relRtions between the infinite foreknowledge of God and tho free-will of man. Human thought ~not grapple with these mysteries; human words cannot express them. God gave his only begotten Son; the Son of God came to give his lifo a ransom for many. The ~urpose, the fore-kno"."ledge of God, did not destroy the free agency or remove the guilt of those who oruc16.cd the Lord of glory. These priests had already taken counsel to put the Lord t.o death. CaiRphas had already" prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation" (John xi. 47---53). They had already said, "This is the heir ; <J?me, let u~ kill him, a~d let t~s ~eize on ~s inhe_ri!&noe." . They wished to keep posseS!lion of their old authority, their old exclusive pnv1leges. Those privileges had been given them for a time; their priesthood was transitory. Christ was the Heir of all things ; he was the Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord knew what was coming; they would cast him out (Heb. xiii. 12), they would kill him. How calmly he prophesies his own death I how lliCnply he asserts his own Divine character l yet in words which his enemies could not take hold of. He was the Son, the one only Son, the well-beloved, of the Lord of t~e vineyard. They felt his meaning, but the pa.ra.ble afforded no ground for accnsation. 3. The warnmg. " When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?" Christ puts the question to the guilty men themselves, and forces them to pronounce their own condemnation. Perhaps they pretended not .to see the drift of the parable, and to regard it as a story, and nothing more. Perhaps (and this Slll'ely is more probable) they were overawed by the Lord's dignity, by the solemn power of his words, and so, like Caiaphas, became prophets against their will. "He will miserably ,.destroy those miserable men." They prophesied their own doom.. Ala.a; that the approaehiilg danger did not lead them to repentance 1 They prophesied also the loss af those exclusive privileges which they guarded so jealously. "He will let aut his·vineyard unto other husbandmen." The Gentiles were to succeed to the privileges which the Jews possessed; they had been strangers and foreigners, but soon they would become fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. "I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord" (Isa. lxvi. 21). 'l'hey would tend the Church of God; they would render the fruit in due season t.o the Lord of the vineyard. IV. THE CHIEF CoRKEB-ST01''E. L Its exaUation. The parable, like every other parabl11, was inadequate to express the whole spiritual truth. The heir was slaiil; he could not appear again in the story as the judge. 'l'he Lord adds another illustration, quoting the psalm (the hundred and eighteenth) from which the" Hosanna!" of Palm Sunday had been derived: "The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the comer." The priests and scribes were the builders; it was their duty to rear up the spiritual temple. One stone they had rejected; it was mean and poor in their eyes. God himself would raise that stone to the highest place of honour.' It should become the head stone, with shoutings, "Grace, grace unto it I" (Zech. iv. 7).· 'l'his is the Lord's doing. God highly exalted him whom the Jews rejected. 2. The application. The Lord now applies both parables directly and distinctly to the p1iests and scribes. They were the husbandmen, he told them-the rebellious husbandmen •. Theviney.ard w:as Llie kingdom of God ; it should be taken fFom them; they should no longer possess its privileges. The spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, is _the nation to' whom the kin~dom should be given; not one earthly nation, but the nations of the saved ; of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. And that nation, the great Catholic Church of Christ, would bring forth the fruits which the vineyard ought to yield, not wild grapes but good grapes the precious fruit of the Spirit. The priests and scribes were also the foolish builde:s. They had rejected the chief Corner-stone, elect, precious, which the Lord would lay in Zion; it was becoming to them a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. The low estate of Christ was a stumbling-block now; the cross of Christ would be a stumbling-block afterwards, "Whosoever shall fall on this et.one shall be broken," the Lord said, referring again to Isaiah (viii. 15), where we observe that the stone of stumbling (vers. 13, 14) is the Lord of hosts himself. T:1e Jews were now incurring this guilt and this danger (comp. Luke ii 34; Mark v1. 3; eh. xi. 6). Bnt a greater danger remained; when the ston~ is become the head of the corner, when it is raised to its place of honour, it shall grind t.o_powder those on whom it will fall When the ascended Lord is exalted to the Judgmcnt-throne, utter desLrnction will overtake those hardened, impenitent sinners who reject his offers of OH, xxr. 1-(6.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 335
mercy unto the end, and will not know him as a Sa.vi<:mr, but must at last see him, whon every eye shall see him, upon the great white throne. 3. The ange:r of the priests. They perceived that he spake of them; they felt the stem rebuke of his words; they felt, too, their truth. 'l'heir own consciences smote them, They blazed into fierce anger; they sought to sefae him; but for the moment they were powerless; they could !lo nothing while the multitude regarded him as a. prophet. May Goel give us grace to tllke reproof in a becoming spirit I It should produce, not anger, but repentance. LESSONS. 1. Profession without obedience is worthless. Goel bids us work in his vineyard; let us obey him. 2. God has a right to the fruits of vineyard. Bis ministers must tend the vineyard. They must see, as far as lieth in them, that thft fruit is rendered to the Lord. 3. Christ is the chief Comer-stone; the living stones of the spiritual temple must be built upon that one Corner-stone, elect, preciow.