The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-12
The Lesson Tex. in Everyday Dress.


be last and the last shall be first
Jesus told this story
man went to the market place
early one morning to hire laborers for
his vineyard. A few accepted his
offer of shilling a day and went To
Work. These were not enough, how
ever. and about O'Clock he returned
to the market TO look for more. This
time instead Of Offering a definite sum
he simply told the men TO go to work,
assuring them that he would give
them what was right. AT noon and
again at o'clock and finally at 3
o'clock he returned to the market
seeking more Iaborers and making the
same offer Naen the day was over
he told his steward to call the men
and give them their wages. He was
a ~ eat hearted man who dealt with
iDeral hand, and remembering how
those who came late had trusted him
to do what was right and realizing
how little they would receive if they
were paid their proper proportion, he
told his steward to give them the
same amount that he had agreed to
give the others, and TO pay them on
first. When the men who had done
days work saw what the late
corners received they were greatly
elated, expecting that they would re-
NVifC iiiciT the SslittluE JIG% HttQ
hargsined for, but when their turn
came they each received a shilling.
At this they were greatly incenseo,
but the householder said unto them
FRIENDS | have done you no harm.
Did you not agree with me to work
full day for a chilling? Take your
money and go your way. 1t Is my
will to give To these others the same
that 1 am paying you. Have ! not the
~ do - .uEsH -.
Are you full OF envy because / am
generous
So" added Jesus. the last shall
De FIRST and the first last.
The Heart OF the Lesson.
lou have wrong view of this
whole matter" Jesus seems to say TO
Peter. Just as that young man had.
he thought that eternal lite was 10
be obtained by purchase--that IL was
a matter of paying the price. that IL
ne did such and such things he would
earn the right TO place in my kind
dom Anu you have been thinking
that II he had given up his wealth he
would thereby have earned the right
10 eternal life. And you have been
comparing his case with yours and
saying to yourself that If he could
earn eternal life by giving up his
wealth surely you should have an un-
usual reward for having given up
everything to follow me. You are
wrong, Peter Getting place in my
Kingdom is not commercial transac-
ton. No man can buy his way into
the Kingdom of God. Eternal life is
beyond price. There is nothing you
could pay, nothing YOU could do,
nothing you could suffer that would
make you worthy of IT, Eternal life
Is the gift OF God. 1t may cost you
a great deal TO come into possession
or the gift but you cannot buy IL. It
is gift. 1t might cost you a great
deal to secure an invitation to the
court of great king. but you could
not buy the invitation: II IL gift
A bargaining spirit has no place in
my Kingdom, Peter. You cannot drive
bargains with God. My Father is not
an employer who agrees to paw his
workmen so much for so much work;
ne Is rather like a great-hearted man
who loves to deal with a liberal hand
and to reward those who work for him
according to His own goodness rather
tnan according to what they may ac-
complish. 1t is like this''-and he
went on 10 tell the story of a great
hearted employer who hired laborers
at different times in the day TO work
IN MS vineyard and at the end of the
DAY realizing that those who came
last would be entitled to a very small
part OF the days wages, and remem-
bering how they had trusted him 10
do what was right. graciously com
manded that they should be given the
wages OF u fu1I day
If God should reward us according
10 what We earn we would never get
glimpse OF eternal life Having done
our best We are still Improbable SER
wants. what poor conceited thing
Is he who imagines that he has done
something for God worth counting:
that he has placed God under oblira-
tons to him. can no more place
God under obligations to me by any
thing l can do than my little child
can place me under obligations to him
by trying to cultivate my flower gar
den. He only cuts up my flowers with
his little hoe.
The Lesson Illustrated.
l. Why did these men grumble over
their pay? Was it because they did
not get all they had earned? No; it
was because the other receivd for a
full day. They were not willing for
others to be treated better than they
were treated. How many of us In
everyday business life have gone to
pieces on this rock. Here liz a young
man who is getting $40 week. He
Is perfectly satisfied until one day he
finds that somebody else Ia getting
VIZ. Then his happiness il at an
and. He grumhies over il through
the day and dreams over 1t through
the night. He turns green with envy
one moment and black with rage the
next He had thought his employer
gentleman. Now he is brute.
And so he goes on working himself
up into fever, making himself and
everybody around him miserable,
wasting his employers time, spelling
his work and doing nothing well ex-
cept drawing his pay. which he Is
no longer earning And all the while
1t never occurs to him to ask himself,
Is II any Of my business what other
people get? Isn't my contract be-
tween my employer and me alone
Am ! a baby that l should ask for
more pay simply on the ground that
other people are getting more?"
What a pitifui spectacle q young man
makes OF himself when he goes TO his
employer and can offer no better rea-
son for asking an increase OF pay than
the fact that somebody else gets more
IL could not ask on the ground that
l.. an doing nafaAfoE sHyn EMPLOYER
than he Is doing for me I would |
quickly resign and drop out OF sight |
A mana true man--wants what he |
earns, no more, no less. You can't |
tell gentleman that you are paying |
him more not because he earns IT. /
but because You have got to pay 9TH