We have just received the following communication from “A Constant Reader.” “I am going to ask if you will kindly give an explanation, in ‘Things New and Old,’ of Matt. 20:1-171For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. 17And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, (Matthew 20:1‑17): the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. A young lady lately came to me anxious about her soul. Her family, being all worldly and anxious to put her off thinking of religion, told her that, in this similitude, the laborer who came in at the eleventh hour received as much as those who worked from the beginning; from whence they argued that it was time enough for her when she became old, or was taken ill, to think of her soul.”
Now, we can have little difficulty in tracing to its proper source this miserably false interpretation and application of our Lord’s solemn and beautiful parable. The fact is, there is nothing whatever about the soul’s salvation in the entire passage. It is simply a question of service. Our Lord is speaking to His disciples, who were saved already; and He is showing them that the most excellent work is that which is done without any reference to wages or reward, as a motive, but in the sweet assurance that the Master will give what is right.
Hence, therefore, it is a fatal mistake to apply this parable to the matter of the soul’s salvation; and the idea of using it for the purpose of hushing the anxieties of an exercised conscience, is something perfectly shocking. There is a very wide difference indeed between a laborer in the Lord’s vineyard, and a sinner in his guilt and misery. The former shall receive his reward according to his Master’s sovereign goodness. For the latter, there is nothing before him but the eternal flames of hell —appalling thought!
But oh! how dreadful to whisper in the ear of such an one, “Time enough!” There is certainly no such word in the Bible, from beginning to end. It is Satan’s opiate to lull souls into a slumber, which may be interrupted, in a moment, by the arrow of death. It is a poor thing to talk of old age or a lingering illness, for who can count on either the one or the other? How little did those persons who, a few weeks since, stepped on board the “Normandy” at Southampton, think that, in three hours, their bodies would be at the bottom of the ocean, and their souls in eternity! We know not the moment when the hand of death may snap the thread which connects us with this present scene of things. We may be called away without so much as a moment’s notice. Who has got a lease of this present life? “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Alas! alas! it is to be feared that multitudes around us will have to exchange their slothful “Time enough” for a heart-rending “Too late!”
Reader, art thou one of those who say, or think if they do not say, “Time enough?” If so, let us entreat thee, most earnestly and solemnly, to hearken to a warning voice. Pause, for a moment, and consider. God says, “Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation.” No foundation, here, for “Time enough;” no, nor anywhere in the inspired volume. To imagine that the call of laborers into the vineyard at the eleventh hour has aught to do with the soul’s salvation, is, we repeat, fatally false.
Nor this only. It is at once dangerous and basely selfish to calculate upon old age or a death-bed repentance. There is not the slightest warrant for any such thing. And, even though there were, is it not truly contemptible to think of giving the best of our days and the prime of our energies to the service of sin and Satan, and then, when death approaches, and we can no longer enjoy the world and gratify our desires, to think of turning to Jesus? Is He not worthy of the best of our days, and all our powers? Shall we live for self and the world as long as we possibly can, and, when the king of terrors approaches, think of looking to Christ?
What sayest thou, beloved reader? Dost thou seethe baseness and the folly, the fallacy and the danger, of all this? If so, then we call upon thee, most urgently and solemnly, to come now, just as thou art, to Jesus. Fling far away from thee Satan’s “Time enough,” and act on God’s “Now.” Be assured there is no time to be lost. Every step you take, in your present course, is a step in the direction of the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Oh! do come, this moment, to that gracious Savior who stands, with open arms, ready to receive all who come to Him, and who has said, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out.”