he application of the
parable followed with convicting promptness. They, the chief priests,
scribes, Pharisees and elders of the people, were typified by the second
son, who, when told to labor in the vineyard answered so assuringly, but
went not, though the vines were running to wild growth for want of
pruning, and such poor fruit as might mature would be left to fall and
rot upon the ground. The publicans and sinners upon whom they vented
their contempt, whose touch was defilement, were like unto the first
son, who in rude though frank refusal ignored the father's call, but
afterward relented and set to work, repentantly hoping to make amends
for the time he had lost and for the unfilial spirit he had shown.[1091]
Publicans and sinners, touched in their hearts by the clarion call to
repentance, had flocked to the Baptist in the wilderness with the
earnest inquiry: "Master, what shall we do?"[1092] John's call had been
to no particular class; but while self-confessed sinners had repented
and sought baptism at his hands, those very Pharisees and elders of the
people had rejected his testimony and had hypocritically sought to
ensnare him.[1093] Through the parable Jesus answered His own question
as to whether the baptism of John was of God or of man. The Lord's
affirmation, "Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you," was condemnatory of the corrupt
though sanctimonious polity of the hierarchy throughout. It was not
wholly without intimation of possible reformation, however. He did not
say that the repentant sinners should enter, and the priestly hypocrites
stand forever excluded; for the latter there was hope if they would but
repent, though they would have to follow, not lead, in the glorious
procession of the redeemed. In a continuation of the same discourse the
Lord presented the _Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen_, as follows:

"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a
vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress 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 servants, 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 t