the
first and last as indicating those who did and suffered most in Christ's
cause and those who did and suffered least.

Those who toiled only one hour or other larger fraction of a working
day had no contract as to amount of wages; they entered the vineyard and
laboured without a bargain. They did not know what wages they would be
paid with, but they knew what master they were working for; they were
prepared to accept whatever he might be pleased to bestow. In this
respect they correctly represent the truest of Christ's disciples--those
little-child Christians whom he sets up as a pattern for others. Those,
on the other hand, who were first in point of time, and therefore first
in point of quantity, made their bargain before they began. This is like
disciples who slide back in some measure from the simplicity of faith
and allow a mercenary motive to mingle in their devotions. Especially is
it like Peter when, contrasting his own large sacrifices with the
refusal of the young man to sacrifice anything, and counting himself
first, while he looked down on others as last, he cunningly
inquired,--Lord, what shall we get for leaving all and following thee?
In answer to his egotistical inquiry, he is informed in plain terms that
he is one of those first who shall be last. This, however, according to
all the analogy of Scripture, is not, in regard to Peter or any
individual disciple, an absolute prediction of what shall be, but a
warning of what may be if the same spirit remain.

Our Scottish forefathers at the period of the Reformation suffered much
for Christ; some pined long in prison, some died at the stake. These
were first, and we who contribute a few pounds to a missionary society,
or teach a Sabbath school, or visit some poor families, are last in
respect to the quantity of our doing and suffering in the Saviour's
cause. But if any of those first were proud of their sufferings, they
will be last in the reward; and whosoever of these last give their mite
in simple love to the Lord that bought them, will be first when he
comes to bring home his own.

Such is the structure of the parable that it must express the difference
by giving one labourer not an absolutely but a comparatively greater
amount of wages than another. The last are recompensed at a higher rate
than the first, yet all go home with the same sum of money. But although
the labourers are all equal in the absolute amount of wages received,
the last are mad