being the unit or integral part of the kingdom—and all the churches under one divine constitution and the sole headship of Christ, constitute the outward visible form or manifestation of Christs kingdom on earth.”26
...—the comprehensiveness of His redeeming work—whether it extended to one race or nation or embracing all races and all nations. If the malignant opposition of Satan is to be continued until the end of the Gospel Ages to obstruct the progress of this merciful work, we should expect that the character of his subtle machinations and the extent of them would be also illustrated in His parabolic teachings. And, then, the Jewish nation, having been for four thousand years Gods peculiar people, the possessors of all the covenants and the promises, we should expect He would instruct His disciples the attitude this ancient people would assume towards the newly-organized kingdom of Christ and His purposes with reference to them. ...—the ultimate rewards of the one and the destiny of the other party, and the ultimate destiny of this once fair and beautiful, but now wrecked and ruined, earth. Now, all these features of His gracious work in connection with His earthly kingdom are fully illustrated by the parables and prophecies he delivered to His disciples; ... but we must seek the proper “likeness” between the principal features of the parable and one or more of the particular phases in the administration of “the kingdom of heaven,” ... The author, after more than three years of patient study of the prophetic Scriptures since writing “The Seven Dispensations,”{1883} has modified his views set forth in that work touching two questions, viz.: 1. Will all Christians of all ages compose the Bride of Christ? and (2) will all Christians at the advent of Christ be “caught away to meet Him in the air?” He is now thoroughly satisfied that these questions should be answered in the negative, and his reasons will be apparent to all who examine his expositions of The Virgins, The Talents, and The Pounds. It has been said, “A wise man by investigation sometimes changes his opinion, but a fool never.” ... Some Reasons for Offering These New Expositions of the Parables of Christ to the Public It is my conviction that no part of the word of God, unless it be the prophecies, has been more generally misinterpreted by commentators, and therefore misunderstood by the people, than the parables of Christ. Most of them have been interpreted, by even Calvinistic writers, to teach that salvation, or the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, can and must be purchased by the personal merits or endeavours of the sinner himself. Examine the current expositions of the “Hid Treasure,” of the “Costly Pearl,” and “The Labourers,” etc. We are told that the treasure, as well as the pearl, is salvation, or the blessings connected with the kingdom of heaven; and the sinner must not only diligently seek to find, but to sell all and PURCHASE it. So, by the Parable of the “Vineyard Labourers,” we are taught that sinners, some young, some old, enter the vineyard - the service of God - and all work for the same reward, i.e. salvation, as the price of their work! Take even Christs statement in Matt. 11:12. It is universally interpreted as teaching that the sinner can and must obtain the blessings of the kingdom of heaven as the result or reward of his own intense personal exertions; while everywhere in God’s word it is taught and emphasized that it is Christ himself who came to
26
J. R. Graves’, The Work of Christ in the Covenant of Redemption; Developed in Seven Dispensations.