and in the
Synagogues, they were the common people who, hearing the word and
loving it, were wiser than the Pharisees.

The Lord told many stories that these people would remember, and
afterward understand by the teaching of His Spirit which He said would
be given to them. You will read all of them in the Gospels, but here
we cannot tell them all.

The story of "The Fig-tree in the Vineyard," "The Great Supper," and
"The Foolish Rich Man" were stories of warning to those who were
turning away from the things of heaven to the things of the world, and
they were meant for all who should read them in the ages of the world.

So were the three stories--they are called "parables" in the
Gospels--of the lost things; "The lost sheep," "The lost piece of
money," and "The lost son." They were given to us to show the great
love of the Heavenly Father for His children, and His constant care in
seeking for them when they are wandering away from Him. These stories
are the voice of the Father always and everywhere calling His children
home, and many a poor soul has turned homeward with tears of repentance
after reading them.

One of these stories of lost things will be told here, but it is far
more beautiful in the language of the Scriptures.

There was once a rich man who had two sons, and the younger one came to
him and said,

"Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me."

And so the father divided his property, and gave the younger brother
his share. In a few days he had gathered it all together and settled
his affairs so that he could go away. He went into a distant country,
and there he spent all that he had among bad people who seemed to be
his friends, but were really his worst enemies.

When all that he had was spent there came a time of great trouble.
There was very little food in the land, for there was a famine, and he
was obliged to go to work for the little he could get. It was not easy
to find work, for the only thing he could do was to hire himself to a
man who kept pigs. His work was to stay in the fields and feed them
with husks, the hard pods of the carob tree. Sometimes he was so
hungry that he would have been glad to eat even these, but "no man gave
unto him." Then the young man "came to himself."

"How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare,"
he said, "and I perish with hunger!"

"I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I
have si