procured him a kind reception in all the market towns, where he never failed telling it, as soon as he had gathered an audience about him.'* The moral lessons enforced in this parable, were received with much more favor, and had a vastly greater effect, than if they had been given in a formal manner. 3. By the use of parables our Lord was enabled to administer a more pointed rebuke than he could have given in any other way; he, in this manner, made people pass judgment against their own conduct,- before they were aware it was themselves they condemned; and thus, in the application, he caused them to stand reproved in the sight of their own consciences. Nathan's parable of the ewe lamb, (2 Sam. xii. 1-4;) had this effect in a wonderful degree. He had described king David's conduct in such a way that the king forgot himself, and gave an impartial judgment: As the Lord liveth,' said he, 'the man that hath done this thing shall surely die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.' When the prophet responded to him, 'Thou art the man,' the reproof must have gone like an arrow through his heart, and made him tremble under the consciousness of his own sins. By the parable of the two debtors, Luke vii. 41, 42, Simon, the self-righteous Pharisee, who marvelled that Jesus should permit a woman who was a sinner to touch him, was led to see that he himself was the greater sinner of the two, and in effect to acknowledge it. The reproof was administered before he saw what the Saviour's object was-the light burst out upon him before he had time to close his eyes; but had the Saviour commenced by saying, Simon, I am about to convince you that you are even more wicked than a harlot, and publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom of heaven before you, he would not have supposed the thing possible, and would have turned away in disgust and anger. The same effect is seen to follow the parable of the good Samaritan. It was proposed to a bigoted Jew, self-confident in his supposed knowledge of the moral injunctions of God's law. He believed that the Jews only were his neighbors, whom he was bound to love. But after Jesus had uttered the parable, and asked him who was neighbor to him who fell among thieves, he was obliged to confess that it was he who had mercy on him. By this he condemned himself, for he had always lived in hatred of the Samaritans, while at the same time he professed to have obeyed the law, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." I must here be indulged with making another extract from the Spectator.* Among all the dif ferent ways of giving council, I think the finest, and that which pleases the most universally, is fable or parable, in whatever shape it appears. If we consider this way of instructing, or giving advice, it excels all others, because it is the least shocking, and the least subject to those exceptions which I have before mentioned. This will appear to us, if we reflect, in the first place, that upon reading or hearing a fable or parable, we are made to believe we advise ourselves. We attend to the speaker, or peruse the author, for the sake of the story; and consider the doctrine, or precept, rather as our own conclusion, than his instruction. The moral insinuates itself imperceptibly. We are taught by surprise, and become wiser and better unawares. In short, by this method, a man is so far overreached, as to think he is instructing or directing himself, while he is following the dictates of another. And consequently is not sensible of that which is the most unpleasing circumstance in advice.' 4. Several of Christ's parables were designed to show forth the truth more clearly, to reduce it to the capacity of the meanest mind, and, by the aid of the simplest and most common objects, to cause it to be fully understood. It is said, Mark iv. 33, And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.' Compare John xvi. 12. 25. Erasmus, † with his usual spirit and elegance, commends Christ's teaching the peo * No. 512. ↑ Paraphrase on Mark iv. 2. ple by parables. 'Christ proposed parables,' said he, 'that is, similitudes taken from things the most known. For this is the most simple kind of teaching and best ac commodated to the rude and ignorant, though at first view it seems, to the wise men of this world, to be childish and ridiculous. But this manner of teaching pleased Eternal Wisdom. The philosophers, by syllogisms twisted together with great art, poured darkness upon the minds of their hearers. The rhetoricians, with an admirable copiousness of speech, roused the minds of men. The Pharisees heaped together some things that were abstruse, and far removed from the capacity of the vulgar. But Jesus chose this kind of reasoning by parables, which is most simple, and quite free from all ostentation; that all the glory of this world's being renewed by the gospel, might be ascribed to a divine force and efficacy. Therefore, with many parables he roused their souls; that with simple belief, and pure minds, they might receive the evangelical doctrine, from whence cometh the beginning of our salvation.' The words of Jerome are worthy to be repeated here. He says upon Matt. xiii., 'It is a common thing with the Syrians, and especially with the people of Palestine, to every discourse of theirs to join parables; that what the hearers cannot lay hold of by a simple precept, may be laid hold of and retained by similitude and example.' Solomon says, 'A fool uttereth all his mind,' that is imprudently, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards,' till he sees some prospect of doing good by his disclosures. Dr. Benson remarks, very justly, 'If a person, with weak eyes, was long shut up in a dark room, to open the windows all at once and let in the blazing light of the meridian sun, would give him pain, and force him to shut his eyes, so as not to be able to see at all, instead of receiving the light with pleasure and joy. He that would fill a very narrowmouthed vessel, must not pour in liquor suddenly and all at once. That would be the way to overturn it, and so not fill it at all. But if he takes time, uses patience, and pours in the liquor drop by drop, or by gentle degrees, he may then fill it completely. Now, the multitude have weak eyes, and are narrow-mouthed vessels. This is the case with the generality of mankind. They have not been used to think much or freely, to argue closely, or so much as to suspect that possibly they may be mistaken. A sudden attack upon the principles in which they have been educated, however false, or groundless, is not to be endured, no more than a blunt and direct reproof of their practice, however foolish, or criminal.'* 5. It was proper for Christ to speak in parables, sometimes as a necessary screen from the malice of his enemies. The chief priests, and the Scribes and Pharisees would not have failed to take advantage of any express declaration which they might turn to his destruction. (John x. 24.) But yet they could not lay hold of the most pointed parables, which they were clear-sighted enough to perceive were levelled against themselves. See Matt. xxi. 45; Mark xii. 12; and Luke xx. 19.† 6. Jesus spoke in parables, on one occasion at least, because it was not consistent to declare certain truths plainly to those who were determined not to see nor hear. In the parable of the Sower, (Matt. xiii. 3-8,) he shows the manner in which the word of the gospel would be received by the different classes of men: When preached to some, it would be like seed sown by the way side, which the fowls devoured; to others, like seed sown in stony places; to others, like seed sown among thorns, which sprung up and choked it. Here the blindness, sensuality, and obstinacy of the Jews are described. Their hearts were waxed gross, their ears were dull of hearing, and their eyes they had closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and should be healed. It would effect no good to declare truth plainly to such people, any more than to hold up a beautiful picture before the eyes of a statue. But by a parable, to which they might unsuspectingly be inclined to listen, the truth spoken of was shown them in disguise, * Life of Christ, 251. Horne's Intro. ii. 618. veiled by a thin covering, or under a similitude, which would assist them in understanding it, if they really had the desire to understand it, and exasperate them the less if they would not understand. It has been supposed by some, particularly those who have adopted the doctrine of reprobation to eternal death, that our Lord intentionally hid the truth from the Jews, lest they should see; and thereby kept those in darkness who otherwise would have received willingly the light of truth. I would decide with diffidence touching a subject on which the wisest theologians have differed. But I think there is some force in the reply of Adam Clarke to this supposition: Who that is not most miserably warped and begloomed by some Jewish exclusive system of salvation, can suppose that the wise, the benevolent and holy Christ, would employ his time in speaking enigmatically to the people, on purpose that they might not understand what was spoken. Could the God of truth and sincerity act thus? If he had designed that they should continue in darkness, he might have saved his time and labor, and not spoken at all, which would as effectually have answered the same purpose, viz. that of leaving them in destructive ignorance. The view which Clarke opposes in this passage, has been founded on Isa. vi. 9, 10. But bishop Lowth maintains that the prophet is speaking only of 'the event, of the fact as it would actually happen. The prophets are in other places said to perform the thing which they only foretel. "Lo I have given thee a charge this day, To destroy and to demolish; To build and to plant."—JER. i. 10. * And Ezekiel says, "When I came to destroy the city," that is, as it is rendered in the margin of our versions, "when I came to prophecy that the city should be destroyed."-Ch. xliii. 3. I will here give a few hints, which may perhaps lead to a better understanding of Isaiah vi. 9, 10, as quoted by *Remarks at the end of Matt. xiii. |