r living" and though the Lord did not speak to her, as far
as we know, He saw her faith, and His blessing must have reached her in
ways that we know nothing about. To those who stood about Him He said,
"Of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than
they all; for all these have of their abundance cast into the offerings
of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had."

[Illustration: The two mites]

Jesus, who "spake as never man spake," preached the new Gospel of the
Kingdom by means of stories, or parables, and on one long day of
teaching in the Temple He told several stories that the people never
forgot. Two of them were stories of the vineyard. One of them was of
a man who sent his two sons into his vineyard to work. One answered "I
will not," but afterward repented and went, while the other, who had
said "I go, sir," went not. Jesus taught in this that real sinners who
at first refuse to enter God's kingdom but afterward repent and enter,
are better than the heartless hypocrites who talk much of their
religion but are inwardly evil.

The other story was of a certain householder who owned a vineyard and
let it out to some men while he took a journey into a far country.
When the time of the fruit drew near he sent his servants to the men
who had rented the vineyard, that they might receive the fruits of it,
but the men beat one servant, and stoned another, and killed another.
When the owner sent other servants they treated them in the same way.
Then he sent his son saying, "They will reverence my son," but the men
determined to kill the heir and take the vineyard for themselves, and
they cast out the son of the lord of the vineyard and killed him. In
this story He spoke of His own death, as well as that of the prophets
and John the Baptist before Him.

The chief priests and Pharisees, when they heard this parable knew that
the Lord spoke of them, and they tried again to take Him by force, but
feared the people.

Another story told in the Temple that day was of the "Marriage of the
King's Son" which you will find in the twenty-second chapter of
Matthew. It shows first how the Jews were asked into the Kingdom of
Christ, but refused to come, and their city was given over to their
enemies to destroy. In the second part of the parable the call of all
nations to come into Christ's kingdom is described, and the man who was
found at the feast without a wedding garme