he Saviour's parable of the two sons. The Father said to the
first, "Son, go work to-day in my vineyard." And he answered and said,
"I will not," but afterwards he repented and went. And the father said
to the second, "Go." And he answered and said, "I go, Sir," and went
not. And this, said Christ, is what takes place between Me and mankind.
I say to the fair-seeming people, "Give yourselves to God;" and they
answer, "We will, Lord," but still live on in selfishness and sin. I
say to abandoned profligates, "Give yourselves to God;" and they answer,
"We will not;" but on thinking the matter over, they repent and live to
God. Harlots and publicans enter the kingdom of God, while scribes and
pharisees remain without. The oyster, if you look at its outward
covering, is a "hard case;" yet within, it is soft and tender in the
extreme. The ugliest caterpillar is but an undeveloped butterfly, and in
time, if placed under favorable influences, may leave its crawling, and
mount aloft on wings of gold and silver. And it often happens that the
worst children make the best men. The fiercest persecutor of the early
Church became the chief of the Apostles. He was honest when dragging the
saints to prison; and all that was wanted to make him a preacher of the
faith which he labored so madly to destroy, was LIGHT.

And so it is still. Some of the most unhappy and unpromising of men and
women may require but a gentle word, a glimmer of light, or a
manifestation of your kind concern for their welfare, to win their
hearts to God. It does not appear that any of the early Christians
supposed that there was anything good in the heart of Saul the
persecutor, and nothing is said of any attempt on their part to convince
him of his error. And many, even when they heard he was converted, could
not believe the story. And even Ananias, when told by God Himself that
the converted persecutor was praying, could not get over his fears and
suspicions all at once. When God said, "Go, and help the poor man,"
Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil
he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem." But the Lord said unto him,
"Go thy way, haste to his help, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to
bear My name before the Gentiles, and to kings, and to the children of
Israel." At last Ananias went his way, and visited the praying penitent.
But even after this, when Paul had been preaching for some time with
great success, and had made the