The Progress., 1896-05-14

. " Its lmp0rtdNr" fdl
be seen from the fac
that more room i
given to the story 0
this one week in tn
Gospels than to any whole year Of Jesus min
! istry. This week occupies seven chapters o
Matthew, five OF Marx five Of Luke, ant
eight of John; in all twenty-five chapters
against three for the first year, twenty for tn
second, and twenty three for the third.
The events of this week should be Learned
by heart, and by drill and by blackboard the!
should be impressed on the memory III ylvll
pictures.
Their bearing Oh the work Of Christ shoui'
be clearly pointed out Tho first three days
which arc included in to-dayS lesson wer'
employed in one great and powerful EFFORT
oxertcd in every possible way, to Undue" the
jewish nation to accept Jesus as their Mes
slah, and thus become that glorious nation
blessing the whole world, for which they ha,
been set apart. Jesus rode into Jerusalem a:
the Prince Of Peace. The pOpuace hailed
him as Messiah He entered the temple as it:
Lord and drove out the monoy-changers from
his Fathers house. He presented the trutt
in parallels.
To-day's lesson includes Luke. %: 9-lo.
O. "A certain man." representing God him
self, the owner of all things. PLANTED vine
yard" Palestine was a country Of vineyards
and Jesus took his illustration from most
familiar occurrence, Isaiah uses similar IL
lustrat0n. And let it forth to hUSbandmcn.
1t is customary in the East, as in ireland and
in other parts of Europe, for the owner to
let out his estate to husbandmon, j. e., tc
tenants. And went into a far country:
rather as in the K. V. another country. He
went abroad. He left his tenants in charge
with everything needful for their work, and
thus by his absence tested their taithGuInesS,
and gave them opportunity to develop their
characters and fulfil their duties This was
''for long time"
y. And at the season" not any definite
time, but every occasion when God had rca-
son to expect the results. He sent u serv-
ant" The prophets and all faithful priests
and teachers The husbandmcn beat him. y
The next one they not only beat. but entreat-
ed him shamefully. The fruit the Lord had
a right TO expect, the people did not give him.
The nation as a whole were very disappoint-
ing Is. "My beloved: dear to him as his
own self This is said to show the greatness
A. This is the herr Christ is the heir
of all things Glcb. /: y. The Jewish nation
should have been his to rule. while they
obeyed him, the Messiah, in love. LET us
kill him. that the inheritance may be ours.
This alludes to the Eastern custom, that.
if an owner was not to be found. and the
occuper pays the taxes for six years, he can
claim the property The owner. in this case,
was in a far country, and had sent servant
after servant, but had not enforced his rights.
When the legal heir appeared they were
alarmed for their tenure, and hoped that by
killing him, unless his father came in per-
son, the estate would become absolutely their
OWL" -Canon Tristram.
l6. He shall come and destroy these hus-
bandmen." Since every possible method Of
saving them had been rejected. The tree that
no culture will enable to bring forth fruit
must be cut down. The wicked man whom
nothing can make better must perish. In
the summer Of A. D. 20, forty years after
this parable was spoken, Jerusalem was de-
stroycd and the temple was burned and laid
in ruins by the Roman army under Titus, aft
or the most terrible siege on record: $1,000
we're taken prisoners and 100000 persisted.
Yet these Jews, If they had boen faithful.
might have been the leading nation in the
world, walking as kings and princes among
men, the Joy Of the whole earth. shedding
the light of Gods truth and Righteousness over
tho nations. But they would not: they re-
iected the Messiah and persisted. And shall
give the vineyard to others. y THE others
we're the Christian church, the new kingdom
of heaven, which took the place Of the Jew
ish nation after the destruction Of Jerusalem.
II. This then that is written" in Psalm
us: o. ga psalm which the Jews applied
to the Messiah. Peter twice applied it to
him (ActS 4: H. Pet 2; y. The stone
which the builders rejected" In the primary
meaning CT the psalm the Illustration seems
to have been drawn from one of the stones.
quarred, hewn and marked, away from the
site of the temple, which the builders. ignor-
ant OF the head architects plans. or finding
on it no mark (suCh as recent explorations In
Jerusalem have shown to have been placed
on the stones Of Soomon's temple in the
place where they were quarred. to indicate
their position in the future structure Of the
fabric, had put on one side as having no
place in the building. but which was found
afterwards to be that on which the complete
ness of the structure dependedOn which, as
the chief corner stone the two walls met
and were bonded together. "-Plumptre. The
stone rejected was Jesus the Messiah, and the
kingdom and it's blessings which would come
with him. is become the head Of the cor
ner" The cornerstone on which the super
structure rests. The most important stone in
the building. The Messiah is to succeed and
reign, his kingdom is to come, no matter who
opposes.
49, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone"
stumbles at the humiliation Of Jesus. and
50 does not accept his claims. 'Shal! be
broken" shall suffer great injury, but may
Yet be saved by repentance and faith. But
on whomsoevcr it shall fall" IN final judg
ment and punishment, 1T will grind him to
powder" in complete and irremediable de-
struction. This was fulfilled in the dcstruC-
ton Of Jerusalem, a type OF the ruin Of those
VINO reject Christ's principles, atoning love
and guidance.
10. And the chief priests seeing that the
parable applied to them thought to defeat the
prophecy, and make the words to be impOssi-
bio to. be fulfilled, by destroying Jesus. But
1t vas his death that wrought victory for
him.