e, and they knew it, into the slough of the devil's
accursed dominion, because no Almighty Helper and Saviour appeared. We
see their misery, their tears, their mad outbursts of passion, their
foul orgies of lust; and our hearts bleed, nay there have been hearts
that have burst, as they watched this tragedy of despair. And heaven
heard it all, saw it all, through long ages; and still no deliverer was
sent. It is a profound mystery, the millenniums through which the world
was left to grope and to moan in the darkness, while the clear sunlight
of God's truth was flashing its brightness so joyously on the homes of
the chosen race. I say again, the mystery, though profound, is not
inscrutable; for there is Calvary to expound it. In the long run, in the
great day of eternity, it will be seen, that this forsaking of the
heathen world was an essential part of a benign and merciful plan, of
which Calvary is the centre; and that it lies in the full harmony of a
love which "_endured the cross, and despised the shame_," that a whole
world might be gathered at length to the great Father's heart. But the
"_no man hath hired us_" has a profound and pathetic meaning, when we
search the records of pagan religious effort and aspiration, and when we
see how everywhere, when the gates were flung open, the Gentiles
thronged, streamed, crushed, into the kingdom of God. I find in this
thought the whole mystery of the parable unfolded. The Gentiles had been
looking, waiting, longing, in their own dull way, for the work of the
vineyard. It was the Master's counsel, as well as their own dull hearts,
which had kept them idle during the noontide heats. And it was the work
which it was in their hearts to do that the Master honoured, when He
made them equal to the favoured and happy husbandmen, had they but known
it, who had "_borne the burden and heat of the day_."

III. The Master's justification of His ways.

"So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward,
Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last
unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh
hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received
every man a penny. And when they had received it they murmured against
the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one
hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have