XIII. _The Ten Virgins,_ 282 XIV. _The Entrusted Talents,_ 299 XV. _The Seed Growing Secretly,_ 312 XVI. _The Two Debtors,_ 326 XVII. _The Good Samaritan,_ 341 XVIII. _The Friend at Midnight,_ 357 XIX. _The Rich Fool,_ 369 XX. _The Barren Fig-Tree,_ 378 XXI. _The Excuses,_ 387 XXII. _The Lost Sheep,_ 402 XXIII. _The Lost Coin,_ 422 XXIV. _The Prodigal Son,_ 427 XXV. _The Prudent Steward,_ 451 XXVI. _The Rich Man and Lazarus,_ 465 XXVII. _Unprofitable Servants,_ 483 XXVIII. _The Importunate Widow,_ 497 XXIX. _The Pharisee and the Publican,_ 509 XXX. _The Servants and the Pounds,_ 520 INTRODUCTION. We have been accustomed to regard with affectionate veneration the life-work of the Reformers, and the theology of the Reformation. Of a later date, and in our own vernacular, we have inherited from the Puritans an indigenous theology, great in quantity and precious in kind,--a legacy that has enriched our age more, perhaps, than the age is altogether willing to acknowledge. At various periods from the time of the Puritans to the present, our stock of sacred literature has received additions of incalculable value. So vast and varied have our stores become at length, that an investigator of the present day can scarcely expect to find a neglected spot where he may enjoy the luxury of cultivating virgin soil: so ably, moreover, have our predecessors fulfilled their tasks, that a modern inquirer, obliged to deal with familiar themes, cannot console himself with the expectation of dealing with them to better purpose. It does not follow, however, that a contribution to the literature of theology is useless, because it neither touches a new theme, nor treats an old more ably. The literature of one century, whether sacred or common, will not, when served up in the lump, satisfy the craving and sustain the life of another. The nineteenth century must produce its own literature, as it raises its own corn, and fabricates its own garments. The intellectual and spiritual treasures of the past should indeed be reverently preserved and used; but they should be used as seed. Instead of indolently living on the stores which our fathers left, we should cast them into the ground, and get the product fresh every season--old, and yet ever new. The intellectual and spiritual life of an age will wither, if it has nothing wherewith to sustain itself, but the food which grew in an earlier era; it must live on the fruits that grow in its own time, and under its own eye.