SECTION XV.

PREPARATION FOR THE LAST DECISIVE ENTRANCE OF CHRIST INTO THE HOLY CITY; OR THE UNFOLDING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF THE NEW CHURCH OR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, IN CONTRAST TO THE SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CORRUPT HIERARCHIC CHURCH.

(Matt. xvii. 22-xx. 16.)

Jesus had already, on His various retreats from His antagonists, in many ways made evident the contrast of the true divine life in His kingdom of Heaven to the corruptions of human life in the old world. When He left Nazareth, He showed that there is a higher home than an earthly one; and this home He found wherever He was understood and received in faith. When He retired to Gaulonitis from Herod the tetrarch, He exhibited in act the true princeliness and kingly power of the Spirit, by feeding the poor people in the wilderness, dismissing His enthusiastic adherents (who would willingly have paid Him homage), and withdrawing deliberately from the most importunate of them. He thus exhibited true friendship for the people in contrast to attempts to excite rebellion and revolt. During His return He gave His disciples a figure of the dominion of His Spirit and of the children of His Spirit over the waves, in contrast to the terrors of the sea and the storm of the old world. And in the same manner. He confronted the old terror for spirits and spectres with the peace of God in the midnight storm, the certainty of the nearness of God's messengers for help and rescue, and especially His own nearness for rescue. On His second setting out He impressed upon His followers the true purity of the mouth in contrast to the Levitical; the true sphere of the extension of the kingdom of God, which goes out into the heathen world, in contrast to the legal typical; the true lost sheep of the house of Israel (to whom belonged the woman of Canaan also) in contrast to external Judaism. As the first time He had fed a multitude in the wilderness in contrast to the bloody revellings of Herod, which destroyed the noblest blessing of His land, so did He this time in contrast to the seeming holy meals of the Pharisees, at which Levitical washing was not wanting, and yet all was defiled by the breath of the corruptions which issued from their hearts. Finally, on His third departure. He set forth the true, great divine sign of the coming kingdom of heaven for mankind, as a sign which should mysteriously arise from the depths of the heart, and the depths of the earth (the grave and the lower world), and the depths of the silent experience of a few receptive witnesses (namely. His resurrection as it should issue from His death), in contrast to external cosmic signs in the sky, which the phantasy of chiliastic, externalized Jews (and Christians) desire to see. He then shows them that, in leaving an unclean theocratic church-system which has sunk into heathenism, a higher care must occupy their thoughts than the fear of being next without bread, namely, carefulness lest some leaven of the old corrupt course of life should be lying concealed in their hearts, and might thus be carried along with them into the new order of things. He had now at last come to the point when He could found the new Church in contrast to the old. He founded it on the firm and living confession of His name, in contrast to the divergent opinions of the old Church concerning the Messiah. He then immediately marked her with the sign of the cross, by calling upon her to be ready for suffering, which forms her first characteristic in contradistinction to the pre-Christian community. Next He exhibits her in her inward heavenliness, spiritual beauty, and super-terrestrial sublimity, as, enthroned on the mountain, she lives in intercourse with the spirit of heaven, and is thereby strengthened for her warfare on earth — -the very opposite of the old Church in her outward form, as she existed chiefly in unfree limitation to the things of this life, and was in particular oppressed with fear of the kingdom of the dead and its shadows. But He also guarded her as decidedly against being drawn away by a one-sided monkish desire for intercourse with the spirits of heaven; He led His disciples down to the contest with the demons of darkness in the vale of human life, and showed them how to overcome these demons, and free mankind from them, in the power of abnegation of the world and fellowship with God (fasting and prayer).

The facts which Matthew relates to us from this time until Christ's entrance into Jerusalem, have this peculiarity, that they not only set forth the preparation for that entrance, but that in them the individual characteristics of the new Church, consequently the fundamental laws of the kingdom of heaven, are at the same time unfolded in contrast to the characteristics of the old, perverted, hierarchic Church. When Jesus, some time after the transfiguration (after He had gone to Jerusalem to the feast of Tabernacles), had returned with His disciples for the last time to Galilee, He went constantly about with them through that land, probably to avoid the snares of His enemies. And now once more He announced to them His approaching sufferings. 'The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again.' He probably told this also to the wider circle of disciples in Galilee. And for the first time they now received an indication that an act of treachery would be practised towards Him — that He would be delivered over to the heathen. And they were exceeding sorry, says Matthew. Great dejection spread among the believers in Galilee. On the other hand, the hierarchic party now came forth more boldly with expressions of displeasure against Jesus. This was shown in a characteristic circumstance. As soon as they had returned to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple-tribute (the two-drachma piece¹) went to Peter, and through him craved (on the street, as it would seem) our Lord Himself for the temple-tribute, either past due or now falling due, with the question, 'Doth not your Master pay tribute? 'Peter did not understand the proper significance of this question, and precipitately answered, 'Yes.' This is another of Peter's acts which have become typical of the faults of the Romish Church (the dehortation from the cross, the utterance upon the mountain, the drawing of the sword, &c.): he will here surrender the freedom of his Master and his members, pledging it to the temple-dues of the Old Covenant. Christ gently set him right regarding this. For when Peter came to the house, He anticipated Peter's mentioning the tribute by the question, 'What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children (the princes of the house), or of strangers? 'Peter replied, * Of strangers.' Jesus drew the conclusion, 'So then are the children free.' The interpretation was easy. The temple was the typical residence of Jehovah. To support this residence by their tribute, was the duty of the subjects of the heavenly King, consequently of those who stood to Him in the relation of servants; but not the duty of His children, neither of His Son, nor of the partakers of His Spirit. These represented the proper house-membership of this royal palace, the proper life of the temple. It was thus a clamant misapprehension of the divine life in them to wish them to pay tribute to the temple compulsorily, in the spirit of servitude. This sets Peter right. But he had given his promise, and so had afforded the servants of the temple a legal claim. Besides, they assume that their demand was well founded. Oar Lord therefore says to Peter, 'Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money (a four-drachma piece): that take, and give unto them for Me and thee.' The certain result of this direction is so self-interpreting, that the Evangelist did not think it necessary to say a word about it. It is moreover to be observed, that the first fish is expressly described as that in whose mouth the stater should be found (see above, vol. i. p. 454), and that Jesus so ordered the matter that payment was made not for Himself alone, but also for Peter with Him. The relation of the new Church to the old ordinance of paying temple dues was expressed in Christ's words with sufficient distinctness. The children of the New Covenant, who are themselves the living and true inheritance of God, owe, in a legal way, neither tribute nor service to any typical or outward temple-worship. In their inward life they are, as children of God's house, above compulsory duty to the outward temple. But perhaps some historical legal demand is laid upon them, or perhaps there is at least a general notion that they are bound to pay. They will, under these circumstances, satisfy the demand and avoid offence. But in this case they will pay in such a cheerful, free, lofty, perhaps princely style, that the manner in which the payment is rendered will express the reservation of their liberty.

But soon after this, our Lord had occasion to observe that the assumptions of the hierarchy still manifested their power even in the circle of His disciples. The Evangelist gives marked prominence to the inward connection between the fact which showed this and what had gone before. In that hour, says he, came the disciples unto Jesus, saying. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They evidently wished then a decision regarding the hierarchic order of precedence which, in their opinion, should obtain in the new institute. Our Lord corrected this assumption by a symbolic action, which bore the same lofty, serene, appropriate, and striking character as His former action did. He called a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' This decision contains the first check to the hierarchic spirit. If they were to be even simple members of the kingdom of heaven, to say nothing of being rulers and leaders, they must become as free from hierarchic pretensions as children — they must in the spiritual sense become small and unpretentious like them. Hence the second decision, 'Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' If then they are to be held of any account in the kingdom of heaven, they can obtain it only by the deepest self-humiliation, and the measure of their humility shall be the measure of their greatness. Then, thirdly, 'And whoso shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth Me.' So sacred is the duty incumbent on the citizens and representatives of the kingdom of heaven, to respect even in children, in the little ones and babes generally, the dignity of predestination unto Christ, and the call to free, royal priesthood and manhood in Christ. The greatest promises rest upon the right observation of this. These are the three fundamental articles of the free Church, and at the same time the three characteristics of evangelical Christianity. Next follows a warning against the ways of the hierarchy: 'But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in Me, it were better for him that a mill-stone (the stone of a large mill driven by an ass) were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' The young seed of faith may be destroyed by the old compulsory spirit, and that is one of the worst and most reprehensible crimes. Our Lord foresaw how much this crime would afflict His Church, and said, 'Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.' Thus the corruptions of hierarchic sway will bring the greatest woe upon the world, and have as consequences the most awful judgments.

Yet the Christian may readily be led astray by his special talents to treat with contempt his subordinates or those committed to his charge, and thereby come more and more under the sway of the spirit of hierarchism, which brings damage to himself and others. Thus, his hand, his foot, or his eye may become an offence to him; that is, the talent of activity, or talents for governing, the talent of converting zeal, or progress, and the talent of discernment or prudence. Christ therefore gives the following warning: 'Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire.' Thus, so soon as the Christian of special gift seeks, regardless of all else, scope for his talent in the Church, he will exalt himself, love to the Church will suffer, and gradually the Church's unity and freedom in Christ will be lost. Hands too powerful will show themselves in despotic church government and episcopacy; over-powerful feet in precipitate proselytizing; over-powerful eyes in Gnostic scholasticism, in theological or ecclesiastical singularities of view; and all these self-seeking developments of power will always have hierarchic distinctions as their result. But under this influence these very talents will become consuming fire for those who misuse them. Therefore our Lord most urgently presses upon His followers that self-abnegation and self-denial which are effected by humility and love, and which secure the unity and freedom of the Church. For the origin of such perversions is always to be sought for in the despising of little ones. Christ therefore adds, 'Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you. That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven! For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.' It is clear that He here again alludes chiefly to the little ones, but not to them as a separate class merely, but at the same time as types of the spiritually little ones — the babes, the catechumens, the penitents, the lost of every kind. It would be a contradiction to the spirit of Christ if Christians would despise the little ones as such, while they are represented in heaven itself by the angels of God, or while their life-images as light-images (as their genii) stand before God, yea, while Christ Himself seeks the lost (sinners as the least of all), and consequently esteems them as very precious and dear. Thus the spirit of redemption condemns all proud self-exaltation of the men over the babes in the kingdom of God. In the Church of Christ the little ones are not to be held down in their childish state, but to be educated up to manhood in Christ.

But although the Christian Church is to keep herself entirely free from the hierarchic spirit, yet she is to exhibit herself in definite order, and distinct from the world. But the soul of this order is the leading thought of her origin, namely this, that Christ as the faithful Shepherd forms her out of the lost sheep. 'How think ye?' said He to the disciples: 'if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.' Thus the members of the new Church should never forget that the whole Church is founded on the rescuing love of the Shepherd: they themselves ought always to walk under the influence of this compassion which seeks the lost.

But this spirit of church order will assume two forms: first, in displaying wholesome discipline and severity; and secondly, in the maintenance of unwearied gentleness that cannot be overcome.

Church discipline is provided for in the following regulations: 'Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church; but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican' (with whom thou hast no church-fellowship, but with whom thou art certainly to maintain free and friendly human intercourse).

In these regulations our Lord has established the main outlines of the social order by which the Church is to secure the honour and truth of her peculiar character against being defiled by intermixture with the world in the path it takes.² Hence follows also the additional clause: 'Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' But that this should not make any one imagine that this holy church law can ever become the inalienable prerogative of an alienated community. He adds a word which protects the independency and peace of every believing community, even the smallest: 'Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth (in social concert) as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.' A more distinct recognition of the freedom of every believing church, but also a more pressing recommendation to true union, there cannot be than these words from the lips of our Lord. The Lord adds a general declaration which secures still further the peace of the free believing Church: 'For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.' He does not say three or two — for the morose spirit of separatism is not according to His spirit — but two or three, because He will own perfectly the smallest church, which is so small for His sake, and therefore gladly grows in number under the influence of His Spirit.

But along with this exercise of strict discipline, the Church is to manifest her clemency in constant action. Our Lord gave the disciples the strongest injunctions regarding this in His reply to Peter's question, 'Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 'Peter evidently wished to know how far leniency in receiving a fallen brother again into the Church should be extended. The reply was, 'I say not unto thee. Until seven times; but. Until seventy times seven.' The number seven is the number of activity, which has arrived at a solemn spiritual repose: thus the number seventy times seven expresses infinite Sabbath-repose in God, absolute divine calmness of spirit, which alone is capable of always forgiving. And the greatness of this number points beyond the region of measuring, weighing, or counting off clemency, into the realm of love, in which forgiving clemency knows no other bounds than those which are set to it by the truth or receptivity of him who needs it. It will not readily occur in this relation that one could truly ask forgiveness seventy times consecutively, and yet always fall back again; but were this possible, clemency should never let itself be outdone by true repentance. Our Lord now shows the disciples in a parable, how culpable it is, if Christians, who owe all to the grace of God, fail in showing leniency in an institution which is founded upon grace — perhaps, indeed, in the stewardship of this very institution. 'Therefore,' says He, 'the kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king who would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him who owed him ten thousand talents.³ But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant, therefore, fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him an hundred pence;⁴ and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and spoke the same words which he himself had just spoken in a still humbler posture,⁵ Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.'

If we would apprehend this parable in all its significance and clearness, we must not make it refer merely to the private, mutual relations of Christians, but above all, and in conformity with the context, to the conduct of Christ's servants in the affairs of the Church. Here first appears in its sharply defined form the contradiction, that one who has obtained forgiveness deals so unmercifully; and the difficulty, that a pardoned person can act so, finds here its whole solution. This is the essence of hierarchic harshness of every kind in the Church: it establishes the system of pitiless rigour upon the very institute of the most abounding mercy; just after its first experiences of divine clemency and forgiveness, it nourishes nothing but feelings of bitterness and wrath towards those who are overtaken in a fault; it attaches the most ungracious enactments to the highest institutions of grace, communion, and absolution, by turning simple excommunication into positive cursing and fearful persecution; as that servant, just in going out from his lord with remission of his great debt, finds his fellow-servant, and takes him by the throat. This combining of censorious harshness with the preaching and presentation of the grace of God reappears in the manifold forms of fanaticism, and in all parties in the Christian Church. It must not disturb us in taking this view, that the matter between the two servants was only a private debt, while the hierarchical spirit, as a rule, appears to punish transgressions against the Lord of the Church. For this hypothesis is rejected by Christ: those trespasses which the hierarchical spirit condemns, are not, in the form in which it views, judges, and condemns them, offences against the Lord, but against itself, often even against its ambition, against its shortsightedness or slothfulness of spirit. But the heavy judgment it incurs, first manifests itself in the torments of its own fanatical unrest, want of clearness, vehement temper, comfortlessness, and increasingly darkened views. It is quite conformable to divine justice, that unpitying harshness in the stewardship of the institution of divine grace and mercy should incur the heaviest judgment.

This parable Christ addressed first of all to Peter.

The Evangelist now quickly conducts us to Perea with the Lord, who takes leave of Galilee. On His journey to this side of the Jewish territory. He went as far as its borders. And here especially great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them (in the persons of their sick in the first instance).

In Perea occasion was soon given to Him for setting forth also the ideal marriage law, in contrast to the corruptions of it in the old economy.

It was the Pharisees who gave Him this occasion, by proposing to Him, with an insidious intention, the controverter question, 'Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?'⁶ Jesus gave them the following answer: 'Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they (the married couple) are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.' In these words Christ declared the original law of marriage, that according to its historical beginning and its ideal conception, it is indissoluble, The expression of this indissoluble nature of marriage is contained first in this, that only as male and female was man perfect, or an entire man, with a masculine capacity supplemented by a feminine, and vice versa; secondly, in that marriage has power and authority to dissolve the strongest household ties, the outward dwelling together of children and parents; thirdly, in this, that in marriage the union into one flesh is really effected. The first element is the ideal; here it is not exactly a man and a woman that are joined together, but the masculine and the feminine in their adaptation for each other (ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ). The second element is the romantic or nuptial, the force of youthful love. The third is the historical, consummated marriage. God's rule and and right are manifested in these three elements. The reality, indeed, became in various ways discordant with this law of perfect marriage. This is shown by Moses legislation, to which the Pharisees now appeal: 'Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?' It is easily seen that these querists favour the laxer view; they therefore represent Moses' regulation in an unfair light. But our Lord corrects this representation: 'Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so.' Then He added: 'And I say, Whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication (tor breach of marriage already committed), and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth her that is put away doth commit adultery.' By this decision Christ by no means sets Himself in contradiction to the law of Moses, but carries it out to its ideal perfection. If Moses had considered that the actual adultery consisted solely in divorcements, he would have flatly forbidden them. If, on the other hand, he had seen in them a furtherance of marriage, he would have recommended them (as the Pharisees actually asserted). But he did neither of the two. He permitted divorce; but he put difficulties in its way in two respects, by demanding, on the one hand, a definite, although unexpressed ground, which could not but weigh heavily upon the conscience of a pious man, and by prescribing, on the other, a bill of divorcement, which in various ways brought the divorce into the hands of the teachers of the people. So his aim was ideal marriage as it was in the beginning; he wished again to open a way for it in contending against the hardheartedness of a sinful race. But Christ brings to perfection the germ implanted by Him. It should be carefully noted, that He does not designate the divorces themselves as the actual adultery, but the marriage of the divorced. He who divorces himself declares that he does not acknowledge his marriage as marriage. But the law in the same ease pronounces upon him the sentence, that he has broken the marriage law. Divorces, by themselves alone, may in certain cases work fearfully and powerfully for the sanctifying of marriage (comp. Ezra x.); but it is the light and lawless remarriages of the divorced which increasingly obscure and break the marriage law. So those who cannot realize the true marriage should, according to the law of this institution, continue in celibacy. This completes the law of marriage in its strictness.

But this is also the point where the Gospel, in relation to the curse of the marriage system, finds entrance. The disciples felt the dread strictness in Christ's saying: they joined in saying to Him, 'If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.' Our Lord replied, 'All men cannot receive this saying (enunciation of the marriage law), save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, who were horn so (disposed and designed) from their mother's womb; and there are some eunuchs, who were made eunuchs of men; and there be eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'

The Apostle Paul has, quite in the spirit of these words of Christ, declared the truth, that the very gospel of historical marriage consists in the higher celibate. 'They that have wives shall be as though they had none '(1 Cor. vii. 29). In the world as it now is, there are three hindrances to the ideal marriage of paradise.⁷ The first is, that not all are designed for marriage (of whom, however, many enter perhaps into the marriage relation). The second is, that many are hindered by men, or through the state of the times, from accomplishing marriage conformable to its idea. The third lies in the exigencies of the kingdom of God. The Christian must set out on the holy war; he must wander, and cannot therefore, even at best, live in the full enjoyment of marriage; and the most perfect marriages are often dissolved by the death of one of the parties. This gospel of the higher celibate — of freedom of spirit in marriage for passing from the consciousness of law into the consciousness of the kingdom of heaven — is the consecrating power destined to bring the historical marriage into unison with the ideal.

To this enunciation of the ideal marriage law of the new Church is subjoined an enunciation of the position of children in it. The Evangelist tells us how the discussion between Christ and the disciples concerning the marriage law was interrupted by little children being brought to our Lord, that He should put His hands on them and pray. Thus the discussion regarding the curse of marriage was, in beautiful and touching contrast, interrupted by the appearing of the visible blessing of marriage. But the disciples could not so easily accommodate themselves to the contrast. They rebuked the persons who brought the children. In this act they represent the old Church, the old world, in their despising of little ones. The crowing or prattling of the children, and the bustle and ado of the mothers with them, seem to them to interrupt very untimeously a most important discussion of a most important subject. "With the gravity of young inexperienced Rabbis, they could not but feel and reprimand this interruption of a difficult examination of their high school. It might even seem to them, in their lofty sense of their present investigations, as if children were made for the sake of casuistry concerning the marriage law, and not the marriage law specially for the sake of children. Thus the order is inverted in thousands of cases in the old world; for example, in tacitly assuming that man was made for the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath for man — life for books, and not the reverse — the sick man in the clinical hospital for science (as a subject or case), and not medical science for the sick. And all these inversions of the true relation assume an air of the utmost gravity. But the old world, nay, even the old Church in its worldliness, treats children with special harshness. They are everywhere in the way of grave concerns, and are often shoved aside as troublesome beings. The heathen often exposes them to death; the Jew himself can, under error, offer them to Moloch; the Christian can, in his darkness, leave them to perish in manufactories; the lady of quality leaves them to the nurse; the schoolmaster punishes them when they provoke his ill humour with their cheerful humour; and even the Church does not always find it of sufficient importance to devote due care to them, because she really is often contending in trouble of mind with the heavy sufferings of mankind. It was this last that the disciples represented in the first instance. Our Lord, however, corrected them: 'Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven,' — of children, and of childlike and child-loving men. How clearly does Christ express the truth, that His kingdom looks principally to children, and sees in them the hope of His kingdom; — how distinctly does He utter the expectation, that the kingdom of heaven should be born into the world in generations always more and more possessing light, and that therefore children would be one of the main objects for the activity of the grown-up persons in His kingdom! Children should be brought Him that He may embrace and bless them. After He had spoken these words. He laid His hands on them, and departed thence. So the blessing of the children was the parting blessing with which He left Perea.

But a fresh discussion by Christ had at the same time to show in what spirit men should administer temporal goods in the kingdom of heaven. And, behold, says Matthew, one came and said unto Him, 'Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 'Jesus saw at once that this man, in relation both to the virtues and the goods of life, had too much lost sight of God, the highest good, and also, that he called Him good Master, not in the spirit of true acknowledgment, but in a worldly, superficial estimation. He therefore replied to him, 'Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' The man asked, with conscious pride, 'Which? 'Jesus said, 'Thou shalt do no murder; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' The young man saith unto Him, 'All these things- have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 'Then Jesus gave him the remarkable instruction, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me.' This instruction may be considered under various points of view. First, in relation to the young man's assertion that he had kept all the commandments of God, Jesus showed him that he could not stand before the first, taken in its spiritual sense; that in Mammon he had another god side by side with the One God. Secondly, in relation to the source whence this idolatry proceeded: his life generally consisted in the deification of the derived good, the good current in the world; his heart was not devoted to the Good of all good, as Christ's first reply had already told him, with which, consequently, this instruction was in exact agreement. But thirdly, this declaration of Christ's has also a significance as the fundamental law of the kingdom of heaven. Here all should hold all their means for the good of the poor; and so the individual who wishes to show in a legal manner this cheerful surrender of his property, which is the living law of the kingdom of heaven, can do so only by following Christ's instructions, selling all that he has, and giving to the poor. To him, and only to such as he,⁸ our Lord justly presents the perfection of the kingdom of heaven in a legal form, because they must be taught that this law, less than any other, can be fulfilled in an outward manner. And very specially this rich young man was not in a condition for doing it. When he heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, 'Verily I say unto you. That a lich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.' These words do not contain a final sentence on this rich young man; for our Lord's intention was to bring him to repentance, not by enforcing the demand for a righteousness of works, but by humbling him for his dependence upon the earthly. No doubt his going away was a sign of the great danger with which he was encompassed. Christ's saying expresses one thought with two references: It is, as a general rule, hard for the rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, because it is hard for him to become poor. Yea, it is impossible for him in so far as he is rich, and seeks to continue so in his sense of riches, unless a miracle of grace makes him poor in spirit. The disciples, who had not yet entirely purified themselves from the old way of estimating earthly things, were exceedingly amazed at this communication, and said, 'Who then can be saved? 'They felt that our Lord's saying virtually condemned the poor as well as the rich, because they all, more or less, in their way strive after riches. Jesus looked upon them compassionately, and said unto them — the significant word which also announced their approaching wonderful deliverance from attachment to the world through the trials of the cross — 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'

Thus men, by the wondrous guidance of God, and especially by being led through the sufferings of the cross, are to become such that they possess as if they possessed not; that as heirs of God, the highest Good, they spontaneously, from the heart and as faithful stewards, lay down all their possessions upon the altar of brotherly love and love to all men.

Peter indeed thought that surely the disciples had already in a certain measure attained to this state of perfection, and remarked to our Lord, 'Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore? 'Jesus recognized the faithful spirit of self-sacrifice in these words, and said, 'Verily I say unto you, That ye who have (formerly) followed Me, in the regeneration (of things, in the manifestation of the new world), when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.' So lofty and free is the promise of the recompensing love of God, which also authorizes the hope of its free reward. He who offers up in the Spirit of God the goods and possessions of this present life, and devotes himself to the following of Christ for His sake, has, with eternal life, to expect also a hundred-fold compensation in the higher goods of life, possessions and enjoyments in the richest multiplicity. And especially the disciples, as princes in self-denial, under Christ's leading, shall appear in His kingdom as princes in the power of the new life.

But in order to deter men of a mercenary spirit from appropriating this solemn promise, Christ adds, 'But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' For explaining this proposition, He then uttered the parable of the labourers in the vineyard: 'The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard; and when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny (denarius) a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them. Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him. Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them. Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 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, who have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said. Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last (among the last) even as unto thee (the spokesman, perhaps of the first). Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? '

This is the law of reward in the kingdom of God, in contrast to the spirit of service for wages — of the common hiring for day-wages which prevails in the old world, but acts in its most fearful form in the corrupt hierarchic Church. Our Lord rebukes this mercenary spirit by at first entering apparently into its suppositions, in order afterward powerfully to show their nullity. First of all, He represents the kingdom of heaven in the form of a great hiring establishment. But we soon observe that the rich lord who sends into his vineyard the labourers he had agreed with, deals ironically with the spirit of hired service in the sprightly humour of a kingly generosity. The first labourers with wliom he agreed, he took into his service for the whole day. He agreed with the following for shorter and shorter portions of the day; and the last scarcely wrought any at all, if we subtract the time passed in going to the vineyard from the hour between eleven and twelve. And as to the wages, he made a definite bargain with the first labourers for a penny; but with the others he made no further definite agreement, but sent them to work, trusting entirely to him for pay. When pay-time came, he gave them all the same wages, and the last even received their wages first. This is evidently a procedure which cannot fail to make the mercenary spirit manifest itself strongly, that it may be rebuked for its injustice, unamiableness, and meanness.

On the principle of work-service, the day's wage is fixed according to the time, the variety, the heaviness, and the heat of the labour. Here all labourers, the last as the first, receive the same reward. In the one service the mercenary spirit forms the foregone conclusion, that he who has outwardly done most work should also receive his hire first. In the other the order may be reversed; the lord can give the hire first to the last, and last to the first.

It lies, however, in the very essence of mercenariness, that it must always become untrue to its own suppositions, and contradict its own claim of right; while the Lord treats and settles with it just according to that claim. Those labourers who had agreed for a penny a day, could lay claim only to this penny. But they did not abide by the contract; they expected that the householder would either give less to the labourers who had wrought less than they, or that he would give them far more than he had bargained to give them. But when the householder gave them the stipulated hire, he treated them according to their legal claim;. and when he gave equal wages to the labourers who had wrought a shorter time, he showed at the same time his free love, which confers more than law demands.

But this is just the leading thought of the parable: it is not the spirit of calculating work- service which rules in the kingdom of heaven, but kingly love in the glorious form of grace. This love is heavenly, rich, and free; it can reward even the shortest service with endless blessing. What love rewards in labour, is only love; therefore the work of a single hour may outbalance the work of twelve hours. Nay, the work of him who has laboured only one hour, without stipulating for wages, who has in love at once yielded himself to love, who has at the eleventh hour at once overcome his long-continued idle habits and gone into the vineyard, may be greater in God's sight than the whole day's work of a man who, with better early habits, had entered into the Lord's service only for stipulated wages. And so, in -fine, the real reward which love gives the labourer is love, and not the penny by itself which the steward hands to him, and which is the reward corresponding to the actual service in the domain of law; for example, the recognition of the Church and deliverance from evil. It may, therefore, happen that one labourer soon receives the full reward of grace in the enjoyment of the love of God, whilst another waits for his wages from early morning to late evening, and then through poverty of love converts enjoyment of them into discontent, because he cannot accommodate himself to the kingdom of free love. Thus love rises above all time, all mercenary ideas, and all the calculations of envious jealousy.

And so it rules in its highest glory in the kingdom of heaven, as grace in contrast to work-holiness, and holiness of the letter in the hierarchic Church. In this, at the end of the year, the conversions are estimated, the prayers counted, the good works appraised, the miracles examined, the canonizations completed, in the form of a law process. In the kingdom of heaven, on the contrary, grace rules, which can give its first reward to a heart which has yielded only at the eleventh hour. It rules here with a majesty of munificence which always furnishes offence to the spirit of work-holiness.

We need not wonder if the spirit of hierarchical work-service finally calls into life a spirit of worldly work-service, which seeks to determine the relations of wages and work in the world in just as outward a manner as the hierarchical spirit seeks to do the same in the kingdom of heaven. But Christ's parable meets this spirit also with a rebuke. For we cannot suppose that He speaks exclusively of spiritual recompenses, although of them in the first instance. The relations in the kingdom of heaven are all concrete, spiritual, corporeal; and so are its rewards. Thus we learn here, that God is and continues to be the Lord of all estates; and that, when the even of the world is come, every one of God's labourers shall, under the rule of the kingdom of heaven on earth, receive his full wages. But if that gloomy spirit of absolute mercenariness or worldly work-holiness, the unblessed child of the hierarchic work-holiness, which casts the keen and evil glance of envy on the way in which God distributes His gifts, gives itself out for the heavenly genius of light upon earth by seeking to unhumanize human labour, that is, to materialize and brutalize it, by estimating it entirely according to the hours, the burdens, and the outward heat; then the spirit of light in this parable comes forth to rebuke and set it at nought, and declares to it that the Lord of the vineyard Himself shall at the world's even determine the wages, and that, not in the sense of absolute mercenariness or working for day-wages, but in the sense of absolute love. That gloomy genius seeks more and more to deny and reject the spirit of love and freedom, nay, even the human spirit itself in human labour: the Lord of the kingdom of heaven will, on the contrary, make it more and more prevail. That spirit seeks to change every honorarium into day-wages, by seeking to separate from human toil, admiration, joy, and love, and to make it as materialized as possible: the Lord of the labourers, on the contrary, desires more and more to change every kind of day- wages into a seemly and liberal honorarium, which is accompanied by the blessings of freedom, honour, and love. With Him the humble, the believing, the loving, find a reward surpassing their utmost expectation; while the calculating, the heartless, the envious, always destroy their enjoyment of their reward, were it even the richest.

Our Lord concluded His parable with the saying: 'So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.'

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