. "I shall always think of happy Walter when I see the sunset again, mamma; and of Lazarus and his angels." "And thus, from this parable, my dear little girl will have learnt faith and hope as well as charity," said Mrs. Digby, kissing her child's fair, upturned brow, and breathing a silent prayer that her life and death might be also "angel-tended." READING SEVENTEENTH. Needs no show of mountain hoary, Lowly thoughts may best infuse.-Keble. "How beautiful this picture is!" cried Honora, a field of wheat all bright with poppies and corn-flowers, and the golden ears all pulled down and twined together by green wreaths of wild flowers!" "Weeds, Nonie, of which there are nearly as many as ears of wheat. Turn to the next picture, for I intend you to read the two parables they portray together." "It is of fishermen drawing up a net on the shores of the sea of Galilee, and it is full of all sorts of fish, and not only fish, but all kinds of creatures such as we saw by the sea-side. There are sea-anemones, and cuttle-fish, and jelly-fish, mixed with the glittering scales. They are not good to eat!" 66 No, and the fishermen will gather out the useless and throw them back into the sea. Now turn to the chapter in which you first began your parable readings, and read St. Matthew, chap. 13, verse 24, to the end." Honora read the portion. "Now, dearest, our Lord so clearly explains these parables that I shall have only a little practical instruction to add to His blessed words. The mixture of wheat and weeds-of good and bad fish-have both one meaning. The mixture of bad and good people in Christ's visible Church. As our Lord foretold, it (the Gentile Church) would render its fruits in due season. The wheat would grow-the net fill-but, alas! weeds would mingle with the one, and useless fish with the other. But at the end God's angels would separate both, and gather the good to God, casting away the worthless. And, Nonie, even as the poppies and blue flowers and graceful weeds are not unpleasing to your eye in this picture - so those who are not God's children are not visible always to us on earth. Some we know to be weeds-the openly wicked-but many are bright and fair to look on here who will not be found meet to be gathered into the heavenly garner. Let us try not to be merely growing in the field of God, shining and making a display of accom plishments, and graceful manners, and pleasant ways, like gaudy poppies; but to be fruitful in good works, useful as wheat to our fellow-creatures; humble before God, even as these full, stately ears bend down in their ripeness before Him. All are to grow together till the harvest. Why, Nonie?" "The Lord of the field says, 'Lest ye root up the wheat with them."" "The wicked could not be quite rooted out on earth without injuring the good. It is one of the wonders of God's Providence, Nonie, that so much good springs from evil. If there were no wicked men to injure the just, they (the just) would have nothing to forgive, and the great virtue of forgiveness could not exist. If there were no sin there would be no suffering, and the greater number of virtues required for forming a character in a state of probation would have no existence. God orders all things well— and even the weeds sown by the enemy do but aid the growth of His wheat. "Then, again, the wicked are not punished here, because, very often, a wicked man could not be punished without his innocent family suffering with him, and for their sakes God (and sometimes men) delays the justice due for evil, 'lest the wheat be rooted up also.' Divine, like perfect human charity, 'endureth all things.' If God had found ten righteous men in Sodom, He would have spared the city for the ten's sake; and thus the good on earth are the guardians and shield of the wicked. The salt that preserves the earth till the great day of reckoning comes." "I remember, mamma, hearing papa say once that he should not punish Will Black for poaching that once, because of his family, for if he were in prison they would suffer." "And do you know what followed that act of charity on your papa's part ?" "Will had not a hard heart, though he had broken the law, and done wickedly in other matters; and the pity of his master touched him. He was sorry, took to honest ways, and will, I hope, in time become a good man." "I am so glad! Perhaps that is another reason why God lets the tares and the wheat grow together-that the tares may turn from weeds to flowers!" "I have no doubt it is. And we, who hope to be God's wheat, must pity and help the tares, only we must watch that they do not hinder our own growth." "There is no picture in my book of the |