of their own, or that they can be relieved from their pains by the prayers of the living. Scripture says nothing of such being the case.

CHAPTER XIII.

1. Where did Jesus go after this? A. The same day he went out of the house, and sat by the sea side.-v. 1. 2. Did any persons come to him? A. Yes; great multitudes were gathered unto him.—v. 2.

3. From what place did he teach them? A. He entered into a ship and sat there, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

4. In what way did he teach them? A. He spake unto them by parables.-v. 3.

5. What is a parable.

A. An instructive story, which

has a twofold meaning, each of which causes the other to be remembered; a sort of allegory.

6. What was the first parable he spake unto them? A. That of the sower and the seed.

7. Give some account of the parable? A. A sower went forth to sow his seed, and some seeds fell by the wayside, some seeds fell upon stony places, some fell among thorns, and others fell on good ground.

8. What became of those which fell by the way-side? A. The fowls of the air came and devoured them up.

—v. 4.

9. What became of those which fell on the stony places? A. 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.-v. 5.

10. What became of those which fell among the thorns? A. The thorns sprung up and choked them.

11. What became of those which fell on good ground? A. They brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold.-v. 8.

12. What is meant by "producing one hundred fold? A. That one hundred grains were produced from one which was sown; some grains produced sixty, others thirty grains.

13. What did our blessed Lord say, when he had finished this parable? A. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

-v. 9.

14. What did he mean by this? A. He exhorts them to listen with attention, and to make use of those faculties which God had given them, to understand what he had been saying.

A.

15. What question did the disciples ask our Lord? They came to him and said, Why speakest thou to them in parables?-v. 10.

16. Why did they ask this question? A. Because they did not think the people could understand them.

17. What did Jesus answer? A. Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.—

v. 11.

18. What are meant by the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? A. Those secret doctrines respecting the Messiah, which had not been fully revealed until that time. Our Lord also explained and taught them the spirituality of the law.

19. What is meant by to him that hath shall be given? A. Any person who makes a right use of those gifts committed to him by God, shall be further assisted by God's Holy Spirit, as the disciples were who had the parables explained to them.

20. What is meant by and from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath? A. Those who do not profit by that grace which is offered them, instead of being further assisted, and having those mysterious doctrines explained to them, will be deprived of that grace with which they have been blessed, and suffered to return to their natural ignorance and blindness.

21. What reason does our Lord give for his speaking to them in parables? A. Because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.-v. 13.

22. How was this the case? A. Because they daily saw the miracles of our Lord, and still they believed not on him. They heard the doctrines which he preached on the Mount, and on other occasions, and still they profited not.

23. What prophecy was fulfilled by their unbelief? A. That of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them.—v. 14. (Isa. vi. 9.)

24. How were the disciples of our Lord blessed with advantages beyond others? A. Our Lord himself says to them, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. They are blessed because they profit by what they hear and see of the miracles and doctrines of our Lord, and derive spiritual benefit from them. And besides this, our Lord tells them that many prophets and righteous men had desired to see those things which they saw, and had not seen them, and to hear those things that they heard, and had not heard them.-v. 16.

25. To what particular things did Jesus here allude? A. To the seeing the Messiah, and hearing his doctrines preached from his own lips-advantages which the prophets did not enjoy; they only foresaw these things at a distance.

A.

26. Why did he explain the parable to them alone? Because they had listened with attention, and profited by what he had already taught them.

27. Who is represented by the sower? A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the other preachers of his Gospel.

28. What is meant by the seed falling by the way-side? A. When any person heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, that is, gives it no serious consideration; his heart is so hard that the preaching of the Gospel makes no more impression on him, than the seed which falls does on a beaten highway.-v. 19.

29. What is meant by the fowls of the air taking away the seed? A. The wicked one, that is, the devil, who catcheth away that which was sown in his heart, and causes him to forget all the good advice he had received.

30. What is the seed? A. The word of God; the Gospel.

31. Why is it called the word of the kingdom? A.

Because the Gospel leads those who embrace it with sincerity to the kingdom of heaven.

32. What description of person is meant by he that received the seed into stony places? A. He that heareth the word, and anon (or immediately) with joy receiveth it.— v. 20.

33. What becomes of this person? A. He dureth for a while; but when tribulation or persecution ariseth, because of the word, by and by he is offended.

34. What is the cause of the failure of this seed? A. First, it has no root in the heart; and secondly, when it springs up, which it does very quickly, it is scorched by the sun, and destroyed. Thus many, through fear, renounce their faith, and, though contrary to their conscience, follow the foosteps of the world, fearing its persecution and ridicule.

35. What is meant by having no root in the heart? A. They have no real conviction of the truth of what they hear deeply rooted in their hearts: they have not attained, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, any sincere love of holiness, or hatred of sin: they have no vital religion. 36. What is meant by they are offended? A. That when they meet with difficulties and persecutions on account of their religion, they get a dislike and distaste for those doctrines which were the cause of their sufferings.

37. What is meant by the seed which fell among thorns? A. It alludes to those who hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and they become unfruitful.-v. 22.

38. How does this happen? A. Because the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, tend to make us forget our duty to our God, and to alienate our souls from obedience to his holy will1.

39. What is meant by the seed falling on good ground? A. When a person hears the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold.-v. 23.

40. What is meant by bringing forth fruit? A. Our performing good works, which spring from that divine seed sown in our hearts and cherished by the Holy Spirit.

1 For an example of the cares of the world, vide Matt. vi. 19, ad finem.

41. What is the proof that the seed continues in our hearts? A. Our good works, both in relieving the temporal wants of our brethren, and in endeavouring to make them obedient to the law of God, as well as in the holiness of our own lives and conversation 1.

42. What may we learn from these distributions of the word? A. That all have the seed sown in their hearts, and that it is entirely their own fault if they do not bring forth fruit. We may also learn, that bringing forth fruit is the only true evidence of the word having taken root in our hearts.

43. What was the next parable our Lord spake unto them? A. He says, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field.

-v. 24.

44. What happened while men slept? A. His enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. -V. 25.

45. What are tares? A. A kind of plant very injurious

to corn.

46. How did he discover that the tares were sown? A. When the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also; so the servants of the householder came, and said to him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field; from whence then hath it tares ?—v. 26.

47. What did their master answer? enemy hath done this.-v. 28.

A. He said, An

48. What did the servants then say? A. Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

49. What did he reply? A. Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat also.—v. 29.

50. How long did he tell the servants to let them grow together? A. Until the harvest; and then he will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

-v. 30.

A.

51. What was the next parable he spake to them? The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.—v. 31.

52. What does the grain of mustard-seed represent? The Gospel.

1 Vide "fruits of the Spirit." Gal. v. 22.

A.