bitter disappointment. He said: "And many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." "GO YOU INTO MY VINEYARD." According to His usual method, He illustrated this truth of God's total freedom from obligation to man in conferring the grace of the true religion, by a familiar example. At that season of spring-time, as Jesus and His party passed through the towns and villages they saw groups of men These, with waiting to be hired. their tools in their hands, were standing about the market-places, and now and again a proprietor would come, pick out his men and start back to his farm or vineyard. Many of these farm-hands were scattered among our Saviour's hearers, as He paused to teach at their place of waiting. The simplicity of the example aided men to understand the wonderful doctrine of "election," or vocation to divine grace. The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace idle. And he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour: and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go ye also into my vineyard. And when evening was come, the lord of the vine yard saith to his steward: Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first. When therefore they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house. Saying: These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. But he answering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny Take what is thine, and go thy way. will also give to this last even as to thee. Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil, because I am good? So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen. No one can interpret this parable to mean that the rewards of heaven shall be equal in all cases. No, for in many places the Master speaks of particular merit for particular virtue, in accordance with our inborn sense of the vast difference between the innocent babe and the heroic martyr. What our Saviour means is God's freedom in the call to grace. He teaches that what goes first in saving souls is not man's merit but God's choice. God calls every one with an equal purpose to save, and to each one He gives grace for salvation. But once that grace is given, its recipients begin to merit by its means, and their merit differs widely. And how does it differ? Those who fancied that the Master called them because their race was His favored one, or because their natural virtue attracted Him, will find that this first place exists only in their self-righteous imagination, and they shall be least in the kingdom of God. Those who lay aside as a temptation all thought of personal merit, will find a power of God within them placing them under a spell of love and. trustfulness and light peculiar to the humble. Working by the aid of grace, man works with God's righteousness, and receives his reward on the score of justice. But work as he will before grace has sanctified him, God's justice owes him nothing; such a man is wholly in the order of mercy. Whatever soreness of heart he may feel at the advancement of others is caused by delusion: "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil because I am good?" This is the call of all peoples to the faith of Jesus Christ, without distinction of previous racial or historical or personal merit. The market-place is the world, and the Master of the vineyard going out to select His servants is Jesus Christ. His Divine Spirit calls the Jewish race first, then the Samaritan, then the nations everywhere. In the end what was first in time is outstripped and left last in honor. It is not otherwise with individuals. Nicodemus, doctor of the law and member of the Sanhedrin, creeps in the shadow of the poor fisherman. Great philosophers are rejected from the high places and humble peasants are preferred. Even those whose lives have always been innocent are often outstripped by penitent sinners, examples of the Apostle's dogma, "It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God who sheweth mercy." All of which was gall and wormwood to the Jews, whose blood was their faith, whose history was their boast before heaven. It is also a hard doctrine for certain races and families even in Christian times, who would set the rest of the world off from themselves as being rated as of lower grade by God the Holy Ghost "hiring laborers into His vineyard." These assume that by their natural gifts they are God's best choice. The truth is otherwise, for God is able to raise up children to Himself out of stocks and stones, and chooses whom He will. When this truth is made the foundation of personal virtue, it enables the Christian to acquire real merit with wonderful facility, for it is the virtue of humility that is rewarded with that love which makes us one with Christ. It absorbs us in Christ. In our miseries it nails us with Christ to the cross. In our joys we rise again with Christ unto newness of life. Christ lives in us and we live in Christ. And this and this alone is the Christian doctrine of merit. It may be asked: Do the words, "But few are chosen," mean that the number who shall attain to Heaven is small? We answer that many have believed so. But others are of opinion that our Saviour taught by these words that few attain to the greatness of merit and the degree of reward which is set apart for the specially humble. "They received every man a penny," CHAPTER LXXXV. RICHES AND POVERTY, AND CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. Matt. xix. 16-26; Mark x. 17-28; Luke xviii. 18-28. "AND when He was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? And Jesus said to him: Why callest thou Me good? None is good but one, God." Why did the Saviour rebuke this man? It is uncertain whether it was to elicit an act of faith in His divinity, or to chide him for using the term "Good Master," as an idle and unmeaning formality. This impulsive person was not of a deeply religious nature, and therefore needed to be turned inward to a careful scrutiny of his motives. "But if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments. But he said to Him, Which?" Perhaps he dreamed of some ready-made system of law which would save him as by a physician's recipe. Jesus held him down to commonplace good behavior, not even naming the sublimer duties of the soul to God in prayer and worship and love: "Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." A momentary triumph for the enthusiastic man was gained by the application of this rule. Though a mediocre character, he was true to his neighbor on every point. He exclaimed: "All these have I kept from my youth; what is yet wanting in me?" The interrogatory form but emphasized his boast: nothing is wanting to me. Now, supposing him to be as true to God as he was true to man-and he THE SCIENCE OF RELIGIOUS ECONOMY. The test of perfec tion is not in what one does, much or little, but in the mighty purpose to do everything, as soon as God's Spirit points the way. This test our young man failed to stand. Good as he was and worthy of our Saviour's love, he had riches and he was attached to them: "And Jesus looking on him loved him and said. to him: One thing is wanting unto thee; if thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me. And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad, for he had great possessions." And when he was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before him, asked him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? And Jesus said to him: Why callest thou me good? None is good but one, God. But if thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments. But he said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith to him: All these have I kept from my youth; what is yet wanting to me? And Jesus looking on him loved him and said to him: One thing is wanting unto thee; if thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad, for he had great pos sessions. And Jesus seeing him become sad, looking round about, saith to his disciples: How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus again answering, saith to them: Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking on them, saith: With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God. He was gone, his lesson unlearned! "And Jesus seeing him become sad, looking round about, saith to His disciples: How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God!" The deceitfulness of riches must be learned by the disciples |