Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XX. 303
man is left to himself, that is, to his own impotency
and darkness.
" 8. 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."
In the work of salvation there is no rest. We
must work all day, even till night; that is to say,
all the time of our life, even until death. Every
thing is labour in the sight of God ; action, suffering,
sickness, and even repose itself, when necessity and
his appointment require it. Happy evening, which
will be the beginning of a glorious eternity to those
who shall have laboured diligently, without expecting
any other reward than that which God has promised
to confer by Jesus Christ, with whom he has en-
trusted the affairs of his kingdom. This is the
comfort of the most weak and imperfect, who are
faithful to God, according to the measure of their
grace, and the quality of their calling, to know that
none shall go unrewarded. He who went last to
work, being in the last rank of the faithful, shall be
rewarded as much as the first, if it appear that he has
loved as much.
" 9. And when they came that were hired about
the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny."
The ways of God are very different from those of
men ; let us, adoring them, labour and hope. Pro-
vided a man be really converted, though at the last
hour, he has reason to hope for a reward. But to
delay the business -of his salvation till the last hour,
is to hazard all. When a man sincerely and heartily
employs all that remains of his life for God, accord-