A Parable

A PARABLE. — ILLUSTRATING A PRINCIPLE PAY FOR EVERY WORK DONE VS. LIVING BY FAITH.

At the close of the season's labor there cometh the servant to demand his wages of the master, and findeth him in the market place engaged upon business with strangers, but saith unto him, "Pay me now that which thou owest, for the time has come this very hour." Then said the master unto him, "Have I not always dealt generously with thee, and in the days of thine affliction did I not succor thee with gifts from my store house and field? Why then hast thou brought reproach upon me in a public place? Verily I say unto thee, that which thou hast before received shall be charged unto thee, and thou shalt have neither more nor less than thou hasfc earned!" Then cometh other servants who, seeing their master from a- "Behold our master is upon business of far, saith one to another,

the kingdom; hath he not always dealt honorably with us? and our children are fed and clothed and we lack not bread,— let us return again to our labor, and in his own due time will the master recom- pense us according to his word." Then they departed, but that night they sat at meat at the master's table, and when the feast was ended each man took with him in his hands, his wages, and wine, and oil and good gifts for his household. —W. A. Hyde.