must not, therefore, be any longer astonished that the highest seats therein should be occupied by the poor, whilst the majority of the rich and the great, cast down at their feet, shall grovel in the dust. Perhaps Jesus Christ was also desirous to give his disciples to understand that what was promised was not yet secured to them; that they might still lose those thrones which were prepared for them; and that, if they drew this misfortune upon themselves, they should one day groan in despair at, seeing them filled by others who, substituted in their stead, would be more faithful to the grace which called them to these thrones. This sense, which comprises the great mystery of the transfer and substitution of grace, was so literally accomplished in Judas, that it is not at all unlikely that the Saviour have had him in view when he uttered this sentence. But these same words which formed the conclusion of the preceding discourse, served, at the same time, as an introduction to the following parable, wherein they express the perfect independence of God in the distribution of his graces. It was, therefore, immediately after having spoken them that Jesus Christ continued thus:

may

(a) "The kingdom of God is like to a householder (18), who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. Having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard (19). And going out about the third hour (20), he saw others standing in the market-place 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

(a) St. Matthew, xx. 1-16.

(18) The kingdom of God is not like unto a man. This fashion of speech signifies that God, in the administration of his kingdom, which is his Church, demeans himself nearly like a father of a family, who, &c., &c. This remark has already been made else

where.

(19) This penny might weigh the eighth part of an ounce, and be worth about fifteen sous of our money. It was the price of a day's work.

(20) Towards nine o'clock in the morning. The Jews reckoned twelve hours in the day, from the rising till the setting of the sun. These hours were unequal, according to the inequality of the days. They also divided the day into four parts, each of which comprised three hours.

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 you also into my vineyard. And, when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard 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 (21). 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 one penny? Take what is thine (22), and go thy way; I will also give to

(21) The last come were, therefore, the first paid. In the parable this circumstance was necessary, in order that the others might see that these received the same payment as themselves. For if the first had been paid at the outset, they would have withdrawn immediately, and could not have witnessed what took place after their departure. Since they do not murmur at the payment being first made to the other class, it would seem that this species of priority should not be regarded as a favor. What matter to them, in point of fact, to be paid a few minutes sooner or later? I that this spesay cies of priority should not be regarded as a favor, merely considering the letter of the parable; but not so with reference to the application. For the object here is to establish this truth, that the last shall be the first, and the first shall be last. There must be some real advantage accruing to the last which is not enjoyed by the first. This advantage is to be found in the predilection which God has signally shown towards the Gentiles, who became, to the exclusion of the Jews, the chosen and cherished people, and further exhibited in the extraordinary caresses which he lavishes on sinners who, although tardily, return sincerely to him. Now, these are the two applications which are made of this parable, as shall be seen when continuing the perusal of the text.

(22) By virtue of the agreement. As soon as they had completed their engagement, the penny was due to them in justice. However, it was also gratuitous, for the householder might not have entered into any engagement with them; he might employ them or pass them by at his own option. On the other hand, having promised some wages to those whom he had called at a late hour, he was also indebted to them for it in point of justice. Thus justice in the first class does not exclude grace, and grace in the second class does not exclude justice. This is the doctrine of Saint Paul, who states of himself: By the grace of God I am what I am, which does not hinder him from stating elsewhere: There is laid up for me a crown of justice. Catholic faith has always recog

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 (23).”

We can, therefore, return to God at any period of life, and that merciful God is still sufficiently liberal to grant to those who give themselves to him in the decline of their life the same recompense as to those who have commenced serving him in the vigor of life, or even from their earliest youth. It is, I say, the same reward, and in substance identical, although unequal in its degrees, in proportion to the time which the individual shall have spent in his service; although it may also happen, and the parable conveys this idea plainly enough, that those who have commenced late do equal by their fervor, or even surpass many of those who shall have toiled from the morning of their life. Such are the consoling truths which Jesus Christ in this parable proposes to sinners of all ages, and the sense in which it is usually expounded. But how are we to regard here the murmurings of those who came first? Inasmuch as all are rewarded, they are all just and happy; and it is certain that in the day of retribution, those among the just who shall have been least favored, far from reproaching the Lord with the inequality of his favors, shall, on the contrary, bless and applaud him for his superabundant bounty to others. This reflection, joined to the surmise that so considerable a part of the parable cannot be a mere adjunct to it, or merely ornamental, warrants the application of it to the two races, and the application is quite correct. The Jews, if you compare peo

nized both truths in the recompense of the elect. Protestants, who misunderstand the merit thereof, have abused several expressions in this parable, for the purpose of sustaining their error, and have distorted the sense of some other passages which tell against their erroneous doctrine. This has induced us to place here this exposition.

(23) All those spoken of in the parable being elect, inasmuch as all received the pence, we do not further see how this conclusion can refer to the parable. But we can very easily connect it with those words which go immediately before: So shall the last be first, and the first last. This sort of subversion may excite surprise: the utter exclusion of the greater number of those who are called should surprise us much more. Wherefore the matter presents itself as if Jesus Christ said: You seem surprised at hearing me state that the first called shall be sent to the lowest rank; how much more should you wonder that, amongst this great number of men who have been called, and who shall yet be called, very few shall have the reward.

ple to people, had been called from the time of Abraham, and the Gentiles were only called by the apostles. Moreover, if we compare man with man, each Jew in particular had toiled all his life in the vineyard of the Lord. Circumcised from his birth, he had borne the intolerable yoke of the law from that moment until the day when he embraced the evangelical law. Then, according to the promise, he had received in baptism both the remission of his sins and the quality of child of God and heir of the heavenly kingdom. But a Gentile who became converted, received, as well as he, this precious penny: a Gentile, who had been a stranger to this alliance, and to whom nothing had ever been promised; and if we consider what he was in himself, he was a man who had hitherto lived without God, without law, without morals, the sport of his passions, the slave of all vices, and the worshipper of demons. From the midst of these horrors, he opened his eyes to the light of faith which was presented to him, and at the same moment he became equal to the children of the promise. We are aware of the murmurs which arose amongst the Jews in consequence of this equality which they had never anticipated, and which they could not behold without envy. Perhaps the discontent would have gone so far as to make them withdraw from the Church, or to prevent their entering into it, like the brother of the prodigal child, if those two parables had not prepared them for this great event; for both have the same object, and the antidote was not more than requisite in order to prevent the consequences of the scandal which should arise amongst the Jews with reference to this subject. But if they tend to the same end, they do so by dif ferent paths, as it is easy to discern from the different reasons which they give for this conduct of God. That of the first parable is the paternal love which God entertains towards all men, without excepting those who have wandered farthest from his holy ways. That of the second is, as we have said, his perfect independence in the distribution of his graces, which enables him to grant them to whomsoever he pleases, and in the measure that he pleases, without any other reason for the preference than his own good pleasure; or for his predilection, but the predilection itself.

This occurred in that part of Judea beyond the Jordan, where we have seen that Jesus then was. We have previously said that he

was on his way towards Jerusalem; but as it was his design not to reach the city until the approach of the feast of the Passover, he proceeded very slowly, teaching on the way, and curing the sick who came before him. It is even apparent that he prolonged his sojourn in the places in which he had resolved to diffuse yet other lights and graces, when an accident, which, however, was not such to him who had foreseen and willed it, made him advance on a sudden almost to the walls of the capital. This was the sickness and death of Lazarus, whose resurrection must be regarded as one of the most memorable events of this history, not only because it was the greatest miracle which Jesus Christ performed during his whole mortal life, but, moreover, on account of its consequences; for we may consider it as the proximate cause of the Saviour's death. Too plain to leave any room for their wicked subtleties, this miracle drove his enemies to despair, and to them there now remained no other course than either to adore him or to crucify him. Between these two extremes envy never hesitated; and its characteristic excess of malice would suffice to make us aware on which part it decided, even if history had left us in ignorance of the fact.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.-FIRST CONSULTATION AGAINST JESUS CHRIST.-CAIPHAS PROPHESIES. JESUS RETIRES TO EPHRAIM.

(a) "Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary, and of Martha, her sister. Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment (1), and wiped his feet with

(a) St. John, xi. 1-56.

(1) Since Saint John designates her by this trait, it must, therefore, belong exclusively to one person, otherwise the sign would be equivocal. Moreover, the Church, in the Office of Saint Magdalen, only makes one and the same person of her whom some interpreters would fain make two, and even three different persons. On both sides it is merely an opinion; but we may say that the opinion of those who multiply the Marys