The First Last, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. A Threefold uſe of Parables; the Text Divided and Explained; the Doctrine Propoſ'd and Proved by Scripture.
PArables in Scipture are uſed eſpecially upon a Threefold account: Firſt, Judicially, to blind the eyes of thoſe who wilfully cloſe their eyes againſt the light, Mark 4.11, 12. Secondly, to Illuſtrate the Truth to thoſe that are willing to underſtand, Joh. 3.12. If I have told you earthly things, &c. i. e. Heavenly things illuſtrated by Earthly Parables and Reſemblances. Thirdly, to blind men at firſt, that they may ſee better afterwards; or to make them own their ſin and condemn themſelves unawares in a third perſon, which directly they would not do. Of this ſort is Nathan's Parable to David, 2 Sam. 1…. and many of Chriſt's Parables to the Jewes; two whereof we find in this Chapter. viz. That of the two Sons commanded to work in the Vineyard, verſ. 28, 33. and that of the Vineyard let out to the ingrateful Huſbandmen, verſ. 33.42. The Text in hand is the Reddition and Application of the former, wherein our Saviour wreſteth from the Prieſts and Elders (for to them eſpecially the Parable was ſpoken) a ſentence of condemnation againſt themſelves,Verſ. 23. under the reſemblance of that Son, who ſaid, I go Sir, but went not. Yea, forceth them to judge the Publicans and ſinners (ſhadowed by the other Son) better and happier then themſelves: having brought them to acknowledge the Premiſes, in the Text he plainly laies down the Concluſion.
The words are an Aſſertion; in which obſerve,
1. The Aſſertor; Jeſus Chriſt, who was Truth it ſelf.
2. The note of Aſſertion, or Aſſercration; Verily,
3. The Aſſertion it ſelf; wherein there is obſervable,
1. A Collation, or compariſon betwixt the Prieſts and Elders, and the Publicans and ſinners.
2. A Praelation, or preferring the later before the former.
3. The thing wherein they are preferred, viz. their greater readineſs to embrace the Goſpel, and to go into the Kingdom of God.— A little for explication.
[Publicans and Harlots] are here Synechdochically put for the worſt of ſinners; for ſo they were deſervedly eſteemed.
Publicans were Officers belonging to the Romans, (though, for the moſt part, Jews by Nation) not much unlike our Exciſe-men, or Tole-gatherers; amongſt whom, ſome were, as it were, Farmers, (ſuch I ſuppoſe was Zacheus, Luke 19.2.) Others of an inferiour Rank, Collectors: both given to Rapine, Oppreſſion, Injuſtice, Violence, and were the Romans chief inſtruments to grind the faces of their poor Brethren: hereby contracting upon them the juſt odium of the Jewiſh Nation. Hence that ſuitable counſel of John to them, Luk. 3.13. Exact no more then that which is appointed you. Upon this account Zacheus (as a ſpecial teſtimony of his ſincere repentance) offers a fourfold reſtitution of any thing got by falſe accuſation, Luk. 19.8. That being the ſin of his calling. Yea ſo wicked they were, that in Scripture, Heathen and Publican are equivalent, Mat 18.17. So that when our Saviour would beat the Jews out of their carnal confidences, and high conceits of themſelves and their doings, he ordinarily compares them with Publicans, ſhewing them, that they either come up no higher then they, as Matth. 5.46, 47. or, that they fall ſhort of them, as Luke 18.10-14. and this Text. Yea, ſo wicked were they thought, that it was judg'd a crime in our Saviour to converſe with them, Matth. 9.11. and caſt upon him, as a grand opprobrium, that he was a friend of Publicans and ſinners, Matth. 11.9.
Harlots (their ſin is too well known amongſt us) Gr. foreign Vendor: properly thoſe, quae corpus habent venale, who proſtitute their bodies for money. If you would ſee their wickedneſs, read Proverbs 6, and 7. Chapters, and 23, 27, &c. Some think that 27. Chapter to be Allegorical, and that under the ſhadow of an Harlot, is repreſented the deceitful and deſtructive nature of ſin: if ſo, this ſin is exceeding ſinful, which (though but one ſpecies) yet contains in it the whole nature and properties of its genus; and is, as it were, an Epitome of all ſin.
[Kingdom of God] is uſed in many ſenſes; to paſs by other, it is taken ſometimes for the ſtate of Grace, the Church Militant; ſometimes for the ſtate of Glory, or Church Triumphant: here both may be taken in, the one as the Way, the other as the End. So that the plain ſenſe is, Publicans and Harlots, notorious vile ſinners, ſooner repent, believe, embrace the Goſpel, &c. ſo conſequently come to Heaven, then you formal, ſelf-conceited Jews, Prieſts and Elders.
[Before you] The ſpeech is ſomething improper, (as Beza notes) Improprie hîc dicuntur praeire, quos nemo ſequitur. They go before you; i. e. they are ſaved, and you periſh; as appears by comparing this with Matth. 8.11, 12. The children of the Kingdom ſhall be caſt out into outer darkneſs. They upon Faith and Repentance are made happy in glory, while you continuing in unbelief and impenitency fall into eternal perdition.
The words thus opened, take the ſenſe of them in this plain Doctrinal Propoſition or Concluſion.
Doctr. That the vileſt ſinners, Publicans and Harlots, &c. often believe, repent and are ſaved, while Phariſaical, ſelf-juſtifying Formaliſts continue in Ʋnbelief and Impenitency, and ſo periſh eternally.
Proof. Thus you ſee it was in the courſe of John's preaching, verſ. 31. and thus it fell out in our Saviours preaching. Levi the Publican becomes Matthew the Evangeliſt, Luke 5.27. with Matth. 10.3. Zacheus the chief of the Publicans, and very rich, becomes a Son of Abraham; i. e. a Penitent believer: Luke 19.9. Magdalen the Harlot, is made Magdalen the Convert, Luke 7.37.—Nor was it onelyonly ſo with theſe two or three; but, Mark 2.15. Many Publicans and ſinners followed him, Luke 7.29, 30. The Publicans juſtified God— But the Phariſees and Lawyers rejected the counſel of God againſt themſelves, &c. Nay, Luke 15.12. Then drew near unto him all the Publicans and Sinners for to hear him, and the Phariſees and Scribes murmured— Amongſt theſe ſelf-conceited, ſelf-juſtifying Formaliſts, there was but Ʋnus & alter, one Nicodemus, one Joſeph, one Paul; and not many more that I remember. That queſtion, John 7.48. Have any of the Rulers or of the Phariſees believed on him? implies the rarity of ſuch mens coming in. So that as it is ſaid of Miniſters, Quis unquam vidit Cl…ricum paenitentem; (though I hope ſuch are no black Swans in this age) ſo it might have been ſaid in that age, Quis unquam vidit Phariſaeum paenitentem? Who ever ſaw a Phariſee, a Scribe, a Ruler, a Lawyer repenting? Nor was it otherwiſe in the Apoſtles time; (the immediate Succeſſors of Chriſt) you will find throughout the Hiſtory of the Acts, that the formal Jews were the greateſt contemners of the Apoſtles Doctrine, and the moſt deadly inveterate haters and perſecutors of their perſons; while whole Cities and Countries of the prophane Idolatrous Gentiles, readily embrace, ſteadfaſtly believe, and cordially obey their Goſpel. Take a few inſtances among many, Acts 8.5.— Philip hath incredible ſucceſs in Samaria, the Goſpel is received there with great joy, v. 8. which the Jews had driven away from them by a great perſecution, verſ. 1. So Acts 13.45. The Jews ſeeing the multitudes, are filled with envy—contradict, blaſpheme; but verſ. 48. The Gentiles are glad, and glorifie the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed; whereas the Jews, v. 50. do, Omnem moverê lapidem, ſtir up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the City, and raiſed perſecution againſt Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their Coaſts. Go to the 14 Chapter, at Iconium a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks beleeved, v. 1. But then, v. 2. the unbelieving Jews ſtirred up the Gentiles, &c. — At Lyſtra, the Idolatrous people miſtaking the Apoſtles, for their ſuppoſed Heatheniſh Deities, are ſcarce reſtrained from doing ſacrifice unto them. Here was a wide door opened, and might in all probability have proved more effectual, had not the inveterate enemies of the Goſpel, the carnal Jews, ſtopt the paſſage by enraging the people againſt the Apoſtles, as you may ſee, v. 19. Go on to the 17. Chapter, v. 1.5.— You find the Apoſtles ſucceſfully preaching the Goſpel at Theſſalonica, a great multitude of devout Greeks believing, and of the chief women not a few, v. 4. But v. 5. the Jews their old adverſaries oppoſe, &c. The like ſucceſs they had at Berea, v. 10, 11, 12. and the ſame oppoſers, v. 13. At Corinth, Acts 18.8. with 12, 13. At Rome, though few of the Jews believed, Acts 28.23.— to the end; yet the ſeed which Paul caſt there, ſprung up into a flouriſhing Gentile-Church, whoſe Faith was ſpoken of throughout the whole World, Rom. 1.8. 'Tis needleſs to heap up inſtances of this nature, they being common and obvious to any that obſerve them. Thus you ſee that de facto it was ſo; (and the caſe is not much alter'd now) that it was much more ordinary and frequent, to ſee a penitent Publican or Harlot, or the like groſs Sinner, then to ſee a proud, ſelf-juſtifying Phariſee, or Formaliſt, repenting and embracing Chriſt.