THE

PARABLES OF OUR LORD

EXPLAINED.

CHAPTER I.

THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD.

Miss Morton. What is a parable?

Jane. A story containing a hidden meaning.

Miss M. Yes; different from the meaning we at first perceive in it. Why did our Lord say that He spoke to the people in parables ?

Mary. "Because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Matt. xiii. 13.

Miss M. What did He mean by this?

Ellen. That, as a punishment to them for their unbelief, those who merely listened to Him from curiosity would not understand His sayings, while they would, nevertheless, not be hidden from His true disciples.

Miss M. What is there remarkable in our Lord's parables ?

Jane. His allusions are all excessively simple, and

B

the comparisons always from subjects familiar to His hearers.

Miss M. Give me some instances of this.

Charlotte. The sower sowing his seed; the shepherd seeking for the lost sheep.

Miss M. What may we suppose was our Lord's reason for this?

Mary. That the people might be reminded of the doctrine which He taught them, by the things that they would see every day.

Miss M. Where did our Lord speak His parables? Elizabeth. In the Holy Land.

Miss M. Where is that?

Jane. In the East.

Miss M. To what manners and customs are they then especially applicable?

Kate. To the manners and customs of the East. Miss M. Against what in particular did some of our Lord's parables warn the Jews?

Susan. Against thinking that they were sure of salvation on account of being God's favoured people, and despising all other nations.

Miss M. Give me some examples of this.

Kate. That of the householder who went out to hire labourers for his vineyard. Matt. xx. 1. 6.

Jane. That of a certain king who made a marriage for his son, and sent forth to call them that were bidden to the marriage. Matt. xxii. 1—14.

Miss M. That will do: now tell me what lesson we ought to learn from these parables.

Children. Not to be too confident of entering into the kingdom of heaven, because we have been baptized into the Church, and are partakers of her privileges,