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vious reference made by our Saviour in many of his discourses to the religious state of the Jews and Gentiles , as communities , affords a presumption in favour of this view of the parable before us .
2 . Again , the import of this parable , which took ils rise from the conversation recorded at the conclusion of the preceding chapter , seems to depend on the sense given to the remark which introduces and follows it » " the last rvill he first , and the first last : " it is an observation which occurs
in another part of the gospel-history ; and the context will point out its meaning . In Lukexiii . 28—S 3 , Jesus addresses the Jews in these terms , ** there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth , when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
teachers in the kingdom of God , and yourselves thrust out ; and those shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South , who wilt sit down in the kingdom of God—but behold there are last who will be first , and there are first who will be last . * Here the allusion is manifest to the case of the
Jews and of the Gentiles as to the reception of Christianity ; and hence it is at least probable that the parable of the labourers in the vineyard has the same genera ! subject , to which , indeed , our Lord ' s mind appears to have frequently adverted .
3 . Further , This parable admits of a more direct and more complete application to these two grand divisions of mankind than to individual persons . Between the figurative history given here and the real history of the conduct of Divine Providence towards the Jews and the Heathens , every attentive reader will allow that there is a strong resemblance . What , however , are those
circumstances in the character and state of men severally which the parable can in reason be supposed to delineate ? Will the Christian hereafter murmur and complain that others are equally rewarded with himself ?
Or will he not rather feel their happiness and triumph to be his own ? Why , too , should we conceive that this discourse refers to an imaginary case , when it can be so fairly and immediately applied to important facts ?
The doctrine of a very late conversion of individuals to religious virtue , we surely are authorized to pronounce an unscriptural tenet and a mischievous delusion *
4 . Lastly , It is observable that they who interpret the parable of the labourers in the vineyard , of men individually , are embarrassed by the remark at its conclusion , " for manv are
called , but few chosen ; ' * language which perfectly harmonizes with the opinion of those who understand our l ^ ord as now representing the particular situation of the Jews and
Gentiles in respect of his gospel . Bishop Pearce " can think of no sense proper to be given to these words , and suitable to this place : " he even suspects that " they are in the Greek an
interpolation from Matt . xxii . 14 ; " notwithstanding tlieycmake part of Griesbaeh ' s text . In this suspicion Mr . Kenrick is disposed to concur with the prelate ; and of the same judgment was Dr . Henrv Owen . * Mr .
Wakefield ventures so far as to omit this clause in his Translation of the New Testament . For the rejection of it , however , there is no sufficient evidence : and Biblical must not yield to Scriptural Criticism ; the proper reading of a
passage being a distinct subject from its interpretation * We easily perceive that these respectable writers felt an insurmountable difficulty in explaining the proverbial maxim , * ' many are called , but few chosen , "
consistently with their view of the scope and meaning of the parable . On the other hand , if the discontented labourers , who were hired at an early hour , are the Jews , and if Christian believers from among the Gentiles are described as the labourers who were hired
subsequently , we instantly discern the import and pertinency of the adage , t which was signally verified by the event . That interpretation of the parable which I have endeavoured to illustrate and establish , Mr . Wakefield pronounces " excellent •/* % but then he objects that " l > uke lias accom-* Bowyer ^ s Conjectures , in loc . t Mpn . Repos . IV . 626 . % New Translation of Matthew , &
31-6 Biblical Criticism *—On . Matt . xix . 30 j xx . 1—17-