Luke 14:16-24 Then said he to him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:… I was at a conference held about the state of the people in Liverpool. It was a large conference, with the Mayor in the chair. They were conferring about why it was that so many of the working people particularly would not go to church or chapel, but would lie about on Sundays and seem to have nothing but an animal life. One man after another made a speech about it. You never heard such a number of reasons given: too hard work on Saturdays — which seemed to me to be a strange thing; or they had no place near them which suited them; or the preachers did not preach well enough; or the sermons were too long; or they did not like pews; or they did not get the best seats when they went to church; or pew-rents were required. You never heard such a number of reasons — the people that did not go to church were not to blame, it was always the people about the church, or in the church, who were to blame, till at last an old man got up (I think from his speech he was a Scotchman, and said, "Mr. Mayor, there is one reason that strikes me that I have not heard a word about yet" — they had spoken for an hour and a half — "I think it is the reason of the whole thing." We were all struck dumb to hear what this was. "What I have to say is that the most of it comes from human depravity." (D. Fraser, D. D.) Parallel Verses 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. |
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