■ Conversations ox the Parables ; by the Righ 
 Hon Lord Stanley, ISkiot pp. 202, full cloth. Phil- 
 adelphia, J. M. Campbell & Co., 1844. For sale by 
 Mr. N. Hickman. 
 
 The author ol this admirable little volume, which is 
 designed for the use of children, is known to many of 
 our readers as a highly distinguished member of the 
 British House of Commons. His name, in company 
 with that of Wilberforce, will go dowm to posteri- 
 ty as an honourable instance of the connection be 
 tween pious studies and high political distinction. 
 
 The book before us is printed from the fifth London 
 
 11. I B 
 
 
 lEi^s^- 
 
 Mtolopuxl ^minuxj, 
 
 PRINCETOX. X. J. 
 The Stephen Collins Donation. 
 
 No. Qfsr, ^' 
 
 r- 
 be 
 
 XL 
 
 of 
 
 )JV 
 
 Ian. 
 w- 
 
 TS 
 
 nH- 
 t>ut 
 
 1 he DuU^ ui M J ' - i ■ ^^nrjTi T7z~^ ^^^^^^:rJA'.re • 
 
 seen it stated -saia t ul i-ord S;rANLEY was the only 
 man of real talent in ihe House of Commo!:.? except Sir 
 Robert Peel: and this worksustains that high cha- 
 racter. Although designed for the young, persons of 
 matured minds will read it with interest and profit. A 
 mother and two daughters are the colloquists; and our 
 memory is carried back to the "Conversations on 
 Chemistry," written, we believe, by Dr. Black, in 
 which the collocutors,' Mrs. B. and Caroline and Em- 
 ily initiate us so deligltfully into the mysteries of that 
 beautiful branch of icience. Every parent should 
 give to each of his yoU''g children a copy of this little 
 work of Lord STANL;y asaNeV Year present. 
 

iTrontiepiece 
 
^y^^^- 
 
 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PARABLES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT: 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE USE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RT. HON. LORD STANLEY. 
 
 And with many snch parables spake he the word unto them, as they ware able lo hear it. 
 But without a parable spake he not unto them : And when they were alone, he expouuded 
 all things to his disciples.— Mirk iv. 33, 34. i-A> A 
 
 FROM THE FIFTH LONDON EDITION. \^ , H 
 
 ■^- 
 
 PHIL AD ELPHI A.- 
 JAMES M. CAMPBELL & CO. 
 
 NEW YORK— SAXTON & MILES. 
 1844. 
 
PREFACE DEDICATORY. 
 
 To Mrs. . 
 
 My dear : 
 
 L\ dedicating my little work to you, I feel that I 
 
 secure one indulgent, and (you tell me I may add) 
 
 one approving reader. I am aware of the difRculty 
 
 of the task which I have undertaken : I am conscious 
 
 how impossible it is to unfold the fidl beauties, and 
 
 the hidden meanings of the Parables of the New 
 
 Testament : and how doubly hopeless is the task, 
 
 to bring those beauties and those meanings into 
 
 language suited for the comprehension of children. 
 
 It is, therefore, probable, that in many instances, 
 
 while in my endeavour to simplify, I have failed in 
 5 1* 
 
VI PREFACE DEDICATORY. 
 
 doing justice to my subject, I have, at the same time, 
 fallen into the opposite fault, of being above the 
 understanding of my youthful readers. To mothers, 
 like yourself, I must trust to supply my deficiencies 
 in these respects : but I could not resist the tempta- 
 tion of entering upon a field, which seemed to me, 
 strange as it may appear, hitherto untrodden; of 
 explaining, in a familiar way, these most attractive 
 portions of the sacred writings ; and for this purpose, 
 the form of conversation which I have adopted 
 struck me as the most convenient. It enables the 
 writer to propound and explain such difficulties, as 
 he supposes most likely to strike the mind of his 
 young readers : and it gives him the opportunity of 
 relieving, by occasional breaks, the tedium, to a child, 
 of a regular and continued lecture. 
 
 From the commencement of my project, you have 
 uniformly encouraged me to proceed : to you I owe 
 
PREFACE DEDICATORY. VU 
 
 it that my task is at length completed : you have 
 given me the highest sanction in your power, by 
 assuring me that my little work is one which you 
 would place, with a hope of its being useful, in the 
 hands of your own children ; and those who know 
 you can alone appreciate the value of this assurance. 
 Imperfect as I feel it to be, to you I present it ; my 
 hopes will have been more than realized, should 
 other parents find in it the means of leading their 
 children to study with pleasure that holy book, 
 which, "known from a child," will "make us wise 
 unto salvation •," and which, " diligently searched," 
 and piously meditated upon, will " surely bring a 
 man peace at the last." 
 
 Believe me, my dear , yours, with sincere re- 
 spect, esteem, and friendship, 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Knowsley^ May^ 1828. 
 
CONVERSATIONS 
 
 PARABLES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 "Mamma," said Henry B — , a lively intelligent 
 child of seven years old, " I have finished that pret- 
 ty book of Bible Stories, which papa gave me on my 
 last birth-day ; but Avhen do you think I shall be old 
 enough to read the real, real Bible, like you and 
 papa ?" 
 
 Mrs. B. My dear, you are too young at present to 
 understand what you call the real Bible, from which, 
 however, the stories in your book are taken, and put 
 into a form more suited to your comprehension. 
 You know, Mary is two years older than you, and 
 it is only lately that she has been allowed to read 
 some parts of that sacred book, the written word of 
 God himself. In it, indeed, though, as his word, it is 
 
 9 
 
10 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 the fountain of all wisdom, and intented for all per- 
 sons, there is much which is not only above your 
 understanding, but above mine or your father's. 
 
 Henry. Oh, mamma! above your understanding, 
 or papa's! you are joking now. 
 
 Mrs. B. Indeed, my love, I am not ; and when you 
 are old enough to read and to study the Bible, as it 
 should be read and studied, you will discover at 
 every new reading, as the best and wisest men have 
 done, some new excellence, something which you 
 had not noticed before, and which, properly consi- 
 dered, may make you better, and wiser, and happier. 
 
 Henry. Oh ! mamma, lioio I should like to be able 
 to begin reading it now ! But do not you think that, 
 though I may not read it myself, you could pick out 
 little bits, and read them to us. We w^ould both be 
 very attentive, and always ask you any thing that we 
 did not understand. Could not you, mamma ^ 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear, I think I can ; for God 
 designed his word to be taught to the poor and the 
 ignorant, as well as to the rich and the wise ; and 
 though you cannot understand the full meaning even 
 of those parts which 1 shall read to you, you may, 
 even at your age, derive much instruction from them ; 
 for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has condescended 
 to give lessons and rules of conduct even for little 
 children like you and Mary. Some of these, which 
 
THE PARABLES. 11 
 
 I mean to begin reading to you, are contained in what 
 are called parables : Mary has already read some of 
 of them, but I think she will find in them a good deal 
 that she has not yet observed or understood. 
 
 " Mamma," said Mary, " I should like to begin by 
 asking what are parables exactly f 
 
 Mrs. B. I am very glad, my dear Mary, to find 
 that you wish to know the meaning of every thing 
 exactly. Keep up this habit, my dear little girl, and 
 never be satisfied with half understanding any thing 
 for want of taking pains to understand it wholly. 
 The word parable means, literally, a comparison^ and 
 is applied in Scripture to short stories, which were 
 frequently used by the prophets in the Old Testament, 
 and by our Saviour in the New, to impress upon the 
 minds of their hearers some moral lesson. They 
 used outward and visible objects to represent by com- 
 parison heavenly and visible ones : they described 
 religion, the soul, and all that belongs to it, under 
 the figure of things on the earth and belonging to the 
 body : they related imaginary occurrences, and then 
 compared them, one by one, with the real circum- 
 stances before them ; or sometimes left the hearers to 
 draw their own comparisons, when the story was told. 
 Do you remember a story that I told you a few days 
 ago, about a little girl and her nurse ? 
 
 " Oh ! yes, mamma," said Mary, blushing, " and I 
 
12 CO.WERSATIONS OX 
 
 remember very well that I thought the little girl very 
 naughty, and then you surprised me by showing me 
 that I had been just as naughty myself. But was 
 that a parable, mamma ?" 
 
 Mrs. B. It partook of the nature of a parable, my 
 love, and I was pleased to see how readily you made 
 the comparison for yourself, and acknowledged your 
 own fault, after condemning the imaginary little girl. 
 And what bright idea is working in your head, 
 Henry } 
 
 Henry. I was thinking, mamma, that my fables of 
 birds and beasts are all parables ; are they not ? They 
 are imaginary stories, and there is a moral put to 
 each of them. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, Henry ; they are, to a certain 
 degree, parables ; but you will find in the parables 
 which I am going to read you, no such absurdities 
 as birds and beasts all talking together, which you 
 know could not have happened. Though the para- 
 bles of Jesus Christ contain things which did not 
 happen, there is nothing in them which might not 
 have happened — nothing ridiculous or absurd. The 
 stories are all naturally, and simply, and beautifully 
 told. I shall read them to you in the very words of 
 the Bible, as nearly as I think you can understand 
 them, now and then giving you any explanation which 
 I may think useful to you ; and remember, both of 
 
THE PARABLES. 13 
 
 you, to ask me any thing which you do not under- 
 stand, at the time, Avithont any fear of interrupting 
 me ; and you know that I always like to hear your 
 remarks as well as questions upon any thing that we 
 are reading together. 
 
 Henry. Thank you, dear mamma ; and Mary, as 
 you are older than I, if there is any thing which 
 you understand and I do not, you can perhaps ex- 
 plain it to me. May she not, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear children ; in your lessons 
 and amusements now, and in all your occupations 
 through life, you will have many opportunities of 
 assisting and improving each other, all of which are 
 so many opportunities given you by a good and kind 
 God, for making yourselves happier and better, and 
 for pleasing him. I am sure my two dear children 
 will make use of these means to the utmost of their 
 power, and be grateful to God for enabling them to 
 be of service to others. And now good night to my 
 dear little boy and girl ; may that great God bless 
 you both, and make you a blessing to many others ! 
 To-morrow we will begin our Scripture Parables. 
 2 
 
14 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 FIRST DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 
 
 Matt. xiii. 3. Mark iv. 3. Luke viii. 5. 
 
 Mrs. B. I told you yesterday, my loves, that you 
 would find nothing marvellous or absurd in the para- 
 bles of Jesus Christ : the one which 1 have chosen 
 to begin with will, perhaps, seem to you so common 
 as hardly to be what you would call a story. I dare 
 say you have yourselves seen all the circumstances 
 happen, without paying much attention 'to them in 
 the point of view in which Jesus used them. " A 
 sower," said he, " went forth to sow" corn in his 
 fields. " And when he sowed, some seeds fell by 
 the way-side, and" as soon as he had let them fall, 
 " the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell 
 upon stony places, where they had not much earth, 
 and forthwith sprang up, because they had no deep- 
 ness of earth ; and when the sun was up, they were 
 scorched ; and because they had no root they wither- 
 ed away. And some fell among thorns, and the 
 
THE PARABLES. 15 
 
 thorns sprung up" with them, and growing faster, 
 " choked them ;" that is, took from them the sun, 
 and the nourishment of the earth, and dew, and rain, 
 and they produced no fruit. " But other fell into 
 good ground," properly prepared, and at the time of 
 the harvest, this part had " brought forth fruit, some 
 an hundred fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold ;" 
 that is, a hundred, or sixty, or thirty grains of corn 
 for every one that was sown. 
 
 Mary. Well, mamma, but is this all the parable r 
 I thought you said there was a moral to all of them, 
 as there is in the fable book ; but I see no moral here. 
 
 Mrs. B. No more did the disciples of Jesus Christ, 
 for they came to him, after he had finished, and de- 
 sired him to explain it. They were sure that he 
 meant to give them some instruction, but what it was 
 they could not tell. He was so kind as to explain it 
 to them himself; and we will follow the parable with 
 his own explanation, step by step. You will re- 
 member what I told you, that in the parables, out- 
 ward and visible objects were often used to repre- 
 sent heavenly and invisible ones. In this instance, 
 the hearts of men of all kinds, good and bad, are re- 
 presented by the different parts of the field. We will 
 see what sorts of men, by and by. " The seed is the 
 word of God." It is religion itself — every time you 
 learn to know more of God, every fresh command- 
 
16 CONVERSATIOXS OX 
 
 ment of his whicli you hear, and which you will 
 hereafter read in the Bible, his written word, every 
 good feeling, every wish to be good, every thing 
 which you learn of your duty to God and to your 
 fellow-creatures, is so much "seed" sown in the 
 "' fields" of your " hearts." And does not this begin 
 to show you what is the nature of a parable ? Do 
 you understand me, Mary ? 
 
 Mary. I think I do a little, mamma, but I am not 
 very sure. You say that every thing good that we 
 learn is represented by the seed, and our hearts by 
 the field. Then are you the farmer, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I see, my dear Mary, that you do under- 
 stand the parable as far as we have gone ; and inas- 
 much as I instruct you in your duty to God and to 
 man, I do indeed the business of the farmer. But 
 tell me, whose seed it is that is sown ? Who is it 
 that in his word has taught me my duty to you, gives 
 me health and strength to attend to it, and gives to 
 you not only the means of instruction, but your life, 
 your senses, your understanding, by which you can 
 receive it ? 
 
 Henry. Oh ! you mean the good God, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, I do mean that good and 
 great God, who has given you earthly parents to be 
 the instruments and representatives of himself, your 
 heavenly Father ; a parent who loves you and cares 
 
THE PARABLES. 17 
 
 for you even more tenderly than I do, and not for you 
 only, but for all his children here on earth. He it is 
 who is the good Farmer, from whom all the " seed" 
 comes, and who plants it in the hearts of all of us, 
 whether we choose that it should grow there or not. 
 You will now, I think, be able to make out, with a 
 little help, what is meant by the different soils in the 
 parable. You know I told you the different parts of 
 the field, — " way-side," the " stony ground," the 
 " thorny ground," and the " good ground" repre- 
 sented men of different characters. Who do you 
 think are those by the way-side ? 
 
 Mary. Who, mamma > 
 
 Mrs. B. I want you to think a little. If you were 
 sowing in your garden, why would you choose the 
 mould which is well dug, rather than the gravel 
 walk ? 
 
 Mary. Because nothing would grow on the walk ; 
 the seed would not go in, it is so hard, and it would 
 lie on the top till the birds took it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, and hoAvever melancholy 
 it sounds, it is yet true, that there are some hearts 
 which perhaps have not been properly dug.) that is, 
 properly educated, and which are so hard that they 
 hear the commands of God, without wishing to obey 
 them ; and receive his mercies and goodness, with- 
 out feeling love and reverence for his name. 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 CO\VERSATIO-\S ON 
 
 Henry. Oh, mamma ! but what wicked people ! I 
 hope Mary and I shall never be like them. 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love : indeed I hope and pray 
 that you may not ! that that great and good Being, 
 of whom the sower in the parable is the type or re- 
 presentative, may keep your hearts soft and open to 
 receive the seed which he throws into them : and 
 may you, on your parts, pray to that God who has 
 commanded us all to " ask, and it shall be given us,"* 
 that he will not suffer the devil, the great enemy of 
 our souls, who is represented by the birds in the 
 parable, to take the good seed out of your hearts. 
 He is continually endeavouring to do so, and will do 
 so, if you allow it to lie upon the surface, and not to 
 sink into the ground. If you, on your parts, are 
 careless and inattentive, God may withdraw his 
 grace from you. You will continually become less 
 able to feel his mercies and his love ; and the seed 
 which was sown, being upon a hard and unprepared 
 soil, will soon be wholly lost. But God grant, my 
 dear children, that this may never be our case ! May 
 we be neither the ground by the way-side, nor that 
 among the stones ! — Henry, do you remember what 
 became of the seed sown there ? 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, I think I do. It grew up, 
 but the sun burnt it, and it died. 
 
 * Matt. vii. 7. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 19 
 
 Mrs. B. Quite right, Henry ; and now hear how 
 Jesus himself explains this part of his parable. '• He 
 that received the seed in stony places, the same is he 
 that heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth 
 it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a 
 while ; for when tribulation and persecution ariseth 
 because of the Word, by and by he is offended." 
 Do you understand this explanation ? 
 
 Mary. I think so, mamma ; a person having root 
 in himself, means having steadiness, does it not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Certainly, my dear, and without this virtue 
 of steadiness^ without a firm root of love for God, of 
 gratitude for his mercies, and of confidence in his 
 protection and promises, the best and warmest reso- 
 lutions are of no avail. The seed, indeed, springs up, 
 when the sun becomes hot, that is, when persecution 
 arises on account of religion, there is nothing to sup- 
 port its growth, and it withers away. 
 
 Henry. But, mamma, wdiy is the sun used to sig- 
 nify persecution .? Is not the sun good for corn ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear, a moderate degree of heat 
 is not only good for it, but necessary to its growth; 
 it draws up the moisture of the earth below and 
 feeds the root ; and so are trials and persecutions 
 beneficial to the faith of sincere and well-grounded 
 Christians; they exercise their virtue and nourish 
 their religion, as the sun does the corn ; but those 
 
20 COXVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 M'ho have no foundation, no depth of root, wither 
 away under that which might otherwise have been 
 their benefit. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, there are no such things as 
 persecutions now, so that there can be no such peo- 
 ple as these any longer. 
 
 Mrs. B. We have indeed reason, my love, to thank 
 God that the days of actual persecution, the days 
 when the acknowledgement of a Saviour's mercy and 
 atonement was punished by bodily sufferings and 
 death, are long since at an end; that loe live in an 
 age and in a country, in which a belief in the re- 
 denrption wrought for us by Christ forms part of the 
 established religion of the land. But you must not 
 imagine on that account, that the days of " tribulation 
 because of the word" are at an end, or that the sin- 
 cere Christian will not have to undergo many trials, 
 whether he "hath root in himself" or not. You, 
 my dear Henry, will, before very long, go to school, 
 where, as in the world afterwards, you will meet with 
 persons of all characters; with some who have been 
 so unhappy as never to have been taught to reverence 
 religion themselves, and who therefore make a mock 
 of it in others ; with many who, from different mo- 
 tives, will ridicule and despise your strict adherence 
 to your principles and your religion. And believe 
 me, my dear little boy, strange as it may appear to 
 
THE PARABLES. 21 
 
 you, ridicule or contempt are almost as difficult to 
 meet as the more open persecutions of fire and sword ; 
 unless you have root in yourself, unless your belief 
 in, and love of God are thoroughly rooted in you, 
 you will, to use the Scripture phrase, " be offended ;" 
 or, as I have been told is the more literal translation, 
 be " made to stumble," by the trifling, but constantly 
 repeated persecutions of those who are really your 
 inferiors in religious knowledge. My dear Mary has 
 not, in this respect, so difficult a task to perform ; but 
 she may have opportunities of showing openly that 
 she is not to be turned aside from her duty by 'perse- 
 cution^ in whatever shape ; that she is not ashamed 
 of her Saviour, who has declared that "whosoever 
 shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him 
 shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall 
 come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the 
 holy angels."* But to whatever trials God may see 
 fit to put each of you, he will not suffer the tempta- 
 tion to be more than you are able to bear, if you 
 sincerely pray to him for assistance, and rely entirely 
 upon him, who is able to grant abundantly more than 
 we can desire or deserve. He will soften " the stony 
 ground," and give moisture sufficient to support the 
 strongest heat, to those who sincerely apply to him 
 for aid. But we have still another case to consider, 
 
 * Luke ix. 26. 
 
22 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 that of the seed which " fell among thorns," and so 
 was choked, and brought forth no fruit. Let me hear 
 your idea of this, Mary. 
 
 Mary. I do not know, mamma, but it seems to me 
 that the thorns might represent bad companions, who 
 lead people into doing what is wrong, and hinder 
 them from doing what they know to be right. 
 
 Mrs. B. Your interpretation is ingenious enough, 
 but it is giving a much more limited explanation of 
 the " thorns" than was intended by the divine Author 
 of the parable. Hear his interpretation : " They 
 which fell among the thorns are they which, when 
 they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, 
 and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no 
 fruit to perfection." You see, my love, that this in- 
 cludes not only those who are led away by bad com- 
 panions, (though tliey are indeed thorns which may 
 well choke and render unfruitful the best seed,) but 
 all who, from an over anxiety about the things of 
 this world, are led to neglect the service of their 
 Maker, and the care of their own souls. Each sta- 
 tion in life has its respective " thorns;" rich and poor, 
 old and young, have their various objects of pursuit, 
 any of which, when allowed to engross the chief 
 part of their attention, "choke the word." Amuse- 
 ments, intended by a kind Providence to refresh the 
 mind and body, may be made the business of life. 
 
THE PARABLES. 23 
 
 Industry, his appointed means whereby men must 
 provide for the temporal necessities of themselves 
 and their families, may be turned into an over-anxiety 
 for the perishable goods of this life, and an indiffer- 
 ence towards the better treasures of the world to 
 come. Riches, the means given us by God to spread 
 around us comfort and happiness, and to promote the 
 welfare of our own souls, by being the faithful stew- 
 ards of his bounty, may be idly and unprofitably 
 wasted; or may, with persons of other characters, 
 be hoarded up, and excite the desire of accumulating 
 more, without considering to what end they were 
 given. All these, my loves, in short, all that are 
 summed up in the three words of the Bible, " the 
 cares^ and riches^ and pleasures,'''' of this world ; all 
 these are given, in such proportion as almighty wis- 
 dom has seen fit, for our improvement and happiness, 
 and upon the use or abuse which we make of them 
 in our different stations will depend our degree of 
 happiness in a far better world.* Only we must take 
 care that we enjoy the good, and bear the evil, which 
 God sends us, without allowing either the one or the 
 other to choke in our hearts the good seed of his 
 word, lest it become unfruitful. And now, Mary, do 
 you see how much wider range this explanation gives 
 
 * Matthew xvi. 27. 
 
24 COXVERSATIONS ON 
 
 to the " thorns" than you were disposed to allow 
 them ? 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, and I think now I quite un- 
 derstand the %vhole of the parable. The seed on 
 good ground is of course good people, who, by God's 
 grace, grow better and better as they grow up, till 
 the end of their lives 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear, but you will observe that 
 there is a difference even among those of the fourth 
 class. " Upon them," says an excellent man as well 
 as writer of the present day, " the word is not lost 
 or destroyed without taking root ; neither is it over- 
 borne by the opposition which it must encounter • 
 neither is it choked among the concerns, and interests, 
 and pleasures of the present state ; but it grows 
 among unfriendly plants, and flourishes in spite of 
 ungenial climate ; and is distinguished by the fruits 
 of humility, piety, holiness, and charity, in which it 
 abounds. Yet among those who alike ^ receive, and 
 understand, and keep the word,' there is not a uni- 
 form proficiency. All do not in an equal degree 
 obtain the mastery over their natural corruptions. 
 All do not arrive at an equal height in Christian 
 virtue. All do not labour equally in the service of 
 the master to whom they have attached themselves. 
 All produce fruit, but some thirty, some sixty, and 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 25 
 
 some an hundred-fold."* In the words in Avhich 
 St. Luke gives the explanation of this part of the 
 parable, '' they on the good ground are they which, 
 in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, 
 keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." 
 
 Henry, why does it say " with pa/ie7ice," mamma? 
 
 Mrs. B. What would you say, Henry, to a farmer 
 who put the seed into the ground one day, and ex- 
 pected to reap the crop the next ? 
 
 Henry. I should say that he was very silly, mamma ; 
 because it has got to grow up at first green like grass, 
 and then it grows higher and higher, and then the 
 ear comes, and then it turns yellow, and at last it is 
 fit to be cut down. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, Henry, and the case is much the 
 same with the cultivation of the human heart. It is 
 a work of time and of patience. The heart must be 
 prepared to know and love God, the seed of his word 
 must be sown, it must take deep root, it must slowly 
 "grow with bur growth, and strengthen with our 
 strength ;" care must be taken to root out all the evil 
 weeds which might choke it ; it must be ripened by 
 difficulties and trials, probably by affliction also; 
 and the grace of God constantly and devoutly prayed 
 for, must ever assist his own work, and aid the fruit 
 
 * Summer's Evidences of Christianity, p. 179. 
 
 3 
 
26 CONVERSATIONS OX 
 
 to come to perfection. And then, at the great day 
 of harvest, when it shall be gathered together, good 
 and bad, may he, my dear children, mercifully grant, 
 that we may be of the number of those whom he 
 " shall gather as ii^heat into his garner;"* there to en- 
 joy for ever and ever a happiness, though far exceeding 
 all human understanding, yet equitably proportioned 
 to the fruit which we have produced from his seed, 
 in this world of trial. And let us never forget that 
 according to the seed sown, according to the oppor- 
 tunities given to us of improvement, will God most 
 justly expect that the future crop shall be : that 
 •' unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be 
 much required."! But upon this particular subject 
 we will take another parable to-morrow. Meantime, 
 I hope you have uuderstood, and will remember, 
 what we have gone through to-day. 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, thank you, I think I quite 
 understand it now ; and 1 am sure I never thought, 
 when you first read the parable, that there could be 
 so much hidden in it. 
 
 Henry. Nor I, mamma ; I shall never see them 
 sowing in the fields now without thinking of this 
 parable. 
 
 Mrs. B. You will do well, my dear, on all occa- 
 
 * Luke iii. 17. f Luke xii. 48. 
 
THE PARABLES. 27 
 
 sions, to let your thoughts turn habitually to the 
 goodness and mercy of God, and to his command- 
 ments ; and to a mind properly disposed, there is 
 nothing which may not suggest the idea of him, who 
 is at all times your surest guide, and friend, and pro- 
 tector. And now we will close our reading for to- 
 day. To-morrow, if I have reason to be satisfied 
 with you, we will begin at the same hour. 
 
28 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. 
 
 Matthew xxv. 14. Luke xix. 12. 
 
 Mrs. B. You remember, my dears, that in the 
 parable M'hich we read yesterday, we settled that the 
 seed which fell on good ground, and brought forth 
 fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred- 
 fold, was designed to represent those good persons, 
 who, to use the words of the Bible, " in an honest 
 and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and 
 bring forth fruit with patience,"* but who do not 
 all make an equal proficiency : to carry on the same 
 comparison, upon which part of his field do you 
 suppose the farmer would look with the greatest 
 pleasure and satisfaction ? 
 
 Henry. On the good ground, of course. 
 
 Mrs. B. And of the good ground, upon that 
 which produced thirty, or sixty, or a hundred-fold ? 
 
 * Luke viii. 15. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 29 
 
 Henry. Upon that which produced a hundred. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love ; and so you may be sure 
 will the heavenly Sower of the Word look with love 
 and mercy upon all who have served him faith- 
 fully in this life ; but with more approbation, the 
 more we serve him, and strive to '• bring forth the 
 fruit'" of his word in this life. Nay, we are even 
 assured that we have it in our power to add, by our 
 conduct here, to the happiness even of the blessed 
 angels in heaven. 
 
 Henry. Oh ! mamma ; you do not mean that the 
 angels care about what is done by such a little boy 
 as I am ! 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, our knowledge, while we are 
 in this life, of what passes in heaven, of the nature 
 and feelings of its blessed inhabitants, must be very 
 imperfect : but of this we are assured by Jesus Christ 
 himself, that " there is joy in heaven over one sinner 
 that repenteth, more than over ninety-and-nine just 
 persons, which need no repentance."* And we can- 
 not but believe that beings, infinitely good and holy, 
 must delight in seeing others making advances, how- 
 ever slowly, towards the same state of perfection 
 and happiness. But this has taken us a little away 
 from the subject of our parable, which, as you re- 
 
 * Luke XV. 7. 
 
30 CONVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 member, was to illustrate our different degrees of 
 goodness ; and which will also show us what will be 
 the dealings of a just and merciful God with regard 
 to them. Bear this in mind, and I think you will 
 understand, without much explanation, the parable 
 of the nobleman and his servants. St. Matthew and 
 St. Luke both relate it, with some trifling differences. 
 I mean to take the words sometimes from one, and 
 sometimes from the other. 
 
 " A certain nobleman went into a far country to 
 receive for himself a kingdom," (or to take possession 
 of an estate which belonged to him,) " and to return. 
 And he called his own servants, and delivered unto 
 them his goods, and said unto them. Occupy" (or 
 employ to the best advantage) " till 1 come. And 
 to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to 
 another one, to every man according to his several 
 ability; and straightway took his journey." 
 
 Mary. Mamma, I beg your pardon for interrupt- 
 ing you ; but is not a talent a sum of money } 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love ; you are quite right to 
 ask the question. A talent was a sum of money, or 
 rather a quantity of gold or silver, amounting to a 
 certain weight. St. Luke uses, instead of talent, the 
 word " pound ;" but it is sufficient to know, that a 
 sum of money, no matter how large or small, is 
 intended. 
 
THE PARABLES. 31 
 
 "Then," continues St. Matthew, "he that had re- 
 ceived the five talents, went and traded with the same, 
 and made them other five talents. And likewise, he 
 that had received two, he also gained other two. But he 
 that had received one, went and digged in the earth, 
 and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord 
 of those servants cometh, and commandeth them to 
 be called unto him, that he might know how much 
 every man had gained by trading. And so he that 
 had received five talents, came and brought other 
 five talents, saying. Lord, thou deliveredst mito me 
 five talents, behold I have gained beside them five 
 talents more. His lord said unto him. Well done, 
 thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faith- 
 ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
 many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 
 He also that had received two talents, came and said? 
 Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents, behold, 1 
 have gained two other talents beside them. His 
 lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful 
 servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou 
 into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had re- 
 ceived the one talent, came and said. Lord, I knew 
 thee, that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou 
 hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not 
 strewed : and I was afraid, and went and hid thy ta- 
 
32 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 lent in the earth : lo ! there thou hast that is thine. 
 His lord answered and said unto him, Out of thine 
 own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked and sloth- 
 ful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where 1 sowed 
 not, and gather where I have not strewed, wherefore 
 then gavest not thou my money into the bank, 
 that at my coming I might have received my own 
 with usury.? (or interest for money lent.) Take, 
 therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him 
 that hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath 
 shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but 
 from him that hath not, shall be taken away even 
 that which he hath." 
 
 Henry. But, surely, mamma, that Avas not quite 
 fair ; was it ? for the man who had already ten ta- 
 lents could not want any more, and the other did. 
 
 Mrs. B. We will go over the parable line by line, 
 and see what moral we can draw from it ; and I think 
 we shall show you, Henry, before we have done, that 
 you have been rather hasty in judging, and therefore 
 have judged wrong. And now, to begin our exa- 
 mination, who is meant, think you, Henry, by the 
 nobleman and his servants .? or can you tell me? 
 Mary } 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, [ think I can ; 1 think I un- 
 derstand it all quite well. 
 
 Mrs. B. All quite well ! that is saying a good deal. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 33 
 
 Mary. I mean, mamma, that I thought while you 
 were reading, I could make out what each part meant, 
 and how it all applied. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my dear, I am glad to hear that 
 you have been able to follow the general meaning 
 so far : but depend upon it, you will find in this, as 
 in all the other parables, that though the general line 
 of comparison may be plain and simple enough, tlie 
 more we enlarge upon, and consider each particular 
 point, the more hidden meaning we shall discover, 
 and the more good we may do to our own minds ; 
 and the case is, perhaps, stronger in no one parable 
 than in this. And now for your explanation, 
 jMary. 
 
 Mary. I think, mamma, that the nobleman means 
 God ; that we are his servants, and that when he re- 
 turns, that is, at the last day, he will call us to ac- 
 count for the good or the evil we have done, and 
 reward or punish us accordingly. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, you are quite right in 
 your general view ; but we may, 1 think, go a little 
 further into details than you have done, before we 
 quit the parable. How, for instance, do you inter- 
 pret the sum of money intrusted to us ? 
 
 Mary. Is it not the means we have of doing good ? 
 
 Mrs. B. To others, do you mean; or to our- 
 selves also ? 
 
34 CO.WERSATIOxNS ON 
 
 Mary. I meant to others, mamma ; but 1 suppose 
 it may mean both. 
 
 Mrs. B. And if it does, which indeed it may be 
 said to do, what a boundless fiekl does it open to 
 us. What, indeed, is there, which may not, if im- 
 proved, be made the means of good to ourselves or 
 others ? Not our worldly advantages only, not only 
 our good dispositions, not only our pious and virtu- 
 ous feelings, but our joys, our sorrows, our trials, 
 even our evil inclinations, (which are trials,) all our 
 whole state of being, and every circumstance of our 
 lives, may be made " the means of good to ourselves 
 or others." All these are, in fact, part of the talents, 
 the stock in trade, which our heavenly Master has 
 put into our hands, for the employment of which he 
 will call us to account when he comes to make his 
 reckoning. 
 
 Mary. Oh ! but, mamma, what a terrible idea ! 
 How could we ever give such an account ! 
 
 Mrs. B. The idea is not a terrible one to a Chris- 
 tian, my love, who considers that he serves a merci- 
 ful, though a just Master; one w^ho knows the 
 infirmities of his creatures, and has accepted, as an 
 atonement for our sins and imperfections, the perfect 
 sacrifice of his own Son Jesus Christ; but it is an 
 awful idea, even to the best of Christians : and one 
 M'hich may well lead us to consider seriously the 
 
THE PARABLES. 35 
 
 responsibility under which we stand, for our use of 
 things seemingly indifferent. But though the com- 
 parison ^vould equally hold good throughout, even 
 were it pushed to its farthest limit, we will not go 
 so far : we will consider the " talents" committed to 
 us, to mean our good dispositions, and the advan- 
 tages of our respective stations in life; in other 
 words, our capacities for serving God and men. 
 And now, my loves, observe, in the first place, the 
 unequal distribution of these advantages. " Unto 
 one he gave five talents, to another two, to another 
 one; and to every man according to his several 
 ability." And our Master has adopted the same line 
 of proceeding in his government of the world : not 
 all are rich, not all prosperous, not all endowed with 
 distinguished abilities : some are born to poverty 
 and suffering, some to sickness and infirmity of 
 body, some to weakness of intellect. Even you may 
 have seen different children wdth different disposi- 
 tions, more or less good-tempered, liberal, indus- 
 trious ; one learning quickly, and soon perhaps for- 
 getting ; another slow, but retaining in the memory 
 what he has learnt. " But all these," as the Apostle 
 St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 " worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing 
 to every man severally as he w^ill :"* or, in the words 
 
 * 1 Cor. xii. 11. 
 
36 CO-N^VERSATIONS ON 
 
 of the parable, " to eveiy man according to his seve- 
 ral ability ;" according-, that is, in our case, as he sees 
 best for us, and for his own eternal purposes. He 
 places us each in our respective stations, allots to us 
 our respective duties, and gives us our respective 
 powers, and capacities of body and of mind. 
 
 Henry. How wonderful, mamma ! One gets quite 
 puzzled in thinking how God can know and arrange 
 for all the world. 
 
 Mrs. B. Wonderful, indeed, my dear Henry, is he 
 in all his ways, and far above our comprehension is 
 that almighty and all-knowing mind which pro- 
 vides for the wants of every single creature, not only 
 in this world, but perhaps in hundreds and thousands 
 of other worlds beyond our knowledge. But let us 
 return to the subject which we are more immediately 
 considering just now. For what purpose did the 
 nobleman give his servants these different sums of 
 money ? Did he give them, or lend them, or entrust 
 them to their keeping ? 
 
 Mary. He entrusted them, mamma, and said that 
 they must employ them to the best advantage, till he 
 came back. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well remembered, Mary ; and now 
 what do you understand by this ? 
 
 Mary. I understand, mamma, that God has en 
 trusted to us good dispositions, and that we are to 
 
THE PARABLES. 37 
 
 make the most of them., and to keep them always 
 exercised. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, indeed ; it is a pleasure to me 
 to teach, when I find you attentive and endeavouring 
 to profit by my instructions. And if we do so exer- 
 cise our good dispositions, and cultivate our capaci- 
 ties for good, we are assured by the parable that the 
 dispositions and capacities will themselves be per- 
 petually increased. Besides our first five, we shall 
 have gained five other talents. But observe, that we 
 are not only to " trade," or endeavour to increase 
 our store of good till we have gained a certain point, 
 but we are to "occupy till our Master cometh." 
 What does this mean, Henry "i 
 
 Henry. Does it not mean, mamma, that we are 
 always to try to do better and better till our death ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear boy, the day of our death 
 will be to each of us the time when our accounts 
 shall be closed, and when our faithful service, how- 
 ever poor and humble, if it have been faithful and 
 zealous, will be accepted by a Master, who is a God 
 of mercy. But supposing the servant to whom five 
 talents had been given had begun by being very in- 
 dustrious, and after a little time had gained two more; 
 suppose he had then rested satisfied, do you think he 
 would then have been entitled to hear, " Well done, 
 thou good and faithful sen^ant, enter thou into the 
 joy of thy Lord ?" ^ 
 
38 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. No, mamma, I do not suppose lie would : 
 and yet the other servant only gained two talents 
 more than he had at first, and he had the same thing 
 said to him. 
 
 Mrs. B. Do you remember what we read yester- 
 day, " unto M'homsoever much is given, of him shall 
 be much required, and to whom men have committed 
 much, of him they will ask the more !"* It is not 
 the extent of our acquirements which God will con- 
 sider, so much as the proportion which they bear to 
 our original advantages. I will explain this to you 
 at once by the parable. It is very true, as you say, 
 that one servant gained five talents, and the other 
 only two, and yet their master was equally satisfied 
 with them : but to the one he had originally given 
 five, and the servant, by his industry, had gained one 
 for each of the five ; to the other he gave two, and 
 he also had gained one for each of the two. To 
 the third he gave one, and had he also gained one, 
 he would also have met with his master's approba- 
 tion — he would have done equally well, because his 
 means of improvement were smaller. Had the first 
 servant only gained two talents, having received five, 
 he would not have been as industrious in proportion 
 to his power, and would not have deserved his mas- 
 ter's approbation. 
 
 * Luke xii. 48. 
 
THE PARABLES. 39 
 
 Henry. Thank you, mamma ; I see now that I was 
 mistaken, and that it was all quite fair. But then, 
 mamma, you do not mean that whether we are more 
 or less good, if we are as good as we can be, we 
 shall be rewarded the same in heaven ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, for our own actions we can 
 hope for no reioard; for even the best of us, "when 
 we have done all," may say with truth, that we are 
 only " unprofitable servants."* But there can be no 
 doubt that all who faithfully serve God here, whether 
 their capacities on earth have been great or small, 
 will have their services accepted of their master : and, 
 on the other hand, we are told expressly, that our 
 future state of happiness will be in proportion, not 
 to our means here, but to the use we make of them. 
 St. Luke, in this point, relates the parable rather dif- 
 ferently, and supposes each of the servants to have 
 received the same sum. The first gains by trading, 
 ten pounds, the second five. In this case, as you 
 see, each having the same advantages, the gain of 
 one is much greater than the other. What then is 
 the answer of their Lord ? To both he says, " Well 
 done, thou good and faithful servant :" but to the first 
 he gives " authority over ten cities ;" to the second 
 " authority over five chies." To each he gives a re- 
 
 * Luke xvii. 10. 
 
40 CONVERSATIONS OX 
 
 ward, but a reward in proportion to the respective 
 gains of eacli. And our Saviour says liimself, in 
 another place, " in my Father's honse are many man- 
 sions"* — plainly intimating that there will be different 
 degrees of reward and enjoyment in heaven, propor- 
 tioned to our capacities for receiving them. There 
 " shall we know even as we are known"| to God ; and 
 all the doubts and uncertainties which we must feel 
 here will there be removed for ever. Meanwhile we 
 may rest assured of this, that we have no hard Master 
 to serve; that "his yoke is easy, and his burden 
 light."J He views with equal eyes the high and low, 
 rich and poor, great and small; and holiness and 
 goodness are the only means whereby we may hope 
 to see him. But if we neglect the "talents" entrust- 
 ed to oiir care, if we refuse to cherish and foster our 
 good dispositions, and suffer them to be overcome 
 by evil, consider what was the case of the " wicked 
 and slothful servant." Once more remember the 
 money was entrusted, for the especial purpose of 
 trading — he had the commands of his master so to 
 employ it; instead of which, he buried it in the 
 earth, and when his master returned, endeavoured to 
 excuse himself by pretending that fear of misusing it 
 had induced him to bury it in the ground, where it 
 had lain idle for many years. 
 
 * John xiv. 2. f 1 Cor. xiii. 12. t Matt. xi. 30. 
 
THE PARABLES. 41 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, but he paid it back again, 
 just as he received it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Were those the orders of his master ? 
 Does not our Master say to us, I give you faculties, 
 and dispositions, and opportunities of doing good : I 
 order you to cultivate them, and make the most of 
 them ? Would it, do you think, be an answer, were 
 we to say to our Lord, '"•Lord, I possessed till my 
 death all the faculties thou gavest me; but I never 
 exercised them ; I was afraid of doing wrong, and I 
 did no good : I let all my good dispositions lie idle, 
 all my opportunities pass away." And would not 
 God justly say, "Out of thine own mouth will I 
 judge thee, thou wicked and slothful servant ? While 
 others have gained ten-fold, thirty-fold, a hundred- 
 fold of what J entrusted to them, thou, with the same 
 opportunities, hast wasted and misused thy talents ?" 
 And now follows what appeared to Henry to be in- 
 justice. "Because thou hast so wasted them, they 
 shall be thine no longer. I take from thee that of 
 which thou madest no good use, and I give yet more 
 and more to him who has proved himself a good and 
 faithful servant : he hath been faithful over a little ; 
 he has now entered into the joy of his Lord: he shall 
 have the opportunity, even now, of proving more and 
 more his faithfulness, and gaining yet more the love 
 of his master." Is there any injustice in this, Henry .'' 
 4* 
 
4J CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. Oh no, mamma! But it sounds very dif- 
 ferent now \ there was something, I forget the words, 
 about giving to him that had, and taking away from 
 him that had not, which seemed very strange. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, I will repeat the words 
 you mean, and consider them as I have just explain- 
 ed them. "Unto every one that hath shall be given, 
 and he shall have abundance ; but from him that hath 
 not" (that is, from him who by his own fault has no 
 more to show than he originally possessed,) " shall 
 be taken away even that which he hath."* 
 
 Mary. Mamma, it seems to me, that it is like the 
 seed sown by the way side, which you said the devil 
 was suffered to take away from the hearts which were 
 too hard for it to grow. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear girl, it is, in great measure, 
 the same case. You have very well illustrated the 
 one parable by the other ; and as in the former case 
 you saw no injustice, so, I think, you will not fancy 
 any here. 
 
 Henry. Oh no, mamma! I see now that you have 
 explained it, and I will not be so hasty another time. 
 But, mamma, what would the nobleman have done 
 if the sei-vant had not brought back the money at all ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, if God finds fault with, and 
 
 * Matt. XXV. 29. 
 
THE PARABLES. 43 
 
 punishes those who do not improve their capacities, 
 what will he do to those who pervert and turn them 
 to evil ? The larger the sum entrusted, the greater 
 the guilt; the greater the abilities of good, the more 
 awful is the sin of not only neglecting them, but per- 
 verting them to a contrary purpose. Upon the fate 
 of such, God has not left us in doubt, and though he 
 has mercifully concealed from our knowledge what 
 will be their punishment, he has left it to be conjec- 
 tured, by figures which paint it in the most awful 
 terms, but which I will not at present read to you. 
 Oh, my dear children ! may you ever strive faithfully 
 to exercise your respective "talents;" and pray to 
 him for his aid and counsel throughout your life, that 
 at the last great day of reckoning, you and I may hear 
 addressed to us these blessed words, " Well done, ye 
 good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of 
 your Lord !" 
 
44 CONVERSATIO.XS ON 
 
 THIRD DAY. 
 
 PARABLES OF THE LOST SHEEP AND THE PIECES OF 
 SILVER. 
 
 Luke. xv. 4. 
 
 " Mamma," said Mary, (when the little party were 
 again assembled for their daily reading, and, as Henry 
 called it, dissection of the parables,) " when we were 
 talking yesterday about the angels, did you not say 
 that ' there was joy among them over one sinner that 
 repented, more than over ninety-and-nine just people 
 who needed no repentance ?' I meant to have asked 
 you then, hut 1 did not like to interrupt yoiT, whether 
 this was not very odd, that they should like a repent- 
 ant sinner better than a thoroughly good man, who 
 never did any thing wrong ? Is not this an encourage- 
 ment to do wrong first, that we may be good after- 
 wards ?" 
 
 Mrs. B. I do not wonder at your asking the ques- 
 tion, but you have not put the case quite fairly. It 
 is no where asserted in Scripture, nor is it to be by 
 
THE PARABLES. 45 
 
 any means imagined from our knowledge of their 
 nature, that God himself, or his holy angels, regard 
 with more Iodc and good will the penitent criminal, 
 than the perseveringly good and sincere Christian ; 
 the expression is, as you correctly quoted it, that there 
 is more joy; and joy no doubt in proportion to the 
 compassionate sorrow they had felt for the former 
 wickedness and danger of the offender. Surely, 
 there is nothing unnatural in this feeling, as far as 
 we can judge of the feelings of heavenly beings by 
 our own — still less any thing which could by possi- 
 bility justify or encourage such dangerous w^icked- 
 ness as you suppose. Do you remember last year, 
 when we heard that the ship, in which your uncle 
 had taken his passage to come home from the West 
 Indies, was lost, and that every person on board had 
 perished, and we thought for some weeks that he was 
 dead! 
 
 Henry. Yes^ mamma, and I remember my uncle 
 told us afterwards, that he had been just going on 
 board when he was stopped about some business, 
 which he thought very provoking just then, though 
 afterwards he found out that it had saved his life. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very true, my dear boy; and this will 
 show us how little we really know what is good for 
 us, and what is not., but there is one who knows, in 
 whom we may safely trust. But what I wanted to 
 
46 CONVERSATIOxXS OJV 
 
 impress upon you was, what you cannot have for- 
 gotten, how far more lively was our joy and grati- 
 tude to that merciful Providence, who had preserved 
 your uncle, when v/e with reason thought him lost, 
 than it would have been had we never thought him 
 in any danger. In the same manner, we cannot 
 doubt but that benevolent beings, as the angels un- 
 doubtedly are, should feel a more lively joy at seeing 
 a soul which had been in danger of suffering ever- 
 lastingly, brought to a sense of its danger, and falling 
 in penitent adoration before its God, than if that soul 
 had indeed been "a just man who needed no repent- 
 ance." But where, my dear children, shall we find 
 such a person ? Who can say that he needs no re- 
 pentance? "For in many things," says St. James, 
 " we all offend."* And knowing our o\yn unworthi- 
 ness, the unworthiness of the best among us to be 
 accepted of God, it is surely consoling to know also, 
 that our sincere repentance for our past sins, and our 
 earnest endeavour to avoid them for the future, can 
 give "joy to the angels in heaven." But before we 
 can hope to do so, let us consider a little what is re- 
 quired of us, and let us take the three parables which 
 the Bible affords us in illustration of this subject. 
 
 Henry. What, mamma, are there three parables on 
 this subject .? 
 
 iii. 2. 
 
THE PARABLES. 47 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love. The first two indeed are 
 parables, in the literal sense of the word, compari- 
 sons; not stories at length, but short allusions to cir- 
 cumstances which might happen any day in common 
 life. The third is one of the longest, one of the most 
 detailed, and, at least, as it has always struck me, the 
 most beautiful of any in the Bible. We will begin 
 with the two short ones first, and I think we shall 
 hardly have time to go through the whole three to- 
 day. 
 
 Jesus, in the course of his preaching, had not dis- 
 dained to associate with persons who were looked 
 down upon and despised by the Pharisees. 
 
 Henry. Who were the Pharisees, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. They were a sect, my love, or party 
 among the Jews, who were very strict observers of 
 all the customs and ceremonies commanded by the 
 law of Moses : and who thought that so long as they 
 carefully obeyed the law in- these particulars, it mat- 
 tered little in comparison, what was the state of their 
 thoughts and hearts. These persons were exceed- 
 ingly angry and offended at Jesus Christ, for making 
 himself a companion of those who committed noto- 
 rious sins, and broke the ordinances both of Moses 
 and of God- Now the Pharisees would have been 
 quite right, if Jesus had made him.self a companion 
 of these persons, in order to encourage them in tJieir 
 
48 CONVERSATIONS OX 
 
 wickedness, or to- share in it ; but, on the contrary, 
 he went among them to draw them back from their 
 bad practices, to show them how sinful they were, 
 and to teach them the ways of religion and of peace. 
 But the Pharisees did not believe, or did not under- 
 stand this; Jesus, however, instead of being angry 
 with them, condescended to explain the reasons of 
 his conduct. "They that are whole," said he on 
 one occasion, "need not a physician, but they that 
 are sick"* — that is, as a physician goes to heal, not 
 those who are well, but those who are diseased ; so 
 I, who am the great Physician of the soul, and whose 
 great object is to cure men of their sins, and give to 
 their minds health and comfort, need not go to the 
 righteous (if any such there be) but to those who are 
 sick in their souls; who are afflicted with their sins, 
 and who feel that they have need of the healing of 
 my words : to them I go, that I may drive away their 
 sickness, forgive their sins, and lead them to repent- 
 ance and to their God. 
 
 On another occasion, he answered the same ob- 
 jections by the two parables which I have already 
 mentioned to you. 
 
 " What man of you," he said, " having an hundred 
 sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the 
 
 • Luke V. 31. 
 
THE PARABLES. 49 
 
 ninety-ancl-nine in the wilderness, and go after that 
 which is lost, until he find it ? And when he hath 
 found it, he layeih it on his shoulder rejoicing; and 
 when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends 
 and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, 
 for I have found my sheep which was lost." 
 
 Henry. But, mamma, was it not very foolish of 
 him to leave all his other sheep, to look for this 
 one ? ]\Iight not they have run away too, while he 
 was looking for the other.' 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, we must understand that he 
 left the remainder under proper care ; for God, who 
 is our good Sheplierd, never ceases to care for any 
 of his flock ; but the expression is only a strong 
 one, to signify the earnest solicitude of our heavenly 
 Father, more especially shown in the earthly mission 
 of his blessed Son, to reclaim sinners, his wandering 
 sheep, from the errors of their past life, and to bring 
 them home to their proper fold. But this part of the 
 parable is capable of another interpretation ; for 
 although the hnmediate purpose of this comparison 
 was to show that, in the sight of God, none of his 
 creatures were to be despised ; or thought unvv'orthy 
 of being saved from the consequences of their own 
 wanderings and misconduct, yet there is a second 
 sense in which it may be taken, and which it was 
 also, no doubt, intended, hi this second sense, each 
 
50 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 man must himself be considered as the shepherd, 
 who has a certain number of sheep entrusted to him. 
 And this view of the first parable is, perhaps, more 
 clearly shown by the second, with which our Saviour 
 follows up the former. " Either what woman". . . . 
 
 Mary. Oh, mamma! but had not we better finish 
 one before v/e begin the other ? I am afraid of getting 
 puzzled if we begin two together. 
 
 Mrs. B. Do you remember, my dear j\lary, that 
 you assisted yesterday in the explanation of one part 
 of one parable, by remembering what had been said 
 upon another the day before .'* You may depend upon 
 it, that for young or old there is no better way of 
 coming at the real meaning, and full explanation of 
 any one passage in Scripture, than by comparing it 
 with a passage of the same sacred boolv ; and I can 
 engage that you shall not be puzzled by hearing 
 these two parables at once. Indeed, they are placed 
 one immediately after the other in St. Luke's Gospel, 
 from which I have taken them, evidently with an 
 intention of explaining one by the other. "Either," 
 our Lord says, " what woman, having ten pieces of 
 silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, 
 and sv/eep the house, and seek diligently till she 
 find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her 
 friends and her neighbours together, saying. Rejoice 
 with me, for I have found the piece which was lost." 
 
THE PARABLES. 51 
 
 Mary. I see, mamma, that we shall not be puzzled, 
 at least I think not, because the two parables mean 
 the same thing, only one is a man losing a sheep, 
 and the other is a woman losing a piece of silver. 
 
 Mrs. B. Exactly so, my dear; and I have read 
 the two together, because one may serve to explain 
 expressions in the other. For instance, in the second 
 parable, it is not supposed, that because the woman 
 had lost one piece of silver, she took no care of the 
 other nine, as you, Henry, imagined the shepherd 
 did about his sheep. It only says, " she swept the 
 house, and searched diligently.^ till she found" that 
 which was massing. 
 
 Henry. I see that, mamma ; but, after all, I don't 
 understand what all the parable means. I am rather 
 puzzled with your two explanations, and two mean- 
 ings. 
 
 Mrs. B. I will try if I can make it clear to you. 
 You remember the parable which we read together 
 yesterday, of the nobleman and his servants .'' You 
 remember also the punishment of the servant who 
 brought the unemployed money in the napkin, and 
 defended himself for not having employed it to more 
 purpose } 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, I remember all that very 
 well. 
 
 Mrs. B. What do you suppose would have been 
 
52 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 the sentence of the nobleman, if, instead of bringing 
 it unemployed, he had altogether lost it? 
 
 Henry. 1 should think, mamma, he would have 
 punished him still more severely. 
 
 Mrs. B. But suppose the servant, instead of vindi- 
 cating himself, had come at once to his master, had 
 confessed his own negligence, and begged to be par- 
 doned for his fault; what do you think a kind mas- 
 ter would do ? Would he not forgive him his past 
 negligence, at the same time recommending to him 
 to search again for that which he had lost, assist 
 him to find it, and advise him to be more careful in 
 keeping it, and improving it for the future ? 
 
 Henry. I think he would be very indulgent if he 
 did so much for him. 
 
 Mrs. B. Not more indulgent, my dear boy, than 
 the merciful God is to all those who truly turn to 
 him, with penitent hearts, acknowledging their past 
 sins, and earnestly endeavouring to amend their lives. 
 And now, my dears, let us consider the woman's 
 piece of silver, as we did the talents before, as "a 
 good disposition, a capacity for good," and let us see 
 what moral we can make out. In the first place, 
 what was the woman's fault ? 
 
 Henry. I do not see that she was in any fault, 
 mamma ; she could not help losing the money, and 
 she set about looking for it directly. 
 
THE PARABLES. 53 
 
 Mary. Yes, Henry, she might; if she had minded 
 where she put it, and what she did with it, it would 
 never have been lost at all. 
 
 Mrs. B. Right, my dear girl. Her fault M'as care- 
 lessness and inattention to the value of that which 
 she possessed; and depend upon it, in the moral 
 point of view, we have need of full as much watch- 
 fulness over ourselves and our dispositions, as over 
 our earthly possessions, which in the end are of far 
 less value to us. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, I know it is necessary to be 
 very careful to avoid a fault which one is inclined 
 to; but if one has naturally a good disposition, one 
 cannot lose it, can one.-* 
 
 Mrs. B. Do you know Mr. , who called here 
 
 the other day ? 
 
 Henry. What that fretful, ill-tempered man, who 
 always looks so discontented with every thing, and 
 ready to quarrel with every body? 
 
 Mrs. B. That very fretful, discontented looking 
 man was at school with your father, and I have 
 heard him say, that there never was a boy who 
 naturally had a finer temper: but from being always 
 humoured and indulged, he became gradually selfish^ 
 impatient of contradiction ; and certainly has now a 
 temper which renders him disagreeable, not only to 
 other people, but to himself. 
 5* 
 
54 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mary. But if he was always so spoilt, that was 
 not his fault, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. He is certainly very much to be pitied 
 for having been treated so foolishly when he was a 
 child. But I only mentioned him as an instance 
 how the best dispositions, unless carefully watched, 
 will, like the piece of silver, be " lost" to their 
 owners. It is the same with the powers of the mind, 
 memory, for instance, as it is with the moral virtues; 
 and these also, remember, it is our duty to keep up 
 and to attend to, if we mean to be as useful in the 
 world, as our Creator intended we should; but we 
 are at present considering rather virtues, than talents. 
 
 Mary. Well, but, mamma, if our good dispositions 
 are so lost, what can w^e do to recover them? 
 
 Mrs. B. What is it said in the parable that the 
 woman did, when she discovered that she had lost 
 the piece of silver ? 
 
 Mary. She swept the house diligently till she 
 found it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, Henry, and what did your friend the 
 shepherd do, when he discovered the loss of his sheep ^ 
 
 Henry. He went after it, and left all the rest till 
 he had found it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my loves, and so should a good 
 Christian do, and so would a good Christian do, 
 when he perceived that he had " lost" any good dis- 
 
THE PARABLES. 55 
 
 position which he formerly possessed ; that he was 
 more easily provoked, more selfish, less generous, 
 less charitable to his neig-hbours, less sensible of 
 the mercies, less careful of the approbation of his 
 God, than he used to be. He w^ould " sweep the 
 house diligently," he would pray earnestly to God, 
 that by his assistance he might be enabled to 
 " cleanse the thoughts of his heart" from all im- 
 purity, from all that might hide and smother his 
 good qualities. He would, like the shepherd, leave 
 for the time in great measure every other care, he 
 would apply his whole attention to remedy the evil, 
 to "find" again that which he had lost — nor would 
 he cease in his exertions, till, by the mercy and grace 
 of God, following his prayers and resolutions, he had 
 succeeded in finding it. 
 
 Henry. O, mamma ! I see quite now what your 
 second explanation means, and I think I understand 
 it better than I did the first. And then how happy 
 it would be to call all one's friends, and tell them 
 that one was become so good ! 
 
 Mrs. B. There would be but little of a Christian 
 spirit, my dear boy, in such boasting to our friends; 
 for the very best of us must feel that they have many 
 sins to answer for. '* There is none good," says 
 our Lord, " but One, that is God ;"* and our religion 
 
 * Luke xviii. 19. 
 
56 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 teaches us always to think rather of our many sins 
 than of our few approaches to goodness. " Let no- 
 thing be done," says St. Paul, " through strife or 
 vain gloiy ; but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem 
 other better than themselves."* J do not say, how- 
 ever, that you might not feel in your owui conscience 
 that happiness which always accompanies a success- 
 ful attempt to conquer a bad inclination, or to en- 
 courage a good one. Our best endeavours to serve 
 God, are but very imperfect, and cannot, of them- 
 selves, be satisfactory to him ; but, for the sake of 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ, he will accept of them, if 
 we make them honestly: and though we must not 
 call together our earthly friends, we may remember, 
 with joy and gratitude, that we have heavenly friends 
 rejoicing over every successful attempt that we make 
 to become more virtuous, and less unworthy of the 
 goodness of God. And this we have on the authority 
 of the Bible itself; for each of these two parables 
 ends thus, and the verse is repeated at the close of 
 each : " Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the 
 presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
 repenteth." 
 
 Henry. Then do you mean, mamma, that when- 
 ever 1 am inclined to be naughty, and tight against 
 
 • Phil. ii. 3. 
 
THE PARABLES. 57 
 
 my inclination, I may think that the angels are real- 
 ly glad that I am trying to be good ? 
 
 Mrs. B. You may not only think, but be sure, 
 my dear little boy, that not only the angels, but the 
 great God himself, sees you, and rejoices: and loves 
 you with a love far greater even than your earthly 
 father or I feel for you. The best actions of the 
 best persons on earth are unworthy to be considered 
 by the great Governor and Father of all the universe; 
 but the least good actions of the least among us are 
 not lost upon him, who knoweth whereof we are 
 made, who measures our capacities, and accepts our 
 poorest endeavours in his service. Upon this sub- 
 ject, however, we will go more at length to-morrow, 
 for to-day's reading has already taken us up nearly 
 our usual time, and I think we shall have a good 
 deal to say upon the parable of the prodigal son. 
 
 Mary. Oh, mamma ! may not we go on to-day } 
 I am not at all tired. 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love ; I have other things to do, 
 and I cannot go beyond our time ; and it would be a 
 pity to begin so beautiful a parable without going 
 through it. So we will shut the book till to-morrow. 
 
58 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 FOURTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 
 
 Luke xv. 11. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my loves, I see you are come 
 very exactly at our time for the parables. 
 
 Henry. Oh yes, mamma, I do so like these read- 
 ings ! and Mary and I both think that we make out 
 the parables better every day. But will you begin 
 mamma, with the one that you said yesterday was 
 so beautiful ^ 
 
 Mrs. B. You are in a great hurry, Henry ; but 
 bring me the book, and we will lose no time. The 
 parable immediately following those which we read 
 yesterday in St. Luke's Gospel, is that of the prodigal 
 son. It is partly upon the same subject as the former 
 ones ; but as almost every word in it is of conse- 
 quence, I think we had better read it through with- 
 out stopping for remarks, and then begin with it over 
 again, and take it bit by bit. — " A certain man," said 
 Jesus, " had two sons •, and the younger of them said 
 
THE PARABLES. 59 
 
 to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods 
 that falleth to me. And he divided imto them liis 
 living. And not many days after, the younger son 
 gathered all together, and took his journey into a 
 far country, and there wasted his substance with 
 riotous living. And Avhen he had spent all, there 
 arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he began to 
 be in want. And he went and joined himself to a 
 citizen of that country. And he sent him into his 
 fields to feed swine. And he \vould gladly have 
 satisfied his hunger with the husks that the swine 
 did eat, and no man gave unto him." 
 
 Mary. Poor man, how very miserable he must 
 have been ! And how very sorry that he had ever 
 left his father's house ! but go on, mamma, I wall not 
 stop you. What did he do ? 
 
 Mrs. B. You shall hear, my love. — " And when 
 he came to himself, he said : How many hired ser- 
 vants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, 
 and I perish with hunger ! I will arise, and go to my 
 father, and will say unto him. Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven and before thee, and am no more 
 worthy to be called thy son ; make me as one of thy 
 hired servants." 
 
 Henry. That's right, that's right ! You see, Mary, 
 he was very sorry. Well, mamma ! 
 
 Mrs. B. "And he arose, and came to his father. 
 
60 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw 
 him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his 
 neck, and kissed him." — 
 
 Mary. O, mamma, I am so glad ! and I don't 
 know why, but I could cry, though I am very glad 
 for him. 
 
 Mrs. B. " And the son said unto him, Father, I 
 have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am 
 no more worthy to be called thy son. But the 
 father said to his servants. Bring forth the best robe, 
 and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and 
 shoes on his feet : and bring hither the fatted calf, and 
 kill it, and let us eat, and be merry ; for this my son 
 was dead, and is alive again, he w^as lost, and is found. 
 And they began to be merry. Now his elder son 
 was in the field ; and as he came, and drew nigh to 
 the house, he heard music and dancing. And he 
 called one of the servants, and asked what these things 
 meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, 
 and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he 
 hath received him safe and sound. 
 
 Henry. What a pleasant surprise for him, mamma ! 
 how glad he must have been when he came in, to 
 hear such good news, and to see his brother again. 
 
 Mrs.- B. Wait a little — " And he w^as angry, and 
 would not go in." 
 
 Henry. Angry, mamma! Angry that his brother 
 was come back ! What could he be angry about } 
 
THE PARABLES. 61 
 
 Airs. B. If you will let me read on, you shall hear 
 what he had to say for himself. " He was angry and 
 would not go in, therefore came his father out and 
 entreated him." 
 
 Henry. I am very sure, if I had been his father, I 
 would not have done any such thing. 
 
 Mrs. B. (laughing.) My dear Henry, if you are so 
 very indignant, we shall never finish the parable. 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, I will wait if I can ; but what 
 a strange man to be angry because his brother was 
 come home ! 
 
 Mrs. B. May I go on } " And he answering, 
 said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve 
 thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy command- 
 ments ; and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I 
 might make merry with my friends : but as soon as 
 this thy son was come, which hath wasted thy sub- 
 stance in riotous living, thou hast killed for him the 
 fatted calf." 
 
 Mary. But surely, mamma, Henry is quite right. 
 I cannot understand how any body could be so 
 wicked as to think of being angry at such a time. 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my dear children, I bless God that I 
 think you do not know the vice of envy, nor the 
 tonuents it brings upon those who are capable of it ; 
 but we will finish the parable, and keep our remarks, 
 if we can, for our second reading of it. Hear the 
 6 
 
62 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 kind father's answer, — "And he said unto him, Son, * 
 thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 
 It was meet that we should make merry and be glad ; 
 for this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and 
 was lost and is found." 
 
 Mary. Well, mamma, you were quite right; that 
 is a very beautiful parable, but I am so glad that the 
 poor younger son came back, and that his father was 
 so kind to him. 
 
 Mrs. B. "Likewise," says Jesus Christ unto us all, 
 " there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
 over" every "sinner that repenteth." But let us 
 now examine the parable, bit by bit, to see what moral 
 for our own conduct, and what knowledge of the 
 mercy and goodness of God we can draw from it. 
 
 Henry. I had forgotten the moral, -mamma ; I had 
 forgotten that it applied to us; I was only thinking 
 of the people in the parable. 
 
 Mrs. B. And now, Henry, that you remember there 
 is an application to be made, do you think you can 
 make it ? Do you think you can tell me whom the 
 people in the parable are meant to represent ? 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, I think I can; the father 
 means God, and the two sons .... no, mamma, I am 
 not sure about the sons. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, we will leave them for a 
 little while. God, the great and Almighty God, is, 
 
THE PARABLES. 63 
 
 as you suppose, represented by the kind and merciful 
 father; and this endearing term is the one in which 
 he delights, in his written word, to represent himself. 
 We are directed, as you know, in what is commonly 
 called the Lord's Prayer, and which was taught to 
 his disciples, by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, to 
 pray to God as " Our Father in heaven :" and in the 
 Psalms we are told, that •' like as a father pitieth his 
 own children, even so tlie Lord pitieth them that fear 
 him."* You, my dear children, cannot know all the 
 strength of these expressions ; but who do you sup- 
 pose on earth loves you the most? Who feels the 
 most sorrow when you do wrong ? Who is the most 
 happy when you are good ? 
 
 Both children. Oh, you, mamma, and papa ! 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my loves, I believe we do love you 
 both, as well as earthly parents can love, and yet be- 
 lieve me, dear children, our love for you, and our 
 care of you, are far, far less, than those which the 
 Almighty God extends to all his creatures. He is 
 the tenderest of fathers, the most careful of parents. 
 He it is who has made us, who hourly watches over 
 us, and protects us all; who has redeemed us from 
 the consequences of our own sin, who forgives us, 
 and who will finally, if we pray to him, and love 
 
 * Psalm ciii. 13. 
 
64 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 him, receive us to dwell with him in everlasting hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, wait a moment, for it quite 
 puzzles one to think how God can know and attend 
 to so many, many thousand people there are in all 
 the world. 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, we may go on endlessly con- 
 templating the wonders of the omniscience of tl>at 
 God, who is "over all from the beginning," who 
 knows all the secrets of every heart, beholds every 
 part of the creation at one glance, and rules and 
 governs all according to his pleasure — " Such know- 
 ledge," as David says in the Psalms, " is too won- 
 derful for us — we " cannot attain unto it."* But the 
 greater and the more wonderful is God, the greater 
 is his condescension, his love, in humbling "himself 
 to behold the things that are in heaven and earth :"| 
 and knowing all this, how implicitly should we trust 
 to his almighty goodness and fatherly care over us ! 
 If your father or I tell you to do any thing here, you 
 know that it is told you for your own good. How 
 much more, then, should we always think this of a 
 heavenly Father, who cannot be mistaken, whose 
 knowledge is so infinite, and whose love is so greatly 
 beyond all that we can conceive ! How careful ought 
 
 * Psalm cxxxix. 6. -j- Psalm cxiii. 6. 
 
THE PARABLES. 65 
 
 we to be in all things to. be obedient, affectionate, 
 dutiful children, to so heavenly, so indulgent a Father! 
 But to return to the parable : you cannot make out, 
 Henry, who the two sons are ? Can you, Mary ? 
 
 Mary. Are they not meant for good people, and 
 wicked people ; taking one of each as an example ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I fear, my love, there are few who can 
 justly call themselves good people. But you are so 
 far right, that the two sons do represent two classes 
 of persons ;* the one, those who endeavour to live 
 after the commandments, and as if in the presence 
 of God himself, their heavenly Father : and the other, 
 those who forsake his protection, and follow the 
 sinful inclinations of their own hearts. And now 
 see, my dear children, what is the first mistaken step 
 of the prodigal son ? What was the first thing that is 
 told of him ? 
 
 Henry. He went and asked his father to give him 
 the portion of goods which belonged to him. 
 
 Mrs. B. Quite right, my dear Henry; but what 
 then ? Can either of you go on ? 
 
 Mary. He took his journey into a far country, 
 and there 
 
 * I have thought it better to take, in the first instance, the 
 practical explanation, as applying to all ages of the world, and 
 not to perplex the minds of children with the interpretation of 
 the two sons as applying to the Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 6* 
 
66 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mrs. B. Stop, my clear girl ; we have got beyond 
 the Jirst mistake. " He took his journey into a far 
 country ;" he left the security of his father's house ; 
 he trusted to his own prudence and judgment; he 
 thouo^ht that he was able to manas'e his own affairs 
 belter than his father could manage them for him — ■ 
 that he needed no assistance, no advice ; he " gathered 
 together" the property which was to be his, and 
 which, we must suppose, he ought to have employed, 
 like the " talents," in trading, for the purpose of in- 
 creasing his stock. 
 
 Mary. Oh ! now I see, mamma, you mean that 
 we ought not to take ourselves out of the guidance 
 and protection of God, and trust to our own sense to 
 direct us. 
 
 Mrs. B. You have taken my meaning very well, 
 my dear Mary ; or rather I should say, not my mean- 
 ing, but the meaning of him who made the parable, 
 and who knows that " we have no power of our- 
 selves to help ourselves."* And yet how often do 
 we think that we could arrange things for ourselves 
 better than the providence of our Almighty Father 
 arranges them for us! How often are we foolishly 
 discontented with trifling things which happen to us, 
 and which after the momentary vexation is past, have 
 
 • Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent. 
 
THE PARABLES. 67 
 
 no influence upon our comfort or happiness ! Is not 
 this to withdraw ourselves from our Father's house; 
 to take the portion which falleth to us, and to em- 
 ploy it according to our own inclinations and fancies ? 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, why did the father allow his 
 son to take all that money, if he thought he would 
 make such a bad use of it ? 
 
 Mrs. B. [f we are to take the question as of an 
 earthly father, we must suppose that the son was of 
 that age when legally the father could not refuse to 
 allot to him his maintenance. Jf we are to consider 
 it as applying to " our Father in heaven," we must 
 remember the case of the talents again, and that, un- 
 less we have our portion, in a certain sense, at our 
 own disposal, there can be no trial of our good or 
 our evil dispositions. We have all, even the least 
 amonor us, somethinor to manage for ourselves — some 
 talents of which we are to make the most. But after 
 our stock, or " the portion that falleth to" us, has 
 been put into our hands, it remains in our own choice 
 how far we will submit the disposal of it to the com- 
 mands and recommendation of a heavenly Father ; 
 how far we will still, though entrusted with the con- 
 duct of our own affairs, continue in our Father's 
 house; or how far we choose to wander " into a far 
 country," remove ourselves from his superintending 
 care, cease to consult his wishes, and employ our 
 
bQ CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 time, our talents, our fortune, and whatever else is 
 entrusted to us, according to the " devices and desires 
 of our own heart," and not in obedience to his com- 
 mands and fatherly wishes. 
 
 Henry. How you bring out new meanings, mam- 
 ma ! things that I should never have thought of, if 
 you had not told me. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, you would, if you dili- 
 gently applied yourself, as I trust, when you are 
 older, you will do, to the attentive study of the 
 Bible. You will then find, what the Bible itself 
 declares, that *'all Scripture was written for our 
 learning;"* but you will also find, that, in order to 
 derive the benefit of it, we must carefully study it, 
 and search for its hidden meanings, with earnest 
 prayer to God, that he will " open our understand- 
 ings, that we may understand the Scriptures."! The 
 Jews at Berea are commended by St. Luke, in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, inasmuch as they " searched 
 the Scriptures daily ;"J and so, if we mean to derive 
 the proper benefit from them, must we also; and, for 
 our comfort we may be sure of this, that the more 
 we search the more we shall obtain. But to go on 
 with our parable, which will take us, I fear, a longer 
 
 * Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent. Rom. xv. 4. 
 -j- Luke xxiv. 45. \ Acts xvii. 11. 
 
THE PARABLES. 69 
 
 time than we can spare for it to-day. After leaving 
 his father's house, what did this foolish young man 
 do? Do you remember, Henry? 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma; he spent all that he had, 
 and came to great distress. 
 
 Mrs. B. But how did he spend it ? Was it by 
 misfortune in his business that he became poor, or 
 by his own fault ? What does the parable say that 
 he did ? 
 
 Henry. He spent it in riotous living. 
 
 Mrs. B. He seems, my love, to have got among 
 idle and wicked people, with whom he forgot the 
 order and regularity of his father's household, and 
 the precepts of virtue and of religion which he had 
 learnt there : to have followed a life of extravagance, 
 and what is very falsely called pleasure., thinking of 
 nothing but the amusement of the moment, till he 
 found that he had spent all his money, and that in 
 a time of general distress, he was in absolute want 
 and famine. And so it will be wdth us also, if we 
 withdraw ourselves from the protection of our Al- 
 mighty Father ; if we cease to pray for his assistance, 
 to rely upon his guidance; left to our own wisdom 
 and strength, we shall soon fall into temptation and 
 into vice ; for of this be sure, that there is no virtue 
 firm and lasting, which is not founded on religion, 
 which does not rest on the security of our Father's 
 
70 CONVERSATIOiXS ON 
 
 house. If we abandon him, he will also abandon us, 
 and we shall be lost ; and when we " have spent all," 
 when we have indulged in the vanities, and follies 
 and sinfulness of our own hearts, and when trials 
 and sorrows come, we, like the poor young rnan in 
 the parable, shall begin to find, " that we are indeed 
 in want." 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, could none of his friends have 
 helped him, when he was in such distress ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My dear Mary, the friendship of such 
 companions as he had chosen was not to be depended 
 on ; they had shared with him his follies, and his 
 crimes, but they had no real regard for him, no care 
 for his distress. His first, his best, his surest friend 
 he had himself forsaken ; he had gone out into "a 
 far country," from him ; and he found, as we also 
 shall find, if we desert our best and surest, our 
 heavenly friend, that of all those things, which we 
 have chosen and loved, there is none which can give 
 us support in difficulties, comfort in sorrow, or as- 
 sistance in our extremest need. 
 
 Henry. Go on, mamma, if you please. What does 
 it mean by his going out to feed swine ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I am not aware, my dear, that there is 
 any peculiar figurative meaning in this : it is used 
 generally to denote the extreme want in which he 
 now was ; that he was obliged to engage in the poor- 
 
THE PARABLES. 71 
 
 est, and most degrading occupations, and that even 
 by his labour in these, he was unable to satisfy his 
 necessities, "and no man gave mito him." Here, 
 away from all his natural friends and protectors, he 
 met with no pity, no assistance ; those who saw him 
 were strangers, and cared not for him ; or they had 
 known the extravagance and folly of his former life, 
 and thought him justly punished for his faults. In 
 this distress, how natural it was that his thoughts 
 should turn homewards I to his father whom he had 
 left, to whom he had behaved so undutifully, but 
 who, he was assured, still loved him ; to all the com- 
 forts, all the happiness, which by his own fault he 
 had lost, and to which he longed, but did not know 
 how to return ! 
 
 Mary. I think, mamma, it was very well for him, 
 as it turned out, that the famine came, and reduced 
 him to such distress, or perhaps he never would have 
 thought of returning home. 
 
 Mrs. B. Indeed it was, my dear girl, and so does 
 God often, in his wonderful dispensations of mercy 
 and providence, make the very evils and afflictions 
 which our sins have brought upon us, the means of 
 turning our hearts again to him, and making us wish 
 to return to our Father's house. " It is good for me," 
 says David in the Psalms, " that I have been afflict- 
 
7M CONVERSATIOxVS OX 
 
 ed, that I might learii thy statutes."* And again, in 
 the same Psalm, " Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; 
 but now have I kept thy word."| Thus does God 
 perpetually work good out of evil; good to mankind, 
 even out of the evil they have brought upon them- 
 selves. Thus, as you observed, Mary, it was indeed 
 good for the prodigal son, that affliction came upon 
 him ; and now see what was his conduct. The 
 Scripture says, "And when he came to himself. '''' 
 Now, what do you understand by this, Mary. 
 
 Mary. I suppose, mamma, when he came to con- 
 sider how foolish he had been, and how he had 
 brought all his distress upon himself. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes ; he is supposed to have been all this 
 time so blinded by his own impetuous passions, as to 
 be unable to exercise the sound judgment which God 
 had given him, but wliich he had perverted ; but 
 when the mist fell from his eyes, when all the vanity 
 of his pursuits was apparent to him, when he saw 
 how little they had profited him, then he began se- 
 riously to "commune with his own heart," J — then 
 "he came to himself;" and the first feelings must 
 have been bitter indeed, and bitterly they are express- 
 ed. "How many hired servants of my father have 
 bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hun- 
 
 * Psalm cxix. 71. f Psalm cxix. 67. t Psalm Ixxvii. 6. 
 
THE PARABLES. 73 
 
 ger !" That kind father, that benevolent master, who 
 will allow none to want who depend on him — him I 
 have left and forsaken : I, the son whom he loved, 
 who might have enjoyed all the abundance and com- 
 forts of his house, and all the fulness of his love ; I 
 have left and forsaken him, and now "I perish with 
 hunger." 
 
 Henry. But, mamma, I think there was no great 
 merit, if he only repented when he found that he was 
 in such distress, and thought he coi^ld make himself 
 more comfortable by going back to his father's house. 
 
 Mrs. B. Nor is it supposed, my dear boy, that 
 thei'e is any merit in our repentance for our sins, and 
 our returning to our Father, when we have forsaken 
 him; yet we are assured, that sincere repentance will 
 always be accepted; that he sends our sufferings for 
 the purpose of correcting us, and that when that cor- 
 rection has effected his purpose, of showing us our 
 own folly and wickedness ; of proving to us how 
 much more happy we should have been, if we had 
 never left his protection ; he will accept our acknow- 
 ledgements of our faults, with our determination to 
 forsake them ; with our prayers for pardon, and with 
 our return to him and his house. Still, my dear 
 Henry, there is one circumstance which you have not 
 yet remarked ; and that is the manner in which the 
 son returns. Had he said, as you seem to think, "I 
 7 
 
74 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 have broiaght myself to gi-eat distress ; I was much 
 more comfortable at home ; I was very foolish to come 
 away; and I will now go back ;" had he argued thus, 
 there would indeed not only have been no merit^ but 
 there would have bRen a great additional sin com- 
 mitted : the son, so returning, would never have been 
 received by his father, as we are told he was. But 
 what vjas his language ? When the first bitterness 
 of his remorse and sorrow was over, he began no 
 doubt to think, i* I have, indeed, grievously offended 
 my good, my kind father ; J have despised his advice : 
 1 have left his protection ; but, whenever I have be- 
 fore offended him, how kindly he has reproved me; 
 how much love has he showli me even in correction : 
 how much regret has he felt for all my faults ! how 
 anxious a desire that I should amend ! Though this, 
 •my last fault, is the worst that I have ever committed, 
 I will not despair : I know that I deserve, and that I 
 ought to receive punishment ; but I' hope he will 
 inflict it with gentleness : I think he well knows all 
 the feelings of my heart; he well knows how truly 
 1 repent, and desire to amend; I will, at all events, 
 trust to his love and kindness ; and whatever punish- 
 ment he may think fit to impose, I will cheerfully 
 submit to, if he \vill again receive me as his son. ' I 
 will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, 
 Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, 
 and am no more worthy to be called thy son : make 
 
THE PARABLES. 7<5 
 
 me as one of thy hired servants.' I am not worthy 
 to be restored to the same place in my family, which 
 1 had before I so foolishly, so raslily left it : but in 
 any situation, even in one so low as that of a servant 
 to my own father, I shall still be under his protec- 
 tion ; 1 shall still see him ; he will still guard me 
 from committing more errors; and, perhaps, after my 
 dutiful conduct has proved to him, and all, how truly 
 I repent of my past life, he may take me again to his 
 favour." This, my dear Henry, is the tone in which 
 tlie repentant feelings of the prodigal are represented, 
 though shortly, in the Bible, and by no means in the 
 way in which it appeared to you. Do you see and 
 understand this ? 
 
 Henry. Yes, thank you, mamma ; I see very well 
 now, and I am very glad J asked you that question. 
 And now, will you go on, mamma ! 
 
 Mrs. B. I think, my dears, as we have a good 
 deal more to say about this parable, we had better 
 put off the reception of the prodigal son by his father 
 and his brother, till to-morrow. 
 
 Mary. Oh, mamma, I am sure we are not the least 
 tired, if your are not. 
 
 Mrs. B. I am glad to hear it, my dears ; but our 
 reading has already been longer than usual, and it 
 would take us much too long to finish the parable. 
 To-morrow, therefore, at our usual time, we will, 
 if you like it. begin again. 
 
76 
 
 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 FIFTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON CONTINUED. 
 
 Do you remember, my dear children, said Mrs. B., 
 where we left off yesterday ? 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, quite well. You had just 
 shown us, that the prodigal son was really sorry for 
 his fault, and that he came back to his father with 
 real repentance. But, mamma, Henry and I have 
 been talking about it since yesterday, and we want 
 to ask you how it was that his father knew that he 
 was really sorry ; for, quite at first, before he had 
 said any thing, he ran up and kissed him and for- 
 gave him all. 
 
 Mrs. B. Your question, my dear Mary, shows 
 that you have thought about what we have been 
 reading, and tried to understand the moral of if ; I 
 will try to explain this part of it to your satisfaction. 
 You will always remember, that the father in the 
 parable is the type of (that is, the figure by which to 
 represent) our Father which is in heaven. Recollect- 
 ing this, we may explain the verse to which you 
 
THE PARABLES. 77 
 
 refer, in two ways. We know that ••' there is no- 
 thing hid" from our Father ; that " there is not a 
 thought in our hearts, but he knoweth it altogether ;" 
 and we may be assured, that he, at least, can well 
 judge of the sincerity and nature of the repentance^ 
 with which we come again to his house; and there 
 is no improbability in supposing, that by earthly means 
 the father in the parable had become acquainted with 
 the situation of his wandering son ; that, unknown to 
 him, he had received accounts of his conduct ; had 
 watched over his errors, and their consequences, and 
 had suffered him to feel those consequences, with a 
 view of recalling him to better thoughts. But though 
 this interpretation is far from impossible, I think I 
 prefer considering him as an earthly father, not to 
 have been acquainted with the whole of his son's 
 conduct, nor with the strong feeling of his repentance. 
 But this, remember, can never be the case with him, 
 to whom, in the language of our beautiful prayer, 
 " all hearts are open, all desires known, and from 
 whom no secrets are hid." 
 
 Mary. Well, mamma, then was it not very, very 
 . . . was it not too . . .indulgent, to forgive him as 
 he did at once ? 
 
 Mrs. B. His reception of him was kind and in- 
 dulgent certainly ; but I do not remember the w'ord 
 forgiveness. 
 
 7* 
 
78 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mary. No, mamma, not the word, but — 
 
 Mrs. B. Let us read the expressions. " His father 
 saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran and 
 fell on his neck, and kisf^ed him." He saw his son, 
 whom he had last seen in heallli and abundance, and 
 in comparative innocence too^ returning almost nakedi 
 sickly with hunger and weariness, and all his evils 
 brought on him by his own sins. He saw his counte- 
 nance sad and dejected, and his steps feeble ; and he 
 saw that in this state of misery and disgrace, it was 
 still his wish to seek comfort in his father's house. 
 He knew that there, at least, whatever might have 
 been his motive for returning, he would be safe from 
 fresh temptation, and from fresh misery in conse- 
 quence. Js it wonderful, do you think, my children, 
 that in such a case, all the affection of a father should 
 return, that he should " have compassion" upon any 
 one, much more his own son, in so melancholy a 
 situation, and that finding it was his pwn son, he 
 should "run and fall on his neck, and kiss him," 
 rejoicing that, however guilty, however wretched, 
 lie was in his own house again .^ 
 
 Mary. No, mamma, I do not think that at all ex- 
 traordinary. But does it not mean, then, that he 
 quite forgave him .^ 
 
 Mrs. B. Remember, my dear Mary, in examining 
 and applying the Scriptures, to be accurate in consi- 
 
THE PARABLES. 79 
 
 dering the very expressions : for nothing is so likely 
 to lead to mistakes in ideas^ as mistakes in icords, 
 more especially in the sacred writings. If, by your 
 Vv'ord " forgiveness," which you see is not in the 
 Bible, you mean that his father felt no angry, no re- 
 sentful feelings, as soon as he saw his offending son 
 again at home; if you mean that his affection over- 
 came him, and made him shed tears, from joy and 
 compassion mixed, you are right in your ideas ; but 
 this by no means implies such forgiveness as should 
 prevent him from afterwards employing restraint; 
 and even, if necessary, punishment for past offences. 
 No doubt, if the father had seen that his son returned, 
 not sensible of his guilt, but only because he found, 
 as Henry thought yesterday, that he had brought 
 himself into a slate of misery, from which he could 
 relieve himself by returning to the comforts of his 
 father's house; his father might have felt "compas- 
 sion for him," might even have " fallen on his neck, 
 and kissed him ;" but assuredly, he would afterwards 
 have made him feel that he was not to be restored to 
 the place which he formerly held. He would have 
 dealt correction kindly as a father, but he would 
 have dealt it to convince his son of his misconduct, 
 and would not again have taken him into favour, till 
 he had found him truly penitent. But again, my 
 loves, remember, that this cannot be the case with a 
 
80 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 heavenly Father; that he knows, even before the 
 penitent returns to him, all his thoughts, and wishes, 
 and feelings ; that he receives indeed with affection 
 every son that returns to him ; but only such as 
 return to him "in spirit and in trutli ;"* that is, in 
 sincerity and from the bottom of their hearts. "Let 
 the wicked," says Isaiah, "forsake his way, and the 
 unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return 
 unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; 
 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."f 
 But now, Mary, let us go back a moment ; for in 
 this meeting between the father and son, we have 
 already passed over one circumstance, from which 
 we may yet draw a point of comparison. 
 
 Mary. What can that be, mamma ? for I think we 
 have gone over almost every word of the parable. 
 
 Mrs. B. Almost, but not quite ; and in this parable, 
 perhaps more than any other, we should be careful 
 not to miss a word. You may take my Bible, and 
 read the verse out of it yourself. 
 
 Mary. " And he arose, and came to his father. 
 But when he was j^et a great way off, his father saAV 
 him, and had compassion on him, and" — 
 
 Mrs. B. I see, my dear girl, that you do not at 
 once catch the idea, which I wished to point out to 
 
 * John V. 23. f Isaiah Iv. 7. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 81 
 
 you ; and I am not surprised at it, for it requires 
 close attention, and the habit of reading the parables, 
 to make out their meaning. What do you under- 
 stand by his father seeing him, '• while he was yet a 
 great way off?" 
 
 Mary. I did not think particularly about it, mam- 
 ma, till you named it. But does it mean that he was 
 waiting for him, and saw him coming. 
 
 Mrs. B. Not precisely, my dear, though our Father 
 may be said indeed to see us when we are coming to 
 him, and to wait for us with affectionate love. But 
 he does yet more; let us compare the circumstances. 
 The prodigal son has determined indeed upon return- 
 ing home, he is upon his way, but he is not yet 
 arrived ; he is yet " a great way off." His father, 
 however, does not wait till he arrives — he goes out 
 to meet him on his way, to comfort and support 
 him, to lead him back to his own house, whither he 
 is desirous of coming. And so, my love, does God 
 deal whh us. When we have offended and sinned 
 against him, when we have v/eakened our good dis- 
 positions, and strengthened our bad ones, God looks 
 eagerly for the first symptoms of amendment, for the 
 first return of his Spirit in our hearts, for the first 
 step we make towards our home, jind towards him. 
 And when he sees the feeblest attempts at returning, 
 he condescends, " while w^e are yet a great way oflj-* 
 
82 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 from him, to meet us on our way, to have compas- 
 sion upon us, to support our steps, and to lead us 
 onward to his blessed house. 
 
 Henry. Mamma, I do not quite understand how 
 you mean being far from God. 
 
 Mrs. B. Being near to God, and being far from 
 him, are terms used in Scripture constantly to signify 
 being nearer or farther from the attainment of those 
 dispositions of the heart and mind, which are pleasing 
 to hinr, and which never can be obtained but by 
 earnest prayer for his assistance, and by constantly 
 bearing in our minds that he sees and knpws all our 
 thoughts, and that we are always in his presence. 
 "• An unwise man doth not well consider this ; and a 
 fool doth not understand it."* An irreligious man 
 accustoms himself not to think of the presence of 
 God, because his presence must be a subject of dread 
 to him. He strives, and for his punishment he strives 
 successfully, to banish God from his thoughts. Such 
 a man is said to be far from God, and God will be 
 far from him. But on the other hand, to the humble 
 penitent, who seeks to return from his evil ways, 
 and to come to God, — that merciful God is ever 
 ready to lend an ear. Long before he attains that 
 disposition of mind which he ought to have, " while 
 
 * Psalm xcii. 6. 
 
THE PARABLES. 83 
 
 he is yet a great way off," God draws nigli to him, 
 and " has compassion on him." What he requires is 
 the earnest wish and endeavour to approach him ; 
 " Draw nigh to God," says St. James, " and he will 
 draw nigh to you."* And in the Psalms it is said, 
 " The Lord is nigh unto all them tiiat call upon him : 
 yea, all such as call upon him in truth."']' 'it is ne- 
 cessary, however, that we should be sincere and 
 earnest in our endeavours ; for Jsaiah says, '' This 
 people draw near me with their mouth, and with 
 their lips do honour me, but they have removed 
 their heart far from me.";t To such as these God 
 holds out no promise that he will draw nigh ; on 
 the contrary, he assures us that " he is not mocked,"§ 
 and will doubtless receive none but those who really 
 and truly seek him. And now, Henry, have I made 
 clear to you what is meant by being far from, or 
 near to God : 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, and 1 am very much obliged 
 to you for making me understand it so well. And 
 now shall we go back to the parable .^ 
 
 Mrs. B. With pleasure, my dear, I wish only that 
 you should interrupt me whenever there is any point 
 of the compariso7i (you v/ill remember that is the 
 
 * James iv. 8. -j- Psalm cxlv. IS. 
 
 4 Isa. xxix. 13, § Gal. vi. 7. 
 
84 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 meaning of a joarabJe) which you do not understand, 
 and I will then try to explain it to you ; when I am 
 sure that you understand it, I am always ready to go 
 on. To come back then to the parable, I would 
 wish you to observe the conduct of the prodigal son, 
 upon being thus received by his father. His conduct 
 hitherto has been too much a type of what we all 
 are with regard to our heavenly Father ; his conduct 
 here., is a type and example of what we should he. 
 What did he say, Mary } 
 
 Mary. Only what he had determined to say be- 
 fore, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. Read it, my dear. 
 
 Mary, [reading.) " Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
 be called thy son.'' 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, it is very true, that these 
 w^ords are only those which he had determined be- 
 fore to use ; but is there, do you think, no moral 
 intended to be drawn from the very repetition of 
 them ? The words were the same, it is true, but 
 what were the circumstances ? 
 
 Mary. Oh ! I think I see what you mean, mam- 
 ma: you mean, that what he promised to do when 
 he was poor, and miserable, he did, when he found 
 that his father received him well. 
 
 Mrs. B. I do mean that, Mary ; and I am glad to 
 
THE PARABLES. 85 
 
 see that you can so readily catch the hidden mean- 
 ing, when you begin to consider : and now for the 
 moral, as applied to ourselves. 
 
 Mary. It means, mamma, does it not, that we 
 should keep our good resolutions ? that — but you 
 can explain it so much better than I can, mamma, 
 though 1 think 1 understand the sort of meaning. 
 
 Mrs. B. I think you have a very good general 
 idea of it ; we will see what more w^e can make of 
 it. The words, you remember, are precisely the 
 same ; that is, the disposition of the heart remained 
 unchanged ; for " out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh."* This shows that in the first 
 place his repentance was sincere ; that he did not 
 determine before-hand to adopt this penitent and 
 humble language, as a means of softening the anger 
 of his father; but from a deep and thorough convic- 
 tion that it was the langfuage of truth : that he had 
 " sinned against heaven" and against his father, and 
 was " not worthy to be called his son :" and that he 
 should be treated better than he deserved, were he 
 even taken into the house, as a "hired servant." 
 This is the Jirst point in which we may take a les- 
 son ; for, as we all have sinned, we all have need of 
 deep repentance •, and repentance, unless sincere, will 
 
 * Matt. xii. 34. 
 
 8 
 
»6 COXVERSATIOxNS ON 
 
 be of no avail with an all-seeing Judge. But the 
 second point which I wish to notice to you (and I 
 do not expect you to find out these more distant 
 meanings without having them noticed) is this, that 
 we must not presume upon the grace and long- 
 suffering of God. It is true, that upon our first steps 
 towards repentance and amendment of life, our hea- 
 venly Father, " while we are yet a great way off," 
 will " have compassion on us," and come to meet 
 and aid us; and of this we are assured by many texts 
 of Scripture ; but we, on our parts, should bear in 
 mind the conduct of the prodigal son ; we should 
 not suffer the indulgence of our Father to take away 
 from us the sense of our error; we should be as 
 ready to exclaim, " Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
 be called thy son," even after we believe our re- 
 pentance to be accepted, as we were in the first feel- 
 ings of remorse and sorrow. Though lit forgets our 
 sins, we never should. Nay, the greater are his 
 mercies towards us, the more we should feel our 
 own unworthiness of them; the more willing should 
 we be, if he demanded it, to prove our sincerity, by 
 serving him in the lowest offices, as " hired ser- 
 vants." Can you understand this, my dears ? 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma; and I see now why these 
 words should be repeated again, which I am sure I 
 never should have thought of. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 87 
 
 Mrs. B. Then, my love, observe again the con- 
 duct of the father. Before^ he saw his son relurned, 
 with whatever degree of repentance in his heart, at 
 least determined to place himself under the care of 
 his father for the future : he saw his wretched situa- 
 tion and sufferings; and, with the affection of a 
 father, "he had compassion on him, and ran, and 
 fell on his neck, and kissed him :" but noii\ when 
 his humble expressions, and true contrition, proved 
 that he was truly penitent for his past conduct, all is 
 now forgiven^ Mary. There are no reproaches, no 
 punishment, no anger; the sinner's conscience re- 
 proaches him sufficiently, and no kindness on his 
 father's part can make him forget his own unworthi- 
 ness. JS'oiD^ then, the father feels that he is at liberty 
 to say, " Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, 
 and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet ; 
 and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us 
 eat, and be merry — for," he adds, " this my son was 
 dead, and is alive again : he was lost, and is found." 
 The first part of this, you will understand, is in allu- 
 sion to the eastern customs of washing the feet of 
 strangers and furnishing them with clothes, and any 
 thing of which they might stand in need, on their 
 arriving after a journey; and must be taken as mean- 
 ing, generally, making the son welcome to all that 
 the house afforded, treating him as a distinguished 
 
CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 guest, and making a feast and a rejoicing to receive 
 him. But what we have to attend to, is the reason 
 given : " For this my son was dead, and is alive 
 again ; he was lost, and is found/' Now it is quite 
 clear that this was not spoken in a literal sense, as 
 having been dead, or having been lost. 
 
 Henry. But he had been lost, mamma, though he 
 had not been dead. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear, he had been lost ; but it 
 was not upon his being literally found again, that 
 these expressions were used. The proof that he was 
 indeed found in the better sense, that he was really 
 alive again, was the humility of his repentance, and 
 his sorrow for his past life. Jt was not till after this, 
 that his father declared him to be found, to be alive; 
 and in this way the Scriptures frequently use both 
 these expressions. " 1 am not sent," says our Sa- 
 viour, " but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."* 
 "God," says St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 
 "who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith 
 he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 quickened us" (that is, made us alive) " together with 
 Christ."! And this is the sense in which we must 
 take the parable, when we apply it to ourselves. It 
 is over such a finding as this, over such a rising 
 
 * Matt. XV. 24. -j- Ephes. ii. 4, 5. 
 
THE PARABLES 89 
 
 " from the death of sin unto a life of righteousness," 
 that there is "joy in heaven :" when we return unto 
 our father's house, forsake a course of liie, which 
 must have led us in a few years to an everlasting 
 death ; and resolve " to lead a new life, following 
 the commandments of God, and walking from hence- 
 forth in his holy ways ;"* then, my children, we 
 may be sure that our God, who is our father, will 
 receive us into his house, not as servants, but as 
 children : and, as St. Paul argues, " if children, then 
 heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ;"f 
 heirs of that glorious and eternal kingdom, which he 
 died to procure for us ! Oh ! my dear children, from 
 that father's house may we study never to depart ; 
 but if we do, may the parable we have been reading 
 teach us how to approach him again, well assured 
 that those who do so approach him, he will not re- 
 ject ! 
 
 Mary. Indeed, mamma, we will both pray to the 
 good God, never to let us leave his house all our 
 lives. 
 
 Mrs. B. I trust you will, my loves ; and while 
 you do so, depend upon it, depend upon his pro- 
 mises, that he will hear and grant your prayers. But 
 we have one part yet to consider of the parable — the 
 
 * Communion Service. -j- Rom. viii. 17. 
 
90 CONVERSATIONS OX 
 
 condnct of the elder brother, who roused Henry's 
 indignation so much. 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, but was it not very shame- 
 ful to be angry, because his brother was come home, 
 and his father had received him kindly ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It is, indeed, melancholy to think, my 
 love, that there should be persons in existence, to 
 whom the happiness of another, the goodness and 
 bounty of God, should cause pain and grief. The 
 vice of envy is indeed its own punishment; it is a 
 perpetual torment to the unhappy person who is 
 subject to it, making his misery out of all which 
 might add to his happiness. But, while such a vice 
 is to be found, as I fear it will be in all ages, it was 
 necessary for our Saviour to warn his disciples and 
 followers against it ; and he could not perhaps have 
 put it in a light to show more strongly its odious 
 nature, than by representing one brother as envious 
 of the kindness shown to another by tjieir common 
 father. 
 
 Mary. But I should think, mamma, that was a case 
 which could never happen. 
 
 Mrs. B. I fear it may, my dear little girl, too often, 
 even in the literal sense. But you must remember 
 that, in the parable, God, the common father of all 
 men, is intended by the father ; and we and all man- 
 kind are brethren. In this sense, how often are we 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 91 
 
 guilty of the very sin which we so severely condemn 
 in the elder brother! As often as we feel inclined to 
 repine at our own situation, to wish that God had 
 given us some advantage, some convenience which 
 we see enjoyed by others, so often, to a certain de- 
 gree, are we guilty of this sin ; though it does not 
 put on its worst form, unless we feel inclined to re- 
 pine, not only that loe have not^ but that another has, 
 that which we desire. Then we are guilty to the 
 full extent of the son in the parable ; then we in fact 
 complain, " Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might 
 make merry with my friends ; but as soon as this thy 
 son is come, thou hast killed for Mm the fatted 
 calf V But I ought to remind you, that this parable 
 was spoken particularly to the Jews, a nation who 
 had for many ages considered themselves as God's 
 peculiar people, and who despised all other nations, 
 and avoided any communication with them 
 
 Henry. But they had been God's people, had they 
 not? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear, and for tliat reason they 
 are alluded to in the parable as the elder son. From 
 this time, however, all nations were to be placed upon 
 an equality ; the Gentiles, (that is, all the rest of the 
 world,) were to be brothers to the Jews, and partake 
 of the mercy of the same Father ; and it was at once 
 to show them this, and to reprove them for their 
 
92 CONVERSATIO.NS O.V 
 
 pride and contempt of the Gentiles, that our Saviour 
 probably introduced the last part of the parable ; 
 though we may also well take it to ourselves as a 
 moral lesson. I hope, however, my loves, that I 
 need not warn you against so detestable a vice as this 
 of envy. 1 will, therefore, rather make you remark, 
 before we quit this parable, the kind and gentle re- 
 proof which the father gives to his son. He does 
 not upbraid him with the greatness of his sin ; he 
 leaves him to consider it on cooler reflection, and he 
 contents himself with showing him how unreasonable 
 was his dissatisfaction, and how great the blessings 
 which he himself enjoyed. '' Son, thou art ever with 
 me, and all that I have is thine." And so says our 
 Father to those who truly and faithfully serve him, 
 who remain ever in his house : all his mercy, all his 
 comforts, all his love, are ever with them. "He 
 dwelleth in them, and they in him."* Even here his 
 spirit is ever with them, and hereaftei; they shall 
 dwell with him for ever. But he says to them also, 
 despise not those who appear less good, less religious 
 than yourselves : above all, rejoice in every amend- 
 ment that you see in them ; rejoice when these, your 
 "younger brothers," come back to their Father's 
 home, sensible of their folly, and seeking again his 
 
 • 1 John iv. 16. 
 
THE PARABLES. 93 
 
 protection. And believe me, my children, that when 
 we so rejoice in the amendment of others ; above all, 
 when we contribute to it, if we can, we are doing 
 that which God himself declares " it is meet" that 
 we should do : that, when we ourselves repent and 
 turn again to God, we give joy to the angels that are 
 m heaven : and when we lead a brother to God and 
 to virtue, those blessed angels themselves rejoice with 
 us, saying, that " this our brother was dead, and is 
 alive again ; he was lost, and is found." And now, 
 my loves, may this parable, and all other portions of 
 the holy word of God, sink into your hearts, and 
 there brinor forth their blessed fruit in God's aood 
 season ! May he be with us, and teach us, and guide 
 us to his house of everlasting happiness ! 
 
 Mary. Thank you, dear mamma! I am quite 
 sorry we have finished this parable, for I have liked 
 it very much. 
 
 Henry. And so have I, mamma. I hope you have 
 got some more for us. 
 
 Mrs. B. Oh ! yes, my loves, I have several more 
 which I can read you ; and I am glad to see that you 
 are not tired, and that you seem to understand so 
 much of what I read. I will select another parable 
 for you by to-morrow. 
 
d4 
 
 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 SIXTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE TWO SERVANTS. 
 
 Matt, xviii. 23. 
 
 " You will have seen, my dears," said Mrs. B., 
 when her children came the following day, with 
 the request that she would read them another para- 
 ble, " that those which we have hitherto read, relate 
 almost exclusively to our duty towards God. That 
 which I have taken for this evening's reading pre- 
 scribes to us one principal part of our duty to our 
 neighbour." 
 
 Mary. Did you not tell me the other day, mamma, 
 that doing our duty to our neighbours was a part of 
 our duty to God .'' 
 
 Mrs. B. I did, my dear Mary; for all duty is 
 duty to God, inasmuch as it is in obedience to his 
 commands ; and as the motive of all our actions 
 ought to be love for him, and a desire to please him. 
 But by our duty to God, in an especial manner, is 
 meant what is called by Jesus Christ " the first and 
 
THE PARABLES. 95 
 
 great commandment,"* and in the words of our 
 church catechism, " to believe in him, to fear him, 
 and to love him with all our heart, with all our mind, 
 with all our soul, with all our strength : to worship 
 him, to give him thanks, to put our whole trust in 
 him, to call upon him, to honour his holy name and 
 his word ; and to serve him truly all the days of our 
 lives." I ought, perhaps, rather to have told you, 
 that the parables which we have hitherto read, treat 
 more particularly of the conduct of God towards 
 man, in the government of the world, and of the 
 sentiments towards him which his conduct should 
 inspire in us. That which I am now going to read 
 relates more immediately to the conduct which we 
 ought to adopt one towards another — to the duty of 
 man to man. For instance, to take our last parable, 
 upon which we spent so much time, tell me, Mary, 
 what were the great truths which were intended to 
 be impressed ? 
 
 Mary. The father, mamma, was meant to represent 
 God, and the parable was to show the goodness of 
 God in forgiving all our faults, and the way in which 
 we ought to be sorry for them, and to ask for his 
 forgiveness. 
 
 Mrs. B. We shall now begin to follow this up, 
 
 * Matt. xxii. 38. 
 
96 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 that is, to reason upon it, and to form a conclusion 
 from it. From the conduct of God to ws, we must 
 learn what ought to be the conduct of man to 7nan. 
 
 Henry. But, mamma, how can we put man into 
 the place of God ? How can we compare the two 
 cases ? 
 
 Mi's. B. It is very true, my dear Henry, that we 
 cannot; but if God, who is all-perfect himself, is so 
 kind and forgiving to us, and yet condescends to 
 compare the two cases, there is surely much more 
 reason why ye, imperfect as we are, should show a 
 similar indulgence, and similar kindness, towards 
 those who stand in need of our forgiveness. And 
 this is the first branch of our duty to our neighbour, 
 or, in other words, of charity. 
 
 Henry. I thought, mamma, that charity meant 
 giving money, and clothes, and food to poor people, 
 v/ho could not buy them for themselves. 
 
 Mrs. B. That, my dear Henry, is indeed one 
 branch of charity ; but it is a very small portion of 
 what is intended by the Christian virtue of charity. 
 When you are older, and more able to understand 
 the whole meaning of this first of virtues, you will 
 find, in one of St. Paul's Epistles, a full enumeration 
 of all its good qualities : but it is quite sufficient for 
 our purpose to take these two plain instructions — the 
 one, " As ye would that men should do to you, do 
 
THE PARABLES. 97 
 
 ye also to them likewise ;"* and the other, " Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." " This," says 
 Jesus, after naming, as J told you before, the first and 
 great commandment, " is the second, and like unto 
 it."t " Love," says St. Paul, " is the fulhlling of the 
 law :";!; and, in short, the Christian religion, or our 
 dul}'' to God, and our duty to man, are composed of 
 these alone — love to God, and love to man. If we 
 act towards God as if we loved him, we shall obey 
 him, we shall serve him, we shall be anxious to 
 please him. If we act towards men as if we loved 
 them, we shall be kind, indulgent, forgiving, obliging, 
 careful not to ofTend, and not to be offended : in a 
 word, (for we cannot go farther,) to do to all men, 
 as we would wish that they should do to us. 
 
 Mary. 1 think, mamma, that rule is so plain that 
 it cannot be very difficult : because we all know what 
 we should wish that people should do to us ; but I 
 do not see how we can love our neighbour as our- 
 selves. 
 
 Mrs. B. The two expressions, my dear girl, come 
 nearly to the seme meaning ; and though you think 
 the rule so plain, that it cannot be difficult, 1 am 
 afraid that you will find that there is no one per- 
 son who acts really and completely up to it. It is 
 
 * Luke vi. 31. f Matt. xxii. 38, 39. \ Rom. xiii. 10. 
 9 
 
98 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 very true, as you say, that we all know what we 
 should wish that others should do to us, if we give 
 ourselves time honestly to consider ; but such is the 
 perverseness of our natural dispositions, without 
 God's assistance, that we are too apt to indulge in 
 our selfish feelings, to judge of our neighbour's ac- 
 tions in a very different manner from that in which 
 we judge of our own ; to follow our favourite pur- 
 suits, without thinking how they may affect others ; 
 or even if we do consider, to prefer our own imme- 
 diate advantage or gratification, notwithstanding the 
 injury or inconvenience which we may thus cause 
 to them. All petulance, ill-humour, disobligingness, 
 all hasty language of, or to, a person ; all tale-bear- 
 ing, scandal, ill-natured ridicule ; not to mention, of 
 course, the heavier offences of theft, fraud, violence, 
 envy : all these are breaches of the great law of doing 
 to all men as we would they should do unto us ; and 
 [ think you will see now that it requires constant 
 watchfulness over ourselves, to enable us to perform 
 this duty even very imperfectly. 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, I see it is not so easy as I 
 fancied ; because I had not thought of all those little 
 things ; but still it seems much easier to do to others as 
 we would wish them to do to us, than to love all our 
 neighbours as ourselves. I can love you, mamma, 
 and papa, and my brother, very, very much; but 
 
THE PARABLES. 99 
 
 how can we love people that we know nothing 
 about? 
 
 Mrs. B. Your difficulty is from not understanding 
 the meaning of the expression. It is impossible you 
 should feel for persons whom you do not know, 
 and have nothing to do with, the same natural affec- 
 tion which you feel for your relations and friends ; 
 perhaps even them you can hardly love as well as 
 you do yourself: strangers, you certainly cannot; 
 but the love of our neighbour, spoken of in the 
 Bible, means a general and earnest desire to assist 
 and oblige, and to do good to all men. If we love 
 a person very much, we are naturally anxious to 
 please him, to assist him in difficulties, to comfort 
 him in sorrows, to rejoice in his joys, to do any 
 thing that he wishes, to avoid all that he dislikes : 
 and this, so far as is consistent with our higher duty 
 to God, we should endeavour to do, where it lies in 
 our power, to all men. This is true Christian love, 
 which we are enjoined to exercise towards all ; pure, 
 kind, peaceable, obliging, forbearing, forgiving, active, 
 unceasing: and though the degree in which we are 
 to exercise it is high, "loving other as ourselves," it 
 is no more than " doing to others as we would they 
 should do unto us ;" placing ourselves in the situa- 
 tion of others before we act, and considering whether, 
 if we loved our neighbour as we love ourselves, we 
 
100 CONVERSATIOIVS ON 
 
 should act so and so. This is the great Christian 
 doctrine, " If God so loved us, we ought also to love 
 one another,"* and to let our conduct towards all men 
 prove what are our feelings, and our principles. 
 
 Mary. Thank you, mamma, I see now what it 
 means, and that it is not so very easy. I did not 
 understand it before. And now, mamma, may we 
 come to our parable .'' 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, as soon as you please. 
 You will find the application of it very easy, parti- 
 cularly after what we have been saying ; but it does 
 not the less deserve our attention on account of its 
 plainness. 
 
 " The kingdom of heaven," says our Saviour, " is 
 likened unto a certain king." 
 
 Mary. I beg your pardon, mamma, but how is the 
 kingdom, of heaven likened to a king? 
 
 Mrs. B. I am glad you have asked the question, 
 my dear Mary. It is a common beginning of the 
 parables; "The kingdom of heaven is like:" and it 
 does not always mean, as it does not in this instance, 
 that the kingdom of heaven, in our common accep- 
 tation of the expression, is like this or that ; but in 
 allusion to something which has gone before, Jesus 
 introduces a parable to illustrate " the dealings of 
 God towards mankind, with reference to their ulti- 
 
 * 1 John iv. 11. 
 
THE PARABLES. 101 
 
 mate salvation ;" and, I think, wherever the expression 
 is used, you make take this as the explanation of it. 
 In this sense it is not to be understood to be com- 
 pared to the subject to which it is immediately said 
 to be like ; but you may transpose the whole sense 
 in this way. Instead of " the kingdom of heaven is 
 like," &c., suppose the words, " the dealings of God 
 towards mankind with reference to their ultimate sal- 
 vation," are such as are represented in the following 
 story. You are then left to compare the persons and 
 things one with another, as you find them to apply. 
 In this way you must take the present parable. 
 
 "The kingdom of heaven," then, "is likened unto 
 a certain king, which would take account of his ser- 
 vants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was 
 brought in unto him, which owed him ten thousand 
 talents." 
 
 Henry. How much was a talent, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. A talent of silver, my love, was equal to 
 £187 105. of our money; that is, the servant's debt 
 was equal to ^G 1,875,000 sterling. But it is sufficient 
 for our purpose to know, that it amounted to a sum 
 which the servant neither had nor was likely to have 
 the power of paying. The parable goes on, " 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." 
 9* 
 
102 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. But mamma, how could lie order the man 
 to be sold ? or his wife ? or his children ? or who 
 would buy them ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, we ought to be very thankful, 
 that in our country slavery is unknown ; that we 
 cannot any of us be bought and sold as slaves, at the 
 pleasure of any master. But at the time in which 
 our Saviour lived the practice of slavery was univer- 
 sal; and even now there are countries where men 
 and women are bought and sold like horses or cat- 
 tle ; and where, if one person owes a debt to another, 
 he will frequently sell one of his servants in order to 
 pay it. In reading the Bible, we ought always to re- 
 member this, and to recollect, that the word servant, 
 often means, not as with us, a person who stays in 
 our service as long as he pleases, and receives wages 
 while he stays ; but a person whom his master has 
 bought, and with whom he may do what he pleases, 
 without being called to account. And such in effect 
 is our dependence upon Almighty God. We are his, 
 not by our own voluntary service for money ; but by 
 his creation and preservation of us for his own good 
 purposes. Without him, we should not have been at 
 all ; but, still more, without him we should, after this 
 life, have no hope of being received into life everlast- 
 ing. He has indeed bought us with a price ; and that 
 price was the blood of his son, our Saviour and Re- 
 
THE PARABLES. 103 
 
 deemer, Jesus Christ. To him, were it for this only, 
 we owe far more than we can ever hope to pay ; but, 
 considering how every day, almost every hour, we 
 do something to displease him, something to increase 
 the enormous debt which we already owe, what 
 should we do, were he to demand his strict rights ? 
 to come to account with us, his " servants," and to 
 command that "payment should be made!" 
 
 Mary. We could do nothing, mamma, but beg him 
 to forgive us, and to assist us to do better for the 
 future. 
 
 Mrs. B. And this, my love, is all that our merciful 
 Master requires of us to do. "The servant," says 
 Jesus, " therefore fell down, and worshipped him," 
 (that is, earnestly entreated him,) " saying. Lord, have 
 patience with me, and 1 will pay thee all." 
 
 Henry. But he never could have paid him all that 
 money, mamma, so he was only making a sham pro- 
 mise. 
 
 Mrs. B. It is true, my dear Henry, it was not 
 likely that he ever should pay him any considerable 
 part of the debt. But his lord kindly considered, 
 that the servant was willing to do all that he could ; 
 that he was sensible he was at his master's mercy; 
 that he had nothing else to rely on ; and that, so far 
 as he could, he was determined to devote all his 
 future earnings to paying off this one debt. But 
 
104 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 what does God do ? What did the lord do ? " Then 
 the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, 
 and loosed hira, and forgave him the debt." 
 
 Henry. What, mamma ! let him off the whole of 
 the million, and I don't know how many thousand 
 pounds, and let him go on just as if he had owed 
 nothing at all ? 
 
 Mrs. B. So says the parable ! 
 
 Henry. But how very generous that was, mamma ! 
 Do not you think so ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Jt was, certainly, my love, an act of 
 generosity, which the servant could never repay ; for 
 which the services of all his future life, and those of 
 all his family, would not have been a sufficient re- 
 compense, even if he had been under no former obli- 
 gation to serve his master. It saved him from being 
 sold, perhaps to a harsh and cruel master, separated 
 from wife and children, and tormented by the thought 
 that his misconduct had brought upon th.em the same 
 hard fate as upon himself. And yei, my loves, this 
 or worse than this cannot be compared to the tor- 
 ments to come, from which the mercy of God alone 
 can save, and will save those who ask him. 
 
 Mary. I don't think, mamma, I have very clear 
 notions of everlasting punishment. 
 
 Mrs. B. We can none of us, my love, have in our 
 present world clear notions of the awful secrets which 
 
THE PARABLES. 105 
 
 shall be revealed. God, in mercy to us, has hidden 
 from our eyes the knowledge of the precise nature 
 of the future sufferings of the wicked; yet he has 
 told enough to make us shrink from the idea with 
 awe and horror. Shut out from the presence of God, 
 in outer darkness, amidst weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth, in everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
 wicked and rebellious spirits, wdiere " the worm 
 dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" these are 
 some of the expressions used concerning this awful 
 subject in Scripture. 
 
 Mary. Oh ! mamma, how very, very dreadful ! 
 
 Mrs. B. Dreadful indeed, my love ! What earthly 
 debt, what suffering for a few years here, can be 
 compared with this ? What was the punishment 
 Avhich the servant had incurred, compared to thai 
 from which the mercy of God delivers us ? 
 
 Henry. Oh ! but, mamma, this is only for very, 
 very wicked people, is it .? 
 
 Mrs. B. This, my love, is the punishment threat- 
 ened to all wilful sin, all disobedience to God's com- 
 mands ; and one should think, that such a punish- 
 ment denounced, would of itself prevent us from 
 sinning; and yet, as David says, "Who can tell how 
 oft he ofTendeth ?"* Every day, every hour almost, 
 
 * Psalm xix. 12. 
 
106 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 we offend our God in word, in thought, or in deed. 
 But he knoweth our infirmities, and instead of ex- 
 acting the strict punishment of all our sins, he 
 accepts the atonement of his own son, who died to 
 save us ; and, through him, our sincere repentance 
 and prayer for forgiveness. 
 
 Henry. But, if we sin again and again, will he for- 
 give us every time ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, every time, if we truly re- 
 pent and are sorry, and endeavour to amend. His 
 mercies " fail not !" but are " new every morning."* 
 He does not expect us to say, " Have patience with 
 me, and I will pay thee all ;" for he knows that we 
 are unable to do so. He requires us only to say, 
 " Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy 
 sight;" and he in mercy will ever answer, "Thy 
 sins are forgiven thee, go in peace."| And what, my 
 loves, should be our return to God for such inesti- 
 mable mercy ? Should we not love him, praise him, 
 be grateful to him, and endeavour to serve him, and 
 obey his commandments better.^ Should we not 
 endeavour to repay, at least, a small part of what 
 we owe ? 
 
 Mary. But how can we repay any thing, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. God, indeed, my love, does not stand in 
 
 * Lam. iii. 22, 23. + Luke vii. 48—50. 
 
THE PARABLES. 107 
 
 need of our service; still less of our forgiveness. 
 But now comes the great Christian doctrine. God 
 will accept, in return for his forgiveness of us, our 
 forgiveness of each other. Christ desires us to pray- 
 to God, '' to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
 debtors." " For," says he, " if ye forgive men their 
 trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive 
 you : but if you forgive not men their trespasses, 
 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."* 
 We will examine this great truth with the parable. 
 Immediately after the servant left his forgiving mas- 
 ter, " he went out, and found one of his fellow-ser- 
 vants, which owed him an hundred pence : and he 
 laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, say- 
 ing, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant 
 fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, 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." 
 
 Henry. Oh ! what a shame, mamma ! When he 
 had just been excused so much himself, to be so 
 cruel ! He ought to have been so glad and so happy, 
 that he would not have cared whether he was paid 
 or not. 
 
 Mrs. B. He ought to have been so gratefully 
 
 * Matt. vi. 12—15. 
 
108 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 happy, as in remembrance of the goodness of his 
 master towards him, to have felt rejoiced at having 
 an opportunity of showing the same to his fellow- 
 servant. 
 
 Mary. And so little as he owed him too, mamma- 
 only an hundred pence, when he had been excused 
 so many thousand pounds! 
 
 Mrs. B. It was certainly quite inexcusable, my 
 love, and I am glad you see it in its proper light. 
 So it appeared also to his fellow-servants. " For," 
 says the parable, " when they saw what was done, 
 they were very soiTy, and came and told unto their 
 lord all that was done." Now, without throwing 
 any blame upon the other servants, whose conduct 
 was very natural, we may draw this lesson, at least, 
 from this part of the parable ; tliat while the servant 
 himself acted in this cruel and hard-hearted manner, 
 all his fellow-servants were ready to see how wicked 
 his conduct was. The injustice of another struck 
 them forcibly ; had it been their own, would it have 
 done so equally .'' Are we not all more sensible of 
 the faults of others than of our own ? Are we not 
 more ready to condemn them, than ourselves .'* 
 Against this fault, we should pray, and exert our- 
 selves, and endeavour to consider strictly our own 
 oiTences, and more indulgently those of others. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, this was very wicked in the 
 
THE PARABLES. 109 
 
 servant: and were not the other sen'ants right to tell 
 their master ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It certainly was very wicked, my dear 
 Mary, and I do not say, that the servants might not 
 have acted from a strong sense of justice. I only 
 wish to impress upon your minds, that we should be 
 equally just, and not more indulgent to our own 
 sins ; but tell them to our great Master, as readily, 
 nay, more so, than we would those of others. But, 
 as you said before, the servant's conduct was most 
 disgraceful ; the debt to him bore no comparison to 
 that which he had been forgiven ; even if it had been 
 paid to him, it would have belonged to his master, 
 and would have served to pay a portion of the debt 
 to him, so small as not to be worth mentioning. Yet 
 he would listen to no excuse. His fellow-servant, 
 by constant industry, might easily have repaid his 
 debt. If his creditor had had patience with him, he 
 might have paid him all. But the first servant who 
 owed his master had no such hope. The request 
 was put in both cases in the same words : in the first, 
 it could not have been fulfilled; in the second, it 
 might : yet in the first, it was accepted ; in the second, 
 it was harshly and cruelly refused. 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, and I should hope the master 
 punished him well : I should not care what happened 
 to him. 
 
 10 
 
110 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mrs. B. Take care, my dear Henry, what you 
 say. Your opinion of his conduct may be quite 
 right ; but beware of being too hasty, or too severe in 
 your judgment. But you shall hear what the master 
 himself says. "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 : 
 shouldst 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 tormenters, 
 till he should pay all that was due unto him." 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, and he was quite right ; 
 that is just what he should have done. 
 
 Mrs. B. He was no doubt quite right, my love, 
 for it was God who did it ; and, according to all our 
 notions, his justice was as conspicuous as the conduct 
 of the servant was unpardonable. But uhat a lesson 
 does it give to us ! Who can offend against us, so as 
 to compare with our offences against God ? If we re- 
 ceive an injury, or what we call a just cause for anger, 
 from any one, we think we may fairly indulge our 
 resentment ; and were God to deal so with us, oh ! 
 what would become of us ? Immediately before this 
 parable was given, Peter, one of the Apostles, who, 
 like the rest, was a Jew, and interpreted every com- 
 mandment of God strictly, and according to the letter, 
 came to Jesus, and said, " Lord, how oft shall my 
 
THE PARABLES. Ill 
 
 brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? until 
 seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, 
 until seven times, but until seventy times seven,"* 
 (that is to say, to an indefinite number of times.) 
 He then relates this parable. 
 
 Mary. Then, mamma, are we to forgive the same 
 people over and over, and over again ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Does not God, my love, forgive m5 over 
 and over, and over again, and to an infinitely greater 
 extent than we can ever have it in our power to 
 forgive others ? And would not our own consciences 
 condemn us, did we not forgive to the uttermost ? 
 We noticed, just now, the command given to us by 
 our Saviour to pray that our heavenly Father will 
 forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that 
 trespass against us. And can we expect that we shall 
 be forgiven the " ten thousand talents" which we owe 
 to God, if we refuse to forgive the " hundred pence" 
 which our poor fellow-creatures may happen to owe 
 us ? But we are not left to conjecture for ourselves 
 upon this subject, for Jesus himself closes his para- 
 ble with these words: "So likewise shall my 
 heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your 
 hearts forgive not every one his brother his tres- 
 passes." Consider too, my dear children, what are 
 
 * Matt, xviii.3 1,22. 
 
112 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 the " tormenters" to which we should be delivered, 
 were God to insist on any part of his payment; 
 consider how unspeakable is the difference between 
 what we owe him, and what any of us owe to each 
 other; and we shall feel how grateful we ought to be 
 for forgiveness upon such easy conditions. 
 
 Henry. But are we quite sure, mamma, that God 
 will forgive us, if we forgive others ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, we have his word, which 
 never failelh, to assure us that he will, if we from our 
 hearts forgive each other. Nothing can be plainer 
 than his declaration on this point : " Be ye therefore 
 merciful, as your Father also is merciful : judge not, 
 and ye shall not be judged : condemn not, and ye 
 shall not be condemned : forgive^ and ye shall be 
 forgiven : for with the same measure that ye mete 
 withal, it shall be measured to you again."* 
 
 This, my love, is one of the great branches of 
 Christian charity — mutual forgiveness, ^as God for 
 Jesus Christ's sake forgives us. Several of the others 
 are alluded to and recommended by other parables, 
 with which we will go on another day. For the 
 present we have had enough. Indeed, I think our 
 readings grow longer and longer every day. 
 
 Mary. I am sure, mamma, I like them better and 
 
 • Lnke vi. 36—38. 
 
THE PARABLES. 113 
 
 better every day. I hope you have a great many 
 more parables ready. 
 
 Henry. And, mamma, what is the name of the one 
 for to-morrow ? and what is it about? 
 
 Mrs. B. To-morrow, my dear Henry, we shall 
 take a branch of charity more nearly approaching to 
 your first notion. The parable is called " the good 
 Samaritan." 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, and what is it about ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No, no, Mr. Henry, I must not be cheated 
 into beginning to-day ; you must have patience till 
 to-morrow, if you please, before you hear about the 
 good Samaritan. 
 
 10* 
 
114 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN, 
 
 LUZE X. 29. 
 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," said 
 Mrs. B., " was, you remember, the second great 
 commandment ; second only to that of " loving God 
 with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all 
 our strength, and with all our mind ;"* and I think 
 you have not forgotten what I told you was meant 
 by this love of our neighbour. 
 
 Mary. No, mamma ; you told us that it was the 
 same as Christian charit}^, and that one part of charity 
 was to forgive one another ; and that you would tell 
 us another part of it to-day, in the story of the good 
 Samaritan. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, Mary. — Our Saviour, then, 
 was in conversation with a Jewish lawyer upon this 
 subject; and he, "willing," as the Bible says, "to 
 
 • Luke X. 27. 
 
THE PARABLES. 115 
 
 justify himself" — that is, willing to make out that 
 the duty was very limited, and that he should do quite 
 enough if he behaved kindly to those who were 
 literally his "neighbours," his friends, or relations — 
 said unto Jesus, " And who is my neighbour !" 
 
 Jesus made him no immediate answer, but began 
 a parable, at the end of which the lawyer might be 
 able to answer his question himself. 
 
 " A certain man," said he, " went down from Jeru- 
 salem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which 
 stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and 
 departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there 
 came down a certain priest that way ; and when he 
 saw him, he passed by on the other side." 
 
 Henry. What ! without helping him, or doing any 
 thing for him, when he saw him lying on the road 
 half dead ! 
 
 Mary. And a priest too, mamma ! does not that 
 make it worse ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It makes his conduct certainly less ex- 
 cusable, because, being one of those who served God 
 in the temple, he ought to have known that God 
 " will have mercy and not sacrifice ;"* that is, that 
 God prefers the fulfilment of the great law of human 
 kindness, to the most punctual obedience paid to the 
 ritual law of Moses. 
 
 * Matt. Ix. 13. 
 
116 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. What do you mean by the ritual law of 
 Moses, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It is too long a question for us to enter 
 into fully at this time ; when you are older, it will 
 be well Avorth your studying at large. But, in a few 
 words, I will try to give you a general idea of it, 
 though it will rather interrupt the progress of our 
 parables. 
 
 When God had singled out Abraham from all the 
 earth, to be the father of a great nation, which should 
 preserve the worship of the true God, he appointed 
 certain forms and ceremonies, which should repre- 
 sent and be types of spiritual blessings afterwards to 
 be bestowed. For example, the sacrifice of Isaac, 
 the proof of Abraham's faith, was a type, or repre- 
 sentation, of the sacrifice of God's own Son, which 
 in time was to take place as an atonement for the 
 sins of all the world. Peculiar rites were then and 
 afterwards, especially under Moses, ordained, which 
 for the time served to keep the Jews a distinct peo- 
 ple from all the nations of the earth, but which also 
 represented heavenly and spiritual blessings, which 
 should in times to come be revealed, not only to the 
 Jews, but to all the world. The most minute direc- 
 tions were given by God himself for the service of 
 the temple, and the observance of certain feasts, 
 most, if not all of which, though apparently insigniti- 
 
THE PARABLES. 117 
 
 cant, were, I doubt not, intended to represent some 
 spiritual object, and thus serve as a perpetual memo- 
 rial of God's everlasting providence. The observance 
 of these ceremonies, or rites, constituted what is 
 called the ritual law of Moses; and as Moses him- 
 self, the great lawgiver of the Old Testament, was 
 the type of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, the 
 great Lawgiver of the New, so the ritual law and 
 the ceremonies of the first religion, were intended as 
 types of the moral and spiritual law, introduced by 
 the New Testament, the Christian dispensation. I 
 do not know whether you will understand me, when 
 I say, that in some degree, the old religion was a 
 perpetual parable; a succession of visible and out- 
 ward objects, which all had some farther meaning, 
 and were at last explained when Jesus Christ came 
 into the world to fulfil, as he declared, the law and 
 the prophets. 
 
 Mary. I don't think I do quite understand this, 
 mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. Perhaps an example will make it more 
 clear. We have already mentioned the sacrifice of 
 Isaac, as a type or representation of the sacrifice of 
 the Son of God. You understand this.'' 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. You remember, also, that when the child- 
 ren of Israel were taken under God's especial pro- 
 
]18 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 tection, '' out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
 of bondage,"* they were commanded, in celebration 
 of God's mercy to them in passing over their houses 
 when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians, to kill 
 a lamb every year on a particular day, and keep the 
 feast of the Passover. 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, but this was to celebrate 
 something which was past. 
 
 Mrs. B. Not altogether, my dear, nor even chiefly. 
 It was to be a type of something which was to come; 
 it was to prefigure, or represent beforehand, the slay- 
 ing of Jesus Christ, " the Lamb of God," who is 
 called " our Passover ;" and the mercy of God upon 
 those for whom his blood was shed, and who thank- 
 fully acknowledged and received it. It was for this 
 reason, that this and several other observances, com- 
 manded by Moses, were kept up, to prefigure that 
 which was of more importance, the final accomplish- 
 ment of their heavenly meaning; and ^yhen you are 
 able to study and understand this part of the Old 
 Testament, you will be astonished at the wonderful 
 number of these types, and their close resemblance 
 to their final objects. 
 
 Mary. Can you tell us any more of these types, 
 mamma } 
 
 * Exod. XX. 2. 
 
THE PARABLES. 119 
 
 Mrs. B. I could tell you many more, my love, but 
 it would take us too far away from our present sub- 
 ject. What I want you to understand is, that the 
 law, as prescribed by Moses, was only, as St. Paul 
 says, "a shadow of good things to come;"* and that 
 things commanded in it, seemingly quite indifferent, 
 were really of consequence, as representing otliers 
 of a spiritual nature. 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, I understand that now a litde 
 better than I did. But did not the Jews understand 
 all this too ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love, the Jews were in general 
 proud of being the chosen people of God; not reflect- 
 ing that they were only his instruments for keeping 
 alive his religion, and for proving the equity of his 
 providential dispensations ; they imagined that they 
 alone possessed the favour of God ; and that his ser- 
 vice consisted wholly in an observance of (what I 
 think you now understand) the ritual law of Moses : 
 they avoided all intercourse with other nations, and 
 thought that even by doing acts of kindness to them, 
 they should pollute their own holiness, as the pecu- 
 liar people of the God of Israel. 
 
 Mary. And was this the reason, mamma, v/hy the 
 priest went by, and took no notice of the poor man, 
 who was lying wounded in the road ? 
 
 ♦Heb. X. 1. 
 
120 COXVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love, he had not even this ex- 
 cuse, for in all probability the man was himself a 
 Jew, to whom this misfortune happened. He per- 
 haps thought that the man was already dead, in 
 which case it would have defiled him to have touched 
 him ; that is to say, it would have been necessary for 
 him, according to the law of Moses, to have per- 
 formed certain ceremonies of purification, before he 
 could again have attended on the service of the tem- 
 ple; or perhaps he was bent on business, and it 
 would have been inconvenient to him to be detained ; 
 so that instead of *•' doing to" this poor wounded 
 man, ^' as he would have wished to have been done 
 by," had he been in such a state, he contented him- 
 self with passing carelessly by on the other side. 
 
 Henry. What does it mean, mamma, by passing by 
 on the other side ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It probably means, that he would not go 
 close past him, but went at some distance, pretending 
 not to see him ; thus adding to the sin of inhumanity 
 that of hypocrisy ; but though, had any other per- 
 sons been near, they might have been taken in to 
 suppose that he really did not see him, God saw the 
 cruelty and the hypocrisy of the whole proceeding, 
 for " He knoweth the very secrets of the heart,"* 
 
 • Psalm xliv. 21. 
 
THE PARABLES. 121 
 
 and doubtless, such conduct would not escape his 
 anger ; for, "• thy Father which seeth in secret, shall 
 reward" (and equally punish) " thee openly."* 
 
 Henry. And was this poor man left then in the 
 road to die ? 
 
 Mrs. B. The next that came that way was not a 
 priest, but he was a Levite ; one of that peculiar 
 tribe, from among whom the priests were taken, and 
 who were all especially dedicated to the service of 
 God. " And likewise the Levite, when he was at the 
 place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the 
 other side." 
 
 Henry. What! the Levite too, mamma! and looked 
 at him, and saw how mnch he was hurt ! 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my dear boy, it is a melancholy in- 
 stance of inattention, and want of feeling for the suf- 
 ferings of others which cannot be excused ; but 
 more especially among those who have been better 
 taught and instructed, as the Priest and the Levite 
 had been; or rather as they would have been, but for 
 the literal interpretation which they put upon their 
 law, and their attention rather to outward things, than 
 the inward law of the heart. But let us return to 
 the poor wounded man. " A certain Samaritan," 
 says the parable, "as he journeyed, came where he 
 
 • Matt. vi. 6. 
 11 
 
122 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 was ; and when lie saw him, he had compassion oil 
 hhn, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, 
 pouring in oil and wine ; and set him on his own 
 beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of 
 him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he 
 took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and 
 said. Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest 
 more, when I come again, I will repay thee." 
 
 Henry. Two pence, mamma ! that was not a great 
 deal of money to leave with him ! 
 
 Mrs. B. The Roman penny, my love, was a much 
 larger sum than ours, and as the value of money was 
 different then from what it is now, we must not judge 
 of the amount left with the innkeeper, from what it 
 sounds to us. Perhaps, also, he might not be able 
 at the time to spare much money ; but it is clear that 
 there was no want of generosity, by his parting re- 
 quest, "Take care of him, and whatsoever thou 
 spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee." 
 But is there nothing more in this story than the 
 amount of the money given ? 
 
 Henry. Oh, yes, mamma, it was very kind of the 
 Samaritan to take such care of the poor man, and 
 attend to him : but only two pence sounded so odd, 
 I could not help saying so. 
 
 Mrs. B. It would have been very kind in any one, 
 under any circumstances : but let us look to those of 
 
THE PARABLES. 123 
 
 this case, and see if there was any thing remarkable 
 in them. In the first place, he was a Samaritan. 
 
 Henry. Who were the Samaritans, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. They were the inhabitants of Samaria, 
 whose origin was partly Jewish and partly heathen; 
 who worshipped the true God, and acknowledged 
 the authority of Moses, but who did not conform to 
 the rites and ceremonies of the Jews, nor come up 
 to worship at Jerusalem. For these reasons the Jews 
 hated them more than nations altogether heathen. 
 "They had no dealings with the Samaritans."* 
 When they wished to reproach our Saviour bitterly, 
 they told him, " He was a Samaritan, and had a 
 devil ;"| and they considered it an abomination even 
 to speak to one of them. The Samaritan, therefore, 
 if he had been disposed to return evil for evil, might 
 have rejoiced in seeing one of his enemies in so 
 wretched a state ; at all events, he might have acted 
 upon the Jewish maxim, of " Love your friends and 
 hate your enemies." He might have " passed by on 
 the other side," and left him to die, as his own coun- 
 trymen, the Priest and the Levite, had done. But 
 this good Samaritan was w-orthy of being a Chris- 
 tian ; for he held, and acted upon the principle of 
 "loving his enemies and doing good to those that 
 
 * John iv. 9. -J- John \iii. 48. 
 
124 CONVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 hated liim.'*'* He had compassion on him, and seeing 
 his distress, did all he could to relieve it. 
 
 Mary. And had the poor wounded man hated the 
 Samaritans before, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No doubt he had despised and avoided 
 them, in compliance with the common habits of his 
 nation. 
 
 Mary. How ashamed he must have been afterwards, 
 when he found who it w^as that had assisted him, and 
 how his own countrymen had left him to die! 
 
 Mrs. B. We should hope he was, my love, and 
 more than ashamed ; that through GoiVs grace he 
 was able to conquer his unworthy prejudices, and be 
 more ready to receive the great truth, afterwards 
 preached by the Apostles, that " God is no respecter 
 of persons ; but in every nation, he that feareth him, 
 and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."! 
 But see if there is any other particular circumstance 
 in the conduct of this Samaritan. This happened 
 "as he journeyed;" he was really upon business; 
 we see he could not stay above one night at the inn; 
 he might have pleaded, that to stop and assist this 
 poor wounded Jew would put him to great inconve- 
 nience ; that the Jew was in his own country, among 
 his immediate " neighbours," who would, doubtless, 
 
 * Matt. V. 44. f Acts x. 34 , 35. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 125 
 
 take care of him ; while he himself was not only in 
 a strange country, without friends or means of doing 
 good, but among those who scorned and hated both 
 him and his nation. But of all this he thought not, 
 he thought not of what a Jew, under such circum- 
 stances, would have done to him, but of what he 
 should have wished him to do^ and he acted accord- 
 ingly. And " verily he had his reward" in the sight 
 of God, if not of man. 
 
 Mary. Mamma, you make me quite love this good 
 Samaritan. 
 
 Mrs. B. I would wish you to love his character, 
 so as to imitate it where you have the power. But 
 we will just finish the story, for you will remember, 
 that it was told by Jesus Christ to a Jewish lawyer. 
 
 Henry. I should like to know what he had to say 
 for the Jews. 
 
 Mrs. B. Jesus continued : " Which now of these 
 tliree, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that 
 fell among the thieves .> And he said. He that showed 
 mercy on him." 
 
 Henry. Come, I am glad he owned that at least. 
 
 Mrs. B. " Then said Jesus unto him. Go, and do 
 thou likewise." 
 
 And now, my loves, what does Jesus say to us ? 
 How are we to read and profit by this his holy word .'* 
 Tell me, my dear Mary, what are the great lessons 
 11* 
 
126 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 which we are to learn m this branch of Christian 
 charity ? 
 
 Mary. That we are to consider all men as our 
 neighbours, mamma, and do good to them whenever 
 we can. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well. What next ? 
 
 Mary. I do not know, mamma, unless that we are 
 not to mind whether they are our enemies or not. 
 
 Mrs. B. Right again ; that is, we are not to con- 
 sider whether they have injured or wronged us, (for 
 a Christian should have no enemies,) whether they 
 are likely to be ungrateful or grateful, whether they 
 will ever have the means of returning our kindness, 
 or will return it with injury and insult: for we look 
 for our exceeding " great reward"* from our Father 
 in heaven. But still more, the Samaritan did this 
 great kindness, at a time particularly inconvenient to 
 himself; is there no lesson to be learnt from this .'* 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma ; that we should not only do 
 good when it gives us no trouble, but even when it 
 is very disagreeable to us. 
 
 Mrs. B. Disagreeable is not a word to be applied 
 to doing good. But we are taught to do good to all 
 men, at all times, under all circumstances, even M'here 
 it may require a sacrifice of our own wishes, inclina- 
 
 * Gen. XV. 1. 
 
THE PARABLES. 127 
 
 tions, or time, or any thing else which we should 
 have liked to have disposed of otherwise. One more 
 lesson I will point out to you, from the conduct of 
 the priest. He passed on the other side, pretending 
 not to see the wounded man. Do you understand 
 any thing which may be drawn from this ? 
 
 Mary. 1 do not think I do very particularly. 
 
 Mrs. B. Does it not imply this, that God will not 
 excuse us if we look carelessly upon, or shut our 
 eyes to the distress of others } That rather than pass 
 by, or not inquire into a case which may come before 
 us, we should go out of our way to inquire, to seek 
 out, to learn where we can be useful ; where we can 
 prove, by our kindness to our distressed neighbours, 
 our sense of God's infinite goodness to us. And this 
 is a fault, my loves, which we are too apt to fall into, 
 more especially the rich, and those who have no 
 cares and anxieties for their own support and bodily 
 comforts. 
 
 Mary. I hope, mamma, if ever we are rich, we 
 shall remember this parable, and all that you have 
 told us about it. 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, you must recollect, that it is 
 not necessary to be rich, in order to show in the 
 sight of God a kind and charitable spirit. He who 
 well employed his five talents, attained the favour of 
 his master equally with him who well employed his 
 
128 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 ten : the good dispositions may equally be shown 
 with small means as with great. But whether you 
 should be rich or poor, I trust you will remember 
 and study, not only this parable, but all the word of 
 God, that it may dwell in your hearts and minds ; 
 and that by God's Holy Spirit assisting you, you 
 may " come behind in no good gift ;" but be " not 
 hearers only, but doers of the word."* And that 
 every holy precept and example may incite you, and 
 God give you grace to " go and do likewise." 
 
 * James i. 22. 
 
THE PARABLES. 129 
 
 EIGHTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 Luke. xvi. 19 
 
 Mrs. B. Just before v/e finished yesterday, we 
 were talking of what were the duties, especially of 
 the rich, in seeking out, rather than waiting to be 
 told, and even than listening carelessly to the afflic- 
 tions of their fellow-creatures. This will bring us 
 to-day to another part of that extensive virtue of 
 Christian charity, which goes most commonly by 
 that name, that of relieving the bodily distresses of 
 others. 
 
 Henry. You mean, giving money to poor people, 
 don't you, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I mean not giving money only, but food, 
 clothing, medical assistance, and all those comforts 
 which the rich can always procure, but of which the 
 poor often stand in need, and with which it is more 
 especially the duty of the rich to furnish those who 
 are in want. 
 
130 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, I believe I meant all that, 
 when I said money — 1 meant what people call 
 "giving charity." And now will you tell us the 
 parable ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, but before I do so, I must 
 tell you that it was spoken more particularly to the 
 Pharisees ; " who," the Evangelist says, " were 
 covetous, and derided him," on account of his po- 
 verty and humility. But Jesus, desirous to show 
 them that all the advantages of this world, on which 
 thfy prided themselves, such as wealth, learning, 
 rank, and "all that is highly-esteemed among men," 
 so far from being important towards a man's eternal 
 welfare, increase his punishment; and are, in his 
 own words, "abomination in the sight of God," if 
 a man make not a right use of them ; related to them 
 the parable which we are now going to read, of the 
 rich man and Lazarus. 
 
 "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed 
 in purple, and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every 
 day." 
 
 Henry. Why does it say, "clothed in purple," 
 mamma ? Was there any thing particular in that ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Purple, my dear Henry, was considered 
 among the ancients as the most beautiful and valuable 
 colour ; and the city of Tyre, which was at no very 
 great distance from Jerusalem, was particularly cele- 
 
THE PARABLES. 131 
 
 brated, and owed a great part of its wealth to the art 
 of dymg cloth of this colour. It was very expensive, 
 and was the colour always worn by emperors, kings, 
 and great men, upon great occasions ; so that in this 
 place, it means generally, very rich and expensive 
 clothes. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, is there any harm in wearing 
 fine clothes, and having great dinners, and a great 
 many people and servants, which is the meaning of 
 faring sumptuously, is it not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love, no harm at all, provided 
 that the heart is not allowed to attach itself too much 
 to these luxuries and extravagances; and that we do 
 not lay out thoughtlessly upon them the money 
 which ought to be spent in better objects, in relieving 
 distress, and assisting our neighbours. We shall 
 soon see how the case stood with this rich man. 
 The parable continues : 
 
 "And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, 
 which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring 
 to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich 
 man's table; moreover, the dogs came and licked his 
 sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died" — 
 
 Mary. What, mamma, while he was laid at the 
 gate of this rich man, who would not help him, or 
 do any thing for him ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It does not say expressly that he died in 
 
132 COXVERSATIONS ON 
 
 that very spot, though such a circumstance might 
 well be supposed to increase the guilt of this rich 
 man, (for you will remember this is an imaginary 
 story ;) but at all events, it is plain that the rich man 
 gave him no assistance, and even refused the humble 
 request which the poor Lazarus made to him. And 
 as we have stopped to consider the case, let us con- 
 sider it fully. The parable says, " There was a cer- 
 tain beggar, named Lazarus, laid at his gate, full of 
 sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which 
 fell from the rich man's table : moreover, the dogs 
 came and licked his sores." What a complication 
 of circumstances of distress and wretchedness ! What 
 misery on the one hand, and what selfish luxury on 
 the other ? While the rich man was feasting and 
 rejoicing, making a selfish and uncharitable use of 
 the good things of this world, which God had given 
 him ; one of his fellow-creatures, one of his brethren, 
 his equal in the sight of that God, who " is no re- 
 specter of persons ;" was at his very door in hunger 
 and thirst, in sickness and nakedness, and making so 
 humble a request as " to be fed with the crumbs which 
 fell from the rich m.an's table." He asked for no- 
 thing which would be a sacrifice to the other; he 
 begged only for the overflowings of that abundance 
 with which God had blessed him, but which he had 
 made a curse, and not a blessing ! And in this state 
 
THE PARABLES. 133 
 
 was his request attended to ? No. Food, assistance, 
 shelter, were denied him, and he was left in this 
 pitiable state, at the rich man's gate, exposed to an- 
 noyance even from the very brutes : " the dogs came 
 and licked his sores," 
 
 Mary. Poor man ! how he must have wished to 
 die at once! 
 
 Mrs. B. Death, my love, had evidently, from what 
 we hear afterwards, no terrors for him ; it released 
 him from his bodily sufferings, and yet more, it took 
 him to that heavenly kingdom, " where (to use the 
 beautiful words of the Revelation,) they which came 
 out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
 and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ;" 
 (that is, who are sanctified and saved by the sacriiice 
 of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God;) "are before the 
 throne of God, and serve him day and night in his 
 temple ; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dw^ell 
 among them. They shall hunger no more, neither 
 thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them ; 
 nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst 
 of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them 
 unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe 
 away all tears from all eyes."* To this blessed state, 
 to the presence of God himself, was the poor beggar 
 
 • Rev. vii. 14—17. 
 12 
 
134 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 taken — according to the parable,''' the beggar died, and 
 was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." 
 
 Henry. Why does it say Abraham's bosom, mam- 
 ma? 
 
 Mrs. B. Abraham, my love, was, as you know, the 
 father of all the Jewish nation, and was, of course, 
 regarded by them with the highest veneration. He 
 was a holy and righteous man, and is even termed 
 '' the friend of God."* The expression, '' being 
 carried to Abraham's bosom," is of course fignrative, 
 and is taken from the ancient custom of lying down 
 at meals, instead of sitting, as we do, so that the 
 head of one person came nearly to the breast of an- 
 other — as St. John is described in the last Supper of 
 our Lord, as " leaning on Jesus' bosom.''| This 
 was of course a mark of intimacy and friendship, 
 and in the present parable may be taken to mean, 
 that in heaven, whither he was carried by the angels, 
 he was admitted to the love and affectjon of those 
 holy and good men, who having faithful 1}^ served 
 their Lord here, had " entered into his joy" in an- 
 other world. 
 
 It is time to look now to the parable, and to the 
 case of the rich man. He also, says the Bible, " died 
 and was buried." And here for a moment let us 
 
 * James ii. 33. ■\ John xiii. 23. 
 
THE PARABLES. 135 
 
 stop, and consider this awful change. A few days 
 before, he was in the enjoyment (if his life could be 
 enjoyment) of all that the world could give him — a 
 splendid house, abundance of servants, wealth to 
 gratify all his fancies, richly clothed, sumptuously 
 fed, with every luxury at his command ; while poor 
 Lazarus, at his gate, covered with sores, and pining 
 with hunger and disease, vainly begged for the 
 crumbs which fell from his table, — Now the same 
 Lazarus '• hungers and thirsts no more" — " God has 
 wiped away all tears from his eyes ;" and, in his 
 presence, with the holy and just men of all ages, 
 now made perfect, he enjoys eternal and unmixed 
 happiness. " The rich man died and was buried ;" 
 perhaps a pompous funeral was the last mark of 
 distinction between the bodies of these two men, 
 which equally went to that dust of which both were 
 alike formed. But what was the condition of the 
 souls, their immortal part. 
 
 Henri). I should be afraid, mamma, that the rich 
 man was not carried by the angels to Abraham's 
 bosom. 
 
 Mrs. B. The parable does not leave us in doubt : 
 the awful continuation is — " And in hell he lifted up 
 his eyes, being in torments; and seeth Abraham afar 
 off, and Lazarus in his bosom." 
 
 How much of tremendous retribution, what cir- 
 
136 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 cumstances of increased misery are there in these 
 few words. In hell ! In that eternal punishment, 
 " where their worm shall not die, neither shall their 
 fire be quenched :"* suffering excruciating torments, 
 and conscious that he had brought them upon him- 
 self — permitted to see the glories of heaven, and tlie 
 happiness of the just, but to see them '' afar off,"" — 
 to know that he was for ever excluded from joining 
 them ; while he beheld exalted far above his own 
 head, in the midst of that blessed company, the poor 
 beggar Lazarus, whom he had spurned and despised 
 in the self-sufficiency of his worldly pride. 
 
 Mary. 1 am quite sorry for him, mamma, though 
 he did deserve it : but how he must have repented 
 now of his former conduct! How he must have 
 wished he had used his money better ! 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, it is a dreadful thought, but I 
 fear it is one which is too clearl}' declared by reve- 
 lation for us to doubt, that in hell there is no hope 
 and no repentance ! None of that " repentance unto 
 salvation" which " sorroweth wiih a godly sorrow."t 
 The means of such repentance are among the num- 
 ber of those precious talents committed to us here, 
 which, if now neglected, are for ever lost. In the 
 future world, our fate is fixed beyond the possibility 
 
 * Isa. Ixvi. 24 ; Mark ix. 44. +2 Cor. vii. 8, 10. 
 
THE PARABLES. 137 
 
 of a change ; the doom is gone forth, and repentance 
 then can only be an idle repining over the past, ex- 
 torted by the bitter fruit of hopeless torments. But 
 hear what the rich man's expressions are — whether 
 they point at any holy feeling, or whether they are 
 not such as 1 have described. 
 
 " And he cried, and said. Father Abraham, have 
 mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the 
 tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for 1 
 am tormented in this flame." 
 
 Here, you see, is nothing but a cry of pain and 
 anguish, and an entreaty that it may be lightened. 
 
 Henry. I think, mamma, he had no right to expect 
 that Lazarus would do any thing for him, considering 
 how he had treated him while they were alive. 
 
 Mrs. B. He seems to have considered Lazarus 
 as still in the same servile state in which he had 
 formerly known him ; and to have forgotten that the 
 grave does away with all distinctions, except those 
 of superior goodness and piety. But we may well 
 imagine that it was an aggravation of his punishment, 
 that he had now to solicit, that the same Lazarus, on 
 whom he had refused to bestow so much as a morsel 
 of bread, should be sent to give him even a moment's 
 relief; even to "dip the tip of his finger in water, 
 and cool his tongue." 
 
 12* 
 
138 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. Well, mamma, and what did Abraham say 
 to him ? 
 
 Mrs. B. You shall hear. " But Abraham said, 
 Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
 thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; 
 but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 
 And beside all this, between us and you there is a 
 great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass 
 from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to 
 us, that would come from thence." 
 
 Henry. I should think that none of the people 
 who were in heaven would have any wish to pass 
 over the gulf. 
 
 Mrs. B, Not certainly to change their place of 
 happiness for that awful state of eternal misery. But 
 among those blessed spirits there might have been 
 some willing even to expose themselves to those 
 horrors, to relieve and soften the sufferings of the 
 unhappy beings, whom their own crimes had brought 
 there. Lazarus, forgiving the ill-treatment which he 
 had received on earth, might have been willing, if 
 allowed, to alleviate the misery of his former enemy. 
 But this, God, who, though a God" of mercy, is one 
 of justice also, forbids. And what a reflection is 
 this, that our conduct here, for a very few years, must 
 decide our future fate for all eternity ! — for duration 
 which we cannot conceive ; but compared to which. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 139 
 
 all the ages that this world has lasted since the crea- 
 tion, are but as a single moment ! 
 
 Mary. I wanted to ask you one question, mamma. 
 You read just now that Abraham told the rich man 
 that he had had his good things in this world, and 
 Lazarus his evil things ; and that therefore Lazarus 
 was comforted, and he tormented. Surely it does 
 not mean that all who have been happy here will be 
 miserable afterwards, and all who have been miserable 
 here will be happy there ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Most assuredly not, my love : for that 
 would be punishing or rewarding men for that over 
 which they had no control, which would be evidently 
 unjust. It is not upon our condition here, but upon 
 the use we make of that condition, that our future 
 fate depends. It is true that the rich are exposed to 
 many temptations from which the poor are exempt — 
 to the "cares, and the pleasures of this world, and 
 the deceitfulness of riches." It is even true that our 
 Saviour himself exclaims, " How hardly shall they 
 that have riches enter into the kingdom of God I"* 
 But the poor have their temptations and their trials 
 also ; and a proper and charitable use of wealth, en- 
 joying, but not abusing " the good things of this 
 life," is as acceptable in the sight of God, as a patient 
 
 * Mark x. 23. 
 
140 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 and Christian resignation under those calamities and 
 deprivations, with which, for his own wise purposes, 
 he thinks fit to visit some of his creatures. The rich 
 man in the parable was not condemned because he 
 had been rich, but because he had misused his riches : 
 Lazarus was not comforted because he had been poor 
 and miserable, but because in all his sufferings he 
 looked with patience and piety to God, and with 
 charitable forgiveness to those who showed a want 
 of charity to him. Do you understand this ? 
 
 Henry. Oh ! yes, mamma, quite — but still, I am 
 very glad that you and papa are not very rich, if it is 
 so hard for a rich person to be good. 
 
 Mrs. B. My dear boy, in comparison with very 
 many people in the world, we are rich ; we have 
 always a comfortable house, good food, good clothes, 
 the means of giving something to our poorer neigh- 
 bours : we are not obliged to labour from morning 
 till night for our subsistence ; but have leisure to in- 
 struct you in all your duty, and give you a good 
 education. We have health, and strength, and a va- 
 riety of worldly blessings for which to be grateful : 
 but I will own to you, I am thankful to God who 
 has placed us in this situation, rather than expose us to 
 the temptations and the heavy responsibility. of a very 
 large fortune. At the same time, we may be quite sure 
 that he who uses, as a faithful steward, the portion 
 
THE PARABLES. 141 
 
 of goods vvliich God has given him here, be it large 
 or small, will not be puiiislied hereafter, because he 
 has gratefully enjoyed the worldly blessings which 
 have been placed within his reach. 
 
 Mary. No, mamma, I thought it could not mean 
 that, but I was not quite sure. I quite understand it 
 now — and wall you go on with the parable ? 
 
 Mrs, B. Yes, my love. After receiving this answer 
 from Abraham, the poor victim, in his torments, 
 thinks of the w^-etched state of those with whom he 
 had been connected on earth ; and his next request 
 is for them. Then, he said, " I pray thee therefore, 
 father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's 
 house : for I have five brethren : that he ma}' testify 
 unto them, lest they also come into this place of 
 torment." 
 
 Mary. Well, mamma, but that was good of him at 
 least, was it not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It seems to have been an intimation, that 
 in the future world our natural feelings and affections 
 will not be broken off; and that even some good and 
 kind sentiments may remain among those who are 
 themselves for ever lost : Milton, the finest of our 
 poets, whose writings 1 hope you will some day read 
 and admire, says — 
 
 " For neither do the spirits damn'd 
 Lose all their virtue" — 
 
142 
 
 COiVVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 •md this is agreeable to the word of God. But in 
 this request of the rich man, there might be also the 
 tormenting thought, that he had himself been the 
 means, by his example, and his life, of leading his 
 brothers into careless, irreligious, uncharitable habits, 
 and thereby to the eternal ruin of their souls : and 
 this might well explain the anxiety which he felt to 
 reclaim them even by a miracle. 
 
 Henry. But I hope, mamma, Abraham, let Lazarus 
 go for this at least. 
 
 Mrs. B. You shall hear. " Abraham saith unto 
 him. They have Moses and the prophets : let them 
 hear them." 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, but so had every body else: 
 but that is very different from a person who had been 
 dead, coming back to tell them. 
 
 Mrs. B. But what right had the brothers of this 
 man to be reclaimed by a miracle ^ What ground 
 had they for expecting that God would, for them, 
 depart so widely from his ordinary course, as to al- 
 low a messenger to come to them from the dead ? 
 You say very truly, that every body else, that is, all 
 the Jews, "had Moses and the prophets;" and these 
 were sufficient guides to some, and, therefore, might 
 have been sufficient for others, who chose to reject 
 them. The rich man, however, thought with you. 
 and still persevered in his request. " And he 
 
THE PARABLES. l43 
 
 said, Nay, Father Abraham ; but if one went nnto 
 them from the dead, they will repent." But what is 
 the answer ? " And he said unto him. If they hear 
 not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
 persuaded, though one rose from the dead." 
 
 Henry. Oh ! mamma, but 1 cannot think that. 
 Only fancy, how terrible it would be to have a per- 
 son, who had been dead, come back to tell you, that 
 if you did not behave better, you would be pu- 
 nished for ever and ever ! Surely, one must be good 
 after that. 
 
 Mrs. B. Remember, my dear Henry, who it is that 
 makes this declaration which is put into the mouth 
 of Abraham, that it is the Son of God, God himself, 
 who cannot deceive, nor be deceived, and who knows 
 the heart of man far better than we can know it our- 
 selves : and if, in what he declares, there is any thing 
 that seems strange, or even incredible to us, we should 
 satisfy ourselves, not that he is mistaken, for that 
 he cannot be, but that we are weak and ignorant. 
 It is true, that a sudden miracle, or any unusual event, 
 might cause serious thoughts, even in the most hard- 
 ened sinner. But God knows best how long those 
 thoughts may last, and he can work repentance in 
 us, by the slightest, as well as by the most powerful 
 causes. Not to repeat again the argument of the 
 unreasonableness of expecting such a miraculous 
 
144 CONVERSATIOIVS OIV 
 
 interference in favour of one person, and not of alL 
 But tell me, are there no wicked, or thoughtless, or 
 irreligious people in the world at present ? 
 
 Henry. Oh ! yes, mamma, a great many ; but not 
 any who have seen a person come from the dead to 
 warn them. 
 
 Mrs. B. Not who have seen such a thing, 1 grant 
 you, but who have known it, many hundreds and 
 thousands. 
 
 Henry. How, mamma ? 1 do not understand you. 
 
 Mrs. B. No ! do we not know as certainly as any 
 thing can be known, that Jesus Christ himself came 
 down on earth, died for our sins, rose again from the 
 dead., and preached to us and to all the world, re- 
 pentance, faith in him, and amendment of life r 
 
 Mary. Oh ! yes, mamma, I wonder we did not 
 think of that at once, but then that was not like a 
 common man being made alive again. 
 
 Mrs. B. It certainly was not ; but the miracle was 
 as great, and as astonishing; those who saw it could 
 not have been deceived, and we have their undoubted 
 testimony to the truth of the miracle. We know the 
 reality of it as much as if we had seen it with our 
 own eyes, and yet, though " One has risen from the 
 dead," how many are there who are careless of his 
 warning, disregard his commandments, think lightly 
 of his threats, and his promises ! He it is who speaks 
 
THE PARABLES. 145 
 
 to IIS and to all the world, in this very parable which 
 we have now been reading ; he it is who says, " Ye 
 have Moses and the prophets : hear ye them." And 
 of him again, it is said to us, " This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased : hear ye him."* 
 How much more call for our obedience, how much 
 more reason for our love and gratitude ! " There 
 fore," says St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 " We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things 
 which we have heard, lest at any time we should let 
 them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was 
 steadfast," (that is, if the word of God which he sent 
 by the prophets, his messengers, proved true, and his 
 promises, and his threatenings came to pass, as the 
 Jews knew they had done,) " and every transgression 
 and disobedience received a just recompense of re- 
 ward : how shall we escape if we neglect so great 
 salvation : which at the first began to be spoken by 
 the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that 
 heard him ?"| 
 
 Henry. Mamma, is it not very odd, that there 
 should be any people who live wickedly, when they 
 have been told by Jesus Christ himself, what will 
 happen to them afterwards ? 
 
 Mrs- B, It is indeed strange, my love, and sad to 
 
 * Matt xvii. 5. f Heb. ii. 1—3. 
 
 13 
 
146 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 think, how far too little we any of us reflect upon 
 the promises and the word of God : and still more 
 sad, how many persons live in utter disregard of him ; 
 or, to use the Scripture expression, " Live without 
 God in the world ;" but of these I pray God that my 
 dear children may never be ; but that whether rich or 
 poor in this world's goods, they may remember from 
 whom their riches, or their poverty proceed, and lay ^ 
 up for themselves treasure in heaven, which shall 
 never be taken from them. 
 
 Henry. I hope so too, mamma, and I am sure, if 
 ever [ am rich, I will try to be very good, and very 
 charitable to all the poor people. But what became 
 of the five brothers, mamma, after all ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, the parable ends here, for you 
 will remember, that it is not a real story told to 
 amuse curiositj'-, but a moral lesson given in an 
 imaginary relation of circumstances ; and this end 
 being answered, it was needless to go farther. But 
 to show you still more strongly, how dear in the 
 sight of God is this branch of that inestimable virtue 
 of charity, I will read to you, before we close, the 
 description which he gives, who only could give it, 
 Jesus Christ, of the last day, when he shall come to 
 judge all the world, rich and poor alike. " When 
 the Son of man," says our Lord, " shall come in his 
 glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall 
 
THE PARABLES. 147 
 
 he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him 
 shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate 
 them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his 
 sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep 
 on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then 
 shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
 pared for you from the foundation of the world. 
 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and 
 ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, 
 and ye visited me : 1 was in prison, and ye came unto 
 me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, 
 Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? 
 or thirsty, and gave thee drink.? When saw we 
 thee a stranger, and took thee in } or naked, and clothed 
 thee ? or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and 
 came unto thee } And the King shall answer, and 
 say unto them. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as 
 ye have done it unto one of the least of these my 
 brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he 
 say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels : for I was an hungered, and ye gave 
 me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : 
 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and 
 ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited 
 
148 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, 
 Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or 
 a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did 
 not minister unto thee ? Then shall he answer them, 
 saying. Verily, I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it 
 not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 
 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, 
 but the righteous into life eternal."* 
 
 Mary. Thank you, dear mamma, that is very beau- 
 tiful indeed; but there is one thing that I want to 
 ask you : If none can be rewarded but those that 
 feed, and clothe, and visit the poor and naked, what 
 is to become of the poor themselves ? for they cannot 
 afford it. 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, God will not require of any 
 that which they cannot do ; we shall be judged ac- 
 cording to that which we have, and not according to 
 that which we have not. But there are few, if any, 
 who have not some means of relieving,^ or assisting, 
 or showing kindness to others ; what God requires 
 is, that we should show mercy, remembering his 
 mercy to us ; and if we give in this spirit, our gifts, 
 however small, will be accepted by him. He has 
 even told us himself, that " Whosoever shall give a 
 cup of cold water to drink, in his name, verily he 
 
 * Matt. XXV. 31-46. 
 
THE PARABLES. 149 
 
 shall in no wise lose his reward."* But we must 
 put off any further discussion till another day, for it 
 is already late, and we must not enter upon any 
 fresh subject. 
 
 * Matt. X. 42, and Mark ix. 41. 
 
 13* 
 
150 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 NINTH DAY. 
 
 1»ARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. 
 
 Luke xviii. 9. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, Henry, what is it that has given 
 you that very triumphant look to-day ? 
 
 Henry. Oh! mamma, I think we have made a 
 good use of your parables ; I think Mary and I have 
 been like the good Samaritan, and I think I know 
 somebody that has been like the rich man that you 
 told us of yesterday. 
 
 Mrs. B. It always gives me pleasure to hear that 
 you have acted rightly; but why should you be glad 
 that you have seen somebody act in a very unworthy 
 and unchristian manner ? 
 
 Henry. No, mamma, it is not that that I am glad 
 of, but only .... only .... 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, let me hear the case, and 
 then I shall be a better judge. 
 
 Henry. Why, mamma, as we were walking just 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 151 
 
 outside the gate, we saw a very poor, very wretched 
 looking old man 
 
 Mary. No, Henry, he was not an old man. 
 
 Henry. Well, but he was very poor, was not he, 
 Mary ? And so, mamma, there was a gentleman 
 coming on horseback, and the poor man began to 
 beg of him — and the gentleman did not give him any 
 thing, but said, he ought to be ashamed of begging, 
 when he might work ; and so, mamma, when the 
 gentleman said so, as soon as he was gone by, I 
 went up and said, " Here, poor man, if that gentleman 
 won't give you any thing, I will" — and so I gave him 
 the new half-crown that grandmamma gave me, and 
 Mary gave him a shilling, which was all she had. 
 But why do you look so grave, mamma ? Did not 
 we do a great deal better than the gentleman ? 
 
 Mrs. B. 1 am afraid, my dear Henry, you have a 
 very poor notion of the conduct of the good Samari- 
 tan, when you think that you were like him ; and 
 that you have a still poorer of another essential part 
 of Christian charity, that of judging favourably of 
 the conduct of your neighbours, 
 
 Henry. Why, mamma, I thought the gentleman 
 was like the priest and the Levite, that you said 
 passed by without attending to the poor man ; and 
 so 1 was determined to show that I was better than 
 they were, and like the good Samaritan who helped 
 the poor man when he was in distress. 
 
152 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mrs. B. And do you think, my dear Henry, that 
 the wish of the Samaritan was to show that he was 
 better tlian the priest or the Levite ? 
 
 Henry. No, mamma, not exactly to show that he 
 was better, but I think he must have felt very happy 
 that he had behaved so much better than they had. 
 
 Mrs. B. I do not doubt, my love, supposing it to 
 be a real history, that he would have been glad that 
 he had behaved so well ; but I am sorry you should 
 think he would be glad that he had behaved better 
 than others. But as you do, let me ask you a ques- 
 tion or two. In the first place, whom are you most 
 anxious to please } 
 
 Henry. You, mamma, and papa. 
 
 Mrs. B. On earth, my dear boy, I hope you are ; 
 but remember you have a heavenly Parent, whom 
 you should be still more anxious to please. 
 
 Henry. Oh ! yes, mamma, I did not think of your 
 meaning that. 
 
 Mrs. B. And what does he say ? Does he pro- 
 mise to reward those who act better than others .'' 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. Does he ? — He promises to reward, with 
 eternal life, those who labour, by his grace assisting 
 them, to obey his word, whether they are more or 
 fewer; but he never promises to choose a certain 
 number of the best people in the world, and to reject 
 the rest. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 153 
 
 Henry. No, mamma ; but if we are the best people 
 in the world, God will reward us rather than others, 
 will he not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, God measures our reward by 
 our faith in his Son, and our obedience to his word ; 
 and not by our superiority or inferiority to others. 
 We are judged by our own conduct, and not by that 
 of any one else. We gain nothing by their miscon- 
 duct, and at the last day it will avail us nothing to 
 plead that there have been others worse than our- 
 selves. 
 
 Henry. No, mamma, J suppose not. 
 
 Mrs, B. Then, my love, I must ask you to answer 
 honestly, what was your motive in giving money to 
 this poor man ? Was it from an earnest desire to 
 serve God, by doing good to one of his creatures ; 
 or was it from a wish to show yourself in a more 
 favourable point of view than the gentleman whom 
 you mention .'' Was it because the poor man wanted 
 money, or because the rich man did not give it? 
 
 Henry (after a pause.) Why, mamma, I think it 
 was partly both. I think I should have thought that 
 the poor man wanted it ; but, perhaps, I should not 
 have thought it so much, if the gentleman had given 
 it him — and then I thought, now I will show that I 
 am good, and that he is not. I believe it was so, 
 mamma. 
 
154 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mrs. B. I believe so too, my dear boy, and I am 
 glad that you have the honesty to own it, now that 
 I have led you to look to your motives ; and now I 
 think that you can go on with the inquiry for your- 
 self. Do you think that your conduct to this beggar 
 at all resembled that of the good Samaritan ? 
 
 Henry. No, mamma, 1 am afraid not. I am afraid 
 I thought only of the good we had done to the poor 
 man, and not why we gave him our money. But 
 you are not angry with us for giving him the money, 
 mamma, are you ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I am not angry with you certainly, and I 
 am pleased to see that you are so ready to admit 
 your fault ; but I think it highly probable that you 
 did a foolish thing in giving money at all to this 
 poor beggar, certainly in giving so large a sum to 
 one person, without knowing whether he were de- 
 serving or not. 
 
 Henry. But ought we not to give mpney to beg- 
 gars at all, mamma ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I do not say that, my dear boy, but it is 
 as much our duty not to give to the idle and wicked, 
 as it is to assist the industrious, and to relieve the 
 sick and the infirm. By your account the gentleman 
 told him that he ought to be ashamed of begging in- 
 stead of working; and it is extremely probable that 
 he knew tke man's character, and that he could pro- 
 
THE PARABLES. 155 
 
 cure employment, but preferred idleness. I do not 
 know that this v/as the case ; but if it was, the gen- 
 tleman was the really charitable person, by refusing 
 to encourage idleness in giving away, as you did, a 
 sum to one beggar, which an industrious labourer 
 could scarcely earn by two days' hard work. This 
 mode of giving is not charity, but extravagance; and 
 you will have deprived yourself of the pleasure of 
 relieving more than one really deserving person, by 
 giving to one who very possibly was not so. 
 
 Henry. But, mamma, if the gentleman did not 
 know that this beggar was idle, surely he ought not 
 to have refused him, or scolded him ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Certainly not, my love; but as certainly, 
 unless you know to the contrary, you are bound to 
 believe that his refusal proceeded from a good motive, 
 and not from a bad one ; that he would gladly have 
 relieved a person in real distress, but would not be 
 duped by, and encourage, an impostor. And in be- 
 lieving this, you exercise towards this gentleman an- 
 other very important branch of that extensive virtue, 
 Christian charity. 
 
 Henry. Charity to the gendeman, mamma! I do 
 not know how you mean. 
 
 Mrs. B. There are two points in the description 
 of charity given by St. Paul, in the passage I have 
 before alluded to, which we may apply to our pre- 
 
156 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 sent case; as relating to the judgments which we 
 form of our oicn actions, and of those of others. For 
 the first : " Charity," he says, " vaunteth not itself, 
 is not puffed up."* Or, in the words of the Psalms, 
 " setteth not by herself, but is lowly in her own 
 eyes."| And for the second, she " thinketh no 
 evil."J A most comprehensive expression, and a 
 point in which this Christian virtue may be most 
 strongly shown, and perpetually exercised, in putting 
 upon the actions of our neighbours the fairest and 
 most favourable construction — not hastily judging or 
 condemning them, not believing that they act from 
 improper motives, but the contrary, if possible ; and 
 leaving judgment to that great Searcher of all things, 
 " to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no 
 secrets are hid." The Scriptures with more than 
 common earnestness insist upon the necessity of 
 both these exercises of charity. " Be kindly affec- 
 tioned," says St. Paul, ''one towards another with 
 brotherly love, in honour preferring one another ;"§ 
 and again in the same chapter, " Be not wise in your 
 own conceits."|| "Judge not," says Jesus himself, 
 "that ye be not judged ;"!! and to the Pharisees, 
 " who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, 
 
 ♦ 1 Cor. xiii. 4. -j- Psalm xv. 4. ^r 1 Cor. xiii. 5, 
 
 § Rom. xii. 10. || Rom. xii. 16. f Matt. vii. 1. 
 
THE PARABLES. 157 
 
 and despised (that is, were ready to condemn and 
 think ill of) others"* without sufficient cause, he 
 spoke a parable, wliich I think, under all circum- 
 stances, we may as well take for our reading of to- 
 day. It is not a very long one, and our conversation 
 has already encroached a little on our usual time. 
 "Two men," said our Saviour, "went up into the 
 temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a 
 publican." 
 
 Mary. I do not think, mamma, that I know what 
 a publican was among the Jews ; I know that it was 
 not what it means with us. 
 
 Mrs. B. The Publicans were those persons who, 
 when the Jewish nation became tributary (that is, 
 had to pay taxes) to the Romans, by whom they had 
 been conquered, had the charge of collecting ihem, 
 and paying them over to their foreign masters. 
 Among the Jews it was considered highly disgrace- 
 ful to have any thing to do with persons of another 
 nation ; and accordingly the publicans, or tax-gather- 
 ers, who filled so odious an office, were held in great 
 contempt and abhorrence by the rest of the Jews. 
 It is very possible, indeed, that from the general con- 
 tempt which was entertained for this office, it was 
 often in the hands of persons of low condition and 
 
 * Luke xxiii. 9. 
 
 14 
 
158 CONVERSATIOXS OX 
 
 indifferent character, as few others could be induced 
 to take it. But no doubt there were, even among the 
 publicans, many honest and good persons. 
 
 Mary. Mamma, I think I remember that Jesus was 
 reproached for living with publicans and sinners, and 
 I now see why they were put together. 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love, you are quite right ; and 
 it is very possible that the publican, about whom we 
 are about to read, was (as indeed which of us is not ?) 
 a sinner. Be that as it may, he was a repentant sin- 
 ner, for he was come into the temple to pray. So, 
 indeed, was the Pharisee. Both were in the imme- 
 diate presence of an all-seeing God, who knew all 
 their actions, thoughts, and dispositions ; but who 
 judged of them not as men judged. " The Pharisee 
 stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank 
 thee that I am not as other men are. extortioners, 
 unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican ?" 
 
 Henry. But how did he know, mamma, Avhat the 
 publican was ? 
 
 Mrs. B. I am glad to see you can reason so accu- 
 rately, and see how absurd, and how worse than ab- 
 surd, it is for one of us to pretend to judge of the 
 merits and feelings of another. I only wish you 
 were always as ready to act upon this knowledge, 
 and not to condemn others too hastily in cases where 
 you probably know little or nothing. 
 
THE PARABLES. 159 
 
 Henry. Oh, niamma, I hope you are not angry with 
 me ; I see that I was very wrong about that gentle- 
 man this morning, but I hope you do not think me 
 like the Pharisee, who made such a beginning to his 
 prayers. 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my dear little boy, I am not angry 
 with you, and as I told you just now, I am very 
 glad to see that you can own that you have been 
 ■wrong. I hope that your prayers to God will 
 be very unlike those of the Pharisee, and that, in- 
 stead of thanking God that you are better than others, 
 you will pray to him to be made day by day better 
 than you are ; and that all your neighbours (that is, 
 all men in the world) may be made better also, by 
 the aid of his Holy Spirit. And now, my love, 
 we will go on with the parable, and say no more 
 about the gentleman and the beggar, for I think you 
 will remember what we have said, and not be so 
 hasty and uncharitable in your opinion another time. 
 ■ We left off, you remember, where the Pharisee 
 thanks God, that he is not like his poor humble 
 neighbour. His prayer goes on : " I fast twice in the 
 week, I give tithes of all that I possess." 
 
 Mary But, mamma, he did not call that a prayer, 
 did he ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Certainly, my love, it was very unlike 
 what a prayer ought to be, a confession of our own 
 
160 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 unworthiness, thanks for God's unmerited goodness, 
 and an humble petition that he would continue his 
 mercy to us. On the contrary, this proud Piiarisee, 
 while he affects, indeed, to thank God, in reality only 
 boasts of his own imagined virtues, or rather not of 
 his virtues, but of his freedom from the faults of 
 others. And when he comes to speak of his own 
 merits, what are they } " I fast," says he, " twice in 
 the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." I ma- 
 nage, that is, to comply with the outward ordinances 
 of the religion which I have learnt, and to perform 
 carefully those ceremonial observances by which I 
 can make a fair show before men. But he forgot that 
 he was then addressing himself to that God " who 
 seeth not as man seeth"* — "Who trieth the heart 
 and the reins,"| that is, the inward affections, the 
 motives, the sincerity of our conduct; he forgot that 
 in the sight of that God all are sinners alike — that 
 the difference between the best and worst of men 
 (supposing that he had been the one, and his poor 
 neighbour the other) is as nothing compared with the 
 infinite distance between the best of men and the 
 divine perfections of that eternal God. But let us go 
 on to the contrast — let us hear now the publican. 
 " He," says the parable, " standing afar off, would 
 
 * Job. X. 4. t Psalm vii. 9. 
 
THE PARABLES. 161 
 
 not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but 
 smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to 
 me, a sinner." " Which of these two," as Jesus 
 said on another occasion, "did the will of his 
 Father."* 
 
 Mary. I should think the publican, mamma, for 
 he really did pray ; he prayed to God to be merciful 
 to him. 
 
 Airs. B. And how did he pray ? — " standing afar 
 ofT:" that is, not daring to approach what was con- 
 sidered more peculiarly the holy part of the temple, 
 to which the proud Pharisee, not questioning his right, 
 nor examining Jiis merits, had boldly gone ; " not 
 lifting up so much as his eyes unto heaven;" but 
 with humbled and penitent looks, with downcast 
 eyes, and a contrite heart, smiting upon his breast, in 
 sign of his wickedness and of his sorrow, he made 
 his prayer to God, " who despiseth not the sighing 
 of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sor- 
 rowful." 
 
 And now, what was his prayer .> It was short, but 
 it was comprehensive : not only " God be merciful to 
 me," but "God be merciful to me, a sinner." As if 
 he had said, " I am a sinful man, oh Lord.f I ac- 
 knowledge my trangressions, and my sin is ever be- 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 31. f Luke v. 8. 
 
 14* 
 
162 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 fore me."* I have no claims upon thy goodness, and 
 if thy justice be dealt out to me strictly, I must be 
 for ever lost : but give me, oh God ! that which I do 
 not deserve, " be merciful unto me, a sinner :" forgive 
 my past sins, and enable me to forsake them, (for 
 this last must, of course, be implied.) This, my 
 loves, is the frame and disposition of heart in which 
 God will have us pray to him. And Jesus, having 
 related the parable, confirms your opinion of the 
 merits of the two, adding, immediately, " I tell you, 
 this man went down to his house justified, rather 
 than the other." And he adds the reason, which 
 was — 
 
 Mary. That one really did pray, mamma, and the 
 other did not. 
 
 Mrs. B. That one really did pray, and prayed 
 humbly ; that the poor publican, with all the disad- 
 vantages of his education and his early habits, had 
 that Christian virtue of humility, which is, in the 
 sight of God " of great price ;"| humility towards 
 God, and humility also (which is charity) towards 
 men : while the Pharisee, with all his boasted ac- 
 quirements and supposed merits, was careless towards 
 his Maker, and arrogant towards his fellow-creatures. 
 And Jesus adds this momentous warning, to all men, 
 
 * Psalm li. 3. t ^ ^^^' ^- ^' 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 163 
 
 in all ages, and in all circumstances: "Every one 
 that exalteth himself, shall be abased ;" and this 
 comfort, also, to those who seek it righdy, that "He 
 that hiimbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 
 Mary. But is it right, mamma, to seek to be ex- 
 alted ? And if it is not, why does Jesus offer it as 
 a reward ? 
 
 Mrs, B. Of what exaltation do you suppose he 
 speaks ? Not surely of worldly honours, or wealth, 
 or glory ; least of all of worldly triumph over those 
 who have exalted themselves, and who will be 
 abased ; but of that best exaltation at the last day, 
 when the faithful and humble servants of God shall 
 hear the glorious voice, " Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom which hath been pre- 
 pared for you, from the foundation of the world.* 
 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in 
 the kingdom of their Father."| To this exaltation 
 we are not only permitted, but commanded to look, 
 as the " prize of" our " high calling,"^ as the end of 
 all our being, and the object of all our hopes. 
 
 Henry. Mamma, you said just now, that humility 
 w^as charity. I did not quite know how you meant. 
 
 Mrs. B. I should rather have said, my love, that 
 humility towards men was a part, and a very essen- 
 
 * Matt. XXV. 34. f Matt. xiii. 43. + Phil. iii. 14. 
 
164 
 
 CONVERSATIOiVS ON 
 
 tial part, of charily : for it is by a want of humility, 
 by a too good opinion of our own merits, that we are 
 led to compare them with those of others, and, like 
 the proud Pharisee, to look down on those, who, per- 
 haps, are really our Superiors. If we think humbly of 
 ourselves, we shall never think contemptuously, or 
 uncharitably, of others. If we consider how much 
 we need forgiveness, we shall be ready to forgive 
 others : if we consider how little our own motives 
 will bear being inquired into, we shall not be too 
 ready to condemn those of others ; we shall remem- 
 ber these two warnings, " Forgive and ye shall be 
 forgiven. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged."* 
 And in these two, consists no small part of Christian 
 charity. Do you understand me now ? 
 
 Henry. Yes, mamma, quite ; thank you. 
 
 Mrs. B. And I trust, my dear children, that what 
 you understand, you may, by the grace of God, be 
 enabled to practise : and especially this Christian 
 virtue of humility, which, though essential to all, is 
 yet peculiarly the ornament and the blessing of child- 
 hood : that following his blessed example, who, 
 though the Son of God, humbled himself, and was 
 obedient to his earthly parents, you may, like him, 
 " increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favour 
 both with God and with man."t 
 
 * Luke vi. 37. f Luke ii. 52. 
 
THE PARABLES. 165 
 
 TENTH DAY. 
 
 " I AM afraid, my dears," said Mrs. B., the follow- 
 ing day, " that our stock of parables is nearly ex- 
 hausted." 
 
 "Oh! mamma," exclaimed both the children at 
 once, in a tone of disappointment. 
 
 " I thought," said Mary, " there had been a great 
 many more parables in the Bible." 
 
 Mrs. B. There are several more, ray love : but 
 some of them I should hardly be able to make you 
 understand ; and others are expressed in short sen- 
 tences, which are hardly stories, and which you will 
 read better when you read the Bible itself. There 
 are, however, two more, which I propose that we 
 should read together ; but let us first consider, shortly, 
 those which we have been reading, and the principal 
 lesson of each of them. Do you remember, Mary, 
 what was the first that we read } 
 
 Mary. Oh, yes, mamma, 1 remember that quite 
 well. It was the Sower and the Seed. 
 
 Mrs. B. And the meaning .'' 
 
 Mary. It was the way in which different people 
 
166 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 receive the word of God, and how we ought to let it 
 grow like the seed, in our hearts. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, Mary. And the next, Henry ? 
 
 Henry. Was it not the Servants and the Pounds, 
 mamma? And to show us how we ought to im- 
 prove our talents, like the servants who were to trade 
 with their money ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Quite right, my dear boy. We then 
 went, if you remember, into three parables at once : 
 — The Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Silver, and the 
 Prodigal Son. 
 
 Mary. Oh, that long beautiful parable ! How well 
 I remember that ! 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, my love, then tell me the moral 
 of it. 
 
 Mary. Oh, mamma, there was so much ! But the 
 chief thing was to show us how we ought to repent, 
 when we have done wrong, and how God would re- 
 ceive us if we did. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, my dear girL And now look 
 at these five parables, and see how large a portion 
 they express of our first duty — duty to God. In the 
 first, we learn the necessity of Faith, by which we 
 receive into our hearts his holy word, letting it grow 
 there, and flourish, and bring forth fruit. In the se- 
 cond, we learn actively to exercise our faith, and to 
 employ the means of good which God has placed in 
 
THE PARABLES. 167 
 
 our power, remembering, that for all of them, we 
 must give an account to him who gave them. The 
 three others teach us that most comfortable doctrine 
 of Repentance ; by which we learn, that after all our 
 sins, we yet may turn to our God, as to a merciful 
 and loving Father, with fear, and love, and godly 
 sorrow ; and that those who so come to him, he will 
 again receive, and the angels of heaven will rejoice 
 over their return. From these we passed to our 
 duty to our neighbours ; in one word, to Christian 
 charity ; not forgetting that our duty to them is part 
 of our duty to God ; that our love for them, should 
 proceed from our love to God ; and that our conduct 
 to them should be an humble imitation of the conduct 
 of God to us. Do you recollect, Henry, which was 
 the first of this second set ? 
 
 Henry. I am not sure that I remember which was 
 next. Was it the good Samaritan ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Nor does it much signify which we took 
 next in order : but you have not forgotten the two 
 servants, have you .'' 
 
 Henry. Oh ! no, mamma ; the one who owed 
 more than he could pay, and whose master forgave 
 him, and who afterwards would make the other ser- 
 vant pay him the little debt ? Oh ! no, I had not for- 
 gotten that; but I did not remember where it came. 
 
 Mrs, B. But the moral, my love } 
 
168 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Henry. That we ought to forgive all men who 
 have offended us, mamma, because God forgives us 
 so much more ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Quite right, my dear boy. This parable 
 then enjoins, as one part of our duty to our neighbour, 
 or Christian charity, (which you will remember is 
 the same thing,) forgiveness of offences against us, 
 as we hope and pray to be forgiven ; " being kind 
 one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, 
 even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us."* 
 The good Samaritan, again, is a lesson of more active 
 henejicence ; not of forgiving all, but of doing good 
 to our neighbours : the term neighbours, meaning all 
 mankind, under all circumstances, at all times, how- 
 ever inconvenient to ourselves, and however little 
 we may be in the world connected witli them. Now, 
 the third parable, Mary. 
 
 Mary. Was it not the Rich Man and Lazarus } 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes, my love ; perhaps the most limited 
 in its application, but certainly not the least import- 
 ant; for though ie\y opportunities may occur, of 
 more special acts of beneficence, yet " the poor," 
 says our Lord, "ye have always with you ;"| and 
 judiciously, yet liberally, to relieve their wants, and 
 to minister to their distresses, is no small part of the 
 
 * Ephes. iv. 32. f Matt. xxvi. 11. 
 
THE PARABLES. 
 
 169 
 
 responsibility of those who have enough and to spare 
 of this world's goods. Again, this parable reminds 
 us, that while we have opportunity, we should " do 
 good unto all men ;* knowing that, after our death, 
 tliere will be no longer room for repentance, nor for 
 good works ; that then " the night cometh, when no 
 man can work."t 
 
 The fourth parable was the one which we read 
 yesterday, which enjoins humility towards God, and 
 charitable judgment towards men ; and which, as we 
 have so lately read it, we need not enter into again. 
 Once more, let us look back at the summary of all 
 enjoined us, in what we have read. 
 
 1st. Faith in God, and a devout acceptance of his 
 most holy word. 
 
 2d. An active exercise of that faith, in such good 
 works as are its fruit and effects. 
 
 3d. A sincere repentance of our sins past, and a 
 steadfast resolution to forsake them for the future. 
 
 Then comes our duty to our neighbours, m- 
 cluding, 1st. A ready forgiveness of all their sins, 
 remembering who has forgiven us, and how much 
 he has forgiven. 
 
 2d. Universal beneficence to all mankind, know- 
 ing that all are children of the same Father and God. 
 
 * Gal. vi. 10. t John ix. 4. 
 
 15 
 
170 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 3d. Kindness and liberality to the poor and needy, 
 knowing that "He that hath pity upon the poor, 
 lendeth unto the Lord."* 
 
 And, lastly, charitable judgment of the thoughts 
 and actions of others; since we are assured that 
 " with what measure we mete, it shall be measured 
 unto us again.""! 
 
 Though much more, no doubt, might be added, 
 and though every line of the sacred writings will 
 teach us, more and more, how sedulously we ought 
 to keep the commandments of God, and walk in his 
 holy ways; yet, believe me, dear children, that if we 
 bear in mind these precepts, and study to act up to 
 them, by the mercy of our God, we shall not be " far 
 from the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 And now, my loves, having, by our former para- 
 bles, learnt what is our duty to God and to man, we 
 will see how it is that God calls us to perform those 
 duties ; whom he calls, and what we must expect, 
 if we refuse to obey his call, or render ourselves un- 
 fit for attending upon it. 
 
 * Proverbs xix. 17. f Matt. vii. 2. 
 
THE PARABLES. 171 
 
 PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE KLXG'S SOX. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 2. 
 
 Mrs. B. " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a 
 certain king," (you see here the same form of begin- 
 ning, upon which we made some remarks a few days 
 ago,) " which made a marriage for his son :" or 
 rather, who made a feast on the occasion of the mar- 
 riage of his son ; " and sent forth his servants to call 
 them that were bidden" (or invited) ^' to the wedding • 
 and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other 
 servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, behold, 
 I have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fatlings 
 are killed, and all things are ready : come unto the 
 marriage. But they made light of it, and went their 
 ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise ; 
 and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them 
 spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard 
 thereof, he was wroth ; and he sent forth his armies, 
 and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their 
 city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding 
 is ready, but they which were bidden, were not 
 
172 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 worthy. Go ye, therefore, into the highways, and as 
 many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those 
 servants went out into the highways, and gathered 
 together all, as many as they found, both bad and 
 good ; and the wedding was furnished with guests. 
 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw 
 there a man wliich had not on a wedding garment, 
 and he saith unto him. Friend, how camest thou in 
 hither, not having a wedding garment .'' And he was 
 speechless. Then said the king to the servants, 
 Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and 
 cast him into outer darkness." 
 
 Henry. What, because he was not well dressed 
 enough, mamma .'' Surely, that was not right of the 
 king ; particularly when he had asked him in himself. 
 
 Mrs. B. My dear boy, your objection, which, 
 however, does not surprise me, proceeds from your 
 thinking of the manners and habits of the present daj'", 
 in which it would not only be highly unjust to act 
 in the vs^ay you imagine the king to have acted, (as 
 indeed it would have been in that day, if you had 
 quite correctly stated the circumstances ;) but it would 
 also be preposterous and absurd for a king, upon the 
 marriage of his son, or any great occasion, to send 
 out for his guests, literally, into the highways and 
 hedge-sides. But in the times and country, in which 
 our Saviour lived, there was nothing ridiculous or 
 
THE PARABLES. 173 
 
 extraordinary in either of these circumstances. It 
 was no uncommon thing for great persons, upon 
 great occasions, to give feasts, which lasted, some- 
 times, several days together, at which all who came, 
 travellers and others, of whatever rank in life, were 
 received and fed : a part of the entertainment con- 
 sisted also in giving to such of the guests as had 
 them not, suitable dresses for the occasion. " Changes 
 of raiment," you will find, in reading the history of 
 the Bible, spoken of as the commonest species of 
 present made by a person to his guests. And you 
 remember, in reading the parable of the Prodigal Son, 
 they brought out " the best robe and put it on him." 
 Dresses being thus furnished by the master of the 
 feast to all who applied for them, it was a piece of 
 disrespect, amounting to an insult, to come to the 
 table without such a preparation, and merited that, 
 which in this instance it received, being turned out 
 from the brilliant feast into the darkness and gloom 
 of the street. 
 
 Mary. But is that what is meant by " outer dark- 
 ness," mamma .? because I thought it meant much 
 worse than that. 
 
 Mrs. B. So it is explained by the commentators, my 
 love, on this passage : in the spiritual sense, indeed, 
 
 being turned away from the heavenly feast 
 
 But before we go to this, we had better go through 
 15* 
 
174 COXVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 the meaning of the parable generally. Do you un- 
 derstand the meaning of it, Mary ? 
 
 Mary. No, mamma, I do not think I do ; I was 
 trying as you read it, but I could not make any 
 thing of it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Let us see, then, what we can make out 
 together. In the first place, the king, the giver of 
 the feast, was — ? 
 
 Mary. God, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. And the feast, to which he called or in- 
 vited a certain number at first — } 
 
 Mary. Oh ! I see, mamma, the parable is against 
 the Jews, who were first called to be Christians, and 
 who would not. 
 
 Mrs. B. Now, my love, you have the right key 
 to the meaning of the parable. It was spoken against 
 the Jews in the first instance, yet not without a pro- 
 phetic warning to us, and to all persons in future 
 ages of the world, which we shall do well to ponder 
 in our hearts. With God's assistance, then, we will 
 endeavour to see what lesson we are able to draw 
 from this parable. 
 
 God, as we have seen, is the king, who prepares 
 of his bounty a great feast, and prepares it too on 
 account, and in honour of, his Son; to this feast he 
 invites a chosen number of persons, and from time 
 to time he sends forth his servants and messengers 
 
THE PARABLES. 175 
 
 to warn them of the invitation ; at length he sends to 
 announce to them, that the feast was actually pre- 
 pared, that all things " were ready." This, as you 
 partly saw, Mary, was the dealing of Almighty God, 
 with regard to the Jewish nation. From a very 
 early time, God chose them out to be a peculiar 
 people, to " keep his statutes and observe nis laws :"* 
 and to preserve the expectation of that great promised 
 Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth were 
 to be blessed. To the Jews he sent his messengers, 
 the prophets, calling his people to repentance, and 
 they would not hear : and lastly, to the Jews first, he 
 sent his long-promised Son, saying, " Come, for all 
 things are ready ;""(" come, for the prophecies are now 
 accomplished ; come, and I will bring you the "bread 
 of life ;" and " the water of life, whosoever drinketh 
 of which shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall 
 give him, shall be in him a well of water springing 
 up into everlasting life." J How then did they receive 
 the invitation to this inestimable feast ? " They made 
 light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, an- 
 other to his merchandise, and the remnant took 
 his servants, and entreated them spiteful!}-, and 
 slew them." 
 
 Mary. But did Jesus mean this parable as a pro- 
 
 * Psalm cv. 45. -j- Luke xiv. 17. ^ John iv. 14. 
 
176 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 phecy, mamma, of what they would do to himself ? 
 For he was one of the servants, was he not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No doubt, my love, he who " took upon 
 him the form of a servant,"* here represents himself 
 as one of those sent out by the king to call the Jews 
 to the heavenly feast; and no doubt that he intended 
 to foretell, in this discourse, what would happen to 
 himself; and also, what in a most signal manner did 
 happen shortly after, to his murderers. And having 
 seen the accomplishment of one part of the punish- 
 ment threatened, let us be more and more careful to 
 avoid that heavy visitation which is afterwards de- 
 nounced. But let us look a little more closely at 
 the conduct of the Jews ; when this feast of heavenly 
 things was held out to them, what did they do ? 
 
 Mary. " They made light of it, and went their 
 ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." 
 
 Mrs. B. That is, they treated contemptuously the 
 gracious invitation, because it interfered with the 
 amusements, or the business of the present world : 
 they were occupied with the cares of this life, and 
 the deceitfulness of riches, and they neglected the 
 good tidings of great joy, which were to be to all 
 nations. But I am afraid the Jews are not the only 
 people to whom this blame might be attached. Are 
 
 * Phil. u. 7. 
 
THE PARABLES. 177 
 
 there none among iis, who are Christians, who 
 " make light" of the call wiiich God has given us, 
 tliroiigh his Son ? None among us, who think more 
 of our business and our amusements, " our farms 
 and our merchandise," than of that heavenly feast to 
 which we are invited ? that treasure which is laid up 
 for us, " where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, 
 and where no thieves can break through and steal!"* 
 
 Mary. Mamma, I have often thought that if one 
 had lived at the same time with Jesus Christ, and 
 heard him, and seen his miracles, one could not have 
 helped believing in him, and then one must have 
 obeyed him, and followed him. 
 
 Mrs. B. My love, his rejection by the Jews was a 
 melancholy instance of the power of prejudice to 
 close the human heart, even against the clearest evi- 
 dence ; but while we condemn them, we alike con- 
 demn ourselves in almost all our daily conduct. 
 What evidence had they which we have not ? We 
 have equal means of being convinced of the truth of 
 his gospel, of the reality of his miracles. If we be- 
 lieve in his word, we have it before us, as surely 
 coming from him as if we heard it from his own 
 mouth ; and if we do not make it the guide of all 
 our actions, we are just as guilty as they were. Nay, 
 
 * Matt vi. 20. 
 
178 COxWERSATlONS ON 
 
 we are more unjustifiable still, for we have no deep- 
 rooted national prejudices to contend against; no 
 early impressions to overcome : " from a child," we 
 have each of us " known the Holy Scriptures, which 
 are able to make us wise unto salvation."* Again, 
 the.Jews, when they were first called upon to follow 
 our Saviour, to be the early disciples and teachers 
 of his word, were called upon to forsake all tliat 
 they had, which was most dear to them ; " to sell 
 whatsoever they had, and give to the poor, and take 
 up their cross, and follow him,"t through perils, and 
 persecutions, and death. JVe are called on to make 
 no such sacrifices ; we are not ordered to give up 
 father, or mother, or husband, or vvife, or children, 
 for his name's sake : we are not forbidden to attend 
 to our "farm and our merchandise;" but we are 
 called on, not so to set our hearts upon any of these 
 things, as to "make light" of the call to his heavenly 
 feast. But let us now return to our parable, and to 
 that part of it, which more immediately relates to the 
 Jews. The neglect of the invitation, which it was 
 their duty to have obeyed, led them to feel angry 
 with those messengers who were sent to warn them 
 of their duty : and thus, as one sin almost always 
 leads to others worse, they ended by " despitefully 
 entreating," and at last murdering them. 
 
 * 3 Tim. iii. 15. -f Mark x. 21. 
 
THE PARABLES. 179 
 
 Mary. But what excuse had they, mamma ? What 
 reason for murdering the servants who were sent to 
 invite them ? 
 
 Mrs. B. No excuse, my love ; no reason, no pal- 
 liation ; their anger at those who warned them of 
 their sin, in neglecting the invitations of their Lord, 
 was probably the cause, but certainly not an excuse 
 for their conduct. Yet such had been, and such 
 Jesus well knew would be, the behaviour of the 
 Jews ; and he well knew also, and foretold in the 
 next verse of the parable, w^hat should be the conse- 
 quence of their crimes. "The king sent forth his 
 armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned 
 up their city." And in less than fifty years after this 
 parable was uttered, while many yet lived who had 
 heard it, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman 
 armies, which God had permitted to go up against it, 
 and take it. 
 
 Mary. But I should think such a wonderful event 
 must have convinced all the world of the truth of 
 our Saviour's prophecies. 
 
 Mrs. B. At all events, it may well serve to add to, 
 and to confirm our faith ; and to strengthen us in our 
 resolutions to follow his holy commandments; know- 
 ing that " though heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 his words shall not pass away,"* but shall all be 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. 35. 
 
180 
 
 CONVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 fulfilled. But let us go on with the explanation of 
 our parable. Who are those, Mary, who were or- 
 dered to be collected from the highways } 
 
 Manj. I suppose, mamma, if the first people who 
 were asked meant the Jews, that the others meant 
 all the rest of the world. 
 
 Mrs. B. Quite right, my dear girl ; this parable 
 points out, in the plainest terms, that great doctrine 
 of the Christian religion, which was to the " Jews a 
 stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness,"* 
 that the Jews were no longer to be exclusively the 
 people of God : a doctrine which even the apostles 
 themselves were slow to believe, till long after the 
 resurrection of their Lord ; and which, when Peter 
 was at last compelled to acknowledge, made him cry 
 out in astonishment and joy, '■'Of a truth I perceive 
 that God is no respecter of persons: but in every 
 nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteous- 
 ness, is accepted with him."| And< yet it is one 
 which, throughout the prophetic writings, is clearly 
 and distinctly foretold, from the promise made to 
 Abraham, that in one of his descendants " should all 
 the nations of the earth be blessed,"^ down to the 
 very last of the prophets, who foretold the coming 
 of the Messiah. 
 
 » 1 Cor. i. 23. f Acts x. 34, 35. + Gen. xxii. 18. 
 
THE PARABLES. 181 
 
 Mary. But how was it, mamma, that the Jews did 
 not understand these prophecies ? 
 
 Mrs. B. They interpreted them in a different man 
 ner : they expected that the Messiah was to be a 
 great earthly prince and conqueror, who should re- 
 store their nation to more than its former glory, and 
 subject all others to his power : and they refused to 
 admit the claims of him, who came into their city, 
 " meek and sitting upon an ass, and on a colt, the 
 foal of an ass."* But let us rather consider what 
 reason we have to bless God, who of his wonderful 
 providence has so ordered the course of events, as to 
 supply the place of those who would not come, with 
 all the rest of mankind ; with those who, " in the 
 highways and hedges," were removed from all appa- 
 rent chance of partaking of the heavenly banquet, 
 till they were graciously called by him, who would 
 have all men come to him. 
 
 Mary. Still, mamma, I do not quite understand 
 what is meant by the man who had not on a wed- 
 ding garment. You explained quite well what it 
 meant in the parable, but I suppose there is some 
 other meaning, is there not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Most assuredly there is, and an awful 
 meaning, which I will make clear to you immediately. 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 5. Zech. ix. 9. 
 16 
 
182 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 You remember, that of those who were first asked, 
 none were admitted to the supper ; but their places 
 were filled by others, who were called from all quar- 
 ters, and furnished, upon their request, by the king, 
 with suitable garments to appear at the feast. One, 
 however, was found without such a garment ; and 
 he, though he had been invited, was finally rejected 
 and cast out. Now, the first asked were the Jews, 
 who denied and slighted our Lord : their places in 
 the favour of God, and in the admission to his house, 
 were filled with Gentiles of all nations and languages ; 
 but upon conditions. There was a preparation to be 
 made, something to be sought for to render us " meet 
 partakers of that holy" feast; and that something, 
 we are told to ask for, and we shall have. Now, 
 Mary, do you understand what is the wedding gar- 
 ment of a Christian guest at the great feast ? 
 
 Mary. I am not sure, mamma ; does it mean good- 
 ness ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Goodness, my love, in its most compre- 
 hensive shape ; for goodness alone, if by the word 
 you mean morality, does not approach to the prepa- 
 ration which we are required to make. To explain 
 it shortly and fully, J should say the wedding gar- 
 ment meant a "Christian spirit:" such a general 
 frame and temper of mind as inclines us always to 
 look to God, to believe in his blessed Son, to wor- 
 
THE PARABLES. 183 
 
 ship him ; to love him, to fear and serve him ; a 
 spirit of which the fruits are, according to St. Paul, 
 " love, joy, peace, long-suffering-, gentleness, good- 
 ness, faith, meekness, temperance :"* a spirit of 
 purity, represented by the clean robe which was put 
 on the guests : a spirit, in short, such as can only 
 come from God himself, and which will surely lead 
 us to God. 
 
 Mary. But how are we to obtain such a spirit, 
 mamma ? 
 
 Mr.s. B. There is one only way, my love, but it 
 is a sure way — by prayer to him who only can give 
 it. To those who diligently seek for it, he says, 
 " Every one that asketh receiveth, and he who seeketh 
 findeth :"t but those who have it not, he will surely 
 exclude from his table, and thrust into outer dark- 
 ness ; " there," as Jesus says, in concluding the 
 parable, " shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 
 And he adds these awful words : " For many are 
 called, but few chosen. 
 
 Mary. But surely, mamma, this does not mean 
 that few people in the world will be saved ? 
 
 Mrs. B. It is a fearful question, and one which 
 we should not hastily decide upon : God only 
 knows what is meant here by the words " many" 
 
 * Gal. V. 22, 23. f Matt. vii. 8. 
 
184 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 and "few."* He only knows who will, and who 
 will not be saved: for us, I know no safer answer 
 that can be given, than that which Jesus gave to one 
 of his disciples, when he asked him nearly the same 
 question that you have done : " Lord are there few 
 that be saved ? And he said unto them. Strive to 
 enter in at the strait" (or narrow) "gate : for many, 
 I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able."! That is to say, be not over curious in 
 considering the concerns of others; but, knowing 
 
 * There is a passage in Fuller's " Good Thoughts in Bad 
 Times," so applicable to the present subject, and the concluding 
 sentence of which is one in which I have so much reason to 
 join, that I cannot refrain from quoting it at length: especially 
 as the language is simple enough to be quite intelligible to my 
 young readers. " In the parable of the four sorts of ground 
 whereon the seed was sown, the last alone proved fruitful. 
 There the bad were more than the good : but amongst the ser- 
 vants, two improved their talents or pounds, and only one 
 buried them : there the good were more than the bad. Again, 
 amongst the ten virgins, ' five were wise, and five fooUsh :' there 
 the good and bad were equal. I see that concerning the number 
 of the saints, in comparison to the reprobates, no certainty can 
 be collected from these parables : good reason, for it is not their 
 principal purpose to meddle with that point. Grant, Lord, that 
 I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent 
 thereof; lest, instead of sucking milk, I squeeze blood out of it." 
 
 f Luke xiiL 23, 24. 
 
THE PARABLES. 185 
 
 that the path to eternal life is narrow and difficult, 
 strive, for your own parts, carefully to follow the 
 guidance of God's word, which shall finally bring 
 you to the gate of heaven. 
 
 Mary. Mamma, that seemed to me not quite . . 
 . . . . I mean it seemed different from what you 
 said just now, that all who prayed for God's assist- 
 ance should have it — and here it says, that " many 
 shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able." That 
 seems a contradiction, does it not .'' 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love, not if you consider it pro- 
 perly ; the Bible says, indeed, " many shall seek to 
 enter in and shall not be able ;" but it does not say 
 hoio they will seek ; it does not say that they will 
 pray and seek for God's assistance, without which all 
 their endeavours will be nothing worth. " It is not 
 meant that any Christian will ever sincerely do his 
 best to enter into life eternal, and fail in it; but that 
 many imagine that God has marked out other ways 
 to happiness than obeying his laws ; and many too, 
 who are fully sensible there is no other way, use so 
 little diligence in following this, that their progress is 
 insufficient to make them arrive at eternal felicity."* 
 Do you understand this, Mary ? 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, I believe I do now : but it is 
 
 * Archbishop Seeker. Notes to Mant's Bible. Matt vii. 24. 
 
 16* 
 
186 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 surely a dreadful thought that so many persons will 
 be miserable for ever ! 
 
 Mrs. B. It is a dreadful thought, my dear child ; 
 but the certainty that such will be the case, " that 
 wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to 
 destruction, and many there be that go in thereat ;"* 
 should have at least this effect upon us, to make us 
 doubly careful of our own conduct, doubly watchful 
 over our own hearts, and doubly earnest in our 
 prayers to that blessed Saviour, who is " the way, 
 and the truth, and the life ;"| and who himself hath 
 told us, "Without me ye can do nothing. "J May 
 that God, who has called us all to the feast of his 
 blessed Son, in mercy grant that when the king 
 Cometh in to see the guests, we may be found clothed 
 with the wedding garment of Christian faith ; or, in 
 the words of the revelation which we quoted once 
 before, " with robes washed and made white in the 
 blood of the Lamb.'* Then shall we be among those 
 of whom (according to the prophet Isaiah, speaking 
 by the Spirit of God) " it shall be said in that day, 
 Lo, this is our God, we have waited for 'him, and he 
 will save us ; this is the Lord, we have waited for 
 him : we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."§ 
 
 * Matt. vii. 13. f John xiv. 6. 
 
 \ John XV. 5. § Isa. xxv. 9. 
 
THE PARABLES. 187 
 
 Then shall the multitude of his redeemed " not hun- 
 ger nor thirst ; neither shall the heat nor sun smite 
 them ; for he that hath mercy on them, shall lead 
 them, even by the springs of water shall he guide 
 them."* " He will swallow up death in victory ; and 
 the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all 
 faces ; and the rebuke of his people shall he take 
 away from off all the earth ; for the Lord hath 
 spoken it."| 
 
 * Isa. xlix. 10. f Isa. xxv. 8. 
 
188 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 ELEVENTH DAY. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS, 
 
 Matt. xxv. 1. 
 
 Mary. And this is really to be our last day of pa- 
 rables, mamma! I am so sorry for it, for I like 
 reading them in this way very much. 
 
 Mrs. B. You will, I hope, my love, like reading 
 them more and more, the oftener you read them, and 
 the more you study them. When you read the 
 Bible itself, you will find several more of these para- 
 bles, containing lessons which you may well reason 
 -upon and consider ; many which will not strike you 
 at first sight, but in which you will find, at each fresh 
 reading, more hidden truths, and morte valuable in- 
 struction; but 1 have selected now most of those 
 which I think are best suited to our present purpose, 
 and I hope our conversations on them will not soon 
 be forgotten. 
 
 Mary. Oh ! no, mamma, I am sure they will not : 
 
THE PARABLES. 189 
 
 and I am quite sure we shall both understand these 
 parables very much better than we should have done, 
 without talking about them in this way ; but only I 
 am sorry that there are no more of them. 
 
 Mrs. B. Endeavour, my dear loves, to remember 
 well, not only the parables which we have read, but 
 the lessons which they are intended to convey; and 
 not only to remember, but as far as you have oppor- 
 tunities, to practise those holy thoughts, and those 
 Christian virtues which are taught in them. "Re- 
 member now thy Creator," says the wisest of men, 
 " in the days of thy youth."* And who, indeed, is 
 there who knows whether he shall live to be old ? 
 Which of us knows whether God will grant us 
 another year, another day, or even another hour of 
 life .? 
 
 Mary. Mamma, I hope it is not wrong to wish to 
 live a long while ; but I am so very happy, that I 
 should be very sorry if I were to die soon. 
 
 Mrs. B. And may our merciful God and Father 
 keep you here on earth for many happy and useful 
 years ! No, my love, assuredly it is not wrong, and 
 at your age it is most natural, to enjoy, with a grate- 
 ful heart, all the blessings of life ; and to love, and 
 be thankful for that state in which it has pleased 
 
 * Eccles. xii. 1. 
 
190 CONVERSATIOXS ON 
 
 Almighty Wisdom that you should be placed : but as 
 certainly it is right, and the bounden duty of every 
 one of us, old or young, to endeavour to be prepared 
 whenever it shall please that same Almighty Wisdom 
 to call us to another state. You remember the prayer 
 in the Evening Hymn : 
 
 " Teach me to live, that I may dread 
 The grave as Utile as my bed." 
 
 And such should be the earnest prayer of every 
 Christian. W^e are indeed taught how to live, and 
 our prayer ought rather to be, to give us grace to 
 practise what we know, remembering always our Sa- 
 viour's words, " Jf ye know these things, happy are 
 ye if ye do them."* But we have turned upon a sub- 
 ject which leads us exactly to the parable which I 
 had intended to take for to-day's reading. If you 
 please, 1 will begin it, and we will make our obser- 
 vations on it as we go on. 
 
 Mary. Thank you, mamma, I had quite forgotten 
 that we were come for the parables; but I shall like 
 to hear it very much. 
 
 Mrs. B. We will begin then, at once, with the 
 parable of the Ten Virgins. 
 
 " Then," says our Lord, speaking of the last day, 
 
 * John xiii. 17. 
 
THE PARABLES. 191 
 
 " shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
 I'irgins, which took their lamps and went forth to 
 meet the bridegroom." 
 
 Henry. What, is this another parable about a mar- 
 riage ! 
 
 Mrs. B. Yes ; and the meaning of the verse is, 
 perhaps, not very clear without understanding some- 
 thing of the Jewish customs with regard to marriages. 
 They are all celebrated at night; and the new mar- 
 ried couple go about in a sort of procession for some 
 time, with all their relations and friends attending 
 them, with drums and trumpets, and lights. When 
 they return home, they find the whole house lighted 
 up, and a feast prepared, and the servants and attend- 
 ants, with torches or lamps, waiting to receive them. 
 These ten virgins, therefore, who are spoken of, were 
 some of those, whose duty it was to remain in the 
 house, and "go forth to meet the bridegroom," with 
 their lamps, when he returned. 
 
 Henry. Thank you, mamma ; and now, if you will 
 go on, I will not stop you again. 
 
 Mrs. B. " And five of them were wise, and nve 
 were foolish." Their wisdom or folly we shall see 
 directly. "They that were foolish took their lamps, 
 and took no oil with them : but the wise took oil in 
 their vessels with their lam.ps. While the bridegroom 
 tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at mid- 
 
192 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 night there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom 
 Cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those vir- 
 gins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish 
 said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps 
 are gone out : but the wise answered, saying. Not 
 so, lest there be not enough for us and you : but go 
 ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." 
 
 Henry. That may have been very wise, mamma ; 
 but it seems to be very ill-natured and selfish. 
 
 Mrs. B. No, my love, not so : if they had had 
 abundance for themselves, or more than was neces- 
 sary, then, indeed, they ought to have given to their 
 neighbours who were in want of it ; and that, with- 
 out considering whether they were in want by their 
 own neglect or not ; but it is the first duty of every 
 one to attend to his own necessities; and to^ give 
 away what we require to perform a part of our duty, 
 in order to assist others, is an act, not of generosity, 
 but of injustice as well as folly. The five wise vir- 
 gins had provided oil for themselves, to perform that 
 which they were bound to do : and they could not 
 give to the others, without neglecting the orders 
 which they had themselves received. 
 
 Henry. I suppose you are right, mamma ; but still, 
 it seemed very hard upon the others. 
 
 Mrs. B. But whose fault was it, that they had not 
 oil, as well as the wise ? 
 
THE PARABLES. 193 
 
 Henry. Oh ! their own, mamma. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well, then, whom had they to blame but 
 themselves ? The wise virgins, however, gave them 
 the best advice ; " We have none to spare ; if we 
 give to you we shall also be in fault : but lose no more 
 time, go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves ; 
 perhaps you may yet be in time to be admitted to the 
 feast." " But," continues the parable, " while they 
 went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and they that 
 were ready went in with him to the marriage ; and 
 the door was shut. Afterward came also the other 
 virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he an- 
 swered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you 
 not." 
 
 Mary. What did he mean by saying, I know you 
 not? 
 
 Mrs. B. It is not an uncommon form of expression 
 in the Scriptures, meaning, as it does here, I disown 
 you, I refuse to acknowledge you. In this instance 
 it is as if the bridegroom had said, " You claim to be 
 admitted, and pretend to be my followers and attend- 
 ants; I know you not as such. I know of none 
 such, but those who were here in attendance when I 
 returned, who were fulfilling their duties, and who, 
 having been ready, have long been admitted. The 
 door is now shut, and I can no longer allow you to 
 come in." And now can you apply this parable ? 
 17 
 
194 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mary. Yes, mamma, I think I know what it means, 
 after what we were talking about just before we be- 
 gan to read it. 
 
 Mrs. B. Well my love, what does it mean ? 
 
 Mary. It means, mamma, I think, that we should 
 be ready prepared whenever our Lord calls for us. 
 
 Mrs. B. And that if we are not so ready — ? 
 
 Mary. That he will not admit us to heaven. 
 
 Mrs. B. Very well, my love, you are quite right 
 as to the object which the parable has in view ; let 
 us now consider it verse by verse. In the first place, 
 I wish you to observe, that all the ten virgins, the 
 wise and the foolish alike, lit their lamps, and went 
 forth to meet the bridegroom. What do you think 
 this means ? 
 
 Mary. I do not know, mamma; it surely does not 
 mean that they all meant and tried to do their duty. 
 
 Mrs. B. Most assuredly not, my love : but we 
 may take them to represent two very different sorts 
 of persons ; all of whom, however, are outwardly 
 and in name Christians : all of whom alike have 
 been called, and ordered to attend at the heavenly 
 feast : all of whom profess their intention of attend- 
 ing at it : all of whom are instructed in their duties, 
 and have " lit their lamps" by the sacred light of the 
 word of God, and the gospel of Jesus Christ; but 
 who afterwards conduct themselves in very different 
 
THE PARABLES. 195 
 
 ways : " for five of them were wise, and five were 
 foolish." 
 
 Mary. Then, mamma, if all this is meant, what is 
 the oil, which the wise ones took with them, and 
 the foolish did not ? 
 
 Mrs. B. Tou know that if you light the wick of 
 a lamp, and put no oil underneath it, the lamp will 
 burn a very short time indeed, and then go out: and 
 the lamps which were used by the Jews required to 
 have the oil poured upon them constantly, to keep 
 them burning ; in that respect they were a fitter re- 
 presentation, than those which we now use, of the 
 spiritual meaning of the parable. It is not enough, 
 you see, to light the lamp, even though it be lit from 
 the word of God : though religion be kindled in our 
 hearts, yet if we carelessly neglect it, if we omit to 
 feed it, it will die away like the lamp which had no 
 oil. The oil then, that which must feed it, is the 
 word, and the love, and the spirit of God : constant 
 and daily prayer for his grace, study of his will, and 
 attention to his commands. Without this, the flame 
 will soon go out, and when our Lord calls us, we 
 shall wish in vain that v!e had not neglected this 
 preparation. But to make it effectually, unceasing 
 watchfulness is necessary, lest we fall into tempta- 
 tion. 
 
 Mary. But, mamma, even the wise virgins slum- 
 
196 COiWERSATIONS ON 
 
 bered and slept, while they were waiting for the 
 bridegroom ; that was not very watchful, was it ? 
 
 Mrs. B. And it is very possible, that this may be 
 intended to teach us, that even the very best among 
 us occasionally slumber, and are negligent over our 
 duty; to show us how far we all come short of the 
 perfect law of God ; and at the same time to encou- 
 rage us with the hope, that if we not only light our 
 lamps, but make a provision of oil in our souls to 
 feed them, God, for Christ's sake, will not severely 
 visit our transgressions. 
 
 Henry. How frightened the foolish virgins must 
 have been, when they found that their lamps were 
 gone out, and that they had no time to get any 
 more oil! 
 
 Mrs. B. And what do you think must be the feel- 
 ing of the sinner, who, having all his life neglected 
 that religion which was taught him as a child : hav- 
 ing made no preparation to receive the great Bride- 
 groom, when he shall come to judge the world, is at 
 length awoke from his slumber by the awful cry, 
 "He Cometh!" When he finds himself visited by 
 disease, laid upon a bed from which he shall never 
 rise; but from which, according to all probability, 
 in a very few hours he shall be summoned to appear 
 before his Judge, to account for his neglect of that 
 precious light, which was given to hira to keep 
 burning ? 
 
THE PARABLES. 197 
 
 Mary. How dreadful, mamma! but I am sure I 
 have heard of persons who had been very wicked, 
 and who repented and were very good when they 
 found that they were dying. Do you mean that they 
 would be too late ? 
 
 Mrs. B. God alone, my love, who knows all 
 hearts, can know what are the real feelings of such 
 persons, and he alone can judge how far such late 
 repentance can be admitted before him " who is set 
 on the throne^ who judgeth right j"* but at least the 
 risk of such delay is awful. The Lord may come 
 without even such short warning; the sinner may 
 be cut off in a moment, before he has even time to 
 reflect upon his conduct. God forbid, my dear child- 
 ren, but that you and I, whenever we are called, 
 may be ready to appear with a sure trust in the merits 
 of our Saviour Christ, and with humble conscious- 
 ness that we endeavoured to keep his light burning 
 in our hearts. But he who feels that he has too long 
 neglected the care of his soul, and has suffered the 
 fire of his religion to grow cold and dim, he should 
 hasten, before it be too late, to redeem the time : and 
 knowing that none of his fellow-creatures have 
 enough for them and him, that none of them can aid 
 him, he should " go to them that sell, and buy for 
 himself." 
 
 * Psalm ix. 4. 
 17* 
 
198 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 Mary. To those that sell, mamma ! How do you 
 mean ? If the oil means what you said it did, there 
 is no one that can sell it. 
 
 Mrs. B. There is indeed but one from whom it 
 can be obtained — and that one, by his holy prophet, 
 by the most splendid of all his prophets, whose 
 writings you will read and admire in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ; by the mouth of Jsaiah, that one has called to 
 all his people, saying, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money; 
 come ye, buy and eat: yea, come, buy wine and 
 milk, without money, and without price."* The 
 only price that God demands, is an humble and a con- 
 trite heart : when such a one is offered to him, he 
 will give his Holy Spirit, he will light again the dying 
 lamp, and make it burn brightly to the last. But if 
 we neglect to apply to him, if we put off from day to 
 day, he may at length come as he says he will, "as 
 a thief in the night,""f" we know not when, nor how 
 spon ; and if our sorrow and alarm be too late, we 
 have only to look to the parable before us, to see 
 what will be our fate. While we are in this world, 
 while we are still in the land of mercy ; we are told 
 to " ask, and we shall have •, to knock, and it shall 
 be opened unto us :"J but when the bridegroom has 
 
 * Isa. Iv. 1. f 1 Thess. v. 2. + Matt. vii. 7. 
 
THE PARABLES. 199 
 
 shut to the door, then this gracious permission ceases : 
 then to them that knock, saying, "Lord, Lord, open 
 to us," the fearful answer shall be, " I know ye not." 
 " When once," says Jesus in another Gospel, " the 
 master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the 
 door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock 
 at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; he 
 shall answer and say unto you, 1 know ye not 
 whence ye are : depart from me, all ye workers of 
 iniquity."* 
 
 Mary. Blamma, I do not quite know what is meant 
 by the time of the bridegroom coming. Does it mean 
 the day of judgment, or does it mean the day of our 
 death ? 
 
 Mrs. B. They are to us, my dear girl, one and 
 the same thing : " for whatever may be the season 
 appointed in the secret counsels of God for that great 
 and terrible day, when the heavens and the earth 
 shall flee from the face of him who shall be seated 
 on the throne, and their place shall no more be 
 found ; the end of the world, with respect to each 
 individual, takes place at the conclusion of his own 
 life. In the grave there will be no repentance, no 
 virtues can be acquired, no evil habits thrown off. 
 With that character of virtue or of vice with which a 
 
 * Luke xiii. 25. 
 
200 CONVERSATIONS ON 
 
 man leaves the world, with that he must appear be- 
 fore the judgment seat of Christ. In that moment, 
 therefore, in which his present life ends, every man's 
 future condition becomes irreversibly determined. In 
 this sense, to every one of us on earth " the coming 
 of the Lord draweth'nigh, the judge standeth before 
 the door : let us watch, therefore, and pray ; watch 
 over ourselves, and pray for the succours of God's 
 grace, that we may be able to stand before the Son 
 of man. Nor shall vigilance and prayer be ineffec- 
 tual. On ^the incorrigible and perverse, on those 
 who mock at God's threatenings, and reject his pro- 
 mises, on these only the severity of his wrath will 
 fall. But for those who lay his warnings seriously 
 to heart, who dread the pollutions of the world, and 
 flee from sin as from a serpent : who fear God's dis- 
 pleasure more than death, and seek his favour more 
 than life, though much of frailty will to the last ad- 
 here to them, yet these are the objects of the Father's 
 mercy, of the Redeemer's love. For these he died, 
 for these he pleads, these he supports and strengthens 
 with his spirit, these he shall lead with him triumph- 
 ant to the mansions of glory, where sin and death"* 
 shall be no more; and when "God shall be all 
 in alL"t 
 
 * Bishop Horsley. Notes to Mant's Bible. Matt. xxiv. 42. 
 t 1 Cor. XV. 28. 
 
THE PARABLES. 201 
 
 Mary. Then, mamma, what a terrible thing it must 
 be to die suddenly ! And yet one hears of it every 
 day. 
 
 Mrs. B. Sudden death, my love, is an awful idea 
 to any one, even to the best among us : it is fearful 
 to be called at once into the presence of God, our 
 Maker and Judge ; and fearful, indeed, for those who 
 have lived, and are living, in a regular course of 
 violating his laws, and neglecting his commandments ! 
 And, as we know not whether it may not be our fate 
 to be thus called, how anxiously should we follow 
 the command with which our Saviour Christ con- 
 cludes this very parable which we have now been 
 reading ; " Watch, therefore; for ye know neither the 
 day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh: 
 and in another place, he adds, " Watch and pray, lest 
 ye enter into temptation."* Here is our true safety ; 
 hence we may obtain the daily supply of heavenly 
 oil to keep our lamps burning, till we are called to 
 our everlasting inheritance with the saints in light. 
 
 Mary. Mamma, I hope that we shall always try 
 to be ready whenever God is pleased to call us : but 
 I do hope we may all live a long time yet. 
 
 Mrs. B. And yet, dear child, how short, in com- 
 parison with eternal duration, is the longest life of 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 41. 
 
S02 THE PARABLES. 
 
 man! How little does it signify whether we live 
 here twenty, or fifty, or a hundred years, if at the 
 end of our life we are prepared for that better life 
 which is to come ! If we feel assured, through the 
 mercy of God, that though by our death, we lose for 
 a while those whom we most love on earth, we shall 
 yet meet them again in an eternity of happiness in- 
 conceivable in heaven ! May that gracious and mer- 
 ciful God so direct and sanctify here all that we do, 
 and say, and think ; may he so bless our conversa- 
 tions here, and these our endeavours to learn and to 
 explain his Holy Word ; that be our life longer or 
 shorter, it may be passed in constant watchfulness 
 over our own hearts, and constant submission to his 
 most holy will! So, when he shall call upon each 
 of us, when we shall hear the awful warning, " Be- 
 hold, I come quickly," he may give us boldness to 
 answer, with the holy Apostle St. John, " Amen ! 
 Even so, come. Lord Jesus !"* 
 
 * Rev. xxii. 20. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 CAYUORO