PREDICTIONS OF THE GOSPEL.

No one is a prophet in his own land. — Death and passion of Jesus.

— Persecution of the apostles.

— Impenitent cities.

— Ruin of the Temple and of Jerusalem.

— Curse upon the Pharisees. — My words shall not pass away.

— The cornerstone. — Parable of the murderous vinedressers. — One single flock and one single shepherd.

— Advent of Elijah. — Announcement of the Consoler.

— Second advent of the Christ.

— Precursor signs.

— Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

— Final judgment.

PARABLE OF THE MURDEROUS VINEDRESSERS.

— There was a father of a family who, having planted a vineyard, enclosed it with a hedge and, digging the ground, built a tower. He then leased it to some vinedressers and departed for a distant country.

Now, the time of the fruits being near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, to gather the fruit of his vineyard. The vinedressers, seizing the servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned yet another. He sent them other servants in greater number than the first, and they treated them in the same manner. At last, he sent them his own son, saying within himself: My son they will have some respect for. But the vinedressers, on seeing the son, said among themselves: Here is the heir; come, let us kill him and we shall become masters of his inheritance. And, with that, they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When the owner of the vineyard comes, how will he treat these vinedressers? They answered him:

He will make these wicked ones perish miserably and will lease the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will deliver to him the fruits in the proper season.

(Saint Matthew, chapter XXI, vv. 33 to 41.)

— The father of the family is God; 2 the vineyard that he planted is the law that he established; 3 the vinedressers to whom he leased the vineyard are the men who are to teach and practice the law; 4 the servants that he sent to the lessees are the prophets whom these latter massacred; 5 his son, sent last, is Jesus, whom they likewise eliminated.

How will the Lord treat his mandataries who transgressed the law? He will treat them as his envoys were treated by them and will call other lessees who will render him a better account of his property and of the conduct of his flock.

Thus it happened with the scribes, with the princes of the priests, and with the Pharisees; 8 thus it shall be, when he comes again to ask each one for an account of what he has done with his doctrine; 9 he will withdraw all authority from the one who has abused it, since he wills that his field be administered according to his will.

At the end of eighteen centuries, having reached the age of virility, Humanity is sufficiently mature to understand what the Christ only touched upon lightly, because at that time, as he himself said, they would not have understood it.

Now, to what result have those come who, during that long period, were charged with the religious education of that same Humanity? To that of seeing indifference succeed faith and incredulity raise itself into a doctrine. In no other epoch, indeed, have skepticism and the spirit of negation been more widespread in all classes of society.

But, if some of the Christ's words present themselves covered by the veil of allegory, with regard to the rule of conduct, to the relations from man to man, to the moral principles upon which he expressly conditioned salvation, his teachings are clear, explicit, without ambiguity. (The Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter XV.)

What have they done with his maxims of charity, of love, and of tolerance; with the recommendations that he made to his apostles that they should convert men by gentleness and by persuasion; with the simplicity, the humility, the disinterestedness, and all the virtues that he exemplified?

In his name, men have anathematized one another and reciprocally cursed one another; they have strangled one another in the name of him who said: All men are brothers.

From the infinitely just, good, and merciful God whom he revealed, they have made a jealous, cruel, vengeful, and partial God; 16 to that God, of peace and of truth, they have sacrificed at the stakes, through tortures and persecutions, a far greater number of victims than those whom in all times the pagans sacrificed to their false gods; 17 they have sold the prayers and the graces of Heaven in the name of him who drove the sellers from the Temple and who said to his disciples: Give freely what you have freely received.

What would the Christ say, if he came today among us? If he saw those who call themselves his representatives coveting the honors, the riches, the power, and the pomp of the princes of the world, whereas he, more king than all the kings of the Earth, made his entry into Jerusalem mounted on a donkey?

Would he not have the right to say to them: What have you done with my teachings, you who burn incense to the golden calf, who give the greater part of your prayers to the rich, reserving an insignificant part for the poor, notwithstanding that I said: the first shall be the last and the last shall be the first in the kingdom of Heaven?

But, if he is not carnally among us, he is in Spirit and, like the master of the parable, he will come to ask his vinedressers for an account of the produce of his vineyard, when the time of the harvest arrives.