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We know that, in every department of life, happiness, health, honour, and prosperity, involve two essential elements, one of which is a provision for these things in nature and society, and the other of which is an appropriation of that provision by those to whom it is offered. And this last is as indispensable as the first. That which makes the offer and the provision of any validity or usefulness is the circumstance that there is some one to accept it. Let us look, for one moment, at this. God has made great provision of the elements of nature. Light — oh, how abundant! how beautiful! how sweet! — and all that will accept this boon of God shall have the benefit of it. The blind cannot. The wilfully blind cannot; for although there is light enough for thrice ten thousand times as great a population as that which inhabits the globe, if a man endungeons himself purposely, and shuts out the light from the room where he dwells, the abundance of the provision and the offer make no difference with him. He loses it and all its blessings. There is heat enough, and there are sounds enough, for the comfort and for the solace of the human soul; and yet, unless men accept these things, the mere fact that they have been offered to all, and that they are abundant, will do them no good. We know that in respect to those great qualities of nature the abundance of provision does not enforce acceptance. The great prime necessities of life, such as food, raiment, shelter — God has put the elements of these things within our control, and there is provision for all the wants of men, and for the growing needs of society: but if men refuse to work; if they refuse to practice frugality; if they will not put forth skill, the God of nature and the God of grace lets them pine, and lets them starve, as much as if there had been no pro. vision. The earth does not reveal its secrets except to those that search for them; and the rains, and the sun, and the soil, do nothing, except to the seed that is hid in the crevices of the ground. The summer is barren to the sluggard. There is provision enough for all the wants of men, if they accept them on the conditions on which they are proffered; but if they do not accept them on these conditions the abundance does not insure to their benefit. When men violate the laws of their being, however innocently or ignorantly, they are made to suffer the penalties of those violated laws, and sickness and pain come in. And when a man is sick, though all remedies are provided, and though the most skilful physicians are called to their bedside, these will do no good if he will not accept the remedies that skill has found out, and that kindness is proffering. These facts are familiar to us. They go to illustrate and confirm the general statement that something more is required than a provision and a proffer. Thus far I have spoken of the physical laws of nature. It may be said that this is not in the moral realm, and that the analogy is not a fair one. Therefore, I proceed to show that in the moral realm the constitution of things is even more marked than in the physical realm. We know that a man's happiness or misery in this life depends upon the manner in which he exercises his faculties. That is to say, it is not a matter of indifference which way a man uses the powers of his mind, any more than which way a man turns the key when he winds his watch. Turning it one way ruins it, and turning it the other way expedites it. It makes a difference which side of the blade of a knife you use if you would cut wood. It makes a difference which way you work a machine. One way of working it agrees with its nature, and the other way of working it disagrees with its nature. And so it is with a man's mind. It was meant to act in conformity with certain definite principles and results. If it conforms to these there is happiness, and if it does not there is misery. We also see in human society — which is as divinely-ordained as is human life itself; for a man's organs are no more fitted to be put together to make the individual man than individual men are fitted to co-operate together in society — we see in human society this same law evolved with terrible certainty at large. If men seek happiness, honour, love, there is abundant provision for them in society. All things are ready. They are accessible by right conduct. If men neglect the provision for happiness, and honour, and love, they will miss these ends, and that, too, although God is good and kind, although there is a providence that is supervising human society — a Providence that will not suffer a sparrow to fall to the ground unnoticed — a Providence that knows that we are in need of raiment, and shelter, and food, and nourishing care. If men do not accept voluntarily the provision of these things which is made in society, there is no providence that will rescue them from the wretchedness that will ensue from disobedience. The administration of God is full of goodness; but goodness in the Divine administration is employed according to law. All philanthropy, all humanity, and all sympathy and succour, carried down to grog-shops and to the Five Points, will not assuage one pang, and will not rescue one wretch, unless he is willing to return and co-operate, and bring himself under the influence of remedial law. Now, at this point we reach again the Word of God, and are prepared to receive its declarations, with all corroborations and presumptive analogies in its favour. The feast of the gospel is spread. The King, in His great bounty, sends His servants forth to say to all, "Come to the marriage supper." To lay aside the figure, God makes the proffer of forgiveness, of amnesty for the past, and of unbounded joy and happiness for the future. If you accept the provision, which is ample enough for every human being on the globe, you are blessed; but if you neglect it, or refuse it, that provision, if multiplied a myriad times, would be of no more avail to you than light to the blind, sound to the deaf, or food to the dead. It is a provision that is invalid if you fail to accept it. If you take it you live; if you reject it you die. Although, then, the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God is one of the most blessed doctrines of the Bible, and one of the most animating to our hope, we must not pervert it, and suppose that, because God administers as a universal Father, therefore, all sorts of men, under all sorts of circumstances, are perfectly safe. I would not take away one single whit of the beauty, or attractiveness, or encouragement of the thought that God loves, and that everything that love can do will be done to make men happy here, safe in death, and glorious hereafter; but I warn you not to suppose that everything can be done merely because God loves. There are limitations even in an infinite God.

(H. W. Beecher.)

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KJV: Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

WEB: But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.