prove how fully Jesus understood and entered into the business spirit, and show that, when conse- crated by devotion to God, it is necessary to those who seek the kingdom of heaven. The merchant- man who sold all that he had in order to buy one pearl of great price, gave proof of that confidence in his own judgment, joined with willingness to stake all upon it, which is indispensable to success in great mercantile ventures, and is said to be even now characteristic of the Jewish nation (Mt 13**'-, cf. 13" 'the hidden treasure'). In the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard the fulfilment of a contract is sharply opposed to the voluntary gift of money to those who had presumably been will- ing but unable to e.arn it (Mt 20"'-). A proper return is rightly expected from the ownership of land (Mk 12'"^-, and parallels) and of money (Mt 25^", Lk 19-^). It is worthy of notice that the case just referred to of the 'unprofitable servant' follows in St. Matthew's Gospel directly after that parable which shows how unbusiness-like neglect to buy oil on the part of tlie foolish virgins led to their exclusion from the marriage-feast. The man who failed to make correct calculations as to the cost of building a tower is regarded as a fit object for mockery (Lk 14^f-). On the other hand, the unjust steward, who took advantage of his position of authority to make friends of his master's debtors, showed a business-like shrewdness which would have been of value if employed honestly in a good cause (Lk W^-).
i. A terrible warning of the danger of misusing business capacity is afforded, not in the imaginary story of a parable, but in the actual life of Judas Iscariot. St. Matthew (26'«-) and St. Mark (W') connect the determination of Judas to betray Christ with the anointing of His feet at the feast in the house at Bethany. St. John, in narrat- ing the .same incident (12^"^), tells us that it was Judas who gave expression to the false idea that the giving of money to the poor was of greater value than personal devotion : ' Now this he said, iKif Ipci:iu,c 111' r:uv,l fi.rtlie poor ; but because he m:i< ;i, lliicf, ,ni.l li:n iii;^ I lie bag used to take away (t'jurri, 1. ir W.^ir.jii m Speaker's Commentary, ml hir.] wluit i\;is put therein.' Judas, no doubt on account of natural aptitude, had been made treasurer to Jesus and His disciples ; he was vexed that so large a sum of money as three hundred pence had been wasted in the pouring out of the ointment instead of passing through his hands for the supposed benefit of the poor. Comparing together these ditt'erent passages, it seems clear that St. John traced the fall of Judas, culminating in the betrayal, to the misuse through covetous- ness of his business faculties.
5. It can be, and often is, argued that the morality taught by Christ cannot be strictly and literally applied in the conduct of business. Probably the impossibility is no greater in the life of the business man than it is in the life of any one who tries to live as a consistent Christian. The main difference seems to be that in business practical morality is daily, and often many times a day, put to a test the extent of which can be estimated in money, and failure to conform to a high standard is easily detected. The business man is obliged to have a definite standard of practical morality, high or low according to his own character and the exigencies of his trade, and according to that standard he must act. Self- deception in his case is practically limited to one particular form, — which, however, is extremely ])revalent,— that of attempting to separate personal from business morality. The ordinary non-busi- ness man, on the contrary, generally has a curiously vague ;ind more or less ideal standard, and it is a very dillicult thing even for a man of
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honest thought to settle liow nearly he lives up to it. Business morality in a measure analyses itself, while the morality of ordinary life almost defies analysis : a comparison between the two is thus extremely dangerous, as they are practically in- commensurable quantities.
Jesus Christ evidently believed that the moral and religious truths which He taught were capable of being applied in business. We have seen above that He severely condemned the Sadducean hier- archy, who may be taken to represent the capi- talist class of those days at Jerusalem, because their business was condticted on wrong principles : they maintained merely ceremonial purity, and would not put the ' price of blood ' in the treasury (Mt 27"), but they did not shrink from making gain of holy things. This shows the uncompro- mising attitude of Christ towards what was morally bad. Bnt there wa.s a gi-eat difference in His manner of dealing with another typical class of business men, the Publicans. He did not follow popular opinion in regarding their occupation as absolutely unjustifiable ; He looked on tneir call- ing as a legitimate one, while demanding honesty in carrying it out. Tlie Baptist had taken the same hne, 'Exact no more than that which is appointed you ' (Lk 3'^). Zacchaeus, for his charity and earnest desire to avoid extortion, is declared to be truly a son of Abraliam (Lk 19').