The Jewish children, if they were brought up according to the divine command, were nurtured in the fear and admonition of the Lord." Parents were commanded to "teach their children diligently" the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord their God had given them. They were ordered, therefore, in the language of this parable: Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. Those who went astray, and dealt wickedly, were disobedient and rebellious; said, We will not: we will not walk in the law of the Lord which he has set before We will work our own works; not the works

us.

of God.

To such as these John the Baptist came, preaching "the baptism of repentance." And not in vain. He was himself "astonished, when he saw the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, and said, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" 6 And they asked him, each according to his way of life, the people, the publicans, the soldiers, all desired to know what they must do to "bring forth works meet for repentance."

Those therefore, who were at first disobedient, afterwards repented and went to work in the Father's vineyard.

Whereas, those whom our Lord was now addressing, professed to be working in the vineyard: professed to be guardians of the truth, and zealous for the law of God. They said, I go, Sir. Sir. They boasted, "We have one Father, even God." They pretended to be the only judges of truth or false

Deut. vi. 1—7.

• Luke iii. 7.

7 John viii. 41.

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hood: and when the officers whom they sent to apprehend Jesus, came back acknowledging that "he spake as never man spake," they proudly said, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? 8 But this people which knoweth not the law, are cursed." Thus they pretended to the knowledge of God, when in fact they knew him not; they professed to do the will of God, when in fact they opposed it; for this was his will, that they should believe on him whom he had sent: and this was his work, that they should" love mercy, and do justice;" whereas they "devoured widows' houses," and "shed righteous blood," and neglected" the weightier matters of the law." The preaching of John might have awakened them to better things: he came in the way of righteousness; both practising righteousness, and teaching it but when he said, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," they believed him not. On the other hand, the publicans and harlots believed him: the careless and the profligate, who had before lived after the devices and desires of their own hearts, many of them listened to John's message and warnings, and were converted: and therefore, says the Lord, the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you, who neither practise obedience, nor turn to repent

ance.

66

The sin of the Pharisees, and chief priests, and elders, was hypocrisy. "Professing to serve God, in works they denied him." Making their boast of the law, though breaking the law they dishonoured God." 9

8 John vii. 48.

9 Rom. ii. 23.

Between this hypocrisy, and the more open and flagrant sins of the abandoned and profligate,our Lord has no design to draw comparison; as if one class in itself were better or worse than the other. Hardihood in defiance of God's law is bad: and so it is bad to honour the law with the mouth, and break it in the practice. It is rebellious to say, I will not obey: and it is rebellious to say, I go, sir, and go not. Both imply a state of alienation from God. Both must be repented of, that they may be forgiven. And the wickedness which condemned the chief priests and elders, was that

professing themselves to be something," they were nothing, and remained nothing: no change was wrought in them: whereas the publicans and harlots did repent and turn to God, and forsake their evil ways. Therefore the promise was theirs, the merciful assurance of the prophet, "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live, and not die." 1

I Ezek. xviii. 21.

LECTURE XC.

PARABLE OF THE REBELLIOUS HUSBANDMEN.

Matt. xxi. 33—46.

33. Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

34. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

35. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

36. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

This parable exactly describes the conduct of God towards the Jews, and the return of disobedience which they made. "The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts was the house of Israel." " He planted them in Canaan; he gave them a knowledge of himself and of his will; he made them a peculiar people, hedging them out from the heathen world; and he looked for obedience to the laws which he had prescribed looked for the fruits of righteousness, on that vine which he had planted and protected.

The servants whom God is described as sending from time to time, are the prophets-as Samuel, and

1 Is. v. 7.

Elijah, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and the rest; to whom he gave an especial commission, that they might rebuke, and exhort, and instruct with all authority might bring the people to repentance, and confirm them in good works. But the husbandmen of those days, who had the management of the vineyard, the priests and rulers of the nation, instead of receiving these men as the servants of God, put some to death, and shamefully entreated others, and neglected all. Which caused our Lord to declare the anger of God against that people, saying, that "the blood of all the prophets which had been shed should be required" of them; and lamenting over Jerusalem, as the city which had "killed the prophets, and stoned them which were sent unto her."

Of this conduct towards one, and one most eminent, we have a particular account in the history of Jeremiah. This prophet was especially commissioned to rebuke Jerusalem for its sins, and to warn the king and people that the measure of their iniquities was full, and the divine anger impending over them. "Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" 2 "Thus saith the Lord; This city shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. Then

2 Jer. v. 9.

3

3 Ib. xxxviii. 4-6.