188 cli. Reflections on the vanity of pretences to religion. SECT. obey your commands: and yet, after all, he went not to the vineyard, but spent the whole day elsewhere. Mat. XXI.31. Mat. 31 Whether of them twain did the will of Now I would leave it to yourselves to judge his father? They say Which of the two youths I have been speaking of unto him, The first.did the will of [his] father, and with which of them he would, on the whole, be best pleased? and without any hesitation they say to him, Undoubtedly the first of them. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unlicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. to you, That the pub Then Jesus, upon this, says to them, The application of this parable is very easy; for thus it is, that notwithstanding your professions of a regard to God, yet in your practice you are disobedient children, and reject his gospel; and verily I say unto you, That even the most abandoned sinners of the age, such as the publicans and common prostitutes, are much more open to conviction, and more likely to be wrought upon than you; and so many of them have already been awakened to repentance, that their example might lead you the way into the kingdom of God, but with all your pretences to sanctity you will 32 not follow them. For, though you have not 32 For John came integrity enough freely to own it, you know in unto you in the way of righteousness, and your own consciences, that John came not unto ye believed him not: you in a suspicious manner, but in the way of but the publicans and righteousness, and did in all his ministry main- him. And ye, when tain the uniform character of an upright and ye had seen it, repentpious man, as well as of a plain and awakening ed not afterward, that preacher, yet you believed him not; but the ye might believe him. publicans and harlots, of whom I spake, believed him; and you were still so obstinate, that even when you saw [it], and perceived a growing reformation amongst the most abandoned of mankind, yet you did not afterwards repent, [so as] to believe him. (Compare Luke vi. 29, 30. Vol. VI. p. 305.) And therefore I solemnly warn you, that your condition will another day be worse than theirs ; and that you shall see those whom you now despise and abhor, entering into the glory from which you shall be excluded. IMPROVEMENT. the harlots believed How little do the most specious pretences of piety signify if xxi. they are not animated by the heart, and confirmed by the h Sir, I am going.] This was a proper emblem of the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees; who addressed God under the most honourable titles, and professed life! the greatest readiness and zeal in his service, while their whole lives were a series of disobedience and rebellion. The parable of the vineyard let to wicked husbandmen. 189 cli. life! How vain are all the complimental forms of religion when SECT. addressed to that God who penetrates all the secrets of the soul, and can have complacency in nothing but real and solid goodness! 23--31 Yet how many are there, who are free of their promises both to God and man, but always fail when the time of performance comes! And how many, with these unhappy rulers in Israel, go on to pride themselves in a kind of external nearness to God, and 32 perhaps in a boasted commission from him, who are themselves so far from his kingdom, that even publicans and harlots, who did not pretend to any religion, are more like to be brought into it than they, as being more open to a conviction of their sin and danger, and so more ready to embrace an offered Saviour! Let us dread the guilt of receiving the grace of God in vain, lest by rejecting the calls of the gospel, and abusing the privileges we enjoy, our hearts be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, so as to perish in impenitence and unbelief. In vain do we, like these Pharisees, inquire into the evidences 23 of Christ's authority, if we are not heartily resolved to submit to it. Yet with such cavillers and hypocrites must his ministers expect to meet. May they learn, by the example of their great Master, to answer them with the meekness of wisdom, and to join 21--27 the sagacity of the serpent with the gentleness and innocence of the dove! Mark 23--24 The promises which are made to a miraculous faith in prayer, XI. are not indeed our immediate concern; but we may truly infer from them some encouragement in favour of the prayer of faith, on whatever account, and in whatever circumstances it be offered. At least we may infer the necessity of forgiving injuries, if we 25, 26 desire that our petitions should be received with favour. Let us remember it; and labour to approach the throne of a forgiving God, with hearts not only clear of every malignant passion, but full of that cordial and universal benevolence which may engage us to pray for all men, and particularly for those who have least deserved our kindness, and seem least disposed to requite it. SECT. CLII. Christ utters the parable of the vineyard let out to unfaithful husbandmen; from which he takes occasion plainly to admonish the Jewish rulers of the danger and ruin they would incur by the schemes they were forming against him. Mat. XXI. 39, to the end; Mark XII.-1-12. Luke XX. 9-19. MAT. XXI, 33. MAT. XXI. 33. Hrable: There was OUR Lord having thus reproved the priests a SECT. and elders in the temple who had been clii. A a 2 190 ciii. They abuse the servants their master sent. 9.] SECT. questioning his authority, and shewn how inex- a certain householder, cusable they were in not believing John, though which planted a vineyard, and hedged it Mat. they could not deny him to be sent of God, con- round about, and digXXI.33. tinued his discourse, and said to them and to the ged a wine-press in it, people, Hear now another parable, in which you for a place for the wine fat], and built a tower, are very nearly concerned, as vour own consci- and let it out to husences must quickly tell you: There was a certain bandmen, and went into a far country man, a master of a considerable family and es[LUKE, for a long tate, who planted a vineyard, and spared no cost time.] [MARK XII. to render it fruitful; for he made a strong hedge —2. ́LU KE ‚XX.— round it, to preserve it from the incursion of men or beasts, and digged [a place for] a wine-press in it, [or] a large cavity which might serve as a fat for the wine, to receive the liquor when pressed from the grapes; and he also built a tower in it for the accommodation and defence of the labourers; and then he let it out to husbandmen, who were to pay him a certain acknowledgment out of the produce of it; and he himself departed thence, and took a journey for a long time into a distant country. 34 of 34 And [at the the fruit drew near, season,] when the time he sent his servants to they might receive [from the husband men of the fruit of the vineyard.] [MARK XII. 2. LUKE XX. 10.-] And at the proper season, when the time of gathering in the fruit approached, and a return was to be made him from the profits of it, he sent his servants to the husbandmen who had farmed the husbandmen, that it, that he might receive from the husbandmen that proportion of the fruit of the vineyard which was 35 due to him for the rent. And the husbandmen wickedly conspired to keep the vineyard to themselves, instead of receiving them with due respect, and returning the appointed payment, seized his servants, and beat one of the chief of those who arrived first, and sent him empty away: and as the demand grew more pressing, they took up the weapons with which their Lord himself had furnished them for very different purposes, and slew another, and stoned another, till they had driven him away. 36 35 And the hus mandmen [caught] his 36 [And] again, he sent [unto them] other servants, more than the unto them likewise; first; and they did And when their lord heard the report of this their injustice, he did not immediately arm himself against them, but sent again other servants to treat with them, more in number, and higher in office than the first; but still persisting in their [and at him who was the wickedness, they did the same unto them; and particularly chief from the grapes. The one of these naturally implies the other; but our Lord might without any impropriety mention both. b I will ! and wounded him in Slaying many of them. 191 clii. chief they cast stones, particularly at him [who was the chief] person SECT. the head, and sent him employed to account with them they threw stones away shamefully hand- and wounded him dangerously in the head, and Mat. led,] [LU KE, and sent him away not only empty, but very disho- XXI. 36, empty.] [MARK XII. nourably and shamefully treated. 4. LUKE XX. 11.] MARK XII. 5. And again he sent another [the third time ;] and him they [wounded also, and cast him out, and] killed and many others, beating some, and killing some. [LUKE XX. 12.] LUKE XX. 13. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall -son. 6.] And again the third time he sent another of Mark his principal servants; and him also they wounded XII. 5. as they had done the former, and even were so outrageous, that they cast him out of the vineyard, [and] killed him and in like manner they assaulted many others, who came with, or after him, on the same errand, beating some of them, and killing others outright. Luke XX. 13. Then the lord of the vineyard, being still unwilling to proceed to the last extremity with I do? I will send my them, though they had been so very wicked and [MARK, Hav- ungrateful in the treatment of his servants, said ing yet therefore one to them that were about him, What shall I do son, his well-beloved he sent him also last farther to reclaim them? I will send my own son [of all] unto them, to them. Having yet therefore one son, who saying,] It may be was his well beloved, and the heir of the family they will reverence [my son] when they he sent him also last of all to them, as the only see him. [MAT. gentle expedient that remained, saying, Perhaps XXI. 37. MARK XII. they will reverence my son when they see him; for surely they must needs have some respect for him, and will not presume to offer him any inMAT. XXI. 38. But jury. But when the husbandmen saw the son come into the vineyard, instead of paying any men saw the son, due regard to him, they grew yet more outraed among themselves, geous in their wickedness, and reasoned among saying,] This is the themselves, saying, This is the only heir of the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize whole estate, come, let us kill him, and seize on on his inheritance, his inheritance, that [it] may be ours from gene[LUKE, that it may be ration to generation, and no descendants of our ours.] MARK XII. 7. LUKE XX. 14.] master may remain to give any disturbance to 39 And they caught us or our children in the possession of it. And 39 him, with malignant hearts and cruel hands they fell when the husband [LUKE, they reason b I will send my son.] The question is not here how prudent it would have been in a human father to venture his son in such a case as this; for the power which God had of raising Christ from the dead, and making all his sufferings redound to his glory and happiness, quite alters the case. The design is to shew the patience of God, and the wickedness of the Jews, by this emblem, than which nothing could be more expressive. c Perhaps they will reverence my son, &c.] Numberless predictions in the Old and New Testament plainly shew, that God foresaw Christ's death as a certain event. This therefore, like many others, is merely an upon ornamental circumstance, which cannot d Come let us kill him. &c.] If such a Mat. XXI.38. 192 SECT. clii. And when at last he sent his son they killed him. him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. [MARK LUKE XX. upon their master's son, and seized him; and, fearing neither God nor man, they cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him, exposing his dead XXI. 39. body in a most contemptuous and insolent, as 15.-] well as inhumane manner. Mat. 40 41 Luke XII. 8. 40 When the lord yard cometh, what will 9.-LUKE XX. When therefore the Lord of the vineyard himself cometh, armed with a power which they will be therefore of the vineutterly unable to resist, what will he do, think he do unto those husyou, to those treacherous and cruel husbandmen, baudmen ? [MARK when he has them entirely at his disposal? And, as the Jewish rulers did not understand -15.] 41 They say unto that they themselves were these unfaithful hus- him, He will miserabandmen, they say unto him, There is no doubt bly destroy those wickbut he will wretchedly destroy those wicked and out his vineyard unto incorrigible wretches, nor is the most torment- other husbandmen, ing death too severe for them to expect; and he which shall render him will then let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, sons. who shall faithfully render him the fruits of it in their proper seasons. ed men, and will let the fruits in their sea LUKE XX. 16. come and destroy these Thus did they, before they were aware, conXX. 16. demn themselves; and [Jesus added], You have [Jesus said]. He shall answered right: he shall indeed quickly come, and husbandmen, and shall destroy these husbandmen of whom I speak, who- give the vineyard to ever they shall appear to be, with terrible seve- others. [MARK XII, rity, and will give the vineyard to others. Now -9.] all this was as if he had said, Consider your own concern in what you have heard: God has planted a church among you, and given you an excellent revelation of his will; abundant provision has been made, both for your protection and your improvement too: but you have ungratefully refused the fruits of obedience, which were so justly his due; and when he has frequently sent his servants the prophets, with one message and demand after another, you the rulers and teachers of Israel, to whom the cultivation of the vineyard has been committed, have treated them in a most ungrateful and barbarous manner: and now at last he has sent his son, and you are going to seize on him, and to add that murder which you are now contriving to the And cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.] So Matthew and Luke express it; but Mark has changed the order of the words, and says, They killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard; if we may not render that clause, They both slew him, and cast him out, so as not to determine which was done first. One cannot suppose Christ uttered it both these ways; so that if there be no accidental transposition in Mark, he guilt probably meant thereby to intimate what is hinted in the paraphrase, the exposing his dead body in a most daring defiance of public justice. Those that explain the casting him out of the vineyard, of excommunication, which preceded or attended the execution of a capital sentence, do not observe the proper import of the vineyard. See below, note i. f The |