News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-05-27

unto m5n that IS an nOu5enoluef
which went out early in The morning
to hire laDorers into his vineyard,
etc.--Matt 20:1-15.
The occasion of this parable we find
in the previous chapter where the rich
man came to Christ, the young man
who had q desire for spiritual things
! but vino thought more of his material
possessions and at last went away
sorrowful. The disciples, and especial
~ Peter, had been bordering the Incl
6sJnt. The young man had refused the
service of Christ and chung to his
riches; they on the contrary had for
saken what little they possessed and
thrown in their lot with the Master.
What would be their reward? So at
last Peter asks the question, Behold
we have forsaken all and followed
Thee, what shall we have Lherefore|'
The answer of Christ is that all those
who have made sacrifices for his sake
shall receive in the present world an
hundredfOld and, in addition, life ever
lasting
But the spirit of Peters question
also requires an answer. 1t was the
spirit of Inconsistencies, of self
complacency and bargaining. SO Jesus
tells him that many that are last shall
be first, and the first last, meaning
that not the mere fact of having made
a sacrifice for the kingdom insures
the great reward but the spirit in
which the sacrifice is made, and then
Jesus tells the parable.
This parable deals with work and
wages. The social science of today
probably does not take into considera-
ton what this parable has to say, or
possibly looks upon it as foolishness,
and yet it's teaching will stand when
much of the so-called social science
and tine-spun theories of the age have
passed into the limbo of forgotten
things.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto
man who goes to hire lahOrers into
his vineyard" Let us pause right
there. 1t is a fine thing when you feel
discouraged at conditions, and feel as
If in this Worka-day world the king
dom of God were an ethereal and un-
real quantity-it is fine thing then to
recall how many things Jesus says the
kingdom of heaven is like. Gather
those likenesses together and you find
that the kingdom touches your life
and work, no matter what your Occu-
patton may be. Why, it seems like an
invitation from God to join his forces
when you find that his kingdom is in
the midst of your life, and SO it is. The
kingdom of heaven is like a man who
goes to hire laborers! That very first
sentence overthrOWs some of our pre-
We probably had an idea
that the kingdom of heaven was like
the Garden of Eden where there would
be no labor to speak of, and where the
old question of wages would never be
brought up. 1t may be rather startling
to some of us to find that the kingdom
means work and wages, labor and re-
ward, industry and faithfulness. If we
learn that lesson from the parable we
have learnt great deaF. 1t is the Cos
pei VI "OA n COLIC OlIS says IIClI tHCl Z ,
is no gospel of work, that it is a stern
law of necessity from which man is
striving to escape. No, it
is a gospel. God has made work a
means of grace. The idle man is thu
farthest from the kingdom, and the
hardest to save.
Jesus represents God as hiring la
Dorers for his vineyard. To the Chris. |
ian every honest calling is a sacred |
calling since it is an integral part of .
he necessary work Of the kingdom of .
God We often bear the ministry
spoken of as the sacred calling, but
hat deserves the title only when it is
striving to infuse sacredness into
very life, and into the socalled secu- .
ar calling of every life.
The world is filled with different
kinds of work. There is for example
he work of the homemaker, concerned
With the preparation of food, the car
ng for house and clothing, and all
hose innumerable activities which
solomon loved to linger upon when he
described the good fortune of that
lone whose presiding angel is a good
Is not that work of the king
Iom of God? And perhaps that class
las more reason to go on a strike than
hose who work in our mines and fac
cries. There is the necessary work
# all those who labor in wood, and
ron, and stone; of those who trans
Orm the ores into tools and machin-
ry; of those who transform the raw
into textures of cotton and
vol and silk. There is the work of
hose who open the furrow, and SOW
he seed and reap the harvest. Can
. say to any of these, we have no
eed of you? Are they not all neces-
airy factors in Gods wise economy? II
Three Great Problems.