OUR SUNDAY AFTERNOONS. GLEANINGS FROM THE GOSPELS. I. THE STORY OF THE OT long ago I was teacher of a class in our Sunday School. We generally called it the Bible Class, and my scholars were chosen, not from the oldest, but from the better taught and more thoughtful among the girls. Latterly, however, I had not felt satisfied with our progress. I feared my girls were not learning to read for themselves, and this it was that I most desired to teach them. I therefore determined to try a new kind of lesson, of which I intend to tell the readers of LITTLE FOLKS. We settled down as usual very cosily in our corner of the room when school had been opened one afternoon. We were all fond of our corner -quiet, and away from the buzz of the younger classes, near the fire too in winter, and cool in summer. 66 Now, girls," I said, "we are not a very large class to-day. Get your Bibles, and draw your forms in close, so that we can talk low." "It is the parable of the wicked husbandmen to-day, I know," said Mary, turning over the leaves of her Bible; "but I don't know where to find it." "It is in St. Luke, the twentieth chapter," said my quiet scholar Edith; but Lizzie at the same moment cried out, "It is in the twenty-first chapter of St. Matthew." "And it is in St. Mark too," said Alice. "What is the use of having more than one account of the parable? Come, you tell us, Fanny." But Fanny had nothing to say, only looked hopelessly at me, then down at her boots, and evidently gave up the matter in despair. "Here comes Margaret," cried Lizzie, brightening up; for the new-comer was a favourite with us all. She was now at boarding-school in the neighbouring town, but always found her way to the old corner as holidays came round. When Margaret hears our difficulty she thinks a little. "The Gospels are not all alike," she says, hesitating a moment. "No; yet they are all true. What makes us quite sure of that?" "Because God the Holy Spirit told the Evangelists what to write," answered Edith. "But you have not made it clear why we have more than one account given to us," I said to her. "One puts in some things that the others leave out," answered Mary, in a hurry, as usual. "It is like looking at something all round instead of only in one way," replied Margaret. "Three pictures of one face, you told us once," whispered Kate. "Yes," said I; "and we must put these three pictures into one. How shall we set to work to do it? Suppose Mary and Edith find the account in St. Matthew, Margaret and Lizzie have St. Mark open, Kate, Fanny, and Alice take St. Luke. Now you must all look carefully, and we will begin. Can you tell me where Jesus was when He told this parable?" "He was teaching in the Temple," answered Edith. "Now let us make a picture of this scene in the Temple. Who were round Jesus as He spoke?" The people," answered Alice. "Chief priests and elders," said Mary, turning the leaf to the earlier part of the chapter. "And the scribes too," cried Lizzie eagerly. "And then they all stood by to listen; and what were the first words they heard?" "A certain man planted a vineyard," answered most of the class. "He was a householder," said Mary and Edith. "Not a poor man, then. And next?" "He set a hedge about it." "Then he let the vineyard," said Alice. "He put a wine-press and a tower in it first," said Mary. A wine-fat, Mary," corrected Lizzie. "There is nothing about a wine-fat or a tower here, or a hedge either," said Alice. "We must put them all together," said Kate gently. "But what is a wine-press, please?" "A wine-press, or fat, is made by hewing or digging two large square tanks out of the solid rock. The upper one is generally large and shallow, and in that the grapes are pressed and trodden, and the juice runs off into the smaller and deeper one below." "But I don't see why they want a tower. Is it to keep the wine safe when it is made?" asked Margaret. "I believe it means a lodge or watch-tower, where those who gathered the grapes in the vintage might live, and from the top of which a watchman might at once look out in any time of danger. "This owner was, you see, a householder-not a labourer; and therefore, when he had done his part of preparing the land, he did not himself work in it, but he let it to men whose daily business it was to tend vines. What were they to pay the owner?" All looked puzzled a moment, till Margaret said, "I think it was some of the fruit of the vineyard.” “Well, before we read on farther, can any of you tell me if you know at all what Jesus was teaching by the parable? Whom does the vineyard typify?" "The Jews," said Kate. "Are not we the vineyard?" asked Margaret. "I think you are both right. God's people are the vineyard-the Jews of old, the Church of Christ now. And just as the householder planted the young vines, so God does with His people, that they may grow up and bear fruit." "But it says he went into a far country." "And God is always here. That is very well thought of; but then, you see, it is true too that God does not always ask an account. He is here, but He lets us take our own way until the time comes when He will ask us how we have used that which He gave to our care. So it was with the Jews; they had gone on their own way for a very long time, and now Jesus told them that the reckoning day had come. It will surely come to us too. "The vintage had been gathered, when one day the husbandmen saw one of their lord's servants coming up the slope towards them. How did they receive him?" "They caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty," answered Margaret. "And then they killed the next," said Mary. "We shall have to look in St. Luke for the second; they seem to have treated him just as they did the other, only that they used more violence." "They wounded the third messenger," said Kate. How many servants did the master send?" "A great many," answered Kate. "Yes, so many, one after the other, that we are not told the number; we are meant to see how patient the lord was, and how many opportunities he gave the husbandmen of coming to a better mind. Who were meant by the servants?" "We don't quite know who the husbandmen were yet ?" said Margaret. "Well, we can read that in the very chapter. Look, Mary, at the forty-fifth verse. Read it aloud." | "And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake of them.'” God had given His people, the Jews, in the charge of these rulers and chief men, and they had not used their power for God's glory: they would not give Him the fruit. Now, can you tell me who were sent to warn them? Suppose you find that out too in the Bible. Turn to 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16.” "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets." "The messengers were the prophets, then; now, you will all remember in what way many of the prophets were treated: how Jeremiah was beaten and put in prison; how the people refused to obey Moses; how Zechariah was stoned; and you will remember, too, about John the Baptist and others." "Look at this verse," cried Mary, eagerly turning the leaf of her Bible. "It is close to our chapter; I think it must be about the parable: 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee "" (St. Matt. xxiii. 37). "Whose words are those, Mary?" "The words of Jesus," answered they all. "Then those words will lead us back to the parable; for who was sent to the husbandmen after they had stoned and killed the messengers?" "The owner's only son, the well-beloved," said Margaret. "I am sure those words tell you something." "They mean our Saviour. God said, 'Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' "And you see the householder sent his son because he could not think of any other hope of bringing these men to a better mind. As we read the story, do you not feel that it was not the grapes that the owner cared for, not the profit to himself, but that he might save these bad servants of his from their own folly? Does it seem, do you think, as if he knew that his son would be in danger?" "I think so," said Kate; "for St. Luke says, 'It may be they will reverence my son."" "But they cast him out of the vineyard first," said Mary. "Yes, so two of the gospels tell us; it is as if they said, 'This land is our own, and we will not let you come in.' Jesus came unto His own, and His own received Him not; what did they do to Jesus that was like this?" "Led Him outside the city," said two or three. "They cast him out of the vineyard and slew him, and then they thought that they should have all the grapes for themselves; were they right?" 66 But was it really so? were the Jews destroyed?" asked Edith. "This was what happened: not a great many years after the Jews had put our Saviour to death, they fell into great trouble. The chief men quarrelled fiercely among themselves; they killed each other even in the very Temple of God. Then the Roman army came against them all, and a camp was made round the city. Many thousands died with hunger, others by pestilence, others by the sword." "But it says in my chapter," said Edith, "that the householder would let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen. What does that mean?" "I think I know," replied Margaret. "Because the Jews would not receive Christ, the Gospel was preached to us.” "Then if God has given the vineyard in charge to us, what are we to do with it, do you think? What does the parable tell us?" "Render him the fruits in their seasons," answered Mary and Edith. "And now we will look in our Bibles and find out what the fruits are that we are to give to God." "I know one place," said Ruth: "The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." "Yes; we are to give our words to God. If we did this, you know, we could never use unkind or bad words: they would all be good and pure, with the King's name on them, just as our money is stamped with the royal head." "Is not this another?" said Margaret; and turning to the place, she read (Phil. i. 11), “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness.'" "So we are to give God our words and our deeds: that means all our lives. And why are we to do so." "Because they belong to Him," answered Edith. "And do you see when we are to give them? Is it at the end of the world?" "No," said Mary; "in their seasons." "Then you have some fruit to give Him now.” The girls looked thoughtful. Just then the school bell rang: the Bibles must be gathered up and the closing hymn sung. When we had dispersed, as I was walking home I passed a group of girls talking together. "I wish I were in your class," I heard Fanny say to Clara Simpson. "We work so very hard." "I don't think you work very hard," said Margaret, laughing. "How many questions did you answer, Fanny?" 'Well, I wasn't going to take the trouble," said Fanny again. Margaret," said Ruth, who had joined the group," I liked our lesson; it made me think. Don't you feel as if the Bible were a very wonderful Book?" "Yes," said Margaret thoughtfully; "like the flowers that we see through the microscope; the nearer you look the more beautiful they are." Prize Scripture Questions. I. On what occasion do we read in the New Testament of the casting of lots? 2. What Queen mentioned in the Old Testament is referred to and commended in the New? 3. When was Saul of Tarsus first called Paul? 4. Which of the Apostles was the first to suffer martyrdom? 5. Which of the prophets was in Jerusalem when it was finally taken by Nebuchadnezzar ? And how was he favoured by the Babylonian king? 6. What other man of note was saved at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; and for what service was he thus rewarded? 7. Which of the Cities of Refuge were on the east side of the Jordan? 8. Which of the Twelve Tribes had already received their portions of land when Joshua divided Canaan amongst the Israelites ? 9. What is the last occasion on which we read of the Ark of God? 10. Upon the rebuilder of which of the cities destroyed by Joshua was a curse pronounced? 11. In whose reign and upon whom did this curse come? 12. Who were the only two men, out of the thousands who left Egypt, who entered the Promised Land? [Twelve "Prize Bible Questions" will be given each month; and a Guinea Book will be awarded, at the end of every three months, to the competitor (between the ages of 14 and 16 inclusive) who shall send in, during that time, the greatest number of Correct Answers, including references to the verses in the Bible containing them. In order that younger readers may take part in the Competition, there will be a separate, or Junior Division in it for them; and in this division a Half-Guinea Book is offered to those under the age of 14 only, who shall send in during that time the greatest number of Correct Answers and References. Competitors under 14 are not at liberty to compete for the Guinea Book. Answers must be accompanied by certificates from a parent, teacher, or other responsible person, stating that they are the sole and unaided work of the competitor; and the answers to those published in this month's number must reach the Editor by the 10th of January (the 16th for competitors residing abroad). The names and addresses of the Prize-winners will be published in LITTLE FOLKS at the expiration of the three months All Answers are to be addressed to "The Editor of LITTLE FOLKS, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London, E.C.," and "Answers to Scripture Puzzles" must be written in the left-hand top corner of the envelope containing them.] NLY two days to Christ- where. Janie Grey, a small, blue-eyed girl. sunshine, on the steps at the old Mill House, where she lived with her grandfather, watching her brother. Willie, the four Lesters, their neighbours, and others, trooping up from the mill-pond-where they had been skating-the red sunlight about them, like their own happy thoughts. "There, that's Christmas fortune, isn't it?" cried Luke Lester, coming up, and tossing the two pieces of a broken skate into their midst, as they all halted at the Mill House door. "And what will you do now?" asked somebody. "He'll have to stand out of the game and watch the skating from afar," answered another, with a jeer. Luke was no favourite with the lads; none of the Lesters werepoor, unamiable fellows. Indeed, the bitterness of an old quarrel lay between. Will Grey and Luke, by reason of a race between their two miniature yachts, on the river, in the autumn, in which Luke's won, and Willie's was wrecked, all, as the lads darkly hinted, through Luke's underhand scheming. Hence the bitterness. "Well, he can't be always first and foremost and stand in the front," observed Willie Grey, jingling his new skates in his hand, which his grandfather had given him, a light flashing in his eyes. "Ha! don't you crow so loudly, but look to your own concerns, or maybe I'll teach you a lesson," snarled Luke, looking very angrily towards the other. "Teach me a lesson! you'd best try it on," returned Grey, in disdain. "Let me tie your skate; I think I could with a piece of string," suggested Janie, the sunlight falling on her head the while like a bright crown. "That's all a girl knows about it," growled Luke, rudely. "Well, you might keep a civil tongue," snapped ready-tongued Willie; "but that's a thing you don't possess." Luke threw down his other skate, and sprang forward. "I'll take you down a notch before the holidays are over. I'll be even with you, Count Grey," he said. That name, "Count Grey," was to young Willie like a match set to gunpowder, as all the boys knew. "Then you own I'm a notch above you— I'll "Now then, let's have no quarrelling or fighting," said the eldest of the group pacifically; "so pick up your broken traps, Luke, and move along ; which Luke did, I know not what of mysterious illhumoured exultation in the glance with which he favoured Willie. Of this, however, the boy took no notice, but hung up his skates in the porch when they were all gone, and went in with Janie. Ah, well! to-morrow would be Christmas Eve. All this bickering, bantering talk was forgotten by the lonely little brother and sister, twining holly and evergreens in the old dining-room before the blazing fire, their grandfather slumbering in his easychair in the parlour, all alone. "Well, this is very strange! My skates are gone." Willie's face was ruefully comical as he made this announcement to Janie the next morning, as she was dusting the parlour. "Gone from where?" Don't quarrel with Luke," she pleaded, “because quarrelling at Christmas-time is so-so▬▬ "So what?" scoffed the boy, the morning sunshine on his face, as if wooing him to better things than this passion, making his brow so unlovely and dark. "So wrong," said the gentle little maiden. 'Well, then, I won't go now; but I know he's got them, and in the afternoon I'll see if he hasn't," he promised somewhat sulkily, and wandered away, though Janie kept an eye upon him all the morning, like a fond little mother-sister, fearing she scarce knew what from a meeting between the two lads. Well, I'm determined to find out if that Luke has my skates," was Master Willie's remark after dinner, the gloom still on his brow. "Let me go with you," said far-seeing Janie, who always tried to hover around him, like the little peacemaker that she was. "Well, I don't care who comes; I'm going to the mill-pond, that's where I'm going," was the reply; and forthwith the little girl put on her hat and cloak, and went out, a dainty little sprite, by his side. She was the elder of the two; her love surrounded him like a silent blessing. If she went to the mill-pond, just across the meadow, where the Lesters were skating in the ruddy sunshine, she would, if she could, prevent strife on Christmas Eve, when all the world should be at peace. Still, if Luke had taken the skates, it was very wrong of him, and some one ought to see about it, as he must have done it to amuse himself and to annoy Willie : so she mused, walking silently at her brother's side. Ha! there was Luke, as brisk as either of his "Gone from the porch, silly!" said petulant brothers, with somebody's skates on his feet. Willie. "You must have mislaid them," returned his sister. "I tell you I haven't," was the retort, and both went out into the porch to look round, as if that would enlighten them. Janie went here and there to try and make good her words; but no, they were not in the house. "I told you so," said her brother; "and what's more, I know who's got them." Janie hearkened, in half-consciousness of what was coming. "Luke Lester!" was the bold assertion. "I'm as sure of it as that ;" and the boy laid one hand in the other with a thwack. "No, not so sure of it as that," ventured less positive Janie. "There you go contradicting, like a girl. I am "There, they're mine-they're new ones; I can see them glitter," so fumed Willie as they drew near, and Luke posed himself on one foot and spun round, as if in defiance. "Oh! Willie, we're not sure," said his sister, soothingly. "I am sure, I say. Do the other skates glitter like his?" Now Janie could not say they did. "They'll glitter into the water, all the lot of them, if they don't take care, for the ice'll give away, as a thaw is coming on," said a labouring man in passing, and hurried on. "I wonder if he meant it?" said Janie. "It's no concern of ours," returned Willie, and his young brow grew gloomier as he spoke. Janie knew not what to advise. If she kept her brother here where they stood, there would be no |