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Two young fishermen came to the water-side to live, and to try their luck in a new home. Now, here they were very successful, and soon had a ready sale for all they caught in the village beyond the hill. "Now, we will each build a hut for ourselves, for this is a good place, and here we will each bring a wife, and have a home." "That is a good thought," replied Simplex; "here is a fine stretch of beach, and we shall have no trouble in drawing stones and timber, and making comfortable dwellings at small cost and labour." "Oh, no," answered Prudens; the storms and winds and waves will come and sweep away our houses. Look yonder among that grass there; up beyond are some rocks. They will make a fine foundation, and we need fear nothing." "Oh, you foolish Prudens, to give yourself so much trouble I The season of storms is past; the beautiful days are coming; and how will you climb up among those rocks when you are worn out and tired? See how easy it will be to run up a house here, and then to sit, after our day's work is over, and gaze out upon the water, and see that no one molests our boats or nets." "Well, brother, storms may come even during the beautiful days, and I shall build up yonder on the rocks." So each man built during the next few weeks each a neat little hut, and I must confess that Prudens' was not nearly so pretty as Simplex's, because it was much harder for Prudens to draw his materials away up the rocks, and to plan so that the foundations should be firm, and the windows protected. But in time both houses were complete, and in each a pretty little wife kept the home in good order, and the men were well content with their plans. But one night there were signs of a change of weather. The waters sighed and moaned and groaned and muttered as if they were angry, and the men hastened to make all secure, for, said they, "the waves are coming and the tide is rising." Prudens went to Simplex to beg that he and his wife would come up to his house, lest haply the waters should come over the beach. Simplex laughed at the fears of his friend; but the wife was timid, and she persuaded her husband just for one night to accept the invitation. "You will smile at your fears in the morning, Gretchen dear, but for your sake I will go — what can harm our home except a few dashes of salt water? You are not much of a sailor's wife." Then they went, and the fearful storm came, and the wind rose and beat away the nets and the boats. The women could not sleep, and, when the morning broke, they hastened to see what had happened in the night. They looked first towards the cottage of Simplex. There was no cottage there, but timbers and a heap of stones and a low wall, and the beach strewn with the wreck of the house. Gretchen began to cry, but Simplex dared not look at Prudens. Safe on the rocks, his house had stood out the storm. "Alas, my brother, why did I not heed your advice? I built on the sand, and my house has fallen. Yours stood because founded on a rock." This story is a parable. Who will tell what it means, and from what part of Scripture it is taken?.

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KJV: Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

WEB: Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words, and does them, I will show you who he is like.