Baptist was; and yet when he had given them evidence that the true Messiah was already among them, they had refused to search for that Messiah, or to profit by the warnings of the Baptist. The answer of the elders to our Lord's question, 'we cannot tell,' was mere hypocrisy. They knew well enough, but they feared to utter the conviction of their hearts, lest they should stand self-condemned. Our Lord, thereupon, delivers the parable of the Two Sons, in order to point out further to the Jewish rulers their hypocritical professions and their actual conduct towards God's messenger, as contrasted with the behaviour of others who, in outward protestations, were far behind themselves.

29. I will not. 'I do not wish,'' do not choose to go.'

He repented, or as we should say, 'he thought better of it.'

31. The publicans and harlots. Publicans are here joined with the most depraved characters, as is the case in many other passages of the Gospels. It is worthy of remark that, in these words, our Lord does not declare that the rulers and elders of the Jews would be absolutely excluded from the kingdom of God. He only reminds them that publicans and sinners, that class of persons whose spiritual wretchedness the Pharisees and other Jewish rulers counted most hopeless and desperate, had welcomed the preaching of John the Baptist, and had been baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. The Phari

sees and Sadducees, on the other hand, though professing to be anxious to know the character of John's mission, had in reality made no change in their lives, in consequence of his preaching. Our Lord, therefore, declares that those who had turned from their evil ways, upon the honest exhortation of John, should take the lead into the kingdom of God before those whose religion had been no more than that of the lips. Even for such as these the door of repentance was still open-but unless they turned from their evil ways, and framed their lives in accordance with their professions, they would certainly be excluded. The moral of the parable need not, however, be confined to the case of these two classes of the Jewish people. It holds forth to the children of men, in every age, this warning, that the pride of self-righteousness is often more difficult to be won to a real and hearty devotion to God's service than the heart, which, though sunk in sin, may be roused to a sense of its own wretchedness. If the open and profligate sinner be compared with the man who keeps the outward precepts of the moral law, and with such observance is satisfied, there can surely be no doubt that, in itself, respectability of conduct is far better than dissolute and abandoned profligacy. But if it be asked which of these two men is most likely to be roused to a sense of his danger, the moral of the parable, illustrating the conduct of the Pharisees as contrasted with that of the publicans, coincides with daily experience as to the answer which must be

given. He who is sunk in the depths of vice cannot but feel painfully at times the wretchedness of his condition and the danger of the course which he is pursuing. Conscience, God's inward monitor, will not always be silent, but will at times rouse him to the conviction that his way is, without doubt, the way of death. The warnings afforded by the sad end of others, or it may be some signal judgment brought on his own head, may, through God's mercy, rouse him from his evil ways, and force him, in deep penitence and hearty amendment of life, to seek for pardon through the merits of his Saviour. It must, however, be carefully remembered that it is no argument for continuing in sin, that instances of conversion from open wickedness to a holy and Christian course of living have, by God's mercy, been witnessed. There is much reason to fear, on the contrary, that a man who is satisfied with his own righteousness, and is continually making boast of his readiness to obey the divine will, but yet never gets beyond loud protestations and empty professions, and never sets to work to practise rigid self-denial and regular compliance with God's law, will continue hardened in the ignorance of his own danger. It has been well said that there is no such fault as counting we have no fault. The pride of self-righteousness is ever ready to whisper that it need pay no regard to exhortations to obedience and to practical godliness of living, and that advice such as this is intended only for the open and notorious sinner. In such false security many have

passed their lives, coldly rejecting the warnings which God gives them, fondly dreaming that all was right, while all the time they are becoming each day less and less willing to do the will of him who requires a humble and lowly spirit, or to set to work in that vineyard where men must be content to labour in simple trust in God's mercy. The parable was intended to warn the rulers of the Jews of the danger under which they lay, lest such an evil should befall them. And with most of them, at least, our Lord's words proved fearfully true. May all have grace betimes to lay his warning to heart, and to remember that if they draw nigh unto God with their mouth, and honour him with their lips, while their heart is far from him, and their lives deny him, they will most surely lay up for themselves that punishment which will be the portion of the hypocrites, and of those who cry 'Lord, Lord, and yet do not the things which he says.'

47

THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN.

MATT. xxi. 33-44.

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: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his

servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his ser

vants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they

LUKE XX. 9-18.

Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will

MARK Xii. I-II. And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine fat, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet reverence him when therefore one son, his they see him. But well-beloved, he sent when the husbandhim also last unto men saw him, they reathem, saying, They soned among them

And

caught him, and cast will reverence my son. selves, saying, This is