It has been thought that, by the woman in the parable, is meant the Church of Christ, which takes the leaven of His word

Parson told her it was right; for the same reason she had gone to the Sacrament. And for another reason too; she had a share of the Sacrament money given her when she went. All this was very discouraging, but the more I read the more earnest I grew, for I was very much afraid for her, and beginning to be not a little afraid for myself. This went on with only short interruptions for fully a year; we then left home, intending to be some time absent. We were sorry to leave the old woman, though we could not make out that she had understood or cared for a single word that she had heard. We feared she would die while we were away, and felt very sad about her. We had little need.

"It was nine months before we returned home. The next day I made haste to the cottage. It was empty, and the door was fastened. No doubt she was dead? No, the family had moved, and a neighbour told me where to find them. The daughter-in-law received me with a most smiling welcome, and immediately began to speak of the old mother with a kindly feeling she had never shewn before. "You will find her quite changed," she said, "she talks very much to us all now, and indeed we find her a great blessing." So surprized, that I scarcely understood her meaning, I followed her into the inner room, where lay our old friend. Changed indeed! Yes, she was changed, for the dead had become alive! There was no longer that heavy, unmeaning look that had never smiled when I came, never had seemed to care when I went. Her whole face grew bright as she held out her hand to me, as she said, " God bless you, I thank Him and bless Him that I have lived to see you again." So surprized, that I could not answer her, I sat down to listen, while she poured out to me the most truly Christian feeling. In scripture language, she confessed her many sins, spoke of His love, her gratitude to God her Father in heaven, for having given His own and only Son to be her Saviour, and then with tears she said that she felt safe in Christ, and believed that His blood had washed her sins away. What had happened? Who had been with her? I thought some good and gifted clergyman had undertaken her case, and devoted much time to her, and had prayed by her. No, it had not been so. Not a page, not a verse had been read to her by any one. Sabbath after Sabbath the prayers of the Church had indeed gone up for "all sick persons," and for widows-and she was both, but no particular prayer had been made for her, for her case was not known. Her own account of the change that had come upon her was short and simple, but oh how full of solemn meaning; "After you were gone," she said, "I lay in my bed speaking to nobody, and nobody speaking to me, just as I did before you came, but it was a different thing to me, for I tried to think. I thought of all the words I had heard, and they came back to me quite clear, much clearer than when I heard them. I seemed to understand them better. All through the day, and often in the night, they used to rise up in me. Then I tried to pray:

given by Him, and by means of the Sacraments, and by many different ways of teaching, gives it to those who have it not. This cannot be better expressed than in the words of a holy man of old times-" May the Holy Church, which is figured under the type of this woman in the gospel, whose meal we are, hide the Lord Jesus in the innermost places of our hearts, till the warmth of the Divine wisdom reaches into the most secret recesses * of our souls." +

Before we leave this parable, it will be well to observe that leaven in this place only, is used in Scripture as a type of good. In many other parts it is used as a figure, by which is expressed something evil; (1 Cor. v. 7. Luke xii. 1. Gal. v. 9.), and in the old law the children of Israel were commanded to put out of their houses every particle of leaven during the Passover week; (Exod.), because it was then used as a sign of the old bad nature, perhaps because, as every one knows, leaven (not at first I did not know scarcely how, but soon I could, and always as I prayed I grew less frightened and more happy, and I understood better all that God had been doing for me, and every day He is teaching me more and more, and I am quite happy, for I know that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is my Saviour, and that He loves me, and helps me, and will help me, to the end.” What was this but the teaching of the Holy Spirit? The leaven had been brought and hid in her heart, and the whole was leavened. For four years this woman lived, a bright light shining in a dark place; her faith, her piety, her humble, happy hope in Christ the Lord, were made a blessing to many. Her neighbours who could read, often came to read to her; her son, who had been taught in the village school when he was a boy, rubbed up his learning, and used, when his work was done, and on Sundays, to sit by her bed and read verses to her as he could. The interest of the whole family was awakened. Perhaps the whole lump may be leavened!

'Shortly after our return, we removed to a distant part of the country, and never shall I forget the solemn farewell of my old friend. She exhorted me to hold fast by that word of God which His Holy Spirit had made the life of her soul, and would make the life of mine. We heard of her from time to time; she remained bright, happy, and patient to the last, and died full of years and infirmities, but fuller still of faith and joyful hope.”

Surely this little history, which is simply and exactly true, well explains the parable of the leaven as applied to particular cases.

* Recesses, or secret places.

+ St. Ambrose, quoted by Trench.

yeast,) is a part of the old dough left from some former baking till it is sour. By the command to put away all that remained of it, the people were reminded of their need to put away from their hearts all workings of malice and wickedness, if they would rightly serve God.

But the Lord Jesus has used the figure of leaven in a very different sense. He has made it for ever a sign to the thoughtful, of the working of his Holy Spirit within the believing heart. And each time that we take a morsel of bread in our hands, we may see in it a type of the saving change which He is ready and willing to work in all who seek it, for He has solemnly said, that his Father in heaven will give his Holy Spirit to all who ask him for it. (Luke xi. 13.)

How great is the kindness of our Lord, who has in these parables given a deep religious meaning to the common things of life! The labours of the field, the household work, speak to us of the kingdom of heaven: and the birds in the air above us, and the flowers that blossom round our feet, tell us that we may safely trust His care for all our wants. He knows that by far the greatest number of his children are without human learning, that many books are to them an impossibility; therefore He speaks in words so simple that a child may understand; and therefore He hath, as it were, written the story of his love on almost every thing we see, on almost every thing we touch. Oh bless the Lord with me! Let us fall down and praise his holy name for ever.

Prayer.

O God, my Saviour, bless thy holy word to the teaching of my heart. Make the leaven of thy religion so to work within me, that my whole nature may be changed-that I may serve thee in every thing I do, see thee in all thy works, and love thee, my God and Saviour, with all the powers thou hast given me, for ever and ever. Amen.

XL.

Now when these parables were ended, the evening must have been far spent, the night must have been coming on.

MATTHEW xiii. 36. "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field."

We have already heard his answer, and considered the explanation He gave them of each of the three parables He had spoken from the boat; of the different soils on which the seed of the word was sown; of the tares, and of the mustard-seed. He told the meaning of these to his disciples at night, when alone in the house; and at night, when we are alone, though we cannot see him, He will still tell us many things. He will make many things clear to us which, perhaps, we have but half understood, and so imprint them upon our hearts that we shall not forget them. When we have been listening to the teaching of God's word through the day, let us, before we lie down in our beds, think over all we have heard, and simply ask the Saviour to teach us rightly to understand it. Perhaps He will do more. Perhaps He will add to what we have heard, clearer lessons from his word of our own particular duties. Perhaps, in the quiet hour of night, when the labors of the day are done, when the voices of men are hushed, and their opinions no longer bewilder ours, perhaps, in that still hour, the Lord Jesus may, in answer to our prayers, shed so bright a light on the truths of his coming kingdom, that we may see and feel of how little worth are all these things the world thinks of so much value. Perhaps He may teach us then, that the salvation of our souls is worth far more than earth can

give. That if the kingdom of heaven is but ours, we need care little for all those things which, in the bustle and business of the day, are so apt to fill our minds with vain wishes, and with fretting discontent.

It was thus the Lord Jesus taught his disciples. They came to him for an explanation of the parables He had already spoken. He gave it, and He gave them more, for He said unto them :

MATTHEW Xiii. 44. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man findeth, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."

Even now, in the land of the East, it is not a very uncommon thing for a man to find hidden treasure; and, in Eastern tales, we often read how that a man has found a buried treasure, and has, in a moment, risen from poverty to great riches. This has been caused by the unsettled state of the country, and the many changes that have been in it. Men have often been obliged in haste to leave their dwelling-places, and for safety they often buried their money and jewels, and other valuable things, which they could not take with them. They never told any one the place, so that if they died before they could return, then was their treasure lost entirely to their families; often never found at all; unless by chance some poor man digging in his field should light upon it.*

The parable describes the joy that would fill the mind of the finder of the hidden treasure, and his anxious haste to get possession of it; his fear of losing it, and his willingness to part with all he had to buy that field. Often he had carelessly

* By the laws of our country, and indeed by the laws of common honesty, money or any thing else found in like manner in this country would not belong to the finder, but to the owner of the place in which it was found, or more properly speaking to the lord of the manor; and the man who kept the matter secret, and took possession of what he had found, would be in some sort a thief, and would always be afraid of being found out.