbid
that ye our people break your ministers' hearts. And as for you,
brethren, be more watchful over your flocks, be more busy in catechising
and exhorting them. And urge the duty of the covenant upon them, and
when they are on foot, hold them going; lead them to the fountain and
cock-eye. Lead them to the well-spring; and make meikle of them; feed
the Lord's lambs, as Christ said to Peter, "If thou lovest Me, feed My
sheep; lovest thou Me? I say, feed My sheep." Minister, lovest thou me?
feed my bais'd sheep: lovest thou me? feed my lambs. You must be
feeders, and not fleecers; pastors, but not wolves; builders, but not
destroyers; and come away, and help up the broken-down wall of
Jerusalem. For if one of you can bring timber here, another bring
mortar, a third bring stones, and make up a slap in Zion; and I hope we
that came here shall go home with blyth news to our congregations, that
we cannot say we have got a cold welcome; so I hope ye will think it
your greatest comfort, and your greatest credit also. Venture in
covenant with God, and whosoever thou be, that wilt not enter in
covenant, we will have thy name, and we will pour out our complaints
before God for thee; for we that are ministers must be faithful to our
Master; and I take you all to witness, that we have discharged our
commission faithfully; and I hope the blessing of the Lord shall be upon
them that have given us an invitation of this kind: and it may be your
greatest comfort, that now ye may go homely unto the Lord, being
formerly in covenant with Him; and your greatest credit also, for ye
never got such a credit, as to lend your Master's honour a lift. We come
to the excuses.
"But they went their way, one to his farm, and another to his
merchandise." Luke is more large in this, and saith, "I have bought a
piece of ground, and must needs go see it;" another said, "I have bought
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them;" and the third said, "I have
married a wife and therefore I cannot come." 1. We learn here, that
never a man refuses Christ but from some by-respects, such as a farm,
oxen, and marriage. I never saw a man staying back from the covenant,
but from some by-respects; either some respect to the world, or to men,
or to the court, or such bastard by-respects to some statesmen, or to a
prelate, or to the King himself, who, we trust, ere it be long, shall
think them the honestest men that came in soonest; therefore cast away
all by-respects. The apostle John includes their excuses under three
different expressions, "The pride of life," including the farm; "The
lust of the heart," including the merchandise; and "The lust of the
flesh," including the marriage. Therefore let every soul that would love
and follow Christ, deny himself, and lay aside excuses. Deny thy own
wit, will, and vanities, and lay aside all by-respects, and I shall
warrand thou shalt come running, and get Christ in thy arms. 2. Is it a
respect to prelacy that hinders thee, O Scotland? cursed be the day that
ever they were born. 3. Is it a respect to the novations already come
into Scotland? I may say cursed be these brats of Babel. It had been
best to have rent them at the beginning, for many woful days have they
brought on, and woful divisions have they brought in, and woful
backslidings have they occasioned. Therefore away with these
by-respects. 4. Is it a respect to the king? The Lord bless our king.
Says not the covenant enough for the maintenance of the king? As for the
word which they call combinations, it reserves always the honour of God,
and the honour of the king; protesting, that we mind nothing that may
tend to the diminution of the king's greatness and authority. Yea, I
know no other means under heaven to make many loyal subjects, but by
renewing our covenant.