grounded upon his own right to administer his bounty as he pleases, beyond what he has engaged himself to do by promise; the actual exemplification of this, in cases to which he refers; and the unreasonable murmuring excited among others by his goodness.

3. What the cases were to which the parable was designed to apply, may be discovered by inquiring who they were that, being considered last, were actually made first in "the kingdom of heaven," of the administration of which he had been speaking. These were the apostles themselves; who, though inferior to the learned scribes and priests among the Jews; yet, by being chosen to the high honour of ruling in Messiah's church, and being constituted its only authorized teachers, were by the special grace of Christ made first. Then there were the publicans and sinners, who, being peni. tent, received forgiveness of sins, and had a fulness of grace and favour bestowed upon them, in the experience of which men of long-continued and rigid virtue among the Jews did not exceed, even when they came in upon the call of the gospel; for many of the priests, and some of the Pharisees, ultimately believed in Christ; but we find no intimation of a greater abundance of spiritual gifts and graces being showered upon such men as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and others of the same respectable and virtuous character, who subsequently received Christianity, and who, probably, long before they were acquainted with Christ and his gospel, had been serving God in all sincerity. Lastly, and chiefly, the Gentiles were referred to. These were to be brought into the church, and made "fellow heirs," being placed on a perfect equality with Jewish believers, as to the privileges and the spiritual blessings of the gospel; so that there should be "no difference:" and to this several of the parables of our Lord look forward, his design being to prepare his apostles for it, and gradually to undermine those Jewish prejudices against it, which still held possession of their hearts. These Gentiles were last in general estimation, and

in their destitution of instruction, and yet they became first; the Gentile church, in fact, ultimately superseding not only the Jewish church as it existed under the law, but the churches of Jewish Christians, who in a short time after the destruction of the Jewish polity became extinct by absorption into the Gentile churches.

4. To all these cases the parable applies in the most natural and striking manner. The more respectable in rank, and the more learned in the law, who might then or afterwards believe in Christ, had what was right, that which the covenant of grace had stipulated to bestow upon believers of every class; but to be made apostles and ministers was not a matter of promise or stipulation, and though some of them might have been labouring long and usefully in the service of religion without mixing their doctrines with the corruptions of other teachers, they had no claim to it. This was a matter of grace, and Christ bestow ed it upon the fishermen and publicans of Galilee according to the counsel of his own will. Some virtuous Jews, also, who had served God "in all good conscience," believed in Christ, discovering the defects of their righteousness, and looking for salvation from him; and these received what the promise of his mercy had stipulated: but those whose more notorious offences had been repented of, and forgiven by the compassion of our Lord, received also the same salvation in all its fulness through faith; and if there was in this case a total oblivion of their former foul offences, so that they were treated on an equality with others, this also was a matter of grace, which implied no injustice done to the rest. Then, as to the Gentiles, though the believing Jews night naturally suppose that in consideration of their nation having been for ages the acknowledged church of God, and the instrument of upholding truth and piety in the world, after the Gentile nations had departed from it, they ought to have eminence and distinction in the church which Christ was about to set up, although other people might be called

into it; yet they had no reason to murmur at God's goodness to the Gentiles, in making them equal, and in some respects superior. The grace of the gospel in all its fulness, as promised, was granted to them; there was in the case no breach of the covenant-stipulation, but there was nothing in that to prevent the exuberant goodness of God from flowing forth to the Gentiles also. And if, in process of time, he should even make the Gentile churches first in that instrumentality by which the world was to be illuminated and converted, this was a pure matter of grace and sovereign appointment not to be envied but acquiesced in and adored.

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With respect to the second moral attached to the parable, "for many are called but few chosen;" it is manifestly supplementary to the first or leading one, "so the last shall be first, and the first last;" which will account for its little apparent relevancy to the structure of the parable itself. parent want of connexion led Bishop Pearce to consider it an interpolation from a subsequent chapter. But the great mass of the мss., and those of the highest authority, all indeed but two, are opposed to this conjecture, which could never have been indulged if the true sense of the parable itself had not escaped that writer. When that is understood, the connexion is traced without difficulty. It contains an incidental lesson arising, as above remarked, not directly out of the parable, but from its conclusion, which relates principally to the calling of all men, whether the publicans and sinners of Judea, or sinners of the Gentiles," to the full participation of the grace of the gospel. But the persons thus called to this grace are not left without admonition. If murmuring was to be silenced on one part, presumption was to be rebuked on the other. The "called," however great their privileges, would not in every case be the chosen;" nay, the latter would be few in comparison with the former, as the final account would declare. For that our Lord refers to the day of judgment, appears from chap. xxii. 14, where these very words oc

cur as the admonitory moral of the parable of the man that had not the weddinggarment. Notwithstanding, therefore, that all men, however sinful, and even the Gentiles themselves, would be called to an equal participation with the devout Jews in the benefits of Messiah's kingdom, yet their actual salvation would not follow from that alone. The full submission of their hearts to Christ, the full acceptance of his offered grace, and perseverance in it when received, were all necessary to final salvation. Many in the day of account would be found wanting, and thus in another sense would the words be fulfilled among the Gentiles themselves, raised to these privileges; many of them thus constituted first would be last, and be utterly excluded from the kingdom of God. The custom upon which this proverbial expression was founded, is probably that of selecting from the mass of the Israelites, all of whom were enrolled to bear arms, those most fit for military service. All were called, but the most fit chosen. The expressions therefore of "chosen men," and "choosing out men," for warlike expeditions, frequently occur in the Old Testament. The Romans had similar regulations in their levies; but it is utterly improbable, that the allusion made use of by our Lord was Roman, when the Old Testament made their own ancient practice so familiar to the Jews.

Other interpretations of this parable have been given, of which it is only necessary to notice three. The first is that of several of the Fathers, who carry up the different times at which the labourers were called to the most ancient periods of the world. Thus Jerom, Hic non unius temporis, et unius ætatis homines describuntur, &c.-" Here we have not the description of the men of one time, but of mankind, from the beginning to the end of the world. Abel and Seth were called at the first hour; Enoch and Noah, at the third; at the sixth, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; at the ninth, Moses and the prophets; at the eleventh, the Gentiles." In refutation of this, it is enough to say, that the transaction de

scribed in the gospel is said to take place under the administration of "the kingdom of heaven." Whitby makes the first hour the commencement of our Lord's ministry; the third, the first mission of the apostles to the cities of Israel; the sixth and ninth, their preaching to the Jews after the descent of the Holy Ghost; the eleventh the calling of the Gentiles. But these distinctions serve nothing for the illustration of the parable, the stress of the doctrine of which does not rest upon these particulars, and they suppose a meaning in its minuter parts, which docs not appear to have been intended. A third and more common opinion is, that the parable relates to the different periods in life in which men are converted to God, and embrace the gospel in truth. But this is so foreign from the connexion in which the parable stands, and the circumstances of those to whom it was addressed, that such an interpretation cannot be admitted. One part of its moral may indeed be applicable to those who from their youth have followed Christ, and may be tempted to hesitate, if not to murmur, at the great and distinguished grace sometimes showed at a late period, even the eleventh hour, to those who through a great part of life have lived in a state of alienation from God. may be taught that grace is in its nature FREE, and that God can do what he will with his own; and that whilst he makes good his promises to them, he does them no injury by magnifying the exceeding riches of his grace to others. Still, though this lesson is deducible from the parable, and applicable to this and similar cases, the parable itself had no respect in its primary sense to such cases.

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It may finally be remarked, that this parable of our Lord appears in a different dress in the Talmud. "To what was R. Bon Bar Chaija like? To a king who hired many labourers; among whom, there was one hired who performed his work extraor

dinarily well. What did the king? He took him aside, and walked with him to and fro; and when even was come the labourers came that they might receive their hire; and he gave him a complete hire with the rest. And the labourers murmured, saying, 'We have laboured hard all the day, and this man only two hours, yet he has received as much wages as we.' The king saith to them, 'He hath laboured more in those two hours, than you in the whole day.' So R. Bon plied the law more in eight and twenty years, than another in a hundred years." This puerile version of the noble parable of our Lord is here introduced, because it has been quoted in favour of the absurd theory held by some learned men, that our Lord often borrowed his observations and parables from the Jewish Rabbins. Yet this Talmudical parable was not written till several hundred years after our Lord's days, and bears upon it the most obvious character of plagiarism from the New Testament, but debased and spoiled by being accommodated to the poor style and feeble thoughts of some Rabbinical doctor. It is, however, curious that the Jew has given precisely the same turn to the parable as some modern commentators, who make the reward to the labourers at the eleventh hour to rest upon the merit of their superior diligence, and the better spirit in which they engaged in their short service. So easily does pharisaism invade both Jew and Gentile, and so difficult is it for man to submit to be dealt with in the way of pure grace and mercy.

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to him and to themselves. Our Lord therefore takes the twelve apart from the other disciples, to show them that their fears were not groundless, and to point out to them that thus "all things written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man should be accomplished." (Luke xviii. 31.) The whole discourse is minutely prophetic, and shows that the scene of his sufferings was constantly, and in all its humiliations and most painful details, before his eyes. stronger proof can we have that the death of Christ was voluntary? and if voluntary, it was then vicarious. How many particulars are here predicted! 1. That he should be betrayed; 2. Into the hands, not of the Roman governor, but of the chief priests and scribes, composing the great council; 3. That they should condemn him to death, under their law, as a blasphemer; yet, 4. That they should not stone him, which was the Mosaic punishment, but should deliver him to the Gentiles, the Romans, to mock, and to scourge, and "to spit upon," (Mark x. 33,) and to crucify, all which circumstances were most accurately fulfilled; 5. That on the third day he should rise again. St. Luke adds, that they understood none of these things; and this saying was hidden from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." They knew the meaning of the words, but probably thought that he was speaking in a kind of parable, and that the expressions carried with them a secret mystical meaning, to which as yet they had not the key. They apprehended,

it is true, a powerful opposition, and great danger, but might suppose that this, when permitted to a certain extent, would only give occasion to their Master to display his power and to destroy his enemies. Yet they seem to have been agitated by very opposite feelings and views, rapidly succeeding each other, and producing both hope and fear; and in this state of mind were utterly disqualified to pay such an attention to the words of Christ as might have led to a clearer comprehension of his meaning, though he now only repeated what he had several times stated before on the subject of his death in the plainest terms. Still, however, in this perplexed state of mind they continued to follow him even to Jerusalem, and thereby proved the sincerity of their faith, and the strength of their honest and ardent attachment. The moral strength of the apostles is exhibited, perhaps the more forcibly, by that very infirmity of judgment which they displayed whenever the death of their Master was alluded to.

Verse 20. The mother of Zebedee's children.-Her name was Salome; and as her husband does not appear to have been a follower of Christ, she has been supposed to be a widow. Her sons were James and John, already two of the most favoured disciples, which might have emboldened the request. The mother alone has been censured for this ambition; but, by referring to the account in Mark, her sons were as much engaged in the affair as herself, for it is there stated that they