that "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,"

Mary. But is it right, Mamma, to seek to be exalted? And if it is not, why does Jesus offer it as a reward?

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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 prepared for you from the foundation of the world."1 "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."2 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

1 Matt. xxv. 34.
3 Phil. iii. 14.

2 Matt. xiii. 43.

humility was 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 essential part, of charity: 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, perhaps, 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 remember 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.

Luke vi. 37.

200 THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

:

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 childhood; 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."

1 Luke ii. 52.

"I AM afraid, my dears," said Mrs. B. the following day," that our stock of parables is nearly exhausted."

"Oh! Mamma!" exclaimed both the children at once, in a tone of disappointment. "But surely, Mamma," said Mary, "there are a great many more parables in the Bible."

Mrs. B. There are several more, my love; but some of them I should hardly be able to make you fully understand; and others are expressed in so short sentences as to be hardly stories, and are to be read with more

advantage in connexion with the

it is contained in the Bible itself.

history as There are, that we

however, two more, which I propose 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, I 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 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 improve 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.