Zechariah 3

Zechariah 3:1-10

THE CHANGE OF RAIMENT FOR THE RAGGED PRIEST Zechariah 3:1-10. THE vision recorded in this chapter, like its predecessors, is the product of the Prophet’s thinking. We have already suggested that there was one thing he never forgot—and never could forget—and that was Israel’s estate. And there was no phase of Jewish life which more painfully impressed that condition than the appearance of the priests. Four thousand, two hundred and eighty-nine of these had returned with Zerubbabel from Babylon. Of the house of Jeshua 973; the children of Immer 1,052. The children of Pashur 1,247. The children of Harim 1,017. Seventy-four of these were Levites (Ezra 2:26-39).If one would know the condition of the priests, however, Malachi describes it for him,“And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. * * “But ye are departed out of the way; ye have earned many to stumble at the Law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of Hosts. “Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways, but have been partial in the Law” (Malachi 2:1; Malachi 2:8-9). And as for their conduct in their official character, he says of His Name,“But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible. “Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts; and ye brought which was tom, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering; should I accept this ‘of your hand? saith the Lord” (Malachi 1:12-13). It would be impossible for the Prophet’s eyes to look upon such priests, and especially for him to look upon their sacrifices, without despair of soul. He knew that the one unmistakable evidence of Israel’s condition appeared in the priesthood— “Like people, like priest”. Show me a country where the priests are bad, and I will show you a people utterly degraded; show me a denomination whose ministers are immoral and low-lived, and I will show you a denomination whose members partake of the same character. There is no such thing known to history as an impure priesthood ministering to a holy people; there is no such thing known to history as a degraded ministry and an exalted membership! When you find religion at the lowest ebb, its services mere ceremonies, its sacrifices displaced by selfishness, its prayers converted into cold formulas, you may be sure of a sorry priesthood, and a selfish, immoral ministry. Go into the countries of the world and call its priests or ministers together and acquaint yourself with them and you will at once know the condition of the people without the necessity of seeing the face of another man.

Zechariah, the Prophet, understood this principle, and the pain of his life was the wretched priesthood of this very period. No wonder he should dream about it! No wonder that dream, or vision, should be stated in this language,—“And He shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Sedan standing at his right hand to resist him. “And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel” (Zechariah 3:1-3). This is the vision ofTHE RAGGED PRIEST The meaning of this vision is not far to seek. Joshua—ragged and filthy—was a symbol of Israel’s estate. The Revised Version says distinctly,“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest; thou and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men which are a sign” (Zechariah 3:8). And Joshua, the high priest, was the most striking symbol of the condition of the whole people; his filthy garments suggestive of their wickedness, and his ragged clothing of how Satan had stained and torn them. That filth seemed all the more filthy, and those rags appeared all the more ragged because the high priest was standing before the Angel of the Lord. It is marvelous how all the proportions of one’s iniquity appear when he comes into the Divine presence. You remember that when Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah died, saw the Lord, he cried, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts?” (Isaiah 1:5). We recall also how the Apostle Peter, in the presence of the Risen Jesus, fell on his face crying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man”. When do we feel our folly so deeply, when do we see our sins so clearly, when do our iniquities seem so iniquitous as in the hour of prayer, when we have come, by confession, into the presence of God?In the apocalypse of John there is presented what we commonly call “The Great White Throne Judgment” with reference to which it is said, “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God”.Beloved, when one remembers that an approach by prayer into the Divine Presence, or an approach through the study of the Word into the Divine Presence, so illuminates his standing as to bring out in bold relief his sins, should that not be a suggestion to him as to what it will be to stand before God in the great day of final judgment? The aged Simeon prophesied, while holding in his arms the child Jesus, that by contact with Him the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed.

Men know this to be the truth. In the light of His presence life is uncovered. It is said that in the Talmud there is a parable that King Solomon wore a ring engraven with the Divine Name, and everyone towards whom he turned the inscription was forced to speak out whatever he was thinking at the moment. Such is the power of the Divine Presence to expose the deepest thoughts and feelings of men, and to reveal the worst as well as the best that is in them.Should it not change the whole attitude of life so that a man will not be asking concerning his thoughts and acts, “Are these pleasant?” “Are these popular?” “Are these profitable?” but rather, “Are these acceptable to God?” for, after all, that is the final test of the thoughts and deeds of men. David seems to have understood that fact and long before he was called through the gate of death, into the fullness of the Divine Presence, he prayed,“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. * * “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. * * “Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me?’ (Psalms 51:1-3; Psalms 51:7; Psalms 51:9-10). Why then should not every soul in this sanctuary ask himself concerning his own state, “Are filthy garments and ragged clothing a striking symbol of my soul’s standing before the Angel of the Lord?”“And Satan standing at his right hand to resist him”. Satan was present for the purpose of accusation. No man who professes to be a priest unto God ever becomes filthy in conduct and ragged in character but Satan is there to call attention to the same, and accuse him of unholiness—hypocrisy. The better the man the more surely will Satan search him as with a lighted candle for any rent or tear that may be in his character. You remember how he treated Job.“And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? “Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? “Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about ail that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. “But put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy fact”. (Job 1:8-11). How many times I have heard evil men, evidently under the dominance of this adversary, say, with reference to some saint of God, “Oh, well, he knows which side his bread is buttered on. He has found out that a profession of religion is profitable; he has joined the church in order to increase his patronage, in the friends to be made,” etc., etc., when possibly no such an idea had ever been entertained for one second; when possibly the man was gladly contributing of his income ten times over what he was receiving from these new acquaintances and fellowships. But such is the character of Satan that he delights to accuse the brethren.You will remember that when his character is fully uncovered in the Book of Revelation, when he is no longer able to walk in the darkness, since God has turned the light of eternity full upon him, it is said,“He was cast out into the earth, and his angels Were cast out with him. “And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night?” (Revelation 12:9-10). There is only one way of silencing his mouth and that is the way of being clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ. There is only one way to escape his accusations of stain and that is to heed the call of God, “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.Instead of going on in filthy garments with an unregenerate nature—or the soiled garments of the priest who has been living with the Babylonians,—the Christian who has been associating himself with the children of the world,—let us confess and be clean (1 John 1:8-9).Oh, brethren, it is serious business to expose ourselves to the attack of the adversary; more serious than it ever was for soldiers, under cover, to leave the embankment and stand out on the heights before the enemy’s fire. It is serious business to give any advantage to this accuser, either by character or conduct, for he will make use of it; and not one rent in our clothing will he overlook; not a tatter in our garments, but he will tell of it; not a spot or stain but he will flash his eyes upon that filth and speak of it to the Father. Alexander of Macedon, we are told, having observed that in close fighting the beards of his soldiers gave an advantage to his enemies, ordered them to be cut off that they might be thus more successful in their fight against the foe; and surely Christians, realizing the importance of the warfare in which they are engaged, should renounce everything that could lend Satan the least advantage over them. Above all things else they should see to it that their characters are not symbolized by “garments filthy and ragged.”“And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire”? Jerusalem, then, is the subject of God’s electing grace. I do not know that one can tell why God chose Abraham rather than any other man of the world; why God chose Jerusalem rather than any other city of the world; why God chose Israel rather than any other nation in the world. But I do know that Abraham responded to the choice; that Jerusalem, in spite of her waywardness, was less wicked than the sisters round about her; and that Israel, her awful apostasy conceded, was still more loyal to Jehovah than any nation of the time. And yet if God made choice of these without reference to their response, who can object?You will remember that when Jesus spoke the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, He tells how those who came in the first hour complained because the master of the vineyard gave as much to those who came in the eleventh hour as to them. And to one of these objectors the Master answers, “Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me 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”?As a Gentile I have not a word to say in that God has always shown His grace to the Jew. Shall I be jealous because He is good? Shall I complain when He has granted me above my deserts? No, no; the great doctrine of God’s electing grace is only an illustration of God’s overflowing goodness! I am glad that He chose Jerusalem; and that He plucked her as a brand out of the fire; and that He refused to listen to the accusation which Satan brought against the children of His choice.

For while that grace was first manifested to the Jews, in the exercise of it God is no respecter of persons. Turn to the Epistle to the Romans, and the Apostle says,“Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. “God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed Thy Prophets, and digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. “But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it” (Romans 11:1-7). And yet, if one follows the Apostle in the other Epistles he will find that that same election was extended to the Gentiles. To the Galatians he writes, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you unto the grace of Christ”. And to the Ephesians, “By grace ye are saved” (Ephesians 2:5). And again, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).The language of the Prophet here is a beautiful illustration of God’s work in redeeming men, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire”? Just as He delivered the three Hebrew children, unharmed, from the over-heated furnace, so He has brought back His children from Babylon as a brand plucked from the burning. And what man among us but has repeated the Jews’ history in our own experience in being snatched from the hand of Satan; and from the consuming fire of sinful associations?Oh, the grace of it!

Dwight L. Moody says, “Men talk about grace, but they don’t know much about it.

These bankers, they talk about grace. If you want to borrow a thousand dollars, if you can give good security they will let you have it, and take your note, and you give your note and say, ‘So many months after date I promise to pay a thousand dollars.’ Then they give you what they call three days’ grace, but they make you pay interest for those three days. That isn’t grace. Then when your note comes due, if you can pay but $950.00 they would sell everything you have and collect the last $50.00. Grace is giving the interest, principal and all. I tell you if you want to get any grace, you must know God.

He is the God of all grace. He wants to deal in mercy, undeserved favor, unmerited love; and if God doesn’t love man until he is worthy of His love, He won’t have time for very much love for him.”That the Apostle Paul seems to have appreciated the greatness of that grace we may judge from the language in his Epistle to the Romans, wherein he affirms, even as is suggested by Zechariah, that “it is grace that seals Satan’s accusing mouth.”“If God be for us, who can be against us? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? “Who shall lay any thing to the change of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? “As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39). THE CHANGE OF RAIMENT “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. “And He answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. “And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by” (Zechariah 3:3-5). The ragged and filthy clothes give place to clean and costly ones. That this is a figure is fully brought out in what follows, “And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment”.That was His purpose concerning Israel. To take away her reproach and to clothe her upon with the beauty of holiness. And that is God’s purpose in grace toward every man who becomes a child of Abraham by faith. I have seen the filthy garments go; I have seen the rags of unrighteousness cast off.Many years ago, in the old Union Mission of this city, I preached on a Christmas Eve. William Carrol was present.

He was literally clothed with filthy garments, and those garments were ragged as well. But that night, by faith in the promises of God, he became an Israelite indeed, and when I saw him again his outward clothing had given place to a clean suit, his face and hands had been washed, the marks of dissipation were disappearing, and it all meant just what it means here. In answer to his cry for mercy God had said, “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment”.The prodigal son is an illustration of the same truth, applied, however, to the backslider, the man who is a priest unto God, but who has been in Babylonish associations and soiled himself, and become joined to swineish fellowships. When he comes to himself and turns again home His Father will speak the word that displaces his filthy garments with “the best robe.” Such is an illustration of God’s great love! Such is the process also by which God takes the man who has estranged himself from Him and puts him again into the place of a son, and clothes him appropriately to his new position.“And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments”. What is the significance of the clean mitre? It was a holy crown for the head of the priest, and the plate of it was pure gold, on which was engraved “Holiness to the Lord” (Exodus 28:36-38). It must be worn when he entered the Holy of Holies, and came into communion with God. And when the Prophet petitions God to put this mitre upon the priest’s head, and God answers it by saying, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head”, He is consenting toThe symbol of recovered communion.Oh, beloved, it is blessed to be privileged in the Divine Presence! Oh, friend, it is awful to be denied communion with God! I know of no spiritual estate more sad than that of the man who has lost his communion with God, who cannot, on account of some sin or sins, enter the Holy of Holies.

You may call it “backsliding” if you please; you may call it “transgression” if you like; if you are a Methodist, and prefer, you may call it “fallen from grace,” but the fact is it is “out of communion with God.” And as J. Wilbur Chapman said, “It takes the look of joy from your face; it takes the peace from your heart; it takes the power from your life.” Poor Cowper passed into this experience of being out of communion with God, and he wrote,— “O for a closer walk with God, A calm and Heavenly frame A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!

“Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word?

“What peaceful hours I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.

“Return, O holy Dove, return, Sweet messenger of rest; I hate the sins that made Thee mourn, And drove Thee from my breast.

“The dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be, Help me to tear it from Thy throne, And worship only Thee.” God wants us to come back; God stands ready to set a clean mitre upon our heads, and clothe us with holy garments that we might come even unto His presence. Ours is the prodigal’s part, to turn home again. Having been given the place of a son in the Father’s House we will be privileged sweet communion with Him!This communion calls for a change of conduct.“And the Angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My House, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by” (Zechariah 3:6-7). If we are to have access to the Father our conduct must conform to His pleasure; if we are to have sweet communion with Him we must walk in His ways and keep His charge. A. C. Dixon brings out this thought in treating the text “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; * * for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God”. Dixon says, “The only way to command God is to obey Him. Do His will and all His power flows through your obedience.

Enoch was peculiarly heroic in the fact that he walked with God while the multitude walked in the other direction. The world, with their backs to God, were walking away from Him. But, in spite of public sentiment, Enoch kept step with Jehovah.”Did it ever occur to you that the two who walked with Jesus on the way to Emmaus were the two with whom Jesus talked, and unto whom, ere He vanished, He revealed Himself in love? Oh, for a closer walk with Him!But this vision includes one other important feature,—THE ARRIVAL OF JESUS “For, behold, I will bring forth My Servant the BRANCH. “For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day, “In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree” (Zechariah 3:8-10). That the Branch here referred to is none other than Jesus appears not only in the fact that Zechariah speaks of Him as a Person—“My Servant the BRANCH”,—but by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Isaiah had said,“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; * * “But with righteousness shall He fudge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His Ups shall he slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11:1-2; Isaiah 11:4). Jeremiah had added,“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and Prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. “* * This is His Name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR ” (Jeremiah 23:5-6), God will bring him forth. “Behold, I will bring forth My Servant the BRANCH”, is the language of Jehovah. How perfectly this text illustrates the thought, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).Men need to be reminded oft that their salvation was the thought of God, the Father. As Dr. Lorimer, in his “Argument for Christianity” has said;“Mankind, prior to Christ’s day, uniformly pictured God as harsh, illiberal, stern, unyielding; as an inexorable Judge who shows no mercy; as a creditor who exacts the uttermost farthing, and as an implacable Perfection, impatient at the mistakes of His creatures!” Would that this were true only of the ancients; but I find not a few now who feel the same way toward God, and who think that Christ had to die to bring the Father to love men. But Jesus, who knew the Father best, says that God so loved men that He sent Him to die for them that they might be saved. Jesus pictures His Father as running to meet the prodigal who returns, and as delighting to recover the lost, and revive the dead. How blessed the truth that the Great Creator Himself brought forth His servant, the Branch, for our sakes. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”?God also engraves him as a stone.“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 3:9). It is a point of dispute as to whom or to what this stone refers! Read Isaiah 28:16. Some fall into the error of identifying this stone with Israel. On the contrary, the only interpretation that will take in every feature of this Scripture is that this stone is Christ. That it cannot be the foundation stone of the Temple is evident in that it remained in Zechariah’s time for it to be engraved. That it could not be the top-stone of the Temple, nor a jewel on the breastplate of the priest, is clear since it is said to be set before the high-priest Joshua.That it cannot be the Temple itself, as George Adam Smith supposes, is equally evident, since the sacrifices offered there could not remove “the iniquity of that land in one day”, as Paul has plainly told us in his Epistle to the Hebrews.

But identify that Stone with Christ and Scripture is added to Scripture in the interpretation. He was indeed “before Joshua” even as He was before John the Baptist. He is the One of whom “seven eyes” could be predicted, since He alone enjoyed the Spirit without measure; and seven is the perfect number employed to describe the offices of the Holy Ghost. Yea, and He is the One whom Jehovah God engraved, when, by His will, He caused Him to be wounded by the nails of the Cross, and marred by the soldier’s lance. In that very engraving men find ever a pledge of Divine love, and the promise of everlasting salvation, and hence sing with Charles Wesley,— “Arise, my soul, arise; Shake off thy guilty fears; The bleeding Sacrifice In my behalf appears; Before the throne my Surety stands, My name is written on His hands.

“Five bleeding wounds He bears, Received on Calvary; They pour effectual prayers, They strongly plead for me; Forgive him, O forgive, they cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die!

“The Father hears Him pray,— His dear anointed One; He cannot turn away The presence of His Son; His Spirit answers to the Blood, And tells me I am born of God.” God also appoints the day of salvation.“I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day”. There was one day in the year in which the atonement of the Old Testament occurred; and there was one day in Time, and only one, when iniquity was removed from that land, and that was the day when Jesus died,—when the Stone was graven, when the Son was crucified. And yet the fruits of that one day are to be found in that long-continued “day” when the Israel of God shall “call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree”. For it is the day of redemption that makes possible “the Day of the Lord”.That day of redemption is past so far as God’s part in putting away sin is concerned; but it is yet present so far as your opportunity of sharing in its salvation is concerned, and it is yet to come in Millennial glory.There was a day in which Jesus suffered on the Cross for you, and for me. And there is a day in which His Spirit visits our hearts and proffers us part and lot in the eternal redemption wrought out on Calvary, and a day in which we shall rise to eternal felicity!It was Jerusalem’s hour when Peter preached in her streets. It was the hour for Ephesus when St. John was there; Corinth and Philippi had their opportunity in the Apostle Paul’s visits; and Crete, hers, in the coming of Titus.

When Polycarp was at Smyrna her people were enjoying their opportunity of salvation; and when Ignatius was at Antioch it was their day of Divine appointment. But God treats individuals as He does cities and nations, and your day of grace is “now”, if God hath spoken to your heart. In view of that fact He is saying, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”. “To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts”.I can make you no promise for tomorrow; I only know that “now is the accepted time”,—the time when the King waits to receive you into His presence, grant you His pardon and bestow upon you His Spirit is now!We are told that a Queen agreed to sit for a portrait, and the place and time were fixed. The artist was delighted. Here was the prospect of royal pay; here was the pledge of fame in his profession; here was an assurance of coming fortune; but the artist was tardy. When he arrived, the time having past, the queen had departed, and he never was privileged to see her again.Oh, beloved, since the King eternal has consented to meet you now and bestow upon you salvation, valuable above silver and gold, grant you His peace, infinitely above and better than any advancement in worldly profession, and made you an heir to that estate which exists in the City of God, can you afford to delay until the King’s patience is gone, and His glorious face is hid from you forever?