r was pleased to reward?

C. Those who had served God early; those who had given to Him the best
of their youth; those who had been kind to others and helped the needy
for His sake; those who had turned to Him in truth, and clave to Him with
a humble penitence.

F. What was the end of the careless servants?

C. It is an awful end, which our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ speaks of
thus: "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." {148a} And, again, "These shall go
away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."
{148b}

The Prophet's Guard.

It was the very earliest morning. The day was not breaking as it does in
this land of England, with a dewy twilight and a gradual dawning--first a
dull glow all over the east, then blood-red rays, catching any fleecy
cloud which is stealing over the sky, and turning all its misty whiteness
into gold and fire;--but day was breaking as it does in those eastern
countries--sudden, and bright, and hot. Darkness flew away as at a word;
the thick shadows were all at once gone, and the broad glaring sun rose
proudly in the sky, rejoicing in his strength. The people of the town
woke up again to life and business. Doors were flung wide open, and some
were passing through them; the flat roofs of the houses began to be
peopled--on one was a man praying, on others two or three standing
together; but most of the people were hastening here and there to get
through their necessary work before the full heat of the day came on;
numbers were passing and repassing to the clear dancing fountain, the
cool waters of which bubbled up in the midst of a broad square within
that city.

And now, what is it which one suddenly sees, and, after gazing at it for
a while, points out to another, and he to a third? As each hears, they
look eagerly up to the hill, which rises high above their town, until
they gather into a knot; and then, as one and another are added to their
company, grow into almost a crowd. Still it is in the same quarter that
all eyes are fixed; their water-vessels are set idly down, as if they
could not think of them. Those which were set under the fountain have
been quite full this long time, but no one stooped to remove them; and
the water has been running over their brimming sides, while its liquid
silver flew all round in a shower of sparkling drops. But no one thinks
of them. What is it