figures, the reception of his Gospel to and when, therefore, he had silenced the very end of time. All this, how-them, he would not let slip the opporever, will become more evident, as we tunity of setting before them their conproceed with the exposition of the dition, and adding another warning to passage, and show you, as we think the many which had been uttered in to do, that centuries have made no vain. The declaration of ignorance in difference in the faithfulness of the regard to John's baptism, suggested sketch. the course which his remonstrance You will observe that the parable, or should take, according to his wellillustration, or real history-for it mat- known custom of allowing the occaters little which term you assign to sion to furnish the topic of his preachthis portion of Scripture-is introduced ing. He delivers the parable which by our Lord, whilst holding a discourse forms our subject of discourse, and imwith the priests and elders in the tem- mediately follows it up by the quesple. They had come round him, de- tion, "whether of them twain did the manding by what authority he acted-will of his father?" There was no as though he had not given sufficient- room here for either doubt or evasion. ly clear proof that his mission was from God. Where the demand was so unreasonable, Jesus would not vouchsafe a direct answer. He therefore made his reply conditional on their telling him whether the baptism of John was from heaven or of men. He thus brought them into a dilemma from which no sophistry could extricate them. If they allowed the divine character of John's baptism, they laid themselves open to the charge of gross inconsistency, in not having believed him, and in denying the Messiahship of him whom he heralded. But if, on the other hand, they uttered what they really thought, and affirmed John's baptism to have been of men, they felt that they should excite the multitude against themselves, inasmuch as the people held the Baptist for a prophet. They therefore thought it most prudent to pretend ignorance, and to declare themselves unable to decide whence the baptism was. Hence, the condition on which Christ had promised to answer their question not having been fulfilled, they could not press him with any further inquiry, but remained in the position of disappointed and baffled antagonists.

It consisted not however with the Savior's character, that he should content himself with gaining a triumph over opponents, as though he had reasoned only for the sake of display. He had severely mortified his bitterest enemies, by turning their weapons against themselves, and bringing them into a strait in which they were exposed to the contempt of the bystanders. But it was their good which he sought;

It was so manifest that the son, who had refused at first, but who had afterwards repented and gone to the vineyard, was more obedient than the other, who had made a profession of willingness, but never redeemed his promise, that even priests and elders could not avoid giving a right decision. And now Christ showed what his motive had been in delivering the parable, and proposing the question; for so soon as he had obtained their testimony in favor of the first son, he said to them, "Verily I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."

We gather at once, from this startling and severe saying, that, by the second son in the parable, Christ intended the leading men among the Jews, and, by the first, those despised and profligate ranks with which pharisees and scribes would not hold the least intercourse. The publicans and harlots, as he goes on to observe, had received John the Baptist; for numbers had repented at his preaching. But the priests and elders, according to their own confession just made, had not acknowledged him as coming from God, and had not been brought by him to amendment of life. And this was precisely the reverse of what the profession of the several parties had given right to expect. The priests and elders, making a great show of religion, and apparently eager expectants of the promised Messiah, seemed only to require to be directed to the vineyard, and they would immediately and cheerfully go. On the other hand, the pub

to come."

will be fatal-the whole tenor of Scrip- made of that harsh stuff which seems ture unreservedly declaring, that, if the predominant element in many men's you would enter into life, you must constitutions; but, on the contrary, are work out your salvation with fear yielding and malleable, as though the and trembling." And thus the mes- moral artificer might work them, withsage, Son, go work to-day in my out difficulty, into what shape he would. vineyard," is, in every respect, that We are well convinced that there are which God is continually addressing many who answer this description in to you through the mouth of his min- every congregation, and therefore in istering servants, a message declara- the present. It is far from our feeling, tory that now is the accepted time," that, when we put forth all our earnestand requiring you to put forth every ness in some appeal to the conscience, energy that you may escape "the wrath or come down upon you with our warmest entreaty, that you would accept the deliverance proposed by the Gospel, we are heard on all sides with coldness and indifference. We have quite the opposite feeling. We do not doubt, that, as the appeal goes forward, and the entreaty is pressed, there are some who are conscious of a warmth of sentiment, and a melting of heart; and in whom there is excited so much of a determination to forsake sin, and obey God, that, if we could ply each with the command, "go, work to-day in my vineyard," we should receive a promise of immediate compliance."

And now the question is, as to the reception with which this message meets; and whether there be not two great classes of its hearers who are accurately represented by the two sons in the parable. We do not pretend to affirm, as we have already intimated, that the whole mass of unconverted men may fairly be resolved under the two divisions thus figuratively drawn. We are well aware of the prevalence of an indifference and apathy, which can hardly be roused to any kind of answer, either to a specious promise, made only, to be broken, or to a harsh refusal which may perhaps be turned into compliance. But without pretending to include all under these divisions, we may and do believe that the multitude is very large which may be thus defined and classified. We suppose, that, after all, most way is made by the preachers of the Gospel when there seems least prospect of success; and that, as it was in the days when Christ was on earth, those who promise fairest give most disappointment, whilst the harvest is reaped where we looked only for sterility. This how ever is a matter which should be carefully examined, and we shall therefore employ the remainder of our discourse in considering separately the cases of the two sons, beginning with that of the second, who said, "I go, sir, and went not," and then proceeding to that of the first, who said, "I will not, but afterward he repented, and went."

Now there is in many men a warmth of natural feeling, and a great susceptibility, which make them promising subjects for any stirring and touching appeal. They are easily excited; and both their fears and sympathies will readily answer to a powerful address, or a sorrowful narrative. They are not

It is not that these men or these women are undergoing a change of heart, though there may be that in the feelings thus excited, which, fairly followed out, would lead to a thorough renovation. It is only that they are made of a material on which it is very easy to work; but which, alas, if it have great facility in receiving impressions, may have just as much in allowing them to be effaced. And what is done by a faithful sermon is done also by providential dispensations, when God addresses these parties through some affliction or bereavement. If you visit them, when death has entered their households, you find nothing of the harshness and reserve of sullen grief; but all that openness to counsel, and all that readiness to own the mercy of the judgment which seem indicative of such a softening of the heart as promises to issue in its genuine conversion. If you treat the chastisement under which they labor as a message from God, and translate it thus into common language, "Son, go work to-day in my vineyard," you meet with no signs of dislike or reluctance, but rather with a ready assent that you give the true meaning, and with a frank resolution that God shall not speak in vain.

We put it to yourselves to determine | selves prayerfully to the carrying it whether we are not describing a com- into effect. And thus it comes to pass mon case; whether, if you could dis- that men, on whom preaching seemed sect our congregations, you would not to have taken great hold, as though find a large mass of persons who seem they were moved by the terrors, and quite accessible to moral attack; whom animated by the hopes of christianity; you may easily startle by a close ad- or whom the visitations of Providence dress to the conscience, or overcome appeared to have brought to humility by a pathetic and plaintive description; and contrition; make no advances in and on whom when affliction falls, it the religion of the heart, but falsify falls with that subduing and penetrating the hopes which those who wish their power which gives room for hope that salvation have ventured to cherish. it will bring them to repentance. And And when surprise is expressed, and wheresoever these cases occur, they the reason is demanded, the only reply may evidently, so far as we have gone, is, that there is yet a large class in the be identified with that of the second world, too faithfully delineated by the son in the parable; for whilst the ad- second son, who, when bidden by his dress to the parties is one which urges father to go work in the vineyard, anto the working in the vineyard, their swered, "I go, sir," and went not. answer has all the promise, and all the respectfulness, contained in the "I go, sir," of our text.

But the accuracy of the delineation does not end here. We must follow these excited listeners from the place of assembling, and these subdued mourners from the scene of affliction. Alas, how soon is it apparent that what is easily roused may be as easily lulled; and that you have only to remove the incumbent weight, and the former figure is regained. The men who have been all attention to the preacher, whom he seemed to have brought completely under command, so that they were ready to follow him whithersoever he would lead, settle back into their listlessness when the stimulant of the sermon is withdrawn; and those, whom the fires of calamity appeared to have melted, harden rapidly into their old constitution when time has somewhat damped the intenseness of the flame. The melancholy truth is, that the whole assault has been on their natural sensibilities, on their animal feelings; and that nothing like spiritual solicitude has been produced, whether by the sermon or the sorrow. They have given much cause for hope, seeing they have displayed susceptibility, and thus shown themselves capable of moral impressions. But they have disappointed expectation, because they have taken no pains to distinguish between an instinct of nature and a work of God's Spirit, or rather, because they have allowed their feelings to evaporate in the form ing a resolution, and have not set them

You may think, however, that we have not adduced precisely the case intended by the parable, inasmuch as these susceptible, but unstable, persons are not of the same class with the chief priests and elders. The second son was originally designed to denote the leading men among the Jews; and, therefore, in seeking his present representatives, we seem bound to look for similarity to those to whom Christ addressed the parable. This is so far true, that, although it impeaches not the accuracy of what has been advanced, it makes it necessary for us to continue our examination, lest we bring within too narrow limits the class of men described.

We have already hinted that there lie the greatest obstacles to the reception of the Gospel, where, at first, we might have hoped for most rapid success. Thus with the chief priests and Pharisees. There was the most rigid attention to all the externals of religion, a professed readiness to submit to the revealed will of God, and an apparent determination to receive Christ, so soon as he should be manifested. Yet all this, as we have shown you, was nothing more than the saying, "I go, sir;" for when Christ actually came, they were displeased at his lowliness, and would not join him as their King and their Savior. And we are bound to say that we know not more unpromising subjects for the preaching of the Gospel, than those who are punctiliously attentive to the forms of religion, and who attach a worth and a merit to their