Thus, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, of which I spoke just now, the closing verse tells us plainly the great duty which our Lord wishes to press home upon us-namely, watchfulness. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." This, therefore, is a kind of key-verse to the Parable.

So, too, in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, St. Luke tells us that Jesus spake this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." Then, we may be sure that the main drift of the Parable is to show us the sin and hatefulness of a self-righteous spirit, and the beauty of lowliness.

Thus you see there are many things to lead us to the right meaning. There are fingerposts, as it were, if we will but look for them, which all point in the direction which we are to take.

Thirdly, we shall do well to remember that we must dig deep if we would find the precious gold. Oftentimes it does not lie on the surface, and we must take pains to get at it.

Our Lord's advice is, "Search the Scriptures -not merely read them, but search them. And most assuredly those who search diligently and earnestly will find the treasures they contain.

Lastly, I greatly wish my Reader to do this-Read over to yourself beforehand, very carefully and thoughtfully, the Parable which you wish to have explained. Try, first of all, to draw out all the instruction you can from it without any help. Dig into the mine yourself, before you open this or any other book. If you adopt this plan, I am very sure that you will find the explanation all the more interesting and instructive, and you will really profit by it.

Further, ask God for the teaching of His Holy Spirit. This is what we all want. It is not enough to understand the meaning of any passage of Scripture. We want to have it written on our hearts. It must come with enlightening power to our souls; or we shall never feel the true preciousness of God's Word. The promise is, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord." Oh for more of

that blessed teaching! Oh for more of the Holy Spirit in our hearts-making us feel that joy, and peace, and comfort, which the Word of God can and will give us, if it is only rightly received! Let this be your prayer, "Open Thou my blind eyes, and unlock my closed heart, so that I may behold wondrous things in Thy gospel."

14

THE SOWER.

MATT. XIII. 1-8..

"The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up; some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold."

See also Mark iv. 1-8; Luke viii. 4-8.

THIS is generally supposed to have been the first Parable which our Lord spoke.

Let us see where Jesus was when He delivered it.

In the country of Galilee there was a large Lake, several miles across; and on this Lake many of our Lord's disciples earned their livelihood as fishermen. Jesus, having probably passed the night at Capernaum, which was by the water's side, went in the morning, and sat by the Lake. Presently great multitudes flock around Him. He desires to seize the favourable moment, and teach them something for their souls' good. To avoid the pressure of the crowd, He gets into one of the boats, and addresses the people from it.

It

Try and picture to yourself that scene. is probably in the early spring. The Lake is calm and unruffled, and a number of little ships are dotted about upon its glossy surface. The Saviour is in one of them, which is nearest to the shore. He suddenly stands up, and speaks as never man spake, with a heart full of tenderness and love for those whom He is addressing. Close by, along the bank, is ranged a group of eager listeners.

And what is the subject of His address? It seems oftentimes to have been our Lord's