THE 
 
 . / T 
 
 PARABOLIC TEACHING OF CHRIST; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 0f ; % JJefo Cement 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. D. T. K. DRUMMOND, B.A., OXON., 
 
 OF BT. THOMAS' ENGLISH EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, EDINBURGH. 
 
 *> NEW YORK: 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 285 BROADWAY. 
 1856.
 
 
 
 TCBBOTYPBD T 
 THOMAS B. SMITH, 
 
 8J X 81 Beckman Street 
 
 B. O.JENKINS, 
 PRINTER, 
 
 22 & 24 Frankfort St
 
 * 
 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION, V 
 
 PART I. 
 
 MAN IN SATAN'S KINGDOM HIS CONDITION, HIS ACTINGS, 
 AND HIS PROSPECTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. THAT WHICH DEFILETH A MAX THE LIGHT OP THE BODY 
 
 THE SICK, -.*,. . 15 
 
 II. THE STRONG MAN ARMED THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT GOING our 
 
 OF A MAN, 24 
 
 ILL THE RICH FOOL 35 
 
 IV. CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE THE MOTE AND THE BEAM 
 
 THE STRAINING OFF A GNAT CLEANSING THE OUTSIDE 
 
 OF THE CUP WHITED SEPULCHERS GRAVES WHICH 
 
 APPEAR NOT THE PHARISEE AND SADDUCEE, . . .45 
 
 V. THE Ax LAID TO THE ROOT OF THE TREES THE FLOOR 
 
 THOROUGHLY PURGED, 60 
 
 VL THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS, 66 
 
 BART II. 
 
 THE PRINCE OF THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE DOOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD, 80 
 
 II. THE TRUE VINE, 93 
 
 III THE ROCK THE STRONGER THAN HE THE PHYSICIAN, . 109 
 IV. THE BRIDEGROOM THE OLD AND NEW GARMENT THE OLD 
 
 AND NEW WINE, . . . ";, 124 
 
 V. THE SHEPHERD LAYING DOWN His LIFE THE CORN OF 
 
 WHEAT DYING THE BRAZEN SERPENT 137 
 
 VI. LIVING WATER LIVING BREAD, 149 
 
 PART III. 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OF GRACE IN ITS PERSONAL AND EXPERI- 
 MENTAL CHARACTER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE LOST SHEEP TOT LOST PIECE OF SILVBB THE LOST 
 
 SON, ^ .166
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAG* 
 
 CHAPTER IL THB WIND BLOWING WHERE IT LISTETH THK Two SONS 
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE, ....' 239 
 m. THE BROAD AND NARROW WAY THE MAN BUILDING A 
 
 TOWER THE Two KINGS AT WAR, . . . -265 
 IV. THE LOWEST ROOM THE Two BUILDERS THE Two DEBT- 
 ORS THE GOOD SAMARITAN, . . . . 271 
 V. THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT THE LABORERS IN THE VINE- 
 YARD, 300 
 
 VL THE UNJUST STEWARD THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS, . 317 
 VII. THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN THE SON ASKING BREAD 
 
 THE FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE, . 333 
 VIIL THE SALT OP THE EARTH THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD 
 THE OFFENDING EYE, FOOT OR HAND BROTHER, SISTER, 
 AND MOTHER, 351 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OF GRACE, IN ITS HISTORICAL AND PROPHET- 
 ICAL CHARACTER. 
 
 SECT. I. GENERAL RECEPTION AND PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 )y CHAPTER I. THE SOWER TUB GROWTH OF THE SEED THE WHEAT AND 
 
 THE TARES, 359 
 
 II. THE MUSTARD-SEED THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD THE 
 
 PEARL OF GREAT PRICE THE DRAG-NET, . . . 382 
 
 PART V. 
 
 BBCT. n THE CALLING AND CASTING AWAY ol THE JEW, THE CALLING AND 
 BRINGING IN OF THE GENTILE. 
 
 CHAPTER L THE GREAT SUPPER, ; 391 
 
 IL THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S 
 
 SON, . a. 397 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 SECT. HI. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 THE DAYS OF NOAH AND Lor THE WOMAN IN TRAVAIL THE FIG-TREE 
 PUTTING FORTH HER LEAVES THE LIGHTNING SHINING THE CARCASS 
 AND THE EAGLES THE WAITING SERVANT THE TEN VIRGINS THE 
 TALENTS THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS, 410 
 
 APPENDIX, . JK' 435
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IN publishing the present work on the Parables of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, I feel it to be necessary to offer some remarks on 
 the following points : First, as to what is meant by a parable ; 
 next, as to the principle of interpretation which I have adopted ; 
 and then, as to the method of arrangement on which I have pro- 
 ceeded. 
 
 There is a perfectly clear and broad distinction to be observed 
 between the parable and the fable or the myth. This is well laid 
 down by Alford in his Notes on the New Testament. " The par- 
 able is not a fable, inasmuch as the fable is concerned only with 
 the maxims of worldly prudence, whereas the parable conveys 
 spiritual truth. The fable in its form rejects probability, and 
 teaches through the fancy, introducing speaking animals, or even 
 inanimate things, whereas the parable adheres to probability, and 
 teaches through the imagination, introducing only things which 
 may possibly happen. Nor is the parable a myth, inasmuch as in 
 mythology the course of the story is set before us as the truth, and 
 simple minds receive it as the truth, only the reflecting mind 
 penetrates into the distinction between the vehicle and the thing 
 conveyed ; whereas in the parable these two things stand distinct 
 from one another to all minds, so that the simplest would never 
 believe in the parable as fact." 
 
 The above distinction is clear and well defined. "When, how- 
 ever, we come to compare the- parable with the allegory or the 
 proverb, we find the distinction not so easily traced, and the
 
 vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 affinities much stronger. It is possible in strictness of definition 
 to separate them. Thus a proverb may be defined, as " a trite 
 wayside saying," passing current in ordinary conversation, and 
 which may or may not be based on that which is parabolic. As 
 an example of the first, we have " Physician, heal thyself;" of 
 the last, " Honesty is the best policy." The former is parabolic 
 the latter is not. The allegory, again, is self-interpreting. The 
 narrative is so blended with the actual truths intended to be 
 illustrated, that it speaks for itself, " the imaginary persons and 
 actions are put in the very places and footsteps of the real ones, 
 and stand there instead of them, declaring all the time by their 
 names and actions who and what they are." The Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress is a remarkable example of this. 
 
 But these last distinctions, clear as they may be for the purpose 
 of laying down an arbitrary definition, become quite useless when 
 applied to the parables as delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ. It 
 appears to me that no such distinctions were ever intended to be 
 made in the New Testament ; and I believe that the attempt to 
 carry them out has been the cause why the parabolic teaching of 
 Jesus has not generally been set forth with that breadth and full- 
 ness which so wonderfully characterize it. Thus Mr. Trench, in 
 his Notes on the Parables, altogether passes by the parables of 
 the Good Shepherd and the True Vine, because they partake 
 more of the character of allegory than of parable, while he treats 
 as a proverb what Jesus said, " If the blind lead the blind, both 
 shall fall into the ditch," though, at the same time, he admits that 
 these words may be regarded as a " concentrated parable." It is 
 also strange that in a work professing to be " on the Parables," 
 and not on some only of the parables, he should altogether have 
 omitted such parables as those of the Two Builders, the Old and 
 New Garment, and others equally important, which may be 
 brought under the head even of the strict definition he has him- 
 self laid '-O'.vn.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vli 
 
 When we come fairly to look at the subject, we shall find it to 
 be impossible to lay down any rule which can be universally 
 applied, in order to distinguish between allegory, proverb, and 
 parable, in the New Testament. Thus, as regards the allegory. 
 We have a notable example of this in the Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians ; and yet it is clear that it fails altogether in the very point 
 by which, in the strictness of such a definition as is given above, 
 it ought to be distinguished. There is no self-interpretation in it. 
 The Apostle gives a portion of history, and then shows how that 
 history illustrates some important truths. Besides, if this defini- 
 tion were strictly carried out, the parable of the " Eich man and 
 Lazarus" ought no longer to be considered a parable but an alle- 
 gory, inasmuch as it is assuredly interpenetrated with that which 
 interprets the story as it proceeds. What definition can be applied 
 to the Pilgrim's Progress as an allegory which may not equally 
 well be applied to this parable ? 
 
 Then, again, as to the proverb, what is admitted by Mr. Trench, 
 sufficiently shows the importance of not pressing a definition here 
 also. If a proverb be, as he truly remarks, often a " concentrated 
 parable," or as Alford, on the other hand, says of the parable, 
 that it is an "expanded proverb," then why should we, in an en- 
 larged view of the parables, exclude any because of a proverbial 
 character which may have been given to them ? The brevity of 
 a parable, or its concentration, does not make it the less forcible 
 or instructive. The Parables of the Mustard-Seed and the Leaven 
 are always treated as parables, and are not regarded as less in- 
 structive, because they are short, pointed, and concentrated. 
 Surely, then, such illustrations as resemble these in force and 
 brevity, such as that already quoted, "If the blind lead the 
 blind, both shall fall into the ditch," ought not to be the less 
 classed among the parables of Jesus, though they may have 
 passed at length into the proverbial language of a people. 
 
 But besides all this, the very language of the New Testament
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 itself forbids any such rigid application of a rule whereby to dis- 
 tinguish between the allegory, the proverb, and the parable. In 
 those remarkable chapters of the Gospel of St. John, where the 
 parables of the Good Shepherd and the True Vine occur, the 
 Evangelist calls them neither parables nor allegories, but proverbs 
 (fJagotfiia). "It is not difficult to explain how this interchange 
 of the two words should have come to pass. Partly it arose from 
 the fact of there being but one word in the Hebrew to signify 
 both parable and proverb, which circumstance must have had 
 considerable influence upon writers accustomed to think in that 
 language, and is itself to be explained from the parable and 
 proverb being alike enigmatical and somewhat obscure forms of 
 speech, 'dark sayings,' uttering a part of their meaning, and 
 leaving the rest to be inferred. This is evidently true of the 
 parable, and, in fact, of the proverb." (Trench.) Surely there 
 is ample reason here for relaxing any rule which might in fact 
 create a distinction manifestly not in the mind of the Inspired 
 Writer himself. Again, the Evangelist St. Luke in recording, 
 what some regard simply as a proverb, " Can the blind lead the 
 bind," etc., expressly prefaces it with these words, " He spake a 
 parable unto them." St. Matthew also records these words of the 
 Apostle Peter, " Declare unto us this parable," after our Lord had 
 said, " Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man." It 
 has been said, that although this is not strictly a parable, yet 
 Peter " took.it for a parable." But surely it is better with Peter 
 to take it for a parable, than to eliminate it from the parables in 
 order to suit a theory of definition. 
 
 On the whole, I desire to adopt in these pages the primary 
 meaning of the word parable as admirably given by Mr. Trench. 
 " 77o0a|?oA7j, from 7ia(>n{i(ttliv, projicere, objicere, i. e. TI -nvi, to put 
 forth one thing before or beside another ; and it is assumed when 
 nap(?o^7j is used for parable, though not necessarily included in 
 the word, that the purpose for whidh they are set side by side is.
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 that they may be compared one with the other. 11 This will include 
 all the imagery of the New Testament as found in the teaching 
 of our divine Master, whether we choose more exactly to call it 
 allegory or proverb or parable. We shall have something that 
 we can understand or pomprehend, set forth alongside of that in 
 which we are to be instructed the former to illustrate and ex- 
 plain the latter ; and whether these two are kept perfectly dis- 
 tinct as parallel lines, or touch one another at one point as in the 
 contact of two globes whether, in other words, the illustration 
 and the thing illustrated, are kept apart, or partially blended with 
 each other, we shall have the same blessed help afforded us to 
 grasp at the " things which are not seen," by those wonderful 
 analogies which were of old prepared by Him who in the days 
 of his flesh, was pleased to display them so largely for our " in- 
 struction in righteousness." 
 
 Now as to the principle of interpretation adopted in this vol- 
 ume, it would be in vain to endeavor to enunciate any general 
 rule. I trust I have observed I am sure I have endeavored to 
 do so the following admirable suggestion of Tholuck " It must 
 be allowed that a similitude is perfect, in proportion as it is on all 
 sides rich in application ; and hence, in treating the parables of 
 Christ, the exposition must proceed on the presumption, that 
 there is import in every single point, and only desist from seeking 
 it, when either it does not result without forcing, or when we can 
 clearly see that this or that circumstance was merely added for 
 the sake of giving intuitiveness to the narrative. We should not 
 assume any thing to be non-essential, except when by holding it 
 fast as essential the unity of the whole is marred and troubled." 
 
 In some of the parables, our Lord secures our full apprehen- 
 sion of them by a single sentence. Thus, for example " The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, &c.,. so is every one that is born of 
 the Spirit." Here the key with its proper ward is put into our 
 hands at once, and the whole lies open before us. In others again,
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 he rather hints at the meaning of the parable, than directly leads 
 to it. As, for example, in that of the Dishonest Steward. Some- 
 times the Evangelist who reports the parable, prefaces it with 
 what sets forth its scope and bearing, as in that of the Unright- 
 eous Judge. Sometimes the preceding narrative itself directly 
 suggests the purport of the parable which follows, as in those of 
 the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, and the Lost Son. 
 Sometimes this must be gathered indirectly from the circumstances 
 narrated, as in the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. In 
 every one of these, however, the indications are never uncertain, 
 by which the general scope of the parable may be discovered, 
 and then in the working out of its details, the principle laid down 
 by Tholuck, as above, ought to be strictly carried out. 
 
 Indeed, that principle is manifestly derived from a careful ex- 
 amination of those remarkable interpretations which our Divine 
 Master has been pleased to give of two of his parables the sower 
 and the tares in the field. He appears to have left these in the 
 Word of Truth as guides by which the careful student may feel 
 his way when examining other parables also. The minuteness 
 of detail in these interpretations is very striking. We have not 
 only, as in that of the Tares in the field, an exact counterpart 
 given in the explanation to all the leading points in the parable ; 
 but we have specially, as in that of the Sower, such exactness in 
 detail, as that the " fowls of the air devouring the seed" sown " by 
 the wayside," are meant to represent Satan " catching away the 
 Wordj" and the "thorns" to represent "the cares, riches, and 
 pleasures of life which choke the word and make it unfruitful." 
 
 It is, indeed, surprising that with such patterns as these of ex- 
 plained parables, writers should be found who deny the propriety 
 of any save the most general interpretation, and who see nothing 
 in the elaborate details of some of them but a pleasing drapery to 
 surround one central truth. It is a matter of thankfulness in the 
 Church of God that a better and more consistent mode of exposi-
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 tion is becoming every day more manifest. Of course there is a 
 danger in the opposite direction which must be carefully avoided. 
 To give the rein to an unsanctified fancy, and to allow the imag- 
 ination to run riot in these simple and beautiful parables, as if 
 they were only stores of curious notions, is both disastrous to 
 the individual who thus departs from the words of " truth and 
 soberness," and most injurious to the cause of Christ in the 
 world. 
 
 It is, however, in considering such dangers on both sides that 
 our Lord's purpose in teaching by parables becomes manifest. It 
 is to test the carnal and try the spiritual mind. The parable is 
 not a " dark saying" in itself. It is, or it is not so, according to 
 the state of the hearer's mind. It is from the latter that the 
 darkness proceeds if it be not understood. It is because the 
 mind has become spiritually quickened, if it be really appre- 
 Bended. The very simplicity of the parable is that which causes 
 the unsanctified mind to stumble at it, while, on the other hand, 
 it wins and attracts the spiritual mind. And so it truly happens 
 that " whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have 
 more abundantly ; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be 
 taken away even that he hath." The spiritual mind will find in 
 these precious words of Jesus such a rich and plenteous store as 
 shall prove indeed to be inexhaustible, and the more he applies 
 to it the more he will obtain ; but the carnal heart, with no 
 spiritual appetite, no desires after these great mysteries of the 
 kingdom of God, will give so little heed to them, that, like the 
 seed sown by the wayside, " even that which he hath shall be 
 taken away." 
 
 A few words now as to the arrangement of the parables which 
 I have followed in this volume. I have for many years felt, that 
 in order to obtain a full impression of the extent and depth of 
 our Lord's parabolic teaching, wo must place his parables along 
 side of each other, and so endeavor to shed the light of one upon
 
 Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the other. I was quite sure that it could only be in this way that 
 two very important points could be established ; first, the very 
 wide field of truth embraced in them ; and next, how worthless 
 and unfounded the slanderous statements of those are who regard 
 many of them as mere repetitions of the same truth, clothed in a 
 variety of garb. 
 
 In carefully examining them with this view, I have been pene- 
 trated with the deepest admiration at the rich profusion with 
 which all the great objective and subjective truths of the Gospel 
 are found scattered throughout these parables. I could not but 
 observe how all the deepest and clearest impressions of Divine 
 truth that can be experienced in the human heart, are, under 
 God, imperceptibly wrought in by means of these " wondrous 
 things out of his law." I could not but remark that the strength 
 and reality with which the spiritual mind is enabled by grace to 
 apprehend the deep, abstract doctrines of the Gospel, are owing, 
 unconsciously indeed, to the inner reception of those glorious 
 analogies, which, like the ladder in Jacob's dream, connect the 
 things of earth with the things of heaven. 
 
 Nor was this admiration lessened, when I considered that 
 those " earthly things" were not selected at random, as a mere 
 man might do, in order to illustrate his teaching ; and that, per- 
 haps, after all, some more apt and suitable illustration might have 
 been found. On the contrary they are furnished by one, who him- 
 self prepared these earthly things for this highest and best of 
 ends, that they might be witnesses to the deeper things of spiritual 
 and heavenly truth. I found that if, on the one hand, the percep- 
 tions of the child of God are cleared and elevated regarding the 
 God of all grace in his spiritual kingdom by such simple things 
 as the growth of a seed, or the union of the branches with the 
 vine, or the relation of a father to his son on the other hand, 
 the gracious foresight of God in his providence becomes more ex- 
 ceedingly glorious, in that he has not only prepared in the king-
 
 INTRODUCTION. X1U 
 
 dom of nature what was needful for the support and comfort of 
 his creatures there, but has so pre-ordained and fashioned and 
 arranged these very things, that they should prove, not at ran- 
 dom, but of necessity, most perfectly suitable to train up the 
 child of earth in the knowledge of the language of heaven. 
 
 Whether in the plan I have adopted in this volume, I shall 
 succeed in conveying similar impressions to the reader to those I 
 have received myself, I can not telL This must be left in His 
 hands, who has all hearts at His diposal. But this will, I think, 
 be admitted, even on a cursory glance, that nothing can exceed 
 the importance of the subjects which it contains. 
 
 I have first of all brought together into one Part, all those 
 parables which have specially and expressly to do with the king- 
 dom of darkness, both in regard to the ruler of that kingdom and 
 his subjects. I have formed these also into separate groups, .so 
 as more prominently to show their mutual dependence upon one 
 another, and thus bring out their depth and fullness. 
 
 In the next Part, I have collected and arranged in such order 
 as seemed most appropriate, all those precious parables which 
 directly and expressly illustrate the person and character of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the third Part, I have brought together those parables which 
 have special reference to the practical and experimental work of 
 grace in the heart of the sinner the soul's inner history, when it 
 is passing, and has passed from the kingdom of Satan to the 
 kingdom of God's dear Son. 
 
 In the fourth Part, I have gathered together the parables which 
 give a full and accurate description of the reception and progress 
 of the Gospel in the world. 
 
 In the fifth, I have brought together those which relate to the 
 great change from the Jewish dispensation to that of the Gentiles. 
 
 And in the last there will be found those which expressly refer 
 to the second coming of Christ.
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It will be seen that I have dwelt longest upon the first three 
 Parts in proportion to the rest. Specially is this the case in 
 those parables which directly testify of the person and character 
 of Christ, and in those of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of 
 Money, and the Lost Son, because I am sure that it is in the 
 earnest and prayerful study of these, that deeper insight is to be 
 gained into all the rest. While in one respect they are so pro- 
 found, as to challenge unwearied examination, and to yield ever- 
 increasing freshness of truth on the other they are so simple, that 
 they may be regarded as the elementary portion of the parables. 
 
 Of course, I need hardly remark, that the illustration of a 
 parable is not a proof of divine truth. The proof of the great 
 truths of Scripture must be looked for in the dogmatic teaching 
 of the word of God. When this is done, however, then the illus- 
 tration becomes a most important agent, in giving precision, 
 force, and clearness, to our perception of the truth already 
 proved. It presents itself more as a picture or engraving to the 
 eye, while the direct teaching of the word of God falls upon the 
 ear ; but from this very circumstance it gives a form, reality, and 
 lucidity to our thoughts, which they could never otherwise attain. 
 
 It only remains, then, that I commit this volume to Him of 
 whose precious life-giving words it seeks alone to testify. May 
 He make use of it for His glory. None can be more sensible of 
 its numerous defects than I am myself. I have no wish to 
 extenuate these. I have given much labor to it, in the midst of 
 many pressing duties, but I can truly say that it has been labor 
 which has brought its own immediate reward, and I would gladly un- 
 dergo tenfold more for the priceless joy which it has administered.* 
 
 * It is not easy to over-estimate the excellencies of much of Mr. Trench's book 
 on the parables, to which I have had occasion frequently to refer in preparing 
 this volume. It is a work characterized not only by profound learning, but by a 
 manly and healthy tone of feeling. While saying this, however, I must guard 
 myself against being supposed to identify myself with his views on many essen- 
 tial points. On the contrary, I am constrained to differ from him very widely. 
 MONTPELIEE, December, 1854. 

 
 THE 
 
 PARABOLIC TEACHING OF CHRIST. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 MAN IN SATAN'S KINGDOM HIS CONDITION HIS ACTINGS 
 AND HIS PROSPECTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THAT WHICH DEFILETH A MAX THE LIGHT OP THE BODY THE SICK. 
 
 EEVELATION makes known to us the existence of two king- 
 doms : the one utterly unclean, the other perfectly pure ; the 
 one all darkness, the other all light ; sin and eternal death in 
 the one, holiness and eternal life in the other. In the first, Satan 
 rules supreme, and his subjects are his victims. In the second, 
 Christ is King, and his subjects are his friends. 
 
 To one of these kingdoms every human being in his natural 
 condition belongs ; into the other there is no possible entrance 
 for any man, except that natural condition be radically changed. 
 Of the first he must be a subject, because he is born in sin ; of 
 the second, if he ever becomes a subject, it is alone by the grace 
 of God through Jesus Christ, and being "born again." 
 
 The Word of God does not reveal these things merely to stir 
 up our curiosity, or to gratify it when raised ; on the contrary, it 
 unfolds deep and solemn mysteries concerning these "kingdoms, 
 with the wise and loving purpose, that we should make immediate 
 and full use of the knowledge conveyed to us, and " flee from the 
 wrath to come." 
 
 And herein lies the secret of "hearing and understanding" 
 God's Word. If we search into it as a " common " and not a 
 sacred thing, if we gaze at it with the proud and self-sufficient
 
 16 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 expectation of being able to fathom its depths, instead of looking 
 into it with the docility of a child, feeling as well as saying, 
 " What I know not, teach Thou me," then assuredly God will 
 hide himself from us, " our feet will stumble on the dark moun- 
 tains, and when we look for light, God will turn it into the 
 shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.". 
 
 But if, on the contrary, we sit like Mary at Jesus' feet, and 
 "hear his word," then not only will that Master's Word be ful- 
 filled in us, " To you it is given to know the mysteries of the 
 kingdom of God," but there shall also be such productiveness in 
 this knowledge, that we shall, in our every-day experience, real- 
 ize more fully what He meant when He said, "Whosoever hath, 
 to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly." 
 
 Nor will this abundance spring from one portion of God's 
 Word and not from another. It will arise from the whole. He 
 who is enabled to say with David, " My soul is athirst for God," 
 finds refreshment in every page of Scripture. History, proph- 
 ecy, precepts, promises, the shadows of the Old Testament, the 
 substance of the New, the Law of Moses, and the Gospel of 
 Christ, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, the mira- 
 cles and the parables of Jesus, all these, not apart, but mutually 
 reflecting each other's light, are made to yield so fully and 
 abundantly to him, that he is able "with joy to draw water from 
 the wells of salvation." 
 
 In reviewing the various parables of our Lord, this shaU, 
 under the Divine blessing, be our aim not merely to discover 
 the special beauty of these very precious things of the Word, sim- 
 ple as they are, but also to use them as a lens of such fitness and 
 power, that all other portions of Eevelation may have their rays 
 of light concentrated on our minds,, and their warmth directed 
 into our hearts ; or, stretching them around us, in one grand pan- 
 oramic view, be thus enabled to gather more distinctness to the 
 Manual of' Truth in our hands, and have the remembrance of its 
 " lively oracles" more deeply engraven upon our memories. 
 
 We at once, then, pass to the consideration of those parables 
 which present before us the sad, degraded, and perilous condition 
 of man as a subject and victim of Satan in the kingdom of dark- 
 ness. The first which meets us gives us the key to the mystery 
 of his being in that kingdom at all.
 
 THAT WHICH DEFILETH A MAN. 17 
 
 that ivhich goeih into the mouth defileth a man; but that 
 which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man" Matt. xv. 11. 
 
 " There is nothing from without a. man, that entering into him can 
 defile him : but the things which come out of him, those are they that 
 defile the man." Mark vii. 15. 
 
 Of the two Evangelists, the latter gives the parable in its sim- 
 plest form ; the former partly mixes the interpretation with it. 
 The main purport of it is very clear. As regards man's body, it 
 is not the nourishment which is provided for 'him and which he 
 takes, that denies him. It is important to notice how this truth, 
 as representing a deeper spiritual one, is clearly enforced in 
 Scripture. The distinction between clean and unclean animals 
 in the Law of Moses between that which might and that which 
 might not be eaten has nothing to do with the present view of 
 the matter. God chose, for certain definite purposes, to make 
 such distinction in a dispensation which was both ceremonial and 
 transitory ; but his doing so did not in the least imply that there 
 was any thing inherently unclean in those animals that were 
 forbidden, and which of necessity would therefore defile the 
 body. On the contrary, we find distinct statements to guard 
 against such an erroneous notion. Thus Peter is warned, when 
 
 Jewish prejudice revolted against the mingling of clean and 
 as they appeared before him in vision, that whatever 
 God might have been pleased to do in the former dispensation 
 for a set purpose then, he must not turn away from any creature 
 which, in His providence, he set before his servant now, " That 
 call not thou common,"* or unclean. And so in this sense Paul 
 says to the Eomans, " I know and am persuaded by the Lord 
 Jesus, that there is nothing unclean in itself"-^ And to the same 
 effect, only more pointedly, in writing to Timothy, " For every 
 creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be re- 
 ceived with thanksgiving."^: It is not that what man receives as 
 nourishment which defiles him bodily. Our Lord, in proceeding 
 to enforce the grand spiritual truth which he had in view, declares 
 the contrary, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth 
 the man." And then he at once applies this to the great foun- 
 tain and source of spiritual defilement, of which all that he had 
 said of the body and its food was but a figure. 
 
 * Acts x. 15. f Romans xiv. 14. $ 1 Tim. iv. 4. Mark vii. 20. 
 
 2
 
 \^ 
 
 * 
 
 t] 
 
 n 
 
 18 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 / "For from within out of the heart of man, proceed evil 
 i/y thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, 
 wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, 
 foolishness ; all these evil things come from within, and defile 
 the man." This is the application of the parable. See what it 
 .nfolds. Of course, the first and most obvious conclusion is 
 that which condemned the self-righteous Pharisee for being 
 rigidly careful not to ^it down to" meat with unwashen hands, 
 while he neglected to look to the cleansing of the source of all 
 pollution within himself. " To eat with unwashen hands defileth 
 not the man." But our Lord, as his wont was, is not satisfied with 
 shutting the mouth of the gainsayer, he likewise takes occasion 
 to preach a deep truth, and unfold a sad mystery. His applica- 
 tion of the figure before us, when extended, is to the following 
 effect : No spiritual? nourishment which God has provided for 
 the soul of man defiles it. From whatever quarter the evil has 
 sprung up which pollutes and destroys him, he has not had it 
 instilled into him by God. It has not come to him in the spir- 
 itual sustenance which God has provided for him. No ! It has 
 sprung up in his own heart. It has originated within. Man has 
 himself given birth to what defiles him. He has none to blame 
 but himself. " From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil 
 thoughts," etc. 
 
 What a field of sad reflection does this open before us of the 
 commencement of evil in this world ! It leaves the question as 
 to the origin of evil just where it must ever remain, among the 
 hidden and unrevealed things of God. It afibrds us no help in 
 the merely curious inquiry, why evil was ever permitted at all. 
 But this practical question it does settle. It tells us where evil 
 originated in our world. It tells us, that if, on the one hand, 
 God made man upright, man made himself jrile, that there was 
 nothing in all God's arrangements for man's spiritual necessities 
 but those that were " very good," and that it was alone from 
 within the heart that a polluted stream began to well up, which 
 has from age to age enlarged itself in the defilement, desolation, 
 and misery, it has never ceased to spread on every sideT~~ 
 
 And surely in this matter there has been more attributed to 
 Satan in the bringing in of evil into this world than of right be- 
 longs to him. And thus, too, the words of our Lord, " The prince
 
 THAT WHICH DEFILETH A MAN. 19 
 
 of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" fail to suggest 
 the real nature of tli e contrast between Him and our first parents. 
 The enemy came to Christ, and found nothing in him not a 
 single spot on which he could, with his utmost skill and deadly 
 malice, plant one temptation, so as to make success even possible. 
 He came to Eve, and he did find already there such a vantage- 
 ground. That this was not, and could not be. the mere fact that 
 it was possible for her to fall, is obvious, because this peculiarity 
 in her being was God's doing, not hers, but it was something 
 which she herself had prepared, a door which she herself had 
 opened, and which admitted the "breath of temptation, a stand- 
 point, which she herself had furnished, on which the adversary 
 
 
 might now, \vith advantage, press his temptation and finally 
 prevail. Does not our Lord, in the first of the deadly things 
 enumerated in his application of this parable, point out what this 
 vantage-ground for Satan was "evil thoughts?'' Look at the 
 history of the fall. See how the tempter approaches Eve, 
 " Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree ?* He does 
 not speak of the one forbidden tree directly, or as if starting a 
 new subject of thought for his victim ; on the contrary, the very 
 language of the temptation seems to imply that he is merely fall- 
 ing in with what had already begun to move within Eve's breast. 
 She had doubtless already, in however slight a degree, begun to 
 look at the tree with desire, to Avonder atTthe prohibition prob- 
 ably to question its justice. Her " evil thought " it Avas, and not 
 Satan's subtilty or power, which ^hivered the fair image of God 
 admitted thej' father of lies" Avhere truth should have been 
 forever enshrined, and was the first foul speck in a stream Avhich 
 has ever since polluted this Avorld Avith all manner of uncleanness. 
 And this accords" Avith the statement of James, who traces this 
 
 ^ i - ^_ 
 
 stream to its right source, \But every man Avhen he is tempted, 
 is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. T^hjjnjjivhen, lust 
 hath conceived, it bringeth iorth sin ; and sin, Avlien it is finished, 
 bringcth forth death.'V The same apostle likewise seems almost 
 to have had the w,ortfs of Christ in his mind, for he thus strongly 
 describes the things Which come^owf of thejnput/i 'VThe tongue 
 is a firej a Avorld of iniquity^ so is tne tongue among our mgja 
 bers, that it defileth the Avhole Body, and setteth on fire the course 
 
 * Genesis iii. 1. f James i. 14, 15.
 
 20 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell."'* The heart provides 
 fuel for the tongue, for ''out of the abundance of the heart, the 
 mouth speaketh,^ and " it'is set on fire of hell," and involves all 
 around in a terrible and wide-spread conflagration. "Itsetteth 
 on fire the course of nature." See then what the parable por- 
 trays to us. It points to the heart of man as the prolific source 
 of all the evil with which we are acquainted in this world ; and, 
 moreover, it shows that evil within must soon be poured out. 
 The " evil treasure " must "bring forth evil things.'" The tongue 
 becomes the channel by which the pent up waters first break 
 forth, and as they gush out, a deeper tinge than ever man has 
 imparted, distinguishes^ them. Hell has lent her unutterable 
 deadliness to this corrupt and corrupting stream. 
 
 "We have this sad history further illustrated by another parable, 
 taken, as that we have just considered, from the human body, 
 and exhibiting another phase of the evil condition of man, as a 
 subject in the kingdom of darkness. His "foolish heart" led 
 him in, and then that "foolish heart became darkened." 
 
 "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy 
 whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole 
 body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be 
 darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt. vi. 22, 23; Luke 
 xi. 34. 
 
 Here the eye is called the "Light of the body" or the lamp of 
 the body ; not, let it be observed, as if the eye were itself the 
 originator of light, but merely as the reflector of that light which 
 is diffused around the body, and altogether independent of it. 
 Now, if the eye be " single," or clear, the whole body has the 
 benefit of it, and " walks in light." On the other hand, if the 
 eye be evil, diseased, or perverted, it ceases to be a faithful guide 
 and the body becomes to all intent and purposes "full of dark- 
 ness" and " stumbles at noonday " as at midnight. 
 
 But, what the eye is to the body, the conscience, or the inner 
 light, is to the soul. It has not, and never was intended to have 
 light in itself; but its office is to reflect the pure light of the 
 Father of Spirits, 'which is altogether independent of it. Had 
 this conscience remained "single" clearly and fully reflecting 
 this supernal light, then the whole soul would have remained 
 
 * James iii. 6.
 
 THE LIGHT OF THE BODY. 21 
 
 "full of light" both in its affections and in its faculties. It would 
 have felt, that nothing was so satisfying as the love and the favor 
 of God ; and all truth, physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual, 
 would have been revealed before its gaze, with a luster over 
 which no dimness could ever fall with a certainty which could 
 never fail. But, alas ! this inner light became evil. Conscience 
 lost its power of being the great reflector of God's light on the 
 soul, and so reason and judgment, as well as affection, became 
 thoroughly darkened or perverted. The loveliness and the glory 
 of God's character are no longer perceived, and so the " beauty 
 of holiness " is unseen. Errors, mistakes, stumbling, falling, and 
 ruin, mark the soul's onward progress. Darkness is put for light, 
 and bitter for sweet. The simplest and the plainest things be- 
 come complicated and inextricable. Even the great truths of 
 external nature are of no avail in giving it a right direction, 
 because they are not seen in that harmony and proportion, in 
 that position and relationship, which can alone be discovered 
 when the true spiritual light of Him, who is at once the God of 
 nature and of grace, is fully shining on the heart. 
 
 Our Lord adds further, "If therefore the light that is in thee be 
 darkness, how great is that darkness /" If, for the use of the body, 
 its comfort and its safety, it was needful to prepare so delicate 
 and wondrous an organ as the eye, then, should the power of 
 vision fail, how grqat must that darkness be ! how extensive 
 shrouding the whole body in its pall and that not at one time, 
 or at another, but at all times. So, likewise, if for the guidance, 
 the safety, and the comfort of the soul, it was needful to place 
 within its inmost folds, so delicate and marvelous a mirror of 
 God's light, or, in other words, of God himself, by the aid of 
 whose wondrous properties alone, his image, his truth, lie Him- 
 self, could be seen, felt, appreciated, and according to its capacity 
 understood by the soul, how great must be the soul-darkness, 
 when that mirror is broken in pieces and its light gone ! Every 
 part becomes dark. The minute but light-conveying organ of 
 the soul is destroyed, and each one of those countless wonders 
 which compose that inner mystery is wrapped in thick darkness. 
 Each chamber in that marvelous dwelling, which before was all 
 light, is shut up and dark. The darkness of it is indeed " great." 
 Nor is there any hope of change. It is not such a darkness as is
 
 22 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 succeeded, first by the dawn, and then by the brigLt noon-day, 
 it never gathers brightness, but blackness. As well might we 
 expect to be able to see with the hand or with the ear, as that the 
 great and gross darkness of the soul should, by any of its inner 
 powers, be turned even to twilight, when the lamp of the soul is 
 gone out. 
 
 But we proceed to another parable, taken from the human 
 body, and which presents to us a further view of the sad condi- 
 tion of man in the kingdom of Satan. 
 
 " 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" 
 Matt. ix. 12. 
 
 Here is another apt and striking illustration of man's present 
 condition. Bodily sickness sets forth what neither of the para- 
 bles we have yet considered does. In the first of these, we have 
 distinctly intimated to us, whence the evil stream of pollution first 
 sprang in this world, viz., the heart. In the second, we have 
 gross, total darkness, both mental, moral, and spiritual, as the 
 result of a darkened conscience. Here we have the debility and 
 weakness of man portrayed, and the rapidity with which, if the 
 inner disease be not arrested, he is falling into eternal death. In 
 the first parable we have sin itself first rearing its head in this 
 world, and then pouring forth its deadly waters. In the second 
 we have it covering the soul with the shadow of death. And 
 now in that before us, we have the soul, in its departure from 
 God, and its solitary darkness, sinking down in weakness and 
 mortal disease into the arms of the second death. How terrible 
 is the full description of this disease as given us by the inspired 
 Prophet, " From the soul of the foot, even to the head, there is 
 no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying 
 sores." What a loathsome thing to look upon ! What a wretch- 
 ed thing to be ! 
 
 Very striking is this image of sickness to mark the prostrate 
 condition of man in his sin. He droops and languishes un- 
 der its influence. He is disabled by its enervating effects from 
 walking abroad in his vigor, running without weariness, or walk- 
 ing without faintness. That which in a sinless state would be 
 easy, delightful, and refreshing, becomes impossible and distaste- 
 ful to his sin-sick soul. How often has the poor afflicted sufferer, 
 in his chamber of sickness, felt bitterly the change in his every
 
 THE SICK. 23 
 
 feeling which that sickness has induced? The light and the 
 breath of nature the sights and the sounds which gladdened 
 and cheered him before, have become almost intolerable to him. 
 The very voice of affection itself the very tone of gentlest love, 
 in seeking to soothe, are no longer what they were. The fever- 
 ish restlessness the longing for the morning dawn, and then for 
 the evening shade the parched tongue, the weary limbs, the 
 acute pain, the dull deep gnawing of mortal diseasey,the disar- 
 rangement of all the functions of the body, the .^pfeplessn^df 
 the delirium, the helplessness, the hopelessness, ai$ the solitari- 
 ness of the poor-stricken one, (for his bodily disease is his own 
 he shares it not with another the health or the sicl^n'ess of. all ^* 
 the world besides makes no difference to him ; he bears -his own 
 burden ;) surely all this supplies a wonderful P^'^JJJIjTJlCp 
 the soul of man, and the spiritual disease under which heTSsiHIr- 
 ing. The malady, doubtless, has its acute and chronic stage. 
 Sometimes a mitigation of symptoms occurs for a ttojf . Now and 
 then, it may be, the sufferer is able to breathefffie fresh air, or 
 move with less difficulty ; but the disease is still there, and ever 
 ready to assert its full power. 
 
 And then, what is the close to sickness of body ? Look into 
 that chamber ! Gaze into that dark grave ! The end of it is 
 death. And so to the soul, when disease commences there, it is 
 mortal. "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
 And if the progress of the disease 1 be, in other words, but a grad- 
 ual dying, the end thereof is eternal death. Alas, there is a mys- 
 tery here beyond the illustration ! The poor body lies still in the 
 grave, when death has closed the scene of earthly suffering ; but 
 the soul that has sunk under the fatal power of mortal disease in. 
 this world, has but winged its way from lesser suffering to such 
 agony as this, " Where their worm dieth not, and J^&ir- fire, is 
 never quenched."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE STECNG HAN AEJ1ED. THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT GOING OUT OF A MAN. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter we have seen vividly portrayed how 
 man entered the kingdom of darkness. His heart cherished the 
 "evil thought," and so he passed across the line which separates 
 the kingdoms of light and darkness. His condition in the latter 
 is, first, one of intellectual, moral, and spiritual darkness. He has 
 become adapted to his new position. And next, he has a '" sick- 
 ness unto death," inflicting on him from within himself all kinds 
 of spiritual distress and misery here, and filling him with the 
 gloomy forebodings of the disease consummated hereafter. 
 
 And here, then, another agent appears distinctly on the scene, 
 and henceforth occupies a most important and prominent position 
 there. He has as yet only been seen, as it were, to cross man's 
 path. His presence has only been obscurely intimated. His 
 mighty shadow alone has fallen on man, and darkened him in his 
 once fair home. Now he stands clearly revealed. We behold 
 him in his pride of conquest and his power of dominion. The 
 foul tempter, the false deceiver, the ruthless destroyer, the accuser 
 and the tyrant of fallen man. The following parable brings this 
 evil one under our notice : 
 
 " Or else, how can one enter -into a strong man's house, and spoil 
 his goods, except he first bind the strong man ? and then he will spoil 
 his house" Matthew xii. 29 ; Mark iii. 27. 
 
 " When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in 
 peace : but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and over- 
 come him, he takethfrom him all his armor wherein he trusted, and 
 divideih his spoils" Luke xi. 21, 22. 
 
 The figure which is the groundwork of this parable is very
 
 THE STRONG MAN ARMED. 25 
 
 simple. We have a dwelling, and that not a common one. It 
 is a place of strength, capable of withstanding an assault, and, at 
 the same time, of grand and imposing appearance it is a fortress 
 and a palace. It is inhabited. The dweller in it, not the rightful 
 possessor of it, is a " strong man" one of power and nerve, suited 
 to the business he has in hand, namely, to hold securely the pa- 
 lace in which he lives. For this purpose he has all suitable ar- 
 mor, so as to make the strongest and the longest resistance against 
 any attack ; and so far as his skill and ability enable him, he 
 " keeps his palace," and his " goods are in peace" The rest of the 
 similitude we defer, until we examine into the meaning of that 
 part of the picture. 
 
 As to the "strong man," there can be no doubt. The context 
 clearly shews us that it is " the chief of the devils," Satan, the 
 great rebel against God, and the great adversary of man. What 
 then is his palace ? There is very probably in the parable a gen- 
 eral allusion to the world at large, as the place of Satan's power, 
 and the seat of his dominion, and this is needful to be had in re- 
 membrance, and will fall to be considered at another time ; but 
 it is manifest that our Lord was not dwelling primarily on this 
 general view. He had been engaged in casting out devils from 
 individuals, each sufferer being possessed with one or more of 
 these evil spirits. His enemies charged him with doing so by the 
 aid of Satan himself. Our Lord rebuts this charge, and that in 
 a short but very significant parable, " If a kingdom" he says, 
 " be divided against itself, that kingdom can not stand" If there be 
 nothing in a kingdom but divided council and separate action, 
 making on one side, and unmaking on the other, setting up and 
 pulling down, internal discord and civil war, " that kingdom can 
 not stand; " and if " Satan be also divided against himself," as the 
 Pharisees intimated, when they accused Jesus of casting out Satan 
 by Satan's own power, " how could his kingdom stand ? " No. 
 He is not so weak, so ignorant of what his strength is, nor so reck- 
 less of his resources. His bad power is yet a united power, and it 
 will not be for lack of oneness of purpose and action that his king- 
 dom shall at length fall. . Then our Lord likens him to " the strong 
 man keeping his palace. 11 . Obviously, therefore, the case of those 
 who were possessed with devils * supplied primarily tt ^ matter to 
 
 * Sec Appendix A.
 
 26 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 be illustrated in the parable. When an evil spirit dwelt in Mary 
 Magdalene, in the Gentile woman's daughter, or in the fierce 
 maniac among the tombs, then we have brought before us in its 
 nearest, most palpable, and terrible reality, the " strong man keep- 
 ing Ids palace" But, after all, the dominion which these spirits 
 had over the bodies of the poor sufferers, was but indicative of 
 the power which they possessed over their souls. And is it not 
 probable, that besides the purpose of exhibiting, during our Lord's 
 sojourn on earth, before the eyes of all, his power over Satan, so 
 that " He cast forth the devils by a word," he might have per- 
 mitted such terrible evidence of their presence and power in the 
 body, to draw attention to the deeper, more solemn, and more 
 awful truth of their presence in the soul ? 
 
 That Scripture teaches this " dread reality," can not be denied. 
 The case of Ananias is one convincing proof, " Why hath Satan 
 filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ? " * What is this but 
 the possession of the heart by Satan ? He holds every nook and 
 corner of it, he fills it. The case of Judas is another, and, in 
 one respect, even more striking. In the betrayal of his Master, 
 we are informed by the Evangelist, first of all, that the " devil put 
 into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." He 
 must possess the heart, who can at his will, introduce such a dead- 
 ly intent. But this is not all. A little further on we are let in 
 to the full amount of the terrible power and dominion which Sa- 
 tan has over the heart of fallen man, " After the sop, Satan en- 
 tered into him." f The sinner's soul is a place at his command. 
 He has the keys of the door, and can go in and out at his plea 
 sure. He is its powerful possessor, its stern guard, and dark king. 
 
 And in the parable before us, then, we see this soul-possession 
 by the evil one wonderfully portrayed. The dwelling which he 
 holds is no common one. It was originally built for strength 
 and for beauty. The soul of man has indeed changed masters, 
 and every power and every ornament it contains has been trans- 
 ferred from God to Satan ; nevertheless there they are. It is a 
 stronghold still. Is it not so ? Mark its resistance against all 
 good ; its resolute and successful shutting out of all spiritual light. 
 It is a palace still ; for though the King of kings is no longer 
 there, its very possession has given a kingdom to a fallen angel ; 
 * Acts v. 3. f John xiii. 27.
 
 THE STRONG MAN ARMED. 27 
 
 and as long as he retains it, he lifts himself up against the God 
 of Heaven, and dares to make war as " the prince " and "the god 
 of this world," against Jehovah and his saints. 
 
 And does not this very truth just stated shew admirably the 
 choice of our Lord's similitude? " The strong man." He must 
 needs be strong, he has proved himself to be strong, who has 
 not only entered in, but now holds in complete subjection such a 
 dwelling as this, such a fortress, such a palace. Satan " works in 
 the children of disobedience," and that so constrainingly that they 
 are called his " children." He " carries them captive at his will," 
 and " the whole world lieth in the wicked one." The " strength " 
 of this usurper in the King's palace is well seen by the apostolic 
 description of the terrific conflict which must be waged, if the 
 soul shall ever escape. " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, 
 but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of 
 the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
 places." 
 
 But observe further ; when the strong man keeps his palace, 
 he has "his goods" in it, and they are " in peace." These are the 
 lusts and passions of the poor fallen soul ; all those wondrous fac- 
 ulties which once followed hard after God, but are now alienat- 
 ed from him, degraded by reason of the vileness of the objects on 
 which they now fasten, these are Satan's " goods." He, the fal- 
 len angel, has reached that awful depth so vividly painted by the 
 poet, as to say, " Evil, be thou my good." The deeper the guilt, 
 the more deadly the sin ; the more -atrocious the iniquity, it is 
 the more prized by him. These are the things which he most 
 carefully guards and watches over ; and as long as he remains in 
 possession of the soul, they are " in peace" he allows nothing to 
 mitigate their abomination, or change their character. 
 
 And then he has his armor wherewith to do all this, his 
 panoply, his whole armor, or " all his armor" as it is called, 
 his snares, guiles, temptations, his subtle suggestions, stirring 
 up evil by supplying food fbi it, awaking doubts against God, 
 and truth, and holiness, and Heaven, and leading on an outward 
 and bitter opposition against all that is good. This is " tfte ar- 
 mor wherein he trusteth" and which, alas, has done him, and is 
 still doing him such service in deluding and ensnaring the souls 
 of men, and driving them to utter and irremediable ruin.
 
 28 
 
 But let us turn now to consider the remaining part of this par- 
 able. "What is set before us is this : A strong man, dwelling 
 in his fortified palace, and holding all his goods in peace by his 
 skill and power, well armed, and on his guard. Then a "stronger 
 than he " is introduced, and by reason of his superior strength, 
 the latter forces his way into the palace, "comes upon" the strong 
 man, "overcomes him" "binds him" " takes from him all his armor 
 wherein he trusteth" and "divides his spoils" 
 
 Here, then, we have the history of a severe conflict, and a com- 
 plete victory. For the present we pass over the consideration as 
 to who " the stronger than he " is, because another opportunity will 
 occur when we may more fully and suitably take this up, and 
 look into the precious truths which are involved in it ; suffice it 
 just now to remark, that the "goods" of the "strong man" are 
 " in peace" and his palace safe, as long as a stronger than he does 
 not come against him. His hold on the property will never be- 
 come weakened, impaired, or destroyed by any internal cause. 
 The loss of his palace and his spoils together will never happen 
 to the strong man from any want of care, forethought, skill, or 
 unity of purpose on his part, nor from the perfect fitness of all 
 that he has taken possession of within for his purpose. It is only 
 superior force that can at length lead this " captivity captive." 
 So with the soul of man domineered over as it is by Satan ; there 
 is no help for it, no hope for its deliverance, from any thing which 
 may happen within itself. Satan's hold of this soul-property 
 will never be relaxed by carelessness or want of vigilance on his 
 part, he is ever on the alert, " going about " to see that " his 
 goods are in peace" he is never "divided against himself;" no 
 ingenuity or subtilty are wanting on his part ; no willingness or 
 power are lacking to hold his own ; nor is there any thing in the 
 poor captive soul itself whence hope of deliverance from this 
 thraldom can arise. Alas, it is a " willing captive;" it "loves 
 darkness rather than light;" it has acquired a deadly affinity to 
 that evil one who has taken possession of it. It " walks according 
 to the prince of the power of the air," and if it be not " recovered 
 out of the snare of the devil," the notes of that awful harmony 
 shall never die away ; their " wailing " shall startle the echoes of 
 eternity. 
 
 But that there is a way of deliverance, the parable clearly
 
 THE STRONG MAN ARMED. 29 
 
 makes known, Satan, indeed, will never of his own accord, by 
 his carelessness, or by internal weakness, give up his victim ; nor 
 will that victim ever, of its own accord, make any effort to dis- 
 lodge Satan. Unless some one else interfere, the terrible union 
 between the evil one and the soul is sealed forever. But if "the 
 stronger " than Satan takes the matter in hand one who fears 
 him 'not, who will not stoop to craft in contending with him, who 
 will not be content with a drawn battle, who takes him not una- 
 wares, but announces to him his determined purpose and his sure 
 work, then the bands of the wicked are broken nothing can 
 any longer keep Satan and the soul together as lord and slave 
 as sovereign and subject. Power, irresistible power, dissolves the 
 compact, severs the union, and destroys the dominion. The steps 
 by which this great deliverance is effected, and the final victory 
 secured to the "stronger" are well worthy of notice. He (the 
 stronger) enters into the soul, he " comes upon" the usurper there, 
 falls upon him in his might, " overcomes" him, grasps him by a 
 hand which is "mighty to save," "binds" him hand and foot, 
 makes him a captive in the very place where hitherto he reigned 
 supreme, exhibits him to the awakened and delivered soul in this 
 state of bondage, " takes from him his armor," makes the won- 
 dering soul fully aware of his subtilties, and unmasks the secrets 
 of his power, so that it is no longer " ignorant of his devices," 
 and " divides the spoil," recovers all those powers and faculties 
 of the soul, which before only sounded as voices from the pit, 
 and tunes them to the melodies of heaven, at one time causing 
 them to burst forth in the grand swell of victory gained over the 
 tyrant, at another to join in the new song of praise, with all its 
 sweet cadences of unutterable joy. * 
 
 Thus only can the soul be effectually delivered from Satan ; 
 nothing can do it but the overwhelming strength of one alto- 
 gether distinct from the spoiler and the spoiled. This most im- 
 portant truth, which does indeed require to be deeply impressed 
 upon the heart of man, has not alone drawn forth the parable we 
 have just been considering. That illustration is in itself remark- 
 able for its clear and distinct teaching ; but, as if to remove any 
 possible doubt or cause for mistake in the matter, our Lord has 
 left us another parable, which fastens this nail in a sure place. 
 Let us give our attention to it.
 
 30 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 " When ike unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walkeih 
 through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, 1 
 will return into my house from whence I came out ; and when he is 
 come, lie findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and 
 taketii with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and 
 they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse 
 than the first." Matthew xii. 43-45 ; Luke xi. 24-26. 
 
 The similitude in this parable, though interpenetrated with, 
 that which it is intended to illustrate, is still obvious enough. 
 We have set before our minds a house not now as in the former 
 parable, either a place of strength, or a palace, but simply q, 
 dwelling. It has a possessor, one who occupies it at his pleasure. 
 He calls it " my house." He leaves his dwelling for a time, of 
 his own accord. He has not a moment's thought of relinquish- 
 ing his property. He goes out of it for a little while, and jour- 
 neys according to his will. When he becomes wearied with his 
 wanderings, he turns his face homewards, and when he enters his 
 dwelling again, he finds it, as he expected, perfectly ready for his 
 reception, "empty, swept, and garnished;" and the only change 
 from his former life in his dwelling is, that he has introduced 
 others, his associates, with himself into it, welcomed them under 
 his roof, and made them share in his habitation. 
 
 Such is the groundwork of this parable. There is no doubt 
 that our Lord meant it to have, in a secondary sense, a reference 
 to the Jewish people of that day, " so shall it be also to the men 
 of this generation," and to this view of the parable our attention 
 will yet be directed ; but the deeper truth lies beneath that inter- 
 pretation. The very manner in which our Lord has mingled the 
 truth and the illustration together proves this. " When the un- 
 clean spirit," he says, " is gone out of a man." If we extend this, 
 it will read thus, "when like a man going out of his own house, 
 the unclean spirit is gone out of a man," an evil spirit, then, 
 going out of a man, is the first and main point of illustration in 
 this parable. And this, then, just throws us back upon the con- 
 clusion which we reached above, namely, that while our Lord 
 was immediately pointing to the possession of the bodies of men 
 by evil spirits, he had chiefly and specially in view the possession 
 of their souls. 
 
 Let us see, then, what instruction the parable yields to us in
 
 THE UNCLEAR SPIRIT GOING OUT OF A MAN. 31 
 
 this respect. " When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man." 
 There is nothing here of a " stronger than he" coming upon him 
 and binding him ; rather the language suggests to us the strong- 
 est contrast between this case and those in which our Lord 
 openly interposed and " cast forth" the devils by his word. 
 
 We have then set forth here the utter hopelessness of deliver- 
 ance for the soul from the bondage of Satan, unless a third party 
 step in, and by his power dissolve the union forever. The 
 heart of man will not recover from its guilt, or its real concord 
 with Satan, notwithstanding the temporary absence of the latter, 
 and the withdrawal for a season of his direct temptations. It is 
 not the mere departure of the evil one for a season that will 
 deliver it from his thraldom, or change its nature, and renew it 
 into the image of God. The tyrant knows this full well, or he 
 would never withdraw his active temptations even for a moment. 
 He deliberately lets the poor soul alone at times, not because he 
 has become careless of his possession, but because he feels secure 
 in the hold he has obtained over it. During his voluntary but 
 temporary absence, he never ceases to regard it as " his house" 
 and means to return to it when he pleases. And just like the 
 man who leaves his dwelling for a time, and turns his steps 
 whithersoever he will, so the evil spirit, when he leaves a soul 
 alone for a time, without the immediate presence of temptations, 
 chooses to " walk through dry places" those barren and sterile 
 places, where he finds what is suited to his taste, where he can 
 devour, destroy or deceive, and leave the traces of his deadly 
 poison at every step. Wherever the grace of God is not, he finds 
 'a dry place" and he tarries there, if it be only as a wayfaring 
 man at an inn for his refreshment, to gratify his own deadly 
 passion for doing evil to the bodies and souls of those who are 
 exposed to his baleful influence. 
 
 What a glimpse into the state of these spirits of darkness docs 
 the single expression used by our Lord give us ! The evil spirit 
 wanders through dry places, "seeking rest" Alas! the worm 
 gnaws the fire burns the scorpion stings, and the accursed one 
 flies from one act of deadly spite to another, in eager desire to 
 dull the pain, and calm the restless tumult within. But all in 
 vain ; all his efforts only add fuel to the flame. The curse fol- 
 lows him at every step. The chain of darkness is riveted more
 
 32 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 
 tightly around him. His "hell enlarges itself without measure." 
 Oh, if there is one view of the terrific effect of sin and departure 
 from God more awful than another, it is surely this bitter restless- 
 ness of evil, which thrusts the miserable being who has it into 
 fresh acts of defiance and ungodliness, only to increase the intol- 
 erable amount of disquietude and anguish forever. Truly these 
 words might well be written on the gates of the pit, "seeking rest, 
 and finding none," for they but too fully account for the sounds 
 that issue from within, " weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 Wearied with his wanderings through the dry places, the evil 
 spirit determines at length to return on his steps, and to dwell 
 again in the heart he had for a time left. How sad the picture is 
 of his entire confidence in holding fast his possession. "I will 
 return unto my house from whence I came out" And when he does 
 so, " he finds it empty, swept, and garnished" It is " empty." This 
 is the key-note of the description. There is no one to dispute his 
 entrance, or to claim possession of the property. In his absence 
 the door has not been opened to another master, nor have the 
 rooms been occupied by another tenant. The soul, though it has 
 not seen its possessor as it were face to face for a time, has never 
 abjured its allegiance, or turned its desire toward another. And 
 so the evil one is pleased to find it " swept" He is greatly satis- 
 fied with some appearances of reformation certain significant 
 tokens of cleanness, for he knows that these are all for him. Had 
 it been swept or cleansed for another, he would have fled from it 
 with dismay and hatred, but as it is for himself, he exults over it 
 with fiendish delight, as only making the habitation at length 
 more thoroughly his own and it is " garnished" too. Many 
 ornaments are found within. The soul has put forth some of its 
 inherent powers. It has enriched itself from the stores of art, 
 science and philosophy. It has shewn rare skill in works of 
 social benevolence. It has gained a good name for integrity and 
 uprightness. And all this, too, is gain to the evil possessor, not 
 to the rightful owner of it. All these he takes into his hand, and 
 turns them to his own bad purpose of keeping the soul still fur- 
 ther from God, and making use of it for the enlargement and 
 increase of the dominion and the power of darkness. 
 
 It is very remarkable to note the bearing of the parable at this 
 point. " Then goeth he, and taJceth with him seven other spirits more
 
 THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT GOING OUT OF A MAN. 33 
 
 wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last 
 state of tfiat man is worse than the first" He first finds the soul 
 "empty" and not only so, but " swept" and "garnished;" and this 
 latter far' from giving him any disquiet, as if he were losing his 
 hold, only makes him perceive that there is henceforth room for 
 much more than there was before. It is capable of containing 
 more evil than before. It is ready to entertain more messengers 
 of Satan than before ; and so its last state is worse than the first. 
 
 It is surely impossible to mistake the solemn truth here illus- 
 trated. "We have not here the case of one outwardly going on 
 in a course of vile pollution and rampant ungodliness. In such 
 as these the unclean spirit never even seems for a moment to relax 
 his hold. Every day he appears to add a new accomplice in his 
 work of ruin and woe, until it may be, as in the case of the 
 dweller in the tombs, out of whom when the evil spirits passed, 
 for they were legion, they entered into a whole herd of swine 
 the poor soul becomes, in the most terrible sense of the term, " a 
 child of hell." But here we have the case of one, in whom out- 
 ward appearances are favorable, and yet these very things, exter- 
 nally so fair and good, are turned by the power and subtilty of 
 Satan into increased means of rebellion against God, and daring 
 triumph of his evil and accursed sway. Surely the great lesson 
 lies written as with a sunbeam on the parable, that as long as the 
 soul is " without God in the world," no matter what it may be in 
 other respects, in its outward manifestations, no matter what men 
 may think of it, nor what it may think of itself, it is still the 
 slave of sin, and the bond slave of Satan. The only possible 
 change in its condition for the better and not for the worse, is 
 when Satan is overpowered by the almighty strength of a greater 
 than he. And simultaneously with this, the delivered soul is 
 born again and made a new creature. Both of these acts, the 
 one by the Son, the other by the Spirit of God, we shall notice 
 at a future opportunity. 
 
 Meantime, dear reader, let me ask you to look and examine 
 closely into the condition of your heart. Have you reason to 
 fear that it is like the " dry places" of the parable, that you know 
 nothing of the former and the latter rain of God's Spirit, which 
 refreshes the thirsty ground of the heart, and makes the very 
 wilderness bloom and blossom as the rose? Is this your case ? 
 
 3
 
 34 THE PARABLE OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT. 
 
 Take heed. It tempts evil spirits to seek you out It is just in 
 such states of the heart that they leave their traces. The dry 
 places, which will not yield a blade of grass, may have fuel 
 heaped upon them for the flame of lust. But perhaps you find 
 much within that is fair and promising much that pleases and 
 gratifies yourself, and the manifestation of which gives you a 
 name and reputation among others. But with all this, is your 
 soul " empty ?" It may be " swept and garnished" but is God 
 there ? Have you invited him to sit down on the throne of your 
 heart 1 Do all these lovely and loveable things, as you think 
 them, cluster round him, as of right belonging to him 1 Is the 
 perfume of all these sweet things, as you regard them, given 
 forth for him ? If not ! then once more I entreat you, beware ! 
 Satan lurks beneath that flower. The potency of his temptation 
 arises in the very fragrance of the blossom. Your own pride of 
 heart is deceiving you, as much as the pollution of your neighbor 
 is deluding him ; and even like Eve in Paradise, when you have 
 turned away, as you suppose, from the serpent, and forgotten 
 him, and, it may be, the grandeur of being like a god knowing 
 good from evil, fills you with exulting expectation, the flaming 
 sword may even then be unsheathing which is to prevent your 
 ever seeing again the tree of life; and, alas ! your " last state will 
 be worse than the first."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EICH FOOL. 
 
 "WE advai.ce another step. "We have already seen that it pro- 
 ceeded from the " evil thought" of man himself, that he became 
 a subject in the kingdom of darkness. His condition in that 
 kingdom we have traced as one of mental and spiritual darkness, 
 and of mortal disease. We have likewise seen that he has thus 
 sold himself to the prince of that kingdom, Satan, who dis- 
 poses of him as he will. We now turn to look for some of the 
 external manifestations of all this, which must assuredly appear, 
 as "the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart," can only 
 " 'bring forth evil things. 1 ' 1 Indeed, it is by such outward manifest- 
 ations that the real state of the case is known. " A good tree 
 can not bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring 
 forth good fruit." The good fruit is not the cause of the good- 
 ness of the tree on the one hand, nor is the evil fruit the cause of 
 the badness of the tree on the other ; but the one is thus distin- 
 guished from the other. " The tree is known by its fruit ;" and 
 so " the unfruitful works of darkness," as they may be seen and 
 read of all men, are not the cause of man's unhappy and enslav- 
 ed condition ; but the necessary consequence, and the evidence of 
 it; and it is by them, as with " a pen of iron and the point of a 
 diamond," that the triumphs of sin and Satan are so clearly and 
 enduringly recorded. 
 
 The first parable that meets us at this stage in our progress, is 
 the following : 
 
 " The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully ; and 
 he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no 
 room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do : I
 
 36 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 will pull down my barns, and build greater ; and there I will bestow 
 all my fruits and my goods. And I will say unto my soul, Soul, ihou 
 hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, 
 and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul 
 shall be required of thee : then whose shall those things be which thou 
 hast provided f Luke xii. 16-20. 
 
 Our Lord addressed the parable to those around him, in conse- 
 quence of a very unseemly interruption, caused by a man who 
 was standing by. Jesus, according to his custom, had been en- 
 gaged in urging on the attention of his hearers some of those 
 important truths which were all-essential, as well " for the life 
 that now is as that which is to come," he was speaking "as 
 never man spake," of some of the great spiritual things which 
 man is so slow to understand, and yet which it is of eternal mo- 
 ment that he -should receive, when one of the company, with his 
 heart and thoughts wide of the mark, broke in upon his discourse. 
 This man had no love for those higher and purer things of which 
 Christ was speaking. He had no taste for those inner spiritual 
 possessions which Jesus was urging on him as well as others. All 
 that his carnal heart did for him was to assure him that there was 
 one before him teaching as with authority. He marked the def- 
 erence with which Christ was listened to. He concluded that he 
 must have much weight and influence in any thing he might 
 chose to say, and so he thought he had a notable opportunity to 
 promote some purposes of his own some selfish desires which 
 he cherished deeply in his heart, to the entire exclusion of those 
 better things which Christ set before him, " Master," said he, 
 "speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." 
 Ah ! this man spake out candidly what thousands feel, but pru- 
 dently conceal. How many hide such thoughts within their 
 hearts, which he openly expressed, at the very time when the 
 most solemn truths of death, judgment, and eternity, are being 
 pressed upon them ! 
 
 And let it be noted that what this man desired was, not to gain 
 an advantage over his brother, but merely to obtain a just and. 
 proper settlement at the hands of that brother. We shall miss 
 very much the force of the parable we are to consider, if we do 
 not bear this in mind. There is nothing wrong in itself implied 
 in the narrative. There can be little doubt that this man had
 
 THE RICH FOOL. 37 
 
 been defrauded by his brother, and it is probable that, from the 
 clear conviction of the justice of his case, combined with what he 
 saw and heard of the purity and holiness of the Saviour's life 
 and conduct, he was led to appeal to the latter as he did. It is 
 not, then, that he asked any thing which was in . itself sinful or 
 improper. No ; his guilt lay in this, though not claiming any 
 other property than his own, he was yet suffering earthly things 
 to take the precedence of heavenly things, and so to obscure his 
 vision, and fill his heart, that he had no care, or thought, or 
 patience for the latter at all. 
 
 "When thus interrupted, our Lord at once refuses, in very 
 peremptory language, all such interference in worldly matters. 
 " Man," said he, " who made me a judge or divider over you?" 
 words which can not fail to suggest to us the contrast between 
 his conduct and that of Moses, when the latter, truly set as his 
 heart was on executing the Divine commission with which he 
 was intrusted, did yet most imprudently and unjustifiably seek to 
 do this by ways and means, and on occasions when he was not 
 specially directed by God.* Having thus pointedly refused to 
 undertake the settlement of the matter this man would have 
 thrust upon Him, our Lord seizes the opportunity of pressing 
 some solemn and important truths on his hearers, connected with 
 that carnal, earthly, sensual spirit, to which expression had just 
 been given. And he clothes his sentiments in the remarkable 
 parable before us. 
 
 " The ground of a rich man brought forth plentifully." We can 
 not but note the reason why our Lord chose this as the means 
 whereby the rich man became richer. Had he merely brought 
 under our notice the case of a wealthy man adding daily to his 
 already large stores, a wide margin would have been left to us to 
 suppose that he had been doing this by unfair as well as fair 
 means. The continued increase to his goods might possibly arise 
 from craft, dishonesty, and fraud, on his part. But this was not in- 
 volved in the matter our Lord had in hand. He was not aiming 
 his rebuke against what is regarded as fraudulent between man 
 and man. He was admitting that nothing of this kind existed, as 
 in the case of the man who had just interrupted his discourse. 
 What He had before Him was to illustrate the case of one who, 
 
 * Exodus ii. 11.
 
 38 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 by no improper means, was increasing in riches, but who, as they 
 increased, had "set his heart upon them,"' and neglected God. 
 So he tells us that his fields brought forth plenteously. It was 
 by rains, and sun, and fertile soil, by cold and heat, summer and 
 - winter, that the stores of this man were continually becoming 
 greater. His wealth was not ill-gotten wealth, but the reverse. 
 Nor must we omit to notice the contrast implied in the very se- 
 lection of the imagery. The direct agency of God's providence 
 is specially seen in such a case of outward prosperity. It is, so 
 to speak, more marked than in many other ways whereby men 
 become rich ; and so the absorption of this man's mind and affec- 
 tion in the gift, and not in the Giver, comes all the more prom- 
 inently forth. 
 
 Well, with this increase of prosperity, what does the rich man 
 do ? Does it open his heart? Reader, disregard not this turning- 
 point in the parable. "We might think that it is at the time when 
 "riches are making to themselves wings," and departing from us, 
 that we cling to them the most, and that when they are increasing 
 we set the less store by them. Not so ! The drying up of the 
 springs of earthly prosperity is often accompanied by the opening 
 of all the affections of the heart toward God, while the increase 
 which God gives, not unfrequently shuts up the heart against 
 himself. Just so is it set forth in the parable. The rich man, in 
 his prosperity, did not try even to think how best to use the 
 means, the talents God gave him ; he did not sit down carefully 
 to examine into his duty as a steward of these things ; he did not 
 look around him for fitting objects on which to spend his wealth. 
 No ! The increase was to be wholly for himself for his own com- 
 fort and luxury. He will, therefore, pull down his barns and 
 build greater. He will enlarge his expectations. These barns 
 of his have been filled. Why should not greater? And then, 
 when these latter are filled, their store will be all for himself. 
 
 And mark, it is not merely the thorough-going selfishness of 
 man's carnal, sensual heart, which is here so vividly portrayed. 
 The very expressions used serve to mark utter forgetfulness of 
 his dependence on God of Him from whom all that he possesses, 
 or ever hopes to possess, must come. The fruits are " my fruits." 
 He regards them quite as his own, and not given in trust to him 
 by God. "All my fruits and my goods." This repetition of the
 
 THE EICH FOOL. 39 
 
 expression enforces this view still more emphatically. The heart 
 of man in its self-love and self-seeking has just these two things 
 before it unceasingly : the means of gratification, and the person 
 to be gratified, that is himself. As to God, He is forgotten. He 
 is not in all the worldling's thoughts. He who resembles this 
 "rich man" takes care of himself, and what he calls his goods. 
 He never loses sight of these two things. But he is "without 
 God in the world." 
 
 Then again, as closely allied to this, see what the parable inti- 
 mates to us. Not 'only does the rich man speak of the fruits 
 which the earth has yielded as " his fruits ;" but he likewise is the 
 only party in his mind capable of devising or executing any plan 
 by which these may be stored up, preserved, and kept ready at 
 hand for future use. "/will" do^this and that, /will pull 
 down, and / will build up; and /will bestow my goods there, 
 and so forth. These two things always dance attendance upon 
 each other. The regarding the good things of this world as our 
 own, without any reference to God at all, and our wretched confi- 
 dence in ourselves that we are able to add to, to keep and " be- 
 stow" these things in all time coming. 
 
 But we have not yet done with this manifestation of selfish, 
 godless humanity. This rich man, regarding all the goods of Pro- 
 vidence as his own, and deliberating on their future safe posses- 
 sion and enjoyment, thus further communes with himself, " I will 
 say to my soul, Soul, ihou hast much goods laid up for many years: 
 take thine ease, eat, drfnk, and be merry" Note here, first, the fa- 
 tal mistake of the human heart. "Soul, thou hast much goods 
 laid up for many years! " As if these good things, these fruits 
 and stores of earthly things, had any thing in common with the 
 soul, so as to be capable of satisfying that. Ho\\ r grovelling is the 
 very thought of the carnal heart, seeking to fill and satisfy the 
 soul with these ! Truly the prophet's words apply here, " He 
 feedeth on ashes : a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that 
 he can not deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right 
 hand? " * What a mockery it is to address the soul, whose food 
 and sustenance alone can be the knowledge, love, and fear of God, 
 in such terms as these ; and yet it is just what thousands and 
 thousands are doing practically every day. Every one in whom 
 
 * Isaiah xliv. 20.
 
 . * 
 
 I 
 
 40 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 is the love of the world plays this trick with his soul, and eagerly 
 covets one thing or another, in the vain and delirious hope that 
 he is laying up " goods for his sold for many years" 
 
 Then notice further the utter sensuousness of this rich man's 
 address to his soul. " Take thine ease" or " rest thyself." This 
 is indeed the earthling's thought for himself. " Rest thyself," in 
 these ''goods" of earth, and time, and sense. God speaks in his 
 every act of providence, to say nothing of his word of grace, tell- 
 ing us that this is not, and never can be, the place of our rest, 
 that it is polluted, that it will destroy us if we think so, that 
 we have no continuing city here ; and that if we try to make one 
 we shall only " sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind." And yet 
 here is the universal language of the natural man. " Best thyself 
 here." One looks to this, another to that earthly couch on which 
 he hopes to repose in peace and comfort. Each has his own earth- 
 ly taste and worldly expectation ; and, alas, what must be the re- 
 sult of this, but that they " lie down in sorrow ? " As well might 
 Lot have expected to rest in peace in Sodom, had he refused to 
 accompany the messengers of the Lord out of it, as for any child 
 of man to look for repose to his soul in the enjoyment of those 
 things which perish in the using. Under every tempting flower 
 there lurks a poisonous serpent, and the foolish heart which has 
 sought its refreshment amid such treacherous things, will find it- 
 self pierced with many sorrows, 
 
 " Eat, drinlc" says the rich man to his soul. This man not only 
 expected ease and rest in the acquisition and safe-keeping of his 
 goods, but he meant to have great self-indulgence by means of 
 them. .He would procure the choicest viands, he would, like 
 another rich man, in another parable, "fare sumptuously every 
 day." This would form a very important feature in his existence. 
 It would fill a large portion of his time. It would make an es- 
 sential item in his happiness and soul-satisfaction, this eating and 
 drinking. Oh, how degrading this carnality appears, when nacked- 
 ly and plainly set forth, as it is by the terms of this parable. See 
 the deliberate manner in which this low sensuality is welcomed, 
 is looked forward to, is regarded as life and happiness. And 
 yet how common is this evidence of a fallen nature and a corrupt 
 heart ? How many thousands are there who would start back 
 indignantly if told that they were in the habit of communing with
 
 THE RICH FOOL. 41 
 
 their souls as this rich man is said to have done ; and who, never- 
 theless, some more grossly, others with so-called refinement, re- 
 gard the mere eating and drinking of the dry a very important 
 part of its enjoyment! The wine-cup, with its sparkle, the va- 
 ried delicacies which tempt the palate, bring out and exhibit the 
 wretched and unworthy lusts of man now, even as they did of 
 old, when our Lord himself designated them as the things which 
 the Gentiles seek. " What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, 
 or wherewithal shall we be clothed ?" 
 
 Once more the rich man speaks to his soul, " Be merry" Take 
 thy fill of pleasure and of worldly enjoyment. The thing to be 
 avoided is sadness. Any thing which will cause a moment's pain 
 or sorrow is to be shunned. Life itself is after all short, and it 
 must be bright throughout. No gloomy thoughts, no fears, no 
 anxieties about God, or final judgment, are to be tolerated. "Be 
 merry.' 1 ' 1 "Let thy heart cheer thee," "rejoice in the ways." 
 Let " the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of 
 life," minister continued joy and pleasure to thee. What matters 
 it that past experience warns against all such unhallowed enjoy- 
 ment, still the pursuit must be followed. Those realities which, 
 when fairly brought into view, make the soul tremble, must all 
 be kept out of sight; excitement and novelty must lend their 
 aid to suppress unpleasant thoughts, and minister to present reck- 
 less mirth, which is, alas ! too like the crackling of thorns, as noisy 
 as it is short-lived. Truly this is the universal panacea which 
 the natural man lays to his soul. He has no other specific for 
 his disease but this, "Be merry." He has no other talisman by 
 which to charm away unpleasant thoughts but this, " Be merry." 
 He will not, dares not, look within, to notice there the dreadful 
 cause of misery, wretchedness, and death. He flies from himself 
 to his false mirth. He must make himself happy and cheerful by 
 the noise and tumult, the folly, and the vanity, of outward things; 
 and he calls the madness of momentary relief joy. 
 
 And then, while the rich man was thus dealing deceitfully with 
 his soul, ere yet the words of false hope and carnal expectation 
 had escaped from his lips, " Ood said unto him, Thou fool, this 
 night thy soul shall be required of thee ; then whose shaU these things 
 be which thou hast provided?' 1 ' 1 The parable evidently supposes 
 such a case as that of the heathen monarch in his palace at Baby-
 
 42 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Ion, when exulting over all his greatness, and glorying in his 
 pomp and power. At the very moment when his pride and self- 
 idependence were at their height, " While the word was in the 
 king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, King Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from 
 thee." And obviously this is supposed in the parable for the 
 purpose of bringing the selfish, sensual, daring sinner, approach- 
 ing as he thinks the very summit of his joy, into direct and im- 
 mediate contact with the Being whom he has neglected, and who 
 yet, nevertheless, " for all these things will surely bring him into 
 judgment." It gives us at a glance an awful and solemn view of 
 a very common occurrence in such a world as this. Poor, de- 
 ceived, and guilty man, is seen below, wise in his own conceits, 
 prudent in his own sight, full of plans and hopes for to-morrow ; 
 and when we lift up our eyes, we behold the Author of his being, 
 and the judge of his life frowning on him, as he says, " Thou 
 fool ! " It may be likewise, that these two things are brought 
 into such close juxtaposition in the parable, in order to hint at a 
 very common experience in the hearts of fallen men. For not 
 unfrequently, at those very moments, when they seem nearest 
 the goal of their hopes, when all they have set their hearts upon 
 seems about to be realized, and as if they had only to put forth 
 their hands and gather the choice fruit which their souls coveted, 
 then it is that an irrepressible emotion steals in upon them of 
 doubt and misgiving as to those things in which they have em- 
 barked the prosperity and happiness of their souls. How often 
 is the successful moment .of worldly enterprise the very time 
 when, almost by an audible voice from heaven, the soul trembles, 
 as Belshazzar did when the hand came forth upon the wall ! 
 
 How forcible is the term used in the parable " Thou fool !" 
 God had intrusted him with "goods" and he immediately regarded 
 them as his own. What folly ! " Shall a man rob God?" God 
 had blessed him with plenteous harvests in his fields, the " fool " 
 turned this blessing into a curse, by still further forgetting God. 
 God placed before him many precious opportunities, by using 
 which he might as it were dispose of his abundance in safe places, 
 even in God's sure keeping, so that he might have " laid up 
 in store for himself a good foundation against the time to come :" 
 and he had the folly to think his own storehouses the safest, and,
 
 THE RICH FOOL. 43 
 
 what he liked best, the chiefest good. God had given him powers 
 which, rightly directed, might yield unutterable and endless joy 
 in His holy and reasonable service. The man speaks of worldly 
 rest, carnal indulgence, empty pleasures, as the proper things on 
 which to engage these powers. God held his life in His own 
 hand. He gave it, and he could take it away when he pleased ; 
 and yet, with unutterable folly, this man planned, schemed, con- 
 trived, labored and expected, without even for a moment taking 
 into consideration this great and solemn truth, that he was leav- 
 ing Him out of sight " in whom he lived and moved and had his 
 being." 
 
 The marginal reading gives a closer and more exact rendering 
 of the original. " This night do they require thy soul." The best 
 commentators are agreed that this is the most accurate transla- 
 tion, and that there is a reference here to the ministry of angels 
 in the execution of God's dealings with the children of men. 
 For just as in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus we are 
 told that the latter was " carried by the angels" into Abraham's 
 bosom, so here the messengers of God are supposed to come sud- 
 denly upon this foolish, careless sinner, and demand, require his 
 soul, not as a thing freely given up, but as a debt which can no 
 longer be left unsettled. The child of God yields up his soul to 
 God ; commits, commends it to his Master, willingly bids it 
 depart to be with Christ, and the angels gently carry it to its 
 haven of rest. The wicked cling tenaciously to their carnal 
 things, and those " ministers of God, who do his pleasure," knock 
 loudly at the door of the earthly tabernacle, and inexorably 
 " require their souls at their hands." " For like pitiless exactors 
 of tribute, terrible angels shall require thy soul from thee unwill- 
 ing, and through love of life, resisting. For from the righteous 
 his soul is not required, but he commits it to God and the Father 
 of spirits, pleased and rejoicing ; nor finds it hard to lay it down, 
 for the body lies upon it as a light burden. But the sinner who 
 has enfleshed his soul, and embodied it, and made it earthy, has 
 prepared to render its divulsion from the body most hard: 
 wherefore it is said to le required of him as a disobedient debtor, 
 that is delivered to pitiless exactors." 
 
 And again, what solemn irony lies in these words, " Then 
 whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" You have
 
 44 THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL. 
 
 lived for nothing else than to provide those things for yourself. 
 You must now leave them, and prepare to meet me. Into whose 
 hands will all that abundance fall ? Whose will be the barns 
 and storehouses, and the fruits in which your soul delights? 
 You can not have them yourself. Can you secure them to any 
 one else ? 
 
 Does not this parable, then, furnish us with extensive evidence 
 of the fallen condition of man, and how " the god of this world 
 has blinded him?" It truly shews us, as in a glass, how his 
 "foolish heart is darkened," and how he has "become vain in 
 his imaginations." It shews us how natural it is for him to for- 
 get whence he has derived his life, and tg think "that life consists 
 in .the abundance of the things which he possesses." It shews us 
 how he covets things, not -for God, but for himself; and thus 
 every thing he touches, and which might have ministered to his 
 comfort or his happiness becomes accursed. It shews us how 
 deplorably low and grovelling are his notions of what "good" 
 things are ; " ease, eating, drinking, and carnal mirth." It shews 
 us how mad and foolish he is in mistaking these things as if they 
 could supply the cravings of his soul, how insane it is for him 
 ever to lay his account with securing them, and above all, to 
 forget that at any moment his soul may be required of him. He 
 is a fool both in his estimate of the things of time, and of time 
 itself. And it shews us that, in " laying up treasures for him- 
 self," in seeking his own gratification, man impoverishes his own 
 soul " towards God." And that while he may be proudly feeling 
 that he is " rich and increased in goods, and has need of nothing." 
 God's judgment at the very moment is, that he is " poor, and 
 miserable, and blind, and naked." 
 
 These deadly characteristics of the natural man lie broadcast 
 over the field of the world. The sins that are painted in this 
 parable are just the common sins of the race. In some they are 
 more prominent, in others less revolting ; but all share in them 
 more or less. And this parable then will ever stand like the 
 prophet of old as he pointed to the guilty monarch's heart. 
 When we are tempted to ask, whether we too are in darkness 
 and under Satan, it will testify of one " not rich towards God ;" 
 and it will apply the solemn truth to us, if not in Nathan's Ian 
 guage at least in the spirit of it, " Thou art the man."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE THE MOTE AND THE BEAM THE STRAINING OFF 
 A GNAT CLEANSING THE OUTSIDE OP THE CUP WHTTED SEPULCHERS GRAVES 
 WHICH APPEAR NOT THE PHARISEE AND SADDUCEE. 
 
 THE last parable gave us the main feature which distinguishes 
 fallen man, and, indeed, which manifests the fact, that he is 
 fallen and under Satan. It tells us that in a great number of 
 ways, and with a force and power operating variously in different 
 individuals, man is "not rich toward God" But there are other 
 marks and tokens of his eondition which need to be noticed and 
 examined. Weighty indeed is the condemnation which rests 
 upon him, when it is concluded that either as regards the things 
 of time or time itself he is "not rich toward God," but, on the 
 contrary, endeavors to " lay up treasure for himself" Still, it is 
 needful to observe some other traits which stand forth with no 
 obscurity, and which are in perfect harmony with this universal 
 ungodliness. These are presented before us in a number of para- 
 bolic sketches, and that too very emphatically. It will not be 
 needful to consider these at length. Indeed, the effect produced 
 by these life-like touches of the pencil will perhaps be greater by 
 making them pass somewhat rapidly under the eye. 
 
 The first of these which we look at is this : 
 
 "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto 
 children sitting in the markets, and calling to their fellows, and say- 
 ing, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have 
 mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came 
 neither eating nor drinking, and (hey say, He hatii a devil. The Son 
 of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a gluttonous 
 man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners: but Wis- 
 dom is justified of her children." Matt. xi. 16-19. 
 
 *
 
 46 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Now, the men of that generation were merely the types of the 
 men of all generations, to whom any message or word comes 
 from that Being whom all discard more or less from their 
 thoughts, of whom they practically declare, that He shall not 
 reign over them. And just then as the Jewish people objected 
 to God's message when it came through John, for the very oppo- 
 site reason which influenced them in rejecting Christ, and thus 
 proved the utter folly of their judgment altogether, so do men 
 always refuse to take God at his word, with child- like submission 
 receive just the messages which he sends, and be satisfied with 
 his mode of sending it. The first and natural movement of the 
 sinner's heart, when God speaks to him, is to question something 
 regarding the mode, or even to doubt the reality of the commu- 
 nication altogether. No matter how clear and convincing the 
 evidence may be, no matter how varied in its attendant circum- 
 stances, as, for example, in the outward difference of life in 
 the case of the Baptist and Jesus, no matter how lavish God 
 has been in furnishing tokens of himself, and of the reality of 
 what he demands, still the wicked heart craves for something 
 more. " This is not the evidence exactly that convinces me," 
 are practically its words. " If this single point had been different, 
 or if some clearer statement had been made, or if I were to see 
 with my own eye the miracles recorded in Scripture, I might 
 believe." But " wisdom is justified of her children." It is not 
 the l%ck of evidence, nor is it the absence of any particular kind 
 of evidence that holds the sinner back. It is his own evil heart 
 of unbelief. As long as he keeps that bad tenant within his 
 bosom, then no matter what evidence be supplied, he will turn 
 away from it. No calls to repentance, nor glad tidings of great 
 joy, will awaken either sadness or sorrow within him. A " voice 
 from heaven," " one raised from the dead," one greater than 
 all the prophets before him, or the appearance of the Son of God 
 himself, will not satisfy him. It is alone when " the veil is taken 
 from the heart," and " faith in God" takes the place of trust in 
 himself, that the sinner says, whether God's words be many or 
 few, whether the evidence of them be great or little, " Speak, 
 Lord, for thy servant heareth." Caprice is clearly seen in all 
 man's doings ; but in nothing is it so apparent as when he cap- 
 tiously ventures to question the ways and the words of God.
 
 THE MOTE AND THE BEAM. 47 
 
 How deep down it lies in the human heart appears sadly manifest 
 in the determined act of wicked unbelief on the part of one of 
 our Lord's favored followers, " Except I shall see in his hands 
 the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the 
 nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." After 
 all man's boasted cleverness, after all his acuteness in weighing 
 evidence, and learned criticism of all existing testimony, let him 
 take heed, that he be found no better than " children playing in 
 the market-place, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye 
 have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not 
 lamented." 
 
 Closely allied to this self-will in finding fault with God, is the 
 cognate evil in the natural man of finding fault with his fellow- 
 man. The one, indeed, necessarily leads to the other. He who 
 dares to arraign his Maker, who passes under his review the 
 things which belong to God, and ventures to approve or to con- 
 demn just as it pleases him, or as it suits his judgment and fancy, 
 will not be backward to enter into judgment with men of like 
 passions with himself; and as in the former case he does not 
 hesitate, so in the latter he does not spare. His conduct, too, in 
 both cases arises from similar causes. Were he not blinded by 
 unbelief he would not dare to do the first. Were he not blinded 
 as to what he is himself, he would not venture to do the last. 
 
 This baneful tendency in the heart of the sinner, as exhibited 
 in his walk and conversation, finds a remarkable illustration in 
 the following parable : 
 
 " And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but 
 consideresl not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how wilt thou 
 say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ; and, 
 behold, a beam is in thine own eye f Thou hypocrite, first cast out ifie 
 beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out 
 the mote out of thy brotJter's eye." Matt. vii. 3-5 ; Luke vi. 41, 42. 
 
 It will be well to observe here, that the epithet " hypocrite," so 
 frequently applied by our Lord to the Scribes and Pharisees of 
 that day, does not always mean that the parties so designated 
 were willfully deceiving those about them by a profession which 
 was not only hollow, but which they knew to be so. That it 
 very frequently is used to denote such characters is perfectly 
 true ; but it is equally true, that on some occasions, and among
 
 48 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 others in the parable now before us, it is used simply to denote 
 the case of a man assuming a character which does not really 
 belong to him, but nevertheless under the fullest persuasion in 
 his own mind that he is what he professes to be. The force of 
 this parable will be lost, unless we bear this in mind. The case 
 of the man who offers to pull out the mote out of his brother's 
 eye supposes the 'fact of his considering himself to be perfectly 
 clear-sighted. It is not that he designedly tries to conceal from 
 others a defect in his own vision of which he is conscious. On the 
 contrary, his case is the very reverse of this he is not conscious 
 of any defect ; and herein lies his sin. He " considers not" 
 ("perceives not" Luke) the " beam in his own eye." 
 
 "What a picture of fallen man ! True to the life ! Who that 
 has ever taken the trouble of looking within at the springs and 
 motives of his words and acts, but must be sensible that his por- 
 trait is drawn here by a hand which infallibly reveals the secrets 
 of all hearts ! "Who that honestly seeks to know himself but 
 must acknowledge that he is here in the presence of One who 
 thoroughly knows him ? It would be falling miserably short of 
 the scope of this parable if we merely applied it to the full blos- 
 soming and most matured fruit of that evil which it is meant to 
 mark out. Censoriousness has undoubtedly its image accurately 
 traced here. And the man who is even among his fellows notable 
 for this, would do well to pray, as the figure of " the beam " and 
 "the mote" rises before him "Search me, O God, and know 
 my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any 
 wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 
 
 But is such a prayer only suited for such extreme cases ? Far 
 from it. Is any thing more general more frequent even among 
 those who would never be designated censorious than the habit 
 of seeing their neighbor's faults more readily and more clearly 
 than their own ? This need not be enlarged upon. It surely 
 needs only to be stated in order to be admitted. Men are lynx- 
 eyed for all the blemishes and faults which disfigure their neigh- 
 bors. They would indeed consider themselves deficient in per- 
 ception, and even candor, if they did not observe these things ; 
 and thus how often do they set themselves to the removal of what- 
 ever is wrong in others, without due consideration as to their own 
 fitness for such duty ; or if they do not proceed this length, how
 
 THE MOTE ANT> THE BEAM. 49 
 
 generally do they by word or deed, a sneer of contempt, a wave 
 of the hand, or a word of ridicule, show that while they have de- 
 scribed " the mote" they have left unnoticed " the beam" 
 
 Nor must it be overlooked in this parable, that we are taught 
 " the, lesson of the true relative magnitude which our own faults, 
 and those of our brother, .ought to hold in our estimation. "What 
 is a ' mote ' to one looking on another, is to that other himself ' a 
 beam ; ' just the reverse of the ordinary estimate." * Suppose the 
 case of two men, whose faults may be regarded very much as on 
 a par. Then to either of them, the very quickness with which 
 he detects those of the other, while he neglects to look within, 
 adds immensely to the magnitude of those faults themselves. The 
 mote becomes a beam. 
 
 But it must not be supposed that our Lord meant by this par- 
 able that we are to shut our eyes to the defects which mar the 
 usefulness and dim the luster of the various characters of those 
 around us. This would indeed be a miserable perversion of the 
 lesson. What is demanded therein is not that we shall close our 
 eyes to what needs reformation and improvement in others, but 
 that we shall be, in the first place, jealously anxious to obtain 
 clear vision ourselves. Our Lord distinctly sets this before us. 
 " first" says he, "cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then 
 shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye" Be- 
 gin at home. Look within, and bring all the hidden things with- 
 in the heart to light. Come freely to the light not keeping back 
 any thing that needs inquiring into, nor reserving something from 
 merited condemnation because you do not want to part with it. 
 " All things " must be " opened before the eyes of him with whom 
 we have to do," and then you will be in no danger of rising in 
 your own estimation at your neighbor's expense, or overlooking 
 worse things in yourself, while you visit him with unhesitating 
 condemnation. 
 
 And the reason why our Lord gives this counsel is very ob- 
 vious. First, as regards the mere power of spiritual perception. 
 If a man has not learned to deal with his own heart unreservedly 
 in the way of tracing out, and bringing into the light of day all 
 that would hide itself there ; if he has not experimentally learned 
 how deceitful as well as wicked that heart is that there is no 
 * Alford's Greek Testament 
 4
 
 50 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 greater difficulty than the unvailing and exposing it to one's self 
 then he is not prepared to deal wisely with others. He is not 
 capable of entering into all those nice movements of the human 
 heart which are involved in the words and actions of those around. 
 He is like an unskillful musician who attempts to play upon an 
 instrument whose secrets he has not mastered. In doing so, he 
 only displays his own ignorance, and his performance grates harsh- 
 ly on the ears of those who hear. But if a man truly and sincere- 
 ly submits himself to the teaching of God, and desires above all 
 things a knowledge of himself, dragging out of his bosom all its 
 secrets, whatever be the cost, and prayerfully anxious to have the 
 crooked made straight, the dark light, and the rough plain, then 
 he will "see clearly" by the experience he has gained through the 
 operation of the Holy Spirit within himself, to "putt out the mote 
 out of his brother's eye" And, besides, the very process through 
 which he has himself passed will give a gentleness and tender- 
 ness to all that he may be called upon to do with others, which 
 he never could otherwise possess. It will make him approach 
 them in a very different manner from what he would have done 
 before. He will now speak as a friend, not as a "judge" * He 
 will indulge in no harsh or high-minded reproof. What he says 
 will be uttered in the spirit enjoined by the Apostle, " Brethren, 
 if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye that are spiritual, restore such 
 an one, in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also 
 be tempted." f The expression of the parable will be reversed 
 in his case. He will no longer " behold,' 1 ' 1 gaze at with pride and 
 self-sufficiency, the faults of Bothers, while he " considers not" does 
 not give the slightest look, into his own. On the contrary, he will 
 give himself no quarter, while his heart will overflow with tender- 
 ness toward others, " esteeming each one better than himself." 
 
 But there is another tendency of the human heart, at first sight 
 apparently very different from what has now been considered, 
 and which yet is a cognate evil with it one which indeed is very 
 generally associated and closely allied with this self-sufficient con- 
 demnation of- others. One very short but remarkable saying of 
 our Lord will place this distinctly before us. 
 
 " Ye blind guides, which strain at (off) a gnat, and swallow a 
 camel" Matthew xxiii. 24. 
 
 * Matthew vii. 1. f Galatians vi. 1.
 
 THE STRAINING OFF A GNAT. 51 
 
 Our Lord does not intimate willful deception of others in this 
 parable, any more than in the former. He charges those of whom 
 he speaks with being " blind ; " but there is no reason for suppos- 
 ing that they were not perfectly sincere in what they did, and, 
 after their own fashion, thought they were " doing God service." 
 The allusion in this saying is to the care which the Jews, who 
 were scrupulous in the observance of their ceremonial law, took 
 to prevent the possible breach of the commandment in Leviticus 
 xi. 41, 42. For this purpose they were at great pains to strain 
 off their wine before drinking it, lest even by accident the small- 
 est insect should be found therein ; and yet, on the other hand, 
 they were so blind, so ignorant, so reckless in other matters, that 
 they would, as it were, "swallow a camel" 
 
 In the previous verse, our Lord evidently describes to the 
 letter the character which he sketches in this parable. ""Woe 
 unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of 
 mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier 
 matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith ; (" pass over judg- 
 ment and the love of God," Luke ; ) these ought ye to have 
 done, and not to leave the other undone." They were persons 
 who were scrupulously exact in the performance of the letter of 
 the law. Indeed, so much so, that rather than commit any breach 
 of that letter, they were careful to observe many things which it 
 did not actually enjoin. The most minute particulars were not 
 too minute for them to attend to in the daily discharge of what 
 they considered due to the law. But all this time they were 
 neglecting its " weightier matters." Judgment, mercy, faith, and 
 the love of God, were lost sight of, and not taken into account at 
 all. Like the rich young ruler, they could say, when the terms 
 of the law were propounded, " All these things have I kept from 
 my youth up ; what lack I yet ?" x but when they were confronted 
 with the spiritual requirements of that law, then, like him, they 
 shrank back, and proved that they had not yet learned the sim- 
 plest lesson of love to God, and self-denial toward man. Now 
 this is just the character which is most affected by the faults of 
 others. The young ruler just referred to, would be the very man 
 who would be likely to say to his brother, " Let me pull out the 
 mote out of thine eye ;" while he " considered not the beam in 
 his own eye." Indeed the more scrupulous the attention paid to
 
 52 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 all that is external in conduct, and the more sincerely that all 
 this is done, while the eye directed, to what may well be called 
 " the weightier matters" within seeing that from these are the 
 issues of life is blinded by the beam in it, the more readily and 
 earnestly will such an one condemn, either in his heart or by 
 word, those around him who do not carry out to the letter all 
 those observances which in his estimate make up the round of all 
 important duties. 
 
 It is well to observe, that our Lord does not condemn here 
 scrupulosity in minute matters of conduct considered in itself. 
 There may be an error in this ; but it is not what is in hand at 
 present ; of that it may be said that each man is a " law unto 
 himself," and that " happy is he that condemneth not himself in 
 the thing which he alloweth." But it is when this scrupulosity 
 is manifested in one way and not in another when it discharges 
 all its anxiety and care on the smaller, to the neglect of the greater 
 matters, it is then that we see the original of this portrait. "The 
 straining off a gnat and the swallowing a camel" " These ought ye 
 to have done," says our Lord, " and not leave the others undone." 
 And thus, when we behold men whose whole outward conduct is 
 remarkable for the scrupulous care which they take in their deal- 
 ings with their fellow-men, whose names stand high in the mark- 
 et-place, at the exchange, in the senate, or the cabinet against 
 whom there is not a word to be said regarding their minute and 
 careful observance of all those moral duties which they consider 
 as forming the great social law of the community ; and yet who, 
 nevertheless, have not " taken up the Cross," and " left all " to 
 " follow Christ ;" who are strangers to the "love of God" in their 
 hearts, so as to do all for His name's sake alone, who forget that 
 He alone will finally judge them as well as others who know 
 not that " mercy " toward their fellow-men, and " faith" toward 
 their God, are the two great things of genuine religious character, 
 these, notwithstanding all their seeming excellence notwithstand- 
 ing their name and reputation notwithstanding all their sincer- 
 ity notwithstanding the purity and virtue attributed to them by 
 others, and which they themselves verily believe that they possess," 
 are yet but "blind guides," "who strain off a gnat and swallow a 
 camel" 
 
 And this feature in fallen man is often seen now in the very
 
 THE STRAINING OFF A GNAT. 53 
 
 form in which, it loved to show itself among those who were im- 
 mediately under our Lord's eye, when He uttered these words. 
 It is not only that we have the picture here of such as obtain in 
 the world among worldly people the character and reputation of 
 singular' morality and virtue, while they lack the one thing need- 
 ful, but it answers also well for those who, in the observances of 
 religion, in the .outward form and frame- work of it, are so careful, 
 that rather than leave any thing of the kind undone they are 
 ready and willing to do more than is required, and yet they are 
 grievously deficient in the whole spirit, life and marrow of relig- 
 ion, having, in fact, "the form of godliness, without the power of 
 it." These persons are so scrupulously careful over the mosaic 
 work with which they adorn the casket, that they know little or 
 nothing of the priceless gem within. "We have many such in 
 these days men who would be indignant if told that they did not 
 understand the spirit of what they professed, and that they were 
 neglecting the weightier matters of the law while they were 
 engrossed in " times and seasons," and " days and years," in 
 "weak and beggarly elements;" and yet those whom our Lord 
 addressed would have been equally offended, and with equal 
 reason, at such a charge also. Their sincerity is not doubted any 
 more than that of the young ruler who came with all his minute 
 observances to question Christ. Their earnestness is not questioned 
 any more than that of the Pharisees of old, who " compassed sea 
 and land to make one proselyte." But when signs become so 
 magnified as to exclude the far greater importance of the things 
 signified, and something of a legal bondage is assumed over the 
 profession of a Gospel faith, when there is the anxious and studied 
 appeal, " Touch not, taste not, handle not," with " the show of 
 wi^rorship^nd humility," then must we say of all such, that 
 they are just the parties described by our Lord " who strain off a 
 gnat and swallow a camel." 
 
 " Blind guides" How remarkable the epithet ! It is just such 
 persons who affect to be " guides." Whether it be the man who 
 rests mainly on his virtuous life, and considers himself as really 
 deserving the praise and commendation of his fellows ; or the 
 formalist who is never satisfied unless his " shibboleth " be pro- 
 nounced correctly ; and more than this, it is just such persons 
 that the great multitude of people are ready to acknowledge as
 
 54 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the best guides. The outward decorum of the one, and the 
 devotedness of the other, appear prominently before the public 
 eye, and win proportionate respect. But, after all, they are 
 " blind guides. 1 ' 1 "Whatever be the darkness or blindness of others, 
 they at least have " a beam" in their eye which altogether pre- 
 vents them from seeing clearly how and where to lead others. 
 
 And here we arrive at a new section in the series of parabolic 
 pictures. Hitherto we have had no occasion to deny the sincerity 
 of those who, nevertheless, venture to sit in judgment, first on 
 God, and then on their fellow-men, while they arrogate to them- 
 selves great excellence of character and conduct by their " strain- 
 ing off gnats." Now, however, we must look at fallen human 
 nature under another of its aspects. The shadows of the picture 
 become darker. As yet, we have seen illustrated the profession 
 of what is false, now we proceed to examine the portrait of a 
 false profession. Hearken to the following description : 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make 
 clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of ex- 
 tortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee 1 cleanse first that which is 
 within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean 
 also" Matt, xxiii. 25, 26. 
 
 " Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the 
 platter ; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. 
 Ye fools, did not He that made that which is without make that which 
 is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have / and, 
 behold, all things are clean unto you." Luke xi. 39-41. 
 
 The figure here is very simple. It is that of a person who 
 takes great care to make the outside of the vessels used at meals 
 thoroughly clean, while he knowingly allows the inside of those 
 vessels, with which, of course, the food he eats must be brought 
 into contact, to remain foul and uncleansed. 
 
 This is something altogether different from the " form of god- 
 liness." It is the desire to make " a fair show in the flesh." 
 Here we have the character of the hypocrite brought out in one 
 of its worst forms. A man who wishes to appear what he is not 
 anxious to save appearances, and yet is himself conscious that 
 he is acting a part. The way in which this is set forth in the 
 parable is very striking. The man endeavors to make the outside 
 of the cup look bright and clean. He drinks out of the inside,
 
 CLEANSING THE OUTSIDE OF THE CUP. 55 
 
 which he has wittingly left unclean. And so the hypocrite 
 the man who says and does not who purposely does all his acts 
 that he may be seen of man, is yet secretly drinking in iniquity 
 like water. His cup is full, says our Lord, of " extortion and ex- 
 cess :" and wnat his cup is full of, that he drinks. He may profess 
 to be honest, generous, and charitable, but he loves to drink in 
 " extortion" He may sound a trumpet before him when he gives 
 alms, but he, at the same moment, makes a prey of "widows' 
 houses" in secret. He may profess to be moderate in his desires, 
 and temperate in his habits ; but as far as he dares to go, with 
 safety to the character he wishes to assume, he drinks in " excess. 11 
 He is a slave to lust in his heart, and he knows it ; and what he 
 does sincerely is to minister to it. 
 
 When our Lord says, (; Cleanse first that which is within the cup 
 and platter, that the. outside of them may be clean also" he does not 
 mean that the one cleansing will stand for the other ; or that the 
 last will take care of itself if the first be done ; but simply, that 
 by the kind of cleansing he -condemned, the cup was not really 
 clean ; and if they would have it so, they must first cleanse that 
 which is within, as the most important part, then their outside 
 cleansing would indeed make a clean cup. 
 
 And the very language which he uses points distinctly to the 
 true source of all real reformation in the character of the sinner. 
 Just as it is out of the heart that there proceeds all that defiles, 
 so it is the heart which must first be cleansed, if the cleansing of 
 the outside life is to be any thing more than a mere cheat a 
 clever disguise to hide the depravity and ungodliness which lurk 
 within. " Give alms" says Christ, "of such things as ye have" or 
 rather " of such things as are within you" Let real love to God 
 ana man flow out from within. Deny self on behalf of God and 
 your neighbor; and then, "Behold all things are clean to you" 
 Such a course of purification will be complete in its process and 
 work. A new heart and a right spirit, like-mindeduess to Christ 
 will alone lead to the transforming of the life ; and the once pol- 
 luted and vile sinner will really become what the hypocrite only 
 feigns to be. But alas, how much need have those who wish to 
 stand well before the world to take good heed unto themselves, 
 lest they be found at last to have been very diligent in removing 
 what was unsightly in the outward act and conduct, while they
 
 66 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 have all the time been greedily consuming evil things in their 
 hearts. 
 
 This parable, then, give us the case of the natural man, with 
 his heart loving the " wages of iniquity," ''full of extortion and 
 excess ;" and yet hypocritically seeking to hide his real character 
 and conduct from the eyes of those who have no other means of 
 judging than by the " outward appearance." But if we turn now 
 to another parable, we shall find this fallen creature painted in 
 darker colors still. 
 
 " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are like 
 unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but 
 are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" Matt, 
 xxiii 27. 
 
 In the picture of the " cleansing the outside of the cup and 
 platter," we behold the character of the hypocrite in his endeavor 
 to appear fair, upright, honest, and temperate before men, while 
 in reality he is a slave to inward lust and passion. In this we 
 have the hypocrite portrayed in reference to his religious profes- 
 sion. With a fair and glittering appearance outside, he is only as 
 a chamber of the dead. The character here represented, is one 
 which makes much profession of religion, which arrogates to 
 itself much credit for its service to God, and is yet inwardly con- 
 scious that it loves him not. Like those of old who said, " The 
 Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are we ;" but who, 
 nevertheless, were no better than " whited sepukhers" Their 
 heart is not a temple, but a tomb! 
 
 And this hypocrisy is even more odious than the former. The 
 man who deceives his neighbor regarding his actual character, in 
 the matter of honesty or temperance, may make no pretension 
 whatever to being religious. But this man not only acts a part*n 
 society in the matter of morality, but of religion also. His hy- 
 pocrisy is deeper dyed. He strives to deceive not only man but 
 God ; and just as he finds thai he can often succeed in doing the 
 former, so he foolishly thinks that he can do the latter, " Tush, 
 God does not see I" "Is there knowledge in the Most High?" 
 As his evil course proceeds, he becomes more and more confident 
 in his deceitfulness. His heart becomes every day more insen- 
 sible to all that is upright and good. It is "fall of hypocrisy and 
 iniquity" . It is a spiritual grave a chamber of the dead a
 
 GRAVES WHICH APPEAR NOT. 57 
 
 sepulcher of corrupt and corrupting things a place of defile- 
 ment a highway to hell. Of all characters displayed in Scrip- 
 ture this is the most terrible daringly to " mock God," and to 
 deceive man ; to use religion as a cloak to cover iniquity, and, 
 Balaam-like, to make much profession with the lips of honoring 
 and serving God, while the heart is "following after its covetous- 
 ness," " in the gaUtof bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." 
 
 And it may be that a lower depth still in this character is set 
 forth by our Lord in the following words, which appear to have 
 been added by him after the above : 
 
 " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are as 
 graves ivhich appear not, and the men that walk over them are not 
 aware of them." Luke xi. 44. 
 
 The allusion here is to the notion which existed among the 
 Jews, that by walking over a grave a man contracted ceremonial 
 uncleanness. And so here the hypocrite is represented as the 
 means of defilement and pollution to others. Passers by ^become, 
 or ever they are aware, infected by him, and allured to evil. 
 Like Jeroboam, who set up the calves at Dan and Bethel, and 
 said, " These be thy gods, Israel ;" though his heart-purpose 
 was simply, by this outward respect for God, to secure himself, 
 as he thought, in the kingdom ; and so, we are told, he "made 
 Israel to sin." Or still more awfully have we this character re- 
 vealed to us in the case of Balaam, who not only "loved the 
 wages of iniquity," while he made much profession of doing 
 nothing except as the Lord willed ; but who also, when he found 
 himself shut up by the terrors of Jehovah from cursing Israel, as 
 he had hoped to do, in order to obtain the honors and the rewards 
 of Midian, set himself, with hellish malignity, to counsel the king 
 of "Moab to place a stumbling-block before Israel ; and so far suc- 
 ceeded in his devilish attempt as to introduce such a foul and 
 wide-spread leprosy of conduct into the camp of Israel as to 
 draw down an immediate and terrible judgment from the Lord. 
 Balaam would try to make people believe that he was influenced 
 not only by integrity, but by the fear of God ; and yet he will 
 gratify himself at all hazards he will feed his covetousness 
 though thousands of souls perish. Is there not something very 
 similar to this in the conduct of a modern despot, who has given 
 the rein to his godless and selfish ambition, who is fully resolved
 
 58 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 to gratify it if he can, at the expense of thousands of lives, the 
 breaking up of peace in the world, and the misery and ruin of 
 nations, against whom he has no other ground of quarrel than 
 that they stand in the way of his ambitious "projects? And all 
 this, too, has been heralded forth to an astonished world, by the 
 sickening profession of a godlike faith, and the hypocritical cant 
 that he can not do otherwise without doing violence to his relig- 
 ious conscientiousness! Here, indeed, is a grave full of dead 
 men's bones, and all manner of uncleanness a grave over which 
 thousands and thousands " walk" to their own destruction. 
 
 And here let us turn for a moment and briefly survey the 
 ground over which we have passed. Man's wayward heart made 
 him an easy prey to Satan. He gave the tempter admission, and 
 the latter has improved his advantage to the utmost. It is not 
 his fault if the mental and spiritual darkness which fell on the 
 soul of man does not become deeper every day. It is from no 
 want of will or forethought on his part if the sore disease with 
 which the poor soul is afflicted becomes not every day more 
 loathsome and more deadly. These are " his goods," and he will 
 spare no pains to guard and keep them. They are " his goods," 
 and it will not be his fault if the " last state of the sonl is not 
 worse than the first," " tenfold more the child of hell than 
 before." 
 
 The two great sects into which the Jews were chiefly divided 
 in the days of our Lord, presented before him the very subjects 
 on which these evil powers were working so successfully ; and 
 they exhibited in their life and conduct the sad and terrible evi- 
 dence of this. And it is well to bear in mind, that -the Sadducee 
 and the Pharisee, while the one and the other appear before us 
 in the record we have of all that Jesus said and did, are but the 
 types of the men of every age and every nation. The name of 
 each sect was Jewish. The characteristic which distinguished it 
 belongs to the human race. The Sadducee represents not merely 
 the men in other nations and at other times, who deny the fact 
 of a future state of existence, of a resurrection, or of a spiritual 
 being, but especially of that much larger class, who, without 
 formally denying these things, practically live as if they did 
 men, who to all intents and purposes, live as if this life, and this 
 alone, were worth thinking about, and who 'say to themselves,
 
 THE PHAEISEE AND SADDUCEE. 59 
 
 " Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." The Pharisee, on 
 the other hand, represents the outwardly correct, the self-right- 
 eous, and the hypocrite. And thus, while the parables of our 
 Lord are mostly directed against these different sects, as they 
 displayed themselves in his day, we must not suppose that they 
 were meant to be applied solely to them. On the contrary, they 
 are but as the glass in which we may behold the clearly- written 
 evidence of the havoc which sin and Satan together have made 
 in the heart and life of man of all times and ages. All the 
 revealings then of the true character and inner life of those 
 around him, whether the leaven of the Sadducee or the Pharisee 
 be the immediate subject of reproof, are equally for us, and for 
 our children, as admonitions. They are not merely applicable at 
 second hand to us, but go directly to the ungodly and unrighteous 
 thought or action now as then.* 
 
 And see, then, how He, " who knows what is in man," paints 
 his real character in its unregenerate condition ! See how He 
 sets up great landmarks to put us on our guard, if we will but 
 take heed ! See how He warns us of the shoals and the quick- 
 sands where we are ready to make shipwreck of our souls ! 
 What a festering mass of corruption must humanity be, when the 
 bad elements of which it is composed, singled out and dragged 
 into light, are such as we have seen. The rich fool, the children 
 in the market-place, the mote and the beam, the straining off a 
 gnat, the cleansing of the outside of the cup, the whited sepulcher, 
 the hidden grave these are the things which unerring wisdom 
 has selected to draw our attention to this sad reality ; that we 
 may not only hear by the ear, but, as it were, see by the eye what 
 our actual condition is that "our iniquity has increased over 
 our head," and our "trespass gone up into heaven," that what- 
 ever may be our miserable and false estimate of ourselves, the 
 Searcher of hearts tells us that He has looked and that He 
 beholds none righteous, no not one, and that " the imagination 
 of the thoughts of man's heart are only evil continually." 
 
 * See in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THS AX LAID TO THE ROOT OF THE TREES THE FLOOR THOROUGHLY PTTR<JED. 
 
 AND here we reach a point of deep and solemn interest in our 
 consideration of the parables. The gospel which Christ preached, 
 and which alone could be preached in virtue of his own sufferings 
 and death, is indeed a message of peace, good-will, and love. It 
 announces deliverance to the captive, recovery of sight to the 
 blind, life from the dead, joy for the sad, and the acceptable year 
 of the Lord. When Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth opened 
 the book of the Prophets, and read therein to the assembled 
 people from the prophecies of Isaiah, " The Spirit of the 'Lord 
 is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to 
 the poor : he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
 deliverance to the captive, and recovery of sight to the blind : to 
 set at liberty those that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year 
 of the Lord ;" he then added, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled 
 in your ears." The glad tidings of great joy were then sounding 
 in their ears, and their Prophet's words might well engage their 
 attention to the joyful sound, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money : come ye, 
 buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and 
 without price." The people who heard Jesus on that day at 
 Nazareth might well " bear him witness, and wonder at the gra- 
 cious things which proceeded out of his mouth." 
 
 But it is important to bear in mind that there is a dark as well 
 as a bright side to the Gospel. Yea, the darkness has a relative 
 proportion to the brightness. The greater the latter, the deeper 
 the former. Paul felt this in his inmost heart. It was this which 
 made him cry out, " Who is sufficient for these things ?" seeing
 
 THE AX LAID TO THE ROOT OF THE TREES. 61' 
 
 that the Gospel with which he was intrusted made him i{ either a 
 savour of life unto life, or of death unto death." He never could 
 open his mouth for Christ, or write a word for him, that he was 
 not either the means of blessing or pf cursing. Now, this gives a 
 very solemn stamp to the Gospel dispensation. The peculiar 
 excellence of the Gospel is that to the sinner " God is just, and 
 yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ;" that in it, " mercy 
 and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed 
 each other." But the very reconciling of these things over the 
 Sacrifice of the "Lamb of God," gives us to understand, that if 
 this sacrifice be neglected if we trample on it if we refuse to be 
 sprinkled by the precious blood there shed, then there "remain- 
 eth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking for of judg- 
 ment and of fiery indignation which shall consume the adver- 
 saries." If the Gospel is not received by faith in Him who 
 ratified it by his own sufferings and death, then it becomes terri- 
 ble judgment, and no future act of God's mercy remains to 
 temper its awful terrors. If we refuse to accept of it as a day of 
 grace, it will inevitably become to us a day of vengeance. 
 
 And is it not a little remarkable that this feature of the Gospel 
 dispensation is pressed upon our attention even before the words 
 of peace and mercy are heard from the lips of Jesus himself. We 
 have, as it were, a solemn warning, to carnal, unbelieving men, 
 that his season of probation is now rapidly passing away that 
 the limit to God's forbearance and mercy is very near that the 
 " end of all things is at hand," and that now having sent His 
 Son for the fruits of His vineyard, there is no other way of escape 
 for the sinner, if " he neglect so great salvation." It was John 
 the Baptist who was commissioned thus to warn sinners of the 
 danger of rejecting the offer about to be made to them personally 
 by the Son of God himself. When he came baptizing those 
 converts, who, stirred up by means of his preaching, confessed 
 their sin, we are told that " he saw many of the Sadducees and 
 Pharisees come to his baptism," those very parties whom we 
 have seen in the previous chapter as faithfully representing sinful 
 men of every age and nation the one in all that is infidel, selfish, 
 sensual, and earthly the other in all that is formal, superstitious, 
 proud, self-righteous, and hypocritical. And it was then, when 
 John saw these men before him, that while he rebuked them
 
 62 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 sharply as a " generation of vipers," and urged repentance, and 
 works meet for repentance on them, he at the same time took 
 occasion to warn them solemnly of the great feature just men- 
 tioned in the Gospel dispensation which was then opening before 
 them. He did this by uttering two parables in their hearing. 
 Here is the first, 
 
 " And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore 
 every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast 
 into the fire." Mat. iii. 10 ; Luke iii. 9. 
 
 The image in this parable is very striking. It is that of a man 
 who owns certain trees, and who may be seen early in the morn- 
 ing passing through the midst of them with an ax in his hand. 
 The very implement he carries intimates to us the sort of work 
 in which he is engaged. He presently finds a tree, worthless and 
 unsightly, taking up room which would be better occupied by 
 something else a mere cumberer of the ground. That tree 
 must be removed. Perhaps he does not proceed at once to do so, 
 but with his mind made up, he " lays the ax at the root of the tree," 
 ready at hand. And his doing this, it must be observed, is in the 
 parable considered as tantamount to his actually carrying out his 
 purpose. When the axe is thus laid at the root of the trees, it is 
 added then " every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hew n 
 down, and cast into the fire" 
 
 Now, this is just what Christ did when he came into the flesh. 
 If, on the one hand, this mission was to make reconciliation for 
 the transgressors and to bring in everlasting righteousness, it was 
 equally to " finish transgressions and make an end of sins." He 
 " laid the ax at the root of the tree." By the very covenant of 
 peace which He has introduced, He has at the same time brought 
 judgment near to the sinner. He has made, for the last time, an 
 effort, and that the greatest of all, to convince the sinner that He 
 has a controversy with him which must now be settled, either by 
 his unconditional and complete surrender, or by his speedy and 
 terrible punishment. And mark this well, that His dealing with 
 the sinner will proceed upon the simple fact, " fruit," or "no 
 fruit," "according to that done in the body, whether it be good 
 or bad." The Gospel message is indeed one of grace, and it is by 
 grace alone through faith that the sinner 'can be saved ; but here, 
 upon the very front of Christ's mission, is written clearly and
 
 THE FLOOR THOROUGHLY PURGED. 63 
 
 indelibly that the judgment shall strictly proceed on works. 
 Where these exist, where they are seen and manifest, they will 
 prove that the sinner has believed, and is saved ; where they are 
 not, they will equally prove that he has rejected the counsel of 
 God against himself, and his condemnation will be just. At the 
 very outset, then, the sinner is solemnly warned that sentence of 
 death is hanging over his head; that the Gospel of peace has 
 brought that sentence nearer than ever to its execution, yea, laid 
 it at his very door, where already the "Judge standeth," and 
 unless he speedily repent and " bring forth fruits meet for repent- 
 ance," he must be cut down as a tree, be left to wither away, and 
 to be burned ! On the other hand, he is also given to understand 
 that no merely ceremonial adhesion to the Gospel will be of any 
 service; no mere acknowledging of Christ with the lips, "Lord, 
 Lord ;" but that the reality of his profession must be clearly and 
 undeniably exhibited by his being " created anew in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works" otherwise he will inevitably be " hewn down" 
 and his head-knowledge and nominal acceptance of Christ will 
 only increase his condemnation, and mark his rejection of his 
 Master, and his Master's rejection of him. 
 
 But the Baptist enforced the same truth, though in another as- 
 pect of it, by an additional parable. He proceeded to say, speak- 
 ing of Jesus: 
 
 " Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his 
 floor, and gather his wheat into the Darner : and he will burn up the 
 chaff with unquenchable fire " -Matt. iii. 12; Luke iii. 17. 
 
 The harvest-work alluded to in this parable is well known, and 
 needs no comment. It serves, however, to present the solemn 
 truth which was the subject of John's warning in another point 
 of view than was done before. A fruitless tree among fruitful 
 ones is recognized at once. The distinction is seen at a glance ; 
 there is no need of any special process of investigation. Not so 
 with the heap of mingled grain and chaff, which lies on the farm- 
 er's barn-floor, when he has gathered in the fruits of his fields, 
 and threshed out his full ears of corn. There is one confused mass, 
 wheat and chaff lie together not easily to be distinguished even 
 on the surface, while it is impossible to say whether the one or 
 the other mostly composes the hidden heap below. It is when he 
 carries k to his winnowing-floor that the separation takes place,
 
 64 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 and the distinction is seen. There, by the strong blast of his win- 
 nowing machine he drives off the light chaff, while the heavy 
 wheat falls on the floor at his feet. The latter is gathered up 
 carefully and stored in his garner. The former is either cast but 
 to be trodden under foot as worthless, or burned with fire. And 
 thus the Baptist warns sinful men that in Messiah's day, the day 
 of His kingdom of grace on the earth, while " the ax is laid to 
 the root of the tree," the sinner may well take heed not to com- 
 fort himself with the false peace, that he will be overlooked in the 
 crowd. Many a man is forced, in the secret of his heart, to admit 
 that God might righteously judge him, and cut him down as a 
 barren tree, who yet deceives himself with the miserable hope 
 that in some way or another, he does not know how, he will yet 
 escape the terrible doom at last; that just as he passes muster 
 with his fellow-men, so -also, by some undefined process, he will 
 be allowed to pass in the great day of account. This parable tells 
 him his hope is vain. It announces to the Sadducee and the Pha- 
 risee of all generations, that the gospel day, however much it bears 
 for a time the mark of " the evil being mingled with the good," 
 is a day, nevertheless, in which the preparation is going on for a 
 complete and final separation of these ill-assorted materials. It 
 tells all such that Christ going forth on his mission of love and 
 mercy, yet has " his fan in his hand" with which he is in readiness 
 to " tiwroughly purge his floor" and to "gather his wheat into his 
 garner." 
 
 Nor must we omit to notice, that John uttered this parable im- 
 mediately after he had spoken of the special distinction of Mes- 
 siah's kingdom. " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire." Christ's work as the great baptizer in his Church is 
 first, that by the power of the " Holy Ghost," he may purify and 
 refine each heart as silver and gold are purified and refined in the 
 fire. He will have none at the last owned by Him as His, other- 
 wise than as they have thus been tried, purified, and sanctified. 
 His workmanship in them will be a perfect one ; they will be 
 holy and without spot, and the very same jealousy, therefore, 
 with which he will to the utmost cast out of each of his people 
 every " root of bitterness," will lead him to the most rigid and 
 inexorable exclusion from the new Jerusalem, of any thing that 
 "defileth, or that worketh abomination, or that maketh a lie."
 
 THE FLOOR THOROUGHLY PURGED. 65 
 
 The Gospel, then, though it be indeed " glad tidings of great joy 
 to all people," comes to the sinner with words of truth which 
 may well make him anxious and alarmed lest he be consumed. 
 It speaks plainly to him, as belonging to " a generation of vipers," 
 to a poisonous and deadly brood. It warns him of " the ax laid 
 to the root of the trees," of the "fan in the hand" of the great 
 husbandman ; that it is alone the tree with fruit, or the precious 
 wheat which shall not be "cast into unquenchable fire " and it 
 leaves these 'solemn words ringing in his ears " Behold, I come 
 quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according 
 as his work shall be" 
 
 5
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 
 
 BUT if man's condition be such as we have seen it described, 
 and if even the Gospel of peace itself issues forth with such solemn 
 notes of warning, it may be well now to look at the utter help- 
 lessness of man himself under these sad and threatening circum- 
 stances. His condition is wretched indeed, whether we consider 
 it in its intrinsic sinfulness, or as under Satan, and he is in immi- 
 nent peril of everlasting ruin. Is there no escape ? "^ hanks be 
 to God there is. A door of hope is opened to him in the valley 
 of Achor. A new and a living way is laid down by which he 
 may flee from the wrath to come. Still, as there is but this one 
 way, and no other; since, too, is is a "narrow way," and the en- 
 trance to it is by a " strait gate," and so it can not be very attract- 
 ive to a carnal mind ; and as all men would fain discover some 
 other and more easy way, it becomes of great moment that we 
 should see how every other way but this one is a false one, and 
 instead of leading to life, leads only to destruction. It is import- 
 ant to shew clearly man's utter helplessness to escape by any 
 other means than that one wherein God has chosen to be his 
 " helper and deliverer." 
 
 There are two parables of our Lord which illustrate this truth 
 in its length and breadth. The first of these is a brief but very 
 emphatic one 
 
 " If the Hind lead the Hind, both shall fall into the ditch" Mat- 
 thew xv. 14. 
 
 " And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? 
 Shall they not both fall into the ditch f " Luke vi. 39. 
 
 The illustration here is very simple. No one is absurd enough
 
 THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND. 67 
 
 to suppose that one blind man is a trustworthy guide for another. 
 No blind man, incapable as he is himself to distinguish one object 
 from another, would be so foolish as to jdelcl himself to the guid- 
 ance of another equally incapable with himself. 
 
 And here this truth then, first of all, is placed before us under 
 a figure which can not be mistaken, that " it is not in man that 
 walketh to direct his steps;" that each individual of the human 
 race has had his " foolish heart" so darkened by sin as to be un- 
 able by any means to find his own way out of the labyrinth into 
 which he has unhappily wandered. Wise though he be in his 
 own eyes, and prudent in his own sight, he is utterly unable to 
 deliver himself, or to discover a way of escape from the wrath to 
 come. He stumbleth at noon-day as at midnight, because there 
 is no light in him. Spiritual things can not be discerned by the 
 natural man, " neither can he know them, because they are spir- 
 itually discerned," and he walks on still in darkness, not knowing 
 whither he goeth. 
 
 Now, it is not a difficult thing generally to convince man that 
 he needs -guidance regarding the things of God and eternity. 
 The vast majority of the human race are well prepared to admit 
 this, not indeed that they are conscious of their guilty ignorance 
 and danger, but because they are idle and careless, slothful and 
 negligent in these things themselves. Thus they very readily 
 and with great facility turn to the right hand or to the left, and 
 fall an easy prey to the first plausible guide that presents himself, 
 to save them any further trouble of groping for the way them- 
 selves. Strange infatuation ! The very man who would laugh 
 to scorn a blind man calmly and wilfully selecting another blind 
 man as his guide yet when he feels in need of guidance himself 
 in other and still higher matters, does, nevertheless, willingly 
 commit himself to the direction of one as spiritually blind as he 
 is, and trusts implicitly to the guidance of another as incapable 
 as he is himself to discern the right way, or to guard against the 
 numberless dangers which surround him on every side. 
 
 And, alas ! how many " blind guides" have we ? Men who 
 with utter ignorance, and darkened understandings in all that 
 belongs to God, yet unblushingly proclaim their wisdom, pene- 
 tration, skill, and spiritual light. " We are the men," they cry, 
 "and wisdom shall die with us." There is no want of bold and
 
 -if 
 68 THE PAKABLE OP 
 
 reckless assertion in these men. They make up for their lack of 
 sight by their ready willingness to undertake any thing which 
 poor fallen man may require to aid him in his miserable condi- 
 tion. In the midst of their blindness, they are ever crying " We 
 see," until they begin to believe their own lies, and others begin 
 to believe them also. They grope past all the bright and precious 
 promises of God, and boldly affirm that these are all the mere 
 creatures of a weak and fanatical imagination. They stumble on, 
 in the very face of impending judgment, with more than the 
 terrors of Sinai right before them in the way, and yet they 
 mockingly deride the very existence of these things. They tell 
 men, though God hath spoken, not to listen to Him, but to them, 
 and that it only needs every one to be of their way of thinking 
 to cause this wilderness to become a garden the desolations of 
 earth to disappear before the smiles of plenty and peace and 
 the disorder and misery of society to give place to a golden age 
 of justice, truth, and love. These are the men who see " motes 
 in their brother's eye," and desire to take them out, while in 
 reality "the beam is in their own eye ;" and so clearness of vision 
 is impossible. Alas, the end of all this is misery, despair, and 
 ruin ! Whether the guidance of these men takes a religious or 
 an irreligious aspect whether it be the direction of the Jesuit 
 confessor, or the self-willed presumption of our modern professors 
 of infidelity, the end is the same they who lead, and those who 
 are led by them, shall "both fall into the ditch;" it will be "as 
 with the servant so with his master." " The candle of the 
 wicked," that which he vainly and foolishly thought would give 
 him light, and direct his own way, and that of others, "shall be 
 put out," and the Prophet's words shall have their full and ter- 
 rible accomplishment : " Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, (strange 
 fire, not kindled from the sanctuary,) and compass yourselves 
 about with sparks, (miserable sparks, which only dazzle, and are 
 useless to guide aright ;) walk in the light of your fire, and of the 
 sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have at my hands, 
 ye shall lie down in sorrow.^* 
 
 And surely in this short parable, we have intimated to us very 
 emphatically the absolute necessity of 'a guidance that is not 
 blind of a light that will not go out in darkness, and leave the 
 
 * Isaiah 1. 11.
 
 UNPROFITABLE SEKVANTS. 69 
 
 poor sinner that trusted in it to deplore his utter and irremediable 
 ruin. Where all are blind, and so utterly incapable of finding 
 the right way, or guiding each other to it, is it possible to sup- 
 pose that He who is light itself will not help the poor benighted 
 wanderers ? Assuredly he will. Yea, he has done it. He has 
 made a revelation. He has opened the windows of the upper 
 sanctuary, and suffered a bright beam of heavenly light to glance 
 down among these dark and sightless ones wandering on the 
 brink of the precipice of woe, and one after another stumbling and 
 falling over it. This God 'of light -has not left himself without 
 witness. He has spoken once, yea, twice. His own Son, " the 
 brightness of his glory, the express image" of the Eternal Light, 
 has come into the world ; and as he came among the blind wan- 
 derers of mankind, he proclaimed himself to be " the light of the 
 world ;" and one of the greatest of his followers pointed emphat- 
 ically to him as the very sum and substance of what blind men. 
 require, and God has graciously bestowed. "Awake, thou that 
 sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" 
 Alas ! it is when there is such a light as this by which the foot- 
 steps of the erring may be led safely in the paths of peace, that 
 we see on every side "the Hind leading the blind" and "both 
 falling into the ditch" Oh ! that both leaders and followers might 
 acknowledge their utter helplessness, and come to the Light of 
 Life ! 
 
 But if man is helpless by reason of his darkened heart, so that 
 he can never by himself discern the path of life, or extricate 
 himself from all the difficulties and dangers which surround him, 
 he is also helpless as regards the value of any thing he can do to 
 merit the favor of God, even supposing he were to see the import- 
 ance of making the attempt. " The natural man receiveth not 
 the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto 
 him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 
 cerned." TJiere is man's spiritual blindness. But can he do any 
 thing, by which, blind though he be, he may yet obtain the favor 
 of God ? In other words, what is the real value of any service 
 which man may or can render unto God? Let the following 
 parable answer the question : 
 
 "But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, 
 will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and
 
 70 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 sit aown to meal f And will not rather say unto him, Malce ready 
 wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten 
 and drunken ; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink ? Doth he 
 thank that servant because he did the tilings that were commanded 
 him ? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those 
 things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants ; 
 we have done that which was our duty to cfo."-^Luke xvii. 7-10. 
 
 In order to gather the full import of this parable, it will be 
 necessary that its connection with the preceding exhortation of 
 Christ be noticed. 
 
 Our Lord had just enforced two duties, which, from whatever 
 side they are viewed, require much self-denial, watchfulness, and 
 prayer, in order to their performance. The one was the duty .of 
 walking so circumspectly as to give no cause of offence. The 
 other was the duty of frank forgiveness. Very little knowledge 
 of the human heart will suffice to convince us of the difficulty 
 involved in these duties. The Apostles felt it. They began to 
 see more and more clearly that they were not to advance by a 
 royal road to earthly ease and worldly distinction as followers of 
 the Messiah ; but that they had to do battle at the very outset 
 with their own corrupt hearts that their first grand duty was to 
 subdue themselves ; and that this was a warfare which could not 
 be conducted by sight, but by faith in Him who alone they well 
 knew could give them victory ; and so they earnestly, and in a 
 body, made the urgent entreaty to their Master, " Increase our 
 faith." The Apostles uniting in this request, (the only instance 
 on record,) gives exceeding weight and importance to the subject 
 of their petition. It proves what a conviction they had of faith, 
 that it was alone by means of it that the highest attainments 
 could be made, and that when they did pray for it, it was for the 
 very purpose that it might bear its precious fruit of true holiness. 
 
 Our Lord, by his reply to their united supplication, confirms 
 the Apostles in their view of the vital importance of "faith." 
 He says, " If ye had faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye might 
 say unto this sycamore -tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and 
 be thou cast into the sea ; and it should obey you." As if he had 
 said, You have asked aright. You have touched the spring which, 
 as a means, is all-powerful in renewing, purifying, and sanctifying 
 vour whole being. These things of which I have spoken are
 
 UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 71 
 
 indeed contrary to all your natural feelings, and seem in them- 
 selves almost impossible to acquire ; but with the faith which you 
 ask, and which I am ready to give, you will be made more than 
 conquerors. "Without me ye can do nothing;" but a living 
 faith in me will so " strengthen" you as to enable you to " do all 
 things." 
 
 And now will be seen the importance of the parable which our 
 Lord immediately proceeded to deliver. The natural tendency 
 of the human heart might lead the Apostles to go from one ex- 
 treme to another from the depressed feeling of being utterly 
 unable to attain to such an amount of Christian grace as was re- 
 quired, to the notion that, with the help vouchsafed to them ac- 
 cording to their request, and with their Master's testimony to its 
 power, their graces and good works might become intrinsically 
 valuable, and be so excellent in the sight of God as to deserve 
 commendation from him on their own account. 
 
 It was to meet and obviate this tendency that our Lord spake 
 this parable. In which, while he emphatically lays down the 
 real estimate which must be made of the work of those who are 
 truly his servants, he at the same time shows the impossibility of 
 any merit arising out of that work at all. (*It will be seen that 
 the parable may be regarded from two distinct points of view. 
 Thus we have first of all brought under our notice the case of a 
 man who has sent his servant into the field, in order to do the 
 work of his master there. At evening, when the day's work in 
 the field is over, the servant returns home. And our Lord asks 
 the question, whether any master would then, because of the serv- 
 ant's fidelity in the field, excuse him from his duty in the house ? 
 On the contrary, would he not expect him to be as faithful in the 
 discharge of those duties in the household which were incumbent 
 on him, as he had been in those in the field ? 
 
 And this gives us a very striking illustration of what is owing 
 by the creature to his Creator by man to God. It is indeed 
 very different from what man himself holds. His whole conduct 
 proves the laxity of his principles in this matter. How often does 
 he leave out of consideration one duty, while it may be he is not 
 habitually neglecting another. How frequently do we find that 
 a man will spend his day in the field, and that not idly, who, 
 nevertheless, when he returns home, idles there. And more than
 
 72 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 this, some may do this carelessly, inadvertently, and" from sloth- 
 fulness ; others, however, do it knowingly and wittingly. There 
 is a grievous tendency in the human heart to put a well-performed 
 duty (as it is esteemed) " over against" one that is neglected, to 
 let the one be a sort of make- weight for the other to silence 
 conscience for what is left undone, by thinking much of that 
 which we consider well done. How often the excuse is readily 
 made for shrinking from the fatigue or the trouble of the house- 
 hold duty, because the out-door work has engaged us so much, and 
 occupied our time, our thoughts, and our labor ! Nor must we 
 omit to notice, that this perversion of what real duty to God is, 
 has been wrought into a system in the corrupt communion of the 
 Church of Rome. There a complete commercial barter has been 
 established, in virtue of which the good of one action may be 
 transferred so as to cover or make up for the want of it in 
 another. The servant may indulge himself in one way, if he 
 restrains himself in another. He may be relieved from one re- 
 sponsibility if he does not shink from another. Nor has this 
 fatal tendency rested here. For even the good which one man 
 has done, is supposed to be capable of being transferred to another, 
 so that one man's prayer may be regarded as having superseded 
 the necessity of another man's prayer ! or the' good deed of the 
 one, by a process of ecclesiastical legerdemain, be regarded very 
 much as the good deed of the other. 
 
 Now our Lord's parable cuts up such noxious weeds by the 
 roots. There is no such principle of give and take in the great 
 matter of what we owe to God. The grand, the universal, the 
 unchanging rule is, " These ought ye to have done, and not to 
 leave the other undone." He with whom we have to do will 
 never admit the performance of one duty to stand for the per- 
 formance of another. Nor can he ever esteem such excellence to 
 exist in the one as to require less excellence in the other. The 
 claim he has upon us is as strong at evening as in the morning. 
 Just as he sends us forth into the fields to our labor and to our 
 work until the evening " Go, work in my vineyard ;" so when the 
 evening comes, as the shadows are falling, and nature would will- 
 ingly rest itself from duty, he still meets us with the command 
 " Make ready, gird thyself, and serve me." 
 
 And it is very interesting to note how, by a single touch in the
 
 UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 73 
 
 picture, our Lord conveys to us the great and blessed iruth, that 
 all this fulfillment of duty, both in the field and in the house, 
 while it is required full}-, and no reserve of the one allowed be- 
 cause of the discharge of the other, does, nevertheless, lead cer- 
 tainly to refreshment and rest at last " Till I have eaten and drunk- 
 en; and AFTERWARD thou shalt eat and drink" He loves to see 
 his people happy, he rejoices in their refreshment and rest. He 
 delights in their calm spiritual enjoyment and repose. But he 
 knows this is neither good nor safe, that in fact it can not be at- 
 tained by a half-hearted, or a half-performed service ; and so he 
 never ceases to urge his commands that they may be fully and 
 heartily complied with, because it is only "in the keeping of 
 them that there is great reward." It was only when his six day's 
 work was over, and after he beheld and saw all he had done that 
 it was "very good," that he "rested" himself; and so he desires 
 his creatures to understand that he demands all their duties to be 
 performed, not one sacrificed for another, but each and all done 
 well ; first, because it is right they are his servants, and it is their 
 duty ; and next, because he loves them, and desires to see them 
 rest in the full enjoyment of his favor, which is better than life. 
 It is when the great Saviour of the Church is able to say, "I 
 have eaten my honey-combs with my honey : I have drunk my 
 wine with my milk," accepted the free will-offerings of those he 
 loves that he adds, "eat, friends, yea drink abundantly, O 
 beloved." 
 
 But the parable presents us with another view of the relation- 
 ship between God and man. It makes known to us what is the 
 real intrinsic value of any thing man can do in the service of God. 
 Our Lord adds, to what has just been considered, " Doih he thank 
 tfiat servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I 
 trow not" This question obviously does not refer to any kindly 
 feeling that may exist between the master and the servant. That 
 is not the point here. What our Lord means to bring out is this 
 Does the servant by the mere discharge of what is his incum- 
 bent duty, put his master under any obligation to him ? By the 
 terms of his engagement he is to perform certain services. When 
 these are done they are not to be regarded as furnishing a claim 
 in his favor, so as to make his master his debtor ; they are siinply 
 the duties which are fairly required at his hands, which it would
 
 74 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 not be honest in him to neglect, and which he has no merit in 
 fulfilling. 
 
 "So likewise ye," says Christ, "when ye shall have done all these 
 tilings which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants : 
 ioe have done that ichich is our duty to do" Here we have all man's 
 performances, all that he can possibly do in the service of God, 
 estimated at the right value. Look at it first in the extreme case, 
 supposed by the words " uJien ye shall have done ALL." Supposing 
 that to the minutest point, to the very utmost " farthing," all is paid 
 that is required by God every service carefully attended to 
 every duty willingly, cheerfully, and completely performed all 
 kinds of work, in the field, and in the household, not only done, 
 but well done, what is the conclusion ? We are not for a moment 
 to presume thateven by all this we can make God our debtor. We 
 are not for a moment to think that we are such profitabk servants 
 as to lay just claim by reason of these services to his favor, or, in 
 other words, to acquire such merit as He must acknowledge, and 
 the reward of which it will not be just in him to withhold. " When 
 ye shall hai-e done ALL," all those things that are commanded you 
 when through grace, the supply of the Spirit, and the exercise 
 of a living faith not weak faith " as a grain of mustard-seed," 
 but faith which is strong, great, lively, and influential a faith 
 that can remove mountains when by such help you are able to 
 attain the greatest eminence in the Christian walk when, let it 
 even be supposed, these very graces which seem now so hard to 
 attain, are not merely reached, but perfected when your whole 
 life, both inner and outward, is so brought into captivity to the 
 obedience of Christ that not the slightest offence shall arise from 
 your word or deed, either to the little ones of the flock or to the 
 world at large when, let it be further supposed, you have attain- 
 ed to a full, unbroken, and unclouded reflection of your Divine 
 Master's character in the forgiveness of trespasses when this 
 highest of all standards is attained when this glorious image is 
 stamped indelibly on you, and surrounds your character with the 
 light, beauty, and loveliness of heaven, from whence your Master 
 came, in order that he might take you back with him to enjoy its 
 glory forever when all this is done, so fully and so well done, 
 as we have supposed : then our Lord himself has put into our 
 mouth the only fitting language which can become even such
 
 UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 75 
 
 attainments as these " We are unprofitable servants ; we have done 
 that which it was our duty to do." 
 
 And thus we have the clear and unmistakable judgment of 
 eternal wisdom as to the intrinsic worth of any thing that man 
 can do. Whatever he may spend in the discharge of his duty, 
 that is not a matter of choice with him, but simply a part of that 
 duty itself. If he does not exert himself to the very utmost of 
 his power, he comes short of his duty, and is to be condemned. 
 If he suffer nothing to keep him back ; if in that which is laid 
 upon him to do, he does it " with his might," spending all he has 
 to bestow upon it, turning it to the best account, then this is noth- 
 ing more than his duty. A duty unfulfilled exposes the servant 
 to blame and punishment. A duty fulfilled, is after all nothing 
 more or better than a duty. 
 
 And so all occasion is cut off for man supposing that b} r any 
 righteous acts of his by a life of unspotted, unsullied obedience, 
 if such could ever be he can possibly acquire such merit, or, ac- 
 cording to the language in our Lord's interpretation of the par- 
 able, be so " profitabk " as to engage the favor of God to himself 
 as a matter of right, justice, or reward. The utter folly becomes 
 here very apparent of a man venturing to hope that by any series 
 of performances whatever be the amount of his self-denial, his 
 love, his holiness, his devotedness, he can make up to God for a 
 sirile breach of his law that has been committed ; that there is 
 such price, such costliness, such excellence in his latter service, 
 that all that was formerly wrong, blemished, polluted, and dis- 
 honoring to God, shall never be had in remembrance by reason 
 of the value that God sets upon it, and the profit to himself, his 
 kingdom, his government, and his law, that it brings. 
 
 But it is important to observe that the heaviest blow aimed 
 against man's self-righteousness in this parable, is one that is not 
 expressed, but only implied. And perhaps it is all the heavier 
 because of the manner in which it is implied. Our Lord takes a 
 supposed case, and draws his conclusion from that. He/takes the 
 very best that can be conceived. " When ye have done all:" and 
 then he tells them they are still " unprofitable" If then it be so 
 in such a case as this, a fortiori, how much more in the actual cases 
 as they exist, where these things at the best are so imperfectly 
 done, where there are such miserable deficiencies and shortcom-
 
 76 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 ings in the performance of duty even by God's own people, and 
 still more, in those who are not striving as . God's people do, nor 
 seeking the help which they have sought and found, and which 
 can alone enable them to perform to the least extent, or in any 
 way, what they owe to God. 
 
 . What a condemnation does this parable pronounce against that 
 slip-shod conception of the relation between God and man, which 
 leads so many to regard as so very easy the making up of their 
 concerns, and arranging and 'settling their accounts with God 
 which leads so many to talk with exceeding flippancy as well as 
 sin and folly, of their making their peace with God, of their satis- 
 faction that they have not done this or that which others have 
 done, and to turn at last their faces to the wall, in the hour ol 
 death and on the threshold of the judgment, as they thank God 
 they are able to look back upon a well spent life ! And thus, 
 forsooth, they can freely trust themselves to Him, and render up 
 their souls with comfort to one, who, as they imagine, owes them 
 eternal life, deliverance from death, and every blessing in heaven, 
 because they, poor, wretched, blinded souls! have done, on the 
 whole, what has satisfied themselves, and must therefore be satis- 
 factory and valuable to Him ! What insanity is this ! " Oh 
 that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, 
 that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of 
 my people ! " 
 
 We shall yet have to draw attention to the blessed truth, that 
 while "all we" who have "gone astray," must ever confess "we 
 are unprofitable servants," there is one, "chief among ten thou- 
 sand," "the altogether lovely," who alone was a "profitable" 
 servant. 'In the mean time, it is interesting to observe that our 
 Lord, in giving the parable we have just considered, had only 
 one thing in view by it, namely, to guard against our placing a 
 value on any thing we do, which does not belong to it. His 
 simple object is, to clear that most important point which he 
 illustrates the relationship between God and his creature man 
 lest we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. 
 Unless we bear this in mind, the parable will inevitably wear 
 somewhat of a cold and repulsive aspect to us, as if exhibiting 
 but little kindliness and consideration on the one part, or little 
 of a service of love on the other. But as the truth it represents
 
 UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 77 
 
 is so important, as it lies at the root of the scheme of Redemption 
 itself, as any mistake about it is fatal, and as the tendency in 
 man's heart to make mistakes regarding it is so universal, we 
 need not be surprised at the apparent harshness with which it is 
 set forth, because it is alone by this means that perfect distinctness 
 is obtained for the matter in hand. 
 
 How precious and delightful it is to turn to the language of 
 our Lord on another occasion, which, from the similarity of the 
 figure, can not fail to be associated in our minds with the parable 
 before us ! He is not, as now, guarding his people against the 
 danger of supposing that their good works can ever be intrin- 
 sically valuable or profitable in the sight of God but he is 
 urging them forward in the steadfast and faithful discharge of 
 duty for his name's sake under the trust they have from him, 
 and in prospect of his returning to take the kingdom to him- 
 self and so then he graciously promises to do, of his own love 
 and kindness, what he shows above he is not bound to do, by the 
 deserts of his servants. "Blessed," says he, "are those servants 
 whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching : verily I 
 say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down 
 to meat, and will come forth and serve them" Luke xii. 37. 
 
 Believer, be sure the loving Jesus meant no harshness to you, 
 when He said, " doth he thank that servant ?" any more than he 
 meant any harshness to his mother, when he said of his true dis- 
 ciples, that they were " his mother, and sister, and brother." He 
 wishes to guard you from a great peril. He wishes to save you 
 from yourself ; but oh, there is no service so full of unutterable 
 joy as his ; it is indeed " perfect freedom." The smile of your 
 master's countenance follows the faithful one in the discharge of 
 all his duty. The kind and loving presence, help, protection, 
 and forbearance of that master, makes even the heaviest burden 
 a light one, and refreshes you even in the heat of a long day of 
 hard labor and unceasing toil. And then at length, though when 
 your crown is gained, you will have to cast it at his feet, and 
 say, "Thou art worthy," yet will he not for your profitableness, 
 but out of the fullness of his heart's love take you to himself, and 
 be graciously pleased to say in your ears, " Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 How faithfully then do these last two parables present before
 
 78 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 us, as in a picture, man's utter helplessness in his sad condition. 
 Like the blind man, he lacks wisdom spiritual wisdom the 
 power of discerning the things of God. His natural mind can 
 not grasp these things. Then, as an unprofitable servant, he 
 lacks the power to set himself right with God. He has no ability 
 to perform a work of supererogation so that he shall have some- 
 thing in hand, something to spare, which may properly form the 
 basis of an agreement on any terms with God. He is in himself 
 utterly helpless, because he has neither the wisdom nor the power 
 to deliver himself out of the evil state in which sin and Satan 
 have placed him ; and here then would the history of man gather 
 eternal blackness, as one generation after another passed away in 
 despair, were it not that on the dark foreground of the picture 
 there falls a bright beam of light not like a lurid, fitful gleam 
 from smoldering embers beneath, but steady, and clear, and 
 hopeful, as it slants down from heaven by the edge of the ever- 
 lasting hills. True light, real heat, it brings to the dark and the 
 dreary dwellings of the lost, the guilty, and the helpless for it 
 tells of "CHRIST CRUCIFIED," "the wisdom of GOD," and " the 
 power of GOD." 
 
 And here the parables which have special reference to the 
 kingdom of darkness are closed. The sombre picture has revealed 
 deep shadows in the condition of poor, guilty, sinful man. His 
 corrupt heart with its polluting stream his spiritual darkness 
 and disease his thraldom under Satan the varied and deadly 
 evidences of all this the imminent peril in consequence and 
 his utter inability to deliver himself. It must not, however, be 
 supposed that even this dark account which we have reckoned 
 up presents us with a full or complete view of his character, his 
 ways, or his desttnj'-. "We can only gain a thorough knowledge 
 of these by carefully examining those other parables which have 
 specially to do with the kingdom of Christ. There, when we 
 shall discover that the very light which has sprung up from Cal- 
 vary, and which is yet to cover the earth with its robe of right- 
 eousness, serves but to detect and to bring out more fully and 
 specifically the deadly nature of sin, and the terrible power 
 which Satan exerts over his victim, we shall be all the more 
 ready to set our seal to the truth of God's word, in its description
 
 UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 79 
 
 of that abominable thing which God hates of that adversary, 
 that as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour 
 and of the infinite power, wisdom, and love of that being who 
 has broken the snare, and delivered the poor captive out of the 
 hands of the fowler. (Appendix B.)
 
 PART II, 
 
 THE PRINCE OF THE KINODOM OP LIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DOOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
 
 IN the former part of this volume, it was the wretched slave, 
 the unhappy victim in the kingdom of darkness, which first 
 claimed our attention. In proceeding now to inquire into the 
 teaching of the parables regarding the kingdom of light, it is the 
 King, not the subject, which must first claim our attention. The 
 Prince of Darkness could have had no power over man had the 
 latter not willingly entered his dominion, and thus it is the course 
 and condition of man that forms the essential part of that history, 
 so far as we have to do with it. On the other hand, were it not 
 for the direct interposition, both as regards power and love, on 
 the part of the Prince of Peace and Light, man never could 
 become his subject, or enter into his happy kingdom and, 
 therefore the leading topic which must now engage our attention 
 is this "King of Glory," his offices and his character, and all his 
 work which he has performed, and is still performing, for those 
 whom he has brought under his mild, holy and happy sway. 
 
 The first view which we desire to take of this glorious Being, 
 who restores that which is fallen, builds up that which otherwise 
 would continue a ruinous heap, and leads captivity captive, is 
 derived from the striking parable we find in the Gospel of John. 
 
 " Verily, -verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door 
 into the sheep/old, but climleth up some other way, the same is a thief 
 and a roller. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of 
 the sheep. To him the porter openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice :
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE DOOR. 81 
 
 and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And 
 when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the 
 sheep follow him : for they know his voice. And a stranger will 
 they not follow, but will flee from him : for they know not the voice of 
 strangers." John x. 1-5. 
 
 Let it be noted, that in these verses our Lord has not as yet 
 introduced any direct mention of himself, nor does he mix up 
 with the external figure here introduced, any of the deep spiritual 
 truths it is intended to illustrate. He is merely giving us a para- 
 ble which must have been matter of every-day observation by the 
 parties he was addressing. He alludes to a large sheep-fold, a 
 place where sheep may be housed in safety. He refers to the 
 fact, admitted by all, that the regular and proper mode of access 
 is by the door. He reminds them that there is a porter at the 
 door, whose duty it is to attend to it to keep it shut for the 
 security of the sheep within, and to open it to the shepherds 
 when they come for their sheep. Now, if any one were seen en- 
 deavoring to make his way into the fold otherwise than by the 
 door, he would at once be regarded as coming with an unlawful 
 object, and would be dealt with as a thief or a robber ; but when 
 the lawful shepherds came, the porter would at once admit them 
 by the door. The parable is further based upon what was usual 
 in the East then, and is so still, namely, that one fold was often 
 made the place of safety for several flocks belonging to different 
 shepherds. And thus we have the simple, every-day occurrence 
 under such circumstances beautifully told. When a shepherd 
 enters in by the door, the first thing he does is " he calleth HIS 
 OWN sheep by name, and leadeili them out" Then " he goeth before 
 them," and " the sheep follow him," for " they know his voice." And 
 if any body came by, and endeavored to draw them away by call- 
 ing them, or to force them on before him, " they will not follow 
 him," but " flee from him ;" for " they know not tlie voice of strangers." 
 
 Such is the parable. Our gracious Master has been pleased to 
 give us the key to its full and clear interpretation. In entering 
 upon this, it is well to observe the main scope of the parable. 
 " The sheep throughout this parable are not the mingled multi- 
 tude of good and bad ; but the real sheep, the faithful, who are 
 what all in the fold should be. The false sheep ( goats, Matt. xxv. 
 32) do not appear ; for it is not the character of the flock, but that 
 
 6
 
 82 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 of the slwpherd, and the relation between him and his sheep which 
 are here prominent."* 
 
 What, then, does the parable tell us of Christ ? He himself 
 has given us in a simple and wondrous order what he means to 
 convey to us regarding himself. " By me, if any man enter in, he 
 shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Ob- 
 serve these three things, 1. The entering in for safety. 2. The 
 going in and out safely and freely. 3. The finding pasture. 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." He 
 prefaces the statement as he was wont to do when anxious to 
 impress a very solemn truth upon his hearers, " Verily, verily, / 
 say unto you" Listen to this, reader. He who is the truth and can 
 not lie, is saying something of eternal moment to your soul. He 
 is speaking of safety from wrath from all the dangers and the 
 horrors of being left in utter darkness. He is telling you of what 
 is of the first importance, if you would live and not die "I am 
 the door of the sheep." 
 
 The sheep here spoken of are, as we have seen, the true people 
 of God, the real servants of Christ. They are not, therefore, the 
 mingled throng of evil and good that are found in the visible 
 church of Christ on earth. They are tne " Church of the first 
 born, which are written in heaven" the mystical body of Christ 
 the "Lamb's bride." Their place of safety the fold which 
 shelters them, where they can rest in peace which surrounds 
 them one every side which keeps off all that would harm them 
 is the everlasting power of Jehovah. They " dwell in the 
 secret place of the Most High," and "abide under the shadow of 
 the Almighty." There is their fold, their "quiet habitation," 
 their " sure resting-place." Within the circle of that home, they 
 " shall not be afraid for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the 
 pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that 
 wasteth at noon-day. A thousand shall fall at their side, and 
 ten thousand at their right hand; but it shall not come nigh 
 them." Now, of this wall of salvation round about, Christ is 
 " the door." 
 
 By this, he first gives us to understand, that' it is not in the 
 spiritual fold to which he is referring as in the common folds in 
 their sight, which suggested the parable. In the one case, there 
 
 * Alford in loco.
 
 THE DOOR. 83 
 
 might be different flocks with their several shepoerds ; in the 
 case illustrated, there is but one flock and one shepherd; this 
 flock entering in by the door Christ ; and every one who thus 
 enters " is saved" So that this is the marked feature of every 
 one within the fold he is a saved soul. Here, then, we have 
 Christ in his great and glorious character of Saviour. " He shall 
 be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." 
 " Him hath God exalted at his right hand, to be a Prince and a 
 Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins." 
 " I am the door." There is none other no other way of access 
 nnto God, his favor, and his light no other way of escape from 
 wrath and death. " There is no other name given among men 
 whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus." Man placed 
 in Paradise, with every thing around him made to minister to his 
 enjoyment, yet indulged in evil thoughts, and so broke out of 
 the enclosure of God's 'love, and favor and protection. Nor could 
 he retrace his steps. That road was guarded by the cherubim 
 with the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the 
 way of the tree of life. " A new and & Jiving way," however, has 
 been consecrated for him by the blood of Jesus. And now the 
 Second Adam the Lord from heaven invites him by his voice, 
 and draws him to the door by which he may enter in, and be 
 saved. " Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy ladeq, 
 and I will give you rest." 
 
 Then notice this, "if any man enter in, he shall be saved." 
 Here is the blessed intimation for all the hapless and the helpless 
 sons of men all who are under darkness and in the shadow of 
 death. This door is not for righteous, but for sinners not for 
 those who need no salvation, but for those who do. This door is 
 not meant for such only as are of one class or degree in sin, but 
 for all who will flee from the wrath to come, and partake of the 
 safety to which it leads and which it secures. " If any man" 
 it is open for one and all who apply for admittance. Any poor 
 sinner that cries sincerely, and knocks heartily, shall enter in and 
 be saved. It is as good for the persecuting Saul as for the loving 
 John ; and it is as needful for John as for Saul. It stands as wide 
 for th^ penitent robber expiring on the cross as it did for the in- 
 quiring Nicodemus, who came privately to Jesus ; and Nicode 
 mus must look at it as steadily, and enter it as humbly as the
 
 84 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 penitent robber. This is the great glory of Christ to be the 
 door, by " whom, whosoever cometh unto God, shall in no wise 
 be cast out." It is thus that he reverses man's own suicidal act, 
 when he destroys himself. It is thus that he plucks the sinner as 
 a brand from the burning, and saves with an everlasting salvation. 
 
 Further, observe what is intimated to us by this declaration of 
 our Lord, "lam the door., by me, if any man enter, he shall be saved '." 
 " Saved /" saved from Satan saved from the wrath of God 
 saved from sin, from its power, its pollution, as well as its guilt ! 
 Who can do all this but God? He, then, who calls himself "the 
 door," is a Prince as well as a Saviour. He has power with God 
 and can prevail. Though he chooses to empty himself of his 
 reputation, and make himself manifest in the humble character 
 of the mere door by which his people are to enter into safety and 
 rest, yet he thinks it " no robbery to be equal with God." Yea, 
 even in the body of his humiliation, as the door of escape for sin- 
 ners, he has wrought such glorious things that in that character we 
 are told " God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a name 
 above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under 
 the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Header, be well as- 
 sured of this, that if we would know any thing truly of God, or 
 truth, or holiness if we would know what Heaven is by its pos- 
 session, and what hell would be, by the discovery of what they 
 have forfeited who are there if we would know peace which 
 passeth understanding, and which can not be taken away if we 
 would know what it is to cry, " Thanks be to God who giveth us 
 the victory," as the world is sinking beneath our feet, and eternity 
 throwing wide her gates to unvail the profound depths which lie 
 in her domain if we would know all this, we must first of all 
 know Christ as " the door." Be sure that you have Him, and you 
 are sure of all the rest : " All things are yours, whether Paul, or 
 Apollos, or Cephas, or life, or death, or things present, or things 
 to come, all are yours, for ye are Christ's, (his saved ones by en- 
 tering in at the door,) and Christ is God's. 
 
 But again, our Lord adds, "He shall go in and out;" and, in 
 this part of the interpretation which he has been pleased to give 
 us, he appears before us in that most loved and lovely of all his
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 85 
 
 characters, of which there is so much said and implied throughout 
 the whole of the inspired word of God the Shepherd of the 
 sheep. In dealing with a parable which furnishes us with even a 
 faint illustration of what Christ is, we must bear in mind what 
 good John Bunyan says : " First I would premise, that He of 
 whom I am about to speak, hath not His fellow." And so, from 
 the very greatness and glory of Him who is set forth in this par- 
 able, and the utter insufficiency of any one figure to furnish a full 
 resemblance, we must endeavor to look at it from various points 
 of view. We nrust first, as it were, take it up in one way, and 
 when we have seen what it means, set it down, and take it up in 
 another, without allowing the first view to complicate or interfere 
 with the second. Thus we regard this parable first and simply 
 with reference to the door. Christ says He is that which is repre- 
 sented by the door. Well, after having considered this, we must, 
 as it were, forget for the moment that part of the illustration, and 
 pass to the second ; and here Christ is the Shepherd. "Jam," 
 says he, " the good Shepherd;' 1 '' "by me" shall my flock "go in and 
 out." "lam the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known 
 of mine." Like the ordinary shepherd in the parable, He " calleth 
 his owri sheep by name, and leadetfi them out." " He goeth before 
 them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" 
 
 And it is in this second view which the parable furnishes us 
 of Christ, that our attention is specially directed to the contrast 
 which he draws in it in such remarkable language. He describes 
 to his hearers what was well understood by them. If any one 
 were found seeking an entrance into a fold, except by the lawful 
 door, he would be regarded as dishonest, as " a thief or a robber" 
 Well, then, he adds, "All that ever came before me are thieves and 
 robbers." It is alone He that entereth in by the lawful door, who 
 is " the Shepherd of the sheep." This he did ; but who, then, are 
 the " thieves and robbers who came before him ?" It is impossi- 
 ble to limit these words to the few isolated attempts which were 
 made previous to the coming of Christ, by false pretenders to the 
 office of Messiah. The words will not admit of such restriction, 
 " all that ever came before me," &c. They must refer to all false 
 teachers of every age and of every kind. Nor can we avoid 
 marking what'appears to be the original of the contrast between the 
 good Shepherd and these " thieves and robbers," in the conversa-
 
 86 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 I 
 
 tion between our Lord and the leaders of the Jewish people in the 
 preceding chapter but one. They, the self-constituted guides and 
 teachers of Israel, were delighted to be stj'led Rabbi, professed to 
 be the chosen seed of Abraham, and vainly boasted of their extrac- 
 tion from that patriarch. But Christ tells them, by their works 
 they dishonored their profession, for " Abraham rejoiced to see my 
 day" the day of the good Shepherd "he saw it and was glad." 
 Not only so, but he tells them plainly what their real condition 
 is, in what family they are, and from what parentage they are 
 sprung. "Ye are of your father, the devil ;" "*Le is a liar and a 
 murderer from the beginning." Yes, here was the first " thief 
 and robber," who endeavored to get into the fold " some other 
 way 1 " 1 than by the known and lawful one. All who have sought 
 to lead astray, whether spirits of darkness or fallen men, are but 
 the followers, the children, the imitators of this great adversary, 
 this head and front of " all subtilty and all mischief." He and 
 they have never ceased their efforts to rob God of his sheep, " to 
 steal, and to Mil, and to destroy" They are " treacherous dealers, 
 who deal very treacherously." 
 
 And when it is added that " the sheep did not hear them" this is 
 not meant in an absolute sense ; for, alas, who among the children 
 of God that has not at one time or another listened to the Syren 
 voice of the tempter, and been ready often and often to yield to 
 the subtle wiles which would draw away from safety, life and 
 peace for ever ? What our Lord would convey by this is, that 
 none of his people, none of his flock, none that know him really, 
 and are known of him, none whom he calls by name, and who 
 really love his voice and follow him, none of them ever heard so 
 as to be finally drawn away and lost. The voice of temptation 
 very often has reached them. They have often rashty listened, 
 and the longer they did so were the less able to distinguish 
 whose voice it was ; bat the good Shepherd never left them to 
 themselves. He with his rod and staff *" restored their souls," 
 and ceased not " to lead them in the paths of righteousness for 
 his name's sake." 
 
 Those of whom he speaks, then, " the thieves and robbers," 
 are primarily " the rulers of the darkness of this world," and 
 subordinately " evil men and seducers, deceiving and being de- 
 ceived." See the blessed contrast. " I am the good Shepherd,"
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 87 
 
 says Christ. Good indeed unutterably good, for goodness is his 
 essential attribute. He is goodness itself good, because lie has 
 spared himself no cost, in order to promote the well-being of poor 
 sinful man good, because he does with his sheep whatever is 
 for their best interests good, because as he goes before them, 
 he guides them safely, and is likewise their bright example ; and 
 because every one of his flock shall have cause to say at last, 
 when they look back on all the care and love which he has 
 shown to them as their Shepherd, a Surely goodness and rnercy 
 have followed me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the 
 house of the Lord forever." 
 
 " To him" this good Shepherd, " the porter openetii? Mark this 
 well. The door into the sheepfold is thrown open, "hut it is to 
 " the Shepherd of the sheep.' 1 ' 1 The flock, doubtless, enter in and 
 go out by the door ; but it is not they who open it, nor is it on 
 their application that it is opened at all. It is unnecessary to 
 inquire here whether any, and if any, which of the persons in the 
 Trinity is specially meant by " the porter." It is enough for us 
 to notice the great lesson of the parable which is so strongly 
 enforced, namely, that while the door opens for the sheep to let 
 them in, and " no man can shut" it, and is shut for their security 
 when they are in, and " no man can open it ;" all that they have 
 to do with it, is to take advantage of what it offers to them, a 
 way in, and security when in. They did not make the door, nor 
 find it 'when it was made, nor open it when it was found. All 
 this is done for them, and it is to their good and loving Shepherd 
 that the porter attends, and does exactly as he requires, in either 
 opening or shutting " with the key of David." 
 
 And then the sheep "go in and out" There is something pe- 
 culiarly significant in the language. The sheep, first of all, go 
 in by the door, that they may be saved Then, when once in, 
 and under the rule and guidance of the good Shepherd, they "go 
 in and out" This shows us the perfect freedom of the service of 
 Christ. He brings salvation to us he surrounds us with its 
 walls and bulwarks ; but this is just in other words the liberty 
 wherewith Christ has made us free. His sheep, indeed, are never 
 without him, for they only follow as he leads, and listen to his 
 voice; and thus they are ever safe none dares to make them 
 afraid when ho is by their side ; but where he is, there is " liberty"
 
 88 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 Let this not be forgotten. The salvation to which Christ admits 
 his people is not a bondage, but a deliverance from bondage. It 
 is " the spirit of adoption " in exchange for " the spirit of fear." 
 The saved ^eoul does not feel as if a captive in its prison when it 
 enters the fold, but has all the fall assurance of everlasting safety, 
 while it walks at liberty, or, as the Prophet has it, " Walks up 
 and down in the name of the Lord." 
 
 And see here the blessed understanding mutually subsisting 
 between Christ and his people. "He calls his own sheep by name." 
 They "know his voice" "He leadeth them out." " They follow 
 him." Here the strong and the weak are found together. Blessed 
 communications of grace have passed from the one to the other. 
 The Shepherd calls. What heavenly music in that voice when 
 he speaks to his own ! He calls his own sheep. They are his 
 by right of purchase, and as such are very dear to him. How 
 this endearment shows itself in such words as these, " Fear not, 
 little flock !" He calls them all by name. Let not the humblest 
 believer, the youngest child in the family of God fear, lest amid 
 the flock which Christ has purchased, and the many names of 
 honored sons to be found there, he should be forgotten. The 
 Shepherd calls him by name, as well as others. No wonder that 
 the receiver of such graces should "know his voice" when he 
 speaks so pleasingly, so tenderly, to the heart of each. And 
 then following him is the result of this. " Whither thou goest, 
 I will go," is the language of each of his chosen ones. 
 
 This communication of grace from Christ to his people, and 
 their entire dependence on him, preserves them from strangers or 
 hirelings. He has made himself so known to his people all 
 that he is to them, as well as what he has done for them, is so 
 well understood by them, that they are at no loss to detect the 
 voice of strangers, and flee from them. " TJiat is not the Gospel, 
 the sound of glad tidings, as my Shepherd has taught me, and I 
 will have none of it," is the language of the enlightened child of 
 God. " If any man preach any other gospel, (which is not an- 
 other,)" said one faithful member of the flock, "let him be 
 accursed." 
 
 Such strangers or hirelings as these have always their own 
 purpose to serve ; but they care nothing for the real safety and 
 prosperity of the sheep. The prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 89 
 
 Zechariah have given awful descriptions of such false shepherds. 
 In the time of danger they leave the sheep " not the sheep of 
 the fold" spoken of as belonging to Christ, because he says, 
 "they hear not" these strangers, but such as are tempted to 
 follow them men who yield to their seductive teaching and 
 influence. These are deserted by them in the time of need. 
 When the hireling "seeth the wolf coming, he fleeth, and the 
 wolf catcheth them and scattereth the flock." 
 
 Our Lord, in alluding to these hirelings, takes occasion from 
 their conduct to introduce the great and crowning excellence of 
 his faithful, tender, and loving work as " the good Shepherd" The 
 hireling fleeth when he sees the wolf coming. He cares not for 
 the flock, but for himself. They may all be devoured for what he 
 cares, only let him be safe. The wolf may have their lives, if 
 only he may be delivered from his fangs. Not so the faithful 
 Shepherd. Look at a real case in point. David kept his father's 
 sheep not a hireling but a son, having a direct interest in the 
 flock, and there came out a lion and a bear, and the young shep 
 herd ran up and slew them both, and delivered his flock " out 
 of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear." In doing 
 so he of course put his own life in peril, in order to guard that 
 which was intrusted to him ; and so our Lord, with this part of 
 a faithful shepherd's work before the minds of the people, says 
 of himself, not merely that he risks his life for his flock, but " the 
 good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.' 1 ' 1 "I lay down," he 
 adds, " my life for the sheep." 
 
 It is surely not pressing the interpretation here too far, to take 
 the statement of our Lord as in immediate connection with what 
 he suggests in the figure the wolf attacking a flock, and a hire- 
 ling fleeing in order to save his life. The good Shepherd is not 
 like him, but " gives his life for the sheep." Who is the wolf? 
 It can mean only the great adversary of souls. Just as Satan is 
 represented in one view of the parable as " a thief and a robber," 
 endeavoring to steal into the fold ; so now, when the flock are 
 in the field, he is set forth as a wolf ready to devour them. Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, then, had to encounter this enemy, because ho 
 would deliver the prey out of his teeth ; and in this encounter 
 he did not merely risk his life, but he " gave" it. He not. merely 
 undertook a dangerous mission, but one which he knew must
 
 90 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 issue in his own death ; and thus the enemy seemed at first to 
 gain the advantage over him. " The serpent bruised his heel." 
 The wolf succeeded in slaying the shepherd. But out of this 
 weakness came forth strength. " I lay my life down," he says, 
 "that I might take it again;" and thus he totally defeated his ene- 
 my, and " led captivity captive." He laid down his life for his 
 sheep ; in other words, " He died for the sins " of his people ; and 
 he "rose again" to bind Satan forever in chains of darkness, and 
 to justify his people before his Father. This was not a duty which 
 was forced upon him. This was not a positive injunction laid 
 upon a creature, which he must fulfill or be disobedient. It was 
 his voluntary act. He loved his sheep. He must secure their 
 safety. He must deliver them from Satan. He must give them 
 the blessing of " going in and out" freely and happily ; and so he 
 says, "I lay down my life," for " no man taketh it from me," but 
 I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have 
 power to take it again." And, as if to bind our hearts in wonder, 
 love, and praise to him who thus deals with his sheep, he singles 
 this out as pre-eminently the thing which draws forth the whole 
 love of his Father toward himself. " Therefore doth my Father 
 love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again." 
 
 But further, observe the assurance our Lord gives that as the 
 good Shepherd he not only leads his people " in and out " in 
 safety and freedom, but provides "pasture" for them. They "find 
 pasture" A plentiful supply for all their wants is provided by 
 him. " Of his fullness" all his people receive largely and liberally, 
 and " grace for grace." The child of God can take up the lan- 
 guage of David, and say, " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not 
 want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth 
 me beside the still waters. He prepareth a table before me in the 
 presence of mine enemies, he anointeth my head with oil ; my cup 
 runneth over." We shall have to notice hereafter what these 
 " green pastures " and " still waters " are which the good Shep- 
 herd causes his people to find. 
 
 And then, again, it is important to observe that all this so done 
 so well done by the Shepherd for his flock, is in entire accord- 
 ance with the character and will of his Father. Just as the shep- 
 herd uses the right place of entrance the door, and does not 
 climb up into the fold, or pull part of it down in order to enter,
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 91 
 
 even thus it is with Christ. He did not himself enter within the 
 true fold the grace, favor, and protection of his heavenly Father 
 and take sinners with him there, otherwise than by the lawful 
 door. He did not get over any of God's commandments, making 
 them, as it were, of little account he did not put them under his 
 feet in order to attain his end, nor did he make a breach in God's 
 holy and perfect law. He came not as a " thief or robber ;" on 
 the contrary, his entering in with his flock, and his leading them 
 in and out, have been openly done, and with no damage to the 
 law and the honor of his Father. He came by the proper door 
 perfect sinless obedience to God; and so he "magnified the law 
 and made it honorable." And therefore did his Father " love 
 him," because the violence he did was not on holiness, justice, or 
 truth not on the eternal walls which surrounded the Throne and 
 the glory of God, but on himself. He did not lay down truth, 
 but he laid down his own life. He did not sacrifice justice, but 
 he sacrified himself. He did not win his way into the fold in 
 spite of holiness, but because he was " holy, harmless, and unde- 
 filed." He was just such an high -priest as could offer a full atone- 
 ment for sin, and, being " consecrated for us," secure the eternal 
 holiness of his people. 
 
 And how strikingly is this entire accordance with the character 
 and will of his Father, in all that was done by the good Shep- 
 herd, intimated to ua in these precious verses, where Jesus seems 
 to bring within the compass of a few words the most delightful 
 and blessed view of this work for his people. " My sheep," he 
 says, " hear my voice ; and I know them, and they follow me : 
 and I give unto them eternal life : and they shall never perish, 
 neither shall any pluck them out of my hand : my Father which 
 gave them me is greater than all ; and no man is able to pluck 
 them out of my Father's hand." This work of the Son of God is 
 so- precious in the sight of the Father that when he Avas engaged 
 in it he declared from heaven, " This is my beloved Son, in whom 
 I am well pleased." It is in such strict accordance with the 
 Father's will and character, that, as regards this loved and pre- 
 cious flock, Christ says, "all mine arc thine, and thine are mine." 
 And so he adds, in the chapter before us, " I and my Father are 
 one," implying, doubtless, that the two persons of the Godhead 
 here mentioned are one in essence, but specially and primarily in
 
 92 THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
 
 this connection, manifesting the oneness of love, purpose, and 
 power, on the part of Father and Son, in keeping, guarding, and 
 holding fast possession of every member of their beloved flock. 
 
 These, then, are the great truths illustrated by this parable. It 
 tells us what the Prince of the Kingdom of Light is. First, a 
 Saviour he is the door into the sheepfold ; next, the good Shep- 
 herd he leads his flock as a shepherd, and provides full pasture 
 for them, having laid down his life for them, in order to purchase 
 their safety at this cost All this, too, is done according to truth 
 and justice ; and so he can point to it as manifesting forth this 
 eternal glory of the Godhead, "I and my Father are one."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TRUE VINE. 
 
 WE proceed further to inquire into what the parables shadow 
 forth to us of the great Prinee of the Kingdom of Light. And 
 precious as the view is which the parable in the preceding chap- 
 ter gives us of him as the way of salvation, and the Shepherd of 
 the sheep glorious as the relationship therein represented is 
 which he has been pleased to form with his people, we have now 
 to regard him under another figure chosen by himself, in order to 
 shadow forth a still deeper and more precious truth regarding his 
 connection with those whom he saves, and who are to behold his 
 glory forever. The sheep going in at the door for safety, and 
 being carefully tended by the good Shepherd, have yet nothing 
 in common with the door or the Shepherd. By the one they are 
 admitted, by the other guarded, led, and nourished, and thus in- 
 estimable blessings are by these figures shadowed forth in the 
 most attractive manner, but still they imply nothing in common 
 between the two parties. They suggest danger and helplessness 
 in the one, they set forth the means of safety and protection by 
 the other ; but they do no more. Now, however, we shall see 
 these two parties, the Saviour and his saved ones the Shepherd 
 and his sheep not simply as conferring and receiving blessings, 
 but as being, in the most intimate and wonderful manner, identi- 
 fied with each other. It is possible to conceive of Christ, the 
 Prince of the Kingdom of Light, becoming the means of escape 
 to his people, and undertaking to be their Shepherd, and yet not 
 coming nearer to them than these figures denote ; but he has 
 given us another which marks explicitly that he is not only near 
 to them, but actually one with them. Listen to him, as he com- 
 forted and taught his faithful ones, on the night he was betrayed.
 
 94 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 11 1 am Hie true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" John 
 xv. 1. 
 
 Our Lord selects the image here from fruit-bearing trees, and 
 among these from the noblest, the most beautiful and graceful, 
 and which has ever been esteemed most highly among men the 
 vine. He implies that the vine to which he refers is planted in a 
 vineyard, and that it is carefully tended by a husbandman. 
 
 Directly applying the figure to himself in the way of allegory, 
 he says, "lam the true vine" not the vine of truth, which yields a 
 cold and frigid sense, and is not allowable. " The true" is that 
 " not only by which prophecy is fulfilled " not only " in which 
 the organism and qualities of the vine are most nobly realized," 
 (Tholuck,) but, as in chapter i. 9, ' original" "archetypal."* It 
 is here just as in the case of Moses and the tabernacle. The 
 prophet gained his insight into the proper frame and form of the 
 tabernacle which he was to make on earth, by the pattern which 
 he was permitted to behold in heaven. He first saw the original, 
 and then proceeded to execute his copy. The archetype came 
 first, the type afterward. So here we have the great original 
 archetype Christ. And the vine which we see rising from the 
 ground at our feet, and hanging its beauteous branches, laden 
 with luscious fruit, is the mere type of this " True Vine," made, 
 prepared, set in this world, and all its construction and habits ar- 
 ranged by the God of nature, to be a fitting emblem of his more 
 precious plant in the kingdom of grace. 
 
 And when our Lord assumed this figure to himself in this 
 striking language, we are led at once to some important and most 
 precious conclusions. The emblem of a vine is one of very fre- 
 quent occurrence in the Old Testament. Let two references to 
 these suffice. In Psalm Ixxx., the writer speaks in very striking 
 and highly poetical language of Israel being brought out of Egypt 
 by Jehovah, with a high hand and an outstretched arm, planted 
 in the land of Canaan, and there fostered and cherished by the 
 love and power of her great King. All this is graphically set 
 forth under the image of a vine. " Thou hast brought a vine 
 out of Egypt ; thou hafst cast out the heathen and planted it. 
 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep 
 root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the 
 
 * Alford in loco.
 
 THE TRUE TINE. 95 
 
 shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. 
 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the 
 river." Glorious as this vine was, it was not the " true vine" Its 
 " hedges were broken down." It was " burned with fire." It 
 was " cut down." 
 
 Again, in the fifth chapter of Isaiah, we have a parable with 
 its interpretation given, in which the vine is the figure used : 
 " My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill : and ho 
 fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with 
 the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made 
 a wine-press therein ; and he looked that it should bring forth 
 grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." Neither then was this 
 the " true vine" seeing it brought forth " wild grapes." And 
 although the reference is primarily made to this vine in its then 
 degraded state, as bringing forth " wild grapes," and it is said 
 " that the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, 
 and the men of Judah his pleasant plant," yet must we not omit 
 to notice that the expression in the parable, " the choicest vine," 
 evidently refers to the parent stock from which this degenerate 
 vine had sprung that is Abraham. Just as the Prophet Jere- 
 miah also manifestly alludes to him, " Yet I had planted thee a 
 noble vine, wholly a right seed : how then art thou turned into the 
 degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me ?"* And thus we 
 gather that while Israel and Judah in their apostasy and rebel- 
 lion, though likened to a vine,' were not the " true vine" so like- 
 wise Abraham himself, though the friend of God, though the 
 father of the faithful one of all men most signally honored by 
 tokens of God's favor and love ; though he was indeed a " choice 
 plant," a " noble vine," " wholly a right seed," was, nevertheless, 
 not the " true vine" not the great original of which the vine is 
 but a type, but only as standing midway between the one and 
 the other, and catching some faint features of resemblance from 
 them both. 
 
 Unless we bear these things distinctly in mind, we shall fail to 
 have a just conception of the impression made on the minds of 
 those who heard him, when our Lord said to the true disciples 
 who then alone surrounded him, but who were all Jews, children 
 of the stock of Abraham, and who even then were disposed to 
 
 * Jeremiah ii. 21.
 
 96 
 
 cling with bigoted tenacity to the mere fact of their outward ex- 
 traction from Abraham. " I am the true vine." It was, in truth, 
 the counterpart to that other declaration of his to the assembled 
 Jews, " Before Abraham was, I am." On that occasion he dis- 
 tinctly affirmed his superiority to Abraham in one sense. In 
 the parable before us he as distinctly asserts his superiority in 
 another. 
 
 For, notice the truth which underlies all this. Just as the vine 
 had been often used in the Old Testament Sciiptures to denote 
 Abraham, or the house of Israel, so now the Saviour adopts the 
 same image to denote his manhood. It is to this that the parable 
 mainly points. It is on this the great facts depend which are 
 illustrated by it. The husbandman prepares room for his plant, 
 and he sets it in the place thus made ready. So the Father sent 
 his Son into the world, having "prepared a body" for him. 
 " When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, 
 made of a woman, made under the law." This Son of God made 
 man, "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," was not, like 
 Abraham, to give birth to a degenerate race, but every one who 
 claimed sonship from him should be a " king and a priest unto 
 God and the Father forever." " He shall have dominion from 
 sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth." This 
 is the " true vine" the humanity of Jesus, which has been set and 
 planted in this world, that it may yield plenteous fruit to the 
 heavenly husbandman, even "fruit that shall remain" yea, 
 " fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise 
 and glory of God." 
 
 But observe this special feature in the parable before us. He 
 who prepared the vine in the kingdom of his providence to illus- 
 trate the human nature of his own Son in the kingdom of grace, 
 chose to make this beauteous and fruitful tree dependent on 
 something else for its support. The vine needs to be trained on 
 something stronger than itself, otherwise it will lie prostrate on 
 the ground, wither and die, and be utterly worthless. So also 
 with Christ. Had there been manhood only in him, he never 
 could have done what he did, nor brought honor and glory to 
 God as he has done. And just as our idea of a beautiful and 
 fertile vine must always arise from seeing it held up and sup- 
 ported by something else, foreign to it, and yet united with it, so
 
 
 THE TRUE VINE. 97 
 
 we never can realize Qhrist as the " true vine" otherwise than as 
 the Man " in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," 
 who in his own person combines two natures, perfectly distinct 
 from each other, and yet perfectly united in him, " very God and 
 very man." In the first of these he is apart from us all. We 
 can have nothing in common with it. In the other he has come 
 down to. our level, in order that perfect union may exist between 
 us. And thus he proceeds to say 
 
 " lam the vine and ye are tfie branches" John xv. 5. 
 
 Here, then, we have the intimate union between Christ and 
 his people shadowed forth. He is not now merely "the door by 
 which they enter in and are saved," nor even as " the good shep- 
 herd," with whom they "go in and out, and find pasture," and 
 who even " lays down his life for the sheep," but he is one with 
 them, and they with him. Just as the branch and the stem are 
 one, so Christ and his people are one. One nature is common to 
 both. And as the branches of the vine are in the place where 
 the vine is planted, so Christ and his people have one vineyard 
 in which they flourish. And as the sap rises up in the stem and 
 thence through the branches, so it is the salf-same spirit which 
 dwelt " without measure" in Christ, and " by which he offered 
 himself without spot to God," in order to atone for his people, 
 which also works in measure in the people thus saved, and causes 
 them to bring forth precious fruit to the praise of God. 
 
 So far, generally, as regards the figure selected by our Lord. 
 He means to set forth the point of union between himself and his 
 people. " Verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but 
 he took on him the seed of Abraham." But another question is 
 here suggested. What special view of this union is meant to be 
 given ? Obviously " the vine and the branches " represent Christ 
 and his visible church. The mystical or invisible church can not 
 be intended here, because there are unfruitful branches, that are 
 broken off, withered, and cast into the fire. But we must take 
 care while asserting this, that we do not, as some have done, care- 
 lessly apply an epithet to Christ in connection with the figure 
 before us which is altogether alien from it, and which suggests 
 what is unscriptural and dangerous. " The vine," it has been said, 
 " is the visible church here, of which Christ is the inclusive Head. 
 And so ' the vine and the branches' answer to the Head and 
 
 7
 
 98 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 members, in Eph. v. 23, 30 ; Col. ii. 19.". There is no scriptural 
 warrant for the mixing up of these two perfectly distinct things. 
 
 In the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, the Apostle 
 more than once makes reference to the church of God in close 
 and intimate union with Christ under the figure of " the body," 
 with its various members, and Christ the Head of it. God the 
 Father, as we are told, " hath put all things under his feet, and 
 given him to be the Head over all things to the church, which 
 is his body : the fullness of him that filleth all in all." These and 
 the other references which he makes to the church under the 
 figure of a body, are obviously meant to bring it under our notice 
 in its purely mystical character "the whole company of the 
 redeemed " the " called, and chosen, and faithful " those " who 
 endure unto the end, and are saved." The figure itself demands 
 this interpretation. A little reflection will prove this. The peo- 
 ple of God are represented as the members of a body " members 
 in particular ;" i. e., each one, as it were, stands in a relative posi- 
 tion to Christ as the several members of a body do to its head. 
 No doubt, if a member of a body become incurably diseased, it is 
 removed. A hand or a foot may be taken off, so as to check the 
 spread of a disease which might prove fatal to the whole body. 
 But what then ? This very excision of the diseased member 
 leaves the body maimed and mutilated. It may be saved from 
 death, it is true, but it has lost its symmetry, its proportion, and 
 its beauty; and thus to say that "we are members of Christ's 
 body, of his flesh and of his bones" that " he is the Head, and 
 we are the members" and that, after all, many of these members 
 become so corrupt as to be cut off and cast away altogether, des- 
 troys the force and beauty of the image, and is revolting to the 
 spiritual apprehension. No ! The union between Christ and his 
 people, as the Head with the members of one body, is such, that 
 when they once belong to him, they are his forever not to be 
 cut off again, and so leave the Head spoiled of his members, but 
 vivified by his life-giving, healing Spirit, " till we all come in the 
 unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto 
 a perfect man unto the measure of the stature (or age) of the 
 fullness of Christ." 
 
 On the other hand, notice the wonderful .iccuracv of the 
 
 7 / 
 
 imagery of Scripture. The vine and the branches represent, not
 
 THE TKUE VINE. 99 
 
 the " church of the first-born, written in heaven," not the " new," 
 the "holy Jerusalem:" but the visible church on earth, wherein 
 the evil has been and always will be mingled with the good. It 
 is not here, then, as in the figure of a human body. If a branch 
 that is dried, withered, or worthless, be removed, the tree is im- 
 proved by such a process, not mutilated. It is no loss, but the 
 contrary, to a vine, for the useless, fruitless branches to be taken 
 away, in order to make room for the enlargement of its fruitful 
 boughs, that they may be trained and spread in the very place 
 where the barren ones were, and so a plentiful increase be drawn 
 for the use of the husbandman : and thus, too, in the visible 
 Church, the removal from time to time of that which is worthless, 
 and the final cutting away of every branch that bears no fruit, 
 far A-om impairing, will only issue in the perfect beauty and full 
 excellence of the " true vine" and his fruitful branches. 
 
 No doubt, in both figures, there is something which they have 
 in common ; the life of the plant in the one, the life of the body 
 in the other. The stem and the branches share in the one, the 
 head and the members in the other. But this is indeed slender 
 ground on which to conclude that both the one and the other 
 represent the church under one and the same aspect, in one and 
 the same condition ! On the contrary, a single glance will suffice 
 to lead us to the very opposite conclusion, even apart from the 
 reasons urged above. The one, we should be disposed to say, 
 tells us of some kind of union with Christ, which may either be 
 accompanied by fruit-bearing or barrenness, and so one branch 
 may after all be destitute of what another has ; the other tells us 
 of a union, so close, so vital, so particular, that every member 
 must in every respect fully share in that very life which is com- 
 mon to all. 
 
 And here it may be well to enter a protest against a certain 
 ecclesiastical terminology, which, whether it has been originally 
 derived from the imagery in the chapter before us or not, has 
 assuredly no Scripture warrant to support it, and which has im- 
 perceptibly led to much that is to be deplored in the history of 
 the Church of Christ, and which to this moment stands as a 
 special perplexity in the way of full and satisfactory views con- 
 cerning that Church. We are perpetually hearing of the " uni- 
 versal church," and that one church or another, peculiar to some
 
 100 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 country or place, is, or is not a branch of this universal church. 
 Now in one respect there may be no harm in such application of 
 this term ; but when it is attempted to convert a mere phrase 
 into something more, and to give the language a specialty in- 
 volving things of such tremendous moment, as that, if a man 
 belongs to one particular communion, he is " within the cove- 
 nanted mercies of God," because that communion is " a branch of 
 the Church catholic," while another is not within the pale of these 
 covenanted mercies, because the communion in which he is, is not 
 a branch of the Church catholic, then indeed it is time to protest 
 against the use of language which, to the unreflecting, assumes 
 so much of weight and solemn importance, and which often pro- 
 duces fatal impressions on the souls of men. 
 
 Let it then be distinctly noted, that there is no Scripture 
 warrant whatever for calling any communion by the name 'of 
 " a branch." Our Lord did not address his faithful ones thus 
 " I am the vine," and ye are a branch, but " ye are THE 
 BRANCHES." There is no such use of the term found throughout 
 the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, or the Revelation. If we are 
 to use the term at all, as significant of any thing connected with 
 spiritual things, let us do it as it is set forth here. Each man 
 who makes a profession of faith in Jesus is a branch of the vine. 
 The only thing which will eventually make the distinction be- 
 tween the branches, so that some shall remain and others be 
 burned, is fruit or no fruit. It is individual connection, either of 
 a nominal or a real character, with Christ which is meant by the 
 use of this figure. Our Lord condescends not to notice the walls 
 of separation which men have set up, and then prided themselves 
 in belonging to their own little area, as if it were nearer and 
 dearer to Christ than that in which their neighbors live. He 
 looks over all these, and he speaks to each man, and he tells him, 
 " If you are fruitful, well. If not, you shall be cut off. No con- 
 nection with what you call a true Church, or a true and apostolic 
 branch of the Church, is of any account in this matter. What 
 you have to think about and take care of, is your personal con- 
 nection with me, and the result of it in your own individual life, 
 conduct, and conversation. If fruit be not found in these things 
 if your heart remains unsanctified, your life unchanged, if you 
 walk not in God's ways, and seek not to do what alone is right
 
 THE TRUE VINE. 101 
 
 before him, and to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
 bringing forth fruit in due season, then, no matter what your 
 communion may be, though it be one which, if Paul were on 
 earth, he would prefer to all others, that will be of no avail to 
 you. You shall be cut offj cast away, left to wither and die. 
 But if) on the other hand, true graces are found in you, my 
 image in your soul, the work of faith, the labor of love, the pa- 
 tience of hope, then it is not the numberless errors which may 
 exist in the communion to which you belong that will prevent 
 me from owning you at last as my own, and as one of those 
 ' whose fruit shall remain.' " 
 
 Of course, this can not for a moment furnish any just plea for 
 remaining carelessly in a communion, which, however it may 
 profess to hold the fundamentals of the faith, has yet fatally de- 
 parted from them in practice. The scope and bearing of the 
 figure under review does not touch that at all ; it has nothing to 
 do with it. And, on the other hand, it as little furnishes a plea 
 for our necessarily regarding every man as an alien and an out- 
 cast from Christ, merely on the ground of his being associated 
 externally with that which is in reality unscriptural and unsound. 
 
 And thus the argument of certain parties falls harmlessly to 
 the ground, who reason thus " You admit," say they, " that 
 there are to be found in the Romish communion those who are 
 truly the people of God. You admit that there is some of the 
 wheat there which shall at last be gathered into the heavenly 
 garner. Well, then, it follows that the communion to which 
 these justified ones belong, though it may be, and undoubtedly 
 is, in many respects corrupt, is nevertheless a true and proper 
 branch of Christ's Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." It is 
 easy to see that by this plausible reasoning there is substantially 
 a glossing over of. the real character of that communion alto- 
 gether. But the view which this parable gives us will lead to a 
 very different statement of the case. " We do admit that there 
 are true believers within the fold of the Church of Rome. We 
 do admit that God has his chosen ones there, whom he will 
 watch over and keep unto life eternal, for 'the Lord knoweth 
 them that are his.' Each one of these is a fruit-bearing branch 
 of the ' true vine. 1 But as to the system with which they are ex- 
 ternally connected, it has nothing to do with Christ or Christ's
 
 102 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Church. It is a contradiction in terms, and a mockery of God, 
 and is only calculated to delude and mislead the unwary, to call 
 it ' a branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.' No ! 
 We say of such men as Pascal or Martin Boos, l By their fruit ye 
 know them,' as 'branches.' You can distinguish their individual 
 incorporation into Christ, and their partaking of the life-giving 
 Spirit of him to whom they really belong ; but of the system in 
 which they were found, but of which they were not, we desire to 
 speak as Scripture speaks, and as the Eeformers in the sixteenth 
 century spake, and we call that system not ' a branch of Christ's 
 Church,' but Babylon the Great, the Mother of Abominations, 
 the Great Apostasy, Antichrist, whose head in no sense is Christ, 
 but, on the contrary, ' The Man of Sin, and the Son of Perdition.' " 
 
 But the figure of the vine and the branches, as dwelt upon by 
 our Lord, suggests some further truths. As regards Christ, we 
 have seen that it indirectly though necessarily implies the God- 
 head, which in him supplied the infinite strength required for 
 the great work in which he was engaged, while it directly repre- 
 sents the manhood of Christ clinging to that which is not mixed 
 up with it, so as to be confounded with it or mistaken for it, but 
 only united to it, in his person, so that he shall become while 
 truly a man, yet such a man, as that all other men who are 
 bound together with him in a living faith, shall partake of the 
 power, the holiness, the loveliness, and the life which are in him. 
 We have seen, likewise, that the figure before us has reference 
 to Christ, and all those who profess his name, whether that pro- 
 fession be true or false, formal or sincere. 
 
 In this latter use of the figure, an identity between Christ and 
 both these classes is implied, and it is interesting to observe 
 wherein alone this identity consists. As one substance is com- 
 mon to a vine and its branches, so the human nature is common 
 to Christ and every member of his visible church. But this is 
 the only point of real connection between them. There is noth- 
 ing else in common ; and this seems to show the peculiar aptness 
 of the figure here used. Some are startled by it at first, as won- 
 dering how false and godless men can ever in any sense by mere 
 profession be called branches of the " true vine" but it is not by 
 their profession that they are so. That profession, indeed, comes 
 to be taken into account as we shall see, because our Lord is not
 
 THE TRUE VINE. 103 
 
 referring to those who never heard of him, but only to those who 
 have ; but it is not by their profession that they are branches of 
 the vine ; they are simply and solely regarded as such by reason 
 of that human nature which is common to them and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as man, and, indeed, unless in the parables we found 
 the illustration of this identity, we should miss a very important 
 feature in the economy of grace, for it is this very identity in 
 nature with every one to whom Christ comes offering salvation in 
 his Gospel which makes apparent the deadly guilt and the awful 
 condemnation of those who profess to receive him, and yet by 
 their barrenness give the lie to their profession. He has taken 
 their nature on himself before he offers them salvation, and the 
 salvation he offers depends on this fact ; and so, if they abide not 
 in him, and bear fruit, they expose themselves to the terrible sen- 
 tence which inevitably follows all such barrenness. 
 
 But we must now proceed to notice some points which our 
 Lord brings before us in the course cf his reference to the vine 
 and the branches ; and first, surely the very way in which he 
 speaks to his Apostles on this occasion would lead us to conclude 
 that he meant to establish a distinction between one set of branches 
 and another not simply in the fact of the one being fruitful, the 
 other barren, for that is admitted ; but as if one set, after all, were 
 alone regarded by him as the branches, while he made, as it were, 
 no account of the other. He had said to them, "No wye are 
 clean, through the word I have spoken unto you." Judas was 
 no longer among them that fruitless branch was, alas ! regarded 
 as already cut off and withered. The rest were clean by the blessed 
 operation of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, bringing home the 
 truth of Christ there. They were not merely outward followers ; 
 they were true disciples. They were such as he could speak to 
 in this language, "I call you not servants," but "friends." They 
 were his " disciples indeed." "Well, then, when he had thus dis- 
 tinguished them as cleansed indeed, he adds, "lam the vine, ye 
 are tfic branches" Certainly this seems to intimate to us that He 
 who " knew whom he had chosen," regarded only his faithful ones 
 as the branches of the vine ; that they were ever in h^s sight and 
 esteemed by him, while he already regarded all others as if cut off, 
 as they assuredly will at length be, if they abide not in Christ, 
 and continue unfruitful.
 
 104 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 In looking forward to this final condition of this " ir.x -:ine " 
 and its branches, and regarding it as if the time of its manifesta- 
 tion were already come, our Lord makes special reference to the 
 act of the husbandman. The latter, when taking care of the vine 
 which he has planted, sees to each branch, first of all that it be 
 trained suitably ; and that, according to its position in the vine, 
 every thing shall be done with it which will give it full oppor- 
 tunity to bring forth fruit unto perfection. If, after having done 
 what he can, he finds one branch remaining unfruitful, he removes 
 it, and so makes room for other fruitful branches to occupy the 
 space which had hitherto been filled to no purpose. And, on the 
 other hand, if he finds some branches which are fruitful, but not 
 as much so as they might be made, then he prunes off every thing 
 that is rank and luxuriant in them, in order that they may bring 
 forth more fruit. 
 
 Now, like this process of the husbandman with his vine, is the 
 certain separation of those from Christ, who, although professing 
 to be his, yet in works deny him, and also the equal certainty 
 that nothing will be spared, whatever immediate pain or sorrow 
 or distress it may cost to his own people, which, according to his 
 infinite wisdom, he perceives will be instrumental in causing them 
 to abound in every good word and work. 
 
 " Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away." This 
 he expresses more at large in the sixth verse. "If a man abide not 
 in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather 
 them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." These two 
 things are identified by Christ in this discourse, the " bearing no 
 fruit," and the " not abiding in him." It is a twofold description 
 of the same character. It is regarding one and the same kind of 
 professing Christians from two distinct points of view. The one 
 has regard to what appears externally ; the other takes note of 
 what is within. And so, in reference to the first, there is great 
 propriety in uniting with it the open judgment of God by reason 
 of unfruitfulness "He taketh it away" and, in reference to the 
 other, there is equal propriety in speaking of the final ruin as 
 springing from the inner and fatal cause of "not abiding in 
 Christ." 
 
 And it is in this expression, "abide," that there lies the real 
 distinction between the branches in the " true vine." They have
 
 THE TBUE VINE. 105 
 
 a common nature, but nothing more in common. The one abide 
 in Christ, the other do not abide in him. It is impossible to ex- 
 press this in the parable otherwise than our Lord has done it, that 
 is, by representing the result of such abiding or not abiding in him, 
 namely, fruitful and unfruitful branches. But having marked the 
 distinction, then, where there is a feature of analogy between the 
 literal view and the figurative, he expressly calls upon us, by the 
 use of the language now before us, to look beneath the surface 
 and to trace out the hidden cause of all this. When, therefore, 
 he says, " Abide in me" he means something more than merely the 
 outward connection of the vine and the branch he refers to the 
 inner connection between himself and his people their dwelling 
 in him and he in them their real spiritual apprehension of him 
 as their life and their daily living in him, drawing from him act- 
 ively and constantly their supplies of the spirit of grace, which 
 will make them glorify God in their bodies and spirits, just as 
 the fruitful branch of the vine draws secretly but steadily the 
 living and fertilizing sap from the stem with which it is connected ; 
 and therefore, when he adds, " If a man abide not in me" he 
 further means, that if a man does not so dwell in me, as to par- 
 take of all I have to give, and am willing to bestow if he is 
 satisfied with a mere outward connection, and has no living trust 
 in me, so as to make me all in all to him so as to lead him to 
 apply to me continually for all things pertaining to life and god- 
 liness, then his unfruitfulness will be made manifest, and that 
 man will be driven away in his wickedness. 
 
 It is surely a most unwarrantable use to make of this language 
 of Christ to affirm that it gives any countenance to the opinion, 
 that a true child of God may finally be cast away. " This verse," 
 says one, " is a most important testimony against supralapsarian 
 error, showing us (Jiat falling from grace is possible, and pointing 
 out the steps of the fall ;" and yet this same writer admits that 
 the vine and the branches mean Christ and his visible Church, the 
 latter containing both righteous and wicked. If the "falling 
 from grace," here spoken of, mean merely the falling away from 
 all the favor and grace which God shows to every man, when he 
 lays the Gospel at his feet, and permits him in his providence to 
 join himself to Him in an outward covenant, then there can be 
 no objection taken to it ; but if it means that one who has once
 
 106 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 been made a child of God in Christ, who has undergone really in 
 his heart the great change from death unto life, who has been 
 really and truly born again of the Spirit of God, who has been 
 able heartily to say, " My beloved is mine, and I am his ;" that 
 such an one as this may be cast forth as a branch and withered 
 then we deny the inference which is sought to be drawn from 
 these words. 
 
 There is nothing in the language used to lead us to suppose 
 that the fruitful branch can ever become unfruitful, but the re- 
 verse. That branch is "purged that it may bring forth more fruit." 
 There is nothing said by which we may conclude that one who 
 abides in Christ at one time may not abide in him at all times. 
 It does, indeed, intimate to us that there can be no fruit without 
 abiding in Christ, and that the end of this must be destruction, 
 but it does no more. When Christ says, " Ye can not bear fruit, 
 except ye abide in me" he does not mean that they may fall away, 
 but he simply marks out to them the ground on which alone they 
 can be faithful, true, and fruit-bearing. It is one thing to bring 
 out clearly and to state plainly what pertains to the life and con- 
 stancy of a believer in order that he may profit thereby. It is 
 another and a very different thing to make such a statement 
 equivalent to a doubt cast upon the final safety of that believer 
 himself. 
 
 In a subsequent part of this chapter, our Lord seems still to 
 keep the imagery with which it opens before the disciples, and 
 his language is very emphatic and significant. "Ye have not 
 chosen me," he says. You have not chosen me from any impuls- 
 ive or capricious feeling of your own, or because I was in the 
 way and you did as others ; this would be the work of fruitless 
 branches; but I have chosen you. I have selected you, and have 
 " ordained you," or placed you, that is, as branches in the vine 
 this is my doing, not yours, and I have done it for this express 
 purpose, (and when I work, who can hinder it?) "that ye should 
 go, and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." And 
 these words obviously imply the same as those used by Christ on 
 another occasion " Every plant that my heavenly Father hath 
 not planted shall be rooted out." 
 
 These things, then, seem manifest. " No man can come to 
 Christ, except the Father, which hath sent Christ, draw him," i. e.,
 
 THE TKUE VINE. 107 
 
 by his Holy Spirit. " Thine they were," says Christ, " and thou 
 gavest them me." " And this is the Father's will which hath sent 
 me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, 
 but should raise it up again at the last day." Again, " I have 
 chosen you, and set you, or placed you," so firmly, by my Spirit 
 working in you, that ye shall abide in me, and " go and bring 
 forth fruit, and your fruit shall remain." That there are branches 
 of whom all this can not be said, and by reason of their barrenness 
 are at length cut down, dried up, and withered, is a sad truth. 
 That all this springs from their own unwillingness to abide in 
 Christ is true also. That they may for a long time appear very 
 much as the other branches, is not less true ; but their final sepa- 
 ration, arising out of their original and continued separation in 
 heart from Christ, is what the words of our Lord mark, not the 
 possible falling away of the truly righteous ; and in this respect 
 they are exactly similar in import to the words of the Evangelist : 
 " They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they had 
 been of us, they would have continued v:ith us : but they went out, 
 that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."* 
 
 Once more, we must observe the reference to the husbandman 
 of this True Vine. " My Father 1 " 1 is the husbandman. Now, if 
 to those who reject Christ " who trample under foot the Son of 
 God," and "put him to an open shame," by "crucifying him 
 afresh" this announcement is calculated to inspire them with 
 terror, seeing that they shall fall not only " into the hands of the 
 living God," as " a consuming fire," but into the hands of a 
 Father, whose only, whose well-beloved Son has been so treated 
 by them ; on the other hand, how full of sweet and precious 
 consolation it is to the people of God, " to those who have re- 
 ceived" the Son of the Father, " who have believed that he came 
 forth from God," and who have honored him, and will honor him 
 and serve him for his own sake forever that it is the Father of 
 this best friend of theirs that is mentioned as the husbandman 
 who will take care of them and all concerning them. And spe- 
 cially when the work of the husbandman here referred to is prun- 
 ing and cutting, intimating the painful and trying processes 
 through which the children of the kingdom must pass to their 
 everlasting haven how precious to be assured that it is a Father's 
 
 * John ii. 19.
 
 108 THE PARABLE OF THE TRUE VINE. 
 
 hand that will guide the priming-knife, appoint and limit every 
 trial. What a pledge for tenderness and love and mercy in all 
 their tribulations ! "What continued refreshment was it to Christ 
 himself throughout the whole of his long and bitter sorrows, to 
 have the countenance of his Father, and to know that he was 
 finishing his work : and so in their measure and degree it is in- 
 tended that the people of God should be in this respect as their 
 Master. It was the Father who put the Son to grief, who laid on 
 him the iniquity of us all; and yet Christ ever testified, " Thou 
 lov'edstine before the foundation of the world;" and "thoulovest 
 me always." So let it be with his disciples. Let every thing the 
 Father sends to us, instead of crushing us, or causing us to faint 
 and be weary by the way, and to hang down our heads as a bul- 
 rush, lead us to look up more steadily than ever to himself, and 
 say, as our great High-Priest said before us, "Father, not my 
 will but thine be done."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ROCK THE STRONGER THAN HE THE PHYSICIAN. 
 
 WE proceed now to another view of the great Prince of the 
 Kingdom of Light, as presented to us by his own parabolic 
 teaching. 
 
 " Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell, 
 (Hades) shall not prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
 The similitude here is very simple. There is a builder engaged 
 in his work. He lias his materials, and vnili tliem lie constructs 
 his building according to his plan, and it rises under his hand 
 from the foundation to the top-stone, resting on the solid rock 
 beneath. It is not simply a building fitly framed together in 
 itself that is meant, but strong and enduring, and capable of re- 
 sisting the fury of the elements, and the assault of the deadliest 
 foe, because it is founded on a rock. 
 
 It is one of the most remarkable instances of the tenacity with 
 which the mind of man clings to a wrong interpretation of the 
 Word of God, when such interpretation has once become cur- 
 rent that this very simple image, so clear and so obvious in its 
 bearing, should have continued till now to be turned from its 
 right and lawful meaning to that which impairs alike its beauty 
 and its force. The servant has been made so prominent in the 
 interpretation that the glory of the Lord and Master has been 
 well-nigh lost sight of altogether. 
 
 Of course, reference is not now made to the Romish view of 
 this passage, by which it is declared that not only is Peter the 
 Rock, but that this proves both Jtis primacy over the other Apos- 
 tles, and likewise the primacy of all his so-called successors in 
 the see of Rome over the whole visible Church of Christ on earth.
 
 110 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 It is not worth while to waste words in refuting such an utterly 
 groundless inference as this from the language before us, even if 
 we granted that Peter is "the Roclc" Archbishop "Whately's 
 view of this Eomish deduction is, no doubt, the common sense 
 one that the Romanists never gained their idea of either Peter's 
 primacy, or that of the Popes of Rome, from this passage ; but, 
 having resolved that Peter and the Popes should have the pri- 
 macy, it was found convenient to press this passage, if possible, 
 into the support of that which had already been received. It is 
 not, then, to this utterly untenable inference from this passage, 
 even supposing Peter to be " the J20c, Jr that allusion is now made, 
 but to the interpretation itself, which yields this designation to 
 him at all. It is against this that a formal protest ought to be 
 entered and steadily maintained, because, though we may avoid 
 taking along with this interpretation the wild follies ingrafted on 
 it by the Romish Church, we nevertheless lose by it a very pre- 
 cious view of the Lord Jesus himself. 
 
 It is very singular that a large number of Protestant comment- 
 ators should, from the part which Peter took in the conversation 
 in which our Lord introduced this similitude from the fact of 
 our Lord expressly naming him, though not for the first time, a 
 stone, and likewise from the fact of the same Apostle taking a 
 prominent part in the apostolic mission on the day of Pentecost 
 it is not a little singular that merely on this narrow ground they 
 are content to give to a man, a mere man, even an Apostle of 
 Jesus Christ, an epithet, which throughout the whole of the rest 
 of Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, is, by the ad- 
 mission of all, exclusively given to God. The figure occurs again 
 and again in the Old Testament, and invariabty is meant to rep- 
 resent Jehovah. Pages might be written in proof of this, but it 
 is unnecessary. And specially it may be remarked, that the 
 figure frequently occurs in those Psalms which are distinctly 
 prophetical of the Messiah, and therefore the very epithet which 
 throughout other portions always belongs to God, is at the same 
 time applied to Christ. Then in the New Testament the testi- 
 mony is equally explicit. " The Rock of offense," which is 
 laid in Zion, is Christ. "That Rock was Christ," says Paul, in 
 1 Cor. x. 4. Surely with all this evidence in favor of the invari- 
 able use of this epithet in Scripture, if in any one passage the
 
 THE ROCK. Ill 
 
 figure which is thus always applied to Jehovah and Jehovah Jesus 
 be given to a mere man, the meaning of that passage should be 
 so distinct and plain as at once to silence all disputing. 
 
 It is also not a little remarkable how a writer, who, from the 
 force of habit, or from regarding too exclusively one feature in 
 the language of our Lord, concludes that Peter is "the Rock" 
 h ere does, nevertheless, in another parable given both by Mat- 
 thew and Luke, where the interpretation has never been made so 
 much the subject of dispute, suggest what surely is the true 
 meaning of the term. In the parable of the wise and foolish 
 builders, Alford says, " This similitude must not be pressed to 
 an allegorical or symbolical meaning in its details, e. g., so that 
 the rain, floods, and winds should mean three distinct kinds of 
 temptation ; but THE ROCK as signifying HIM who spake thus, is 
 of too frequent use in Scripture for us to overlook .it here" Strange 
 it is, that when this writer so truly expounds the Rock as Christ, 
 in the one figure, giving strength and security to the building, 
 he should substitute for him in the other a mere servant, though 
 an Apostle, giving strength and security, not to this or that indi- 
 vidual builder, but to the whole Church of the living God. 
 
 But in truth, any interpretation otherwise than that which 
 makes Christ "the Rock" will not stand examination. A fallacy 
 lurks in the other which applies it to Peter, that needs only to be 
 fairly looked at, in order to prove how untenable it is. Let the 
 following stand as a fair specimen of this latter interpretation. 
 " The name ntiqo;, (not now given, but prophetically bestowed 
 by our Lord on his first interview with Simon, John i. 43,) or 
 xi|yj, signifying a rock, the termination being only altered to 
 suit the masculine appellation (?), denotes the personal position of 
 this Apostle in the building of the Church of Christ lie was the 
 first of those foundation-stones (Eph. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14) on 
 which the living temple of God was built : this building itself 
 beginning on the day of Pentecost, by the laying of three Oiousand 
 living stones on this very foundation. That this is the simple and 
 only interpretation of the words of our Lord, the whole usage of 
 the New Testament shows : in which not doctrines, nor confes- 
 sions, but men, are uniformly the pillars and stones of the spiritual 
 building.* 
 
 * Alford, f loco.
 
 112 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 This last statement is admirable, and strictly just. And it is 
 not to be doubted, that if those Protestant -writers who deny that 
 the Kock means Peter herej had been more careful in bearing 
 this in mind, instead of affirming that it is the doctrine which 
 Peter expressed, or the confession which he made which is meant, 
 there would have been less plausibility in the argument used in 
 opposition to their view. But, in truth, the question does not lie 
 in the mere critical examination of the passage between Peter as 
 the Eock, aud Peter's confession as the Eock. " The usage of the 
 New Testament" is assuredly against the latter. The question in 
 reality lies between Peter as the Eock, and Christ whom Peter 
 confessed. This altogether relieves us from the difficulty referred 
 to in the above extract. It is not Peter's confession, but He 
 whom Peter confessed, that is " the Rock" not a doctrine, but a 
 living being. A single glance at the context will bring this 
 plainly out. " Whom do men say that 1 am ?" Peter replied, 
 " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." " Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Barjona, replied Christ, for flesh and blood liath 
 not revealed, (it, not in original,) but my Father which is in 
 Heaven." The writer of the above extract very justly draws 
 attention to the revealing here spoken of, as parallel to that 
 alluded to by Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians. A compar- 
 ison of the two does indeed yield most satisfactory results. Paul 
 says, "when it pleased God . . . to reveal HIS SON in me" And 
 then he adds, " He conferred not with flesh and blood" because 
 the latter had nothing to do with this revealing. Here, then, we 
 have the exact parallel to our Lord's words before us: First, 
 "Flesh and blood" being of no avail; then, "God," or "my 
 Father which is in heaven," the efficient cause of revealing; 
 and " HIS SON," that which was revealed both to Paul and Peter. 
 And so the words of our Lord may be paraphrased thus : " Thou 
 hast said that I, the Son of Man, am also the Son of the living 
 God. Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
 him, or me, unto thee, but my Father in heaven." And then 
 when he adds, " And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and on 
 this Eock will I build my Church," it is not the confession that 
 the Apostle made, but Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, 
 who had been " revealed in him," even as Paul, which is this glo- 
 rious, strong, and everlasting Eock of Ages. 
 *
 
 THE EOCK. 113 
 
 But further, notice how this application of the epithet, " the 
 Rock" to Peter, involves the fallacy to which reference has been 
 made above. The language of the extract just given, brings out 
 this forcibly. The name, it is said, "denotes the personal position 
 of this Apostle in the building of the Church of Christ. He was the 
 first of these foundation-stones on which the living temple of God 
 was built." But surely there is the widest possible distinction 
 between a "foundation-stone " and " the Rock," on which the 
 whole building, from foundation to top-stone rests ! If Peter is a 
 foundation-stone, then he only rests upon the Rock, he is not the 
 Rock itself. Then it is doubtless true that the appellation, Peter 
 or Cephas, " denotes the personal position of this Apostle IN THE 
 BUILDING ; " but this very admission is destructive of the state- 
 ment that he is the Rock on which the whole building is erected. 
 He is indeed the "living stone," and honored to be a "founda- 
 tion-stone," and he is probably addressed as Peter or Cephas, in 
 allusion to this very fact, but having thus his " personal position 
 in the building," he is altogether precluded from being " the Rock" 
 on which both he and others equally are built. The fallacy lies 
 in making the words rock and foundation-stone convertible terms, 
 when there is nothing in the passage to warrant this. The word 
 foundation-stone is not used, nor adverted to in the passage. 
 When a builder is engaged in his work, he needs materials, which 
 he may arrange upon the rock which lies beneath ; and so when 
 our Lord refers to himself as the Rock, on which a building glo- 
 rious and secure is eventually to rise, he necessarily refers to the 
 material he uses in his building, and Peter, his faithful follower, 
 is ready at hand to supply the type of the " living stones " in 
 this temple. 
 
 But there is still another formidable objection to such an inter- 
 pretation as is quoted above. While it keeps prominently in 
 view the building, it keeps at the same time altogether out of view 
 what is equally prominent and important in the figure, the safety 
 of the building. " The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 Why ? Because it is " founded on a rock." It is so strong as to 
 defy all the power that can be brought to bear against it. Now, 
 if we admit for a moment that Peter is " the rock" because " he 
 was the first of these foundation-stones," the honored position 
 which he was privileged to hold there can never in any way be
 
 114 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 justly regarded as the ground of the Church's safety ! Granted 
 that on Peter "the Jewish portion of the Church was built," was 
 this its security? was it in consequence of this that "the gates of 
 hell" should never prevail against it? Impossible. (Appen- 
 dix C.) 
 
 We conclude, then, that it is not Peter, but Peter's Master 
 not Cephas, but Christ, who is here set forth as "the Rock" 
 Christ not doctrinally, not in confessions of faith, not in systems 
 of mere notional religion, but Christ personally, " the Son of the 
 living God." Let us then see how gloriously the figure before 
 us adds to the testimony we have already gathered from the Gos- 
 pels regarding this Being. 
 
 We have seen the love of Christ united with his righteousness, 
 inasmuch as he is "the door" by which his people enter in and 
 are saved, not by doing violence to the justice of God, but by sub- 
 mitting to it. We have seen his love united with his wisdom, 
 in that he is "the good Shepherd," loving his flock so much as to 
 " lay down his life" for them, and dealing with them so wisely in 
 leading them " in and out," and providing pasture for them. And 
 we have seen his love united with his humiliation, in that as the 
 vine and the branches are one, he has so loved man as to humble 
 himself to take man's nature on him, that he may, in virtue of 
 his own merits, supply the inner life with all its fruitfulness to 
 such as believe in him. And now, here, in the figure before us, 
 we have Christ's love united with his power, in that as he has so 
 loved his Church as to build it upon himself, it may be immovable 
 in his strength and power forever. 
 
 And just as in the vine and branches there is, as we have seen, 
 implied that on which the vine is trained, and equally in the thing 
 illustrated, there is implied the Godhead to which the manhood of 
 Christ clung; so here the Godhead is expressly set forth, and 
 the manhood left to be implied. And this is just what we might 
 expect from the question whence the conversation arose between 
 our Lord Peter. " Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, 
 am ?" No question as to his manhood that is taken for granted. 
 Peter's reply introduces the subject of our Lord's rejoinder under 
 the figure before us. " The Son of the living God." An expres- 
 sion admitted by all the best commentators as necessarily mean- 
 ing the essential godhead of Christ.
 
 THE ROCK. 115 
 
 And how admirably suited is the figure for this purpose : " This 
 Rock" Look at it in the light of Scripture, whether of the Old or 
 New Testament, and it raises the mind at once to the great and 
 glorious Jehovah He who is from everlasting to everlasting, God 
 over all, blessed forever and ever. Let the reader carefully select 
 all the passages in Scripture in which this image is used. Let 
 him arrange all these under his eye, and then he will be prepared 
 in some measure to enter into the force of the language which 
 our Lord used on this occasion. Or look at it merely as a natural 
 object a rock How apt is the figure ! Its strength. Its dur- 
 ability. " The everlasting hills," as Scripture has it. There is 
 nothing in the material world which can afford so striking an 
 illustration of the everlasting power and strength of Jehovah. 
 When a house is built on a rock, the builder prepares his mate- 
 rials and builds thereon, but he has not built the rock. He has 
 found it ready for his building sO when the great Master-builder 
 would build up his glorious Church, while he has his materials 
 to prepare in order to commence and complete his building, he 
 finds the rock prepared for his undertaking, " even his own eter- 
 nal power and Godhead." 
 
 And again, just as in the vine and the branches, we have, as 
 we have seen, Christ and his visible church set forth, so here in 
 the rock and the building on it, we have Christ and his true 
 Church his chosen and faithful ones set forth. And here, also, 
 we must take special note of the admirable adaptation of the 
 imagery. In the vine and the branches, it is the human nature 
 which is prominent. It is this which alone forms the general 
 identity between the stem and all the branches, whether barren 
 or fruitful ; and so we are not surprised when this is the sole con- 
 nection common to all, to find some, i. e., the unfruitful branches, 
 broken off. In the Rock and the building, on the other hand, it 
 is the Godhead which is prominent ; and so, when we hear of a 
 building raised on t/iat a building, each stone of which has thus, 
 in a mysterious manner, become identified as it were with it we 
 instinctively feel that the building is to remain perfect and intact. 
 Not a stone placed there at first which has not been shaped, pre- 
 pared and polished, and fitted into its right position ; and not a 
 stone, when once there, ever again removed. And surely it is in 
 this figure that we have the strict analogy to that frequently used
 
 116 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 in the Epistles, " The body and its members." The mystical 
 body of Christ in the latter is just the Rock and the building 
 here. There is the same general idea of mutual dependence per- 
 vading both : and there is especially common to both, the abso- 
 lute necessity if the one or the other are to be perfected that 
 nothing once in either of them shall ever be removed. A member 
 cut off from the body, mutilates the body and disfigures it. A 
 stone taken out from a building impairs its strength, and destroys 
 its beauty. 
 
 And let us trace out the figure a little further. "We- have said, 
 that the humanity of Christ is taken for granted. " Whom do 
 men say that I, the Son of Man, am ?" Where, then, does this 
 manhood find its position here in connection with " the Rock," 
 and " the building" on it ? A brief parable, which our Lord 
 adopts from the Old Testament, will suggest the answer to this 
 question, and therefore it will be well to consider it here, though 
 not at any length, as the main purport of it falls in elsewhere. 
 
 " Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The 
 stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the Head of the 
 comer?" Matt. xxi. 42. 
 
 We shall, in taking up this passage, more fully afterward 
 show, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the stone here spoken of; not 
 " the Sock" now, but a stone. A stone offered to the builders, and 
 rejected by them, and yet at length becoming the Head of the 
 corner, or the chief corner-stone in the foundation, on which the 
 whole building rests. And this, then, supplies to us what is left 
 to be inferred in the figure of " the rock and the building." 
 Christ, as the Son of God, is the rock immovable and everlast- 
 ing, and bearing the whole weight of the building that is raised 
 upon it. Christ, again, as the Son of Man, is a stone " a tried 
 stone" a "precious stone" "the chief corner-stone " built, not 
 ly man, on the rock, but by his heavenly Father ; for "this is the 
 Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." And thus we 
 have him set forth, as is frequently done by the Apostle Paul. 
 Speaking of the true Church of the living God, he says, "Ye are 
 built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
 himself being the chief corner-stone." And again, " Other foun- 
 dation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." 
 
 With what exquisite fitness, then, does the whole figure come
 
 THE ROCK. 117 
 
 forth from this examination ! Christ is the Hock. As such he 
 abideth ever. Not moved from one place to another. No 
 changeableness. Not built MZ, but built upon. Again he is him- 
 self one of the stones in the building laid on this rock. His 
 human nature was prepared, and began to exist in time. He 
 was set in, and appointed to, his right place in the great spiritual 
 temple, which is his body, the church. He is himself, as Peter 
 says, " a living stone." And thus he and his people are brought 
 near to each other. He and they are one building, just as the 
 head and the members are one body. And yet, as Christ is 
 the Head and we the members, in the latter figure, so among 
 the living stones of the former, He is "the chief among ten 
 thousand," and the " altogether lovely." 
 
 And so against this united strength, this rock of the Godhead, 
 and this manhood of Christ with all those made alive again in 
 him, resting forever on that Godhead, " the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail." The gates of Hades. The ordinary idea attached 
 to this, that the powers of darkness are here meant, is only re- 
 motely involved in the other and primary one. It is as if our 
 Lord had said, " My church built upon me, depending on me, 
 united to me, raised by myself, can never be moved or destroyed 
 no weapon formed against her can prosper. True, this will 
 not yet for a while appear. First, as regards myself, I shall go 
 down to the grave. Hades will appear to prevail over me. 
 Then, one after another of the living stones in my temple shall 
 pass away dust returning .to dust, and the spirit to God who 
 gave it ; but this apparent triumph of death is but for a moment 
 ' / am the resurrection and the life,' and ' he that believeth in me, 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live.' Yet it shall be seen 
 that I will put all things under my feet ; and my crowning prom- 
 ise to my church is, that by her union with me, and resting on 
 the rock, she shall at length be the conqueror, and ' death and 
 Hades shall be cast into the lake which burneth with fire.'" 
 And thus it is that Christ " loves his people unto the end." And 
 herein is his power seen likewise in " saving with an everlasting 
 salvation." % 
 
 It may not be out of place here to draw attention to an illus- 
 tration given us of Christ in a parable already considered, the 
 peculiar feature in which was then purposely omitted, inasmuch
 
 118 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 as it finds room more suitably now. In the figure we have just 
 had under review, the love united with the everlasting power 
 and strength of Jehovah-Jesus is brought before us. And yet it 
 is power and strength mostly under a passive aspect. The rock 
 and the stone are each of them severally and unitedly the em- 
 blems of strength and durability. When once the stones are 
 placed in the building on the tried foundation, and on the rock, 
 then they are secure in the strength of that on which they rest. 
 We also notice in the words of our Lord, who it is that places 
 these stones in the right place. " On this rock will / build my 
 church." He who is the everlasting strength of his church 
 " the rock of ages" who is also one with them in the building 
 as the chief corner-stone is also the great and wise Master- 
 builder who has planned and devised the beauteous structure, 
 and who will never cease his labor until its glorious pinnacles 
 shall rise amid the cloudless sunshine of the eternal world, and 
 the last ornament be placed on the summit, amid the shoutings 
 of the countless throng, crying, " Grace, grace unto it." 
 
 But then, besides all this, there is the material for this glorious 
 church implied. The builder may have his rock, and his chief 
 corner-stone, and have all his plans perfect and complete, but 
 whence does he obtain his materials ? This implies a different 
 process from what is directly conveyed to us in the imagery be- 
 fore us. He must go to the quarry. He must select there what 
 is most suitable for his purpose. He must hew this out of the 
 surrounding mass. He must shape, and form, and polish it, and 
 he must convey it to the building on which he is working, and 
 there fix it in the proper place. Even so with the thing illustrated. 
 When Christ says, "On this rock will I build my church," there is 
 implied the previous process of going after, discovering, separat- 
 ing, preparing, and bringing to himself all the material of which 
 the church is composed. The same Apostle whose answer led 
 to this declaration, significantly calls this material " lively stones" 
 When, therefore, the spiritual mind observes Christ's glorious 
 church rising when he sees " the Lord daily adding to his church 
 such as shall be saved," and recognizes all these saved ones as 
 " fitly framed together, and growing into a holy temple, in the 
 Lord, an habitation of God through the Spirit," then he knows 
 that before one of these stones could have found its position there,
 
 THE STEONGEB THAN HE. 119 
 
 there must have been a work of preparation ; for each was at one 
 time but a part of a shapeless mass of stone, or, to dismiss the 
 figure, "dead in trespasses and sins," under the dominion of "the 
 prince of the power of the air," and " without God" in the world. 
 
 How, then, did these dead become alive again, so as to be unit- 
 ed in one blessed bond forever with God, and bear his glory ? 
 How did these worthless stones become "lively stones?" This 
 great change has been effected by the Spirit of God, as the im- 
 mediate agent in the matter. He has discovered them, separated 
 them from the evil mass, made them new creatures, and so fitted 
 them to take their place in the family, and among the chosen ones 
 of God. When the Spirit's work comes specially to be considered, 
 we shall endeavor to unfold all this fully. Meanwhile, let it be 
 noticed that he does this as the great agent of the Head of the 
 church even Christ. "He (that is Christ) shall baptize you with 
 the Holy Ghost and with fire." And thus we observe, that while 
 it is the Spirit who is immediately operating on the sinner's heart, 
 changing, and renewing, and fitting it for the living temple, he 
 does all this under Christ. And so, as the great Builder of his 
 church, we must not only regard him as laying each stone suc- 
 cessively in that glorious structure, and securing all upon the 
 rock, but it is he also who has prepared these stones and made 
 them what they are, fit for this habitation. 
 
 And here, then, besides his love in selecting, and renewing, 
 and cleansing by his Spirit, there comes forth the manifestation 
 of his power and strength, not now in its passive aspect, but in 
 fall active operation. The poor sinners whom he has taken out 
 of the pit, and hewn out of the rock, on whom he has set his 
 love, were not only spiritually dead before his Spirit breathed 
 into them the breath of life, but they were strongholds of Satan. 
 Each of them was a fortress and a palace of the wicked one. 
 " The strong man," who " trusted in his armor," " kept his pal- 
 ace," and held " his goods in peace." Each one of them was in 
 the possession of the great and powerful adversary of God and 
 man. "When, therefore, they are to be brought to the spiritual 
 temple, and made meet to be partakers in the inheritance of the 
 saints in light, there must be something more than outward or 
 even inner changes in them. It is not enough, if they are to join 
 the " general assembly and church of the first-born written in
 
 120 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Heaven," that they be even "swept or garnished," the "strong 
 man" must be bound so as no longer to reign within them as his 
 palace, and hold all there as his own ; and who does this ? " The 
 stronger tiian he cometh upon him, overcomes him, taketh from 
 him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils," 
 
 Thus Christ's power and strength arexevealed against this ter- 
 rible foe. He binds Satan in each heart, and destroys his do- 
 minion there, and this process shall never cease, as long as he has 
 "lively stones" to place in his temple ; and when that temple is 
 completed, then will he finally bind this evil one in chains of 
 darkness, and cast him forever into the lake of fire. Every 
 " lively stone," then, as it is placed in the building of Grod, is not 
 only an evidence of the power which sustains and keeps it there, 
 but it is in itself an evidence of the power which delivered it out 
 of the tremendous grasp of the spirit that worketh in the children 
 of disobedience ; and then we must not omit to notice, that the 
 binding of the strong man in the palace he had called his own, 
 and the spoiling of his goods, implies, further, that it has changed 
 owners. " The stronger than he" has " divided the spoil," and 
 dwells there now the rightful, the lawful possessor, the King 
 upon his throne, the supreme director and controller of all within, 
 so that when the believer is placed in the temple, he is not merely 
 fixed on the " rock of ages," made one with the " tried founda- 
 tion" in other words, resting on Christ, and united to Christ for- 
 ever ; but Christ is also in him, the giver of his life, the conqueror 
 of his mighty foe, the Lord and King of his heart, and the "hope 
 of his glory." Header, if you can hope that you are among the 
 " lively stones" of the spiritual house, how precious ought David's 
 prayer to be in your estimation ! how constantly ought you to 
 make it your own ! " Let the words of my mouth and the medi- 
 tations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my 
 strength (rode, Heb.) and my Redeemer}' 1 
 
 A single glance may well be taken here at this great Prince of 
 the kingdom of light in another feature still from any that pre- 
 cede. We have seen his love and his righteousness, his love and 
 his wisdom, his love and his humiliation, and his love and his 
 strength, presented in their union before us, by the several figures 
 we have examined. One other still remains, to which allusion 
 has been already slightly made, and which must now be briefly
 
 THE PHYSICIAN. 121 
 
 noticed, f" They that be whole need not A PHYSICIAN, but they that \ 
 are sicJc.^ J 
 
 Christ's love and his skill are set forth in these words as united 
 foy the good of his people. When he visited this world, he found 
 not righteous but sinners in it. It was, indeed, because of this 
 that he came. He found what he expected, and his purpose in 
 coming was to save the sinner, or, in the figurative language be- 
 fore us, to heal those sick with the disease of sin. Now, if a 
 physician is to be of any service to one laboring under severe 
 bodily disease, he must first exercise his skill in the discovery of 
 the disease. A mistake here may be fatal ; while aiming at the 
 patient's health, if he is at fault in his diagnosis, he may add 
 another malady to the sickness already existing, and at once de- 
 stroy all hope of the recovery of the sufferer. Then, when the 
 disease is discovered, the next exercise of his skill must be in the 
 determining on the proper remedy. Here, also, an error may be 
 as fatal as in the previous stage ; and beside this, when he has 
 discovered the disease and laid his hand upon the remedy, his 
 skill is further to be taxed and tested by the application of the. 
 remedy, not giving it to one patient just as he gives it to another, 
 but suiting it to the constitution and habits of each, and then care- 
 fully watching every turn in the progress toward health and cure, 
 skillfully taking advantage of every symptom of improvement, 
 and warding off any adverse influences which might check, im- 
 pede, or impair the remedy he is applying. 
 
 Now, in all these things the physician of the body, however 
 zealous, careful, and anxious he is, may after all lack the skill 
 which will eventually be the means of recovery to the patient. 
 But Christ, the great Physician of the soul, has not only skill, but 
 unfailing skill, with which to deal with the poor soul troubled and 
 dying under the malady of sin. He sees at a glance every symp- 
 tom of the disease, and understands it all, as the Searcher of the 
 heart that is diseased. " All things are naked and open to him 
 with whom we have to do." " He knows what is in man." He 
 can not be mistaken in the nature of the disease, nor can his 
 skill ever be at fault as to its character, its cure, or, if left un- 
 checked, its end. He also knows the remedy his skill has de- 
 vised that also a remedy which can not fail a sure and 
 sovereign cure for the mortal disease of the sin-sick soul. Every
 
 122 THE PAKABLE QF 
 
 thing connected with its power of healing is as clearly seen by 
 this skillful Physician as the disease which is to be cured. Then 
 his skill never fails him in the application of this remedy. In 
 one case he exhibits it in one way, or under one form ; to another, 
 in another ; but in each and every one he is infallibly successful ; 
 the remedy in his hand is omnipotent in all. Then his skill never 
 wavers in the process of curing, be that lengthened out or quickly 
 over. Every moment of the recovering soul is not merely care- 
 fully watched, but skillfully provided for. He protects it from 
 evil influences; he gently stimulates it when it is progressing 
 well, or uses more powerful means, bitter things, of which he well 
 knows the efficacy, if the progress be slow and dull. 
 
 And then, in addition to all this, his skill as the Physician of 
 the soul is linked to unutterable love for that soul. The physi- 
 cian of the body may be thoroughly skillful. It may be that he 
 shall never be at fault in the discharge of his duty to the diseased 
 and the suffering, and yet all this may be associated with indiffer- 
 ence, coldness, or apathy. He may take pleasure in his work for 
 its own sake, and be proud of his scientific achievements in the 
 arresting of disease and the promotion of health, but he may 
 never throw away a kindly thought on the patient, or make him 
 feel that the skill which he is exhibiting is stimulated and excited 
 by his friendship and his love. Not so with Christ. This Phy- 
 sician, before he came into contact with the sin-sick soul, had to 
 deny himself. He had to " empty himself of his reputation." 
 He had to leave unutterable glory that he might come and stand 
 by the sick-bod of the poor wretched sufferers of mankind. He 
 willingly and gladly laid all aside in order that he might, with 
 vailed glory, touch the hand of the sinner, and make him feel 
 that a friend and a helper was nigh. And more than this, the 
 remedy which he applies is one that cost Him much. It was not 
 to be bought with silver and gold it was purchased at the ex- 
 pense of his own suffering and death not one single moment's 
 hope for the poor sinner not a ray of hope not a single move- 
 ment toward recovery not a single change in the feverish pulses 
 of his diseased life unless this were done. But this kind and 
 loving Physician faltered not. "I have a baptism, he cried, to 
 be baptized with, and how am I straightened until it be accomp- 
 lished" And then, even when this is done, he does not place the
 
 THE PHYSICIAN. 123 
 
 sufferer in other hands till this cure is perfected, but he himself 
 never leaves him for a moment. " Fear not, for /am with thee," 
 is the sweet and thrilling language which he gently utters by the 
 faint and weary soul. All that is sharp and painful he kindly, 
 lovingly mitigates by his gentle sympathizing presence. The 
 terrors of the soul fly before the still small voice of his peace and 
 love. " It is I, be not afraid." All the sadness and the sorrow 
 of heart in the sufferer is hushed by knowing that Chris f , his 
 Physician, is " touched with a feeling of his infirmities," and that 
 he consented himself to ".suffer, being tempted, in order that hie 
 might succor them who are tempted." O, reader, commit your 
 soul to this loving Physician he will heal, he will cleanse it. 
 His skill is unerring, and his love is infinite. " Look unto him," 
 and he will meet you at the beautiful gate of the temple, and give 
 you feet to walk therein, and a tongue unloosed to join in its 
 songs of praise. " Look unto him," and disease and death shall 
 be driven away forever from your soul weakness and infirmity 
 be known no more; and when they that have gone to other 
 sources of health and cure shall "faint and be weary, and the 
 young men (those who boasted of their strength, and appeared to 
 be what they boasted) shall utterly fail" then you shall " renew 
 your strength, you shall mount up with wings as eagles ; you shall 
 run and not be weary, you shall walk and not faint"
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BRIDEGROOM THE OLD AND NEW GARMENT THE OLD AND NEW WINE. 
 
 BUT we come now to that special view of the Prince of the 
 Kingdom of Light which may well be regarded as the most pre- 
 cious and glorious. "We have to look at him now as crowning 
 all his gifts with the brightest and best of them all. He is the 
 "door" of safety, the "good Shepherd," the "true vine," the 
 "rock," the "foundation-stone," the "stronger" than all our ene- 
 mies, the " physician" of our souls and, over and above all this, 
 he is " the bridegroom " of his Church one to whom she is 
 espoused, with whom she is joined in an everlasting covenant, 
 and in whose house and home she is to dwell forever. The 
 forerunner of Christ had, as his ministry was drawing to its close, 
 sweet and lowly thoughts of this truth, and announced it to his 
 followers. His ministry was nearly at an end. It was a mere 
 transition one. He must begin to decrease before " the mightier 
 than he." He marked the glorious day of the Gospel which was 
 opening, and even at its dawn giving token of its latter-day 
 splendor and he cried, " He that hath the bride, is the bride- 
 groom, (not I, a mere ' voice in the desert' to ' prepare his way ;') 
 but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth 
 him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this 
 my joy therefore is fulfilled." And Jesus himself took occasion 
 to use the same imagery regarding himself, so full of bright 
 anticipation to his Church, when the days of her wilderness pil- 
 grimage shall have closed. 
 
 " Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bride- 
 groom is with them ? but the days will come when the bridegroom 
 shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast" Matthew ix. 15. 
 " Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast" &c. 
 Luke v. 34, 35.
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE BRIDEGROOM. 125 
 
 "We must not dwell now upon the circumstances which called 
 forth this parable, nor of the mourning and fasting spoken of in 
 it. These things will find their suitable position farther on. It 
 is simply to Christ as "the bridegroom" that our attention at 
 present is to be directed. And here let it be observed, that 
 although God's people, his Church, are here represented by " the 
 children of the bride- chamber," the personal friends of the bride- 
 groom, because what our Lord had immediately in hand required 
 this, they are not the less to be considered as his "bride" of 
 whom, when the Baptist used the same imagery, he spake. In 
 fact it is here ns in the parable of the ten virgins. The five wise 
 virgins represent the Church of the living God under one aspect, 
 waiting for the bridegroom to welcome his approach, and to go 
 in with him as his attendants ; and yet we are not to suppose 
 that this excludes the higher view, that the faithful, watching 
 people of God are " the bride" herself. Indeed such variety of 
 figure is absolutely required by the necessities of the case. When 
 the sinner is " married unto Christ" by the very act which makes 
 him "a servant of Christ," we see and recognize the necessity for 
 such variety of imagery. 
 
 "What a wonderful intimation have we here of what the Prince 
 of the kingdom of light is to his people ! ' ' Thy Maker is thy 
 husband, the Lord of hosts is his name." It is not merely now 
 that pardon is vouchsafed to the sinner, deliverance from death 
 to the transgressor, recovery of sight to the spiritually blind, 
 health to the spiritually sick, and everlasting security on the 
 rock of ages but this poor, sinful, erring, diseased, dying crea- 
 ture is to be raised to "glory, honor, and immortality," by an 
 everlasting union with the king who has redeemed him. This is 
 what Christ has determined to do. This is " the joy which is set 
 before him." This, when finally accomplished, shall satisfy him 
 for the " travail of soul" he has endured. Listen to the testimony 
 of his servant in this matter. " Husbands, love your wives, even 
 as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it ; that he 
 might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the 
 Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not 
 having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be 
 holy and without blemish." 
 
 There is something very remarkable when we trace out this
 
 126 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 glorious connection so represented before us under the figure of 
 bridegroom and bride, husband and wife. The Lord Jesus leaves 
 his Father's house, and comes down to seek out, and to save poor 
 guilty, sinful souls. He does a great work for them, and procures 
 their pardon and salvation. He also does a great work in them, 
 by renewing, sanctifying, and cleansing them, so making them 
 spiritually meet to be joined with the holy and pure in his king- 
 dom forever. In this inner work in each heart, he so- manifests 
 himself to them, in the nearest and closest manner, that the soul 
 loses all fear, and learns to lean on him and confide in him as its 
 best friend. It is "drawn to him by the cords of love, by the 
 bands of a man ;" it learns to take sweet counsel with him. As 
 he is " the beloved" of the Father, so the soul begins to understand 
 in measure how that word can alone express its earnest longing 
 and love toward him. But while all this is going on secretly in 
 each heart, the world holds on its way, saying, "All things con- 
 tinue as they were from the beginning of the creation" men 
 taking no note of the inner binding of soul after soul in the great 
 espousal of the Christian covenant, just as we are told regarding 
 the building of Solomon's temple, that there was no sound of ax 
 or hammer heard on the spot ; the stones and the beams were 
 all made ready at a distance, not seen as the great work was 
 going on with each one, which was but preparatory to its being 
 placed in its proper position in the temple. And beside this, the 
 very work of preparation itself secretly going on in each heart is, 
 during the whole of this dispensation, accompanied by that which 
 is dark, threatening, and trying from without. The Church is 
 indeed in the wilderness her lord and bridegroom, after having 
 finished his work on her behalf, has left her for a season without 
 any visible manifestation of his presence. While each heart is 
 undergoing its wondrous and mysterious process of change, "into 
 the image of Christ, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
 the Lord," all, as regards outward things, seem only passing 
 through tribulation and trial. The people of God have more the 
 aspect of the bereaved widow than the expectant bride ; but the 
 time is coming when the voice shall be heard " The bridegroom 
 cometh" and when that time does come, then shall heaven and 
 earth ring again with the glorious shout of triumph, " Let us be 
 glad and rejoice, and give honor to him : for the marriage of the
 
 THE BRIDEGROOM. 127 
 
 Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Then 
 shall Christ show outwardly what Ije is doing and has done in- 
 wardly. Then shall he confess those before his Father and the 
 holy angels who have confessed him before men. Then shall 
 he make clearly known to the whole universe, by his own words 
 and work, that the consummation of his work of love for the 
 sinner is nothing short of his "receiving them to himself, that 
 where he is, there they may be also," that " they may behold his 
 glory," and share that glory with him forever. Then shall be 
 brought to pass that saying that is written, "Unto him that 
 overcometh will I give to sit down with me on my throne, even 
 as I have overcome, and am sat down with my Father on his throne." 
 And let us not pass by the evidence of his love to his people 
 which arises from this consideration of the glory which shall be 
 revealed in them. True, this love stands clearly manifest in the 
 very fact that such glory is in store for them. His must, indeed, 
 be a great and everlasting love, to raise poor sinful creatures, and 
 set them not only among, but above the princes of the people 
 not only to deliver them from death, but to make them kings 
 and priests unto God. " Herein is love indeed." But it is not 
 to this mark of his love that reference is now made. It is not so 
 much his love in its great and eternal purpose of mercy, as love 
 in its wonderful forbearance and long-suffering. That the great 
 Head of the Church, her heavenly Bridegroom, should continue 
 his love to her, notwithstanding all her waywardness, is indeed 
 wondrous. Alas, what righteous cause do his people give him 
 every day to turn away from them, and to leave them alone for- 
 ever ! What is it that prevents his jealousy burning like fire, 
 but the everlasting, unchangeable, persevering love whcrewilli he 
 loves even to the end ? It is indeed here as in other respects, 
 " His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our 
 thoughts." What human love would stand constant, repeated, 
 and flagrant manifestations of neglect, coldness, and faithlessness 
 on the part of a betrothed one ? What man is there in whose 
 heart love would not wither and die, if he were ever met by 
 heartlessness upon her part to whom he is espoused ? But it is 
 not so with Christ. He loves always. He wearies not in his 
 love. He makes no change in his purpose. " Many waters 
 can not quench his love." He loves not only " unto the end,"
 
 128 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 but through all the progress to that end through seasons of de- 
 clension and spiritual decay through seasons of slowness of 
 heart and little faith ; and he calmly and patiently waits till his 
 Church shall "see him as he is," "awake up after his image," 
 and " be like him" like him in the depth of his love like him 
 in its unchanging fullness and purity forever. 
 
 And this will be the fitting place to consider the two parables 
 which follow that which has just engaged our attention the 
 parable of the old and new garment, and that of the old and new 
 wine. The real purport and bearing of these parables can not be 
 fully appreciated, unless by examining them in immediate con- 
 nection with our Lord's statement regarding himself as the Bride- 
 groom. They manifestly spring out of what he had said of him- 
 self, as they, in point of fact, immediately follow in his discourse. 
 It has been justly remarked, that "the idea of the wedding seems 
 to run through them." Our Lord had just spoken figuratively 
 of himself as the Bridegroom, and made a solemn and important 
 announcement in connection therewith, and then, as if carrying- 
 on the same train of thought, and taking up the figure of the 
 marriage-robe, or the wedding-garment, either that with which 
 the bride was arrayed, or which was provided for the guests, and 
 th,e wine prepared for the entertainment he makes each of them 
 in succession the groundwork for an important parable. The 
 one not being by any means a mere repetition of the other, but 
 filling up a deeply important view of the great truth he was aim- 
 ing to inculcate. Let us attend to each in succession. 
 
 " No man putieth apiece of new doth into an old garment, for that 
 which is put in to Jill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is 
 made worse. 111 Matt. ix. 16. 
 
 " And he spake also a parable unto them : No man putteth a piece 
 of a new garment upon an old: ifotfierwise, then bot/i the new malceih 
 a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the 
 old." Luke v. 36. 
 
 The general idea pervading the figure here is the difference 
 between new and old cloth. The one strong and fresh, the other 
 weak and decaying. " The new agreeth not with the old" There 
 is an incongruity between them. There is not a relative fitness, 
 and every endeavor to bring them together, or to unite them, will 
 not make a strong or becoming garment, but will only tend to
 
 T.HE OLD AND NEW GARMENT. 129 
 
 show how different the one is from the other. The original of 
 our version "that which is put in tofillit up" is more literally, "the 
 completeness of it" t. e., of the new piece its substance, weight, 
 consistency. This " takes from the (old) garment," which is not so 
 strong, and the " rent is made worse." 
 
 Now, it was in consequence of an objection taken by some of 
 the Pharisees against his conduct, and that of his disciples, which 
 led our Lord to deliver the discourse in which this parable occurs. 
 " Why," they asked, " do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy 
 disciples fast not ?" Our Lord first of all answered these objec- 
 tions by the parable of the bridegroom and the sons of the bride- 
 chamber, intimating that there was a period coming when his 
 disciples should so mourn and weep that, in comparison of it, all 
 the fastings of the Pharisees were as nothing. The tune, he 
 said, had not come then. As long as he was with them it could 
 not be. When he was taken away it would. And then, accord- 
 ing to his general practice, he proceeds to set forth in the parable 
 before us a more enlarged view of the whole question, of which 
 fasting was but a small and comparatively insignificant portion. 
 
 He gives them to understand that that which he was bringing 
 in was not a mere addition to, or complement of that which had 
 gone by. The whole Jewish dispensation was passing away. 
 The dispensation of the Gospel was at hand. But the latter was 
 not to be thrust into the midst of the former in order to make it 
 last longer, or wear better. The old dispensation was not the 
 more important of the two ; and so the new ought not to be used 
 to renovate and help on the old. The garment of law righteous- 
 ness was old. The garment of Christ's righteousness was new. 
 The first was waxing feeble, and ready to perish altogether. The 
 latter was not to be pieced into it, in order that it might be pre- 
 served. Such an attempted blending of law and gospel, of shadow 
 and substance, of ceremony and reality, of type and antitype, was 
 not to be thought of. The issue of it could be nothing else than 
 most unsatisfactory. The old could not contain or hold the new, 
 by reason of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. And 
 any attempt to mix up the one and the other for the marriage- 
 robe would be useless and vain. 
 
 Let it be noted, that the "agreement" spoken of in the parable 
 as not existing between the new and the old, simply has reference 
 
 9
 
 130 THE PARABLE OP ^ 
 
 to any effort to bring them together, to unite them, to save the 
 one from perishing by the help of the other. The old and the 
 new garments may have been originally from the same materials, 
 and in that respect there would be a close agreement between 
 them.; and so likewise in the thing illustrated. The agreement 
 which does not exist between the old and the new covenants ex- 
 tends only to this, that they must not be blended together, or 
 mixed up with each other, as if to make but one. They agree 
 perfectly with each other in this respect, that they are both 
 originally from God. Both originally as from Him are good, but 
 utterly incongruous if brought together for the purpose of making 
 a perfect whole out of the two. 
 
 The distinction, then, between the old and new dispensations, 
 and the superiority of the latter over the former, are admirably 
 brought out in this parable. They are as distinct as an old gar- 
 ment from a new, for the one " decayeth and waxeth old, and is 
 ready to vanish away," while the other is " well ordered in all 
 things and sure." The Apostle Paul had been deeply taught to 
 perceive this distinction. " "What things," he says, " were gain to 
 me, (what as a Pharisee of the Pharisees I had prized, and in 
 which as touching the law I was blameless,) those I counted loss 
 for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom 
 I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but 
 dung, that I might win Christ, and be found in him ; not 
 having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but ivhich is 
 through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God byfaitfi" 
 He had no conception of his robe being a mere patch-work be- 
 tween law and gospel. He shrank with horror from any, even 
 the slightest tendency toward this. He says it is "preaching an- 
 other gospel." His words are fearfully pregnant with this truth 
 to the erring Church at Galatia. " Christ is become of no effect 
 to you, whosoever of you are justified (or consider yourselves 
 justified) by the law. Ye are fallen from grace." " Stand fast," 
 he pleads anxiously with them, "stand fast, therefore, in the 
 liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled 
 again with the yoke of bondage," for otherwise " Christ is become 
 of no effect to you. 1 ' He resisted every attempt to keep the old 
 system together by the piecing of the new with it.
 
 THE OLD AND NEW GAKMESTT. 131 
 
 There is a rendering of one part of the parable as given by St. 
 Luke which is well worthy of notice, and which is certainly more 
 accurate than that in the present version. " Then both the new 
 maketh a rent," ought more properly to be, " Then he likewise 
 rendeth die neu\ and the piece that," &c. And this suggests im- 
 portant reflections. The parable, as far as given by Matthew, 
 makes known the futility of attempting to renew or preserve 
 what is old and decaying by the adding thereto of what is new. 
 The parable, as given more largely by Luke, teaches us how both 
 new and old are rendered useless by such attempts. The new 
 garment is spoiled by taking a part out of it it is rent, and made 
 worthless, and, after all, that which is taken out of it to add to the 
 pld agreeth not therewith. And so in the thing illustrated. Not 
 only is it impossible by any means to stay the progress of decay 
 in the old dispensation, " which stood only in meats and drinks, 
 and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed until the 
 time of reformation ;" but any such effort is fatal to the Gospel 
 dispensation. To make Christ, or any portion of his work, a 
 mere addition to, or a filling up of what is lacking or needs re- 
 pairing in such things, is indeed to rend his robe, and to make it 
 utterly useless. Assuredly God will not be mocked with impu- 
 nity by them who would thus mix up the direct personal work 
 of his dear Son with those mere "figures of the true" which went 
 before. 
 
 The old dispensation is to the new what the shadow is to the 
 sun. The shadow is not a part of the sun, though it is cast by 
 the sun. It shows that there is a sun. It shows the direction in 
 which the sun is, but it is not the sun itself. And his madness 
 and folly who would desire to put out the sun from his place in 
 the heavens, in order that the shadow he casts might be retained 
 or improved, is not so great as the folly and the wickedness of 
 him who would remove the Sun of Eighteousness from his sole 
 and supreme possession of the heaven of righteousness, in order 
 to help on, or to preserve the " weak and beggarly elements" of 
 a righteousness which is utterly unattainable by man. Let it 
 never be forgotten that this is the very motto of Christ's king- 
 dom, " Old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become 
 new." The righteousness which really covers sin, and puts away 
 transgression, is a seamless robe, " woven from the top through-
 
 132 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 out" the complete and the entire work from first to last of 
 Christ, and of Christ alone. This is alone the "fine linen, white 
 and clean,'' with which his people can enter the bridal-chamber, 
 " washed and made white," not in any sense or way otherwise 
 than in type and figure, by the " blood of bulls and goats," but 
 really and truly by the "precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb 
 without blemish and without spot." " the blessedness of the 
 man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered" 
 by this new, this spotless, this perfect garment. the glory of 
 all those forgiven at last, when they stall stand before the throne 
 of God and of the Lamb, with all their robes washed white in the 
 "blood of sprinkling." Then, indeed, shall they be seen as the 
 bride, over whom the bridegroom shall " rest in his love," per; 
 fectly satisfied with her purity and holiness. Truly then she 
 " shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework," and 
 all " her clothing shall be of wrought gold." And as she will be 
 all fair in her bridal array, so shall her inner graces be equally 
 precious " She shall be all glorious within ;" and " she shall 
 enter into the king's palace," and forever "sit together in the 
 heavenlies with Christ." 
 
 Turn now to the second parable. 
 
 " NeWier do men put new wine into old bottles ; else the bottles break, 
 and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish : but they put new 
 wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." Matt. ix. 17. " No 
 man also, having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new for he 
 sailh, The old is better." Luke v. 39. 
 
 The fact on which this parable is founded, was well known to 
 all the hearers of our Lord. The leathern bottles used in the 
 East, if they were old, and had been used for some time, would 
 be utterly unfit to contain strong new wine. The rapid action 
 and fermentation of the latter would inevitably burst the bottles, 
 and both the one and the other would be lost. If any man 
 wished to preserve his new wine, he must see to its being stored 
 in new bottles, then " both would be preserved." 
 
 In this parable the Lord Jesus turns from the wedding-robe to 
 the wine set forth at the marriage-feast. And as the garment 
 supplied him with an admirable figure illustrative of one import- 
 ant truth regarding his gospel kingdom, so the wine supplies
 
 THE OLD AND NEW WINE. 133 
 
 him with another illustration, 'equally suitable and striking, for 
 another not less important and cognate truth. 
 
 In the one parable we have the Gospel covenant set before us 
 with reference to that which is put on the believer ; not the old 
 garment repaired by the new, nor the new rent in order to make 
 up the old, but the new by itself, in its completeness. In the 
 parable now before us, we have that Gospel covenant set forth 
 with reference to what the believer receives within him, and the 
 absolute necessity of his being prepared suitably to keep and 
 preserve this gift. In the former, his justification is specially the 
 subject of illustration. In the latter it is specially his sancti- 
 ftcation by the Gospel introduced into the inner man of the 
 heart. 
 
 And it is very important that these two things be borne in 
 mind. To attempt to make a compromise between the righteous- 
 ness of the Law and that of Christ not, it may be, to substitute 
 the one for the other, but to strive after an ill-assorted union of 
 both, is indeed "to frustrate the grace of God;" for if righteous- 
 ness came by the law," (in any way,) " then Christ is dead in 
 vain." And equally impossible is it for the man who clings to 
 the shadows and forms of the old dispensation, who is moulded 
 inwardly according to " the rudiments of the world" those 
 " weak and beggarly elements" to contain the free and energiz- 
 ing spirit of the Gospel. These two things his state of mind, 
 and the living principle which can alone call forth into active 
 and fervent operation all that is really good, holy, and true are 
 utterly dissimilar. His convictions are all in favor of formal ob- 
 servance, external rounds of duty, and outward devotion ; and 
 thus he has no sympathy with, or affinity to, the " worshiping 
 in spirit and in truth," which the Gospel demands, and without 
 which all religion is but a dead letter. " Admirably does this 
 parable describe the vanity of the attempt to keep the new wine 
 of the Gospel in the old ceremonial man, unrenewed in the spirit 
 of his mind. ' The bottles are burst. 1 The new wine is something 
 too living and strong for so weak a moral frame ; it shatters the 
 fair outside, of ceremonial seeming ; and ' Hie wine is poured out ;' 
 the spirit is lost ; the man is neither a blameless Jew nor a faith- 
 ful Christian; both are spoiled. And then follows the result;
 
 13-i THE PARABLE OF 
 
 not merely the damaging, but the* utter destruction of the vessel, 
 1 Hie bottles perish.' "* 
 
 The man who would be filled with the true spirit of Gospel 
 light and liberty who would have within him, as the sanctify- 
 ing, vivifying power of all his thoughts, and words, and works, a 
 principle not his own, but of sufficient potency to bring "all his 
 thoughts into captivity, into the obedience which. is in Christ 
 Jesus" must himself be a renewed man. He must have been 
 born again of the Spirit made a new creature in Christ Jesus, 
 before he could be capable of appreciating that which he is invited 
 to receive. But when this is the case when this preparation of 
 the heart has been made then there is a blessed harmony estab- 
 lished between himself and the inner pervading spirit of Gospel 
 life, and light, and liberty. Being u baptized with one Spirit into 
 one body" made part of* Christ's mystical body, and so a ne\v 
 creature in him, he is made " to drink into one Spirit." And 
 instead of finding it to be the " spirit of bondage again to fear," 
 he discovers that, " where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is 
 liberty ;" and thus he is preserved as a vessel meet for the master's 
 use ; and those precious gifts and graces of the Spirit given him, 
 are preserved in him to the glory of God, and his own eternal 
 
 Our Lord adds these words, as we observe in St. Luke '' No 
 man also, having drunk old wine, straightway desircth new ; for he 
 saith, The old is belter" 
 
 Observe, he does not mean by this addition to the similitude to 
 affirm, that "the old" is "better." The general opinion among 
 the Jews of that period regarding old and new wine, is merely 
 taken advantage of as a matter of fact ; and the force of his words 
 is this that accustomed as they were to consider old wine supe- 
 rior to new, it would be matter of great surprise if, after partaking 
 of the former, they should at once prefer and desire the latter. 
 And so as regards the matter he was illustrating. He tells them 
 that it was no wonder if, with all their notions regarding their 
 law, their minds trained and formed under the peculiar dis- 
 cipline and teaching of the old dispensation, they should mani- 
 fest no taste or relish for the new and precious truths which he, 
 as the Messiah, was urging on them in the new. It was no won- 
 
 * Alford.
 
 THE OLD AND NEW WINE. 135 
 
 der if, in that generation especially, when with the absence of all 
 the idolatrous tendencies of their forefathers, they adhered with 
 a tenacity unexampled in history to the .outward rites and observ- 
 ances of their law, while their hearts, nevertheless, were as far 
 from God as that of their fathers no wonder if, accustomed to 
 the splendid ritual of their venerated and beautiful temple, with 
 all the deep-rooted prejudices in their mind regarding the peculiar 
 excellence thence derived to themselves as the holy nation, the 
 chosen people of Jehovah with all the time-honored associations 
 of their race considering themselves as the rightful possessors 
 of the Holy Land the lineal, and faithful, and distinguished 
 descendants of Abraham, with their succession of prophets and 
 holy men no wonder if, with all these, they should turn away 
 with disgust and dislike from a system which demanded the re- 
 moval of their temple, the lapsing of all its gorgeous ceremonial, 
 the opening of the door of grace and peace to the Gentile, and 
 the placing him on an equal footing with his hitherto more favored 
 brother. 
 
 And what our Lord says regarding the Jews of that period, is 
 true of the natural mind under similar circumstances at all times. 
 When the heart has been trained up under a system of form and 
 ceremony when its every notion of religion has been adopted 
 in connection with what is external in rite, and captivating to 
 the senses in outward observance then it is no matter of sur- 
 prise, but the reverse, if when the new wine of the Gospel be of- 
 fered, it is set aside with dislike, and with the decided preference, 
 " the old is better" And so, it needs not only a new man to be 
 able to contain the new principle which the Gospel provides no 
 weaker vessel than one specially prepared by the Spirit of all 
 grace but none other than he can desire the new wine. Unless 
 a man be born again, he can not see, know, appreciate the kingdom 
 of God. He has no taste for it would rather be without it 
 likes his old habits of religion best begs to be allowed to do as 
 those gone before him have done says that what was good for 
 them, is equally good for him and that as he has tried what he 
 has got, and is satisfied, he has no wish to try what, by its very 
 dissimilarity with all that he has experienced, gives no promise 
 of pleasure to his taste. 
 
 Note well, reader, that the grace which leads the sinner to
 
 136 THE PARABLE OF THE OLD AND NEW WINE. 
 
 Christ, and Christ alone which enables him to seek the robe of 
 Christ's righteousness to cover him, is absolutely necessary also to 
 change his habits and make him a willing partaker of the life- 
 giving spirit of the Gospel. And when the former is really found, 
 and the poor trembling soul is covered by it, the latter never fails 
 to be added. When Paul, as we have seen, testifies to his giving 
 up all thoughts of " the righteousness of the law," in order that 
 he might cling to the " righteousness of God by faith," he directly 
 adds, " that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, 
 and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to 
 his death." Having put on the new garment, he was able and 
 willing to receive the new wine.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE SHEPHEBD LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE THE CORN OP WHEAT DYING THB 
 BRAZEN SERPENT. 
 
 THERE remains still another view to be taken of the Prince of 
 the kingdom of light. We have seen his righteousness, -wisdom, 
 humility, power, and skill illustrated, and all of these blended 
 with infinite love. "We have also seen portrayed his glory as the 
 Bridegroom with the new garment and the new wine for his mar- 
 riage-feast, and these, too, associated with his everlasting love. 
 Now we must turn not to what he is, but to that which happened 
 to him. We have noticed his love breathing throughout his 
 whole character and life. We must now look at it as it shines 
 forth in his sufferings and death ; and he has himself furnished 
 us with most interesting and instructive illustrations of these suf- 
 ferings and that death. It may be convenient to arrange these 
 under distinct heads. First, the illustration of his death regarded 
 as a voluntary act on his part. This is fully intimated in the 
 parable of the Good Shepherd, which has been already considered. 
 In enforcing this parable, our Lord says, " Hay down my life for 
 the sheep.' 1 ' 1 "No man taJceth it from me; I have power to Jay it 
 down, and power to take it up again" Nothing can more forcibly 
 show the willingness with which Christ submitted to death than 
 this. It was not laid upon him by the will of another which 
 could not be resisted ; it was willingly undertaken by himself. 
 No doubt, in one sense, the death of Christ was according to the 
 will of God ; " it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put 
 him to grief;" but there is another side on which to behold this 
 " determinate will and foreknowledge of God." It is this, namely, 
 the readiness of the Son of God to take the nature of man upon
 
 138 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 him, and so undertake of l^is own accord to submit, as man to this 
 will. Hearken to his words as recorded by inspired men " Lo, 
 
 I come to do thy will, O God." Freely the Son of God chose to 
 place himself in the body prepared for him, and to undergo 
 every thing there, which, in the counsels of the Divine mind, 
 were decreed as absolutely essential for the great purpose of 
 man's redemption. And it is in the 'clear understanding of this 
 truth that we are able in some .measure to obtain a glimpse at 
 the merit of Christ's death. Had the sufferer in the stead of 
 sinful man been a mere creature, made ready and prepared by 
 the Creator for this great work, then he had no choice in the 
 matter. Born into the universe for this great end, he must ac- 
 complish it as an act of holy obedience. He has no choice but 
 to submit. It is a demand made upon him irrespective of his 
 
 II power 11 to yield acquiescence or to resist. Created a dependent 
 being with this task assigned to him, it is nothing more than his 
 duty to do it. He could acquire no merit by its performance, nor 
 could he yield any profit to God on that account ; and the neces- 
 sary effect produced on those for whom such a work should be 
 done, must be a still further shrinking than ever from God, who 
 could lay on a mere creature such a load of suffering and woe, 
 while pity would be stirred up for the sorrows of one who must 
 submit to bear them, though he deserves them not, and has never 
 had the opportunity of freely undertaking to endure them. 
 
 How different is the real state of the case ! We behold Christ 
 as man. Every thing that can be required of sinless obedience 
 to the law of God Tv.as fully paid by him. He was " holy, harm- 
 less, undefiled, and separate from sinners." This moral obedience, 
 however, acquired no merit for him. It was due from the crea- 
 ture to the Creator. Unless this obedience had been as perfect 
 as it was, what he offered as meritorious could not have satisfied 
 and yet it was not in itself meritorious. But beside all this, 
 Christ is surrounded with suffering and sorrow, and at last is led 
 forth to die. This was not what belonged to his condition as a 
 holy and sinless being, but what he voluntarily assumed for his 
 own and his Father's purpose. " I and my Father are one," he 
 testifies, and as the Father saw but one way, and that a way of 
 suffering, shame, and death, by which salvation might be brought 
 to the guilty, and the sinner restored to his favor and made meet
 
 THE SHEPHERD LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE. 139 
 
 to enjoy it ; so the Son agrees to travel by that way, to undergo 
 all the terrible toil of that journey, and never stop until he has, 
 by his own offering of himself, once for all, perfected forever 
 them that are sanctified. Herein was the merit of Christ. The 
 will of God demanded an atonement for the sinner. Christ put 
 himself, of his own accord, in such a condition that he might 
 yield obedience to that will, and " THEREFORE, God also hath 
 highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every 
 name." 
 
 And thus, too, we see who alone among the sons of men can 
 be considered a " profitable" servant. If to save " a multitude 
 whom no man can number, of all people, and nations, and lan- 
 guages, and tongues" to reclaim a lost and guilty world, and 
 make "the wilderness and the solitary place be glad, and the 
 desert rejoice and blossom as the rose" if to arrest the progress 
 of sin in God's created universe, and say, " hitherto shalt thou 
 corns and no farther," casting death and hell forever into the lake 
 of fire if this be profit, if this be gain for Jehovah, then Christ 
 is the profitable servant who has succeeded in effecting all this. 
 Profit ! To stay the ravages of a spiritual pestilence, and smite 
 down a foul usurper forever from his dominion ! this is gain in- 
 deed ; and Christ has brought these to God. Shall God then be 
 indebted to a mere creature for the purity and safety of his king- 
 dom ? Shall God have done for him, by one whom he has made, 
 what he can not do by himself? Shall he suffer a creature of his 
 own hands to build up what he himself was unable to prevent 
 from falling into ruins ? Impossible ! But that He himself 
 should do all this " in the form of a servant" betokens the ex- 
 haustless resources of his wisdom, and enhances the unutterable 
 glory of his love. And this it is which is shadowed forth in the 
 statement of Christ, " No one tuketh it from me ; I have power to 
 lay it down, and I have power to take 'it again" He and he alone 
 of all the sons of men, can by right of conquest, by the excellence 
 and merit of his work, stand before the Throne, and demand as 
 a right all the rich blessings involved in the covenant of grace, 
 and yet by that very demand which must be granted, establish 
 the throne of the Eternal King, for he was fully justified in 
 thinking " it no robbery to be equal with God." 
 
 But we must not omit to notice what seems in the parable of
 
 140 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the good shepherd to call forth this declaration on the part of 
 Christ. Obviously it is the danger to which sheep are exposed 
 by the rapacity of wolves and beasts of the field. The wolf 
 which seeks to devour and to destroy the flock of God is Satan. 
 The description given of him is to the life "going about seeking 
 whom he may devour." If as a designing, crafty thief climbing 
 up some other way into the fold, his fraud is detected, and his 
 schemes baffled, so in his onslaught as the wolf, he is met by the 
 good Shepherd, who, unlike the hireling, does not flee when he 
 seeth the wolf coming. Thus we have pictured before us the 
 Son of God looking down on the poor, wandering sons of men, 
 with their great adversary the devil ready to make a full end of 
 them ; and as he beholds this, he comes down and stands between 
 the destroyer and his helpless victims. He delivers the prey 
 from the teeth of the oppressor, but he does it by " tasting death 
 for every man" it is " through death that he destroys him that 
 had the power of death." He defeats the enemy on his own 
 ground, just as he himself appears to be vanquished the mo- 
 ment of his death is that in which " life and immortality are 
 brought to light ;" and the poor sheep of the flock that had 
 all but perished have not only " life," but " they have it more 
 abundantly." 
 
 But we proceed to another view which our Lord gives us of 
 his death. 
 
 " Verily, vei-ily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into 
 tiie ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth, 
 much fruit" John xii. 24. 
 
 In the parable of the good shepherd, Christ is represented as 
 coming between the spoiler and his prey, the destroyer and his 
 victim as willingly undertaking by his own death to deliver his 
 poor, persecuted flock ; and by this voluntary submission to 
 death acquiring merit before his Father. In the short parable 
 before us, we have intimated to us the connection which exists 
 in the counsels of Jehovah between death on behalf of the sinner 
 and that sinner's deliverance. It does not explain to us why 
 God should demand the death of the surety before he pardons 
 the sinner ; but it conveys to us the fact that forgiveness can 
 come in no other way. It makes known to us that in the inscru- 
 table depths of the Divine will, this and this alone is the way by
 
 THE COEN OF WHEAT DYING. 141 
 
 which God can be "just and yet the justifier""of the sinner. It 
 announces to us that " it became him for whom are all things, in 
 bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salva- 
 tion perfect through sufferings" 
 
 Our Lord connects this parable with what he says of the glori- 
 fying of his Father, and likewise the glorifying of himself by the 
 death he was about to die. Thus showing that in the counsels 
 of the Eternal it was a settled thing, absolutely necessary for the 
 stability, and honor, and glory of the throne of God, that if his 
 great work was to be finished in redeeming the lost, and bringing 
 many sons and daughters unto righteousness, it could alone be 
 through death. He might have been born into this world taking 
 on him the likeness of sinful flesh, and living a holy life among 
 the vile and the worthless, bringing down in his own person a 
 bright ray of heavenly light among the dwellings of the children 
 of darkness ; but if this had been all, the divine will had decreed 
 that he should be alone. If it had been possible to " save him" 
 from "the hour and the power of darkness," and yet have his 
 work finished, it would have been done. As a perfectly holy 
 being he would, indeed, have delivered himself. Divine justice 
 would have rejoiced in acknowledging his unsullied holiness and 
 perfect obedience ; but not one perishing soul would have been 
 recovered from the pit not one brand plucked from the ever- 
 lasting burning. Just as the corn of wheat lying in the granary 
 of the husbandman may be perfectly good may be in every 
 respect sound and matured, " having life in itself" yet if it 
 remain there, "it abideth alone" so it would have been with Jesus. 
 He would never be able to say at last, " Behold I, and (he chil- 
 dren whom thou hast given me" And the " Divine will which has 
 determined the law' of the glorification of the Son of man, has 
 also fixed the law of the springing up of the wheat-corn, and the 
 one in analogy to the other, i. e., both through deatfi." So that, 
 as on the one hand God in his providence has been graciously 
 pleased to ordain that a corn of wheat if cast into the ground 
 shall first die, and then spring up and "bear much fruit" and has 
 thus previously prepared in the kingdom of nature that which 
 shall remarkably illustrate a great truth in the kingdom of grace ; 
 so when Christ went down to the grave he died alone ; he by 
 himself "endured the grief and despised the shame;" "of the
 
 142 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 people, there was none with him." A solitary being, a spectacle 
 to men and angels, he hung for a brief period on the accursed 
 tree, and then disappeared in the grave. Then it was that his 
 work obtained its full reward. He rose again, like the bright, 
 fresh, green blade which rises from the ground where the corn of 
 wheat lay, telling that death was resolved into life ; and when at 
 length the harvest time shall come, he will be found like the 
 corn of wheat which has passed through its stages, first the 
 blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, to be no longer 
 " alone," but to have brought forth " much fruit." The people 
 whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree will be gathered 
 into the heavenly garner, as the 1 mighty harvest of the travail of 
 his soul. 
 
 And it is interesting to observe what it was which was the im- 
 mediate cause of our Lord uttering this parable. Certain Greeks, 
 not Hellenistic Jews, but Gentiles, most probably proselytes of 
 the gate, who were in the habit of coming up to Jerusalem to the 
 feast, expressed a strong desire to see Jesus. They confer with 
 Philip, who again speaks to Andrew, and both tell Jesus. Our 
 Lord, when he heard it, immediately declared, " The hour is 
 come, that the Son of man should be glorified." The coming 
 of the Gentiles to him, introduced to his presence by the instru- 
 mentality of Jews, was as it were the very sign of his being now 
 very near that death by which he was to glorify God in bringing 
 both Jew and Gentile into reconciliation with God, and so ob- 
 taining that spiritual seed, which was not to be confined to one 
 nation or country on the earth, but was to include in it " all the 
 kinJ^eds of the people," " a multitude whom no man can num- 
 ber" of them all. It has been very strikingly remarked, " These 
 men from the west, at the end of the life of Jesus, set forth the 
 same as the magi from the east at its beginning ; but these came 
 to the cross of the King, as those to his cradle."* In the one case 
 and the other, it showed that unto Christ should the gathering of 
 the people be, that he was to be the head among many brethren, 
 that in him all nations should be blessed, and that of " the in- 
 crease of his government and peace there should be no end ;" 
 and as the wise men were met by the tokens of this great one's 
 humiliation " not having where to lay his head," " despised 
 
 * Steir. Reden. Jesu, v. 78.
 
 THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 143 
 
 and rejected of men," " a root out of -a dry ground," " without 
 form or comeliness," so these Gentiles were met by the solemn 
 declaration of Jesus, now arrived at the very eve of his sufferings, 
 that the great harvest of souls which he was to gather from all 
 parts of the world, whether Jew or Greek, barbarian, Scythian, 
 bond or free, was only to be obtained by his own submission to 
 death and the grave. And what solemnity is stamped on this 
 announcement of the necessity of his death, in order to bring 
 souls to God and heaven, by a distinct voice being heard from 
 the Father; for even as our Lord was telling "of the hour and 
 power of darkness" through which he was to pass, and yet in the 
 full confidence of his will and purpose, saying, " Father, glorify 
 thy name," " then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I 
 have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." 
 
 But there is still another view of his death which our Lord 
 gives us, and which suggests other considerations connected with 
 that wondrous and mysterious event. His parable to illustrate 
 this, is taken from a well-known part of the history of Israel. 
 
 " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must 
 the Son of man be lifted up: (hat whosoever believeth i?i him should 
 not perish, but hare everlasting life" John iii. 14, 15. 
 
 Our Lord alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the 
 people of God, and draws from it a figure by which in the most 
 striking manner to illustrate his own death. The expression, 
 " even so must the Son of man be lifted up" can only refer to 
 the peculiar manner in which he suffered death, so aptly repre- 
 sented by the raising of the serpent of brass on a pole. On the 
 occasion of his delivering the parable of the corn of wheat, which 
 we have just been considering, he said, " I, if I be lifted up, will 
 draw all men unto me," and the Evangelist immediately adds, 
 "This he said signifying what death he should die." And when 
 at length he was taken by wicked men and was about to be put 
 to death, the same writer draws our attention to the circumstances 
 which led to the peculiar kind of death which he was to endure, 
 " that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, signifying what 
 death he should die." 
 
 But let us look more closely into this incident in Jewish history 
 thus set before us, as faithfully portraying the death of Christ 
 his being lifted up upon the Cross. And it is important that in
 
 144 
 
 doing .so, we shall not be misled by the general fact that the ser- 
 pent throughout Scripture is taken to symbolize the great enemy 
 of the souls of -men. It by no means follows from this, that in 
 the event before us, the poisonous serpents, or the brazen serpent, 
 were meant to represent this evil one. That they do or do not, 
 depends on the connection in which they are found, just as " leav- 
 en" which is throughout Scripture used to denote an evil and 
 corrupting principle, nevertheless means the very reverse in the 
 parable where the " kingdom of heaven" is likened unto it. 
 
 Now it seems to be impossible to regard the serpents which bit 
 the children of Israel in the wilderness, so that many thousands 
 of them died, as emblematic of Satan. Had these serpents bitten 
 the people, and the effect produced on the latter been a rushing 
 headlong into sin, and had there followed hard on this a wide- 
 spread pestilence and death, then there would be something plaus- 
 ible in this view. But the history is very different. The people 
 had wickedly murmured against God. Their old rebellious spirit 
 had afresh broken forth, and they provoked the holy One of Israel 
 to anger. " They spake against God and against Moses. Where- 
 fore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? 
 for there is no bread, neither is there any water ; and our soul 
 loatheth this light bread." Their iniquity was then at its full. 
 V It was already crying to God for vengeance, and so he sent ser- 
 pents among them, which bit them, and much people died. Sure- 
 ly then, we must regard these serpents as the instruments of God's 
 righteous anger and judgment on those already ripe for judgment 
 by their sins. They were not permitted by God to prove and try 
 his people, but they were sent to punish them. 
 
 Unless this is clearly borne in view, we shall be involved in 
 inextricable difficulty in the examination of this event. For if 
 when Moses was required to lift up a brazen serpent on a pole, 
 and to require the children of Israel to look at it that they might 
 be healed from the poisonous bites of the serpents, we are to see 
 in this a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on the Cross 
 then how can this be reconciled with the view that the serpents 
 themselves were emblematic of Satan. The most ingenious de- 
 fense of such an interpretation has been recently set forth in the 
 following terms: "'The serpent' is, in Scripture symbolism, 
 the devil, from the historical temptation in Genesis iii. downward.
 
 THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 145 
 
 But why is the devil set forth by the serpent? How does the 
 bite of the serpent operate ? It pervades with its poison the frame 
 of its victim : that frame becomes poisoned, and deatfi ensues. So 
 sin, the poison of the devil, being instilled into our nature, that na- 
 ture has become a. poisoned nature, a, flesh of sin. Now the brazen 
 serpent was made in the likeness of the serpents which had bitten 
 them, fit represented to them the power which had gone through 
 their frames, and it was hung up there, on the banner -staff, as a 
 trophy to shew them that for tfie poison there was healing thai 
 the plague had been overcome. In it there was no poison, only 
 the likeness of it. Now was not the Lord Jesus made ' in the like- 
 ness of sinful JleshT Was not he made sin for us, who knew no 
 sin ? Did not he, on his cross, make an open shame of, and tri- 
 umph over the enemy, so that it was as if the enemy himself had 
 been nailed to that cross? Were not sin and death and Satan 
 crucified when he was crucified? 
 
 The suitableness of setting Satan before us under the figure or 
 emblem of a serpent, is laid down clearly and admirably in the 
 above extract. But as soon as the writer attempts to apply it to 
 the case in hand, he can not prevent a fallacy from creeping into 
 his interpretation. In truth, ho loses the distinction between that 
 which bites, and that which is bitten. If JMoses had been com- 
 manded to make a brazen representation of one of the people 
 suffering agony under the bite of the serpents, then the above 
 statements would be correct. The brazen figure would be in the 
 likeness of that which was bitten. "In it, there would be no poi- 
 son, only the likeness of it" And so it might be truly added, that 
 our Lord was " made in the likeness of sinful flesh." But surely 
 there is a vast difference between being made in the likeness of 
 flesh that has been made sinful, and being made in the likeness of 
 that which has made it sinful. And so there is no ground what- 
 ever for the statement which is added, in order to bridge over the 
 difficulty, that when Christ was on the cross, " it was 05 if the en- 
 emy himself had leen nailed to that cross" Not so, indeed. It was 
 as if the sinner had been nailed to the cross, and so by that suf- 
 fering and death, the dominion ended forever of " him who has 
 the power of death, that is, the devil." That accursed spirit died 
 by his very effort to destroy Christ. But what then ? Can it be 
 said with any propriety that the real death which Christ did never- 
 
 10
 
 146 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 theless undergo, was as if the enemy had suffered it ? This would 
 be in other words saying that he suffered in the stead of this en- 
 emy. He suffered in the stead of his people, and the enemy 
 destroyed himself by his very effort to destroy Christ, a widely 
 different kind of death from the death of the cross. Neither was 
 it " sin and death and Satan " which were crucified, when " Christ 
 was crucified." Paul gives the true view, "/(the sinner, not 
 sin) am crucified with Christ." " For if we are planted in the 
 likeness of his death" &c. 
 
 But, on the other hand, let us dismiss from the incident here 
 referred to, the above symbolism, which by no means need be 
 applied to it, and we shall see how significantly it speaks to us 
 of Christ's death. Observe these different points : 1. The bra- 
 zen serpent was lifted up the Son of man was lifted up. 2. 
 The one was according to the will of God .commanded the other 
 was by the same will permitted. 3. Every one who looked on 
 the brazen serpent lived every one who looks unto or believes 
 in Christ shall live. 4. In the one there was the healing of the 
 body in the other the healing of the soul. 5. In the one case 
 it was the hands of Moses which lifted up the serpent in the 
 other it was by the hands of men that Christ was lifted up. 
 
 Now in looking at this incident, thus set side by side with the 
 death of Christ, and every particular in the one so closely analo- 
 gous to corresponding features in the other, we see very clearly 
 the importance of giving a widely different interpretation to that 
 quoted above, regarding the meaning of the symbol on which the 
 whole depends. That the "brazen serpent" should, on the one 
 hand, represent the evil one under the form of poisonous serpents 
 biting the people, and on the other represent Christ on the cross 
 healing the people, is what can not be entertained. That the 
 eyes of God's people are to be directed to Christ crucified, " as if 
 the enemy were crucified" there, is not for a moment to be thought 
 of. But how harmonious is the whole picture, if we regard the 
 fiery poisonous serpents as the instruments of God's vengeance 
 and righteous indignation inflicting merited punishment on a sin- 
 ful people, and thus themselves personifying, as it were, the wrath 
 of God against sin. Now when Moses, by the command of God, 
 raised a figure of brass upon the pole, resembling one of these 
 serpents, and when, moreover, he commanded the people to look
 
 THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 147 
 
 on it, in order that they might be healed from the bites of the 
 serpents, what was the impression calculated to be made on their 
 minds by this ? "When they saw the figure of the poisonous ser- 
 pents, would they not be instantly and powerfully reminded of the 
 anger of God against their sin ? "Would they not, as they de- 
 scried the brazen serpent lifted high on the pole, tremble as they 
 recognized the very image of that which had already dealt de- 
 struction in the camp ? And yet as they looked at it as it hung 
 motionless and lifeless there, and as they felt within them the 
 deadly poison which had been diffused through their veins being 
 gradually subdued in its fatal power, and life, and strength, and 
 health once more restored to them, would they not equally per- 
 ceive in that mystical figure that God's anger was, as regards them, 
 dead, that he had turned away from the fierceness of it, that he 
 was reconciled to them, and would no longer visit them according 
 to their sin, nor reward them according to their iniquity ? 
 
 Now apply all this to Christ. The serpents in the wilderness 
 represented the wrath of Jehovah against sin. They were ter- 
 rible proofs that God can not look on sin but with abhorrence. 
 When Christ came, this Jehovah, this pure and holy God, him- 
 self became manifest in the flesh. And as we have already seen, 
 the very announcement of his presence was couched in terms im- 
 plying the nearness of one who would enter into judgment, and 
 consume the adversaries : " Now also, the ax is laid unto the root 
 of the trees," " whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly 
 purge his floor." But just as his earthly mission closes, we find 
 this very Being, who is " to execute judgment because he is the 
 Son of man," " lifted up" on the cross ! And what then are the 
 two things which meet our steady gaze at this wondrous and 
 amazing event. First, we behold the wrath of God against sin 
 revealed as it never could otherwise be. The impression made on 
 the Israelite by the appearance of the brazen serpent, of the wrath 
 of God against his sin, is as nothing in comparison of what the 
 spiritual eye discovers in the crucifixion and death of the " only- 
 begotten Son of God." This does indeed bring to his mind what 
 God can and will do with the sinner. And again, as he looks 
 unto Jesus thus crucified, and finds spiritual health given to him, 
 the poison of sin subdued within him, and the vigor and strength 
 of renewed life vouchsafed, then he perceives how the wrath of
 
 148 THE PARABLE OF THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 
 
 God is, as it were, dead, in regard to him. He sees in the death 
 of Christ, that God has now nothing to say against him. Through 
 that dark and lowering storm there breaks forth a bright ray of 
 love and peace for him the thunder and lightning of God's 
 anger have all been spent on that lifeless form, and can be heard 
 and felt no more by those who look, believe, and live. 
 
 And here we have likewise the simple connection which binds 
 together Christ and his people, so that God turns away from his 
 anger against them forever. Just as the Israelite looked at the 
 brazen serpent, and lived, so the sinner has but to look unto 
 Jesus to t believe in him, that he may live forever. It was not 
 truly his mere looking that healed the Israelite, nor is it the mere 
 faith, the instrumental cause, which saves the sinner. It was the 
 power of God in the one case, it is the power of God in the other. 
 But just as God chose to give bodily health only to those who 
 looked, so he has chosen to give spiritual health only to those 
 who believe. He is the source of health and life in both, and 
 the certainty of the gift rests on the everlasting security of his 
 promise. 
 
 And once more, let it be noted that it was by the hands of a 
 man that the brazen serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, and 
 so it was by the hands of men that Christ was lifted up on the 
 Cross. The sin of the people was the ultimate cause, the hands 
 of the people the proximate cause in both. And thus as we have 
 seen that Christ by his death delivered his sheep from the wolf 
 and likewise by his own determinate will as God, bore " much 
 fruit" "became the author of eternal salvation to all that be- 
 lieve ;" so now we see him in the perfection of his love, dying 
 by the hands of those very beings he came to save ; yea, dying 
 for them, enemies and ungodly as they were, and breathing forth, 
 as he yielded himself to their fury, the prayer, "Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do." His death was a volun- 
 tary one. It was submitted to because God willed it should thus 
 be in bringing souls to himself. It was a shameful and ignomin- 
 ious death, because it was inflicted by men who, as they pierced 
 his soul by their unbelief and sin, pierced his hands and feet with 
 nails, and his brow with a crown of thorns.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIVING WATER LIVING BREAD. 
 
 BUT there still remain two views of the death of Christ, and 
 his great love in thus dying, which are necessary to complete the 
 series of illustrations showing forth the glory of the man Christ 
 Jesus. The first of these is the following : 
 
 " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, 
 saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that 
 believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow 
 rivers of living water" John vii. 67, 38. 
 
 Alford Las a very striking supposition regarding that which 
 probably suggested the use of this imagery by our Lord. He 
 alludes to the practice at the feast, of a priest bringing water in a 
 golden vessel from Siloam, followed by a jubilant procession, and 
 pouring it out on the altar, while the Hallel (Ps. cxiii., cxviii.) 
 was sung. He says that some regard this custom as referring to 
 the striking of the rock at Horeb, others to the rain for which 
 they then prayed for the seed of the ensuing year,, while others 
 see in it an allusion to Isaiah xii. 3, and the effusion of the Spirit 
 in the days of the Messiah. It is possible that all of these might 
 have been included. This custom, then, was observed during 
 seven days of the feast, but was not observed on the eighth: Now, 
 it was on this, the eighth, the last and great day of the feast, that 
 Jesus stood and cried, " If any man tiiirst, let him come unto me and 
 drink" And thus, when the mere ceremonial rite had run its 
 course and passed away, Jesus stood forth and proclaimed him- 
 self on the last day of the feast the great antitype the perennial 
 spring of that living water, which one and all require. 
 
 When Jesus thus cried aloud in the hearing of the people, it
 
 150 THE PARABLE 'OF 
 
 would be hardly p< ssible for them to do otherwise than compare 
 his words with the language of their prophets. Surely the' lan- 
 guage of David must have recurred to their memory at the time, 
 " With thee is the fountain of life ;" or that of Jeremiah, " For 
 my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me the 
 fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken 
 cisterns, that can hold no water." 
 
 But whether those who heard Jesus remembered such wondrous 
 things or not, he himself distinctly and emphatically claims them 
 as belonging to him. The figure which he uses is equally simple 
 and beautiful. It is that of a fountain from whence there is ever 
 rising up a constant supply of clear pure water. The expression 
 "living" is purposely ambiguous. When applied solely to the 
 figure, it means fresh, springing, running water water that 
 sparkles as it flows on. and tempts the thirsty to drink, and re- 
 freshes the weary and faint. What then such a fountain with 
 this clear flowing stream is to the weary traveler, so is Jesus to 
 the poor, worn out, parched heart of man. "Ho, every one that 
 thirsteth," is his long-continued invitation. " If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink." "The Spirit and the Bride say, 
 Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that 
 is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water 
 of life (this ' living ivaterj now in its spiritual sense) freely." 
 
 But our Lord is graciously pleased to explain to us by his 
 Evangelist what he meant to set forth by the illustration he was 
 using. "Let him come unto ME and drink" directs us at once to 
 himself, as the fountain whence this living water flows. It is not 
 here as in the streams of earth, that we may be refreshed by 
 drinking at any part of their course, and be altogether ignorant 
 of the source from whence they sprang. If any one will have 
 the living water here spokon of, he must go to the fountain for 
 it. He must go to Christ himself, if he would obtain it. "If 
 thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, 
 Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and HE would 
 have given thee living water" The stream, then, is ever flowing 
 on full, clear, deep, and refreshing, but Christ alone can give to 
 drink. " As the hart pants after the water-brooks," so he that 
 really desires this living water must be able to say to Christ, " So 
 panteth my soul after thee, God." " Let him come unto me and
 
 LIVING WATER. 151 
 
 drink" says Christ " When shall I come and appear before 
 God ?" breaks forth from him who is athirst. 
 
 But while the words themselves tell us of Christ as the fount- 
 ain, the Evangelist farther informs us as to this " living water" 
 and its true meaning. " But this spake he of the Spirit, which 
 they that believe on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was 
 not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Here 
 is an express and distinct reference to the death of Christ. He 
 was not yet " glorified." The use made by this Evangelist of 
 this expression makes it certain that he directly and unequivo- 
 cally referred to the death of Christ. The words of Christ, as 
 given by him in a subsequent chapter, leave no doubt on the 
 subject. " The hour is come when the Son of Man shall be glo- 
 rified." It was only through the grave and gate o'f death, that 
 he could pass to his glorious resurrection. It was on the cross 
 that the Son glorified the Father, by submitting to be made a sin- 
 offering for his people. It was on the cross that the Father glo- 
 rified the Son, by accepting the ransom offered, and making him 
 the first-born among many brethren. 
 
 It is, then, from the cross- of Christ, that this water of life flows. 
 It is alone in virtue of the death of Christ, that the Holy Spirit is 
 given. These words must not for a moment be supposed to in- 
 timate that the Holy Spirit had not been given at all in the form- 
 er dispensation. This is contrary to the whole tenor of Scrip- 
 ture. We are repeatedly assured of the fact, that the Spirit was 
 given to the saints of old. " Holy men of old spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost." He is continually referred to as the 
 agent of inspiration nor less emphatically as the direct agent 
 working in each heart, or resisted in each heart as, for example, 
 in the defense of Stephen, when he charges on the conscience of 
 his wicked judges the sin of their wicked and stubborn forefathers 
 " Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ; as your fathers did, so 
 do ye." Nor yet, again, does it appear to be a satisfactory view 
 of these words to say, that the Spirit had not been given so fully 
 and abundantly as he was about to be poured forth on the day 
 of Pentecost. Doubtless, there was specific reference to this great 
 effusion of the Spirit; but this hardly satisfies the very emphatic 
 language " The Holy Ghost was not vet given because that 
 Jesus was not yet glorified."
 
 152 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Surely this statement can only mean that there was something 
 peculiar in the gift of the Spirit which is to distinguish this dis- 
 pensation from the former, and that this peculiarity in the gift is 
 essentially connected with the death of Christ. Nor does it 
 appear difficult to trace this peculiarity. The Holy Spirit was 
 given (and largely given, as the records of the saints of old, in 
 Hebrews xi., make known) in the former dispensation; but he 
 proceeded alone from God. He came to Abraham, to Moses, or 
 .to David, with all the power, and wisdom, and love, of Jehovah, 
 and wrought wondrous things in them, and with them moved 
 in them, spake in them, and worked by them ; but it was reserved 
 for the new dispensation that he should proceed not merely from 
 God, but from CHRIST. From Christ, not alone considered as 
 God, but from Christ as being in one person both God and MAN. 
 What is it that the child of God in the kingdom of grace ex- 
 perimentally understands as the work of the Spirit in his heart ? 
 Is it not the testimony which he bears to Christ? He takes of 
 the things of Christ and shows them unto his people. He brings 
 all things to their remembrance, whatsoever Christ hath said. 
 He does not speak of himself, but of the man Christ Jesus. And 
 thus it is seen how expedient it was for Christ personally to retire 
 within the vail and leave this other Comforter for his people. 
 Had he tarried on earth, the hearts of his people could never 
 have been satisfied otherwise than in his presence. But he retires 
 to heaven, while he proclaims the rich promise, " Lo, / am with 
 you, even to the end of the world." His Spirit should be with 
 each and every one of his people, even to the end of time. And 
 the work of that Spirit is, that each heart may feel that Christ 
 himself is at hand, not only all-powerful and loving as God, but 
 all-sympathizing as man. And so the anxious, the tried, the 
 laboring, the doubting, the weak, or the strong, may be able 
 spiritually to hold the closest communion with him tell him 
 every thing obtain every thing from him, as if they saw him with 
 the bodily eye, and listened to the very sound of his voice. 
 
 This is one of the great secrets revealed to the believer by the 
 manhood of Christ, his " being touched with a feeling for our 
 infirmities," having been " tempted in all things as we are." And 
 it is this precious truth with which the Spirit in this dispensation 
 ?mes laden with which he charges himself for the comfort and
 
 LIVING WATEE. 153 
 
 edification of the chosen people of God. He makes the manhood 
 with all its thrilling emotions and stirring sympathies present, 
 even as he brings near all the calm, glorious and infinite power, 
 wisdom and love of the Godhead. Now, this could not be till 
 the death of Christ. The virtue of that sacrifice was, indeed, by 
 anticipation made the groundwork of all that passed in the way 
 of covenant between God and man of old ; but the experience of 
 this death by Christ must run out before the fullness of that ex- 
 perience can be made as a rich heritage and treasure for his 
 people. Christ must taste all sorrows, he must drink of every 
 bitter cup up to the last, even the bitterest in the garden and at 
 Calvary. He must pass through a course of inner struggle and 
 emotion, which could be gained alone in human form, and by 
 mingling with the woe and the misery of man. He must try all 
 this practically himself, become acquainted with it, not only as a 
 truth which he saw and understood afar off, but which he felt 
 and received, as a matter of deep inner experience in his human 
 nature. This long course of spiritual training, of learning obedi- 
 ence by the things he suffered, could only be perfected at his 
 death. That completed the life-long instruction through which 
 he voluntarily and lovingly passed, that he might with a heart 
 fully strung to every possible emotion of the human soul, be not 
 only a faithful but a loving High-Priest. 
 
 " In all the griefs that rend the heart, 
 The Man of Sorrows bears a part." 
 
 And then when Christ says, " If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto me and drink ;" and the Evangelist adds, " This spake he of 
 the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive ; for 
 the Holy Ghost was not yet given : because that Jesus was not 
 yet glorified" we are made aware of the presence in the tcorld, 
 vailed in human form, in the garb of humiliation, of one who was 
 nevertheless "the fountain of living waters" that it was from 
 the temple of his body that such living water was now to come 
 forth as should be for the life and refreshment of all people, and 
 that when he had altogether finished the work given him to do, 
 and gone away again then this living water should flow out of 
 the "Throne of God and the Lamb." Such as this had never 
 been before, except under type and shadow. The Holy Spirit
 
 154 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 had never thus been given. This fountain had not yet been un- 
 sealed and opened. Mighty and vast were the preparations for 
 it from the beginning of the world. Earnestly did even the 
 heavenly hosts look on as the time passed away, and the day drew 
 nigh, in which it was to be opened in the house of David, and 
 for the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and then, at length, when on 
 the cross, the anointed one of God cried out, " It is finished !"- 
 the waters gushed forth from the smitten rock, and among the 
 first-fruits of the Spirit sent forth anew with new gifts of love in 
 his hand to all people, thousands on the day of Pentecost drank 
 of the living water, and " never thirsted" more. 
 
 Christ's death, therefore, has made him the fountain of "living 
 water," not marking so much its original source whence it is de- 
 rived, that is, heaven, as specially and expressly the place where 
 it is opened, where it gushes forth to view, and for the refresh- 
 ment of the weary and the faint, that is, on earth. He died for 
 them when he defeated Satan. He died for them when he satis- 
 fied the demands of God. He died for them when he submitted 
 to be crucified by man ; and now we see he died for them that 
 what he gives them " might be in them as a well of water spring- 
 ing up into everlasting life." 
 
 And surely these considerations present us with the key to 
 some passages in the previous part of this gospel, which have 
 been made the subject of much controversy. In the words before 
 us our Lord does not allow us to doubt as to his meaning, since 
 the inspired comment of his servant John follows immediately. 
 In a previous chapter He had used precisely the same figure 
 when speaking to the woman at the well of Samaria as he did 
 when standing in the temple on the last great day of the feast 
 " If thou knewest," he said, " the gift of God, and who it is that 
 saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of 
 him, and he would have given thee living water." No one ques- 
 tions the reference made by our Lord in these words. It is 
 universally admitted. " This spake he of the Spirit." And why, 
 then, may it not be asked, when, in the chapter immediately pre- 
 ceding, the same Evangelist is recording a conversation of deep 
 interest and similar import between the same Jesus and another 
 inquirer, Nicodemus why is it that, on the latter occasion, the 
 meaning of the same word that is used in the case of the Samar-
 
 LIVING WATER. 155 
 
 itan woman, and in the temple on the great day of the feast, is 
 regarded as substantially different, instead of being identical ? 
 Why is it that " water" is taken in a spiritual or figurative sense 
 when occurring in our Lord's words in the temple and at the 
 well of Samaria, but in a literal sense when occurring in his 
 conversation with Nicodemus ? Surely it would require such a 
 mode of expression as to leave no possible doubt in our minds if 
 Jesus meant such very distinct significations to be conveyed by 
 the use of the same word on three occasions, very similar to each 
 other, and the records of which lie so near at hand in the Gospel 
 written by the same Evangelist. On the contrary, the words of 
 our Lord clearly point in the same direction in all these cases. 
 Nicodemus did not understand what he meant by the new birth, 
 and our Lord condescended to explain this. He calls it being 
 ." born of water and of the Spirit." If this meant literal water, 
 the explanation would only tend to perplex the inquirer the 
 more. But if it was meant spiritually, namely, that the new birth 
 to which he referred was the work of the Spirit, and that his 
 work was to the soul what water is to the body, then our Lord 
 by using the figure did two things : first, he suggested to the 
 mind of Niccdemus, what, as a master of Israel, he ought to 
 have well remembered the many passages in the prophets 
 where the operations of the Spirit are spoken of under the same 
 figure ; and next, he led him at once and completely away from 
 that carnal notion he had expressed " Can he enter a second 
 time into his mother's womb and be born ?" 
 
 "We shall have to recur to this subject, and that fully, when, in 
 the course of our consideration of the parables, the work of the 
 Spirit comes immediately under review. In the meantime, let it 
 be sufficient to state, that in the conversation between our Lord 
 and Nicodemus no reference can be fairly considered as made to 
 the ordinance of Christian baptism. To introduce the outward 
 element in that rite into the conversation, is to perplex and mis- 
 lead the student, not to guide him. Surely the just and proper 
 view is to regard these words as pointing to one and the same 
 truth, to which Christian baptism also points. These words tell 
 of new birth through the Spirit, given by the great Head of the 
 Church. They direct attention to this great and fundamental 
 doctrine of the Gospel. And equally on the other, does the
 
 156 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 sprinkling of water in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, 
 point to the same truth. One and the same truth is reached, but 
 by different approaches. In the one case by a dogmatic state- 
 ment, in the other by a significant emblem. There will thus 
 necessarily be a close correspondence between the two, as both 
 give one and the same testimony ; but this is a very different 
 thing from endeavoring to identify the two. 
 
 But in truth, our Lord's conversation with the woman of Sa- 
 maria suggests the right explanation of his conversation with 
 Nicodemus. He first of all tells her, " Thou wouldest have asked 
 of him, and he would have given thee living water." What she 
 needed was a gift. Something which she had not in her own 
 possession or power, which she herself could not obtain at any 
 price ; but which, nevertheless, as it was in the gift of another, 
 the possessor of it was willing to bestow. " If thou knewest," he 
 said, " the gift of God" What she required was a gift bestowed 
 by another. And none was able to bestow what she required but 
 God. And Nicodemus lacked the very same gift. When he 
 said, " Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God," 
 he only displayed his own ignorance of the person he addressed. 
 Our Lord immediately replied, " Except a man be born again he 
 can not see the kingdom of God ;" as if he had said, " You think 
 you perceive, or know, that I am sent from God, but you are blind 
 to the reality of my mission as the Messiah, and the Prince of the 
 kingdom, and I tell you that unless you are born again, you can 
 not perceive it." You require a gift something which you can 
 not obtain for yourself the gift of a new birth being born 
 afresh, or born from above a gift which none but God has, and 
 none but God can bestow. 
 
 Again, our Lord enlarges on his first statement to the woman 
 of Samaria, " Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst 
 again : but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give 
 him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall 
 be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 
 The water from Jacob's well might allay natural thirst for a 
 brief season, but again and again the woman would require to go 
 thither and draw. " Not so," says our Lord, " with the gift of 
 God, which I am able and willing to bestow. That living water 
 shall be in him who receives the gift a well of water springing
 
 LIVING WATER. 157 
 
 up into everlasting life. Once receive the precious gift, and it 
 lodges itself within you. Your partaking of the water that I 
 shall give becomes then, as it were, a life-long draught. Ever in 
 your own heart there will be welling up its unceasing refresh- 
 ment, and the pangs of thirst can be known no more." In other 
 words, the gift of God, which he offered to this poor woman, was 
 the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within her, who would then 
 become the unfailing spring and source of every spiritual grace 
 and blessing. She would have this new thing lodged within her 
 heart, and bringing forth such holy and precious things as that 
 heart never could have produced by itself. And so, too, in the 
 case of Nicodemus, when Jesus replied, " Except a man be born 
 of water and of the Spirit" what was this but testifying that 
 unless " living water" was bestowed, and " became in him a well 
 of water springing up into everlasting life," he could not " enter 
 into the kingdom of God." This living water becoming a well 
 of water springing up, is one and the samo thing as the new birth 
 or creation. "What was in the natural heart before ? Barrenness 
 and death. Not one spiritual emotion, thought, or desire. It 
 was altogether carnal ; and that which was born of the flesh was 
 flesh all its fruit every thing which proceeded from it was of 
 this character ; but when this seed of new birth is implanted, or 
 this " well" of new birth opened in the soul, then all things be- 
 come new : " that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The 
 new life, the new desires, the rew walk of the child of God, is 
 just the welling up of this living water from within him into 
 everlasting life. 
 
 Finally, let these points thus be kept in mind. Nicodemus, 
 when he came to Christ, was yet carnally minded. In the low- 
 view he took of Christ, he only showed the truth, " that which 
 is born of the flesh is flesh." The woman at the well was equally 
 carnal, for she thought the water of Jacob's well superior to what 
 Christ spoke of, and wondered how he could think himself great- 
 er than Jacob who digged it. Both were utterly deficient in 
 spiritual things both needed the entering into their hearts of 
 that which was not natural to either. Unless some such change 
 took place, they could never see the kingdom of God, but would 
 be ever hewing out broken cisterns that could hold no water. 
 Each required a new principle within, a new birth, living water.
 
 158 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 If both obtained this, the blessed result in both would be, spirit- 
 ual fruits, springing up into everlasting life. The one and the 
 other must ask and obtain this as a free gift, a gift " from above," 
 " the gift of God" and to both our Lord thus in effect said, " If 
 any man thirst, let him come unto ME and drink." Here is the 
 " gift of God" even his dear Son here is the seed of the new- 
 birth, here the well springing up within the believer, even Christ, 
 " Christ in you, the hope of glory;" and thus we find Paul wri- 
 ting to his Galatian brethren " My little children, of whom I 
 travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you" Christ, then, 
 by his death has given himself to his people, that he may dwell 
 in them forever as the fountain of living waters, himself supply- 
 ing them with every thing which they can possibly need by the 
 way, whether it be power, love, wisdom, or sympathy, until they 
 attain the glorious kingdom above. 
 
 But we now advance to the last view which the illustrations of 
 the New Testament give us of Christ's love for his people in his 
 death. Let us listen to the memorable language which he uses 
 regarding himself 
 
 "lam the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger, 
 and he tfiat believeth in me shall never thirst." John vi. 35. 
 
 We have just had our minds directed to him as " living water ;" 
 we now would dwell upon the equally blessed truth, that he is 
 "living bread." In the one case, cleansing and refreshing, sancti- 
 fying and comforting ; in the other, sustaining, nourishing, and 
 supporting unto life eternal. " This is the bread which cometh 
 down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." 
 " He that eateth of this bread shall live forever." And just as 
 in the former case the point of comparison was probably meant 
 to be between the water flowing from the rock of Horeb, and 
 Christ, the fountain of living water ; so here the comparison is 
 distinctly set forth between the manna in the wilderness of old, 
 and this " bread of life" now. Jesus took occasion of the large 
 number of the people who pressed upon him, because they had 
 seen his miracles of the loaves, and had partaken of that supernat- 
 ural supply, and who, doubtless, had their minds forcibly turned 
 to the miraculous supply of manna to their forefathers, to warn 
 them that man doth not live by bread alone. He urged them not 
 to labor for the meat which perisheth. He at once appealed to
 
 LIVING BREAD. 159 
 
 the very incident in their history which was probably uppermost 
 in their thoughts, " Your fathers did eat in anna in the wilder- 
 ness." Well, and what then? They "are dead" Turn your 
 attention, then, from the mere carnal view of " what shall we eat," 
 to the spiritual apprehension of what is now within your reach ; 
 labor " for that meat which eridureth unto life eternal, which the 
 Son of man shall give unto you." " Moses gave you not that 
 f bread from Heaven," not the bread which excelleth, not that sus- 
 tenance or nourishment which will feed you and support you for- 
 ever. It was, indeed, a type, but it was nothing more. " But 
 my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven." " / am 
 (he bread of life : he that cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he 
 that believeth in me shall never thirst." 
 
 Our Lord thus intimates to us here, that just as a man eats 
 bread, which is the staff of life to his body, and seeks to appease 
 his hunger by so doing, so by a process which finds here its full- 
 est illustration, must the inner union be effected between him and 
 his people, that he may nourish them forever, and satisfy all their 
 spiritual desires ; and he explains what this act of eating bread 
 means, when applied to himself and his people figuratively. It is 
 " coming " to and " believing " in him. Whoever does this comes 
 to Jesus and believes in him is feeding on the "true bread" 
 that " cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world." 
 
 Bearing this in mind, let us proceed farther to notice how, as in 
 the figure of " water," the Evangelist in explaining what that 
 meant, adds the important fact that the gushing forth of the spir- 
 itual stream depended on the glorification of Christ by his death 
 and passion, so our Lord in this wonderful discourse before us 
 now, distinctly and unequivocally refers to the same solemn event, 
 as absolutely essential for the providing of this " bread of lift " to 
 the famished soul of man. It was not by simply following him, 
 as those around him were doing then, when as he lived and walked 
 among them, he showed forth his marvelous power, in feeding 
 thousands with a few loaves, calming to rest the turbulent billows 
 of Gennesaret, or raising the dead to life again. It was not by 
 simply believing in him, as thus living and working among them, 
 and crying out in amazement, " This is of a truth that prophet 
 which should come into the world." If their coming to him, and 
 belief in him went no further than this, he never could become
 
 160 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 " the bread of life 11 to their souls. No ! for their life by him, he 
 must die for them ; and their coming and believing must be to 
 one who "liveth and was dead, and behold he is alive again for- 
 ever more ;" or it would be worthless and vain. 
 
 And so, we find that having fastened the attention of his hear- 
 ers on the great truth that he was 'the true bread from Heaven, 
 and that coming to and believing on him would give them partici- 
 pation in this heavenly food, he loses no time in following up 
 this by a clear and emphatic statement regarding his death, as 
 that which must alone make them partakers of the spiritual food 
 they required. This he shows us forcibly in the 51st verse " I 
 ain the living bread which carne down from Heaven ; if any man 
 eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I w r ill 
 give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
 " He that cometh and believeth on me" must come to and believe 
 on one who " gives his flesh for the life of the world." " Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you," he solemnly adds, " except ye eat the 
 flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
 you." Here is the " living bread" which we are to eat and live 
 forever to come to and believe in Jesus as one whose blood was 
 poured out from his flesh. 
 
 Obviously the whole discourse, therefore, hinges on these points 
 " Labor not for the meat that perisheth." " Come to me, and 
 I will give you meat which endureth unto life everlasting." I 
 will give you myself. " lam the bread of life." And I will tell 
 you how this bread is to be eaten by coming and believing. I 
 will also tell you what it is you are to confess and believe as re- 
 gards this bread my death. You are to receive me as one pour- 
 ing out his life blood for the world a slain offering a bleeding 
 lamb. Your eating is confessing or coming, and believing. My 
 preparation for being the living bread, is death. 
 
 They who heard Jesus stumbled greatly at these words. They 
 took literally what he meant spiritually. In this way they re- 
 coiled in horror from his statement, that this man should not only 
 " give them his flesh to eat," but his " blood " the very thing so 
 constantly and carefully forbidden in their law, and any trans- 
 gression of which was a capital offense that he should invite 
 them to " drink his blood," was indeed a " hard saying," and they 
 could not bear it. One word our Lord interposed to give those
 
 LIVING BREAD. 161 
 
 who were departing and ready to walk no more with him, one 
 opportunity more. What! he said, doth this offend you? even 
 if ye shall see the Son of man /ascend up where he was before !" 
 unquestionably referring to his ascension. How can you, as if 
 he said, attach such a carnal meaning to my words ? But if 'you 
 do so now, will ye continue to do so, when ye shall see (what by 
 this very declaration is made known to you as certainly to hap- 
 pen) the Son of man, this very body no longer bruised and 
 wounded, the flesh and the blood separated in death, but glorified, 
 and ascending up into Heaven ? Surely the anticipation of that 
 glorious event of which I now forewarn you should cast down 
 any such carnal thought in your minds as you are now indulging 
 in. Flesh, in this carnal sense, profiteth nothing. The words 
 that I speak unto you, tfiey, if you will but listen to them with, 
 unprejudiced minds, and receive them as little children, are spirit 
 and they are life ; that is, they are not merely to be taken spiritu- 
 ally, but they vivify, they give life. 
 
 Now, did not the walking away of the men who had hitherto 
 followed him, and who, as far as we know, never returned to him 
 any more did not this fact prove the necessity of our Lord's 
 plain speaking in this matter ? As long as his cause was one 
 which was pleasing and gratifying to their carnal minds as long 
 as they regarded him in the light of one who could feed them at 
 his will, and astonish them by his miraculous power, they were 
 very well content to go on and wait on him, and be numbered 
 among his disciples ; but they started aside as a broken bow, 
 when the real truth which they must believe, if they were to con- 
 tinue his followers, was brought before them. " They stumbled 
 at that stumbling-stone." Doubtless they made abundant excuses 
 to themselves and neighbors why they could not with propriety 
 identify themselves any longer with a teacher who uttered such 
 strange things; but the real truth was, their "natural hearts re- 
 ceived not the things of the Spirit of God." They were offended 
 at them, and so it is, and ever will be, with sinful man. It is not 
 a Saviour who merely appeared in this world that turns him back 
 with contempt and hatred. No ; he might consent to listen to 
 such a teacher, and enroll himself among his followers, if he were, 
 indeed, great, and wise, and good, and powerful. But it is when 
 he is told to believe in a Saviour that has died for " t/te life of the 
 
 11
 
 162 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 
 
 world, 11 and so for him, then his heart rebels against this humbling 
 truth ; then the offense of the Cross causes him to stumble, and 
 he either goes away with the carelessness of a Gallic, or he turns 
 against it with the rabid hatred of the judges of the first martyr, 
 who " gnashed on him with their teeth." 
 
 It will be seen by the above how utterly groundless is the hor- 
 rible dogma of the Eomish Church as professedly based on this 
 discourse of Jesus. It is abundantly clear that they never drew 
 their idea of the doctrine of Transubstantiation from this ; but 
 having once possessed themselves with the idea, they, in their 
 eager search after any thing which would defend them, laid vio- 
 lent hands on some portions of this passage, and wickedly claimed 
 it as their own. But passing by this, we can not but remark how 
 strange it is that many persons find in this discourse a direct ref- 
 erence to the Lord's Supper I Surely, when we consider that that 
 feast was not yet instituted, and when- the language here used is 
 absolute and unconditional, we can not for a moment entertain 
 this view, unless we go the length of those who exclude all from 
 the kingdom of God who have not partaken of that feast, and 
 some of whom have in consequence uttered such things as come 
 near blasphemy in endeavoring to Reconcile their theory with the 
 startling fact of the salvation of the penitent robber on the cross. 
 The following wise and weighty remarks deserve deep consider- 
 ation, as evidently marking out the true bearing of this discourse. 
 " The question whether there is here any reference to the ORDINANCE 
 OF THE LORD'S SUPPER has been inaccurately put. When cleared 
 of inaccuracy in terms, it will mean, Is the subject here dwelt vpon, 
 the same as that which is set forth in the ordinance of the Lord's /Sup- 
 per ? And of this there surely can be no doubt. To the ordi- 
 nance itself there is here no reference, nor could there well have been 
 any. But the spiritual verity which underlies the ordinance is 
 one and the same with that here insisted on ; and so considered, 
 the discourse is, as generally treated, most important toward a 
 right understanding of the ordinance."* Oh, if men had but kept 
 this simple landmark in view, how much misery, disquietude, and 
 desolation in the outward church of Christ might have been 
 warded off I If they had looked steadily at the great " spiritual 
 verity" of the sacrifice and death of Christ, and as they gazed 
 
 * Alford.
 
 LIVING BREAD. 163 
 
 simply and lovingly on that, heard him say, " Except ye eat my 
 flesh and drink my- blood ye have no life in you," and then 
 marked from time to time by the way, the elements of bread 
 broken, and wine poured out, significantly pointing to the same 
 verity, and uttering the same thrilling language, how much would 
 have been spared of shame and dishonor to the cause of Christ 
 in the house of his professed friends ! 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to quote here the very distinct and 
 clear statement of the compilers of the English Liturgy, which 
 so exactly corresponds with the view quoted above. In the office 
 for the communion of the sick, it is said, if any man is hindered 
 from partaking of the sacrament of Christ's body and blood as 
 he desired to do, '' then the curate shall instruct him that if he 
 do truly repent him of his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus 
 Christ hath SUFFERED DEATH UPON THE CROSS for him, and shed 
 his blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the blessings 
 he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefor, he doth 
 eat and drink the body and blood of Christ profitably to his soul's 
 health, although he did not receive the sacrament by his lips?'' 
 
 One remark may not inappropriately be made here. Surely 
 when we see such a discourse as that under review, made by the 
 enemy of all truth the very battle-field on which he has so long 
 and so successfully endeavored to draw away souls from the faith, 
 and plunge them into the depths of false doctrine and deadly er- 
 ror ; when, if he can not blind men altogether to the reception 
 of what is so fearful in its character as the Romish dogma, he yet, 
 to a great extent, succeeds in perplexing minds on the most pre- 
 cious things of the Gospel, and confounding ordinances with the 
 verities which they set forth. When he puts forth all his power 
 and craft to do this in connection with such passages as that now 
 before us, we may be sure that he is not only anxious to take up 
 carnal and vain things which can never help or profit, but he is 
 all the while taking the utmost pains, by this very means, to con- 
 ceal a vital and important truth. When the enemy raises such a 
 cloud of dust as he has done around these simple precious words 
 of Christ, it well becomes us to wait on the breathing of the Spirit 
 of God, that he may dispel the darkness, and give us to receive 
 and keep the blessed truths which Satan would hide from our 
 eyes.
 
 164 THE PARABLE OF LIVING BREAD. 
 
 Now there is not to be found in Scripture a clearer or more 
 simple view of one of the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel 
 than in these words, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and 
 drink his blood, ye have no life in you" The justification of the 
 sinner before God is here taught, not in abstract terms, which, it 
 may be, by themselves, could never fully or clearly convey to us 
 this great mystery, but in such a simple figure as to bring it home 
 to the understanding and the heart. These words teach us with 
 great simplicity that justification before God first demands the 
 death of Christ. His body must be broken, and his blood poured 
 out. All the benefit of this must be received in the case of the 
 justified one by faith. This faith is not itself justification, but it 
 unites the justifier with the justified. And this is the great cha- 
 racteristic of it. It does for him spiritually what eating does to 
 the body naturally. It takes Christ crucified, and presents him 
 to the soul, which, by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, 
 appropriates and lives upon this heavenly food. It is to him 
 henceforth " the bread of life" life-giving food. And not as the 
 manna which was rained down only at stated periods, this true 
 bread, even Christ himself, is ever within the heart of the believer, 
 so that he hungers no more, but is for ever satisfied, and has 
 everlasting life. No wonder, when we have such great and glo- 
 rious truths so simply taught in these words that Satan should 
 leave no stone unturned to keep men's mind away from them, 
 "lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine into them." 
 
 Surely, then, we have in the death of Christ his wondrous love 
 displayed in what he is to his people the water and the bread of 
 life. When as the good Shepherd he leads his flock in and out, 
 no wonder that they "find pasture" since he himself is always 
 with them. No wonder that they, with full hearts and grateful 
 minds, take up such language as this, " The Lord is my Shepherd, 
 I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : 
 he leadeth me by the still waters" 
 
 And here we close the series of parabolic pictures in which the 
 Lord Jesus Christ has been graciously pleased to make known 
 to us some of those great and glorious characteristics which dis- 
 tinguish him as the Prince of the kingdom of light.
 
 PART III. 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OF GRACE, IN ITS PERSONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE LOST SHEEP THE LOST PIECE OP SILVEB THE LOST SOK. 
 
 WE now proceed to examine those parables which treat at 
 large and fully of the work of this great Prince and Saviour in. 
 bringing into and preparing for his kingdom those whom, he 
 loves and saves. They may be profitably regarded under two 
 great divisions. First, as exhibiting Christ's personal and exper- 
 imental work of grace; and secondly, Christ's external and 
 historical work in the Church and in the world. Of course the 
 . one and the other of these will be found from time to time com- 
 bined in the same parable. Indeed from the very nature of the 
 case it would be impossible to treat of them as absolutely distinct, 
 seeing that all that is historically recorded or prophetically de- 
 clared of the kingdom of Christ must necessarily include what 
 is doctrinal and practical. Still the division now suggested will 
 serve to place them in such a point of view at least as will re- 
 markably exhibit their fullness and wondrous beauty in the two 
 great departments of Christ's work in the heart and in the world. 
 "We turn, then, first, to the personal and practical work of Christ. 
 And iu doing so we are met at the outset by three parables which 
 claim priority of attention, which have ever been regarded as 
 wonderful alike for their simplicity and exquisite pathos; and 
 which must always be looked at side by side, if we would gain a 
 full and deep insight into their meaning, inasmuch as the one fills 
 up what is lacking in the other, yvhile all are directed to one and 
 the same subject of illustration. They are not like mirrors set
 
 166 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 by chance over against each other, which only confuse, while 
 they multiply the objects they reflect. They are rather like the 
 reflectors in the kaleidoscope, which, by their beautiful and yet 
 simple arrangement and collocation, unite together in presenting 
 to the eye a perfect and orderly figure of exceeding beauty. Let 
 us, then, look at these parables, taking them in succession, and 
 treating them, so far as is necessary, distinctively, but at the same 
 time noting the relative bearing of each upon the other. This 
 latter feature will, of course, come more forcibly before us as we 
 proceed in the examination of the second, and still more of the 
 third parable in the series. 
 
 " Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to 
 hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, 'saying, 
 This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he 
 spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having 
 an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and 
 nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 
 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 
 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neigh- 
 bors, saying unto them, JRejotce with me ; for I have found my sheep 
 which was lost. I say unto you, That likewise joy shall be in heaven 
 over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just 
 persons, which need no repentance." Luke xv. 1-7. 
 
 In order to have a distinct perception of the great leading truth 
 illustrated by this and the following parables, it is essential that 
 we bear in mind throughout, what it was that called them forth. 
 This was an objection urged by the Pharisees and scribes against 
 the conduct of Christ. " This man," they said, "receiveth sin- 
 ners, and eateth with them." In the opening verse of this chapter 
 we are told that " publicans and sinners" drew near to hear him. 
 In the objection taken by the Pharisees, "sinners" are only 
 spoken of, because they included the publicans in this expression 
 the latter being regarded as among the very lowest and most 
 degraded of the people. Indeed there can be little doubt that 
 the publicans, who are so often spoken of in the Gospels (not of 
 the higher grade, which was very respectable, but the lower, who 
 farmed the taxes for the other), were regarded by the people 
 generally as even worse and more degraded than such as, by their 
 profligacy or immoral conduct, were specially called sinners. The
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 167 
 
 term sinners, therefore, in the objection urged, must be considered 
 as embracing the publicans mentioned in the first verse, as well 
 as others. * 
 
 Now we shall be in danger of missing very much the bearing 
 of the parables which were given in order to meet this objection, 
 if we regard in it too exclusively the carping, murmuring spirit 
 of those who made it. It is very natural, in reading the Gospel 
 history;, to set down such an accusation as this merely as the ex- 
 pression of unworthy spite, envy, and malice on the part of 
 Christ's chief foes among the people ; nor is it improbable that 
 in by far the greater number of cases this was really the case. 
 Still it is possible that some among them may have started ob- 
 jections from a sincere though mistaken conviction of their being 
 well founded, or at least that, with real vindictiveness in their 
 hearts against Christ, they contrived, from time to time, so to 
 shape their objections as that they should appear in some respects 
 really formidable. 
 
 Now in the objection under consideration, we must not over- 
 look these points. We must not regard it merely as an ebullition 
 of spite and malice. Had it been so, it would probably have 
 been met in silence, or by such a startling and terrible denuncia- 
 tion as "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" But, 
 in truth, the objection was a most plausible one it was one which 
 was likely to turn the tide of public opinion against Christ. Nay, 
 more, it was an objection which, if in a certain point of view it 
 could have been substantiated, would have utterly condemned 
 the mission of Christ, and held it up to well-deserved reproach. 
 Had our Lord's fellowship with the persons here spoken of been 
 such as this that he descended to their level that he held con- 
 verse with tbem without rebuking their sins, but, on the contrary, 
 by his silence tacitly encouraging them had he, in fact, entered 
 their territory, in order to have communion with them there, and 
 to sit down and rest with them, and to sup with them, and they 
 with him, amid the impenitence and the unforsuken ungodliness 
 of their ways (hen, indeed, the objection, "this man . receiveth 
 sinners, and eateth with them," would be well founded, and 
 nothing else of power or love on the part of him who did so 
 could wipe away that stain. 
 
 It was to clear this important matter that our Lord uttered the
 
 168 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 three parables in this chapter. It may be that the Pharisees were 
 only gratifying their malice and hatred in the accusation they 
 made, but Jesus, without giving heed to the spirit which prompted 
 the objection, at once proceeded carefully to vindicate his conduct 
 from any false construction which might be put upon it, while at 
 the same time he took occasion from the accusation itself to set 
 forth, under most remarkable imagery, the true nature of that 
 fellowship in which he himself rejoiced, his " receiving sinners, 
 and eating with them." In considering these parables, therefore, 
 let us bear in mind the objection, not so much in that it might 
 have been malicious, for that we do not actually know, but in that 
 it was plausible, for that is manifest. 
 
 In the first of these as given above, we have the case of a man 
 who owned a hundred sheep out of this number one had strayed. 
 The careful shepherd did not remark this unconcernedly. He at 
 once adopted measures to bring back the lost sheep if possible. 
 He leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness, not in what is 
 generally among us termed a wilderness, that is " a dry and 
 thirsty land where no water is," a solitary, barren desert but 
 such a place as was known by that term to the persons our Lord 
 was addressing a place where water abounded, where all was 
 fresh and green such a wilderness as that in which John came 
 preaching and baptizing, or such as that where thousands were 
 fed with a few loaves, and in which we are told there was " much 
 grass ;" and so these ninety and nine are left well cared for in 
 "green pastures" and "beside still waters," in peace, safety, and 
 plenty, while the shepherd went to recover the lost one. He sets 
 out on his quest. He takes much pains to discover the wanderer. 
 He does not leave it to others to track it out. He goes after it 
 himself; and he does this until he finds it. He is bent on his 
 work of recovery. Nothing hinders him until he succeeds. Then 
 indeed he brings the lost sheep on his shoulders rejoicing. His 
 search is successful. He has found what he wanted. His toil is 
 at an end. He is richly rewarded. He takes sure possession of 
 it. He carries it gently, carefully, and yet so that all should see 
 what he is doing. And when he reaches home, he calls his 
 friends and neighbors together, in order that they may share in 
 the satisfaction with which he finds his journey and his toil so 
 happily concluded.
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 169 
 
 Now, bearing in mind the objection to which we have already- 
 adverted, it will be seen that our Lord, in this first parable, ap- 
 pears at first to give a stronger expression to that objection itself. 
 The parable does not deal with one receiving, but with one seek- 
 ing. And so his first mode of dealing with the objection is 
 this : " You object to my ' receiving sinners, and eating with 
 them.' Well, I not only acknowledge that I do this, but I tell 
 you that my special purpose and object in the mission in which I- 
 am now engaged is to seek out, to find, to discover sinners, for this 
 very communion and fellowship in which I rejoice and glory. I 
 am not only ' the friend of publicans and sinners,' but so much 
 their friend that I do not wait for them to come to me, but I must 
 needs go and find out them." 
 
 That the shepherd in the parable means Christ there can be no 
 doubt. His own assumption of this character and name in the 
 tenth chapter of John, is conclusive here. Nor must we pass 
 over the remarkable intimations which abound in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and which tell of the Messiah under this character ;. and 
 especially must we bear in mind such passages as are to be found 
 in Ezekiel xxxiv., where the faithless shepherd is particularly 
 marked out in his faithlessness, and condemned, because he does 
 not seek out and recover the lost or straying sheep of his flock. 
 The faithfulness and tender love of the good shepherd are here 
 set in contrast with those false and faithless shepherds, even as 
 he stands contrasted with the " thief that seeks to enter the fold 
 some other way," and the " hireling, who fleeth when he sees the 
 wolf coming." 
 
 But who are the " ninety and nine" sheep left securely and 
 happily in the green pastures, and who the " one of them" which 
 has strayed and is lost ? One commentator suggests a solution 
 of the difficulty which lies in the parable here, by saying that it 
 is the " one lost" which is the great and prominent subject about 
 which the imagery of the parable is gathered, and after the stray- 
 ing of this one is mentioned, he affirms that the " ninety and 
 nine" pass out of sight and are not considered any more. But 
 this is surely inconsistent with our Lord's interpretation so far of 
 the parable, for these "ninety and nine" are brought forward 
 prominently at the close of the shepherd's work. The lost one 
 wandered from among them at firzt. He is rejoiced over
 
 170 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 than they all at last. Far from passing out of sight, then, they 
 must be kept steadily in view if we would understand the parable 
 aright. And when Jesus speaks of the " ninety and nine" sheep 
 as truly representing " ninety and nine just persons which need no 
 repentance" he has given us the key to the interpretation. 
 
 It is not for a moment to be admitted that these words of our 
 Lord so distinct and explicit mean only " persons who esteem- 
 ed themselves to be righteous," or wished to be thought righteous 
 in the eyes of others. When he meant such persons, our Lord 
 plainly and unequivocally expressed what he meant, " Ye are 
 they which justify yourselves before men : but God knoweth your 
 hearts." And, again, " This parable (the Pharisee and publican 
 in the temple) spake he unto certain which trusted in themselves 
 that they were righteous, and despised others." The words of Christ 
 before us are too plain and emphatic to allow of such a reference, 
 unless, indeed, we use the language of Scripture merely as an 
 elastic ring, which can be stretched at will to hold any thing we 
 may thrust within its embrace. There is no instance in our Lord's 
 preaching which can be quoted as laying down such a principle 
 of interpretation as this. For as to that declaration, " I came 
 not to call righteous but sinners to repentance," it surely can not 
 be regarded as an ironical admission on his part that these were 
 righteous, or that they were so in their own esteem, but merely 
 that he came to a sinful, not a righteous world. And besides this, 
 the conclusion in the parable is absolutely opposed to such a view. 
 The " lost sheep 11 is rejoiced over more than the " ninety and nine," 
 but this very statement proves that the latter were the objects of 
 joy likewise, though not so much as the former. This can in no 
 sense be said of such as " trusted in themselves that they were 
 righteous and despised others." Indeed nothing can be more op- 
 posed to the simple majesty of these parables, and the sublime 
 truth which they illustrate, than to bring such an element as this 
 into the interpretation. It robs them of their beauty, and makes 
 any thing like a consistent view of them impossible. 
 
 The difficulty of receiving such an interpretation of the "ninety 
 and nine" as the above, is acknowledged to be insurmountable 
 by a recent writer on the parables, who has most admirably and 
 ably added to the store of biblical literature on this subject. He 
 gi\es up the above view as untenable, and so far clears the ground ;
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 171 
 
 but the view which, he entertains, can not, it is conceived, be re- 
 ceived as satisfactory, nor does it answer the requirements of the 
 parable more fully than the other. " We may get rid both of 
 this difficulty and of the other by seeing here an example of our 
 Lord's severe yet loving irony. These ninety and nine, needing no 
 repentance, would then be, like those whole who need not, or count 
 that they need not (?) a physician, (Matt. ix. 12,) self-righteous 
 persons as such, displeasing to God, and whose present life 
 could naturally cause no joy in heaven. So that it would be easy 
 to understand how a sinner's conversion would cause more (?) joy 
 there than the continuance of such in their evil state. But the 
 Lord could hardly have meant to say merely this ; and, moreover, 
 the whole construction of the parable is against such an explana- 
 tion. ' The ninety and nine sheep have not wandered ; the nine 
 pieces of money have not been lost ; the elder brother has not left 
 his father's house.' "* This last sentence states the matter fairly 
 and justly as it stands in these parables. It must never be lost 
 sight of, if we would come to a satisfactory view of either of them. 
 The sheep left behind were not lost. The money left in the house 
 was not lost. The elder son never left his father's house, and was 
 not lost. But while this writer so clearly states the case as it exists, 
 the explanation which he suggests appears to be in the last degree 
 unsatisfactory. " His own view (he proceeds) of the parables 
 which affords a solution of the difficulties appears to be this that 
 we understand these ' righteous 1 as really such, but also that their 
 righteousness is merely legal, is of the old dispensation, so that 
 the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than they. The law 
 had done a part of its work for them, keeping them from gross 
 positive transgression of its enactments, and thus they needed not, 
 like the publicans and sinners, repentance from these ; but it had 
 not done another part of its work it had not brought them, as 
 God intended it should, to a conviction of sin it had not been 
 for them ' a schoolmaster to Christ,' and to a glad and thankful em- 
 bracing of his salvation. The publicans and sinners, though by 
 another path, had come to him ; and he now declares, that there 
 was more real ground of joy over one of these who were now en- 
 tering into the inner sanctuary of faith, than over ninety and nine 
 
 * Trench's Notes on the Parables, p. 379.
 
 172 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of themselves, who lingered at the legal vestibule, refusing to go 
 further in." 
 
 The objections to this view are altogether insuperable, besides 
 that it is impossible to do otherwise than enter a solemn protest 
 against some of the sentiments here expressed, as strongly mili- 
 tating against the simple principles of the doctrine of Christ. 
 
 Is it possible to suppose that our Lord could have alluded to 
 the Pharisees generally under these terms " as really ' righteous ?' " 
 The Pharisees of whom, when we first read of them in the Gospel 
 history, we find the Baptist crying aloud in his amazement at 
 their coming to hear him, " O generation of vipers, who hath 
 warned you to flee from the wrath to come ?" the Pharisees whom 
 our Lord himself so repeatedly denounced in language unequaled 
 for its solemn and awful force, " Woe unto you, scribes a^d-EhaC: 
 isees, hypocrites !'' Ye take away the key of knowledge ye en- 
 ter not in yourselves, and ye suffer not others to enter in. Ye de- 
 vour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Ye 
 do all to be seen of men. Ye love the praise of men more than 
 the praise of God. Ye cleanse the outside of the cup and platter," 
 while the inside is full of extortion and excess. Ye are whited 
 sepulchers, full of dead men's bones, and all manner of unclean- 
 ness. Ye adorn the tombs of the^prophets which your fathers 
 killed. Thus ye say, that ye are their children. Fill up the 
 measure of your iniquity. Ye compass sea and land to discover 
 one PEQseJ^te, and when ye have fouj)Ld_him, ye make him tenfold 
 more the child of hell than yourselves. Ye serpents, ye^gengiac 
 tion of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ! 
 
 Can we for a moment receive the softening expressions which 
 are applied to such men in the explanation suggested above? It 
 is utterly impossible, unless we would confound all good and evil, 
 right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous together nay, un- 
 less we would make our Lord hknself put forth under the guise 
 of a parable a sentiment regarding the Pharisees the very reverse 
 of all that he ever distinctly and emphatically declares concerning 
 them. If it were possible to conceive that our Lord had them in 
 his mind as the parties represented by the ninety and nine in the 
 parable, there is no escape from the conclusion that 'while he was 
 vindicating his admission of sinners to himself, he was at the same 
 time nourishing to the very utmost of his power the pride, the
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 173 
 
 self-righteousness, the legal spirit of the Pharisees, making them 
 comfortable in the possession of those very principles which were 
 the prolific source of the ungodliness he so vividly and terribly 
 denounced. 
 
 But more than this. Granting what the above writer affirms 
 regarding the real righteousness of these men, (which we hold to 
 be entirely opposed to the doctrine of Christ,) but granting this 
 for a moment, the explanation does not in the least degree meet 
 the requirements of the parable, even as stated by this writer 
 himself. He says, " the f ninety and nine" have not wandered. 
 But does the fact of their real legal righteousness consist with 
 this ? On the contrary, it disproves it. Just as the righteousness 
 of faith proves that he who is covered by it has wandered, so the 
 righteousness which is of the law^grojj.sa that he who thinks he 
 can cover himself with it has wandered also. The explanation, 
 then, fails here in its most important, and, indeed, essential point. 
 
 Further, it fails here also. The writer says, " Thus they needed 
 not, like the publicans and sinners, repentance from these from 
 gross, positive transgression." But inasmuch as the "law had 
 not done another part of its work," in bringing them to Christ, 
 as "God intended" it should do, they needed repentance here. 
 But in direct opposition to this, our Lord says, "just persons who 
 need NO repentance." 
 
 Once more. " He (Christ) declares that there- waa more real 
 ground of Jov over one sinner," etc., so that there was some 
 ground of joy over those " who lingered at the legal vestibule, 
 refusing to go in." T\ey arfi_pp.rsnna whn cl i ii g, tLLlighteouanGSS 
 of v.-liidi our Lord positively said, thut if they IKK! no more, they 
 ronld''i!i no r;isr enter into the kingdom of henvrn,'' :m<l yet 
 there is some ground of joy over such as these ! Surely it needs 
 but to state these things to prove how utterly untenable all those 
 views are which would seek to identify the "ninety and nine" 
 sheep who never strayed, and the "just persons who need no 
 repentance" with the bitterest enemies of Christ, the most deter- 
 mined opposers of his Gospel, whose conduct drew forth from 
 him the most solemn warning he ever uttered, regarding such a 
 sin, or rather course of sin, as should never be forgiven either in 
 this world or in the world to come. 
 
 But another and insuperable objection to this interpretation
 
 174 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 must be briefly noticed. If these " ninety and nine just persons" 
 are Pharisees in their legal righteousness, whence was it that the 
 publicans or the sinners strayed from them ? How could it ever 
 be said, with any propriety, that like as one sheep separates itself 
 from the flock, wanders away and is lost, so the publicans and 
 sinners separated themselves from these righteous Pharisees 
 wandered away and were lost ? Such an interpretation utterly 
 destroys the meaning of the parable in one of its essential fea- 
 tures, namely, the straying of the lost sheep. And if it were the 
 true interpretation, what but this must have been to the Pharisees 
 the certain conclusion, so grateful to their self-love, " The publi- 
 cans and the sinners have wandered and are lost, but / have 
 never wandered. I am not one of the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel." How differently our Lord deals with their case is mani- 
 fest from such a parable as that of the Pharisee and publican, 
 wherein the two characters are by it statedly and expressly on 
 the scene. The man who thought himself righteous sincere 
 enough in his own conviction and the poor, humbled, penitent 
 publican the last went down to his house justified rather than 
 the other; " for every one," adds Christ, "that exalteth himself 
 shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 
 Nor is it unimportant to notice here what our Lord says of 
 these very Pharisees in another parable, which plainly exhibits 
 what he desired to inculcate on all who heard him regarding 
 them. In the parable of the two sons required by their father to 
 work in his vineyard, the second promised to go and went not. 
 This son, by our Lord's own interpretation, means the Pharisee, 
 and the other is the publican ; and so he adds that while the 
 latter were pressing into the kingdom of heaven before their 
 faces, the former "repented not" Is it possible to suppose that 
 our Lord would contradict the teaching of one parable by that 
 of another? that in one he would charge with "repenting not,' 1 ' 1 
 the very same parties of whom in another he said, " they need no 
 repentance ?" 
 
 We dismiss, then, as utterly untenable, and altogether incon- 
 sistent with the simple story of the parable, all interpretations 
 which would identify the "ninety and nine just persons which need 
 no repentance" with the Pharisees. That such interpretations 
 have been entertained at all that they have continued to hold
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 175 
 
 their ground so long that they are so generally acquiesced in 
 proceeds obviously from neglecting to notice what, it is con- 
 ceived, is so essential to a due perception of the meaning of these 
 parables, namely that the Pharisees who made the objection call- 
 ing them forth are not so much to be considered as the objection 
 itself. Once let that objection be properly set aside once let the 
 flood of Divine light from the Son of righteousness be poured 
 down on that wondrous truth, Christ receiving sinners, admitting 
 them to his fellowship, honoring them by his presence, calling 
 them his friends once let this be fairly and distinctly set forth 
 and explained let but the lips of him who never yet spake as 
 man spake be opened to illustrate the grand and glorious fact, 
 that God and the sinner are reconciled then, all that was plausi- 
 ble in the objection made is dispersed as a cloud before the wind ; 
 and then, too, in the most emphatic manner, the Pharisees will 
 have their answer. 
 
 Let us then turn to the parable, and see whether there be not 
 one explanation of it which in all its parts is consistent with 
 itself which retains the natural simplicity of the story itself, 
 without forcing into the interpretation any thing which does not 
 necessarily and obviously belong to the great truth illustrated. 
 
 It is admitted that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Shepherd. 
 Who, then, are the " ninety and nine" sheep who went not astray 
 the u ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance ?" The 
 interpretation glanced at by Theophylact, and received with favor 
 by Hilary, is that which is unhesitatingly adopted here as the 
 only one which can satisfy the condition now mentioned. " These 
 (the ninety and nine) the good Shepherd left in the wilderness, 
 that is, in the higher heavenly places ; for heaven is this wilder- 
 ness, being sequestered from all worldly tumult, and fulfilled 
 with all tranquillity and peace."* He left them in the heavenly 
 places, secure, happy, peaceful, unfallen, amid plenty, and in 
 glory, while he went forth himself to seek the one erring, wan- 
 dering, hapless sheep that had gone astray on the mountains of 
 vanity fallen, degraded, and lost man. Alford, in his admirable 
 notes on the Old Testament, gives the alternative which is here 
 accepted : " Or, if it be required that the words should be liter- 
 ally explained, seeing that these ninety-nine did not err, then I 
 * See Trench, p. 379, note.
 
 176 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 see no other way but to suppose them, in the deeper meaning of 
 the parable, to be the worlds tiiat have not fallen, and the one that 
 has strayed, our human nature, in this one world." 
 
 This extract touches the matter with the point of a needle. 
 The words in the parable must be regarded as literally meaning 
 that the ninety and nine did not err ; for if not, there is no possi- 
 ble escape from the conclusion, that the straying of the one sheep 
 can not be literal either. Let us endeavor to follow out this in- 
 terpretation in the several particulars of the parable. 
 
 Man as originally cheated, though made a little lower than the 
 angels, was yet a meet and suitable companion of angels. He 
 reflected the image of his Maker in his being, even as they do in 
 theirs. He enjoyed the fullness of his Maker's favor even as they. 
 God's delight was with him even as with them. Holiness and 
 obedience were required of him even as of them. Happiness, 
 peace, joy, life, were secured to him even as to them, if he con- 
 tinued obedient. The history of man, as revealed to us in the 
 Inspired Word, scarcely opens it scarcely begins to unfold to us 
 man's happy condition, walking with God, and God with him, in 
 want of nothing, for God was with him as his Shepherd, making 
 him to lie down by pastures of tender grass, and 'by the waters 
 of quietness scarcely does revelation cause this bright and glow- 
 ing picture to 'open before us than a cloud comes over it, and 
 turns all its brightness into the shadow of death. Man's habita- 
 tion is quickly changed. We see him for one brief moment in 
 Eden, amid bowers of beauty and unutterable loveliness the 
 friend and companion of all that is holy and happy ; the next, 
 we find him dwelling in a world which is accursed thorns and 
 thistles springing up around him light gone from his eye the 
 nobleness of his image changed darkness, thick darkness, around 
 him and fear, doubt, anxiety, and danger, his constant compan- 
 ions. It is the very original of the parabolic picture before us 
 man went astray as a sheep strays from its fold. 
 
 Nor must we forget to notice what has repeatedly been urged 
 by commentators here that while in the fold, and amid their 
 pastures, sheep give us a striking image of peace, security, and 
 plenteousness ; on the other hand, in the straying of a sheep we 
 have set forth a blind and stupid ignorance. None can miss the 
 truthfulness of the illustration here who has chanced to observe
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 177 
 
 a sheep that lias wandered from its companions. And so as re- 
 gards man. What ignorance, what doltish stupidity did he 
 manifest when he put forth his hand and took of that fruit which 
 was forbidden him to taste as if by breaking the commandment 
 of Him who made him, and gave him all things richly to enjoy, 
 he could make himself wiser, better, and happier ! "What unut- 
 terable folly, to barter Paradise and its glorious life for the eating 
 of an apple ! 
 
 Then how apt is the illustration further. The sheep that has 
 strayed, wanders on, continually increasing its distance from the 
 flock. And so with fallen man. He is not satisfied merely with 
 losing the companionship of the holy and the pure he has 
 wandered further and further away from God continually. Then, 
 too, it may be, the heedlessness of man may be represented here. 
 Perhaps, at first, the stray sheep may feel alarm when it finds it- 
 self separated from its companions. This, however, very soon 
 wears off. The pasture it has chosen for itself may suffice for the 
 present ; and as it wanders on, cropping here and there in its 
 perverse way what suits its taste, it may go on in fancied security, 
 and with no desire to retrace its steps. And so with man. When 
 first the awful sentence was passed upon him, and he was driven 
 out of Paradise, a terrible dread gathered around his soul ; but 
 this passed away, and he has in his grievous wandering from God, 
 learned so to solace himself with the things he has chosen for 
 himself, as to become heedless and careless of all that has been 
 lost. 
 
 Then, too, the stray sheep is exposed to the greatest peril, and 
 that of various kinds. Noxious, deadly things, may be mistaken 
 for wholesome, pleasant food. Darkness will overtake it, and de- 
 struction become imminent. An imprudent step, or a beast of . 
 the field may suddenly and forever close its wanderings And so 
 with man. He is surrounded on every side with threatening 
 danger. He has lost the perception with which he may discern 
 truly between that which is deadly and that which is wholesome. 
 His feet stumble on the dark mountains. His own folly may 
 quickly close the story of his sad wandering, and Satan triumph 
 in the everlasting ruin of his soul. 
 
 Such was the picture which presented itself before the eyes of 
 the Son of God when man fell away and wandered from his fold. 
 
 12
 
 
 178 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 How full of deep and affecting pathos are the words of this Son 
 of God himself, when he actually set out upon his mission of 
 mercy, and when he looked upon poor fallen human nature, not 
 now as he had done before, when seated on his throne, and de- 
 termined to seek and save the lost, and when, in the likeness of 
 man, he stood among the children of men. " When he saw the 
 multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because 
 they fainted, (were tired and lay down, margin,} and were scat- 
 tered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." It was thus he had 
 looked down from heaven, when man first strayed from his kind 
 and gentle care, and he resolved to seek out the wanderer, at 
 whatever cost or trouble to himself. The "ninety and nine" are 
 dear to him. They have not wandered, and he delights in them 
 still. There is but one gone. Surely that will not be missed. 
 He may allow it to wander. He has enough left. He may give 
 himself no thought or care about the ungrateful, thoughtless one 
 which has gone ! Not so are his ways or his thoughts. He will 
 not love " the ninety and nine" less. He will not care for them 
 less ; nay, he will show them that he cares for them even more 
 than they could have conceived by his leaving them safe as they 
 were, and happy, in order that he may never rest until he has re- 
 stored their wandering companion to them again. What a new 
 spring must have been opened in heaven, of loving confidence in 
 the care of the good Shepherd when he set himself to the task of 
 finding out and bringing back his lost sheep. What new impres- 
 sions of Divine love must have been created in the minds of the 
 holy and glorious hosts of God by such a manifestation of tender 
 self-denying care on the part of the good Shepherd ! 
 
 Then mark how the parable puts it : " If he lose one of them" 
 . The wandering of the sheep is counted by him as his loss. He 
 can not regard it in any other light. And so as regards man. 
 Whatever be the ruin and wretchedness he has brought upon 
 himself, still, let it be remembered, that by his fall the great King 
 has been deprived of a bright jewel. The fine gold which he had 
 prepared of honor and glory unto himself, in this lower world, 
 has become dim. The Son of God, then, would not suffer him- 
 self to be forever deprived of this jewel. And just as the shep- 
 herd sets forth in the parable to seek until he find his stray 
 sheep, so He set forth on his quest of pity and of mercy.
 
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 179 
 
 In this part of the parable, the incarnation of the Son of God is 
 plainly intimated. The shepherd sent not his servants forth to 
 bring back the lost. He did not remain at home and issue his 
 commands for the recovery of his sheep. He set out himself, left 
 his home, followed the sheep in its wanderings till he found it. 
 Obviously this directs our attention to the Son of God leaving 
 his glory, " emptying himself of his reputation," and never ceas- 
 ing until he stood face to face with the sinner on the ground of 
 his wandering, until he personally sought him out in his low and 
 lost estate, until he found him sunk as he was in the depths of 
 sin, and far, far removed from his Father's house. This he did 
 by taking man's nature on him. It was thus he came near to him. 
 It was thus he stood face to face with him in his wandering, and 
 made preparation for his being brought back and restored to 
 glory, honor, and immortality. When this good Shepherd set 
 out on his errand of mercy, all heaven bowed down to speed him 
 on his way, and rang again with the loud hosannas of expectant 
 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ did in the flesh for the poor 
 lost soul of man is graphically set forth in this parable by the 
 single expression, "He ivent after that which was lost until he found 
 it" This embraces the whole work of toil, self-denial, and sacri- 
 fice which he voluntarily underwent, in order that he might get 
 at the lost soul to save it. All the sufferings of his life and death 
 are comprised in his thus " going after the lost soul until he find 
 it." He had counted the cost, and nothing deterred him from 
 pursuing until he found. Oh, who can describe what that cost 
 must have been ! We behold it terribly distinct at Calvary, 
 when he was close upon the lost one, just finding him with all 
 the darkness and the sorrow of the accursed tree, the hiding of 
 his Father's face, the desertion of friends, the bitter spite of ene- 
 mies, and the faintness of bodily suffering. We see it distinctly, 
 too, in the garden of Gethsemane, when not even his truest fol- 
 lowers could watch with him one hour in his agony. When he 
 prayed and agonized alone, " his soul being exceeding sorrowful 
 even unto death." Yet these were but the closing scenes of his 
 long journeying after his lost one. His whole course from first 
 to last, through thirty years and more, was but one continued 
 contradiction of sinners against him. He toiled, and labored,
 
 180 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 and struggled always as a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief. He bent his steps in one way to find the lost ; but each 
 of these steps was one of untold sadness, suffering, reproach, and 
 trouble, to the kind, loving, good Shepherd. 
 
 Now, watch the Shepherd who has gone after his lost sheep, 
 and after a long, weary, and fatiguing search, borne, nevertheless, 
 unflinchingly, because he knew what he was doing, whither he 
 was going, and where he would find his strayed sheep observe 
 him as he finds it his search successful \\\s setting forth after it 
 his "going out" after it, happily at an end. "When he hathjound 
 it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing" And so just as the going 
 forth of the shepherd till he find his sheep presents before us the 
 Lord Jesus Christ in his work of sorrow, and trial, and self-deny- 
 ing love for his people ; so the returning of the shepherd marks 
 his glorious and happy return with the fruit of the travail of his 
 soul. The power of Christ is here revealed. Just as the shep- 
 herd lays his sheep on his shoulders, so Christ bears his ransomed, 
 his redeemed one, by his mighty power when he has found him. 
 He does not drive him in his weariness, or require him to follow 
 in his weakness. He carries him by his own might. He lifts 
 him by his strong hand and his almighty power, and " makes a 
 show openly" of what he has done in delivering his poor erring 
 child ; and he does all this " rejoicing," His pain, sorrow and 
 struggle are over. He has paid the price which he knew was 
 required. He faltered not a moment till this was done to the 
 uttermost. And now, as he leads captivity captive, he goes on 
 his way rejoicing, his humiliation passed forever; and glory, the 
 glory of redemption, that key-note of the new song in heaven 
 that new, and of all his crowns the brightest, fills him with unut- 
 terable joy. 
 
 And then mark the language of the parable. " When he 
 cometh home." This does not mean, as some have supposed, that 
 the shepherd on his return brought his lost one to the house 
 instead of placing it again in the fold. Such a view would mar 
 the simple, natural story of the parable. All that is meant by it 
 is this. The shepherd succeeded in his search which took him 
 from home, or from his house ; and he returned home with his 
 lost one found. The evident purpose of the introduction of such 
 words is, to impress upon the hearts of all God's ransomed ones
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 181 
 
 this precious truth, that when the Saviour carries them by his 
 power from the place of danger to the place of safety he is going 
 home, and therefore so are they. His home is their home. His 
 place of rest theirs. In his Father's house are many mansions, 
 and the end of their salvation will be in its perfect happiness to 
 realize in the presence of God, and Christ, and the holy angels, 
 in its utmost and highest perfection, all that rises in the heart, 
 and speaks of calm, gently joy in that one blessed word, home. 
 
 And now, before noticing briefly the closing part of this para- 
 ble, it is important that we observe the following particulars in it, 
 and the great truths it illustrates. In the story itself we see the 
 shepherd setting out, and then returning home successful, and 
 rejoicing with others at his success. Thus it was in Christ's 
 work. He left his glory to come down to this world to seek and 
 save the lost ; and as soon as he had accomplished his work, 
 made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness, he 
 returned, he went back, ascended up where he was before, and 
 now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. In so doing 
 he virtually bore back with him that which he came to save. He 
 held forever safe the souls whom he redeemed. They were now 
 his in the bonds of the everlasting covenant, which his own blood 
 had ratified and sealed ; and besides all this, his own presence in 
 the courts of heaven, not now merely as the Son of God, but as 
 the Son of Man, was but the first-fruit and the pledge that every 
 one of his own people is safe forever from the fury of the de- 
 stroyer. This has been already effected. The safety of his ran- 
 somed ones is already secured. But the time is yet to come when 
 they will each and every one of them be seen restored and happy 
 in the heavenly fold. And thus our Lord in explaining and en- 
 forcing the parable does not say, " There is joy in heaven," but 
 " I say unto you, that likewise joy SHALL BE in heaven over one sin- 
 ner, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no 
 repentance." 
 
 Not that he means by this that the joy does not exist now ; 
 but it shall not be manifested forth among the mighty hosts of 
 God by things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
 the earth, until the day when each and all of the redeemed shall 
 be presented spotless before God in glory. But when that day 
 arrives, then it shall be seen how there is greater joy in heaven
 
 182 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 over the restoration of this once lost, but now found child, than 
 over all those who have never wandered. "Joy in heaven!" 
 ' Joy throughout heaven. Joy from the center to the widest bor- 
 ders of the paradise of God. Joy on the Throne, in the heart of 
 the mighty God himself deep, unutterable wondrous joy in the 
 bosom of Jehovah. Joy amid the hosts of God. Those hosts 
 who sang their hymns of praise when earth appeared robed in 
 her fair mantle of beauty, fresh from her Maker's hand those 
 hosts who bowed down to herald the approach of the Son of God 
 on his mission of mercy those hosts who look into the great 
 work he came to finish, with the unwearied intelligence of their 
 perfect understanding, and the ever-increasing glow of their per- 
 fect love -joy shall be among them, too, when the lost one shall 
 be restored. The broken link in the glorious creatureship of 
 Jehovah shall be repaired. The jewel shall be restored to the 
 Master's crown. The rooms in heaven's mansions so long empty 
 shall be filled. And with all this, the pledge and the security 
 shall be given to all the holy and pure in heaven that sin's power 
 is at an end, and that never again can it enter one of the" fair 
 fields of God's creation, and spread desolation, ruin and death 
 there. 
 
 But this joy will be greater than over the "ninety and nine just 
 persons who need 'no repentance." As regards the Son of God 
 himself it will be greater, because he will see in them " the fruit 
 of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." He created the 
 angels, and gave them all their beauty, their strength, their hap- 
 piness, and their glory. They sprang into being at his mighty 
 word, and he has surrounded them with every thing which can 
 minister to their glorious and exalted position in his kingdom. 
 But for the restoration of poor lost humanity he did far more 
 than this. He it was that created man at first, and breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life, and " without him was not any 
 thing made that was made," which could minister to man's hap- 
 piness, comfort, and joy. Thus he held an equal place with 
 angelic beings in the relationship subsisting between the wise, 
 good, and bountiful Creator, and his obedient and happy crea- 
 tures. "Whatever the joy of God in the one, it was of the same 
 character as his joy in the other. But when he would bring back 
 this human nature after it had fallen and been lost, he must not
 
 THE LOST SHEEP. 183 
 
 only put forth creative energy so as to make new all that had 
 fallen into decay, and build up what had crumbled into rums ; 
 he must also himself take upon him the very nature, with all per- 
 taining to it, except its sin, and by a long course of suffering and 
 sorrow, closed by an ignominious death, procure at this cost, and 
 by nothing less, the object he had in view. When, therefore, 
 the Son of God shall look on his gathered saints at last, he will 
 behold in them not only creatures who by that simple relation- 
 ship afford to him pure and perfect joy, but he will specially look 
 on them as the fruit of his own sorrow and suffering. And just 
 as the latter was bitter, terrible, and agonizing, so will his joy be 
 exceeding great when he presents them to himself at last without 
 spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, redeemed by his own pre- 
 cious blood, bought with the price he alone could pay and 
 above all, in whose inner joy at their deliverance, and their in- 
 heritance of glory, he is not merely interested as one looking on, 
 but which he shares with them as their elder brother. The na- 
 ture which he assumed, and which was common to him and fallen 
 man, enabled him to suffer, and also to become the way by which 
 man might rise up in sympathy of love and joy with Jehovah. 
 And it likewise furnished to himself that wherein he might expe- 
 rience the accumulated joy, feel it as if it were his own, of all his 
 ransomed children. 
 
 And so too, among the hosts of heaven, greater joy will be felt 
 in connection with the story of man's recovery from his wander- 
 ing and death, than in any thing connected with their own his- 
 tory. If redemption has given a new song to the saints of God, 
 which they shall sing forever in heaven, let it not be forgotten 
 that it is a song in the chorus of which " every creature which is 
 in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as 
 are in the sea," shall join. The presence of these restored ones 
 in heaven has opened up new glories in heaven itself. The an- 
 gels see, what had never appeared before " in the midst of the 
 throne, a Lamb as it had been slain." This tells them the won- 
 drous story of God's wisdom, power, and love. It makes known 
 to them these things in such force and to such an extent as they 
 never understood before. It gives them a deeper insight .than 
 they could ever have otherwise possessed of the ground on which 
 they stand as holy and responsible creatures, while, at the same
 
 184 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 time, it gives them unutterable confidence in the stability of the 
 government of God's kingdom, of the increase, prosperity, peace, 
 and safety of which there shall now be no end. It affords them 
 a further view into the resources of the divine mind. It shows 
 them how he can bring good out of evil, and make even the 
 threatened desolation of his kingdom the very means by which it 
 shall never be moved. It causes them to see, as they never 
 could before, the love of God love which has been tested love 
 which has been sorely tried love which has triumphed love 
 which many waters could not quench, but whose everlasting 
 glory could alone be manifested by the story of the Good Shep- 
 herd bringing back his strayed ones rejoicing. And, beside all 
 this, though the connection is not sg close, so dear, so precious to 
 them as to the redeemed themselves though it is not their ex- 
 alted and glorious privilege to be the Lamb's bride, the new, the 
 holy Jerusalem, of which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb 
 are the temple, yet are they " ministering spirits" to this bride 
 yet do they delight to regard themselves as " fellow-servants" 
 with God's people, who have " the testimony of Jesus." Thus, 
 too, the bond of a common nature which has linked so closely 
 together the saved one with him who sits upon the throne, has 
 also exalted creatureship itself so gloriously, that no wonder if, 
 in the wider circle of the angelic throng as they surround the 
 throne of God, nearest to which stand those who can cast their 
 golden crowns and cry, " He was slain for us" the inspired Evan- 
 gelist saw in vision myriads who caught up the inner joy that 
 spread from the holy of holies through the ranks of the redeemed, 
 and " heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and 
 the living creatures, and the four-and-twenty elders, and the 
 number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, even 
 thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." 
 
 See, then, what this parable unfolds to us regarding the great 
 truth that God is reconciled to the sinner. Our Lord not only 
 admits this, but he puts it in its strongest point of view. He rep- 
 resents himself as leaving heaven in order to seek out the sinner 
 that he may bring him back, and still more wondrously, he de- 
 clares that the return of this sinner, his sitting down with the
 
 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER. 185 
 
 holy and good in heaven, will be the cause of greater joy than 
 can spring from those who have never wandered. Jesus thus 
 gave the objection urged in its fullest length. He makes it as 
 forcible as possible " You charge me with receiving sinners 
 .true ; but I tell you more I go after them until I find them, and 
 when I bring them back there is greater joy than over just per- 
 sons who never strayed." And yet, let it be observed, how at 
 the same time he intimates a condition absolutely iuseparable 
 from all this, but which is not set forth in the imagery of this 
 first parable, although it appears in a subsequent one. In a sin- 
 gle word, He states his vindication of himself from any reproach 
 in having fellowship with sinners, making it the key-note to 
 which he will again recur, while he dwells at large upon the glo- 
 rious work he took occasion to unfold. Mark that word "I say 
 unto you, that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that 
 REPENTETH," &c. He^seeks oq| sinnera gndqfiffi ft]l ffpflkrinff- 
 until he finds sinners carries them home rejoicing and makes 
 heaven ring with new shouts of joy by reason of his. finished 
 work. But the sin has been left behind. It has been blotted 
 out in its condemning power. The guilt of it has been lost in 
 the depths of his own mighty sacrifice and death ; and the stain 
 and the pollution of it have been by grace put away from the 
 sinner, so that as rebellion marked his wandering from God, so 
 now repentance' marks his return again to God. 
 
 We proceed, then, to the second parable in this series. 
 
 " Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one 
 piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently 
 till she find it ? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends 
 and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I hare found 
 (he piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, Tfiere is joy in 
 the presence of the angels of God over one sinner tfiat repenteth" 
 Luke xv. 8-10. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell on the simple story of this parable. 
 We at once, then, direct attention to that which it illustrates ; 
 and while we shall see that the great truth of the former parable, 
 namely, man in his lost condition, appears equally as the leading 
 truth here, yet it is presented before us in an entirely new and 
 deeply interesting aspect. 
 
 And first, then, as to that which in this parable represents the
 
 186 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 lost soul of man " a piece of money" this takes the place of 
 the " lost sheep" in the first parable. A great deal of ingenuity 
 has been spent by ancient commentators, as well as by many 
 modern ones, on this part of the parabolic picture. It does not 
 appear, however, to have led to any satisfactory result. The 
 prevailing idea that in the introduction of a piece of money into 
 the imagery, there is intended to be intimated the fact, that man 
 was originally created in the image of God, even as the coin 
 bears the image and superscription of the king or ruler of the 
 country where it is current, but that this image has become 
 greatly defaced, and that even as it is, it is lost in darkness and 
 amid the corruption and pollution of this sinful world is an in- 
 terpretation which seems to rest upon altogether too slender 
 grounds to recommend itself to the mind as the true one. It is 
 too recondite, and far too uncertain ; for, first of all, the piece of 
 money here spoken of in the parable was the drachma, a Greek 
 coin, and it is extremely doubtful whether there was on it any 
 image of a king at all. Indeed, it is remarkable that an able 
 writer who has yielded to the " delight of tracing a resemblance 
 to the human soul, (in the piece of money,) originally stamped 
 with the image and superscription of the great king, (' God cre- 
 ated man in his own image,')" is obliged to confess in a note 
 " It is true that against this view it may be said that the Greek 
 drachma, the coin here particularly named, had not, like the 
 Koman denarius, the image and superscription' of the emperor 
 upon it, but commonly some image, as of an owl, or tortoise, or 
 head of Pallas !" Surely this is sufficient to set aside every such 
 interpretation as that now mentioned, as unworthy of the simple 
 story in hand, notwithstanding its fascination to some minds. 
 
 But, even granting that the piece of money here spoken of had 
 the image and superscription of the emperor on it, this would be 
 a very fallacious representation of the lost soul of man. In the 
 latter the image is not simply to a considerable extent defaced ; 
 it is totally obliterated. We might as well speak of life partly re- 
 maining with the dead, as the image of God partly left upon the 
 fallen soul. " In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
 die," was the warning. Man did eat, and died. By that spiritual 
 death the stamp of resemblance to his heavenly King was utterly 
 and entirely lost. Lost, as much as in the case of the fallen an-
 
 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVEE. 187 
 
 gels, though, blessed be God, not like them beyond the possibility 
 of being renewed and restored, when passed through the fire and 
 melted, and stamped with God's image afresh, under such condi- 
 tions of peace and love, that the ceaseless ages of eternity as they 
 roll on shall never find the sharpness of even the minutest por- 
 tion of this new creation impaired or worn away. 
 
 What, then, is the meaning of the "piece of money" as repre- 
 senting the lost soul ? Obviously, it is added in the second par- 
 able, in order to complete and fill up what the figure of a " lost 
 sheep" in the first fails to present before the mind. When a sheep 
 strays from the shepherd, and wanders away from the footsteps of 
 the flock, it does sometimes happen, it may frequently happen, 
 that the sheep that has wandered shall, by some happy accident, 
 find its own way back, and that uninjured, to the fold. It has 
 stupidly and ignorantly wandered out ; it may as stupidly and 
 ignorantly wander in again. But it will not do to leave this as a 
 possible result regarding that solemn and important truth illustrat- 
 ed the lost soul. It will not do to leave it to be implied that by 
 any possibility or in any way, the soul once lost can ever find its 
 own way back to God ; and thus the second parable gives us the 
 figure of the lost piece of money to enforce (his part of the truth 
 upon us. The lost sheep might wander back the lost piece of 
 money can never, by any possibility, find its own way back again 
 to the purse. As it falls, when lost, so must it lie forever, as far 
 as its own power goes, or until lifted up by something extraneous 
 to itself; and thus the use of this figure in the parable supplies 
 an important fink in the series of these truths involved in the fall 
 of man. It tells us, that as far as regards all power to help him- 
 self, he is dead. More than this, that this death prevents the pos- 
 sibility of his making even accidentally, so to speak, a movement 
 in the right direction. It is the parabolic picture in these three 
 stories before us, of the sinner " dead in trespasses and sins." 
 
 But, besides this, the selection of this figure suggests another 
 reflection. In the case of the wandering sheep, there may remain 
 some faint, instinctive recollection of the fold, and when darkness 
 and danger surround it, or the pangs of hunger fasten upon it, 
 some instinctive effort to recover what it has lost. But the figure 
 of the piece of money tells us that, in the case of the lost soul, even 
 the consciousness of his condition is a wanting. He is lost, but he
 
 188 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 knows it not. He is in danger, but he heeds it not. He has for- 
 feited his father's favor ; he cares not. He is a victim of Satan ; 
 he does not believe it. He calls himself lord in this world, when 
 he is nothing better than a slave. He is as unconscious of his real 
 condition, fallen, degraded, lost, and in danger of eternal ruin, as 
 the "piece of money 11 is unconscious that it is lying lost amid the 
 darkness and the dust where it has been dropped. 
 
 But is there not an additional illustration supplied to us in this 
 parable regarding the recovery of the lost soul, in the figure of 
 the woman lighting the candle and seeking for the lost piece of 
 money, just as that piece of money itself supplies a very import- 
 ant one, as we have seen ? Doubtless it does. It has been sug- 
 gested by Trench, that the woman with her candle, represents 
 the Church of God with the Word of God seeking (though only 
 as she is filled with the Holy Ghost) for lost sinners within the 
 house, that is, the visible Church. But this is in every respect 
 most unsatisfactory. It introduces a new element into the frame- 
 work of these parables altogether at variance with their simple 
 and clear purpose. If this be the true interpretation, then the 
 illustration in this second parable is not so much God and sin- 
 ners reconciled God " in Christ," receiving sinners, as the Church 
 receiving sinners not so much God in Christ engaged in seeking 
 out and finding, which is the great point of the first parable, and 
 which is equally necessary to the second, but the Church seeking 
 out and finding. Nor is this objection at all qualified or removed 
 by the assertion that all this is only done by the Church as filled 
 with the Spirit of God, for this still leaves the fact illustrated, not 
 as it ought to be, God and God alone dealing with sinners in the 
 way of seeking out and receiving, but those very sinners them- 
 selves, though in their new and changed condition, as members 
 of Christ, children of God and heirs of glory. 
 
 But more than this. Granted that the figure of the woman with 
 the lighted candle means the Church, then we do not find in 
 Scripture any warrant at all for our speaking of the Church col- 
 lectively in this manner. Men are commissioned and sent forth 
 to preach the Gospel to every creature. They have intrusted to 
 them a great and glorious mission to tell in the ears of all, of 
 peace, and hope, and life, for a guilty world to proclaim glad 
 tidings of great joy unto all people, that whosoever belie veth in
 
 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER. 189 
 
 Christ. shall be saved. This is all that the holiest, the most true 
 and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus can do, in the great work 
 of Eedemption. And equally is this all that the whole body of 
 the faithful at any one period of the Church's history can ever 
 attempt to do. The message may be published sinners entreat- 
 ed to come warnings threatened promises offered. But this is 
 all and surely this is a very different thing from finding the lost ! 
 The Church, as a body or individually, may tell of God's love, his 
 willingness to save, but Scripture lays down emphatically the 
 limit, and oh ! let not man attempt to make any change here : 
 " Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but God givetJi the in- 
 crease" The seeking which ends in finding must be his and his 
 alone. His glory will he not give to another. We dismiss, then, 
 this interpretation, as inconsistent with the scope and bearing of 
 those parables, which are directed to one point, Christ and not the 
 Church receiving sinners as not warranted by Scripture but con- 
 demned, by it and as dishonoring to Him who alone can effect- 
 ually seek so as to find. The woman lights her candle, and 
 sweeps the house, and seeks diligently " TILL SHE FIND IT." 
 
 Another interpretation, less liable to objection than this, inas- 
 much as it does not make the woman in the parable represent the 
 Church of Christ, does nevertheless appear to be unsatisfactory 
 in regarding the house as the Church that is, the external Church. 
 This is inconsistent with the fact illustrated, for lost souls are not 
 only sought out and found within the limits of the visible Church : 
 they are found throughout the whole world, and the finding of 
 the lost piece of money is as truly realized when the idolater 
 leaves his idol, the heathen his superstition, the savage his ignor- 
 ance, as when the nominal Christian leaves his formalism and is 
 placed among those who are " precious in the sight of the Lord." 
 
 Surely the explanation of the parable ought to proceed on 
 simpler grounds than these. The scenery of the first is chosen 
 because so admirably adapted to the special view of truth 
 required, that is, the powerful recovery of the lost soul by the 
 exertions of Christ himself. Every thing connected with this is in 
 admirable keeping in the figure of a flock of sheep a stray one 
 of the flock, and the shepherd himself going after it till he find 
 it, and then laying it on his shoulders rejoicing. So in the para- 
 ble now before us. Inasmuch as the main point brought out here
 
 190 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 is the utter helplessness of the sinner, and his unconsciousness 
 of his state, under the figure of a lost piece of money ; where but 
 within a house could this better be set forth where lighting a 
 candle, sweeping, and searching are required in the illustration 
 of this piece of money when found? And since it is a woman in 
 the parable who does this, why need we go further than to say 
 that these things, so simply and naturally introduced into the 
 story of this parable, are just woman's work generally in the 
 house, and, therefore, there is a fitness in setting before us a 
 woman, and not a man, in this parable, just as there is a fitness 
 of the same description in the parable of the woman leavening 
 her three measures of meal, inasmuch as this was well known by 
 the hearers of our Lord as the usual employment of women. We 
 need no more than this in the explanation of the figure in this 
 parable, and thus, too, we have in its simple grandeur the great 
 truth which is the subject of the illustration. 
 
 This subject is God seeking for the sinner. He appears before 
 us in the first parable, as in Christ personally, engaged in the 
 special work of redemption for the sinner, following him into the 
 wilds of his transgression, and recovering him from them. In 
 the parable before us he appears again with the same purpose in 
 view, but under another aspect ; not now as a shepherd, but a 
 woman who has lost a piece of money, and who lights a candle, 
 and sweeps the house, and seeks diligently till she find it. On 
 this, a recent commentator remarks: " The sinner lies in the dust 
 of sin, and death, and corruption ; then the Spirit, lighting the 
 candle of the Lord, searching every corner, and sweeping every 
 unseen place, finds out the sinner." This parable, therefore, sets 
 forth to us the work of God the Holy Spirit for the accomplish- 
 ment of the great purpose of Jehovah in the recovery of the 
 lost. And the order in these illustrations is just what we might 
 expect Christ first, the Spirit following. It is alone by the 
 direct, personal work of the Son of God in the flesh by his suf- 
 ferings and death, in virtue of this meritorious passion, that the 
 Spirit works at all. Unless Christ's work had been perfected for 
 the sinner, the Spirit's work had never been begun in the sinner. 
 It was necessary, first of all, to consecrate the new and living way 
 by which the sinner may return to God, before the Spirit finds 
 him and draws him into that way.
 
 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER. 191 
 
 And then take note of the adaptation of the diferent parts of 
 the illustration to this view. The "piece of money" lost, represents 
 man's soul in darkness and corruption unconscious of its own 
 condition helpless in any way to save itself dead, in fact, in 
 sin. How admirably proportioned then to this 'one side of the 
 parable is that of the other the woman with her candle, sweep- 
 ing the house, seeking diligently till she find the piece of money, 
 as representing the work of the Holy Spirit bringing light to the 
 dark soul, separating it from corruption, making it sensible of its 
 condition, helping it as it never could help itself, and, in fact, 
 raising the dead to life. 
 
 Nor must we omit to notice further in the mere placing of this 
 parable between that of the lost sheep and the prodigal son, that 
 this arrangement seems to be specially suitable, when we think 
 of the recovery of the lost in these two ways first, as being re- 
 stored by the power and through the merits of the Son of God ; 
 and next, as being, in consequence of this meritorious work, re- 
 ceived into favor by " the Father.' 11 In the very midst of this, 
 there is set forth in the parable before us, the Spirit's part in this 
 work. He, by his seeking and finding brings to the lost soul all 
 the merits of the Son's work. And under the all-powerful stim- 
 ulus of the new motives thus given the new light thu's bestowed 
 the new life thus implanted leads the soul to say, "I will 
 arise, and go to my Father." And this location of the Spirit's 
 work between the carrying back by the Son, and the hearty re- 
 ception by the Father, is still more significant when we remember 
 the terms in which our Lord himself spake of these recovered 
 ones, in their relation to the Father and to himself " All mine are 
 thine, and thine are mine," The Father gives them to the Son. 
 " Thou gavest them me." The Son restores them to the Father : 
 " To them gave he power to become the sons of God." Now, in 
 both these gifts the Holy Spirit exercises his love and power, and 
 is one with the Father and the Son. He finds out, and leads 
 every soul that the Father gives to Christ, and never tarries until 
 he has sealed him in his heart and on his forehead as one with his 
 Divine Master, even the good Shepherd of the sheep. And when 
 at length the Son shall himself present his chosen ones before 
 his Father "Behold me, and the children whomthou hast given 
 me," then shall all these be holy and without blemish by the
 
 192 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 same Spirit's work in his sanctifying power, making them meet 
 to stand in the presence of God and in the kingdom of their 
 Father forever. 
 
 In the great truth which Christ was illustrating the sinner in 
 fellowship with himself, in other words, with God it was abso- 
 lutely necessary to give special prominence to this precious work 
 of the Spirit. Christ had himself declared that " No man can 
 come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." 
 And this " drawing" by the Father, he thus expresses further ; 
 "Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, 
 cometh unto me." Here, then, is the dead soul made to hear and to 
 learn, and he is thus drawn by the Father unto Christ. Well, 
 then, our Lord adds, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." This is 
 the Spirit's work, and his alone. None but he can thus seek and 
 find ; but when he begins his work, none can let or hinder it. 
 He never commences his search without finding the lost, and re- 
 storing it from spiritual death to spiritual life. And thus the 
 Apostle embraces, in a single sentence, the work of the Son and 
 of the Spirit, when speaking of the common ground on which 
 both Jew and Gentile stand before God in the matter of salva- 
 tion: " For through him, that is Christ, we both have access by 
 one Spirit unto the Father." And so the Spirit's work is complete. 
 The end of that work is the restoration of the lost to glory with 
 the Father ; and the way by which that end is attained is through 
 the Son. 
 
 And may we not add that there is an individuality suggested 
 by this seeking and finding which there is not in the first parable. 
 This, doubtless, appears still more strikingly in the last of the 
 three parables ; but still it seems to be glanced at in the one before 
 us. The seeking and finding, in the first parable, has more to do 
 with man as a race, and with the restored family of Christ, col- 
 lectively at last. This parable seems rather to point out to us 
 the individual and personaj discovery of each sinner by the Spirit 
 of God. The first parable shall find its full realizing when all 
 the saints of God " are presented before the presence of his glory 
 with exceeding joy." The second finds its accomplishment every 
 day wherever and whenever there is a dead soul made alive again 
 to God born from above, and stamped as an heir of glory. It 
 is not now added by our Lord as in the former, "Joy shall be in
 
 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER. 193 
 
 heaven over one sinner that repenteth," but, " There is joy in the 
 presence of God over one sinner that repenteth." Neither does 
 he say, " More than over ninety and nine just persons which 
 need no repentance." This special characteristic of the joy seems 
 to be left as its crowning one, when the whole story of fallen and 
 restored humanity shall be made known from first to last, with 
 lall its springs and all its consequences. But in the parable before 
 us, there is the present joy expressed when one after another of 
 the family of man is taken out of the kingdom of darkness, and 
 brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son. The seeking and 
 finding by the Spirit of the least and the meanest of these, gives 
 still a deeper and a fuller tone to the notes of joy which swell 
 from the harps of the heavenly hosts. And there is something 
 striking in the very expression used "in the presence of the angels," 
 before the angels, as if indicating what must indeed ever be the 
 only source of true joy, either in its commencement or increase 
 among the holy and happy servants of God above. They ever 
 look to their King and Father. He is ever before them. They, 
 never lose sight of him for a moment. They indeed are gloriously 
 bright, but it is only as they reflect' the glory which shines forth 
 from the throne of God, and in the house of the Author of their 
 being. "When, therefore, it is said, "joy in the presence of the an- 
 gels," may we not say that it means to point out the joy springing 
 up first in the bosom of the Eternal King, as child after child is 
 restored to him by the Spirit's power, and then breaking forth 
 from him so as to fill all the courts of heaven with a fresh flood 
 of joy, because another jewel is added to the Eedeemer's crown. 
 Oh ! how thrilling is the thought, as we behold God's work on 
 earth here and there a lost one found that the throb of the 
 new lifo in each one of these has been felt in heaven that it has 
 taken its place arnid the serene joys of the Eternal, and swept 
 through the harps of the angel-hosts as with the breathing of the 
 Almighty, thus bidding them to new joy. " Tlicre is- joy in the 
 presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
 
 But while these are the special and prominent points in this 
 parable, let us not pass over what lies scattered over it so dis- 
 tinctly as regards the character of the Spirit's work. Surely we 
 have here exhibited to us " the love of the Spirit." lie seeks and 
 finds the lost. And this is felt and persevered in, notwithstand- 
 
 13
 
 194 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 ing all that might be expected to turn him away from his loving 
 work. From the first man who fell and was brought back, to 
 the last soul that shall be saved, this loving Spirit never ceases 
 his earnest and merciful search. No amount of ignorance, dark- 
 ness or corruption has stayed his progress. He has been grieved 
 and resisted every day and every hour ; and yet he has not tar- 
 ried in his diligent search. He has left nothing undone that 
 could be done to discover the lost one, to bring him into light, to 
 free him from the pollutions which have gathered around him, 
 and to give him a name and a place in the kingdom of God. 
 Nor must we forget that his love is not merely seen in the seek- 
 ing until he finds ; but when he has found the lost how much 
 has he to bear in the willfulness and unbelief, the waywardness 
 and the folly of the sinner whom he has undertaken to lead back 
 to light, and holiness, and peace ! And in view, then, of all this, 
 with what force and power the solemn appeals of the Apostle 
 come sounding in our ears, " Quench not the Spirt." Resist him 
 not, lest even his love may at length be withdrawn. " Grieve 
 not the Spirit." Give him no pain or sadness in his great love 
 for you, for it is he who " seals you unto the day of redemption." 
 
 But we have now arrived at the last parable of the three. And 
 truly, if it may be allowed to compare one parable with another, 
 or to give the preference to one over the other, where all are 
 equally good and all equally precious as the words of our beloved 
 Master, we might say that this parable excels all others. A 
 German writer has truly said, "If we might venture here to 
 make comparisons, as we do among the sayings of men, this 
 parable of the Lord would rightly be called the crown and pearl 
 of aU his parables. 1 ' 1 * 
 
 '' And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of 
 them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods thatfall- 
 eth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many 
 days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey 
 into afar country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; 
 and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a 
 citizen of that country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
 And he would fain hav( filled his belly with the husks that the swine. 
 
 * Stier.
 
 THE LOST SON. 195 
 
 did eat: and no man gave unto him. And ivhen he came to himself, 
 he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, 
 and to spare, and I perish with hunger ! I will arise, and go to my 
 father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, 
 and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son : make 
 me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. 
 But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had 
 compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the 
 son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy 
 sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father 
 said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and 
 put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet : and bring hither the 
 fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and be merry : for this my son 
 was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found. And they 
 began to be merry.' 1 '' Luke xv. 11-24. 
 
 The latter part of the parable must be reserved for distinct and 
 separate consideration. 
 
 It is, perhaps, to be regretted in some respects that this parable 
 has been generally known by the designation of " The Prodigal 
 Son." It is very true that this epithet is most just and appropri- 
 ate. The history before us is truly that of a prodigal son, and 
 the name has probably originated in what is said of him in his 
 land of voluntary exile and sin, that he " wasted his substance in 
 riotous living." Still, admitting the propriety of the epithet, there 
 are reasons which cause regret that it has become so current, to 
 the exclusion of that which the parable itself so emphatically 
 suggests, and which tends to link it so closely with the two pre- 
 ceding ones. That which is represented as the leading subject 
 of all the three is the lost soul of man guilty, sinful man. The 
 great truths concerning this are taught us, first, by the figure of 
 a "lost sheep," then, by that of a "lost piece of money," and 
 now, by that of a " lost son." " This my son was lost and is 
 found." Just, then, as we call the first the parable of the Lost 
 Sheep, so we ought to call the last the parable of the Lost Son. 
 And as we proceed in the examination of this parable, we shall 
 .find how important it is to keep this steadily in view. 
 
 But before entering consecutively into the several particulars 
 of this parable, it may be well to note in general what it so 
 emphatically adds of important truth to the two which precede,
 
 196 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 in the mere selection of the leading part of the illustration. We 
 have in all these the sheep, the piece of money, and the younger 
 son the one great lesson taught that man has strayed, has fallen, 
 has departed from God ; but each of them gives distinct aspects 
 of this truth ; nor can we have, a right and just conception of 
 that truth itself unless we make ourselves acquainted with all 
 three. 
 
 Thus, as we have seen in the case of the lost sheep, we are told 
 that it went astray. The shepherd lost it. Still it is possible to 
 suppose that it might find its way back to the fold. Nothing in 
 that image prevents us from making such a supposition. The 
 sheep that wanders from the fold rnay, with like carelessness, 
 wander back again. Now, to correct this mistake, which might 
 possibly arise if the illustration in the first parable remained by 
 itself, we have that in the second given us. a piece of money. 
 Here we see the impossibility of man finding his way back to 
 God by himself, by his own wisdom, or his own power, while, 
 added to this, we havo the intimation of man's utter nmconscious- 
 ness of his sad and miserable condition. The sheep may instinct- 
 ively, feel that it is lost. Man no more feels. this than does an 
 inanimate piece of money. 
 
 But yet there is something lacking here to complete the picture. 
 Notwithstanding the fullness of truth with which the imagery of 
 the first, and the second presents us, if they stood by themselves, 
 they would be deficient in expressing the whole truth as regards 
 this lost soul of man. Thus in the case of the lost sheep, it 
 might be said, Why did not the shepherd take better care of it ? 
 Why did he not see that the sheep should not wander? This 
 may have resulted from his carelessness. The very language of 
 the parable might seem to justify such a conclusion : "If he lose 
 one of them." So also in the second, the loss seems necessarily 
 to arise from the carelessness of the person who had the ten 
 pieces of silver. Was it not her fault that the piece was lost at 
 all ? Now, both in the one case and the other, this possible con- 
 jecture arises from the very necessity of the figures used ; but 
 then, if the thing to be illustrated were represented only by them, 
 might we not be tempted to ask, "Why doth he yet find fault?" 
 and so charge all the ruin and misery of sin upon God, not man. 
 
 Now, it is to meet all such conjectures that, as one reason, we
 
 THE LOST SON. 197 
 
 have the parable of The Lost Son. Here there can be no mis- 
 take, as in either of the former. The sheep and the money might 
 have been lost by the carelessness of the owners. He is lost by 
 his own willful transgression and waywardness of heart. The 
 sheep might have strayed through the neglect of others. He 
 departed willingly, alienated himself from, his father and his 
 father's house, because he would not remain, because he would 
 love and choose something better. Thus we see how important 
 generally is the addition here made to the illustrations, in these 
 parables concerning lost man. While, at the same time, it is 
 obvious that if this parable had stood by itself, it would have 
 failed in giving us just those very points of resemblance which 
 are so strkingly and markedly developed in the other two. 
 
 Here, then, we have faie voluntary exile, the willful rebel, the 
 disobedient, lawless child. Here we have loss, desertion, ruin, 
 misery, and death, but all these brought on and welcomed by 
 the mad folly of man himself. The address of God to the nation 
 of Israel in its apostasy may well describe this the great and ter- 
 rible apostasy of the whole human race : " O Israel, thou hast 
 destroyed thyself." 
 
 And here, too, we find our Lord drawing nearer, and approach- 
 ing more closely to the objection urged against him, in order to 
 dispose of it at once and forever. In the two former parables he 
 had spoken not of receiving sinners, but of seeking and finding 
 them. But here he specially refers to receiving sinners. He gave 
 the objection its full weight by the former, while he, by his own 
 explanation, guarded himself in each by affirming that it was 
 only the penitent that he meant but now he will meet the objec- 
 tion fully on its own ground, while he sets forth what that peni- 
 tence is to which he had so carefully referred. 
 
 And just as we have in the first parable the personal work of 
 Christ in redeeming the lost, set forth, and in the second the per- 
 sonal work of the Spirit in cooperating with the Son in this great 
 work, so in the third we have the personal work of the Father, 
 setting the seal of his eternal approval on the work of the Son 
 and of the Spirit, one with them in the restoration of the lost, 
 and one with them in the pure and holy joy at the goodly 
 heritage thus obtained for the kingdom of God forever. 
 
 And as in the parable of the lost sheep we have the stupidity
 
 198 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of the wanderer mostly expressed by that figure, so in the para- 
 ble now before us, there rises up before us at the very outset his 
 great and horrible ingratitude. It is not now a silly sheep that 
 has left the fold and is in danger of death, it is the son of a kind, 
 a loving, and a gracious Father. The wanderer in this parable 
 has left not merely security, and run the risk of ruin and death, 
 but he has left a Father's arms, a Father's house, brought dis- 
 honor on a Father's name, slighted a Father's love, and squan- 
 dered a Father's means. It needed this figure truly to represent 
 in all its malignity and darkness the ingratitude, folly, and wick- 
 edness of the willful wanderer from God. It needed this parable 
 fully to illustrate what the relationship between God and man 
 was, which the latter lightly esteemed and recklessly broke 
 asunder. It needed this parable by which to show, not only 
 what the others do the sinner when lost but to trace the path 
 as he goes downward in all its sad and dark colors, and to mark 
 the precious blessings he despised, and the high and glorious 
 position which he forfeited. And as our Lord presents before us 
 in a figure here, that repentance of which he had only spoken in 
 his application of the former parables, it was needful that he 
 should exhibit strongly what it is that, in its whole length and 
 breadth and height and depth, constitutes man's guilt in inward 
 thought and outward act, and of which he must become truly 
 penitent before he can enter into the kingdom of God, or live 
 once more under the protection and in the enjoyment of a 
 Father's loved and happy home. 
 
 For the clearer elucidation of this parable, it may be well for 
 us to look at it in three distinct stages of the story as it pro- 
 gresses. 1. The conduct of the lost son, up to the moment of 
 his looking back to his home, with a desire to return. 2. His 
 conduct after this. And. 3. The father's conduct when his son 
 returned. 
 
 Now the first of these divisions of the parable gives us, in a 
 very remarkable manner, the history in brief of man's fall and 
 departure from God. No doubt there is meant to be an indi- 
 vidual application of this by each sinner to himself. Every sin- 
 ner, who is taught by the Spirit of God, will be able to identify 
 with himself the description here given of the ungrateful and 
 erring child. Still, it is important to regard the imagery in its
 
 THE LOST SON. 199 
 
 widest signification, as having reference to the departure of man, 
 the race of man, from God. " A certain man had two sons." Who 
 the elder cf these sons is, remains yet to b e seen. In the mean- 
 time we have only to do with the second " The youngest said 
 unto his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to 
 me" We are not necessarily to suppose that this request was 
 made by the younger son with any outward mark of disrespect, 
 or in a marked tone of defiance to his father. It would be wrong 
 to regard it as expressive of a rude and insolent manner on the 
 part of this child toward his father. The great feature evidently 
 intended to be set forth here, was the pride and self-sufficiency 
 of this young man in regarding himself as having a right to any 
 portion at all of his father's goods " the goods which falleth to 
 me:" as if these were his as much as they were his father's 
 that there was something in these things by themselves which 
 made them as much his lawful property as that of his father. 
 And then, together with this, tnere breaks forth the inner separa- 
 tion of his heart from his father. He may have preferred his 
 request with the greatest reverence. Nay, far from asking petu- 
 lantly what he desired, as if he were conscious of asking what 
 was wrong, he may have stated his wishes with all outward 
 tokens of respect, as if demanding only what was just and right, 
 but out of the whole of his proceeding there appeared the tokens 
 of a heart already becoming alienated from his parent, because 
 he thought that by having " the goods falling to him," made over 
 to himself, he might be partaker of a satisfaction which he never 
 could enjoy, when he merely received the benefit of them, day 
 by day from his Father's hand. 
 
 And is not this just the sad story of Eden brought home to us 
 under the simple guise of an earthly parent and his child ? Adam 
 and Eve did not, in the fatal sin which brought ruin and death 
 into the world, at once openly and shamelessly fly in the face of 
 God. They did not approach their Heavenly Father with irrever- 
 ence or any outward expression of even diminished love. On 
 the contrary, the course of the temptation proves that they only 
 sinned because they vainly expected by so doing not to separate 
 themselves from God, but to make themselves more like God 
 the very sin of this younger son. They were deceived by their 
 own hearts and by Satan into the belief that they had a right to
 
 200 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 take of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They de- 
 termined to be no longer in the position of just receiving each 
 day in Eden what the love and bounty of the Father would be- 
 stow, but to " put forth" their hand and take something of their 
 own, and so far act independently of God. The younger son's 
 wicked ambition was to hold the good's he coveted as his father 
 held them. Our first parents' godless ambition was to do the 
 same in other words, to be "as gods, knowing good and evil." 
 And thus, too, they betrayed in all this how their hearts were al- 
 ready being separated from God already the process of alienation 
 had begun the wandering had commenced. They would them- 
 selves have started with horror if charged with it at the moment, 
 but, nevertheless, they were losing their love to God. They 
 vainly and impiously conceived that they could enjoy more satis- 
 faction in that which was not directly conveyed to them from 
 God than from what was ; and that a more sparkling cup of 
 pleasure would be theirs which they themselves presented to 
 their lips, than any which a father's gentle kindness could give 
 them to drink. 
 
 But we must notice that the expression in the parable is one of 
 those remarkable links -which bind the parables together, and give 
 to all in this connection a deeper and more solemn meaning than 
 either of them separately can have. The words of the lost son 
 here " Give me the portion of goods which falleth to me" exactly 
 accord with those of the rich fool in the parable already consid- 
 ered, when he speaks of " my fruits," "my barns," " my goods." 
 "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" and thus 
 he, as this younger son, was guilty of the wicked folly of seeking 
 to "lay up treasure for himself. 1 ' 1 Then, too, these words of the 
 prodigal remind us of what Satan's work is, as described in 
 another parable. That which this younger son calls " the portion 
 of goods falling unto me" which the rich fool equally considered 
 as his own Satan says likewise that it is his. " He keepeth his 
 palace, (the human heart,) and his goods are in peace." And then 
 we have still further, in one of the most solemn and awful of the 
 parables uttered by our Lord, a single, but, in connection with the 
 above, a most emphatic glance at the same thing, where Abraham 
 replies to the deep wail of anguish proceeding from the tortured 
 soul amid the flames which surrounded him when he " went to
 
 THE LOST SON". 201 
 
 his own place," "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiv- 
 edst thy good things." Man thought he could obtain and keep a 
 " portion of goods" apart from God he vainly and foolishly calls 
 them his own. Satan is the only real, substantial possessor in 
 this matter ; and when the poor, deluded, guilty soul falls into 
 the depths of eternal ruin, it has the unutterable misery of look- 
 ing back to its brief space of life here, with the nominal posses- 
 sion of things it coveted after, but which have passed away 
 forever. It has bartered its peace and the love of God for a 
 moment's foolish and guilty intoxication. It has sold its birth- 
 right for " a mess of pottage." / 
 When the younger son made his request to his father, we are 
 told that the latter " divided unto them his living." In the story 
 there is implied the patient, gentle, long-suffering of this father. 
 The father's heart told him what " a heritage of woe" his son was 
 taking, when he so longed to be " Lord of himself." He did not 
 refuse him his request, because he would not retain him against 
 his will, when his heart was wavering in its allegiance, but gave 
 him what he sought. And thus, when our first parents sought to 
 be independent of God, and so began that long and evil course 
 of divided hearts and disobedient wills, God gave them what they 
 sought. He allowed them to experience what evil is, as they had 
 already experienced what good is. He, as it were, put into their 
 hands, at their disposal, things which, as originally from him, 
 were good, that they might do with them according to the vain 
 and godless desires of their own hearts, and eat of the fruit of 
 their own devices. He did not utterly cast them off, no more 
 than the father in the parable utterly cast off his son. He suf- 
 fered him to enter on the bitter course of experience he had 
 chosen; but neither in the one case nor in the other was the 
 return of the wanderer declared to be impossible. And, even as 
 we may suppose, it was with tears in his eyes, as with sad com- 
 passion in his heart, that the father in the parable gave his son 
 what he burned to possess ; so, also, when our Heavenly Father 
 allowed our first parents to take what they coveted after, while he 
 distinctly warned them of the fatal character of the possession, 
 he graciously spanned the dark cloud of sin, separation, and death 
 with the bright bow of promise betokening a better day yet to 
 corne, when one like unto this younger son should roll away the
 
 202 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 darkness of sin and restore the wanderer once more to his arms, 
 and bring sunshine again into the room in his father's house, 
 which his departure had left empty and desolate. 
 
 Such was the first step which man took in departing from the 
 living God. See how naturally the next followed upon it. " Not 
 many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took ^his 
 journey into afar country, and there wasted his substance with riotous 
 living" These words bear out what has been stated above, as to 
 the design in this parable, to show that the first act of the son 
 was not performed in an openly insulting and offensive manner 
 to his father. On the contrary, the story evidently implies that 
 he merely desired to call his own what in reality belonged to his 
 father, but that in doing so he had no wish to remove himself 
 from his father altogether. After he had received his portion he 
 still lingered at his father's house ; and it was " not many days 
 after 1 ' 1 that he departed. This forcibly illustrates the gradual de- 
 scent in the guilty path of fallen man. Our first parents little 
 dreamed of leaving Eden when they first transgressed. They little 
 dreamed of wishing to be far away from the God who made them, 
 and had given them all things richly to enjoy ; but their offspring, 
 the great family which has succeeded to them, " begotten after 
 their likeness, in their image," wandered as they had not thought 
 of doing. The evil disease in their nature was working and 
 bringing forth its terrible and fatal results ; and so man, not satis- 
 fied with merely seeking his own apart from God, began to shun 
 his presence altogether, and at length became so completely 
 alienated from him as to forget, or wish to forget, that such a 
 being ever existed, and thus, as it were, " gathered all together 1 ' 1 
 gathered in blind unbelief and reckless ingratitude, all he could 
 lay his hands upon, "and took his journey into afar country" at as 
 great a distance from God as possible. We can not but observe 
 how true to the life this picture of the history of fallen man is. 
 First, separation of heart from God, the entire forgetfaluess of 
 God " God not in all his thoughts" until " the fool says in his 
 heart, There is no God." 
 
 Then comes the next step, " and there wasted his substance in riotous 
 living.' 11 These words do not refer to one species of immorality or 
 ungodliness rather than to another. They do not mean one flesh- 
 ly lust more than any other. They include the whole of those
 
 THE LOST SON. 203 
 
 things to which sinful, fallen man, has become addicted by his 
 transgression against God and his willful banishment of himself 
 from his Father's rule, protection, favor, and love. They mean 
 total profligacy of character. The lust of the eye, and the lust 
 of the flesh the depraved, wretched, and degrading passions of 
 corrupt and corrupting human nature that festering mass which 
 can yield nothing else than the fatal and disgusting miasma of a 
 moral pestilence. In these things man has " wasted his substance" 
 what he coveted after what he never rested till he obtaifljsd 
 that is, something to spend of his own accord, without his father 
 overlooking him. All this is wasted. The things of his father, 
 so good in themselves, are all thrown away, or rather, they are 
 so abused and perverted, that they have become evil in the hands 
 of the sinner ; and, instead of being a means of blessing, only 
 minister to his decay and death. How these words of inspiration 
 in the real history of the prodigal son, of which the story in the 
 parable is but a faint image and resemblance, give us at a glance 
 the whole truth in its terrible and deadly guilt of man's departing 
 from God, and " wasting his substance in riotous living !" "And 
 God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and 
 that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
 tinually." " And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was 
 corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 11 
 
 Again, we proceed another step in this story. " And when he 
 had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he began 
 to le in want. 11 There is unquestionably an important transition 
 here in the parable to something still worse than what has gone 
 before. Some evil of a new character seems to be intimated. 
 The poor profligate spends all he had. Just as he discovers the 
 extent of his extravagance, and finds out how utterly destitute he 
 has become by his own fault and imprudence, a terrible and griev- 
 OTS famine in the land he had chosen to dwell in meets him, and 
 he begins to feel the dreadful effects of pinching famine. " He 
 begins to be in want 11 Now, let us remember, that in the thing 
 illustrated here, while we have to regard the outwardly godless and 
 profligate course of fallen man, a prey to his sinful and corrupt 
 passions, we must not overlook the master evil within his heart 
 which, through the whole of his rebellious conduct, is showing it- 
 self in such fearful declension from God and holiness. What,
 
 204 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 then, of man's inner feeling in his downward course, is set for.th 
 by these words of the parable, " When he had spent all, he began 
 to be in want?" Obviously this man plunged himself into the 
 corruption which his guilty nature loved. He rushed into every 
 excess which that nature desired. He took every thing it could 
 give him apart from God. He drained the cup to the very dregs. 
 He spent all He was not merely a spendthrift, he was a bankrupt. 
 He abused the things he called his own so terribly, that he him- 
 self began to find that they were being utterly wasted and gone. 
 "He began to be in want" He felt that the independence which 
 he had so coveted was, after all, a fatal gift ; he began to be in 
 want of some one whom he could apply to on whom he could 
 'depend who could protect him, feed him, and give him his good 
 things still. His solitary independence amid his corruption, was 
 nothing else than feeling the pinchings of want in the midst of a 
 famine. He must seek some help out of tliis. He is persuaded 
 that he can not any longer sustain himself that there is in his 
 very nature the necessity of dependence and so he looks about 
 for the supply of this need. 
 
 What that is in the history of man, will become apparent as 
 we go on with the story in the parable. "And he went and joined 
 himself to a citizen of that country ; and he sent him into his fields to 
 feed swine" This is the history of fallen man deliberately seeking 
 out and yielding himself to his new master. He went away from 
 God, and chose a distant land, in the vain hope that there he 
 would be as a god. Now, he must learn that he is only a slave. 
 He does not turn again to his duty. He does not retrace the steps 
 of his broken allegiance to God ! No ! He can live no longer 
 without depending on some one stronger and mightier than he ; 
 but his eye is not toward home, or his father. He has no thought 
 of leaving the land in which he is. He does not dream of that. 
 His wishes and his expectations begin and end there; and so jp 
 the language of the parable, he " went and joined himself to a citi- 
 zen of that country" " That citizen," says Bernard, " I can not 
 understand as other than one of the malignant spirits, who in that 
 they sin with an irremediable obstinacy, and have passed into a 
 permanent disposition of malice and wickedness, are no longer 
 guests and strangers, but citizens and abiders in the land of sin." 
 This is, doubtless, the just view of this part of the parable. The
 
 THE LOST SON. 205 
 
 prodigal joining himself to the citizen of the country, is fallen man 
 giving himself to " fastening," or " pinning himself" upon the 
 evil and corrupt dweller in the land of sin on him whose abode 
 it is not only now, but forever who, with his legion of fallen 
 and corrupt angels, knows well how to lord it over the poor wan- 
 dering souls of men in that dark and deadly land. 
 
 And surely, then, this points us to that feature in the history 
 of fallen man wherein, after exhausting, as it were, every thing 
 of evil passion in himself, of daring neglect of God, and deter- 
 mined disobedience, he turned himself to the still further guilt 
 and disobedience of idolatry. Instead of turning again to the one 
 living and true God from whom he had strayed, he made unto 
 himself "gods many and lords many." He did indeed seek to 
 conceal from himself what the actual character of this special step 
 in his guilty progress was. He professed it to be a seeking of 
 God, a worshiping of the Creator, a depending on Jehovah. But 
 the real truth of his pretended worship of God was just this he 
 " sacrificed to devils, not to God." He really and truly trans- 
 ferred his allegiance to the great adversary who had deceived, 
 and tempted, and seduced Adam in Paradise. He made him 
 gods of wood and stone, of gold, of silver, or of brass ; or he 
 worshiped the host of heaven according to his own whim, or 
 caprice, or fancy his deceived heart leading him astray further 
 and further, and giving triumph to spirits of darkness, inasmuch 
 as by his every act he has now, to all intents and purposes, the 
 worshiper of the "god of this world" "the citizen of that country" 
 
 Pass away for a moment from the parable and its meaning, 
 and look at the living picture as traced by the finger of inspira- 
 tion. " Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him 
 not as God, neither were thankful: but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing 
 themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory 
 of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corrupti- 
 ble man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. 
 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the 
 lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between 
 themselves : who changed the truth of God into a lie, and wor- 
 shiped and served the creature more (rather) than the Creator, 
 who is blessed forever. Amen." Romans i. 21-25.
 
 206 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 In the part of the parable, then, at which we have arrived, we 
 have the representation of man at a further stage in his downward 
 progress than when corrupting himself. He has become an idol- 
 ater. He has installed Satan in the place cf God, and, as far as 
 he can do it, has placed in the hands of the spirits of darkness the 
 control of the course of this world. See, then, how the god of 
 this world treats his victim. " He went and joined himself to a cit- 
 izen of that country, and HE sent him into his fields to feed swine. 111 
 When Satan gets the mastery, it is not to elevate, but to degrade 
 his victim it is not to add luster, but to bring total darkness to 
 the soul it is not to restore health, but to increase moral and 
 spiritual corruption, even to the horrors of eternal death. And 
 thus, just as " the citizen" in the parable contemptuously gives the 
 wretched prodigal the very meanest and lowest occupation, so 
 Satan, when once he has his slave in fetters, when once he has 
 his victim in his toils, drives him at once to the depths of degra- 
 dation and shame. He feels secure in his possession, and with 
 malignant and triumphant contempt he plunges the poor lost one 
 deeper and deeper still into the mire of sin. "And he would fain 
 have fitted his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man 
 gave unto him" Our version here hardly gives the full import 
 of the original. Lazarus, we are told, "desired to eat of the 
 crumbs which fell from the rich man's table," and we understand 
 by that that he did eat of them. And so here the prodigal de- 
 sired to eat of these husks, and did eat thereof. For " no man 
 gave unto him." No man gave him any thing else. This fare 
 of the beasts hdd become essential to keep him in life. He 
 eagerly snatched at it as he best could ; for none, neither the cruel 
 task-master nor his tyrannical servants gave him any thing else. 
 And this truly illustrates the sad history of fallen man. His 
 idolatry, his worshiping of devils under every varied and fan- 
 tastic form that his own wicked and depraved imagination could 
 suggest, just plunged him deeper and deeper in the mire and 
 filth of mere carnality. Look at this as exhibited in one of its 
 most frightful aspects in the history of Eome under the emperors. 
 There we see, amid the boasted refinements of that age, man, as 
 a moral and responsible being, sunk to a level, yea, beneath the 
 level of the beasts that perish. What a history of swinish lust 
 and passion is much of that which presents itself to the eye, and
 
 THE LOST SON. 207 
 
 makes the heart ache in that period. "All the monstrous luxu- 
 ries and frantic wickednesses which we read of in later Roman 
 history, at the close of the world's Pagan epoch, stand there like 
 the last despairing effort of man to fill his belly with the husks." 
 " In this light we may behold the incredibly sumptuous feasts 
 the golden palaces, the enormous shows and spectacles, and all 
 the pomp and pride of life carried to the uttermost the sins of 
 nature, and the sins below nature ; while yet from amid all this 
 the voice of man's misery only made itself the louder heard. 
 The experiment carried out on this largest scale only caused the 
 failure to be more signal only proved the more plainly that of 
 the food of beasts there could not be made the nourishment of 
 man." 
 
 And if from the boasted and so-called refinement of imperial 
 Rome we turn to the rude and savage barbarians to be found 
 amid the burning sands of Africa, or amid the vast prairies of 
 America if we look at the bushmen of Australia or of Africa, 
 there, too, we find the same type of utter moral degradation as 
 in the above. Sunk they are, lower than the very beasts which 
 perish, in both the one case and in the other, with only this dif- 
 ference, that the moral degradation, the swinish nature, is tricked 
 out in the one in the fantastic garb of man's pride and folly, and 
 in 'the other it lies exposed in its native nakedness ; and if we set 
 the " one over against the other," we shall hardly say that man's 
 utter depravity and carnal slough is the least disgusting, when 
 arrayed in the motley of the fool, and bedizened with the gilt 
 and spangles of the stage. 
 
 The following are weighty remarks on the whole of this dark 
 and gloomy picture, so far as we have hitherto traced it. " He 
 who would not, as a son, be treated liberally by his father, is 
 compelled to be the servant and the bond-slave of a foreign mas- 
 ter. He who would not be ruled by God is compelled to serve 
 the devil. He who would not abide in his father's royal palace 
 is sent to the field among hinds. He who would not dwell 
 among brethren and princes is obliged to be the servant and 
 companion of brutes. He who would not feed on the bread of 
 angels, petitions in his hunger for the husks of the swine."* 
 
 And here we have reached the second division of this part of 
 * Corn, a Lapide [Trench.]
 
 208 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the parable which we proposed. We have followed this lost son 
 in his willful and wicked departure from his father, his home, 
 and his country, up to this point, when it is said, "He came to 
 himself" We have now, then, to follow his course from that 
 time to his once more presenting himself before the father whom 
 he had left. 
 
 And here it is necessary to interpose a remark which ought 
 not to be forgotten, if we would enter fully into the meaning of 
 this parable. In the history of the younger son demanding his 
 portion of goods, leaving his father's house, plunging himself 
 into godless dissipation, joining himself to the citizen of the for- 
 eign land, and degraded to be a swine-herd, and to eat swine's 
 food, we must regard him as giving us a picture of man gener- 
 ally the race of man, fallen and departed from God. We can 
 have no just and proper conceptions of what the departure from 
 God's house of a child hitherto loved, protected, and well pro- 
 vided for must be, if we confine our attention to individual cases. 
 We must take the whole course of the history generally. We 
 must trace its commencement in Eden, and mark its fearful 
 though necessary and legitimate results in all the unnatural 
 crimes, the bloody deeds, the unutterable horrors referred to in 
 the first chapter of Eomans, and staining the history of man with 
 the deepest and darkest colors. True, each individual who has 
 thus wandered, if left to himself, would exhibit in his own per- 
 sonal history all these terrible features, and that infallibly, for 
 the bitter fountain could only send forth bitter waters. More- 
 over, if God had not devised a plan of mercy for wandering man, 
 and in virtue of this had not put the restraints of his providence 
 and his grace upon him, each one of the race, from Adam down- 
 ward, would have betrayed an exact and fearful resemblance in 
 every point to the course of this prodigal. In his career, every 
 one who has eyes to see, or ears to hear, may perceive what he 
 might have been, and inevitably would become, unless restrained 
 by the grace of God, who still has an offer of mercy and peace in 
 store for him, and willeth not the death of a sinner, but is re- 
 solved to open a door of hope for him, and at least invite him to 
 flee from the wrath to come. (Appendix D.) 
 
 And thus we see that it is absolutely necessary for us to regard 
 the downward course of the prodigal as representing to us not
 
 THE LOST SON. 209 
 
 the actual personal history of this or that individual of the hu- 
 man race, but their history in the mass the development and 
 bringing to light of that evil thing of which they all partake, 
 and which, in their common history, has blossomed and brought 
 forth such fearful works of darkness as we have seen. 
 
 But now, in the second division of this part of the parable, 
 namely, the return of the prodigal to his father's house, we must 
 no longer regard it as having this general reference to the race, 
 because it is jiot true that the whole race returns to God, nor is 
 it necessary to regard it as giving the general history even of 
 those who do return, but of each individual, and for this simple 
 reason, that each must undergo the steps in this history himself. 
 He may have been restrained by the grace of God from experi- 
 encing much in the history of the prodigal hitherto, which yet 
 truly depicted his fallen nature ; but he must now experience 
 what this prodigal experienced when he is restored again to his 
 father's house. The true history of the fall its guilt and its ter- 
 rible consequences, can only be read off from the aggregate his- 
 tories of the children of this fallen race. The true history of 
 paradise regained may be read off from the single personal history 
 of each one of the children newly adopted into God's family. 
 The consequences of the former spread over a race, and infected 
 each and all together. In the latter, every thing that is required 
 for the whole family is needed for one. The Cross of Christ, his 
 Spirit, a changed heart, a renewed mind, justification, sanctifica- 
 tion, all these are not merely the general features of the family, 
 they are the particular and personal features of each ; and not as 
 in the former so in the latter, for by natural descent all the hor- 
 rors of the former are propagated and extended, but in the latter 
 each stands by himself, that is, it is not his return, his new birth, 
 kis change, his salvation, which propagates and extends the sal- 
 vation, and change of other dead souls, such as he himself once 
 was. 
 
 When, therefore, we follow the prodigal on his return, we leave, 
 from the very necessity of the case, the general view of the hu- 
 man race in the things illustrated, and compare the story of this 
 repentant son with the history of each one of those saved ones 
 for whom the Good Shepherd gave his life, and who, by his 
 mighty power, are at length safely housed in his heavenly fold. 
 
 14
 
 210 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Let us now, then, proceed with the parable. " And when he came 
 to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread 
 enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger /" How significant 
 and beautiful is the language ! " he came to himself" He had been 
 up to this time " beside himself"' he had been a fool and a mad- 
 man, spurning away his own mercies, and making shipwreck of 
 his own happiness he had mistaken himself altogether he had 
 fancied that his happiness would be all the greater, first as inde- 
 pendent of his father, then, as away from under his eye, not to 
 say control, then in a Strange land, then in riotous living, then in 
 foreign service. And now he finds out how bitterly he is mis- 
 taken how miserably he has deceived himself what a madman's 
 part he has acted. He came to himself. He awakes out of a dream 
 the vail is rent asunder, and he now sees himself in his true 
 colors. Then mark the exceeding simplicity and beauty of the 
 story. Immediately that this mist clears away from his mind, 
 and he becomes sensible of what he is himself, what kind of man 
 he is, so different from what he had thought in the day of his 
 pride and rebel-lion his heart turns to his father's house the 
 very same moment finds him with self-consciousness of his folly 
 and guilt, and a wondrous change in his impressions of home 
 that home, where in his former state he had proudly and wickedly 
 sought even more than a son's due. Now he thinks of it as com- 
 pared with his own condition, and the very servant, the "door- 
 keeper," call forth the longings of his heart, that he might be 
 even as they. And then comes his resolution, given in words 
 which, as long as language can be uttered and understood, will 
 send a thrill into the heart of him who hears them: " I will 
 arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have 
 sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be 
 called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants." 
 
 Notice this in the above language. In the story in the parable, 
 we must simply consider the erring child going back to an earthly 
 parent. "Well, then, mark how deeply he had been taught as to 
 the nature of his sinful conduct. He does not think it enough 
 to go back and acknowledge his ingratitude to his parent, and so 
 seek by that acknowledgment to gain his pardon. He feels the 
 whole magnitude of his sinful career " / have sinned AGAINST 
 HEAVEN," as well as u and before thee" His heart began to tell
 
 THE LOST SON. 211 
 
 him -what an evil thing and a bitter he had been doing. Sin is 
 no longer what it was before. It is now before him in its true 
 colors, as an offence against Heaven, as that which brings him who 
 commits it into direct antagonism and collision with all that is 
 holy, just, pure, and good. His language is just as David's, 
 " Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done evil in thy sight." 
 He did not feel the direct offence against hjs father less. Far 
 from it. But he put it in its right place. The "iniquity of 
 his sin," was first, in that it was "against Heaven," and next, 
 " before thee." 
 
 And now, in turning to that which is illustrated, we may re- 
 mark, in passing, how the selection of the special imagery of this 
 parable is seen at this point also to be absolutely necessary for a 
 full exhibition of the great truth which is the subject of all the 
 three parables in this chapter. We have already seen that it was 
 needful to give a just view of human nature as lost. The sheep 
 might have wandered, the money might have been dropped 
 through the carelessness of others. As far as these two parables 
 go, they are both defective in one point. That one point is sup- 
 plied by the present parable. It tells us, as we have seen at 
 large, that man departed willingly from God ; that he has been 
 lost in consequence of his own willful act ; that his " sin (the 
 blame of it) lies at his own door." And so also in that part of 
 the parable which we have reached, nothing more is needed to 
 complete the view given by the others regarding the finding of 
 the lost than this. If the other two parables had been all the 
 illustration given, we might have said that the salvation of the lost 
 was a work with which the sinner had as little to do, in any voli- 
 tion of his own, as if he were borne, like the strayed one, on the 
 shepherd's shoulders to the fold, or as a coin lifted up by the 
 woman when discovered lying in some obscure corner of the 
 house. And thus these two parables, taken by themselves, would 
 seem to leave man merely a slave still. In his wanderings he 
 willingly made himself a slave to Satan. In his return, he would 
 appear to be made, irrespective of his will, a servant of God. 
 The parable before us supplies us with what is lacking here. 
 It shows us in the strongest and most forcible manner, that 
 the sinner is not saved contrary to his will, but that when he 
 is saved it is with his will ; that he is not forced back whether
 
 212 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 he will or no, but that he is gently carried back when he entreats 
 and implores to be restored. The shepherd's arm is mighty to 
 secure his return. The Spirit's light will find him out in the 
 darkest corner. And he himself will cry out, " / will arise, and 
 go to my father}' 1 These three things must concur in each con- 
 verted soul, in each restored, saved, and sanctified child of Adam, 
 for we must not neglect to notice the importance of the other two, 
 in the testimony which this, by itself, can not furnish. Here we 
 have the soul "made willing" but it is in the day of God's power 
 the power of Christ in furnishing the salvation needed, and the 
 power, of the Spirit in applying that provided salvation. 
 
 And here, then, we have the full and glorious picture of that 
 which our Lord only mentioned in his application of the former 
 parables, but which, from the nature of the imagery there em- 
 ployed, could not enter directly into those parables themselves. 
 Here is the parabolic image fully, truly given, just on such a 
 tablet as may illustrate every line in the feature and every 
 shadow and color in the picture, of " the one sinner that repenteih" 
 This is true repentance. This is godly sorrow. This is the 
 turning of the heart back again to God. This is the change of 
 mind which must mark each and every one of those who are 
 admitted into the presence of God at last, as dwellers in his king- 
 dom, and as -furnishing unutterable joy to himself, and to all his 
 holy and happy servants. 
 
 The sinner who will at length be found in heaven owned by 
 Christ, received by God, and all glorious in spiritual light, has 
 the very turning-point of his history marked by this " He came 
 to himself." When the Shepherd met him, and stood face to face 
 with his poor lost one when the ray of light from the Spirit fell 
 upon him in his darkness and death then " he came to himself" 
 he awoke out of sleep out of the sleep of death. Like the poor 
 man in the Gospel, " once blind," he now " sees." " He has 
 passed from death unto life." The Spirit has moved upon his 
 heart and the inner discovery has been made that up to that 
 moment, to that point, darkness alone had covered it, and 
 the present experience of it is, that even now, when light has 
 sprung up, it is "without form and void." A mighty expanse 
 lies before the awakened sinner, of depraved affection, perverted 
 thoughts, guilty inclinations, godless habits all these spreading
 
 THE LOST SON. 213 
 
 their evil influence on the amazed and perplexed soul. Look at 
 that Philippian jailer as he " comes to himself" and begins to cry, 
 " Lord, what must I do to be saved !" and you have the original 
 of the partbolic painting in this part. 
 
 And then see how, with the knowledge of self, there comes 
 into the awakened soul holy thoughts and longings after God. 
 O that I knew him ! O that I could be his ! O that I might 
 dwell under the shadow of his wing, in the secret place of the 
 Most High ! that I might be admitted into his presence to 
 behold his face in peace to have him near me otherwise than in 
 anger to dwell, at least, so dependent on him that I might have 
 even the crumbs from his table. Yea, "I would rather be a 
 doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of 
 wickedness-." 
 
 And then all this follows upon the keen perception of the 
 worthlessness of all else to supply the cravings of the soul. 
 What are the former things now ? The husks are understood 
 now, by bitter experience, to be no true nourishment in the 
 mighty famine which th'e soul is experiencing. As far as they 
 are concerned the soul feels, " I perish with hunger" All these 
 things which "tyeregain" at one time, are now " counted loss ;" 
 yea, reckoned as the vilest and most worthless refuse. And so 
 the poor striken one pours forth the earnest purpose formed 
 within : " / will arise, and go to my father." Already the spirit of 
 adoption is given. Already he can say, " my Father." He is 
 now. in the right direction. "Turn thou me, and I shall be 
 turned," is what has taken place within him, and he has already 
 commenced in reality to retrace his steps. 
 
 What a difference between the opening language in this para- 
 ble uttered by this son, and that uttered now ! The former, full 
 of pride, hardness of heart, stubbornness, and rebellion. The 
 latter breathing humility out of a softened spirit and from a gen- 
 tle loving heart. Is this the same person? Can this be the 
 same being? Yea, it is true "He was dead and is alive again" 
 And all that can be conceived as distinguishing a state of life 
 from a state of death, is but a faint image of the great and won- 
 drous change which he has undergone, when ho lifts up his eyes 
 to heaven, and cries out of the depth of his sin, as it has found 
 him out, "I will arise, and go to my fatJier, and will say unto him,
 
 214 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Father -, / have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no 
 more worthy to be called thy son." 
 
 But the prodigal was not satisfied with a resolution. He lost 
 no time in carrying it out. " He arose and came to *his father" 
 And so, too, the sinner, when once the light has burst in upon 
 his soul, and he has been taught what he is. As soon as God 
 "reveals Christ in him," he tarries not with the mere wish or 
 desire for deliverance. He does not linger in the mire of his 
 degradation, with this new-born hope and feeling within him. 
 This he can not do. The new birth of his soul is an all-powerful 
 thing he has derived from God. It is a new creation which 
 exerts its own energy, and supplies the mightiest impulse. 
 " That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and this will not 
 abide in fleshly things. It is within him " a well of water spring- 
 ing up" rising up, pouring forth its living stream, and so he can 
 not rest until he breathe out, at his father's feet, what has thus 
 been created in his soul. When the poor guilty child of Adam 
 has been enlightened by the Spirit and sees its shame, and 
 descries, though yet afar off, the house and home of its heavenly 
 parent, and contrasts the light there with its own darkness the 
 order there with its own confusion the plenty there with its own 
 want the comfort there with its own misery ; when the vail 
 drops from the mind, and the curtain rises which has hitherto 
 screened "the things unseen and eternal," and when all this 
 presses on the aching heart in the power and force of a true 
 spiritual change, bringing him to his knees, as he never was 
 before making him speak the word, "Father" as he never spoke 
 it before causing him to bow down as Saul of Tarsus did in 
 Damascus, after Christ had met him in the way, then we have 
 what the parable means by these simple words, "He arose, and 
 came to his Father." 
 
 And now we are to trace his course, when this penitent child 
 arose and came to his father. But what of the father himself? 
 " When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had com- 
 passion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him" All his child's 
 ingratitude had not quenched that father's love. The past was 
 forgotten, and he only saw his poor child laboring and toiling in 
 his weary way, clad in the wretched soiled garments of his pov- 
 erty, the iamine mark in his face, and that face now turned again
 
 THE LOST SON. 215 
 
 to his own home. This was enough for him. His full heart 
 overflowed towards the weary wanderer. " When he was yet a 
 great way off, his father saw him" Had he received some tidings 
 from the far country of his son's misery, and how he had begun 
 to exhibit a desire to return home ? Was the father then eagerly 
 watching the direction in which he knew his son would return 
 home ? Was he then waiting with all a father's neart to be gra- 
 cious to his erring child? Possibly the parable indicates this. 
 When, however, he did see his son yet a great way off, " he had 
 compassion" He had grieved over his lost one. The pity with 
 which he regarded him, as he set forth, is doubled now, when he 
 sees him returning. He knew well what would surely happen to 
 his child as he saw him go ; but now he beholds him in the depth 
 of his trouble, weariness, faintness, and misery, and his compas- 
 sion arises with double tenderness in his heart. " He ran" to 
 meet him. How exquisite is this touch of simple story in the 
 parable ! Think of the' prodigal. The last few steps will not 
 only be when he is wearied with his journey, but just as he 
 approaches his home, misgivings may arise. "Will my father 
 receive me ? Even as a hired servant, will he admit me ? What 
 if I be turned away after all from his door ? It is what I may 
 justly expect, for it is what I merit, but if it be so, my heart will 
 break, and I must lie down and die." His loving, pitying father 
 spared him this. While yet a great way off, his father ran to 
 meet him was beforehand with him or ever he was aware, 
 had prevented these thickly-gathering thoughts from pressing 
 still more deeply on his heart, and without a word, but in the ten- 
 derness of that silent love, which is often more eloquent than lan- 
 guage, he "fell on his neck, and kissed him" 
 
 And such, then, in its highest sense, is the conduct of our heav- 
 enly Father when the penitent soul bows down in the new-born 
 spirit of adoption, and dares to look up and ask itself, " Is there 
 hope for me ?" When all its sin becomes more manifest as it 
 draws nearer and nearer to him from whom it has wandered 
 when it is almost ready to sink down in despair, and feels as if 
 the hope could scarce ever be realized, of a happy restoration to 
 its home, tfien does the tenderness of God our Father appear. 
 Then "his heart is turned within him, his repentings are kindled 
 together." He has seen and watched all his child's weary and
 
 216 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 sad thoughts. He has followed him every step of his spiritual 
 journey of anxiety, doubt, fear, and kindling hope ; and just at 
 the time when the poor heart needs it most, He meets his peni- 
 tent child. The Saviour's words become sweetly realized in that 
 child's experience "The Father, himself 'loveth you;" and the 
 heart-searching of him who is now with his face turned Zionward, 
 is calmed down by these gentle words of reconciliation : "I, even 
 I, am he that blotteth out your transgressions for mine own sake, 
 and will not remember your sins." 
 
 But see what the prodigal does. This gracious, loving recep- 
 tion by his Father so unexpected, so undeserved does not 
 change his mind from its new and blessed condition of repentance. 
 This abounding goodness of his parent does not quench his pur- 
 pose of sin-confession. No ! Even with such love as is shown to 
 him even with his father's arms around him, and the soft kiss of 
 love and forgiveness on his cheek, he breaks forth into his heart- 
 felt acknowledgment of his sin "Father, I have sinned against 
 Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy 
 son" 
 
 And thus it is with the penitent sinner. The exceeding great 
 love of his heavenly Father to him, in bowing down from heav- 
 en as it were, to meet him in making him feel, that on his knees 
 and in prayer, he has found one close by that he had but a mo- 
 ment before thought "a great way off," this exceeding great 
 love, condescension, and forgiveness, just opens his heart still 
 more as it unseals his lips to cry, " Grod be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner." That confession which he longs to make without making 
 which he knows there can be no hope of relief to his soul r but 
 which fear might have frozen on his lips, and sent him fainting 
 and wretched away, is made to gush out in warm streams of 
 lively sorrow by the near and gentle embrace of his reconciled 
 Father. It is the very conviction of that Father's inextinguish- 
 able love, the very consciousness that, notwithstanding all he has 
 done, that Father is waiting to be gracious, exalted to have mer- 
 cy, and willing to fold to his heart his hitherto rebellious child 
 it is this which at once brings the confession freely forth to be 
 poured into the ear not of man but of God, in the close personal 
 embrace of sorrow on his heart, and forgiveness on the part of 
 his Father.
 
 THE LOST SON. 217 
 
 And yet there is one part of what the prodigal meant to say to 
 his father which is left out. He did not say, " Make me as one of 
 thy hired servants" And this does in a very precious manner 
 touch upon the inner experience of the penitent sinner in the hour 
 when he has been met by his father and embraced by him, and 
 welcomed home again. The fullness and freeness of his father's 
 love make him all the more disposed to pour out the confession 
 of his sin ; but that very free and full love forbids him regarding 
 it as less than what the father means. His father's conduct to 
 him, is that of forgiveness to his child. All the precious words 
 which the Gospel whispers to the penitent, and wbich the awaken- 
 ed spirit so fondly drinks in, in the day of his being reconciled 
 to God, are his own, as one of the children of God, and an heir 
 of his kingdom. And thus he never thinks of pleading other- 
 wise now than as a son. His humility is true, and so he bows 
 down his heart in sorrow for his sin and weeps his bitter tears. 
 His humility would be false, if with all that his father shows 
 himself to be, by so many infallible proofs, he should shrink from 
 the condition and relationship of a child. 
 
 And how did the father answer this self-reproach on the part 
 of his penitent child ? "He said unto Iiis servants Bring forth the 
 best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes 
 on his feet: and bring hit/ier the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, 
 and be merry : for this my son was dead, and is alive again ; he was 
 lost, and is found" The father does not check his son's expres- 
 sion of sorrow : he receives it into his parental bosom. He does 
 not forbid the tear : he wipes it away. He does not deny the 
 misery and wretchedness of his wandering : he takes away that 
 misery from him. He must go home. He must come in. His 
 room is ready. But he must enter as his father's child not as a 
 forlorn, weary, forsaken outcast; and so he calls to his servants 
 to bring out a robe, the best one ; nor will he forget even a ring, 
 to put for a special ornament on his hand, and shoes on his feet ; 
 and thus arrayed, he takes him in rejoicing, and bids the feast be 
 prepared which shall mark outwardly his joy because of his son's 
 return, and unite his household with him in the expression of 
 this joy too. His son had poured his sorrowing confession into 
 his father's ear, and that was a sacred thing between them both. 
 But his father proclaims, as it were, upon the house-top, that
 
 218 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 which after all was the mainspring and cause of joy and festivity 
 "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is 
 found" 
 
 What a wonderful picture does the parable here give us of 
 God's dealing with his penitent children ! We can not but see 
 in the " best robe" of the parable or the "first robe," i. e., not 
 the robe which the son wore before, for he gathered .all he then 
 had together, and took them away with him, but the first as the 
 best we can not but recognize in this robe the righteousness of 
 Christ which is " of God by faith," " unto all, and upon all them 
 that believe." The vision which Zechariah saw throws reflected 
 light on this parable. Joshua is seen standing in filthy garments 
 before the angel ; and the Lord Jehovah commands that his 
 filthy garments be taken away from him ; and " he said unto 
 him, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and 
 I will clothe thee with change of raiment." The iniquity passing 
 away from the soul is its " change of raiment ;" and this change 
 of raiment is the best robe the righteousness of Christ. And 
 hence the blessedness of the man "whose transgression is for 
 given, and whose sin is covered." 
 
 And here we see how needful the imagery of this parable is to 
 fill up what is lacking in that of the lost sheep. When the shep- 
 herd brings back the sheep to the fold, all the change there is 
 from its condition of being lost, to its condition of safety. That 
 parable could give no more. It expressly marks the power of 
 Christ in delivering the lost soul. But this parable shows that a 
 change must come over the lost before he be admitted again to 
 his Father's house. The sinner has lost his own righteousness. 
 That robe has passed away forever. He is now " clothed with 
 filthy rags." But this is no seemly raiment for his Father's 
 house. No amount of love or tenderness on the part of God can 
 ever make it right to introduce his child thus clad into his home. 
 And so he covers him with righteousness not his own that is, 
 not of his own providing a righteousness which his great and 
 good Shepherd has purchased for him by the price of his own 
 most precious death, and which he has risen again from, the dead 
 in order tha.t it may be applied to the sinner's soul, making him 
 to be " freely justified from all things by the redemption which 
 is in Christ Jesus."
 
 
 THE LOST SON. 219 
 
 This, then, is the robe wherewith the Father covers his peni- 
 tent child whom he receives. It is the lest robe. There is none 
 like it in the courts of heaven. The light and unutterable splen- 
 dor of the archangel's apparel is obscured before the glory of this. 
 Like the morning star which is lost in the flood of light when the 
 sun rises, so all other things in heaven merge in the everlasting 
 glory and brightness of this lest robe. And then mark, it is not 
 given because of the child's penitence. It is the free gift of the 
 Father's mercy. It is not even asked for first by the child. It is 
 offered and bestowed of free and sovereign grace. Nevertheless, 
 it is given only to the penitent. It was not sent to be worn in 
 the far country among the citizens and the swine-herds of the 
 world. It is bestowed on the lowly, humbled, sorrowing, home- 
 seeking child, and on him alone. Penitence never gained or can 
 gain this robe but it never is wanting to the penitent ; that as 
 he goes back to his Father's house, whatever be the shame and 
 sorrow for sin which wells up within his own stricken bosom, no 
 shame or sorrow shall ever by his entrance mar the beauty or 
 darken the light of that glorious dwelling. Christ by his mighty 
 power bears his lost one through the dangers, and from the foes 
 which surround him. In the covenant of peace between him and 
 the Father he lays down his life, and so places in the hand of 
 that Father the glorious robe of finished righteousness with which 
 the Father may clothe his recovered -child as he enters once more 
 into his family. 
 
 Then there is " the ring on his hand" The penitent is not only 
 to receive such clothing as shall not dishonor his Father's house, 
 and which shall distinguish him as his child, but he must have 
 an ornament on his hand, distinguishing him in dignity and 
 honor. This seems clearly to mark the Spirit's work. If it be 
 merely as an outward token of honor, such as the conferring of a 
 ring sometimes was, then it marks those spiritual graces which 
 are the true ornaments of the penitent and forgiven soul ; or if it 
 be in reference to the habit of sealing important documents with 
 a ring, and so be intended to signify the high confidence reposed 
 in the party so honored, it will refer to the promise that the ran- 
 somed people of God shall become kings and priests unto God ; 
 or, it may be, that by the mere act of placing the ring on the 
 hand is meant what is spoken of in the Epistle to the Ephesians
 
 220 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of the " sealing" of believers by " the Spirit of promise unto the 
 day of redemption." 
 
 Then there are "shoes for his feet" "What kind of sandal the 
 Gospel sandal is, Paul has told us in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 
 " Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of 
 peace ;" and the mention of shoes here seems very strikingly to 
 indicate this truth, that hitherto the soul has only wearied itself 
 in its wilderness wanderings. Like the poor prodigal, who, be- 
 fore he was met by his father, would have his bare feet wounded 
 and cut with the road he traveled, so the soul has found the way 
 in which he walked hard, and rough, and bitterly painful. But, 
 when reconciled to the Father, its walk henceforth is in peace. 
 It is, as it were, shod with the gospel of peace. Formerly it 
 walked without God, and no wonder if that walk was sorrow, 
 pain, and misery. Now " it walks up and down in the Lord," 
 and no wonder that it finds the change so blessed ; or, to vary 
 the metaphor, the soul which was broken down and overwhelmed 
 under its own burden, when it takes Christ's burden instead, finds 
 that to be " easy and light." 
 
 Then the feast and the joy spoken of in this parable are just 
 what our Lord explains of the former ones : "Joy in heaven over 
 one sinner tfiat repenteth" 
 
 And now, we may observe how the objection raised against 
 our Lord's conduct, and which drew forth these three parables, 
 has been fully and finally met. Met, not on the ground of the 
 private feelings of those who made it, y\-hatever these might be, 
 but on the simple merits of that objection itself. Was it right or 
 not was it holy or not was it becoming or not for Christ to re- 
 ceive sinners and eat with them ? He has taught us that lie not 
 only receives sinners, but seeks them out, and that, too, first by 
 his own personal toil and suffering, and then by the diligent 
 seeking and finding of the Holy Ghost ; and then he tells us, as 
 if to mark the truth in the strongest terms which he was explain- 
 ing, and the explanation of which could alone fairly meet the 
 objection, that heaven itself rings again with joy, when such 
 seeking and saving of lost sinners take place. Then he passes 
 on, and exhibits God the Father receiving the sinner, and taking 
 him home, and making a feast in consequence, and giving him 
 not merely a welcome, but one marked by gifts of special grace
 
 THE LOST SON. 221 
 
 and kingly favor. And is all this, then, wrong ? Is it inconsist- 
 ent with the character of God, derogatory to his honor, contrary 
 to his laws, and tending to confound sin and holiness, good and 
 evil together, under the actings of mere pity and compassion ? 
 Nay ; this is not done as saving in sin, but saving from sin. God 
 has not forgotten what is due to himself, to his honor and glory, 
 in this seeking, finding, and receiving of the sinner for see how 
 that sinner comes ! Heartbroken, sad, sorrowing, humbled, pen- 
 itent. He comes not to hold fellowship with God as a sinner, 
 but he comes to God to be delivered from his sin forever. He is 
 weary of it, he abhors it, he loathes it, he longs to be rid of it. 
 And so, as far as the changed condition of the poor sinner's heart 
 is concerned, the edge of the objection is turned when Christ was 
 condemned as receiving him. But besides this, he shows us in 
 this parable how God not only has respect to the inner condition 
 of that son which he graciously and lovingly receives, but also 
 how he has respect to his own honor and glory, seeing he will 
 not take him to his house otherwise than clad in the best robe, 
 with a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. What man lost 
 by his folly he can never regain. But God has magnified his 
 law, and made it honorable, by providing a free gift for man, at 
 the cost and by the sacrifice of his dear Son, so that the iniquity 
 is canceled and blotted out, not at the expense of justice, but of 
 the voluntary sufferer ; and the reception of the sinner is marked, 
 not by his trampling on the immutable restraints which encircle 
 the kingdom of the Holy One, but by his entering by a new and 
 living way, consecrated into the Holiest of all by the blood of 
 Jesus. And so the great truth, which requires to be explained 
 and vindicated, is fully set forth in reply to what was meant to 
 be and wore the appearance of a plausible objection against the 
 conduct of our gracious Master. It is now the very diadem of 
 beauty and of glory that crowns his brow forever. " This man 
 receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." 
 
 But we now go on to consider the last part of this parable. 
 
 "Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew 
 nigh to the house, he heard music and dancinrj. And he called one 
 of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto 
 him, Thy brother is come ; and Oiy father hath killed the fatted calf, 
 because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and
 
 222 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 he would not go in : therefore came his father out, and entreated him. 
 And he, answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I 
 serve thee; neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; 
 and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry ivith 
 my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come,, which hath 
 devoured thy living with harlots, thou ha^t killed for him the fatted 
 calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all 
 that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be 
 glad: for this thy brother ivas dead, and is alive again ; and was 
 lost, and is found" Luke xv. 24-32. 
 
 The detailed and particular description in this part of the 
 parable, is utterly inconsistent with a mere generalizing interpre- 
 tation here ; unless, indeed, we would make the parables, which 
 were meant to give instruction " more abundantly" to the spiritu- 
 ally taught, nothing better than pretty stories, with some single 
 truth shrouded and folded in a great and cumbrous drapery. At 
 the same time, it must be admitted that very considerable diffi- 
 culty exists regarding this part of the parable. Whom does the 
 elder son represent? 
 
 This question has been answered by some thus : The elder 
 brother represents the Jew, who murmured at the introduction 
 of the Gentile within the terms of the gospel covenant to equal 
 privileges with himself. This explanation, when merely looked 
 at generally, seems to meet the parable, but is found to be 
 altogether untenable on a closer examination. " The mystery of 
 the admission of -the Gentiles into God's Church was not yet 
 made known in any such manner as that they should be repre- 
 sented as of one family with the Jews ; not to mention that this 
 interpretation fails in the very root of the parable for in strict- 
 ness the Gentile should be the elder the Jew not being consti- 
 tuted in his superiority till two thousand years after the creation. 
 The upholders of this interpretation forget that when we speak 
 of the Jew as elder, and the Gentile as younger, it is in respect 
 not of birth, but of this very return to and reception into the 
 father's house, which is not to be considered yet," in the opening 
 part of the parable. ( Alford.) 
 
 This latter objection can not be set aside. But, besides this, 
 what ground have we for introducing a subject like this, so totally 
 alien from all that our Lord had then in hand ? What had the
 
 THE LOST SON. 223 
 
 introduction of the Gentiles into the Church to do with the objec 
 tion made by the Pharisees that Christ received publicans and 
 sinners? Such an explanation is opposed to the whole scope of 
 our Lord's personal mission, which he himself describes, when 
 he says, " I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel" The attempt to make the explanation more plausible, 
 by supposing that some of the publicans might be Gentiles, is 
 utterly groundless, and only proves the insuperable difficulty of 
 such an explanation at all. No Gentiles are spoken of, nor are 
 heard of at the time, as being within reach of our Saviour's voice, 
 and the introduction of the subject of the Gentile Church at all, 
 is altogether improbable. Besides it fails in other essential points 
 as well as those mentioned above. How can it be that God 
 should be represented as saying to the Jew, the elder brother, at 
 the very time when the latter was filling up the measure of his 
 iniquity, and the blood of all the slain servants of the Lord in 
 past generations to be required at the hands of that generation 
 who were to slay Christ, and whose house was to be left desolate 
 how could he be truly represented as saying to him, "Son, ihou 
 art ever with me, and all that I have is thine ?" Such language 
 as this is not only not to be reconciled with, but is totally 
 opposed to, what is said of the removal, the cutting off, the put- 
 ting away of the Jewish Church, when the Gentiles were called 
 in, as it is set forth in the eleventh chapter of Romans. Nay, 
 more, it is diametrically opposed to the only parable of our Lord 
 iu which he plainly intimates what would afterward take place, 
 when the Jewish Church should be lost sight of in the calling in 
 of the Gentiles. In the parable of the wicked husbandmen, he 
 refers by universal admission to Jew and Gentile. And in what 
 way ? The Jews are the wicked husbandmen who slew the serv- 
 ants sent, from time to time, for the fruit of the vineyard, and 
 added this greatest crime to all the rest, that when the son of the 
 lord of the vineyard was sent, they caught him, and killed him, 
 and cast him out of the vineyard. And our Lord's solemn con- 
 clusion to this terrible similitude is, that the Lord of the vineyard 
 will miserably destroy those wicked husbandmen, and will let 
 out the vineyard unto others, who will render him the fruit in 
 due season. This was the fearful doom awaiting the Jewish 
 Church a doom which settled heavily down upon them in that
 
 224 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 day of unparalleled ungodliness, when they shouted out, as Jesus 
 was being led forth to be crucified, " His blood be on us and on 
 our children." 
 
 Now, it is at once admitted that one of the excellences of 
 Scripture, is the endless variety with which Infinite "Wisdom 
 places his truths before us. But that is a very different thing 
 from placing one and the same thing in such a light as to be 
 absolutely and diametrically opposed to itself. We may have 
 countless images which, taken altogether, give us large and glo- 
 rious views of those things which are taught ; but what should 
 we say to have a series of illustrations of the same truth, which 
 are in their nature perfectly and entirely incongruous with each 
 other ? And how, then, can we for a moment suppose that our 
 Lord, in one parable, would speak of the Jews in the terrible 
 announcement that they would be miserably dstroyed, and the 
 vineyard hitherto kept by them given out to others, and yet, in 
 another parable, represent the father as saying to these same 
 Jews, in connection, too, with these very successors of themselves 
 in the vineyaid, "Son, thou art ever ivith me, and all that I have is 
 thine!" We dismiss, then, this interpretation as most objection- 
 able, while it will be found that in disposing of another which 
 can not either be sustained, it has, in common with the latter, 
 one objection equally fatal to both. 
 
 All that has been urged against the explanation which makes 
 the ninety and nine sheep, or the ninety and nine just persons 
 which need no repentance, to signify the Pharisees, applies with 
 tenfold ibrce here. To regard the elder son in the parable as 
 representing these Pharisees, is to bring in complications into 
 the interpretation, which render it well-nigh unintelligible. For, 
 first of all, when the publican was brought back, converted, 
 made a disciple of Jesus, did this bring him back to the Pharisees, 
 as well as to his heavenly Father? And when Jesus sought and 
 found and received a Matthew or a Zaccheus, was there a single 
 act or word of his which bears the slightest analogy with the 
 father in the parable going out and entreating his elder son to 
 come in ? Did our Lord ever speak to the Pharisees, or of the 
 Pharisees, as those whom he was anxious to reconcile to the fact 
 of his admitting publicans and sinners to himself? Far from it. 
 He makes the entrance of these very publicans into the kingdom
 
 THE LOST SON. 225 
 
 of heaven an argument for' the sternest rebukes against the 
 Pharisees for their lack of repentance. And can we forget his 
 conduct when he sat at meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, 
 and the poor woman had washed his feet with the tears of bitter 
 sorrow ? Did he strive to reconcile Simon to his admission of 
 this poor lost child into favor ? On the contrary, he made the 
 circumstance an express occasion for administering the sharpest 
 reproof to his proud self-righteous host giving him to under- 
 stand that the conduct of the poor woman ought to be his, and 
 that for him as for her, there was but one way of being restored 
 to God's favor, namely, by being found humbled and penitent at 
 the feet of Jesus. 
 
 But further. How is it possible to sustain this interpretation in 
 the face of the statement made by the elder son, and uncontra- 
 dicted by the father, " Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither 
 transgressed I thy commandment at any time ?" Is it credible that 
 our Lord in a parable meant to introduce prominently and em- 
 phatically the case of those whom he denounced as those " who 
 say and do not," could yet give a tacit admission to the fact that 
 they were really faithful and obedient children ? And still fur- 
 ther, is this credible, when not only no contradiction is given to 
 the assertion of constant steady obedience, but when, in addition, 
 the father declares, " Son, iftou art ever with me, and all that I have 
 is tiiine T } Such language could only be calculated to mislead 
 and deceive. If hypocrites and self-deceivers, extortioners and 
 unjust, proud and self-righteous men, can be addressed thus, even 
 in the language of one parable, we may well be permitted to say 
 in another spirit than Pilate, "what is truth," or, "where is 
 truth?" 
 
 And these objections tell with equal force against the explan- 
 ation which makes the elder brother the Jew. So that, unless we 
 give up the very pith and marrow of this part of the parable 
 altogether, we must set aside both these interpretations as fatally 
 defective in the very point in the story on which it altogether 
 turns the very hinge of the door which we desire to open. 
 
 That there must be a harmony of interpretation throughout 
 these three parables is universally admitted. The lost soul of 
 man finds its similitude in the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, 
 and the lost son. The latter parable does not introduce a new 
 
 15
 
 226 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 subject. It only places the same subject with which the other two 
 parables had to do, in a new light. It fills up and completes the 
 picture representing man as fallen away from God. When, there- 
 fore, we are told of the ninety and nine sheep which were not 
 lost, of the nine pieces of money not dropped from the purse, the 
 elder son who did not leave his father's house, we ought, in all 
 consistency of interpretation, to look to the latter as filling up an 
 important part of the parabolic picture of the sheep that strayed 
 not, and the money that was not lost. Whatever view is taken 
 of these must be carried on to the case of the elder son. 
 
 Now the ninety and nine sheep are said by our Lord to mean 
 " ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance." And 
 so we add, the " elder son" in the parable before us represents 
 "just persons which need no repentance." And what is said of 
 him exactly corresponds with this. When introduced to our 
 notice in the parable, he is just returning from the field. His 
 younger brother's conduct had not influenced him. He is actively 
 engaged in his proper and fitting employment in his father's prop- 
 erty. He is able to call his father to witness that he never trans- 
 gressed a single commandment of his. By his silence -his father 
 admits the truth of this in other words, admits that he needs no 
 repentance, and marks his sense of his righteous or just conduct 
 by telling him that all that he has belongs to this his son who has 
 never left him, never given him a moment's uneasiness, and who 
 shall continue ever with him. 
 
 Now, in the view we have taken of the ninety and nine just 
 persons referred to in the first of these parables, we have adopted 
 the alternative mentioned by Alford, and regard them as repre- 
 senting those holy and pure beings which retained and still retain 
 their state of holy, happy obedience, when man fell away ; and, 
 therefore, as a, necessary consequence, we must regard the elder 
 son in this parable as representing the same happy and glorious 
 beings. Nor are we driven to this explanation as one of neces- 
 sity to be taken in order to give a consistent interpretation of all 
 three parables, but we adopt it because it just does in this part of 
 the third parable what is done in other parts that are equally 
 prominent it adds important material to us for our complete 
 perception of the case of these ninety and nine just persons which 
 need no repentance, while at the same time it completes, in the
 
 THE LOST SON. 227 
 
 most remarkable manner, our Lord's explanation of the great 
 truth, that he received publicans and sinners. 
 
 In the first parable and in the second, while it was quite easy 
 to represent joy in heaven over the penitent, by the shepherd and 
 the woman severally gathering their friends together and bidding 
 them to rejoice, it was nevertheless impossible to express, in the 
 imagery of the one or the other, the sentiments which might pos- 
 sibly exist among t*ne holy and pure beings from the midst of 
 whom one had strayed, and afterward been restored to their num- 
 ber. Nothing in this direction could be obtained from the figure 
 of ninety and nine sheep, or of nine pieces of money ; but the 
 case of the elder son is one in which these sentiments may find 
 their just and remarkable expression. 
 
 Nor can it be fairly objected to this view, that as the servants 
 represent angelic beings, the elder son can not represent them 
 too, seeing that the very nature of those who are so represented 
 demands this. Angels are servants, in one sense, of their heavenly 
 King. In another, they are children of their heavenly Father. 
 It is in the latter relationship that the peculiar sentiments existing 
 among them must be developed on the restoration of the lost, 
 prodigal son. And, therefore, there is no inconsistency, but 
 rather fitness, in the complex figure of servant and son in the 
 parable representing but one class, namely, those holy and pure 
 beings who have " kept their first estate." And this is just ac- 
 cording to our Lord's mode of teaching in other parables. Thus, 
 in the parable of the ten virgins, we have the five wise virgins 
 going in merely as friends to the marriage. And yet they repre- 
 sent, at the same time, the people of God, who are themselves 
 the bride. And so in the parable of the marriage-supper, the 
 guests there are the people of God, while at the same time they 
 are the bride of the King's Son. So here, the servants in this 
 house refer to angelic beings, and as such, they are'seen to min- 
 ister to the heir of salvation. The elder son also represents the 
 same beings ; and he is seen admitting not only into his former 
 place, but above himself, the once prodigal, but now forgiven 
 child. 
 
 And there is this further to be observed throughout the three 
 parables. All of them express the joy on the lost one found all 
 describe it as a festal occasion when the wanderer is brought back.
 
 228 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 The shepherd did for his own sheep he had found, what he never 
 did for the others. The woman rejoiced over the finding of the 
 one piece'more than she did over those she had not lost. And so, 
 in the parable before us, this superior joy is indicated in the story 
 by the special fact mentioned, and to which the elder son point- 
 edly refers as marking a festivity which had never been exhibited 
 in his case ; the fatted calf was killed for the younger son, while 
 the elder never had even " a kid to make merry with his friends." 
 And thus in heaven there is more joy over the return of the pen- 
 itent, saved soul, than over those pure and holy beings who never 
 fell. So that, while in priority of birth, the angels are to men as 
 the elder brother to the younger, and as regards the actual nature 
 of each, " man was made a little lower than the angels," and so 
 in this sense too, second or youngest son in the Father's house, yet 
 on that day, when not priority of birth, but the special work of 
 redeeming love shall finally order and arrange the whole house- 
 hold of God, there shall be given to man what angels never have 
 had, nor shall have, "to sit down with Christ on his throne." A 
 marriage-supper shall be spread for him, such as heaven has never 
 witnessed. And when the Lamb's bride shall appear in all the 
 glory and the beauty of her marriage raiment, as the King's 
 daughter and his son's wife, then shall the superior gift of grace 
 bestowed on the race of man appear, and he who, when created, 
 was lower than the angels, shall, in his new creation, rise above 
 them in the glory and dignity of his Father's house. 
 
 The difficulties in the way of this interpretation are far more 
 apparent than real. They may be stated in a single sentence. 
 How is it possible to supjpose that pure and holy beings, such as" 
 the angels are, who have never fallen, should not merely object 
 to the return of sinful man, but should be angry, and at first re- 
 fuse to admit this wayward one again among themselves ? This 
 is alone what, with any plausibility, can be objected to the ex- 
 planation now given. And far from being insurmountable, it 
 will be found that the very ground on which the objection rests, 
 furnishes a very remarkable and important confirmation of the 
 view now taken. 
 
 But, before noticing the objection, it may be well just to ob- 
 serve how in every thing in the parable (keeping out of view for 
 the present the difficulty now mentioned) the explanation given
 
 THE LOST SON. 229 
 
 suits the story. First, the simple fact stated. The elder and the 
 younger son. Angels first, and then man. Then the contrast 
 man leaving his first love, and breaking away from God living 
 at a distance from him, and serving sin and Satan. On the other 
 hand, the angels those ministers of his who do his pleasure 
 cleaving to God gathering nearer to him, as the blank is made 
 by the lapse of the transgressor more jealous of his honor and 
 glory than before diligent, constant, and persevering in his serv- 
 ice. While man is in a strange land, wasting his substance with 
 riotous living, the faithful ones of God are " in the field," caring 
 for their Father's profit and honor. Then the clear conscience 
 of the latter, not afraid to have the eye of God on them not 
 boasting of their own worth any more than Paul boasted of his 
 apostlcship, but stating the simple truth, and supported in this 
 by the God of, truth himself. Then his gentle bearing toward 
 them no wrath on his brow, for these children deserve none. 
 He has no rebuke for them, no work of forgiveness and atone- 
 ment to be done in their case ; it is only entreaty, instruction, 
 information, and guidance and the continued assurance that, 
 whatever may be the blessings which he is lavishing on his re- 
 stored and penitent child, their cup shall never have one drop the 
 less of everlasting joy. All that he has shall be theirs forever, as 
 it has ever been before. 
 
 But now as to the difficulty in the way of this interpretation. 
 We first remark upon the parable itself, that the conduct of the 
 elder son, far from exciting surprise or condemnation, ought 
 rather to be regarded as just the fitting and appropriate filling up 
 of the imagery of this simple story. We have a father of blame- 
 less life and character, kind and loving to his children, showing 
 the greatest forbearance and long-suffering to a disobedient and 
 reckless son. We have an elder son walking in all his father's 
 wa yg taking him as his example loving his character cheer- 
 fully submitting to serve him and to receive all that he had con- 
 tinually from him to get from him " day by day his daily 
 bread." Nor is there a word in the parable to show that he did 
 otherwise than deeply sympathize with his kind parent under the 
 trying circumstances in which he was placed by the conduct of 
 his younger son. Nevertheless, he continued to do his father's 
 work. He would to the utmost of his power sustain his father's
 
 230 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 character, and by steady, child-like obedience endeavor to remove 
 from his father's house the blot which his brother's conduct had 
 brought upon it. On his return home one evening from the 
 field, after fulfilling his own work, he is surprised by the tokens 
 of special mirth in the house. He immediately inquires the 
 cause. A servant tells him that his "brother has returned ; but 
 the information goes no further than that he is "safe and sound," 
 and that a special honor has been shown him by the killing of 
 the fatted calf. Is it to be wondered at that, with his ignorance 
 of the real state of the case, he was angry ? He knew nothing 
 of what had passed between his father and brother. The mere 
 fact stared him in the face, that one who had brought such foul 
 dishonor on his father and his father's house who had broken 
 the family bond and made his father's name a by-word, should 
 be received with honor into that house. He had v no reason for 
 supposing he was different in character from what he was when 
 he went forth. And yet a special mark of parental favor is 
 shown him as soon as he chooses to set foot within the house he 
 had despised and dishonored. Will not this last be worse than 
 the first ? Will not such a reception as this of a wayward prodi- 
 gal do more to bring discredit on his father than his first depart- 
 ure from home could ever have done ? His father hears of his 
 eldest son's return. He goes out to him. He is perfectly aware . 
 that what has taken place needs explanation, and that none can 
 give it but himself. The sight of his father calls powerfully 
 forth the feelings of the son. He speaks as one in amazement 
 at the effect of this conduct. He has never transgressed his 
 father's commandment for a moment. His brother had devoured 
 that father's living with harlots. And yet the latter is raised in 
 dignity over the other ! How can he account for this ! What 
 must be the general conclusion from it ? His father speaks to 
 him in reply " Thou art my dear son. All that I have is thine. 
 Do not think that what I have done casts the least slight on the 
 great principles of child-like obedience which I have ever taught, 
 and you have ever followed. But ' IT WAS MEET' that all this 
 should occur when your brother returned. There is righteous- 
 ness in this act. It is proper, and for this reason not merely 
 that he is now at home again not merely that he has chosen to 
 return as he chose to go but because he has returned a changed
 
 THE LOST SON. 231 
 
 man. I tell you not merely that the lost one is found, though 
 that, perhaps, might sufficiently show the change which has hap- 
 pened, but he is now alive, as he was once dead alive to all the 
 holy and the pure laws and feelings which regulate my house 
 which bind me to you and you to me so that my honor, truth, 
 and justice, are all vindicated by his very return, and the blank 
 in my house once more filled with increased honor to me and 
 happiness to you ; so that in this sense too, ' all that I have if> 
 thine.' " And here the parable closes, leaving it obviously to be 
 inferred that the entreaty of the father was at once successful, and 
 that the elder son went in and partook of the joy in his father's 
 house. 
 
 Now, taken as a mere narrative of what might be supposed to 
 occur in one of the families of man, there is nothing in the con- 
 duct of the elder son, as stated above, reprehensible, but the 
 reverse. We behold a young man exceedingly jealous for his 
 father's honor, misapprehending for a moment his father's con- 
 duct, but cheerfully acquiescing in it when his father speaks to 
 him in order to remove his misapprehension. 
 
 But in that which is here illustrated can we suppose that 
 angelic beings would conceive or could express such mistaken 
 impressions of the conduct of their heavenly Father ? The an- 
 swer to this is very simple. They needed instruction regarding 
 God's dealing with his erring ones among men, because Scripture 
 tells us that they are encouraged to " look into these things ;" 
 and hence the same Scripture assures us that one of the purposes 
 of redeeming love to man is " to the intent that now unto the 
 principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by 
 the Church the manifold wisdom of God." " Known" to the 
 angelic beings because they never could comprehend it otherwise 
 than through this fatherly teaching and, moreover, because the 
 end of the great Redeemer's work is to " gather together in one 
 all things which are in heaven, and which are on earth." Now, 
 if this instruction had been withheld if this needful information 
 had been kept back, what is there in the nature of angelic beings 
 to prevent them from regarding God's work in " receiving sin- 
 ners" unto himself very much in the light exhibited in the 
 parable? Perfect as they are, they are not infallible. High, 
 intelligent, and glorious as they are, they have had terrible evi-
 
 282 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 dence in their own ranks that these things do not necessarily 
 prevent a fall. If some among themselves kept not their first 
 estate, but fell from their lofty position by pride of heart against 
 Jehovah, is it difficult to conceive that they who remained as yet 
 faithful if they had been left uninformed on a point involving 
 the character of their king for unchangeable justice, for love of 
 truth and holiness as well as mercy, inasmuch as he received sin- 
 ful men when even sinful angels were passed by that they might 
 have felt toward God very much as this elder son is said in the 
 parable to have done toward his father ? 
 
 It will then be admitted that, under the supposition that an- 
 gelic beings had been kept in ignorance of the great principles 
 which lie at the root and pervade the whole work of forgiveness 
 to the sinful child of man, they might well be supposed to start 
 back with horror and anguish at such treatment of the sinner 
 as would appear to them to confound all truth and falsehood, right 
 and wrong together, and to sap the very foundations of their 
 Father's throne ; and this, then, is all that the parable is intended 
 to convey. Our Lord does not mean by the imagery he has given 
 us, to tell us that angelic beings actually address their Father in 
 such language, or actually are angry and will not go in. He 
 merely portrays before us what it is quite possible to conceive 
 under certain circumstances might have taken place ; nay, what 
 probably would have taken place, had not he been pleased to 
 make known to his angelic creatures the mysteries of his redeem- 
 ing love, and instruct them in the glorious truths which magnified 
 his mercy, and yet vindicated his law. " This my son was dead, 
 and is alive again ; he was lost, and he is found" 
 
 That this peculiar usage is by no means uncommon in the para- 
 bles it is not difficult to prove. Thus, in regard to the murmuring 
 laborers in the vineyard, there is involved very much the same 
 principle of interpretation as that now proposed. These laborers 
 are all true servants of God men who have left their spiritual 
 idleness in order to engage in God's work, such as Peter and his 
 fellows, whose question suggested the parable. Do we, then, for 
 a moment suppose, that when Christ at last shall lavish his gifts 
 on all his faithful ones, that _ any one or more of them shall be 
 found murmuring against him? Impossible. "As far as the 
 parable is addressed to Peter, 'and in him to all true believers,"
 
 THE LOST SON. 233 
 
 says Trench, " it is rather a warning against what might be, if they 
 were not careful to watch against it, than a prophecy of what would 
 be." And so, just as our Lord warns his disciples against what 
 might be their conduct if they indulged in certain ambitious de- 
 sires, he, in the parable before us, shows what the angelic beings 
 might have ventured to think of God and of his doings, had they 
 not been taught and instructed so as to see and feel, " Just and 
 true are all thy ways, thou King of saints." 
 
 Another parable likewise furnishes us with a similar instance 
 of this mode of handling the illustration. In that of the talents, 
 we are told by our Lord of the servant who received only one tal- 
 ent, that, when called to account by his lord, he addressed him in 
 such language as this: " I knew thee, that thou wert an austere 
 man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where 
 thou hast not strawed," &c. Now, we do not for a moment sup- 
 pose that at the day of reckoning with his servants, when the 
 secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, any such harsh accusation of 
 the supreme Judge will be made to his face rather we feel, that 
 the speechlessness of the man detected without the wedding-gar- 
 ment, combined with the dread horror of the rich man in torment, 
 will mark the appearance at the bar of judgment of him who has 
 hid his lord's money. Our Lord puts into his mouth the expres- 
 sion of what, it may be, he felt on earth, and what he would feel 
 also when judged at last, did not the light of that day reveal him 
 to himself. And so in the case before us. Angels would have 
 judged of God's conduct, even as this eldest son did of his father, 
 had they not been enlightened regarding God's dealings with the 
 fallen sons of men. 
 
 Again, in the parable of the unrighteous judge, we have God 
 there presented before us in figure in his dealings with his people. 
 We never suppose for one moment that his being likened to such 
 a judge as this implies unrighteousness in him. We see that this 
 use of the illustration serves to bring out an important view qf 
 divine truth, and that is all. So, in the parable before us, we do 
 not for a moment suppose that angels ever addressed God, or ever 
 will address him in language such as this eldest son used ; but a 
 most important truth is indicated by the mere supposition that 
 they might have done so. 
 
 Once more, in this parable itself, we know that, in the case of
 
 234 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the prodigal son, every one from among the children of men who 
 is brought back to God, must regard himself in no better light 
 than as that prodigal. But, on the other hand, it is never affirm- 
 ed that each one has passed through all that is described in the 
 history of that younger son. Each one might have done so, and 
 would have done so, if left to himself; and so the angelic beings 
 might, and would, have questioned the conduct of their heavenly 
 Father, if they had been left to themselves to grope darkly amid 
 the mysteries of that work which, while it laid hold on the guilty, 
 yet restored him as a bright jewel to their Master's crown. 
 
 The latter portion of this parable, therefore, sets forth before 
 us what the moral resistance of angelic beings would have been 
 to the great work of raising the sinner to become a king and a 
 priest in God's kingdom, had not that gracious Father who de- 
 vised and perfected his scheme of redemption for the sons of men, 
 been pleased to enlighten and teach the minds of his pure and 
 faithful servants regarding those great principles which that scheme 
 of redemption has alone developed in the kingdom of God, and 
 by which alone he can be "just and yet the justifierof him which 
 believeth in Jesus." 
 
 And let it not for a moment be supposed that such explanation 
 as the above is only calculated to furnish us with mere specula- 
 tive views regarding the condition of angelic beings, without in- 
 volving any practical result to ourselves. Quite the reverse. 
 The allusions which abound throughout Scripture to the feelings 
 and the work of these glorious beings are assuredly not given for 
 the mere purpose of exciting our curiosity. Nor is the allusion 
 to them here made for this purpose. The view on which we now 
 insist tends to meet and rectify an error in the natural man regard- 
 ing himself, as seen and known by the dwellers in heaven. The 
 sinner, inasmuch as it is against God that he has sinned, ever re- 
 gards God as his special enemy. He has no such thoughts regard- 
 ing the pure and holy beings which surround God's throne. He 
 thinks of them -very much as of his fellow-men. He lives in no 
 dread of their anger, and relies securely on their sympathy. He 
 feels, if he would analyze his emotions, that as far as regards his 
 entrance into heaven, if there were only angels with whom he had 
 to do, there would be no difficulty. He would live in no fear of 
 their shutting the door against him, or excluding him forever
 
 THE LOST SON. 235 
 
 from glory and happiness. It is when he turns to Him who is 
 on the Throne, the King of angels and of men, ,that his heart is 
 filled with misgivings. It is alone when he thinks of God that 
 the terrors as of a consuming fire rise up before him, and fill his 
 soul with agonizing anticipation. Now this parable places in a 
 very remarkable manner before us what the real state of matters 
 is, and regarding which the natural heart makes so false a calcu- 
 lation. Other Scriptures, in referring to the acts of angels, sug- 
 gest the same lesson. We read of them with flaming swords at 
 the gate of Eden, standing there to prevent man's return to Par- 
 adise. We read of one engaged in a dread work of desolation, 
 when 70,000 of the children of Israel died from pestilence. Who 
 was it that checked him in his career of judgment? Who was 
 it that said, "It is enough, stay now thine hand?" We hear of 
 angels as the reapers of the world's harvest, whose special prov- 
 ince it will be to gather the tares in bundles to burn them. And 
 so in the parable before us, we see that if man had had to wait 
 for pardon and forgiveness from angels, he would have waited 
 forever. We see from what source it is that the plan has sprung 
 of redeeming love and pardoning mercy. This is not their plan. 
 Nay, it is so strange to them, so alien to what they have ever 
 known before, that they need to be reconciled to it. So that if 
 sinful man looks up to heaven, and thinks that it is alone on the 
 throne of God that he can see his adversary, and nowhere else in 
 the plains of heaven, he is grievously mistaken. Every bright 
 and holy spirit there is his adversary. If they were left to the pure 
 and holy zeal which burns in their minds, not one of them but 
 would bar heaven's gate against him. God alone is his friend. 
 He alone planned to bring him back as angels never would. 
 He alone has chosen to "reconcile things in heaven and things 
 in earth, 4 ' to change the current of angelic feeling, and make 
 those glorious ones not only willing, but full of happiness at the 
 restoration of the lost. And thus, too, we may observe, the 
 condemnation of that grievous heresy by anticipation, in the 
 Church of Rome, wherein guilty sinners are taught to seek the 
 intercession of angels with God ! Alas, the true scriptural 
 view of the matter is, that poor sinners should entreat God to 
 check the burning zeal of those pure and holy beings lest it 
 should break forth, and spend itself on the guilty heads of those
 
 236 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 who are bringing dishonor on the name and the law of their 
 adorable King. 
 
 But, besides, the explanation opens to us a bright and glorious 
 view of the character of the joy which fills heaven on the return 
 of the wanderer. The other two parables speak of the fact of 
 that joy. This shows us what it is. The loud hosannas that 
 shall swell throughout the vaults of heaven on that festal day, 
 when the Great King shall touch the keynote of heaven's great 
 joy, " Rejoice with me," will not be from the hearts of angelic 
 beings who are mere partakers of the joy which brightens the 
 home of their Master. Were this all, their joy would lack one 
 of its most blessed ingredients. They might, indeed, feel the 
 sunshine of universal gladness, and be so far partakers of the holy 
 mirth of a blessed family but it would be as servants " who 
 know not what their Lord doeth." They might acquiesce in the 
 general festivity, and understand generally its cause, but this falls 
 short of what it will be. The joy in heaven will be the intelli- 
 gent joy of beings whose hearts the Great Father has filled with 
 all the blessed details of that which causes his own joy. It will 
 be the joy of sons, with whom the secrets of the house are lodged, 
 who are admitted to a fellowship with the father, to which a mere 
 servant would be a stranger, and so their joy will be " unspeak- 
 able and full of glory." And surely when the believer regards 
 this glorious prospect as soon to be realized in the kingdom of his 
 Father, such deep, true, intelligent joy among those who have 
 never fallen, when they at length receive the ransomed of the 
 Lord on high, he must feel more than ever the preciousness of 
 that apostolic word, u Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say, 
 Rejoice." 
 
 And, once more, observe how this explanation gives the full 
 and final reply to those who desired to condemn Christ because 
 he received sinners. As regards himself, he glories in seeking, 
 finding, and receiving the sinner, while he carefully points out 
 that the restored child must be clad in the best robe before he 
 can enter his father's house, and have a changed, penitent heart, 
 before he can be clasped in his father's embrace. Then as regards 
 others, he tells what effect this receiving of sinners has on them 
 others, not on earth, but in heaven. He takes the highest 
 grade of created beings. It is with those who are only inferior
 
 THE LOST SON. 237 
 
 to himself that he has to do, and whose sentiments, after his own 
 regarding fallen men, he is anxious to exhibit. And so he speaks 
 of the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. And then 
 in this last parable, he tells us what that joy is, the intelligent joy 
 of the elder son admitted to the special confidence of the Father, 
 and thus he vindicates his conduct as the friend of sinners. He 
 is so, because while he admits them to heaven, he has atoned for 
 their guilt, and removed the pollution of sin from them and all 
 that is holy, and good, and intelligent in his kingdom enter into 
 his joy, and hail this fellowship between him and his recovered 
 wanderer as the highest ornament of his kingly diadem. The 
 mere silencing of the Pharisees, who used these words, " This 
 man receiveth sinners," is very secondary to the vindication of 
 the great truth which was involved in the words themselves. 
 This latter he elucidated. He guarded himself against all mis- 
 take, and then, " if any man had ears to hear," he left his dis- 
 course to fall with its full weight of moral condemnation upon 
 those who had ventured to insinuate in words which contained 
 real truth, a grievous accusation against himself. The argument, 
 a fortiori, will here apply in all its force : " If the receiving of the 
 penitent sinner, as I have laid it before you, be so honoring and 
 satisfying to God, and give new cause of joy in heaven itself 
 among the righteous who need no repentance among the sons 
 who have never left the Father's house, or grieved him by their 
 conduct for a moment, how ought the mouths of wretched sinners 
 to be stopped who, themselves rejecting the offer of salvation, 
 seek to frame an accusation against me for admitting those who 
 heartily and joyfully close with it !" 
 
 We have dwelt at considerable length on these three parables, 
 because of the vast field of truth over which they extend, and 
 because of their touching on that all-important stage in the his- 
 tory of the poor prodigal his return to his father's house. It is, 
 we firmly believe, in the deep study of these three parables that 
 we may gain such simple, precious views of this wondrous tran- 
 sition from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's 
 dear Son, as shall, by the Divine blessing, guard us from being 
 led astray by many fanciful theories which man is riot slow to 
 propound which, on the one hand, invest God with a sternness 
 altogether foreign to his nature, or with a facility altogether sub-
 
 238 THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON. 
 
 versive of his character ; or, on the other, invest man either with 
 a moral vigor which does not belong to him, as if he might win 
 heaven when he pleases, or with such an entire absence of respon- 
 sibility, as that wherever the guilt of his transgression lies, it is 
 not with himself. 
 
 The tenth Article of the English Church seems based upon the 
 great truths inculcated in these parables, and, indeed, forms an 
 admirable summary of them. " The condition of man after the 
 fall of Adam is such that he can not turn and prepare himself, by 
 his own natural strengtfi and good works, to faith and calling 
 upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works 
 acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing 
 us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we 
 have that good will."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WIND BLOWETH WHERE IT LISTETH THB TWO SONS THE BARKEN FIG-TREE. 
 
 WE now pass on to a brief but very impressive parable of 
 Jesus, and which very suitably finds its place in connection with 
 the leading topics of the foregoing chapter. 
 
 " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound 
 thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is 
 every one that is born of the Spirit" John iii. 8. 
 
 Our Lord's interpretation, as given in the last clause of this 
 verse, at once places us on firm ground regarding the explanation 
 of this parable. The work of the Spirit of God in the new birth 
 of the soul, of which Jesus had just been speaking, and without 
 which it, can neither see nor enter into the kingdom of God, is 
 here represented to us under the figure of the wind. The ima- 
 gery is exceedingly beautiful and instructive. " It is not a violent 
 wind here, but the gentle breath of the wind and it is heard, 
 not felt a case in which ' thou canst not tell whence it cometh, 
 nor whither it goeth,' is more applicable than in that of a violent 
 wind steadily blowing. It is one of those sudden breezes spring-/ 
 ing up on a calm day, which has no apparent direction, but we 
 hear it rustling in the leaves around."* 
 
 With what exquisite beauty is the Spirit's work thus set forth 1 
 and with what nicety is the very language, as the above extract 
 shows, chosen just to express what is required, and no more. If 
 we walk forth in a calm summer eve, with all nature reposing in 
 her beauty and loveliness around us every thing may be still 
 and motionless at first, until, without feeling it even fanning our 
 cheek, we see the leaves of a tree nigh at hand quivering on their 
 
 * Alford.
 
 240 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 branches.* The breath is so gentle, we can not possibly discover 
 from which quarter of the heavens it has proceeded ; all we know 
 is that the leaves of the tree are rustling under the gentle pressure 
 of this invisible agent. Who that has studied God's word who 
 that has drunk from the wells of salvation, and has witnessed 
 such a scene as this amid the works of nature, but must have 
 been deeply touched by the wondrous analogies of nature and 
 grace? God "holds the winds in his fists," and they breathe in 
 the gentle zephyr, or stir in the mighty tempest just as he wills ; 
 and he has prepared them for this set purpose, that they may, by 
 their agency, supply the very image of that higher agency which 
 proceeds equally from him, the agency not instrumental now, but 
 efficient, of his own Holy Spirit. 
 
 But mark what the special object in view is in the words of 
 our Lord before us. He is not explaining the character of the 
 Spirit's work. He is not telling us what the nature is of his 
 operations on the human heart, except so far as this may be 
 gathered in a secondary sense. He has done this when he de- 
 clared, ;{ Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can 
 not enter into the kingdom of God." His purpose now is to mark 
 that Spirit's work in the outward tokens before man of its exist- 
 ence. He is not so much describing, in the parable, what it is, as 
 describing the evidence of its presence ; and in this respect his 
 words are pregnant with considerations of the deepest importance. 
 If this simple parable had been well pondered over, and calmly 
 considered in its direct and immediate reference to the great sub- 
 ject of our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus, there would 
 have been less room for such antagonistic views as exist of the 
 meaning of that conversation itself. 
 
 Let us look, then, more closely at the figure presented before 
 us here. If, when standing in the open air, we see every leaf 
 hang motionless on the trees if every thing around us that, can 
 be shaken with the slightest breath of wind is perfectly still, we 
 know and are convinced that the wind does not blow at all. 
 How mad and foolish it would be to aver, in the face of the self- 
 evident fact as now stated, that notwithstanding this entire absence 
 of movement among the leaves of the forest, nevertheless the 
 wind is blowing? 
 
 Here is the first lesson. We have no right to speak of the
 
 THE WIND BLOWING WHEEfi IT LISTETH. 241 
 
 new birth as having taken place, apart from the evidence of the 
 fact. "We may charitably hope that it is so. We may speak of 
 one or another, as if it were so ; but to affirm positively and 
 absolutely that this change has taken place, the Spirit's new- 
 creating energy really applied to a soul in the absence of all out- 
 ward tokens of such presence, is to fly in the face of the direct 
 teaching of our Lord in these words, " Thou hearest the sound 
 thereof" " So is every one that is born of the /Spirit" Unless the 
 eye mark some heavenward progress unless the ear detect some 
 of those sweet strains of heaven's new song, which the redeemed 
 alone can sing, and which the Spirit alone can teach, then we 
 are but deceiving ourselves and others by the assertion of a 
 change having taken place, without the least warrant for doing 
 so ; nay, in direct opposition to the rule here furnished by our 
 Lord. 
 
 It will be seen that this view is altogether independent of 
 whatever interpretation may be given of the statement in the 
 conversation, " born of water and of tbfe Spirit." Let that inter- 
 pretation be that baptism is directly referred to, (which we do 
 not for a moment believe,) or that the work of the Spirit is as the 
 washing of water, of which baptism truly is a most significant 
 sign and seal ; let the one interpretation or the other be held of 
 Avhat goes before, there can be no doubt as to what is taught here, 
 that we have no authority for regarding the work of the Spirit 
 as commenced, otherwise than "by having such evidence of its 
 existence before us as we are capable, at present, of understanding, 
 and in some measure, at least, of appreciating. If it would be 
 the part of a fool or a madman to affirm that the wind is blowing 
 while all nature lies still in a perfect calm not a leaf waving, 
 nor a single rustling sound of such movement floating through 
 the air much more is it both folly and insanity to reiterate loud 
 declarations, and enunciate strqng convictions of this or that man 
 being born again, being regenerated, in the absence of any of 
 those tokens by which alone it is made apparent to us, that the 
 Spirit has moved upon liis soul, and quickened it into life. Had 
 any one stood by, and heard a prodigal, as it were, thus thinking 
 aloud, " I will arise, and go to my father ;" or had any one 
 watched him as he left off evil courses, and changed the whole 
 tenor of his life, turning his face Zionward, then he might truly 
 
 16
 
 242 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 gather, "this man is born again." But what should we say if he 
 were to affirm this of the same being, when he was still " in the 
 gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity" while he was will- 
 ingly abiding away from his Father, doing despite to the Spirit 
 of grace, dwelling amid the pollutions of the world, a slave of 
 lust, a servant of sin ! Could any thing justify the use of such 
 language regarding him ? Far from it. And yet what is this 
 but the common every-day language of hundreds and thousands, 
 who absolutely identify regeneration a real, moral change of 
 nature and heart with baptism tie it necessarily to baptism, 
 and so speak of all baptized persons as truly regenerate ! Is this 
 not deliberately to turn away from the solemn caution which 
 these words of Jesus suggest? Is it not deliberately to falsify 
 his statement, and read it thus " not so, is every one that is born 
 of the Spirit?" 
 
 It is very remarkable, and most interesting to notice, that the 
 Evangelist, who records this conversation, seems to have been, 
 through grace, so imbuetl with this important truth, that when, 
 many years afterward, he was led to write an epistle to the 
 children of God, while he frequently makes use of the expression 
 which forms the central truth in this passage, " born again," he 
 does it invariably in immediate connection with some one or 
 other of the precious evidences which spring up, and manifest 
 themselves wherever that new birth takes place. Thus " every 
 one that believelh is born of God" " We know that whosoever is 
 born of God sinneth not." " If ye know that he is righteous, ye 
 know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." 
 " Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." " Every one 
 that loveth is born of God" John knew of no new birth, no 
 regeneration apart from these things. In the course of the short 
 epistle to which we have just referred, we see how frequently he 
 alludes to that glorious truth ; never, however, without indicating 
 one or other of its most precious fruits or evidences. He never 
 seemed to lose the impression of the words of Jesus, " The wind 
 bloweth where it listeth, and ihou hearest the sound thereof, but 
 canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth ; so is every 
 one that is born of the Spirit." He loved to think and to write 
 of the Spirit's work ; but it was not in the misty and hazy man- 
 ner in which modern theology too often presents it, but as a
 
 THE WIND BLOWING WHERE IT LISTETH. 243 
 
 living thing seen and heard by its action on the heart, the words, 
 and the life of the sinner. He rejoiced in the Spirit's work when 
 he heard the sound thereof, as it stirred the still things into 
 motion, as it made a shaking amid dry bones, and quickeneth 
 into life the dead in trespasses and sins. , 
 
 But further, the words of Christ teach more than this. " Thou 
 canst not tell whence it cometh." " The wind bloweth where it listeth" 
 " so is every one that is born of the Spirit." As the Spirit pleases, 
 when he pleases, where he pleases ! This, and nothing short of 
 this, is meant here. To weaken or modify the force of this, is to 
 make the language of Christ mean any thing. The words teach 
 us that the Spirit moves on the soul, not in any way set down 
 and arranged, so that man can follow and trace this out, but 
 absolutely independent of all such set and appointed ways. He 
 moveth as he listeth. He is not tied to the preaching of the 
 Gospel, nor to the reading of the Bible, nor to the strange and 
 wondrous providences which befall man. He is not tied to ordi- 
 nances neither that of baptism nor the Lord's Supper. He that 
 stands by the baptismal font, and dogmatically proclaims that 
 every one therein baptized is really and truly changed by the 
 operation of the Holy Spirit on his heart, proceeding absolutely 
 from this sacred rite, united necessarily with this sprinkling of 
 water, is vainly endeavoring to set bounds to that which is abso- 
 lutely free from all such restraints ; and he would not be so vain 
 in his imaginings, or so dark in his perceptions, who went forth 
 at his door and bid the winds of heaven to rise from the east or 
 from the west according to his pleasure, as he who demands, as a 
 necessary consequence of his action at the font, the presence of 
 that mighty Being who fills infinite space, and lives in eternity, 
 and of whose perfectly unrestrained action our Lord so plainly 
 speaks here, positively declaring that while we can alone know of 
 his operations by the evidence produced, even then it is utterly 
 beyond our ken to discover whence his first breathing arose. 
 
 And still further, " Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, nor 
 whither it goeth." All that is seen as the gentle wind fans the tree 
 is the waving of the leaf. We perceive that. What has gone 
 before we know not : what follows after is alike hidden from our 
 eyes. So with the Spirit's work. When the sinner exhibits 
 tokens of a new heart a penitent heart a heart made alive to
 
 244 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 God, and dying to sin then we see two beings closely brought 
 together, the one acting upon the other, the sinner himself under 
 the power and influence of the Spirit, even as the leaf is seen to 
 move under the^influence of the wind, but we know no more. 
 "V^Tience came this ? We can not tell. "Whence sprang this holy 
 influence first ? We can not tell. What shall be the end thereof 
 whither will he go next? None can tell. As little can we 
 know which leaf is next to quiver in the breathing of the gentlest 
 wind, as the pathway of the Spirit, " whither he goeth." We see 
 him working on one soul, and wonder at the change he is pro- 
 ducing ; but we must wait" to see similar evidence of that work- 
 ing on another, before we dare to speak of his having gone from 
 the one to the other. 
 
 But while this brief parable expressly teaches us to know the 
 Spirit's work only by the tokens proceeding from it while it is 
 expressly given in reference to what appears before men of that 
 work, yet does it likewise very beautifully describe one feature 
 in that work itself on the soul of man. Just as the wind moves 
 the leaf, and causes it to give forth the rustling sound which 
 reaches the ear of one standing by, so the Spirit communicates 
 spiritual movement to the soul. Under this influence, the soul 
 begins to say, " I will arise, and go." And as soon as the desire 
 springs up, it is even with that soul as with the young man at 
 the gate of Nam "He that was dead sat up, and began to 
 speak." Spiritual movement in the soul, and the utterance and 
 expression of spiritual life from the soul. 
 
 We advance, however, to another parable which will be found 
 to have very close and important connection with all we have 
 been considering in this chapter. 
 
 "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons ; and he came to 
 the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered 
 and said, I will not; but afterward he repented, and went. And he 
 came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I 
 go, sir ; and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his 
 father? They say unto him, The first." Matt, xxi. 28-31. 
 
 After our examination of the parable of the lost son, we can 
 not fail to notice the similarity of the first expression in that 
 parable and in this. " A certain man had two sons" We have 
 endeavored to show how insuperable the objections are to the
 
 THE TWO SONS. 245 
 
 explanation of the former, which regards the elder son as the 
 Pharisee and the younger as the publican. "We have sought to 
 prove, that a comparison between these two is altogether foreign 
 to the scope and bearing of the parable of the lost son, and that 
 the expressions there used are utterly irreconcilable with it, 
 unless we do such violence to the plain words of Scripture as will 
 make it speak any language we please. In the parable before us, 
 however, we have these very parties expressly and avowedly 
 brought by our Lord into direct comparison and contrast. His 
 own application provides the key to the parable. He was, at the 
 time, addressing "the chief priests and elders" who had come to 
 him ; or, as they are called, " the chief priests and Pharisees," in 
 verse forty -five ; and so as he closed his parable, he turned the 
 whole force of its application on them, " Verify, I say unto you, The 
 publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of Heaven before you." 
 Here there can be no mistake as to the characters intended pri- 
 marily in the parable. The first son is the publican or the sinner. 
 The second is the Pharisee or the self-righteous man. And this 
 certainty of application here, materially supports the objection 
 raised against explaining the parable of the lost son as having 
 reference to those two classes. Here the Pharisee, when spoken 
 of, is represented in his true color, in his real character. It is a 
 home- thrust to his proud, carnal, self-righteous spirit. Is it pos- 
 sible to conceive that the very same character so clearly and 
 undeniably set forth in this parable, should be presented in 
 another, as if he were in every respect a loving, faithful, obedient 
 child enjoying the favor, and partaking fully and forever in all 
 the goods of his father ? 
 
 And mark the very order here chosen. There are two sons. 
 It does not say that the one was the elder, and the other the 
 younger. We are left without any information regarding the 
 respective places in the family of the two. And this is just what 
 we might expect when it refers to two classes of persons in the 
 same nation. There is a manifest impropriety on the face of it, 
 to speak of the Pharisee as the elder son, and the publican as the 
 younger. Nothing can justify such an allusion to those parties 
 as children of their heavenly parent. When they arc to be con- 
 trasted at all, we are simply informed that they are brothers in 
 one family. But besides this, while no priority of age is spoken
 
 246 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of here, it is important to notice that the first of the two sons 
 represents the publican, the second the Pharisee. And it may be 
 that this very order was selected by our blessed Master that we 
 might thus have in one parable, where he distinctly refers to 
 these two parties, a significant hint, that in the parable of the 
 lost son, he was engaged in no sueh comparison. 
 
 And further, observe the emphatic contrast between the descrip- 
 tions given in the two parables. The eldest son is "in the field," 
 actively engaged in his father's work diligent, obedient, and 
 faithful. The second son, in the parable before us, answers to the 
 command to work in the vineyard, " I go, sir" but " he went NOT." 
 The delineation here of those who, as our Lord plainly described 
 them on another occasion, " said, and did not" is as clear and 
 unequivocal in the latter parable as it is altogether out of the 
 question in the former. 
 
 But while the publicans and the Pharisees are expressly and 
 primarily referred to in this parable, we must not forget, that 
 these two parties are but the representatives of the two great 
 classes, in one or other of which all are found to whom the Gos- 
 pel is sent, the message, indeed, of a Father's love, but the utter- 
 ance also of a Father's command, until they are drawn by the 
 Spirit of God into the family of God. The natural heart ever 
 has done, and ever will do, one of two things ; when the com- 
 mand requires it to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it will either 
 rebelliously spurn at the message at once, treat it with indifference 
 or contempt, or it will receive it in form, not in power, giving an 
 assent without the heart, and making a profession of obedience 
 which in works is contradicted and denied. 
 
 Now, giving the parable this wide scope in its application, it 
 teaches some most remarkable and important truths for all to 
 whom the Gospel message is sent. First of all, it teaches the 
 absolute necessity of repentance in every case. The first son in 
 the parable, after contemptuously turning away from his father's 
 command, yet "afterward repented and went" He repented of 
 his disobedience of his resisting his father's command. He was 
 sorry for his fault, and under the pressure of this change of mind, 
 he went at once about his father's work. The second son is not 
 excluded from the privilege of working, as far as this parable 
 goes. The door is yet not finally shut against him. But if he is
 
 THE TWO SONS. 247 
 
 at length found side by side with the first son, it must be in the 
 spirit of repentance also. "Ye" (the Pharisees, the second son,) 
 said Christ, " wlien ye had seen it, repented not afterward" Up to 
 that time, they had shown no signs of repentance. They had 
 seen the publicans and the harlots passing into the kingdom of 
 heaven before them hastening into tb'e vineyard to work ; but 
 they " repented not" If at length they shall be found in that 
 kingdom, and honored laborers in that vineyard, it will only be 
 on their repentance. If the publican needs this, so does the 
 Pharisee. The first wickedly and presumptuously disobeyed his 
 father. The second as grossly disobeyed him, but tried to vail 
 his disobedience. The same evil thing marked the conduct of 
 both. They would not, and they did not go ; and the one aggra- 
 vated his sin of disobedience by the insolence of his refusal, and 
 the other by the hollowness of an empty profession. This repent- 
 ance is absolutely essential in every case. The malefactor on the 
 cross, and Saul of Tarsus, must equally learn that lesson, if they 
 would inherit eternal life. 
 
 But further, mark what this parable teaches regarding this 
 repentance. It shows us its real character. The father of those 
 young men had laid his commands upon them to go and work. 
 The first refused, but afterward repented. He changed his mind 
 regarding the great duty of obedience. His relationship with his 
 father appeared now in its true light. He recognized a claim 
 which he had formerly slighted, and was impelled, under a con- 
 sciousness of duty, to go and do as his father required. This 
 change of mind regarding what his father was to him, and what he 
 owed to his father, could not take place without causing sorrow 
 of heart for his past disobedience. And this is one view of true 
 repentance the heart enlightened as to its relationship with God, 
 the full justice and propriety of God's commandments admitted, 
 and shame for the disobedience with which these have been met. 
 
 The application of the parable by our Lord extends and en- 
 larges this view. What in the parable appears at first simply 
 under the aspect of a command, " Son, go work to-day in my 
 vineyard," is at the close spoken of as " the will of his father" 
 And this suggests to us a special characteristic in the relationship 
 between God and man. When God commands man, it is not 
 merely such a commandment as that if man fails in his obedience
 
 248 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 to it he may yet hope to change his Father's purpose in issuing it. 
 It is his will equally as his command ; and it is at man's peril that 
 this will be neglected. Nothing but misery must follow such 
 neglect. No happiness but in submission to it. And here, then, 
 is another view of repentance. When the sinner truly repents 
 before God, his mind is altered regarding this great truth. He 
 had hitherto thought Jehovah very much such an one as himself. 
 He measured the Infinite by his own puny standard. And so it 
 was a matter of indifference to him to pay much attention to this 
 or that commandment, as, after all, disobedience to it might not 
 involve so very much. But now he knows better. God's com- 
 mandment is his will, and he now knows that resistance to that 
 will inevitably perils the interests of his soul forever. His mind 
 is not only changed as to the propriety of. his fulfilling a duty 
 imposed on him, but it is also changed so as to receive the con- 
 viction, that there lies in that commandment such a potency and 
 immutability of will, that eternal life or eternal death are, and 
 must be, the alternatives of reception or refusal. 
 
 And it is deeply interesting to observe how our Lord, by stat- 
 ing a fact in the application of the parable, points attention to 
 another characteristic of genuine repentance : " John truly came 
 unto you in the way of righteousness, (this was the Father's com- 
 mand, involving the Father's will,) and ye believed him not ; but the 
 publicans and the harlots believed him : and ye, when ye had seen 
 it, (seen those sinners pressing into the kingdom before your eyes 
 this first son, formerly disobedient, now hastening into the vine- 
 yard,) repented not afterward that ye might BELIEVE him." The 
 repentance, then, which makes the sinner aware of the true nature 
 of God's command, namely, that it is the, unalterable will of him 
 who changes not, which makes him alive to the fact, that eternal 
 joy or eternal misery is in that balance according as he receives 
 with meekness the will, or rejects the commandment of God 
 against himself, this repentance is nothing else than such a change 
 of mind as can be best described by what the blind man said 
 when restored to sight : " One thing I know, that whereas I was 
 blind, now I see." It is inward sight restored to the soul it is 
 the vail taken away from the heart it is the evil heart of unbe- 
 lief changed, and the poor convicted sinner made to cry, " Lord, 
 I believe : help thou mine unbelief."
 
 THE TWO SONS. 249 
 
 And then, further, the words of our Lord suggest a connc3tion 
 between the great lesson of this parable and that which he taught 
 to Nicodemus, when he told him, that "except a. man be born 
 again, he can not see the kingdom of God." He says here, 
 " Verily, I say unto you, the publicans and the harlots go into 
 the kingdom of heaven before you." We can not but connect 
 this expression with what he says in explanation of the above to 
 Nicodemus " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, 
 he can not enter into the kingdom of God." These sinners were 
 now, with all earnestness and anxiety, " entering into" the king- 
 dom of God. They were, indeed, " pressing into it," as it were, 
 "the violent taking it by force." They were then "born again 
 of water and of the Spirit." This new t)irth had passed over 
 them ; without this they could not even see the kingdom could 
 know nothing about it were in blindness of heart and darkness 
 of spirit about it ; but with it, they had already " passed from 
 death into life," from " the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom 
 of God's dear Son." See here, then, just another name for this 
 new birth ; it is " repentance" change of mind and heart regarding 
 the commandments and the will of God a change marked first 
 of all by faith in God where formerly there was no trust or con- 
 fidence faith so real and living, that it accepts at once and 
 unhesitatingly all that God says, and bows with undivided wor- 
 ship to his will ; a change, too, evidenced by a deep and godly 
 sorrow for the past, and a confession of it from the heart ; yea, 
 such a confession, as is best of all manifested by forsaking the 
 paths of disobedience, and becoming careful to honor God in all 
 things to be in the way of his commandments, to have them 
 written on the tablets of the memory, and performed as a delight 
 and privilege. 
 
 This it is to be " born of water and of the Spirit ;" and see, 
 then, how this parable speaks in similar language to that recently 
 considered, where the work of the Spirit is compared to the wind, 
 which, without being seen as to whence it comes or whither it 
 goes, makes itself known by the effects produced. Here we have 
 " the sound" which all men may hear when the Spirit works in 
 the sinner's soul, and makes him a child of God regenerates him. 
 He grieves for his sin acknowledges it ; he repents he walks 
 henceforth, not by sight, but by faith ; and, as an evidence of all
 
 250 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 this, which every one may perceive, he goes to the vineyard of 
 his father and works as zealously as he had before neglected that 
 work rebelliously. Again, therefore, we have a solemn warning 
 not to speak of the Spirit's work as having been begun, until that 
 work has made itself known in the outward bearing and conduct 
 of the sinner. Shall we say of such as the first son, when he 
 insolently disobeyed his father, that they are nevertheless regen- 
 eraje, because under the outward protection of the house, and 
 within a saving means of grace ? Can we for a moment venture 
 to apply the epithet ol new birth to such as he, in his contumely 
 and sin ? or shall we talk mysteriously of the seeds of regenera- 
 tion being sown but not appearing ? God forbid. Secret things 
 are known alone to him ; and it is impossible for us to know any 
 day when or how he may begin, and either secretly or otherwise 
 carry on his operations in the heart ; but this we do know, be- 
 cause all Scripture plainly testifies to it, that we are not entitled 
 to speak of any man, be he baptized or not be he an outward 
 member of a church or not be his communion in all its outward 
 arrangements regular or not, we are not entitled to speak of 
 him as born again, except we see evidence that he has " repent- 
 ance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ;" 
 unless he " repent," and " bring forth fruits meet for repentance." 
 Unless there is such evidence as this, no matter what his external 
 privileges may have been, or are, and no matter whether his life 
 be openly wicked, or his conduct formally devout, as far as we 
 can see, he is "in the gall of bitterness and the bond of ini- 
 quity." 
 
 There is another touch given here in the application of this 
 parable which must not be overlooked. " The going into the 
 kingdom of Heaven" in the application, is the " working" in the 
 vineyard in the parable, and the going or entering in, as we have 
 seen, is just in other words such repentance as means faith in 
 God, sorrow for sin, and a return to obedience. Our Lord there- 
 fore identifies a real living faith with working in the vineyard 
 no barren principle no such gift of grace, such as when a man 
 has received it he will henceforth "continue in sin," but the very 
 opposite. It is so vital, so potent, so convincing, that he who has 
 it must be " not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work." It 
 is a foul slander on evangelical truth to affirm that the faith it
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 251 
 
 * 
 
 professes leads to Antinomian carelessness and sin. This is not the 
 faith which Paul preached and which we have received. The man 
 who abides in his sin, continues in disobedience, refuses to work 
 in the vineyard, has not the faith of the Gospel though he may 
 affirm that br has. If true ' faith existed in him at all, it would 
 " purify the neart," " overcome the world," and " work by love." 
 No man can have this faith within him and be unfruitful no 
 man can possess this gift and leave it idle and useless. Faith is 
 the work of God ; it is his gift, and he has produced it within the 
 sinner's soul, and his very first, as it ever afterward becomes his 
 ruling and pervading motive is, " Lord, what wilt thou have me 
 to do ?" Let this lesson taught him never be forgotten. When 
 the Jews asked Christ what they "should cfo" to "work the 
 works of God," he replied, " This is the work of God, that ye 
 believe on him whom he hath sent." He thus bound faith and 
 work together : let no man put them asunder. Faith is in the 
 highest sense work; because it will not suffer idleness in the 
 vineyard of the Lord. It makes a willing workman, not a boast- 
 ing one a loving child, not a terrified slave. 
 
 We proceed to consider another parable which will not unsuit- 
 ably follow this just reviewed, containing, as it does, most solemn 
 reproof and warning, and that, too, directed from such a point 
 of view in divine truth as will enforce the lessons which have 
 passed before us. 
 
 "He spake also this parable: A certain man had a Jig-tree planted 
 in his vineyard: and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found 
 none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these 
 three years I come seeking fruit on this Jig-tree, and find none : cut it 
 down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? And he, answering, said unto 
 him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung 
 it: and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut 
 it down" Luke xiii. 6-9. 
 
 What may be called the text of this discourse of the Lord is 
 found in the verses immediately preceding. " Or these eighteen 
 persons on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think 
 ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? 
 I tell you, nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
 Jesus did not by these words, of course, mean that the impeni- 
 tence of those whom he was addressing, if persevered in, would
 
 252 
 
 
 
 be followed by an exactly similar judgment, namely, the fall of a 
 tower upon them ; but merely that just as judgment overtook those 
 because they repented not, so surely, also, would it overtake 
 them if they continued in their impenitence. And it is this 
 word, " except ye repent" which forms the key-note to the parable 
 now before us. The barren fig-tree, at length to be cut down as 
 a cumberer of the ground, is just a representation of all those 
 who continue in their sin, and refuse all the entreaties, and scoff 
 at all the warnings of God. 
 
 And thus we observe that this parable gives us, as it were, the 
 opposite side of the picture from that which we have just con- 
 sidered. Or rather, perhaps, it would be more correct to say 
 that it solemnly closes the lesson begun in the former. In the 
 parable of the two sons, we see true repentance at work the 
 disobedient child breaking off his evil course, and becoming con- 
 formed to the will of his father ; while, as regards the other son, 
 we see the door, as it were, yet standing open for him. The en- 
 trance to heaven may still be gained. He has the example of his 
 brother before him. He may yet repent, and be as that brother 
 a loving and obedient child. But what if he do not repent I 
 "What if he continue in disobedience ! What if notwithstanding 
 the summons to work in the vineyard, he stand the whole of the 
 day of grace idle f What if he continue faithless and unholy, 
 unwilling and disobedient ! The parable now before us supplies 
 the answer and supplies it, too, in a manner terribly significant. 
 " Then, AFTER THAT, thou shalt cut it down" 
 
 "A certain man had a Jig-tree planted in his vineyard" It is not 
 an uncommon thing in the East to see fig-trees in the vineyards 
 and our Lord thus alludes to what was frequently before the eyes 
 of his hearers, to illustrate the important truth in hand. We 
 would not exclude a reference to the Jewish nation generally in 
 this parable, but it is only secondary and remote. " Those 
 eighteen" seem to give an individual turn at once to the whole 
 discourse of Jesus. And, besides this, the vineyard here spoken 
 of, must in all consistency of interpretation be regarded accord- 
 ing to the inspired comment given in Isaiah, " The house of 
 Israel." It has been strikingly remarked by Alford, after affirm- 
 ing that the vineyard does not mean the world, but the house of 
 Israel and the men of Judah ; that " the fig-tree planted in the 

 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 253 
 
 vineyard -among the vines (a common thing,) denotes an indi- 
 vidual application fixing each man's thought upon one tree, and 
 tbat one himself just as the guest without the wedding-garment 
 in Matthew xxii." And it may be added, that the language of 
 the parable is very significant in speaking of this fig-tree. It is 
 not said that the qwner of the vineyard, or the vine-dresser, planted 
 it. They permitted its being there, in the vineyard, but neither 
 the one nor the other are said to have placed it there. All that 
 is said is, that a certain man possessed a vineyard, in which there 
 was a fig-tree. In truth, the close of what is said in this parable 
 regarding this tree can alone show by whom it was planted. If, 
 when toil and labor had been spent on it, it became fruitful, then 
 it would be seen to be a " tree of righteousness, the planting of 
 the Lord" But if all efforts failed, it would be seen to be none 
 of his planting, and when it was cut down, and cast out of the 
 vineyard, it would prove that " every plant which my heavenly 
 Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." 
 
 The vineyard, then, in the parable is the visible Church of God, 
 limited to the " house of Israel" in the former dispensation, and 
 embracing all the nations of the earth in the latter. But who is 
 the owner of the vineyard, and who the vine-dresser? Some 
 think that the Father is the owner, and that the Son is the vine- 
 dresser, and that it is by the intercession of the latter that more 
 time and opportunity are given to the barren fig-tree. But this 
 does not appear to be satisfactory, nor to meet the various details 
 of the parable. 
 
 It is better to take the parable found in Isaiah v., as our guide 
 to the right interpretation of that before us now. There we find 
 Jehovah himself speaking by the mouth of his prophet, and in 
 his own name. " Now will I sing to my well-beloved, a song of 
 my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vine- 
 yard in a very fruitful hill," &c. Such language on the part of 
 Jehovah can bear but one signification. In this " song touching 
 his vineyard," he is speaking to his Son his well-beloved Son 
 his only-begotten Son, " in whom he is well-pleased." And he 
 speaks to this son of a vineyard which belongs to him. " My 
 well-beloved hatii a vineyard," &c. In that parable, then, it is ob- 
 viously the Son of God who is to be regarded as the possessor of 
 the vineyard. And yet, even as in the protection and safety of
 
 254 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the sheep, " the Father and the Son are one ;" so there, while the 
 son is spoken of as the owner of the vineyard he " hath a vine- 
 yard," Jehovah, the Father, speaks of it as his also "Judge* I 
 pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard." And thus as the Son 
 of God is in a special sense "the 'good Shepherd," though both 
 the Father and the Son guard the sheep, that they perish not, so 
 likewise, although the Son of God is in a special sense the owner 
 of the vineyard, yet the "wild grapes" it produced was a loss sus- 
 tained equally by the Father and the Son. 
 
 We infer, therefore, that the owner of the vineyard in the par- 
 able now before us, is not primarily the Father, but in a special 
 manner the Son, the " well-beloved" of Jehovah. In the parable 
 of the wicked husbandmen, who for a season had charge of the 
 vineyard as servants, there seems an approximation to this view. 
 There the son is called " the heir," and the husbandmen reasoned 
 that if they could succeed in putting him out of the way, the in 
 heritance would be theirs. Well, in this parable, we have the 
 heir in possession, though in such sort only, as can be conceived, 
 when the word is applied to the eternal Son of the everlasting 
 Father. His entering into possession, does not rob his Father of 
 his right, but only ministers to his glory ; for " all mine are thine, 
 and thine are mine," and " all things that the Father hath, are mine." 
 
 The expressions in the parable fully justify this interpretation. 
 The owner of the vineyard is represented as " coming" to his fig- 
 tree, seeking fruit thereon. This is language peculiarly appropri- 
 ate to the Son of God, " coming to his own." When the father is 
 specially prominent as the owner, he sends his son for the fruit. 
 When the son is specially prominent as the owner, he "comes" of 
 his own accord seeking fruit. And then at the close of the par- 
 able, when allusion is made to the cutting down of the fig-tree if 
 it continue barren, it is the owner who is to do this. " Thou shaU 
 cut it down" And this is what the Father hath given to the Son 
 to do. To him is not only given " all power in heaven and on 
 earth," but specially "authority to execute judgment also, because 
 he is the Son of man." " When the Son of man shall sit upon 
 the throne of his glory," he will be manifested in the awful dis- 
 charge of this great trust, on " all nations gathered before him," 
 even as he is represented in the parable as inquiring after the char- 
 acter of one individual in his outward Church, and ready to cut
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 255 
 
 him down, if lie abide unfruitful. And surely we can not but see 
 that our Lord's symbolic action in the case of the barren fig-tree 
 which he passed on his way to Jerusalem, gives the key to this 
 parable. There the Son goes to the fig-tree, if haply he may find 
 fruit thereon. He finds none. He says, " Let no fruit grow on 
 thee henceforth forever," and "presently the fig-tree withered 
 away." This is just the opening and the close of the parable be- 
 fore us. The intercession and the work of the vine-dresser are 
 not seen in that parable action of Christ but his own action is 
 very distinctly made known. He comes seeking fruit on the fig- 
 tree, and finds none. And if the barrenness continue, it is his 
 voice which will condemn it as a cumberer of the soil, and leave 
 it to wither and be destroyed. 
 
 Then as to the vine-dresser. With the son as the owner of the 
 vineyard, we can have no difficulty in at once regarding the 
 vine-dresser as the Holy Spirit. And this is not only according 
 to the analogy of the faith, but it exactly accords with the kind 
 of work implied in the name. Thus while it is true that the 
 Church belongs to Christ, yet it is by the work of the Holy 
 Spirit, his diversities of gifts and operations, that she is made 
 meet and prepared to be presented unto Christ at the last. And 
 then as to the special figure used, there can be nothing more in 
 accordance with the teaching of Scripture than the name and 
 office here ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Thus in the Old Testa- 
 ment Church, in the vineyard of old, we see numberless servants 
 engaged as workmen in it. Holy men of old, servants of the 
 living God, toiled, and labored, and spent their strength in that 
 vineyard. But who was the one great and all-pervading agent 
 that wrought all their works in them ? Who but the Holy 
 Spirit ! They only spake or acted Moses, Samuel, David, and 
 the rest, as they were moved by him. Their work in the vine- 
 yard was only under the immediate direction and control of this, 
 the great vine-dresser. And so also in the New Testament 
 Church. The apostles and teachers of the Gospel of Christ, and 
 all who have ever either publicly or privately sought to promote 
 that Gospel for the salvation and the sanctification of man, are 
 servants and laborers in the vineyard ; but each and all of them 
 are energized in their work, and directly sustained and blessed 
 in it, only by the presence and power of this heavenly vine-
 
 256 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 dresser. It is only because of his gracious work and sovereign 
 mercy that all the fruit in the vineyard has not been from first to 
 last as " wild grapes." If in any one individual in the Church 
 there has ever appeared, or ever will appear, one manifestation 
 which is acceptable to God, that is alone by the efficient working 
 of this gracious Being. He it is who by countless providences 
 of mercy and of judgment, by unceasing appeals to the conscience 
 and the heart of man, has striven with him, and shall continue to 
 strive till the day of the revelation of all things, when his work 
 within shall be revealed, even as Christ's work for his people 
 shall be made clearly known, and justification by the merits of 
 the Son be crowned forever by perfect sanctification through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 And now let us see how striking the parable becomes with 
 this view of the owner and vine-dresser. The Son hath done 
 every thing he can for his vineyard. What could have been 
 done more? He is justified not only in expecting fruit, but 
 much fruit. He is represented as coming for this purpose, to 
 see with his own eyes, as it were, whether the fruit is as abundant 
 as it ought to be ; and he finds one tree in the vineyard utterly 
 barren. He calls to the vine-dresser, and demands that it be at 
 once cut down, even as a cumberer of the ground. The vine- 
 dresser intercedes for the tree, "Let it alone for this year aZso." " You 
 have borne with it for a long time : well, try it yet once again, 
 another year. Meantime I will exhaust all my skill upon it : I 
 will do every thing that lies within my power, and if, when you 
 return, you find fruit appearing, you will have your reward ; but 
 if not, then cut it down." 
 
 Now at first sight, when we hear of the intercession here 
 alluded to, we are disposed to think of the intercession of Christ. 
 Nor can we think of that too much. But it is not the interces- 
 sion here spoken of. The intercession of Christ is that of a great 
 high priest before the throne of God. It is the intercession of 
 one who has approached through such precious, meritorious 
 blood-shedding as must be heard. It is the intercession of one 
 who there pleads for pardon to poor sinners, even those given to 
 him in the covenant of peace by the Father, and for whom he 
 chose to die. The intercession here is of a totally different char- 
 acter. First, there is nothing meritorious or vicarious in its
 
 THE BARKEN FIG-TREE. 257 
 
 character. Christ pleads above because he died in the room of 
 hJS"pCCpIe. The intercession before us is that of mere entreaty. 
 It is an appeal to pity and compassion, not to justice. Again, 
 the place where this intercession takes place is in this world, 
 within the bounds of the visible Church of Christ on earth, 
 where barren trees are found mingled with the fruitful. Christ's 
 intercession, on the other hand, is in heaven. Again, the inter- 
 cession represented in the parable may or may not have a happy 
 and successful issue. There may be fruit brought forth, or bar- 
 renness confirmed. But the intercession of the priest above is a 
 prevailing one, because he is the propitiation for the sin before 
 he is the advocate for the sinner. 
 
 We are brought, then, to this point. The intercession here 
 represented in the parable by the vine-dresser entreating a delay 
 before the fig-tree be destroyed, is none other than the interces- 
 sion of the Holy Spirit. An intercession not in heaven but on 
 earth. An intercession not of merit but of pity and compassion. 
 It is the Holy Spirit striving with man, surrounding him with all 
 his holy influences, interceding in his behalf in the very place of 
 his disobedience and barrenness, for another and another season 
 of trial and probation. Our Lord himself gives to the Holy 
 Spirit this very name, " Intercessor." "We translate it in the 
 English version " Comforter ;" but the latter is the secondary 
 meaning of the word. Doubtless he is the comforter of God's 
 people ; but it is by his being their intercessor first. And how 
 remarkably does the apostle Paul set forth this special office and 
 work of the Holy Spirit in his Epistle to the Romans : " Like- 
 wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not 
 what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself mak- 
 eth intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. 
 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of 
 the Spirit, because he maketh intercession according to the will 
 of God." 
 
 "We behold the Spirit here, therefore, in the highest depart- 
 ment of his most gracious work, making intercession in the heart 
 of God's people for their growth in grace and increase in fruit- 
 fulness. It is he that wings the prayer, and breathes the sigh 
 that rises from the heart of the believer in Christ, and enters into 
 the ear of the Lord of hosts. And when the poor penitent cries 
 
 17
 
 T 
 
 258 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 out, " Spare me, cast me not away," " send me not forth from thy 
 presence," it is the Spirit himself who makes that intercession, 
 and whose still small voice has mingled with the cry of the faint, 
 and weary, and burdened soul. And just as he intercedes for 
 the saints according to the will of God, puts into their hearts de- 
 sires which God will satisfy, so for those who are still barren or 
 unfruitful he ceases not to interpose delay, and to seek another 
 and another year, if so be that at length the owner of the vine- 
 yard may receive an abundant supply of fruit from what hitherto 
 had yielded none. 
 
 But has he always continued to intercede without setting limits 
 to that intercession? Has he no limits to his intercession for 
 individuals? Will there be no limit to his intercession, as the 
 day of this dispensation is drawing to its close? These are sol- 
 emn inquiries ; and solemnly does the book of God reply to 
 them. When the flood was about to ingulf the former world, 
 when the hand of vengeance was just about to be lifted up to 
 strike, we are emphatically told that Jehovah himself declared, 
 " My Spirit shall not always strive with man." A time was at 
 hand when that Spirit would ask no more, and when that time 
 came, the world then existing was destroyed. And "as it was 
 in the days of Noah, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of 
 man." The Spirit of God will not always strive then, even as he 
 ceased his striving before ; and when that striving ceases, there 
 shall be a visitation of judgment and fiery indignation such as 
 this world has never seen before. Then, too, as regards the 
 Jewish nation, as long as the Spirit strove with them judgment 
 was withheld ; but when he ceased to strive, when, according to 
 our Lord's affecting words, "the things which belong to their 
 peace" were " forever hidden from their eyes," because " they 
 knew not the day of their visitation," and suffered the Spirit to 
 strive in vain ; " always resisting the Holy Ghost," even as their 
 fathers had done ; then sudden destruction fell upon them, and 
 their house was left unto them desolate. 
 
 And so what is true of nations, or of all the inhabitants of the 
 earth collectively, is true of individuals ; and the parable sets this 
 forth to us. Each man to whom the Gospel is preached, is as a 
 fig-tree planted in the vineyard. If he bear fruit, well ; but if he 
 is barren and unfruitful, why is it that he is not at once cut down ?
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 259 
 
 The intercession of the gracious, loving Spirit has warded off the 
 blow. A little longer time is granted. A further trial is given. 
 Some more efforts are made. Nay, all such efforts are exhausted. 
 But if all fail, the Spirit intercedes no more. He has done his 
 work. He has waited, and pleaded, and striven, but in vain ; and 
 so he departs. He leaves the soul alone, and the end of that is 
 desolation and destruction. 
 
 And I can not but believe that we have here brought before 
 us, under the simple and plain teaching of this precious parable, 
 what, when regarded by itself, as expressed dogmatically by Christ, 
 has ever appeared dark and mysterious, and has also often been 
 the cause of great perplexity and anxiety to the children of God. 
 " Whosoever shall sin against the Holy Ghost, it shall never be 
 forgiven him, either in this world or in that which is to come." 
 It has been generally considered that what our Lord alludes to in 
 these words is some one special act of sin ; and thus many anxious 
 and fearful ones, who, with fear and trembling, like the poor 
 woman, hardly dare to touch, as it were, the hem of their Mas- 
 ter's garment, are not unfrequently tortured with dread, lest they 
 may have committed this unpardonable sin, and so all their hopes 
 be vain, and their final exclusion from the kingdom of God inev- 
 itable. "The principal misunderstanding of this passage has 
 arisen from the prejudice which possesses men's minds owing to 
 the use of the words, ' the sin against the Holy Ghost.' It is not 
 one particular act of sin which is here condemned, but a state of 
 sin, and that state a willful, determined opposition to the present 
 power of the Holy Spirit."* 
 
 The sin against tho Holy Spirit, then, would appear to be just 
 the continuing in a state of willful resistance to all his efforts. 
 He, as the vine-dresser, will use all appliances. " He wiU dig 
 about 11 the roots of the barren tree loosen its hold on the world 
 by trials and other means supply all that he sees and knows to 
 be suitable, and which, if received, would issue in fruitfulness ; 
 but if, after a set time, known alone to himself and the owner of the 
 vineyard if after this set time no fruit appears, then he gives it 
 up. He lets it alone. He leaves it in its barrenness to be dealt 
 with as it merits to be cut down and cast out of the vineyard. 
 And so, when he has thus given it up, when he thus ceases his 
 
 *Alford
 
 260 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 exertions, the whole course of sinful resistance, which is now at 
 an end not because the sinner has yielded, but because the Spirit 
 intercedes* no more is truly and emphatically one great sin 
 against the Holy Ghost. The barrenness of the fig-tree, when 
 the owner of it first came, was sin against himself, because it ought 
 to have borne fruit even then. But it was spared spared by the 
 intercession of the vine-dresser ; and if that availed not, he had 
 nothing farther to say. " Then after THAT thou shall cut it down" 
 And this sin has, and can have, no forgiveness in this world or in 
 the world to come. 
 
 And this, too, clears up the mystery which has often been 
 attached to this declaration, as if there was something peculiar in 
 an act of sin committed against one person in the Godhead, ren- 
 dering the transgressors more guilty thereby than by any sins 
 committed against the other persons. For, in reality, the unpar- 
 donable sin against the Holy Ghost, includes sin against the 
 Father and the Son. It is but the close and winding up of every 
 kind of resistance and transgression against Father, Son, and 
 Spirit. Thus, when man fell from God, he broke away from his 
 Father and sinned against him. His transgression, however, did 
 not shut up the tender mercy of that Father from him. The 
 door of mercy was left open. Nay more, the Father so pitied 
 his lost one, that he sent his Son into the world to suffer and die 
 in order to deliver him. And how was this gift received ? The 
 Son himself was cast out of the vineyard, and by the hands of 
 wicked men crucified and slain. But did this, evenj avail to dry 
 up the spring of divine mercy and loving-kindness ? Did all this 
 terrible sin and ingratitude against the Father and his Son quench 
 the love borne to the children of men ? Far from it. Both 
 Father and Son send forth the Holy Spirit, that with his unceas- 
 ing, willing labor in the vineyard, he may call in and seek out 
 the poor, wayward, wandering sheep of God's fold. But this is 
 all they will do. Beyond this there is no other effort. The 
 Father's commandment has been broken the Son's love slighted; 
 but when the Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, 
 works, and works in vain intercedes for time, and yet the tree 
 continues barren then there is nothing else to be done. He who 
 has cast away this mercy, who has sinned away this grace, has 
 done despite to this Spirit, until he shall strive no more, has also
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 261 
 
 " trampled under foot the Son of God," and cast himself against 
 "the bosses of the Almighty's shield." His sin is not merely 
 against the Father, for his sending his Son proved that that might 
 be forgiven nor against the Son, for the sending of the Spirit 
 proved that forgiveness might be extended to that also ; but it is 
 " against the Holy Ghost," and as such is but the summation of 
 his guilt against the other persons in the Godhead ; and when its 
 limit is reached, and he is left alone, then truly there is no hope 
 for him, either in this world or in that which is to come. 
 
 And we must not omit to notice, that this sin against the Holy 
 Ghost this long-continued and persevering resistance against the 
 work, and in spite of the intercession of that Spirit may justly 
 receive its special stamp and character from the closing effort on 
 the part of the Spirit, and the final resistance on the part of the 
 sinner. Thus with Judas his whole attendance on our Lord was 
 a ceaseless striving on the part of the Spirit, and a continued re- 
 sistance by him against that striving. His long career of sin 
 proceeded, and at length reached its climax. The moment ap- 
 proached when he was to be left by that Spirit, and suffered, 
 without further effort, to pass on and "go to his own place." 
 And when, therefore, at the table with his Master, he took the 
 sop from the hands of Jesus, and instead of falling down and in 
 deep penitence confessing his purposed sin, he went immediately 
 out ; that act, might, in its special significance as the crowning 
 one of a long series of such sins be called "his sin against the 
 Holy Ghost." And so when the Pharisees contradicted and blas- 
 phemed when, notwitstanding all that was done in their favor 
 and on their behalf, they " did always resist the Holy Ghost," 
 even as their fathers had done when, in the face of some of 
 Christ's most glorious miracles those evidences of his divine 
 authority and mission they dared to ascribe all these to the 
 agency of Satan, then He who saw the heart and knew the actual 
 condition of each soul, perceived that they were on the very point 
 if some had not already passed it of sinning away the inter- 
 cession of the Holy Ghost that the Spirit was at that moment, 
 it may be, ceasing to strive with their sinful souls, leaving them 
 to themselves : and so that godless blasphemy of theirs might 
 well, in its special significance as the crowning one of all their 
 guilty resistings be designated their " sin against the Holy Ghost"
 
 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 And this brings down the statement of Jesus regarding this sin 
 very close to every man. We have not now to wonder what the 
 nature or character of it may be whether it may or can be com- 
 mitted now, or whether it was a sin that could only be committed 
 in the age when Christ sojourned among men. It is a sin which, 
 specially in this dispensation of the Spirit lies close at every 
 man's door. Every man who continues to shut his ear to prom- 
 ises and warnings every man who gives no heed to the things 
 pertaining to his salvation every man who continues to give his 
 heart, and life, and time to the world, notwithstanding all that is 
 urged upon him in the way of providence and the pleadings with 
 him by means of grace every such man is in imminent danger 
 of falling under this terrible condemnation. Over him, as in the 
 parable, the Spirit may be pouring out the supplication, ''Let it 
 alone this year also" and if that period pass by, like those which 
 have gone before, then that very Spirit which now intercedes 
 will plead no more. " Then after that thou shalt cut it down." The 
 " after that" may be long or short as regards present existence 
 the " life that now is ;" but in matters not, the "cutting down" 
 must come at length inevitably come ; the sin against the Holy 
 Spiiit has been committed, and this world or the next affords no 
 place for repentance unto salvation, but only such repentance as 
 made Judas rush to his Aceldama here, and the rich man wail 
 forth his misery in the place wherein God has forgotten to be 
 gracious. 
 
 How terrible is the thought ! It may be, another idle word of 
 godless unbelief another broken Sabbath-day another indulg- 
 ence of gross, carnal sin another neglect of a solemn appeal to 
 conscience another hardening of spirit against some sad and 
 powerful providence and the die is cast, the limit is reached and 
 passed over the Spirit strives no more. The unpardonable sin 
 is committed. The wretched sinner is cut off, and that " without 
 remedy" Alas I what a revelation will that be at the last, when 
 so many professing Christians who have gone down to the grave, 
 in the spiritual slumber which so sadly characterizes a large por- 
 tion of the visible church with only a name to live will be 
 found to have sunk down under the weight of this deadly, unpar- 
 donable sin. The Spirit's work of forbearance, intercession, and 
 love has failed, and so wrath has fallen upon them to the utter-
 
 THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 263 
 
 most, and the terrible condemnation pronounced by him whose 
 every offer of mercy they have slighted, " They stall not enter 
 into my rest." 
 
 One thought more is suggested by this parable. The love of 
 the Father is evidenced by his sending his Son, and his not spar- 
 ing him. The love of the Son is evidenced by his freely offering 
 himself, "Lo, I come to do thy will," and never ceasing until he 
 had drained the cup of bitterness to the dregs, which his Father 
 gave him to drink. The " love of the Spirit" is evidenced by his 
 daily and hourly strivings with the thoughtless and impenitent 
 sinner by his arresting his attention on the one side and on the 
 other, patiently and perseveringly giving him "precept upon 
 precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little," and by his 
 interceding for further time, that he may yet again and again strive 
 with the obdurate and hardened heart that has so repeatedly and 
 shamefully despised him. See, then, what love is rejected when 
 the Spirit is finally grieved to take his departure from the soul, 
 and all his living influences quenched forever as regards that 
 soul. What love is cast aside and contemned! Truly in its 
 height and depth and length and breadth, it "passeth knowl- 
 edge." And no wonder, therefore, when the wretched sinner 
 reaches the last point of merciful forbearance, and finally resists 
 every appeal of such love, springing, as it does, from the depths 
 of the heart of the eternal Father, consecrated in the blood and 
 by the passion of his dear Son, and ceaselessly brought nigh and 
 offered by the Holy Ghost, that the terrible doom shall press 
 intolerably upon him forever, " He hath joined himself unto his 
 idols, let him alone" He is beyond forgiveness in this world and 
 in that which is to come. 
 
 Then, reader, pause and consider, that when the Spirit's love 
 has been recklessly slighted, and he has ceased his striving, the 
 day in which the terrible consequences of this shall appear, will 
 be specially marked by the presence of the Lord of the vineyard 
 once more not now as one who gave all he had in order to 
 purchase the vineyard and reclaim it from desolation and ruin 
 not now as one who may be, for yet another year, induced to pause 
 in his final decision but on the throne, with the books opened 
 before him ; and the very hand that was nailed on the cross in 
 redeeming love, will fall with resistless, terrible weight on the
 
 264 
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 
 
 barren fig-tree, as the voice of him, whose gentlest whisper is 
 love itself, shall be heard, " Cut it down, why cumbereth it the 
 ground?" Ah, wait not for that day, in order to " come to your- 
 self" and "repent" and " work in the vineyard." Such waiting 
 will be fatal. You will discover when too late, "the harvest 
 past, the summer ended, and yourself not saved." " Now is the 
 accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BBOAD AND N.IRROW WAT THE MAN BUILDING A TOWER THE TWO KINGS 
 
 AT WAR. 
 
 THESE parables speak solemnly to us of the soul's history. 
 We see what must take place if the lost be found. He must 
 arise and go to his Father ; and this he does because he is " born 
 again" of the Spirit, whose work is as the "wind which bloweth 
 where he listeth ;" and his repentance, too, is of this character, 
 that his mind is changed regarding his father's authority, and his 
 own disobedience, and he turns again to his father, not to be dis- 
 obedient and idle, but lovingly to submit himself and to " work 
 in the vineyard." We have likewise seen the fearful peril he 
 thus escapes, the terrible alternative which alone lies before him. 
 If he arise not if he repent not if he believe not if he work 
 not, then inevitably he will be cut down as a cumberer of the 
 ground. 
 
 And we now, then, go on to notice some details in the inner 
 history of the soul, when it is passing through the experience of 
 the young prodigal, as he resolved to arise and go to his father. 
 The first of these will be aptly set before us by the following 
 parable : 
 
 "Enter ye in at Oie strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is 
 the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many tiiere be which go in 
 thereat : because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which lead- 
 eth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. vii. 13, 14. 
 
 The similitude here is very simple 'and very beautiful. A 
 traveler is supposed just to have arrived at a point where two 
 ways branch off from each other. He has reached the very spot 
 where, as he can not go back, he must deliberately make his
 
 266 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 choice of one or other of them. He looks on them both, and the 
 one presents attractions to him, while the other repels him the 
 one is broad, and apparently easy and pleasant to walk upon 
 the other is narrow, and manifestly rough, and difficult, and 
 tedious. The one is terminated by a wide gate through which 
 he may pass with the greatest facility the other has a strait one, 
 through which he will find it hard to pass, if he get through at 
 all. Moreover, as he looks at the first, he sees that obviously it 
 is the favorite path of the great number of his fellow-travelers. 
 He beholds them going in one after another in goodly bands, and 
 the voice of mirth and gladness, " the harp and the viol, the 
 tabret, and pipe, and- wine," are with them. But when he turns 
 to the other, he sees it comparatively deserted only a few strag- 
 glers on the road no such sounds mark their progress as proceed 
 from the multitude on the other. He is not near enough to be- 
 hold the expression of their countenance ; indeed, they are before 
 him, so he can not discern that yet; but, as far as he is concerned, 
 being about to make the choice, there seems to be nothing pleas- 
 ant or agreeable in joining that little feeble band. He is just 
 about to follow his inclination, when the thought flashes across his 
 mind after all, am I sure that the broad road is the right one ? 
 Pleasant as it appears to me now, what is the end of it ? If, 
 after all, it should lead me away from home, and not to it, 
 what loss to me ? Just as he hesitates, one stands by him and 
 tells him, " Enter in by that gate, strait though it be go by that 
 way, narrow though it is shun that other way, for it leads to im- 
 minent peril. This narrow way assuredly will bring you home." 
 Now, this is just what the poor prodigal has to do this is the 
 choice which presents itself before him, as in the land of his exile 
 his thoughts begin to stir within him thoughts of home which 
 he never had before desires which he never felt before, until 
 the poor conscience-stricken sinner says, " I will arise and go to 
 my father." Instantly the conflict begins. As long as it was 
 within his own bosom, agonizing as the reflections may have 
 been which the Spirit has called forth to humble and to prove 
 him, they are yet known only to himself and to God. But now 
 he must " arise and go to his father" he must take his stand 
 he feels he must return he can not remain any longer away 
 he must set foot upon the road ; and so at once he is brought to
 
 THE BROAD AND NARROW WAY. 267 
 
 the spot where the two ways diverge the broad and the narrow 
 way. 
 
 It is then that the world pleads both forcibly and plausibly. 
 The awakened sinner is not arrested in his determination to be 
 on his journey far from it ; but then there is just such a path 
 as the world approves of offered for him to walk on. He is 
 tempted toward it by every feeling in the natural heart which 
 yet lingers within him. "What the world says to him is just in 
 accordance with the whispers of his own heart. The poor prodi- 
 gal who has risen up from the pollution into which he had fallen, 
 will find many specious reasons furnished to him from without, 
 and responded to from within, why he should go as the great 
 number of people around him are going. He will be told that 
 God has not placed him in this world to lead a life of asceticism 
 and gloom ; that God is not honored by a melancholy and dull 
 religion ; but that while all religious duties ought to be attended 
 to, and Heaven kept in view as the end at last, there is no reason 
 why there should not be much enjoyment by the way. Innocent 
 amusement and pleasure are right and good, and should be freely 
 used. And then the great body of pilgrims on this path of 
 worldly conformity and empty profession is eagerly and triumph- 
 antly pointed out. Surely it is enough to see so goodly a com- 
 pany for the sinner to cast in his lot with them. Surely he can 
 not suppose but that such a multitude as that is must be right. 
 They surely can not be lost. If they were but a very few, it is 
 possible to suppose this ; but so many ! They can not all be 
 wrong ! And why, then, should he be different fj-om them ? 
 why make himself appear strange ? why have the character of 
 being particular, and ridiculed accordingly ? 
 
 These temptations press - on the awakened sinner's soul on 
 every side. They arise from those very quarters which have 
 always hitherto received his implicit confidence. Learned men, 
 men of the world, men universally esteemed by their fellows, 
 shrewd men, " wise in their generation" those, too, of his own 
 household the wife of his bosom, it may be the children whom 
 God has giver him, perhaps a father or mother a brother or 
 sister a husband any of them, or all of them together, may be 
 urging him to take that path which leads home, as they say, but 
 in which he may, at the same time, be "conformed to the world,"
 
 268 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 and living in "the course" of it. How terribly potent these 
 temptations are no one can tell but those who have passed 
 through them. Alas ! how many at the day of judgment who 
 will then " seek to enter in and not be able," may charge home 
 their choice of the path which leads, notwithstanding all its fair 
 promises, " to destruction" on those nearest and dearest to them 
 here! 
 
 Then, we must not pass over the " gate" in this parable. The 
 one is " wide" and the other is " strait." It suggests to us that 
 the greatest difficulty in the choice, when the sinner reaches the 
 point where he must deliberately go on the one way or the other, 
 lies at the commencement of the path. Had there been no gate, 
 he might have slipped in unobserved ; but to get through this 
 " strait' gate will inevitably draw down upon him the attention 
 of the world, its rude and scornful gaze, and its bitter hate, and 
 this, too, at the very outset. If he does choose the narrow path, 
 the first step is through that "strait" gate. Is he prepared for 
 this? Nature shrinks and is ready to faint the heart turns 
 anxiously to the broad way friends, relations, all encourage it 
 thither. Oh, then, for one among ten thousand to be at hand to 
 help ! Yes, when the poor prodigal has arisen, his whole natu- 
 ral desires may lead him on to the path which is so tempting to 
 him ; but the Spirit which has lead him hither tells him that the 
 end thereof is death. Has he not breathed that loved word "fa- 
 ther f" Has he not thought again of his home, and risen for the 
 very purpose, in order that he may go home ? Then, if he pass 
 in by the "wide gate" and go along "the broad way" let him be 
 assured no father will be found at the close of that. No. There 
 " hell enlargeth herself without measure." 
 
 But, on the other hand, let him take his stand at once. Even 
 as Christ is the " door" of the sheepfold, so is he this " strait gate" 
 Let him see to it, that without any hesitation, he at once identify 
 himself with this precious Saviour. Boldly and unreservedly let 
 him press on, and pass in. Let him deny himself and take up 
 
 the cross. 
 
 " Master, I would no longer be 
 Loved by a world that hated thee." 
 
 And though he be reviled and despised, hated or persecuted^ let 
 him gladly and cheerfully endure it all, because his Master went
 
 THE BROAD AND NARROW WAY. 269 
 
 through all, and much more, before him. Then let him plod on 
 by the narrow way, enduring hardships as a good soldier of the 
 cross. He will find as he proceeds difficulties becoming less. He 
 will experience how different it is patiently and perseveringly to 
 walk in the narrow way from standing aloof, and being terrified 
 and offended by the difficulties it presents. He will find the 
 " crooked made straight, the rough places plain." He will find, 
 in fact, that by walking in that way, he so learns Christ, who is, 
 indeed, "the way, the truth, and the life," that every successive 
 hour in his company relieves him of another burden, brings light 
 to his eye, and elasticity to his step, while, from time to time, he 
 catches a glimpse of the home whither he is going, giving him 
 the assurance that he is in the right path, and causing him, even 
 in the narrow way, to breathe forth his deep songs of joy. He 
 finds, too, that although there is not that noisy tumult which 
 marks the broad road, and which is neither deep nor lasting, there 
 is pervading the pilgrim band on the way " a peace which passeth 
 all understanding." He needs to be on the road himself in order 
 to perceive it ; but when once there, he knows by his own expe- 
 rience that it is indeed such a peace as "the world can neither 
 give nor take away." 
 
 Let it not, then, be supposed that conversion to God implies 
 what is easy or pleasant to flesh and blood. It is not merely a 
 longing thought of heaven a sentiment of devout desire to be 
 there to be safe through the storms of life, and quietly admitted 
 into the haven at last. It implies a decision at once on the part 
 of the awakened sinner a decision to be made in the face of the 
 world, in opposition to it, and in spite of it a decision involving 
 self-denying, mortifying, and crucifying of the flesh. It implies 
 a coming out and being separate, a simple faith and a single eye, 
 " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than 
 to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a. season;" and "esteeming the 
 reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." 
 
 This parable, then, stands, as it were, before the eyes of every 
 child of Adam, whose heart is stirred within him who feels that 
 he durst not stand still that he is passing on from time to eter- 
 nity, and that an eternity either of joy or misery. It stands by 
 the roadside of his pilgimage, and at the moment when solemn 
 thoughts pass through his mind when anxious emotions trouble
 
 270 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 him, it urges on him at once the choice, " Enter ihou in at tJie strait 
 gate." 
 
 We must just briefly notice in passing, the use which our Lord 
 makes of this same figure in reply to an inquiry of the disciples : 
 "Lord, said they, are there few that shall be saved?" A vain 
 and curious inquiry, with which they had nothing to do ; and yet 
 one to which all mankind are specially prone. All of us will 
 much rather speculate than believe. We are far more ready to 
 discuss than to receive and to look on than go in. Eeader, 
 guard against this. To stand where the two ways branch off, 
 and instead of making the solemn inquiry immediately urgent on 
 yourself, "What shall /do?" to begin to make curious and un- 
 suitable inquiries as to others to be merely watching how others 
 go, and what others do to occupy your precious time thus, is 
 already to have a leaning to the "wide gate" Your danger is 
 imminent. Your own salvation may be compromised while you 
 are speculating about that of others. And so listen to the earn- 
 est word which our Lord attached to the admonition as given in 
 Matthew, when he would reprove such conduct. " Strive, he 
 says, to enter in at the strait gate." "Agonize to enter in." This 
 is no time or place for such idle, perverse curiosity. Your life or 
 death are trembling in the balance. Go now, or it may be too late. 
 Tarry a little longer indulging in these idle imaginings, and you 
 may find the door shut, and all effort to enter utterly in vain. 
 "Strive" at once to enter in. Contend earnestly as one who strug- 
 gles for his life. Put forth all your energy, all your strength. 
 Exhaust your every resource, for the issue is eternal life if you 
 enter, but " weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" if you 
 are shut out. 
 
 But when the penitent is led to " arise and go to his father," 
 and when he finds at the very outset that he must make his choice 
 between conformity to the world, or separation from it walk 
 with the multitude, or by his faith, " condemn the world," when 
 he must openly and avowedly take his journey with Christ, in 
 distinct and declared antagonism to the world which crucified 
 him ; let it not be supposed that when he passes in by the strait 
 gate, and begins his journey on the narrow way, all that is re- 
 quired of him is to be certain that he is right, and the path he 
 now pursues is one leading home to his father and to happi-
 
 THE MAN BUILDING A TOWER. 271 
 
 ness forever. This alone will not suffice for him as he enters on 
 his pilgrimage. He must not only be sure that he is right that 
 he is on the way home, but if he would walk therein, as a child of 
 his heavenly Father, as a subject of his heavenly King, as a dis- 
 ciple of his heavenly Master, and overcome its difficulties, tri- 
 umph over its obstacles, lift cheerfully its many crosses, bear its 
 numerous trials, and have its bitter waters made sweet and 
 refreshing to his taste, he must, as he enters on it, " count the 
 cost." He must not rush into it blindfold, with a strong impul- 
 sive feeling, as transient, it may be, as superficial ; as destitute of 
 root as it is likely to be scorched by the first thing which tries it. 
 He must not go headlong on his journey, as if the first step se- 
 cured all the rest, and he had nothing to do but to go in, in order 
 to go on as if, now that he had a mind to proceed by that way, it 
 was as good as passed over. No, he must look well to what he 
 is about he must gird up the loins of his mind he must see to 
 his armor that it be well and tightly buckled on, for the contests 
 before him are to be waged with a foe of terrible strength-, and 
 unequaled cunning, and the pilgrim who safely reaches the end 
 of his path, has his song of triumph equally divided between the 
 praise he owes to his master for putting him into the way, and 
 what he owes to him for carrying him in safety to the end of it. 
 
 Now mark, therefore, how our Lord guards us in this respect, 
 and by two very striking parables, gives us to understand how 
 we must take heed not to boast ourselves when girding on our 
 armor, as if we were taking it off. Here is the first of them. 
 
 "For which, of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, 
 and countelh the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest 
 haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not alile to finish it, 
 all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, 
 and was notable to finish}" 1 Luke xiv. 28-30. 
 
 This parable of our Lord was delivered by him under circum- 
 stances which must have made it most significant to his hearers. 
 He had been speaking of the necessity of showing mercy and 
 kindness to the poor, when one who heard him cried out, 
 " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." 
 This at once gave occasion to our Lord to utter the remarkable 
 parable of " The Great Supper." Those who heard him, seem to 
 have been much impressed by it. Probably their minds as usual
 
 272 THE PABABLE OF 
 
 adopting a specially carnal view of our Lord's words. However 
 the impression was so great, and for the moment they were so 
 attracted to Jesus, that " great multitudes" went with him. -And 
 then it was that, as we are told, " Jesus turned and said unto them, 
 If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and 
 wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life 
 also, he can not be my disciple." And then immediately followed 
 the parable just quoted. 
 
 Jesus perceived the state of heart pervading this " great multi- 
 tude." They were under a slight and transient impression. 
 Their following him pleased and gratified them for a moment, and 
 they probably thought that they would very gladly continue to 
 be his disciples. He then at once turned to them, and solemnly 
 warned them, that discipleship was no easy thing. It was not so 
 pleasant as they were disposed to think. He would not have one 
 follower otherwise than as he was thoroughly alive to all that he had 
 to do, and to suffer, all that he had to bear of self-denial, reproach, 
 shame, and even death itself. Unless he was prepared deliber- 
 ately and honestly to face all these, he could not be Christ's disciple. 
 
 These words, " if any man hate not," &c., form the theme as it 
 were of the parable now before us. Their meaning is very ob- 
 vious. No one for a moment supposes that our Lord meant abso- 
 lutely that they should hate their relations. His whole life and 
 teaching, his conduct to his mother when he was on the cross, re- 
 fute such a notion at once. Yet it is interesting to observe how 
 our Lord with infinite wisdom, even by the words themselves, 
 guards himself against possible misconstruction. For he says not 
 only, " if any man hate not his father and mother," and so forth, 
 but "his own life also" To know what he means by the hate in 
 the one case, we have only to consider what it can mean in the 
 other. Obviously, then, what he means is this, that true disciple- 
 ship implies a readiness on the part of the disciples to give up all 
 for Christ. If one or another dearly cherished object stands on 
 one side, and Christ on the other, we must not hesitate to choose 
 the latter. The very love we bear to the former constitutes the 
 trial. "We love them not the less, because we can not go with 
 them ; but we love Christ more, and can not but take up his cross 
 to go after him. Yea, this may be to the very death. He may 
 require this at our hands, and we must be prepared to yield it.
 
 THE MAN BUILDING A TOWER. 273 
 
 This is in one point of view " the counting of the cost 11 spoken of 
 in the parable, and what every one must do who would not end 
 in misery himself, and be the object of mockery before others. 
 All this must be deliberately considered and well weighted and 
 calmly adopted, by him who would " run with patience" in the 
 " way that leadeth unto life." 
 
 Consider the parable briefly. A man about to build a house, if 
 he is wise, will be careful what he is doing. He wishes to have a 
 house in which to shelter himself. But if he spend all he has to 
 spend on the foundation, and be utterly unable to finish the build- 
 ing, he is a fool both ways. He has not succeeded in what he set 
 about, and he has squandered means in a profitless undertaking. 
 No wonder if he be the laughing-stock to those who pass by. 
 No ; his first duty is " to sit down 11 calmly, and to look over every 
 thing connected with his plans, to satisfy himself that he is about 
 to commence what he will be able to finish, and to attempt no 
 more. That plan alone secures a good beginning, and a happy 
 successful ending. 
 
 And so, on entering in at the strait gate, the sinner must do 
 this calmly and deliberately. He must, as it were, "sit down first, 
 and count the cost. 11 He must ask himself if he is prepared to meet 
 the exigences of the great work to which he is giving himself. 
 He is surrounded with those things which minister to his earthly 
 comfort and happiness. Is he prepared to give up all these things 
 at the command of his Father ? Is he prepared whenever their 
 claims upon him would interfere with what his Master demands 
 at his hands, at once to set them aside for the sake of Jesus? 
 Yea, is he ready like Paul to say, " I count not my life dear unto 
 me, so that I might win Christ, and be found in him ?" Is he 
 ready, out of the wreck of earthly things, from blighted hopes, 
 and crushed feelings, to gather his material for his building ? In 
 other words, does he deliberately make up his mind to such a 
 sanctified holding of every thing placed in his hands in this world, 
 as to feel assured that if he is called upon to part with all that he 
 has, he must do it at once and cheerfully, well knowing that when 
 his Master makes such demands upon him, it is that he may 
 become rich in every spiritual blessing well furnished unto the 
 kingdom of God a wise master-builder, not only laying his 
 foundation well, but completing his building with joy. 
 18
 
 274 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 This is one of the necessities of discipleship. He that would 
 follow Christ must sit loosely- to all things here must possess 
 them as though he possess them not seeing that it is not unfre- 
 quent^- from the bitter experiences arising Out of these things, 
 whether in the disappointments of life, or in the yielding ourselves 
 to the will of God, rather than in following our own inclination, 
 that he who knows what is in man prepares all those wholesome 
 lessons for his spiritual child, as shall call him through grace to 
 run in the way of God's commandments and not be weary, to 
 walk and not faint. 
 
 But our Lord urges the necessity of "counting the cost" by those 
 who would be his disciples under another aspect, and that by an- 
 other parable. 
 
 " Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not 
 down first, and consulteth, whether he be able with ten thousand to meet 
 him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while 
 the other is yet a great way off, lie sendeth an embassage, and desireth 
 conditions of peace." Luke xiv. 31, 32. 
 
 Our Lord in applying this adds, " So likewise, whosoever he 
 be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my 
 disciple." This parable presents us with another view of what a 
 disciple of Christ must fairly make up his mind to, if he would 
 walk in the narrow path. " The two kings here are, the man desir- 
 ous to become a disciple., to work out his salvation ; and GOD, with 
 whose just and holy law he is naturally at variance;" "and the 
 question for eaCh man to sit down and ask himself is, 'can I with 
 (eX with all that I have, all my material of war) my ten thousand, 
 stand the charge of him who cometh against me with (F*GIU, being 
 only as many as he pleases to bring with him for the purpose) twenty 
 thousand?'"* 
 
 Now, when once the sinner is awakened to the consideration 
 of this all-important question, " Can I meet God with all that I 
 have ? He is coming against me as my adversary. I am a rebel 
 against him. I have dared to dispute his authority, and sought 
 to reign as a king, independently of his eternal sovereignty. Can 
 I meet him when he is coming to contend with me ? How shall 
 I be able to conduct myself in this mighty controversy ?" When- 
 ever the sinner has been awakened to this solemn consideration, 
 
 * AJford. 
 

 
 THE TWO KINGS AT WAR. 275 
 
 he is not long before he discovers how utterly inadequate all his 
 resources are for such a contention. He may gather together " all 
 that he has ;" but all this, and much more than this, will avail 
 him nothing. And so, in the hopelessness of attempting by him- 
 self to meet his powerful adversary, and making the startling 
 discovery that, as regards every thing in himself, he is completely 
 at the mercy of one, who, if he does smite, will not cease till he 
 put every enemy under his feet, he at once earnestly and anxiously 
 sues for peace. Like the king in the parable, who, when his 
 mightier opponent was yet a great way offj sends " an embassage, 
 and desires conditions of peace" so the poor penitent sinner, finding 
 out his own helpless condition, perceiving that he is ready to* be 
 overwhelmed by the power and the great wrath of the mighty 
 God whom he has offended, seeks to be reconciled, supplicates for 
 pardon and peace. He sends his petition . to his heavenly King. 
 He pleads with him through an all-prevailing Mediator and inter- 
 cessor. " He takes with him words, and turns to the Lord" his 
 God. He gives up all confidence in himself. He confesses that 
 he is " poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked." He acknowl- 
 edges his utter inability to save or help himself; and he casts 
 himself on the forbearance, the compassion, and the kindness of 
 the Being whom he has offended. 
 
 Now this, which marks the sinner's first awakening to a consci- 
 ousness of his own helpless and perilous condition as long as he 
 is opposed to God instead of being reconciled to him, must equally 
 pervade the whole of his pilgrimage of trial as he walks in the 
 narrow way. He must deliberately make up his mind to thia 
 point. He must " deny himself," " give up all that he has" con- 
 tinually. He must never for a moment suppose that he can 
 prevail in any thing by his own strength, or trusting to his own 
 resources. He must start upon his journey with the full convic- 
 tion that for every step he takes he requires the same submission 
 to his heavenly King, the same acknowledgment of his own weak- 
 ness as he made when first he discovered what an adversary he 
 had standing in the way against him. 
 
 "When first the sinner is roused to a knowledge of his own dan- 
 ger, he perceives that it is God with whom he has to do. All 
 else sinks into insignificance in comparison with that one thought, 
 " How shall I meet him ?" And so, during the whole course of
 
 276 THE PARABLE OF THE TWO KINGS AT WAR. 
 
 his earthly pilgrimage, whatever he has to do that is right and 
 good whatever he has to shun that is wrong and evil whatever 
 he has to endure of trial whatever he has to give up of cher- 
 ished things, on each and all of these occasions he meets the 
 same God face to face. It is God who requires him to do or 
 to suffer. It is God who requires him to shun every evil way, 
 and who lays burdens of trial on him. Even then, as he met 
 God in the first hour of his reconciliation through the merits 
 of Christ when the scepter was held forth to touch him as for- 
 given, so must he meet him during the whole process of sanctifi- 
 cation giving up all vain carnal confidences, acknowledging that 
 he is unable to meet God in his own strength, even for the denial 
 of one lust, or the doing of one good thing, any more than he 
 could meet him and demand salvation from him by his own merit. 
 This is the spirit in which the follower of Christ must go after 
 his Master. Unless he thus " forsake all that he has" he can not 
 be Christ's disciple. Unless while he says, " I live," he can also 
 heartily add, "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life 
 which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God," 
 he can not be Christ's disciple. And so, let every man who is 
 entering on the way of life "count this cost" also. The way 
 wherein he is to walk will make continued demands upon him in 
 this respect, to prove him whether he has, with his whole heart, 
 learned the lesson of his own utter weakness, and his Master's 
 all-prevailing strength. The natural self-righteousness of the heart 
 must not only yield at the foot of the Cross to the unmerited 
 righteousness of another imputed by faith ; the sinner must learn 
 at that first meeting with a % reconciled Father, to bear that Cross 
 ever with him on his way, and step by step, inch by inch, in the 
 practical work of sanctification within, to yield every atom of that 
 evil and accursed thing, which, as it is the root of all man's trans- 
 gression, sorrow, misery, and death, so it is the last thing which 
 is dragged forth and cast out of the believer's heart.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE LOWEST BOOH THE TWO BUTLDEBS THE TWO DEBTORS THE GOOD SAMABITAK. 
 
 WE advance to the consideration of other parables which still 
 carry on the history of the soul in connection with the work of 
 Christ We have noticed the prodigal " come to himself," and 
 resolved to arise and seek his father. We have seen that imme- 
 diately when this resolution is formed he is met by the necessity 
 of choosing between two paths. He must declare by his outward 
 conduct what he is, and whither he is going. He must at all 
 hazards, and in spite of contempt, reproach, and opposition, 
 " Enter in at the strait gate ;" but this must be done deliberately, 
 not rashly by sitting down first and counting the cost, not rush- 
 ing heedlessly into it, only to leave it again as hastily, covered 
 with shame, and the object of scorn. 
 
 We come now from those general views of what the awakened 
 sinner must feel and do, to the particular details of character and 
 conduct which must mark his whole progress until he pass from 
 his period of probation to his eternal day of glory, and " shine as 
 a star in the kingdom of his Father forever." The first thing 
 which demands attention is the spirit required of him when he is 
 graciously received by his forgiving and reconciled Father. We 
 have seen how, when the prodigal was raised to a consciousness 
 of his sin, the earnest longings for his home were mingled with 
 the deepest humiliation. This spirit of humility, then, must not 
 be diminished as he is made sensible of his Father's love and for- 
 giveness. Because he is admitted again and evermore acknowl- 
 edged as a son, the same feeling which prompted him at first to 
 desire rather to be a servant in the house than to remain out of 
 it, though it may not express itself in that way, must grow and
 
 278 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 increase, not decay or become weak. And here is our Lord's 
 teaching, then, on this point. 
 
 "And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he 
 marked how they chose out the chief rooms ; saying unto them, When 
 thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest 
 room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him ; and he 
 that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place ; 
 and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou 
 art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room ; that when he that 
 lade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher : then 
 shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with 
 thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke xiv. 711. 
 
 Under the circumstances in which these words were uttered, 
 they were no doubt a lesson for those present as to their bearing 
 toward each other on the occasion when they were addressed, 
 but, at the same time, that which had suggested them was thus 
 made by our Lord the groundwork for an important parable by 
 which he preached to them a still higher lesson regarding that 
 grace of humility he wished to inculcate. It is probable that the 
 entertainment at which the parable was delivered was a splendid 
 one, and possibly many of the guests were persons of distinction. 
 As Jesus marked the self-esteem which showed itself as certain 
 among them " chose out the chief places," etc., he delivered the 
 parable. The Evangelist by calling the words a parable, indicates 
 to us the deeper meaning they contain. Had he not prefaced 
 them with this statement, we might have just regarded them as a 
 reproof directly conveyed to the proud and the selfish men pres- 
 ent ; but inasmuch as it was a parable which was put forth, we are 
 led to look beyond the mere rebuke which the words conveyed 
 to persons present, and to others who like them exhibit a similar 
 spirit, and to mark how Jesus merely took occasion of the enter- 
 tainment then before him to teach a truth in connection with a 
 still greater entertainment even such a supper as he again refers 
 to in that other parable he shortly after delivered. 
 
 The sinner is bidden to enter the household of his Father. He 
 is bidden to hold fellowship with that Father himself, and with 
 all his family. Every thing that is needful for his refreshment 
 and comfort is spread out for him within the house, where he has
 
 THE LOWEST ROOM. 279 
 
 been admitted. When, according to this invitation, the sinner 
 enters, even now " to sit together in heavenly places in Christ," 
 he is in a very different position from what he was before he had 
 heard or replied to that invitation. He was formerly an outcast 
 and an alien, now he is a recognized and welcome guest. Now 
 the " table is prepared for him in the presence of his enemies," 
 and he is bidden to partake of the bounties of his Father's house. 
 He must then take good heed to himself. There is no room for 
 self-exaltation here. He must not " begin to take the highest room" 
 The same spirit which led him to feel so unworthy of the least 
 benefit from his father which led him to stand afar off, and 
 hardly dare to lift up his eyes unto heaven, must characterize 
 him still. He is, indeed, no longer the prodigal at a distance. 
 He is the prodigal received by the father treated graciously, 
 kindly, and honorably by him. But what should we say of him 
 if, when he entered his father's house, and there saw all the pre- 
 parations being made to welcome his return, the bearing which 
 marked him hitherto was thrown aside, and without waiting to 
 be placed where his father willed, he strode at once to the seat 
 of the elder brother, and chose out the chief place next his father 
 as if it were now his own by reason of the very pardon and for- 
 giveness which had been sealed to him ? 
 
 And who that has studied human nature by looking into his 
 own heart, but at once recognizes the solemn meaning of such a 
 lesson as this ; and how needful it is for the sinner when restored 
 to a favor that he had forfeited, and brought again within the 
 circle of a house which he had despised ? Is pride quenched in 
 the heart when the penitent makes his humble confession and 
 supplication before God ? Is that evil and deadly thing uprooted 
 and all its power destroyed when once the sinner has found the 
 way to his knees in an agony of sorrow and shame, " Father, I 
 have sinned against heaven and before thee ?" Alas ! no. Within 
 the fellowship of saints it fails not to mark its presence still. Its 
 main features truly are altered, but the monster evil is the same. 
 It deals not now with the vanities which have been wrenched 
 away from the heart, but it fastens itself on those very things 
 which have been so graciously brought into their place those 
 realities with which a loving Father nourishes and comforts his 
 people. The pride that has been quenched in one direction, too
 
 280 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 often, alas ! breaks forth in another. If it has no longer things 
 of earth, and time, and sense to lay hold upon, it will stealthily 
 seek for its gratification from the " things that are unseen and 
 eternal." The pride which in its first phase was of earth, earthy, 
 is not the less odious or perilous when it puts on a spiritual 
 guise, and insinuates itself among high, and holy, and heavenly 
 things. 
 
 How solemn is the lesson for all ages which the inspired Word 
 conveys, when we are told that even among Christ's Apostles, his 
 immediate friends and followers, there was disputing " which of 
 them should be greatest," and when one of the gentlest and most 
 loving of them on one occasion took upon him to forbid a man 
 from preaching in the name of Jesus, because he followed not 
 with them, and on another joined his brother in the request to 
 call down fire on a village of the Samaritans because the latter 
 refused to receive them! Alas, it is true, spiritual pride seeks to 
 enter in with the veriest prodigal, even as he is received back 
 and welcomed to the security and comfort of his father's house. 
 He needs not only in the day of his first sorrow to learn the les- 
 son as to the rock whence he was hewn, and the hole of the pit 
 whence he was digged, but he needs to learn it more and more 
 every day, when his gracious Father sets him with the princes 
 of his people. 
 
 This lack of humility may display itself in two ways toward 
 them that are without, and toward them that are within. In the 
 one case, it takes the form either of contempt at the ignorance of 
 those who willingly continue in their sin, or anger at their oppo- 
 sition to the truth. In the other, it plumes itself on the special 
 gifts which mark the spiritual life. It leads the believer to " think 
 more highly of himself than he ought to think" to look down 
 upon the attainments of his fellow-pilgrims sometimes to " de- 
 spise the day of small things" sometimes " to break the bruised 
 reed, and quench the smoking flax" sometimes to regard with 
 indifference the work of others in comparison with his own at 
 other times to overlook some of the most precious gems of divine 
 grace, because he does not look low enough to discover them, and 
 thus alas ! frequently to do the very things which our Lord con- 
 demns in this parable, " When thou art bidden of any man to a wed- 
 ding, sit not down in the highest room" This parable in fact fur-
 
 THE LOWEST ROOM. 281 
 
 - t 
 
 nishes us with an exact parallel to the words of the Apostle -and 
 they are golden words indeed " Let each esteem other, better 
 than themselves." 
 
 The injunction is to take " the lowest room" not to think of 
 others at all, but to feel that to be admitted to sit down in such 
 communion is sufficient, and the soul asks no more. Our Lord 
 says that this conduct will be followed by the master of the feast 
 calling the lowly one higher. He does not put forth this as a mo- 
 tive why we should take the lowest place, but merely to show that 
 the whole ordering and arranging of these things are of the Lord. 
 "He may say unto thee, Go up higher," or he may not. You 
 have nothing to do with that. It is enough for you to be at the 
 feast leave all the rest to him with this certainty, however, that 
 "he that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he who humbleth 
 himself shall be exalted." God will himself according to his own 
 will, and in his own way establish this truth. We must honor 
 him by putting all this into his hands with real heartfelt humility. 
 And he will take care just to give us that place by which he will 
 be honored, and we ourselves made happy and glorious forever. 
 
 And if this spirit of humility is to mark the sinner's conduct 
 with its special grace, through the whole of the blessed and glo- 
 rious fellowship to which 'he has been admitted, we must remem- 
 ber that he is called to activity in that fellowship. In one view 
 of that fellowship, it is as if a man were called and invited to sit 
 down at a splendid and costly entertainment, furnished with guests 
 of honorable name and distinguished character. In another view, 
 it is that the sinner must become an active and willing workman 
 for his heavenly Father. Though we see the prodigal admitted 
 to a joyous feast, we know that the next morning he would be 
 ready to accompany his elder brother " to the field." His turning 
 again, indeed, is just the same as the repentance of the first son 
 in the other parable, and his proceeding at once to work in his 
 father's vineyard. In other words though an honored guest, and 
 restored son, he is not to be an idle servant. He has work to do, 
 and it must not only be done, but well done. 
 
 Now, the figure of a fruitful tree, or a son working in a vine- 
 yard, will sufficiently mark these two things namely, that the 
 activity of the restored sinner, his bringing forth fruit unto God, 
 is the result of his heavenly Father's culture, and by reason of-
 
 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 4 ' 4 
 
 the life that flows into him from another, while his own willing, 
 cordial cooperation in all that is for the honor and glory of his 
 Father, is equally set forth ; but it is then for the different details 
 of his work what it is that he has to do, and how he ought to do 
 it, that we now look to a series of most interesting parables to 
 supply us with a full and complete illustration. And the first 
 that presents itself in this series is the parable of the two builders. 
 
 "Thwefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, 
 I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock ; 
 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and 
 beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock. 
 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, 
 shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the 
 sand and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, 
 and beat upon that house ; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" 
 Matthew vii. 24-27. ("And digged deep, and laid the foundation on 
 a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon 
 that house, and could not shake it. . . . That, without a foundation, 
 built an Jiouse upon the earth ; agdinst which the stream did beat ve- 
 hemently, and immediately it fell ; and the ruin of that 'house was 
 great: 1 } Luke vi. 48, 49. 
 
 In comparing the conduct of these two builders, we see many 
 points of similarity between them. Each was a builder. They 
 had both a work to do. Both of them set about their own sev- 
 eral occupations. The one and the other proceeded to build his 
 house. To one passing by they would appear to be equally wise 
 and skillful all he could see would be the walls of either house 
 as they were rising above the level of the ground the one, it 
 may be, attracting him most from a greater pretension about it than 
 the other. The object of both these men was the same. They 
 wished to build a house which should shelter them under its roof, 
 and be the means of pleasure and comfort to them. Both of them 
 had time given them in order to do this. They had opportunity 
 to engage in it as they severally desired. Both of them had the 
 choice of situation. They might build where they pleased. 
 Both of them finish and take possession of their dwellings. This 
 was in fair weather, when all was calm and serene, and gave prom- 
 ise of quiet, and security and peace. Both of them were tried. 
 On each of the buildings there fell a great storm, which put them
 
 THE TWO BUILDERS. 283 
 
 to the severest proof. It was not a little storm for one and a great 
 one for the other. It was a vehement flood and tempest for both. 
 Hitherto they are alike in every thing as far as appears outwardly ; 
 but now, one house stands immovable under the shock of the 
 tempest, the other crumbles into ruins, and the flood, as it sweeps 
 on its course, reveals the cause of stability in the one, and of de- 
 struction in the other. The first is founded on a rock : the sec- 
 ond was built upon the earth. And so likewise is revealed the 
 wisdom of the one builder and the folly of the other. 
 
 Now even if we look at this parable in its mere structure, 
 we should feel certain that it was meant to indicate some very 
 important feature in the work which our heavenly Father imposes 
 on his faithful and obedient children. The whole bearing of it indi- 
 cates an earnest, active, and laborious work in hand. But our 
 Lord is not satisfied with leaving this to be inferred. He tells us 
 that he is illustrating the conduct of two parties those who are 
 not hi% people and those who are those who are not in the vine- 
 yard, and those who are. And this is the distinction which marks 
 these classes respectively, the " one heareth his sayings, and doeih 
 them not" the other "heareth his sayings, and doeth them" His 
 great purpose then is to instill into the heart of his disciples that 
 they must " not be forgetful hearers but doers of the word," and 
 the mode he has chosen in this parable to inculcate this is, as we 
 shall see, most significant. 
 
 And before noticing this particularly, let us just observe by the 
 way, that in the case of the wise builder, we have set forth the 
 faithful and enlightened disciple, who, as he starts in his heavenly 
 career, " first sits down and counts the cost." We see him here 
 now diligently engaged building that house, of all the parts of 
 which, the materials it would require, its stability and usefulness, 
 he had carefully taken note before. He has wisely thought over 
 the plan beforehand seen the amount of expenditure it would 
 require, and now he is doing his work hard at the building, 
 and never will he rest, until it be finally perfected in glory and 
 beauty. 
 
 The special point in his work, then, with which this parable 
 has to do, is his foundation-work. And it is well that this should 
 be looked to first, for all the rest of his work, its stability and its 
 value, depends on this. We shall have yet to trace the returned
 
 284 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 
 
 prodigal's faithful obedience to his Father, in a variety of active 
 duties in detail ; but every one of these depends upon his making a 
 good beginning, and laying such a foundation for the superstruc- 
 ture of good works, as shall make these valuable, and secure their 
 permanence. The works of others may find their external resem- 
 blance to his, though coming from the hands of those who are 
 not true and faithful disciples like himself it is for him to take 
 heed that his work is not simply such as may be seen and approved 
 of men, but such as shall stand before the eyes and obtain the 
 approval of one who looks beneath the surface, and diligently 
 notes each man's work to see of what sort it is. 
 
 It is of the greatest importance to mark the scope of the para- 
 ble in this respect. One of the first charges against true disciple- 
 ship by a thoughtless and superficial world is, that it is not 
 practical that there is so much said of faith as to leave little 
 room for works. "We can well conceive, in connection with the 
 story in the parable, a stranger passing by on the day w]^en he 
 witnessed the two builders severally making their preparations, 
 and then it may be in a short time afterward, on his return, be- 
 holding one building already showing its fair proportions, and 
 rising rapidly to it destined height, while, perhaps, the other has 
 not jet appeared above ground, and it would be a very natural 
 conclusion for him to arrive at, that the first was a much more 
 skillful, wise, and active builder than the last. But he was not 
 on the spot to observe the real cause of the difference, and which, 
 had he seen it, would materially change his estimate of the two. 
 If he had been, he would have observed that the former at once 
 began his building " on the eo.rth" just as he found it, and so, at 
 least, he had the satisfaction of making a great show with it, and 
 it may be, plumed himself on the skill with which he nicely ad- 
 justed his building to the surface of the ground as it was ; but he 
 would have seen the latter " digging de&p" not satisfied with lift- 
 ing a spadeful here or there, but toiling and laboring, and 
 descending deeper and deeper through the soil, until he reached 
 the rock, and laid his foundation there. And then ; having found 
 that, he patiently and earnestly proceeds to raise course after 
 course on his building above it. 
 
 And this gives us a correct view of that which the world 
 understands not. The rock on which the believer's superstruc-
 
 THE TWO BUILDERS. 285 
 
 ture of works can alone rest in security, is Christ. And lie is the 
 true workman he is the real laborer who sets about his search 
 for this foundation at the beginning of his work. The other is, 
 after all, a mere counterfeit, and nothing better. The building 
 of the former may not have at once the same pretensions before 
 the eyes of men, but it will surely and steadily progress, and 
 every stone that is added to it will remain as a proof and token 
 that his work from the commencement has been real, and not 
 apparent only. 
 
 And thus it is that in the parable the foolish builder is said to 
 represent one who "hears and does not!" Why, at first sight, we 
 should be disposed to say, that he has done a great deal he has 
 built his house at any rate. Is that not doing ? Certainly not, in 
 the estimation of his master, who sees the end from the begin- 
 ning, and judges accordingly. The truth is, we must take into 
 consideration from the first, the object of the several builders. Both 
 of them wished to build, in order to shelter themselves. This was 
 their purpose. To fail in this, was to be an idler, not a workman 
 the man was merely passing time, not improving it. He heard 
 what might have secured real, lasting work at his hands if he had 
 attended to it, but he did it not ; and so, to all intents and pur- 
 poses, he was not " a doer of the work," and his specious appear- 
 ances came at length to be nothing better than "the baseless 
 fabric of a vision," which vanishes in the night watches, and 
 "leaves not a wreck behind." 
 
 The work which the true disciple has to do, is one which must 
 stand and be a shelter to him ; and in order to this, it must be 
 founded on Christ. He must begin there, whatever be the cost 
 in the casting away of cherished earthly things, in the digging 
 down and passing through the hard and all but impenetrable soil 
 of a proud, a carnal, and a self-righteous heart. He must never 
 cease until he has found Christ, as the strong rock on which he 
 may rest every hope for time and for eternity. This is the work 
 of faith, not of sight. This spiritual perception of what he needs 
 for his building is the " gift of God through Jesus Christ." He 
 knows and understands by this, that if he is to have any personal 
 work of holiness at all which will stand the trial and the proof 
 of the great day of account, it must alone be deeply imbedded in 
 the perfect righteousness of the Son of God.
 
 286 THE PAEABLE OP 
 
 And thus, too, we see the wondrous connection between the 
 disciple's work and his security. If he is really in search of a 
 foundation, it is in order to build. If he is really, with his whole 
 heart, seeking for Christ, it is that he may go after him, walk with 
 him, and be like him. And further, he must surround himself 
 with all his fruits of righteousness, just as the wise builder raised 
 stone over stone in his building. He is to be seen and known 
 by them he is to dwell in them. They are to be for a covering 
 unto him. But it is not from them he derives his safety. It is 
 not simply because they are there around him that they remain, 
 and that he is safe and happy. The other builder, for that mat- 
 ter, had the same kind of materials about him. No ! It is because 
 they all rest on Christ because they are " fruits of righteousness 
 by Jesus Christ" that they are every thing the poor believer can 
 desire, as proving the quality of his work, and affording him a 
 safe and happy shelter. 
 
 It is "the day of the Lord Jesus" alone which will make 
 known the real character of man's different buildings. As long 
 as they are merely tested by man, it may not be possible to detect 
 the real and substantial differences which exist. Means of ob- 
 servation so accurate as to reveal the whole are not to be found 
 in the present state of probation. It is alone on the day " when 
 the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed" that these things shall 
 become apparent. Then the floods shall be let loose, the tempest 
 of divine wrath against sin shall sweep resistlessly along, the 
 streams of all-searching judgment shall beat vehemently on all 
 that must be- tested ; and then it shall be seen that while mere 
 good works, as they are called, laid carelessly by themselves on 
 the earth on the mere worldly and carnal notions of virtue and 
 excellence, shall be swept away, and leave the poor soul that 
 trusted in them exposed and forlorn, with a ruin at his feet, in- 
 stead of a house over his head on the other hand, the same 
 season of trial shall but have cleared away what remained of 
 earth from the believer's work, and revealed the blessed secret of 
 his strength and security the rock on which his house has been 
 built ; and the storm, as it passes, winged with sudden destruc- 
 tion to the wicked, shall not even shake a single stone in ]iis 
 building, because it is founded on that rock of ages which can 
 never be moved.
 
 THE TWO DEBTOKS. 287 
 
 Let, then, the true disciple, since he is called to work and not 
 to idleness, see that he begin that work well. Let him build 
 with reference to the stormy day, not the calm. The stormy 
 will succeed the calm : and it is then that he needs shelter the 
 most. Let him then spare no pains to secure a good foundation. 
 He is not a workman called to work in order that he may be seen 
 of man, but that " he may have praise of God." It is " unto the 
 Lord, and not unto man" that he must labor ; what he does must 
 be in the " name of the Lord Jesus," and to the glory and praise 
 of God " not unto himself, but unto him who died and rose 
 again." And all this he must do with " his might," and then let 
 him patiently and hopefully leave himself and his work in the 
 Lord's hands, and his divine Master will take care that during 
 his work he will not appear as " one not able to finish ;" and 
 when his work is over he will own it and approve of it. " Well 
 done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." 
 
 But let us proceed further to inquire into the work of the true 
 disciple to see of what sort it is. He must first of all give heed 
 to his foundation. He must, before all things, take heed that he 
 is on the rock ; every thing else will be in vain and worthless 
 without this. But this rock will, to all things built on it in sim- 
 ple faith, impart such real worth as shall make them, though not 
 meritorious, yet acceptable to God prized by him, and retained 
 by him as precious forever. Look now at one of these things 
 built on this rock. 
 
 " There was a certain creditor which had two debtors ; the one owed 
 Jive hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when tfiey had nothing 
 to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of 
 them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that 
 he to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast 
 rightly judged" Luke vii. 41-43. 
 
 The great feature of this parable is love. The love of gratitude 
 for benefits bestowed, for mercy freely and graciously shown. 
 There is some little difficulty in the general inference which our 
 Lord draws from the parable. At first it looks as if the amount 
 of loving gratitude to him must depend upon the amount of our 
 guilt as if we must love him all the more because of the depth 
 of ungodliness into which we have been previously sunk ; and so
 
 288 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 one might be tempted to say, better to sin " earnestly with both 
 hands," in order that when much is forgiven, we may at length 
 love the more. Such a view is altogether opposed, however, to 
 the simple meaning of the parable when fairly considered. It 
 need hardly be said to be opposed to the whole teaching of the 
 word of God, which condemns, in unmeasured terms, sinning that 
 " grace may abound," and which certainly gives us no reason to 
 suppose that the penitent robber on the cross loved Christ more 
 than John, or Mary, or the mother of our Lord. 
 
 The truth is that the meaning of the parable turns on this 
 point, the sense on the part of the debtors, that their debt is 
 remitted. They are both supposed to know exactly what has 
 been remitted to them. They are conscious of this sensible of 
 it. It is this which underlies the whole structure of the parable ; 
 and so the general inference is very clear. That sinner loves 
 Christ most who is the most sensible of what Christ has done for 
 him. If one man feels that he has been forgiven, as it were, to 
 the amount of "five hundred pence" he will love more deeply and 
 more gratefully than the man who is only conscious of forgiveness 
 to the extent of "fifty pence" In other words, the more tender 
 the conscience of a child of God, the more alive he has become 
 to all that he is in himself, and all that God has done for him 
 and is ready to do for him still the deeper he will feel himself 
 in debt to his Lord, the larger the amount which he will reckon 
 as owing by him to this gracious friend, and therefore the more 
 full and deep will be his love for the frank forgiveness of one 
 from whom he had no right to expect 'the remission of one 
 farthing. 
 
 But if the general inference drawn by our Lord presents, at 
 first sight, a difficulty, his special deduction from it presents none. 
 He directly applies it to the case of a poor woman, who, while 
 he sat at meat in Simon the Pharisee's house, had come in and 
 "brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet 
 behind him, and began to wash his feet -with tears, and did wipe 
 them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed 
 them with the ointment." Our Lord draws the attention of 
 Simon and the other guests to what she had done. " Seest thou 
 this woman," he said, and then he proceeded to enumerate all 
 that she had done while he sat at the table. He pointed emphat-
 
 THE TWO DEBTORS. 289 
 
 ically to every tiling that had passed the washing of his feet 
 with tears the anointing of his head with the ointment, and 
 then he demands wherefore it is that all these things have been 
 done by this poor woman, all these marks of reverence, love, and 
 gratitude shown to him, which were all the more remarkable in 
 their contrast to the absence of even ordinary respect paid to him 
 by his proud host. He demands how it is that this poor woman 
 has not ceased to do all this, while others were neglecting him ; 
 and he tells them that it was because " she loved much." All 
 these things were a proof ready to hand of the deep, fervent, 
 holy love she bore to him, for whom the tears were shed and the 
 box of ointment bought ; and she loved much because she felt 
 how much had been forgiven. She was fully conscious of the 
 large debt which that gracious Master had forgiven. She needed 
 no stranger's hand to point to her and condemn her she did 
 that herself to the very utmost. If she had been asked to say, 
 she would have replied that she was the " chief of sinners." She 
 felt that she was that one " to whom Jesus forgave most;" she loved, 
 therefore, in proportion ; and her acts of gentle gratitude and 
 lowly tenderness were a precious evidence of the greatness of 
 that love. 
 
 We must not suppose that Simon himself is alluded to in the 
 debtor which owed "fifty pence." This would throw the greatest 
 perplexity into the whole subject. Simon's conduct is quoted by 
 our Lord, not as bearing any proportion to the poor woman's, 
 which it would have done, if he even loved as a debtor whose 
 "fifty pence" were remitted, but as diametrically opposed to that 
 of the penitent and grateful one at Christ's feet ; for just as Jesus 
 records one act after another of love on the part of the latter, he 
 makes these more apparent by the contrast on the part of Simon, 
 who was not merely niggardly in his attention, but neglected the 
 most common expression of it altogether. He was not conscious 
 of his debt at all, and so he felt no love, and did none of those 
 tender offices of respect and gratitude which would have marked 
 outwardly what he experienced inwardly. There had passed no 
 inner work of the soul between him and Christ, making him feel 
 his guilt and the tender compassion of Jesus in forgiveness, and 
 so his love and his loving acts existed not. She, the poor humbled 
 penitent she, like that other woman, it may be, who did but 
 
 19
 
 290 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 touch the hem of his garment she had already known what 
 soul-work is she had already gone through the bitterness of dis- 
 covered sin, and the gross and thick darkness of that sin had 
 been pierced through by-the love and the forgiveness of her Mas- 
 ter. That very forgiveness showed her more than everthe extent 
 of her debt made her more than ever sensible of it she loved 
 her Saviour more, and there was nothing she would not now do 
 to manifest that love. She would do it amid the sneers and the 
 scorn of the world she would do it amid neglect and reproach 
 she would do it, not as one taking the " lowest room" where her 
 Master was, but as one who only desires not to be kept out, and 
 whose station, when once in, shall not be as a guest at the table, 
 but at his feet kneeling and penitent before him who has forgiven 
 her. She, indeed, " loved much" because she knew that " much 
 was forgiven her" 
 
 And we can not, then, fail to observe here the practical char- 
 acter which our Lord has been pleased to stamp upon this love 
 of gratitude. It is not, as appears by his application of the par- 
 able, to be a mere love of sentiment, an emotion of the soul, 
 however deep, and .true, and lasting it may be. It is to be that 
 which will find its expression in something to be done. It is, 
 indeed, to be deeply felt, but it is also to be acted out. A blessed 
 principle in the heart, a glorious work in the life. And this is 
 among the first precious stones which the true disciple is to lay 
 upon the rock Christ. This, indeed, as part of his work to do, 
 may be called the foundation which he lays on the rock, and over 
 which all his future labor is spent. Love to his Master, deep, 
 enduring love to Christ. Love for grace and mercy so freely 
 given. Love for pardon and peace so fully bestowed. Love for 
 sin blotted out, and a name written in the book of life. Love 
 begotten by his infinite love. Love which has sprung from the 
 deepest consciousness of what he ''owes unto his Lord," and not 
 one farthing of which he could ever pay, but which has been all 
 "frankly forgiven" Oh, the preciousness of that one word 
 "frankly." Here is no remission of a debt with a grudging which 
 makes the gift ungracious ; nor, on the other hand, is there here 
 the canceling of a debt with an air of indifference, as if it were 
 of no importance, but it is "frankly" done. The value of it not 
 denied, but that value infinitely enhanced by the graciousness
 
 THE GOOD SAMABITAN. 291 
 
 with -which it is bestowed ! Sinner, have you not found this the 
 character of Christ's remission of your debt ? 
 
 But the poor woman, as we have seen, had the opportunity of 
 manifesting to Christ himself the fullness of her grateful love. 
 Has his disciple in every age the same ? Yes, verily. If Christ 
 be not personally present, yet has he left us a word, which points 
 to such opportunities of showing love to him, as never cease in 
 every age of the Church's history. " Inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
 unto me" The love of gratitude, then, which the true disciple 
 cherishes toward his heavenly Master, ought to become a loving 
 work toward all that Master's followers. This. love ought to have 
 its most full and blessed expression in the "household of faith." 
 There, in lowliness of spirit like this poor woman, the true child 
 of God may indeed show his consciousness of how much he owes 
 to Christ who has forgiven him, and how deeply he loves Christ 
 for this forgiveness, by acts of tenderness, love, and pity to his 
 people, and that amid the sneers of the world, and the scowl of 
 the ignorant and self-righteous. Such acts as these will, indeed, 
 be " labors of love," a*nd will form some of the goodliest stones in 
 his building. Such acts of calm, gentle, unassuming gratitude to 
 him who has forgiven him, will be among the very first which 
 the poor penitent and restored prodigal will long and love to 
 pay to every one within the circle of his Father's house, not to 
 show his love, but because his full heart will not suffer him to 
 withhold them. 
 
 We pass on to another deeply important parable, as giving us 
 still further insight into the work of the true disciple of the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 " A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jtricho, and fell 
 among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, 
 and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came 
 down a certain priest that way ; and when he saw him, he passed by 
 on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, 
 came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a cer- 
 tain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was : and when he 
 saio him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up 
 his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, 
 and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the mor-
 
 292 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 row, when lie departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the 
 host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou 
 spendest more, -when I come again, I will repay thee. Which, now, 
 of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the 
 thieves ? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said 
 Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.' 1 ' 1 Luke x. 30-37. 
 
 This parable was delivered by our Lord in reply to a question 
 put to him by a certain lawyer. What this man's motives may 
 have been in standing up and tempting Christ, by asking him, 
 " Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" it is unnecessary 
 for us to inquire. Our Lord referred him to his own law. '"How 
 readest thou" there? He replied, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." 
 He had thus answered his own question. For there is no entrance 
 into life, or inheritance in heaven for an unloving spirit. What- 
 ever be the means by which that love to God and man are to be 
 produced, one thing is clear, that unless they do exist, there can 
 be no eternal life ; for " God is love," and to love God is to li ve. 
 The lawyer, however, " willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, 
 And who is my neighbor?" The parable before us is the reply. 
 It will at once be observed that the reply given, however, is indi- 
 rect ; and yet, on that very account, it is all the more forcible. 
 Thus the question is " Who is my neighbor?" while the parable 
 drives the questioner to the consideration, " Who is it to whom 
 you should not show a neighborly love and kindness ?" The 
 lawyer wished to draw off the point of conversation from him- 
 self, and turn it upon a mere generality ; our Lord brings it back 
 upon himself with all the force of individual application. " Who, 
 then, thinkest thou, was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?" 
 And when the lawyer could not but reply, " He that showed 
 mercy on him," then did our Lord close the conversation by 
 a direct appeal to the man himself, " Go thou and do likewise." 
 You ask, Who is your neighbor ? Go and look around on all 
 the sons and daughters of sorrow and affliction ; behold on every 
 side, those who have an immediate and urgent claim upon your 
 love and pity go without delay and show mercy, and thus 
 prove yourself a neighbor to every man that needs your help. 
 
 Trench has some very striking remarks on the mode which our
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 293 
 
 Lord adopted in his reply to the lawyer. " He who asked, ' whom 
 shall I love,' proved that he understood not what that love meant 
 of which he spake ; for he wished to lay down beforehand how 
 much he was to do, and where he should be at liberty to stop 
 who had a claim and who had not upon his love ; thus proving 
 that he knew little of that love whose essence is that it has no 
 limit, except in its own inability to proceed further, that it receives 
 a law only from itself, that it is a debt which we must be content 
 to be always paying, and not the less still to owe. (Eomans xiij. 
 8.) Especially wonderful is the reply which our blessed Saviour 
 makes to him, wonderful, that is, in its adaptation to the need of 
 him to whom it was .addressed, leading him, as it does, to take off 
 his eye from the object to which love is to be shown, and to throw 
 it back inward upon him who is to show the love ; for this is the 
 key to the parable, and with this aim it was spoken." (Notes on 
 the Parables, p. 306.) 
 
 The great scope of the parable, then, is to illustrate a very im- 
 portant feature in the Law of love, to set forth an essential part of 
 that " labor of love" which is required at the hands of every true 
 disciple. It has been said that while the imagery of the parable 
 is directed toward this object, and has this aim, yet at the same 
 time, it is meant to be symbolical of the great work of the Son 
 of God himself, in coming down from heaven to bind up the 
 wounds of the sinner, to save him from death, to do for him what 
 others would not, and could not do, and never ceasing in his love, 
 compassion, and care for him, until he restored him " safe and 
 sound" to his home. This has given rise to many ingenious efforts, 
 both in ancient and modern times, to explain the allegorical allu- 
 sions of the different parts of the parable. These are on the whole 
 not very satisfactory. Perhaps it is better to regard the story in 
 the parable as being simply uttered by our Lord with reference to 
 what was immediately the topic of conversation, and with the in- 
 tent of leaving to all his people a solemn lesson of their duty and 
 their privilege, in showing pity and mercy to every one who needs 
 them. But, then, as the very highest and most glorious pattern 
 of such love and pity, we have the whole work of the Son of God 
 himself set before us in his life, sufferings, and death for sinners ; 
 and so we need not wonder if the story given to inculcate com- 
 passion and love in the disciple, bears throughout, in its general
 
 294 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 features, a striking resemblance to that perfect love which has 
 been manifested by the disciple's Master. 
 
 The circumstances in the story are very striking. A traveler 
 in going down from the metropolis to Jericho is attacked by rob- 
 bers not merely thieves, but by men whose trade it is to take life 
 with as little compunction as they take money. He is left by the 
 road-side, stripped, wounded, and expiring. This is not done in 
 a retired "spot. It is on the public road where there is much traf- 
 fic, and so the matter can not long be concealed, A priest ap- 
 proaches in the same direction, probably returning from Jerusa- 
 lem after having fulfilled his course. He sees the wounded man, 
 but " he passes by on the other side." Next comes a Levite. He 
 does more than the first. "He looked on him ;" and then he also 
 went his way, passing by on the other side. Hardly had he de- 
 parted, when " by coincidence" not chance, in our use of the word, 
 but according to that concurrency of events which are so often to 
 be seen distinguishing the acts of God's providence, a certain 
 Samaritan, as he journeyed, " came where he was." How aflect- 
 ingly is the conduct of this " stranger," described in contrast to 
 that of the priest and Levite. Whatever might have been the 
 excuse these two men made for their neglect, he might have pleaded 
 the same ; while there was the traditionary enmity between the 
 Jews and the Samaritans which he might have pleaded over and 
 above. But, on the contrary, as soon as he drew near, and saw 
 him, he had compassion on him, he went to him, he bound up his 
 wounds with his own hand, he set him on his own beast, and 
 brought him to a place of safety. Even there his compassion did 
 not rest. He took care of him, and charged himself with any 
 expense which might be incurred during his recovery from his 
 wounds. We must not omit to notice the additional force which 
 our Lord gave to the lesson he was teaching, by selecting a Samar- 
 itan, though he himself was a Jew, as affording so bright an ex- 
 ample of compassionate love. 
 
 And here then, in this full teaching of our divine Master, we 
 have strongly inculcated upon us, as an active duty, not a passive 
 emotion, the love of compassion and benevolence toward every 
 one that stands in need of the exercise of such love ; while this 
 urgent duty is made more impressive by the failure of others on 
 this very point. In the parable of the two debtors, we have en-
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 295 
 
 forced . the love of gratitude to Christ, not reposing within the 
 breast that feels it, but actively engaged either toward Christ per- 
 sonally, when he was in the world, or to those of his household 
 for his sake, since he has gone away. The love here enforced takes 
 a wider range than this. It looks on the world, and diligently 
 inquires after every one that needs its help ; and thus rests not till 
 it has lavished its treasures of mercy and compassion on the needy. 
 It is not satisfied with merely asking whether tjiere be any of the 
 " household of faith" which it can benefit by its exertion or its 
 self-denial, but it seeks for " opportunity to do good unto all men." 
 These emotions and their exercises though kindred are yet dis- 
 tinct. The love of gratitude to Christ is one which looks up. 
 The love of compassion is that which gazes down. The love of 
 gratitude shows itself in what John so constantly enforces in his 
 epistles, " love to the brethren," because each brother reflects the 
 image of him whom the soul loves. The love of compassion 
 shows itself toward those who are without who are not in such 
 favoratile circumstances as we are who stand in need of our help, 
 and to whom we must go whom we must seek out, by the way- 
 side of this pilgrimage, in order to help. The love of gratitude 
 sympathizes. The love of compassion pities. 
 
 And so here we have the true disciple of Christ who has 
 looked well to his foundation that is laid on the rock, and begun 
 his building by the precious stones of active " love to the brother- 
 hood" for Christ's sake, earnestly warned to "go and do likewise," 
 as this kind, and generous, and self-denying Samaritan did. He 
 must see that he labors with this love also. 
 
 It is instructive to note how one and the same evil-working of 
 the human mind makes itself seen and known from time to time 
 under different forms. Thus, when Cain said, contemptuously, 
 "Am I my brother's keeper ?" he but expressed in strong and 
 repulsive language the very sentiment which the lawyer clothed 
 in a more plausible guise when he asked, " And who is my neigh- 
 bor ?" Both questions indicate the rupture which sin has made 
 between the heart of man and the objects of its love, compassion, 
 and care. And though we maj not hear now such language 
 used, or such questions in so many words asked, yet is the spirit 
 which pervades them both widespread and general. The feeling 
 which led the lawyer to ask the question he did, is presented be-
 
 296 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 fore us in the parable by the conduct of the priest and the Levite. 
 They acted that principle out. Their conduct was a practical 
 demonstration that they did not know who was their neighbor 
 in other words, that they did not know themselves, and what 
 they owed to every one in need whom they could by their exer- 
 tions or their assistance help. And so also we find large numbers 
 of persons practically exemplifying in their conduct now what 
 these men did long ago. 
 
 And is the question asked, "What kind, of need is it that de- 
 mands compassion and help from the disciple ? The answer is 
 very simple "All kinds." Wherever there is any one of the 
 human race in need that we can help, there is our neighbor, and 
 we must see that we do a neighbor's work by him. Whatever be 
 his need, if we have wherewith to help him, we have no love to 
 our neighbor if we withhold it. And thus we have in this para- 
 ble two grand objects of compassionate love inculcated on the 
 true disciple of Jesus. Wherever throughout the wide world he 
 sees any human creature suffering temporal distress which he has 
 it in his power to relieve, he must take heed that he pass not by 
 it. And wherever through the wide world he beholds his fellow- 
 creature suffering under the greater and more appalling calamity 
 of spiritual distress, bleeding and dying of the wounds inflicted 
 by sin, asking, as it were, in piteous wailing, whether no man 
 will care for his soul, there, too, he must give good heed that he 
 be like the Samaritan, stranger as he was, rather than as the 
 priest and the Levite, who, by their wicked neglect, trampled on 
 the union which binds all mankind in a common brotherhood 
 for mutual kindness, benevolence, and charity. 
 
 Surely this parable speaks with solemn and weighty condem- 
 nation against those who, under the meager and flimsy pretext 
 of spending their energies on the spiritual necessities of those at 
 home, refuse to recognize the claims of the poor dying heathen 
 who appeal to them day by day for help in their terrible desola- 
 tion. The very language of the parable is significant in its 
 reproof of such. The excuse so often heard for looking coldly 
 on the poor heathen, and passing by on the other side, is just 
 this, " I must attend to my neighbor first to him who is at my 
 very door." Why, the very excuse proves that they who make 
 it know not who their neighbor is, and what it is to have a
 
 THE GOOD SAMAKITAN. 297 
 
 neighborly spirit. The priest and the Levite couJd, doubtless, 
 comfort themselves by thinking, as they wickedly passed by the 
 wounded man, that there were others more immediately depend- 
 ent on them, as they chose to think, to whom they would gladly 
 do a neighbor's part. But he who was in the way was their 
 neighbor, and they had no right to "pass by " him. And so also, 
 if God in his providence gives us opportunities now, and, as it 
 were, places before our eyes and within reach of our help, the 
 poor, ignorant, perishing heathen, and we pass them by with the 
 poor excuse that our neighbors are nearer home, we may rest 
 assured that our unloving, unbrotherly, unneighborly conduct is 
 condemned in the courts of heaven, and if these hapless ones 
 perish, their blood will be required at our hands. 
 
 And they who urge these base and selfish excuses for with- 
 holding help, if it can be given, to " every creature" under heaven 
 who needs it, do so in direct antagonism to the law of love so 
 beautifully characterized in the above extract from Trench. 
 They look out for limits to that which ought to have no bounds. 
 They are narrowing the circle that they may know where to stop, 
 instead of suffering their love to feed upon its own blessed exer- 
 cise, and to become continually more expansive in the power of 
 its operation, even as it becomes every day more fully alive to 
 the objects of its blessed and tender compassion. They do not 
 perceive, also, that if they admit such a principle as this, there is 
 virtually an end to every thing like large-heartedness of love, or 
 even the earnest exercise of a puny, meager, worldly philan- 
 thropy. If one man finds a neighbor only within a certain limit, 
 another will make that limit less, until, in fact, the charity of 
 those who frown down all kind, loving, and compassionate effort 
 to go forth to every creature and preach Jesus to them ere they 
 die, will resolve itself into the meanest self-love, and the deter- 
 mination just to do as much good for others as is agreeable and 
 suitable to ourselves. 
 
 A modern philosopher, who has sought to give the tone to 
 morals, while he despises the simplicity of the Gospel, and whose 
 talents have, alas ! given him too many disciples, shows plainly 
 enough where the charity of so-called Christian people would 
 lead them, when they narrow the limits within which their com- 
 passion and benevolence are to be brought into play. Trench,
 
 298 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 in referring to the opinions of this writer, thus prefaces an extract 
 from them " It is striking to see the question of the narrow- 
 hearted scribe, ' Who is my neighbor ?' reappearing in one with 
 whom we would think that he had little in common. I make 
 this extract from Emerson's Essays, (Ess. 2,) ' Do not tell me, 
 as a good man did to-day, of my obligation to put all poor men 
 in good situations. Are they my poor ? I tell thee, thou foolish 
 philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give 
 to such men as do not belong to me, and to whom I do not belong. 
 There is a c]ass of persons to whom, by all spiritual affinity, I am 
 bought and sold for them I will go to prison, if need be ; but 
 your miscellaneous popular charities, &c.' " (Notes on the Para- 
 bles, p. 306.) What a humiliating picture of selfish, hollow- 
 hearted, would-be philanthropy ! Not content, like the priest 
 and Levite, with passing by, but glorying in his shame. And 
 we may well say to those who love to worship at such shrines as 
 these, " Behold thy gods, O Israel !" 
 
 We can not but glance at the conduct of our blessed Lord on 
 one occasion as being very instructive in the contrast it presents 
 to the low standard of love which many would set up in his 
 name. When the Gentile woman came to him, he did indeed say 
 to her, as he replied to her urgent request, " Let the children first 
 be filled ; for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast 
 it to the dogs." And such is very much the language of many 
 professed followers of Jesus now, when asked to help the heathen 
 who cry aloud to them for help. But with what a different 
 meaning and purpose ! They speak thus, because they mean to 
 act upon what they say. Our Lord uttered these words only to 
 try the faith of the poor woman for the moment, in order that the 
 blessing he had in store might be all the more richly lavished 
 upon her. With him it was but the prelude to unutterable 
 mercy, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt ;" and so he bound 
 up her wounds and took care of her. With them it is the un- 
 merciful reply of those who mean to show no mercy. Oh, that 
 his Spirit may be given largely to those who bear his name, that 
 they be not only like the good Samaritan, but like Jesus himself; 
 that all who profess to follow him may feel so deeply what he 
 has done in rescuing the poor bleeding soul from death and hell, 
 and restoring it to life and heaven, as to be unable to restrain
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 299 
 
 their compassion from going forth, to every child of Adam to 
 whom they can offer the balm of Gilead, and tell of the skill of 
 the great Physician to whom they can whisper the story of 
 peace which will give light to the eye, and joy to the heart, and 
 dispel every cloud of pain and sorrow forever. Strange it would 
 have been, if the returned prodigal had not poured forth the ten- 
 derness of a child's love under his father's roof strange if he had 
 not gladly sought out such prodigals as himself in the land of 
 spiritual famine and death, and besought them, as one who him- 
 self had obtained mercy, to " arise and go to their Father." And 
 strange indeed, then, if the true disciple does not manifest this 
 special work in his life and conduct, to carry the lamp of life to 
 those who are in darkness, and thus adorn as well as strengthen 
 the house he is building on the rock Christ.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. 
 
 WE now turn to another parable, which furnishes us with 
 another feature, which ought to characterize the conduct of the 
 true disciple of Christ. 
 
 " Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother 
 sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto 
 him, I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times 
 seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain 
 king, which would take account of his servants. And when he begun 
 to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand 
 talents: but forasmuch as he had not to pay } his lord commanded him 
 to be sold, and his ivife and children, and all that he had, and payment 
 to be made. The servant, therefore, fell down, and worshiped him, 
 saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then 
 the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, 
 and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found 
 one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence ; and he 
 laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that 
 thou owest. And his fellow- servant fell down at his feet, and besought 
 him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he 
 would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the 
 debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very 
 sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his 
 lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, thou wicked serv- 
 ant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desireds! me : shouldest 
 not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I 
 had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the 
 tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise 
 shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT. 
 
 forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Matthew xviii. 
 21-35. 
 
 The story in this parable is oriental rather than Jewish in its 
 structure. The servants spoken of in it are not household slaves, 
 who might be regarded as the property of their master, but per- 
 sons in offices of trust and confidence under a king, who, at the 
 same time, exercised despotic authority over them, and all that 
 they possessed. " The servants here are not slaves, but ministers 
 or stewards. In oriental language, all the subjects of the king, 
 even the ministers of state, are called servants. The individual 
 example is one in high trust, or his debt could never reach the 
 enormous sum mentioned ten thousand talents is the sum at 
 which Hamaii reckons the revenue derivable from the destruction 
 of the whole Jewish people." (Alford.) 
 
 The " reckoning" in this parable must not be regarded as repre- 
 senting the final reckoning by our heavenly King with his 
 servants. It is perfectly distinct from such a taking account of 
 his servants as is set forth in the parables of the talents or the 
 pounds, in that of the ten virgins, the sheep and the goats, and 
 the marriage-supper. The reckoning here must have reference 
 to something before the day of probation closes, not when that is 
 past forever. Certain results of this primary reckoning are taken 
 into account before the king deals finally with his unforgiving 
 servant. It is indeed just such a taking account as is represented 
 in the parable of the barren fig-tree when the owner comes and 
 makes a certain investigation, but does not yet close the season 
 of grace the day of salvation. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the meaning of the enormous debt 
 which the servant, with whom the king reckons, is found to owe 
 to his master. It is manifestly intended to represent the great 
 debt which every sinner owes to the justice. of God. And just as 
 it is said of the servant here, that " he had nothing to pay" so it is 
 true of the sinner. It is not that he is just short of the whole 
 sum by which he might clear his account with God but he has 
 absolutely nothing which can in the least pass current in such a 
 settlement as God requires in the affairs of his soul. And thus, 
 by this spiritual bankruptcy, he has fallen into the hands of the 
 living God, and exposed himself to the whole penalty due to his 
 misdeeds.
 
 302 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 So far there is no difficulty in the explanation of the parable. 
 Here, however, we are met by the inquiry, " Who is meant by 
 this servant ? Is he meant to represent a true child of (rod, or 
 not ?" The answer to this question manifestly involves issues of 
 the greatest magnitude. If we adopt the first of these views, we 
 are driven to the conclusion that one who has been brought from 
 darkness to light from Satan's power to the kingdom of Christ 
 may again be banished to outer darkness, and separated from 
 Christ forever. If we adopt the last, then the difficulty occurs, 
 " How is it, then, that he is said to be forgiven?" 
 
 The *first of these views will be regarded very differently, ac- 
 cording as persons regard the analogy of the faith. They who 
 believe that a sinner who has become a child of God and an heir 
 of heaven, may again become a child of Satan and an heir of 
 hell, will be disposed to look on this parable as illustrating .their 
 opinion of the testimony of Scripture. But let such take heed 
 that they really have received, in simple faith, the teachings of 
 Scripture in this matter, before they at once close with this view 
 of the parable. They must take care not to derive their view 
 from the parable, but only to confirm and establish by illustration 
 the view they have, obtained elsewhere. Now, it does appear as 
 if Scripture testimony were directly opposed to such a doctrine as 
 that just stated. It would be impossible to enter on the discussion 
 of this subject at any length here, and, therefore, a very general 
 statement is all that can be made. 
 
 Some of those solemn warnings in Scripture, which seem at 
 first sight to support this view, can not do so in reality, unless 
 pressed beyond their legitimate bearing. Thus when Paul says, 
 " But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest 
 when I have preached to others, I myself shall be a cast-away," 
 it is undoubtedly true, that if he had, by his conduct and life, 
 denied Christ, Christ would also at length deny him ; but then 
 this very denial by Christ of his professing servant, would only 
 at length prove and show openly that Paul had never been one 
 of his. If Paul should turn out to be a barren tree, he would be 
 cut down and cast out of the vineyard, doubtless, frit then this 
 would show infallibly that he had "lied unto God," when he said, 
 " the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the 
 Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me."
 
 THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT. 303 
 
 And so of the case of Judas, enlightened as he was tasting as 
 he did much of the good word of God and the powers of the world 
 to come, yet when he fell away, he only proved that he had been 
 very near the kingdom, but not in it almost, but not altogether 
 a disciple ; and to him the words of the Apostle emphatically 
 apply : " They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if 
 they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with 
 us ; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that 
 they were not all of us." (John ii. 19.) The truth is, as long as 
 this day of probation lasts, no man has a right io assume of 
 another that whatever be the outward manifestation, he must in- 
 fallibly be found to be a true child of God at the last. No man 
 has any right to presume that he himself has, as it were, seen his 
 own name written in the book of life. All that we are entitled 
 to say of others, or of ourselves here is, that as long as genuine 
 fruit appears to us to be produced, there is the evidence of being 
 not only with Christ, but of Christ ; but if these fruits are not, 
 then equally there is the evidence that we are none of his, and 
 never have been. The day of the Lord will alone display the real 
 state of the case in each heart, and hence the importance of all 
 the solemn warnings, which, under such circumstances, must of 
 necessity, if they would have any force at all, take such a form 
 as apparently, but only apparently as we have seen, to imply the 
 possible falling away of a true child of God from that to which 
 he had already, through grace, attained. 
 
 . On the other hand, consider the exceeding fullness and precious- 
 ness of Scripture testimony as to the real and final security of all 
 who are truly of Christ. " None shall pluck them (my sheep) out 
 of my hands" " none shall pluck them out of my Father's hands." 
 In this special purpose of preserving my sheep, (and if one were 
 snatched away, could such language be used?) "I and my Father 
 are one." Then they are the gift of the Father to the Son 
 " Thou gavest them me." A fall here of the child not only 
 implies a weakness on his part, but, with all reverence be it said, 
 a weakness on the part of him who speaks of his child in such 
 terms. And herein lies the unspeakable difficulty against receiv- 
 ing such a doctrine as that under review. It is quite possible to 
 conceive one such as Adam falling. Another, and still another, 
 like him in his original innocence, might be created, and they, too,
 
 304 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 might fall. But the fall of a converted soul from God is a widely 
 different matter. He is not merely a creature, but a new crea- 
 ture, and that, too, in Christ Jesus. He is born again of the 
 Spirit, and so becomes spiritually alive. He has actually been 
 snatched as a brand from the burning. He has been taken out 
 of the family of Adam and brought within the family of God. 
 He is delivered from the power of Satan, and owns happily and 
 thankfully the sway of Jesus. To suppose, then, that when all 
 this has truly taken place when all this has really passed when 
 it has been positively and absolutely done, and not merely in 
 name and by profession to suppose that such a soul, under these 
 circumstances, can at length fall away and be lost, is in reality to 
 give Satan a triumph over Christ, to make man's salvation, as of 
 merit, depend on something else than the free grace and sovereign 
 power of Jehovah, and utterly to destroy the meaning of that 
 grand and glorious antithesis of the Apostle, " As in Adam all 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Such a supposi- 
 tion would throw doubt and discredit on all the great and precious 
 promises of God, who, when he begins, will not tarry till he per- 
 fects his good work in his people. It would make some of the 
 most blessed portions of God's word meaningless and vapid ; it 
 would force us to conclude that, when our Lord says, " there is 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth," such joy might 
 possibly be a mistaken joy, and the return of the lost one be only 
 the prelude to a greater loss than ever, and a deeper dishonor 
 cast upon the great King. Nay, more, it would lead us further 
 to question the propriety of the Father's joy when the prodigal 
 returned, and to think it ill-timed, and as regards the thing illus- 
 trated, deceptive, if after the robe, and the ring, and the sandals 
 were given, even the fatted calf killed, and the whole household 
 assembled to give utterance to the general joy if after the kiss 
 of reconciliation, and the tender embrace of a kind and loving 
 Father, all this was but to herald a deeper dishonor than ever to 
 this forgiving parent, and only be the prelude to his losing more 
 by the second departure of his son than he did by the first. We 
 can not, then, admit that Scripture teaches such a doctrine as this, 
 Scripture warns solemnly in this matter, lest there be deception 
 practiced on ourselves or on others regarding the real condition 
 of our souls, but it guards with equal jealousy that precious truth
 
 THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT. 305 
 
 which forms the concluding petition of our gracious Master's 
 loving prayer, and which must remain unanswered, if ever one 
 of the " called, and chosen, and faithful," fall away again into 
 the ranks of the faithless and the lost. " / will that they whom 
 thou hast given me, be with me where lam, that they may behold my 
 glory." 
 
 But when we turn to the parable which has necessarily sug- 
 gested these reflections, a little examination will satisfy us that the 
 description given of the servant who owed the ten thousand 
 talents can not with any propriety be said to apply to a true child 
 of God. Note the manner in which the king proceeds to take 
 account of him. First of all the very aspect of the king is not 
 like that which the Father of Mercies assumes toward the child 
 whom he receives. He goes " to reckon," with his servants. He 
 is aware that something is wrong, and a frown is on his brow as 
 he " takes account" of the actual state of matters. Very different 
 this from the loving father pitying his wayward but now penitent 
 child. It might stand for a picture of God going down to take 
 account of Sodom and Gomorrah, not of Him as he met face to 
 face with the robber on the tree. Again, it is said, "one was 
 BROUGHT unto him which owed." Mark that word, " brought unto 
 him." It was a seizure of this debtor. It was no willing act on 
 the part of this servant. This " reckoning" was any thing but a 
 voluntary thing with him. He sought it not. This settlement 
 only troubled his soul. He had no desire to face his creditor. 
 "What a perfect contrast to the case of real genuine repentance as 
 given in the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal comes to 
 himself. He says, " I will arise and go to my father." He it is 
 that must needs go and pour out the acknowledgment of the 
 great debt he can never pay. He it is that seeks out his Father, 
 resolved that nothing shall prevent him from having this matter 
 between them settled at once. He has forfeited every thing. He 
 is a pauper and in rags. He has nothing wherewith to pay back 
 what he took away from his Father at the first; but just as he is 
 he must go ; and he will lie at his Father's feet until he knows 
 the worst. Any thing is better than living away with the griev- 
 ous debt pressing on him. This is manifestly heart-work in one 
 rising up earnestly to settle with God ; but the wretched servant 
 in this parable had none of this. He is ignonliniously dragged 
 
 20
 
 306 THE PABABLE OF 
 
 as a pnsoner ; all unwillingly, to the presence of a severe judge. 
 Then further, mark his plea "Have patience with me, and I will 
 pay thee all." Is this the language of real genuine conversion ? 
 Can this be the portrait of one over whose soul, before God, there 
 has passed that solemn and precious moment, in which the dead 
 has lived, and the lost been found ? Impossible. Such words as 
 these prove nothing but utter blindness to the actual nature and 
 extent of his liabilities, and of his utter incapacity to meet them, 
 in him who is represented by this servant. " I am not worthy" 
 is the genuine cry. "Poor and miserable, blind and naked,' 1 is 
 the genuine conviction. But this before us in the parable is the 
 very image of blind ignorance, unbelief, and presumption, as to 
 what sin is, the guilt of the sinner, and the holiness and justice 
 of God. 
 
 
 
 We hold, then, that apart altogether from the dogmatic state- 
 ments we have briefly adverted to, the description in this parable 
 is wholly inapplicable to the case of a true disciple and child of 
 God. And that, be it observed, not in consequence of the unfor- 
 giving spirit manifested at length by the servant, but by the 
 primary description of his case when his lord first reckoned with 
 him. We do not conclude thus from what is said of him in his 
 lapsed condition, but from what is said of him as he first appeared 
 in the presence of the king. 
 
 This servant, then, does not represent any who are of the true 
 " Israel of God," but some who belong to the outward communion 
 of his people. This man in the household is just to be regarded 
 in a similar light as the barren fig-tree in the vineyard. The 
 actual condition represented by these two figures is the same 
 not of Christ, but with Christ. In both is represented a trial 
 given for a set purpose. In both is intimated the dread result if 
 that trial prove unsatisfactory. 
 
 The question of Peter to our Lord in the twenty-first verse orig- 
 inated this parable. The apostle, by his question, proved that he 
 needed instruction in the great duty of forgiveness. And our Lord 
 deals with him accordingly. Peter asked how often he was to for- 
 give his brother. Our Lord first of all replied to the effect that no 
 limit was to be placed to such acts. In accordance with his lan- 
 guage elsewhere, he wished to impress on the mind of his disciple, 
 that as often as an offending brother asked forgiveness, so often
 
 THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT. 307 
 
 there should be a ready and frank exercise of this spirit. But he 
 taught him more than this by the parable. Peter was obviously 
 too much taken up with the mere number of times in which it was 
 expected that he should forgive his offending brother. Our Lord 
 by thih parable urges, not, as some have superficially observed, 
 the bare duty of forgiveness, and have thus lost sight of the real 
 scope and bearing of the parable, but the "forgiving from THE 
 HEART." This is the great point in it. "So likewise shall my 
 heavenly Fatiier do unto you, if ye FROM YOUR HEARTS forgive not 
 every one his brother their trespasses." 
 
 And what, then, does the parable tell us of the servant who 
 forgave not? Why, just this. It tells us he had not "the heart" 
 to forgive. The story is most instructive as to this. First, the 
 miserable sum in which his fellow-servant was indebted to him. 
 How heartless to persecute him for that ! Then see how he does 
 it : "He laid hands on him, and took him by tfie throat" It is the 
 conduct of a harsh, heartless bully ; and all this, too, just when 
 his lord had remitted such a debt on his part ! Nothing can 
 more significantly point to the main feature in the parable than 
 these things. It is not merely a description of one who forgives 
 not, but his utter want of heart in not forgiving. And what, 
 then, in other words, is this but saying that he was thoroughly in- 
 sensible of the benefit his master had conferred on himself? His 
 debt was remitted, but as regards the real value of this remission, 
 he was willfully and stupidly unconscious. The mercy of the 
 king had not reached his frozen heart, or brought forth one gen- 
 tle, loving, forbearing thought there. 
 
 Now, God is ever " reckoning" as in this parable, with merely 
 nominal believers, or professed servants, when from time to time 
 he confronts them with some trial, or some pressure of Provi- 
 dence, arresting them, as it were demanding from them an ac- 
 count of what they owe, and filling them with alarm and dread. 
 They plead, and they plead, it may be, heartily, for it is for mercy 
 to themselves. Such an one may be stretched on a bed of sickness, 
 and may cry mightily indeed for deliverance may implore with 
 a reality he never did before to be forgiven, and at the same time 
 mingle with his cries of terror the utterance of his own ignorance. 
 He may supplicate for patience, and make loud promises to pay 
 in future. And God listens and raises him up again. He goes
 
 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 forth once more his conduct now will prove whether he has 
 really taken what God has freely offered, forgiveness, full, frank, 
 and free. If he had done so, his heart would move within him 
 as it never did before ; and the precious outgoings of its new and 
 changed nature would be seen on every side. But he has not 
 done so, and he quickly shows it by such heartless conduct as 
 gives the lie to his profession that he has accepted of a gift such 
 as God is willing to bestow, when he says, " Come, now, let us 
 reason together ; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be 
 white as snow, though red as crimson, they shall be as wool." 
 (Isaiah i. 18.) The gift offered has not been received, for his 
 heart's insensibility proves that he knows nothing about if its 
 inestimable value its incalculable benefit. That gift has, indeed, 
 been freely and graciously offered ; but it has been only nomin- 
 ally accepted, and really rejected ; so that, not by any withdrawal 
 of mercy on the part of God, but by spurning of mercy on the 
 part of man, the original debt remains in full force between the 
 servant and his Lord ; and he who despised mercy must face 
 judgment. And what, then, can better illustrate this than the 
 case of this servant, whose conduct proved that he was utterly 
 insensible to the actual transaction between him and his king ; so 
 that after all he spurned in reality the gift that king offered. He 
 thought only of the talents of gold, the outward expression of 
 forgiveness, and he was willing and ready enough to take that. 
 He gave not a moment's thought to the inner love of reconcilia- 
 tion offered such a thing never glanced across his mind, nor 
 gave him a moment's uneasiness it never caused him shame for 
 the past, nor created a desire for a new heart for the future. And 
 so he left that offer in his king's presence. There it was at his 
 feet, but he heeded it not ; he " went out" despising the gift, and 
 so no wonder that the gold and the silver did not help him to 
 forgive his fellow. 
 
 And thus Peter was answered fully" Forgive your brother 
 as often as he turns and says, ' I repent.' " The number of times 
 you have to do this will cause you no difficulty when you dr'nk 
 deeply into the forgiveness of your heavenly Father to you. If^ 
 you know not what this forgiveness is, you can have no heart- 
 forgiveness toward your brother ; and your heavenly Father will 
 at length withdraw the gift now offered by him, but despised by
 
 THE LABOREKS IN THE VINEYARD. 309 
 
 you. But if you do, and the more you think of it and ponder 
 over it the better, then you will find no difficulty in the exercise 
 of sucli a spirit. On the contrary, it will be a source of delight 
 and pleasure to you, " to be merciful even as your Father which 
 is in Heaven is merciful." 
 
 Such, then, is the spirit and such the conduct we might expect 
 from the penitent and restored prodigal. Such will every true 
 penitent desire to possess and to exhibit. And such, then, is 
 another and most important part of the true disciple's work. He 
 must lay these precious stones in his building on the rock Christ. 
 Forgiveness in heart, forgiveness by word and deed; because 
 God also, for Christ's sake, has forgiven him. Both emotion and 
 act must be united here. "Without the act, this stone would not 
 be shaped or fitted to its place without the emotion, it would 
 not be a " lively "stone." 
 
 And here, as having no remote connection with what has just 
 been under notice, we turn to another remarkable parable of 
 Jesus : 
 
 " For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an Jwuse- 
 holder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his 
 vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a, 
 day, lie, sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third 
 hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto 
 them, Go ye also into the vineyard ; and whatsoever is right I will 
 give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the 
 sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventii hour 
 he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why 
 stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man 
 hath hired us. He saiOi unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard ; 
 and whatsoever is right, tiiat shall ye receive. So when even was come, 
 the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and 
 give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when 
 they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, tfiey received every 
 man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they 
 should have received 'more; and they likewise received every man a 
 penny. And when tfiey had received it, they murmured against the 
 goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, 
 and thou hast made tiiem equal unto us, whicli have borne the burden 
 and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend,
 
 310 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 / do thee no wrong : didst not thou agree with me fc-r a penny f 
 Take that thine is, and go thy way : I will give unto this last even as 
 unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? 
 Is thine eye evil, because I am good'? So the last shall be first, and 
 the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." Matt. xx. 1-16. 
 
 Although tbe apostles and ministers of Christ are in a special 
 sense " laborers" in God's vineyard, yet this parable must not be 
 restricted within such a limit in its application. Every believer 
 has a work to do in the vineyard, and the whole body of work- 
 men are here represented. The different times at which the 
 laborers were sent into the vineyard must not be set down to any 
 particular period, either in the history of the Jewish Church or 
 of the Christian. Nor, on the other hand, must a reference to 
 such early and late periods of the history of the Church of God 
 of all ages and every country be lost sight of, by confining the 
 application to the early or late periods in each man's life when 
 called to labor in the vineyard. Eather the very common prac- 
 tice of hiring at certain stated hours in the day, as mentioned in 
 the parable, must be taken as meaning that God does at " sundry 
 times," as well as in " divers manners," speak to people and call 
 them to work for him. Some are called early in the day of grace 
 others in the latter part of that day. Some are called early in 
 their own day of probation others are called when the shadows 
 of that day are beginning to fall on them. 
 
 But who are the laborers ? Now, just as in the parable of the 
 unforgiving servant, we have seen that the very description 
 requires us to look on that servant as by no means representing 
 a truly converted, penitent, and believing child of God, so here 
 the careful and emphatic language of the parable shuts us up to 
 the necessity of regarding the laborers in the vineyard as the true, 
 faithful people of God. 
 
 In proof of this, consider the following : When we first meet 
 with the laborers in the parable, they are idle in the market-place. 
 In the crowded, bustling place of business, these men were unoc- 
 cupied. The householder knew where to seek for laborers ; and, 
 as often as he chose to go to the market-place, there he ever found 
 men " standing idle." He calls them and sends them into his vine- 
 yard ; and, accordingly, one band after another go and do as he 
 bids them. Surely by putting this along side of that other para-
 
 THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. 311 
 
 ble, wherein the father bids his sons go work in the vineyard, 
 and the first at length went ; and when our Lord tells us, that in 
 so doing he did the will of his father, and represented those who 
 were entering into the kingdom of Heaven, we can not but con- 
 clude that the " laborers" here truly represent those who repent 
 and believe, and "do works meet for repentance ;" we can not but 
 regard them as being among the real servants of God, seeing they 
 not only are bidden to go, but actually do go into the vineyard,, 
 and that when there, they are no longer what they were before 
 " idle" but actively engaged in the duty and the sphere marked 
 out for them by their heavenly Father who hath called them. 
 And this becomes still more manifest when we consider the case 
 of those who are said in the parable to " murmur" for if there 
 can be a shadow of doubt thrown on the characters here repre- 
 sented as being true children of God, it arises from thence. And 
 yet it is specially by them that it is said and admitted also by the 
 householder, " they bore the burden and heat of the day." Such lan- 
 guage would be altogether unintelligible if applied to those who 
 were not true disciples : nor is it to be overlooked that it is spe- 
 cially with regard to those first hired, and wh6 then murmured 
 when they received their wages, that in the parable we are told that 
 the householder " agreed with them;" very significantly pointing to 
 the covenant of grace, mercy, and peace, not only offered to, but 
 accepted by those who are the "faithful followers of the Lamb." 
 And besides all this, there is the payment of the laborers at 
 the close of the day's labor. No one is questioned as if he had 
 left his work undone no one is condemned for having proved 
 himself by his conduct to be disqualified to receive his wages. 
 On the contrary, the fidelity of each to his engagement is tacitly 
 acknowledged, and each one receives the sum of money which 
 was agreed on. This can only represent the case of those who 
 are not cast out, but received, and everlasting favor conferred 
 upon them by him who has called them into his kingdom, and 
 who " giveth to every man according to his work." Nor is it 
 uninteresting to observe how, by a single expression, our Lord 
 seems at once to put aside the possible mistake, that the one party 
 might represent true and faithful disciples, while the others do 
 not ; for, in replying to the murmurer and condemning his spirit, 
 he at the same time, says of those murmured against, " / mil give
 
 312 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 unto these last even as UNTO THEE." He did not withhold from 
 the one and give to the other ; but even as he checked what was 
 wrong, he made him who was first hired understand that what 
 he was giving to the last was "even as unto thee" If, then, the 
 parable gives us in the case of " the last" the representation of 
 true believers at length receiving eternal. life at the hands of God, 
 then " the first" also must represent such too, for they likewise 
 receive the same. 
 
 But then, how is it that truly righteous persons can be said to 
 " murmur" against God ? The difficulty in explaining the parable 
 on this point has very greatly arisen from not observing and 
 keeping steadily in view what it was that called it forth. The 
 division of chapters in our version arbitrary, though in many 
 respects useful, as it is has, in some cases, done much harm by 
 dislocating parts of Scripture which can only be seen in their 
 true light, or their full emphasis perceived when kept carefully 
 together. The chapter in which this parable occurs is one of 
 these. It ought never to have been severed from the preceding 
 one, for it is there that we find the cause which led our Lord to 
 utter the parable before us. A little attention will discover this 
 cause. The young rich ruler had sorrowfully left our Lord be- 
 cause he had great possessions, which he could not bring himseli 
 to give up, even for the sake of following Jesus. Our Lord's 
 observations on this sad picture of worldliness drew forth from 
 Peter, who probably expressed the feeling which existed in the 
 minds of his fellow-disciples, the question, " Lo we have forsaken 
 all, and followed thee : what shall we have therefore ?" The much 
 or the little forsaken is altogether beside the mark here. "Whether 
 little or much, it is all which Peter and his brethren had given 
 up in order to follow Christ. " What, then," he asks, " shall we 
 have therefore?". 
 
 This question of Peter's indicated an under-current of feeling 
 within his mind which was wrong, and needed warning and 
 reproof. In the first place, he seemed to put himself and his 
 brethren into & favorable comparison with the young ruler who 
 had just left them. It was as much as to say, " He has gone, 
 because he could not give up what he had for thee/ But we 
 have forsaken all and followed thee! we have done what he 
 would not we have denied ourselves as he could not, and have
 
 THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. 313 
 
 shown love to t-iee as lie has not." It was, in fact, a glorifying 
 of himself and what he had done, by an implied condemnation 
 of this young man. But further, the spirit manifested in the 
 question was specially wrong, by the very terms of that ques- 
 tion itself " What shall we have therefore ?" As if by their 
 leaving all and following Christ, they had put the latter under 
 obligation to them, instead of receiving unspeakable mercy in 
 being allowed to follow him at all as if, in fact, it was to be ex- 
 pected, that by their " bearing the burden and heat of the day" they 
 had acquired a special claim for some benefit by so doing, and he 
 was anxious to know what that would be. 
 
 Our Lord's reply to the question is remarkable. In infinite 
 condescension he at first passes over the unsanctified spirit which 
 on that occasion led Peter to speak as he had done, and graciously 
 sets before the Apostles a glorious prospect of coming glory for 
 them. But then, immediately after, he adds, for the very purpose 
 of checking the spirit which he marked, though Peter himself 
 was probably ignorant of it at the time, "and every one (not you 
 only who have entered first, but every one) that hath forsaken 
 houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or 
 children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred- 
 fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." And then he emphatically 
 declares " And many that are first shall be last, and. the last 
 shall be first." Thus giving the key-word to the following para- 
 ble, as after having uttered it, he thus applies it, " So the last shall 
 be first, and the first last." 
 
 The parable, then, was given for the purpose of warning his 
 disciples against the indulgence of a spirit which they were in 
 danger of fostering, but which he altogether condemned. This 
 spirit of jealous dislike that others should be as favorably re- 
 garded as ourselves, because we think that they do not deserve it 
 as well, is, alas ! too often met with even among the followers of 
 Jesus. We are all too ready in this matter, to " sacrifice to our 
 own net, and burn incense to our own drag." We are all too 
 prone to magnify our day of toil and labor, its burden and its 
 heat, and to overlook the work of others, or at least to consider 
 our own as in many respects much better. We would by- no 
 means deny their excellence, but we will not put it on a level 
 with our own ; and what is this but practically putting Peter's
 
 314 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 question, " What shall we have therefore f" What is this but in- 
 dulging in a spirit which feels aggrieved and sore, when it appears 
 as if we were slighted, and others, whose work we esteem less 
 than our own, are preferred before us. Now, the parable does 
 not by any means require us to conclude that there will be any 
 of God's servants at the last at the close of the day of grace, or 
 at the end of their own day- of labor, who will really speak to the 
 heavenly Householder in such terms as are here set forth ; but 
 our Lord does in this emphatic manner give us to understand the 
 exceeding greatness of that evil thing which is working within 
 even God's people now, and which they must by all means, and 
 that without delay, seek to overcome. We must begin at once 
 to discipline ourselves into entire acquiescence with this truth, 
 that many who appear the least just now, may be seen to be the 
 greatest when the day's work is done, and those who are the last 
 and apparently far back in the actual entering on their labor, 
 may stand the first in the final acknowledgment of the owner 
 of the vineyard. 
 
 And all this is based on the one great and all-important truth 
 which this parable inculcates, namely, that whatever the believer 
 receives at last from God, is of grace, and not of works. It has 
 been truly said, that its teaching is parallel with the first four 
 verses of the fourth chapter of Koinans. It is intended to urge 
 on all God's disciples, that by the very terms of the covenant 
 under which alone they stand before God, or are admitted to 
 work at all in his vineyard, all boasting is excluded, as if they 
 deserved any thing at his hands because of what they had done, 
 or better than others who have labored at their side. It is to 
 strike at the root of all such questioning " What shall we have 
 therefore f" It is not because of any merit in themselves that they 
 have been sent into the vineyard in the first instance, nor is it 
 because of meritorious work when in it that they at length shall 
 reap a full reward. The first is of grace, and the last is equally 
 so. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own f 
 truly sets forth the nature of all such transacticns between God 
 and his people. What he gives them is not their own, but his 
 own. It is of his own sovereign grace and mercy that he bestows 
 any thing on them which they have or hope to have. " / will 
 give unto this last even as unto thee."
 
 THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. 3i5 
 
 What is meant by this " gift" in the parable is admirably set 
 forth by Alford. " This gift I believe, then, to be eternal life, or, 
 in other words, GOD HIMSELF. (John xvii. 3.) And this, rightly 
 understood, will keep us from the error of supposing that the 
 parable involves a declaration that all who are saved will be in 
 absolute equality. This gift is and will be to each man as he is 
 prepared to receive it." Eternal life, God himself, his favor, his 
 light, his glory, all that the great King and Creator can ever be 
 to a creature, is the portion forever of those who are found at the 
 evening faithful workmen in his vineyard. But " if the vision 
 of God constitute the blessedness of the future world, then they 
 whose spiritual eye is most enlightened, will drink in most of his 
 glory." According to the enlargement of the vessel, " it will re- 
 ceive more amply of the ftivine fullness ;" and thus with the 
 same reward at last to all, even as it was given to Abraham 
 through faith long ago, " / am thine exceeding great reward," it 
 shall still happen that " there are first which shall be last, and 
 last first" some by the very largeness of the capacity to receive 
 and enjoy, shall be, as it were, before others who started in the 
 race before them ; and some who have " borne the burden and 
 heat of the day," though not less full, yet according to the meas- 
 ure of their stature shall be as " the last." 
 
 Our Lord adds, " For many are called, but few chosen," not as 
 a further application of the special features of the parable, but as 
 an important caution to be received regarding the whole matter 
 at large to which the parable is directed. From each body of 
 workmen going at once when called to work in the vineyard, it 
 might have been inferred that all who heard the gospel invitation 
 would obey it, and faithfully serve God as his chosen active 
 servants. Our Lord corrects this notion by these words just 
 quoted. It was necessary for the scope of the parable and its 
 special bearing, that different groups should be found repairing 
 at once, just as they were called, into the vineyard. All these 
 before they begin their work are called ; and as they are seen at 
 their work, they prove themselves to be chosen ; but there is a 
 vast number beside of whom the parable takes no immediate 
 cognizance, because they come not within its scope, who, though 
 called and invited, yea, again and again entreated to go and 
 work in the vineyard, yet love the wages of iniquity better, are
 
 316 THE PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. 
 
 not found among the faithful servants of their heavenly Master, 
 and so are destitute of that mark of grace which his own people 
 manifest, as not only " called," but also " chosen and faithful." 
 
 And here, then, is another work of true discipleship, to be a 
 faithful laborer, and that, too, in the place, and for the time ap- 
 pointed for our Divine Master. To bear any toil he lays upon 
 us, and yet to know that after all the reward is not of works but 
 of grace, and that the greatness and preciousness of that reward 
 is the enjoyment of God's presence forever. And he, then, will 
 the most readily and frankly forgive the errors of his fellow- 
 servants who most deeply feels that he himself stands by grace, 
 and not through his own merit ; and these precious stones will 
 ever appear side by side in the house of the wise builder his 
 conformity with his gracious Master*in acts of forgiveness, and 
 his dependence on that Master's grace, so to sanctify all he does 
 as that it may be owned at last to be the true and faithful work 
 of a chosen and beloved servant.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE UNJUST STEWARD THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 WE now pass on to another parable, which gives still farther 
 insight into what is required of true discipleship what is expect- 
 ed at the hands of a returned and converted prodigal. 
 
 "And he said, also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man 
 which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had 
 wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it 
 that I hear this of thee ? give an account of thy stewardship ; for thou 
 mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, 
 What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: 
 lean not dig ; to beg lam ashamed. lam resolved what to do, that, 
 when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their 
 houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and 
 said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? And he said, 
 An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, 
 and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And 
 how much owest thou ? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. 
 And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the 
 lord commended the unjust steward, because he had lone ivisely: for 
 the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children 
 of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mam- 
 mon of unrighteousness ; that when ye fail, they may receive you into 
 everlasting habitations." Luke xvi. 1-9. 
 
 In order fully to enter into that which this parable is designed 
 to teach, we must bear in mind that it presents before us, from 
 first to last, a finished picture of thorough worldliness. The fa- 
 cility with which the interpretation has been admitted, making 
 the rich man to represent Jehovah, and the steward, each one of 
 the human race who has received certain things in trust from Je-
 
 318 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 hovah, at once perplexes the whole passage, and is altogether for- 
 eign to the purport of the parable. 
 
 The words with which our Lord draws the parable to a close 
 before proceeding to the full application, ought to have prevented 
 this view from being entertained. " The children of this world 
 are in their generation wiser than the children of light." Now 
 this expression does not refer merely to the steward, nor yet to 
 the debtors with whom he had conspired to defraud his master, 
 but equally to that master himself, together with both these par- 
 ties. The parable, in fact, portrays in lively colors before us a 
 group of " the children of this world," it exhibits to us some 
 marked features in their dealing with each other, and illustrates 
 " their wisdom in their generation" their shrewdness and clever- 
 ness in adapting their means and energies toward the end they 
 have in view. Let us look at this group as they appear before us 
 in the parable. 
 
 First of all, there is the "rich man 11 himself. Not here such a 
 rich man as we observed in another parable, preparing to build 
 new barns and storehouses, in the miserable hope of a future of 
 peace, prosperity, and comfort nor such a rich man as is set forth 
 in the parable at the close of the chapter where this is found, who 
 was "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously 
 every day," but a rich man who was careful of "his goods" He 
 does not appear to be exceedingly anxious as to their increase, nor 
 yet lavish and luxurious in their expenditure, but he takes good 
 care not to lose sight of them. He is obliged to trust in others 
 so far, but his is no blind confidence. He keeps his ears and his 
 eyes open to all that concerns his affairs, and he will not be long 
 before he detects what is wrong, nor will he lose time in punishing 
 the wrong doer. He is, in fact, in the worldly sense of the term, 
 a careful man, one who looks well after his own interests, and is 
 not the less fond of "his goods" because he does not appear to be 
 in such a hurry as some to increase them, or as others to spend 
 them. Look at him when he discovers the fraudulent conduct 
 of his steward. "The Lord (His Lord, it ought to be rendered, 
 the lord of the steward) commended the unjust steward, because he 
 had done wisely" He did not commend him for his injustice. He 
 turned him out of his office on that account ; but as a man of the 
 world he could not withhold from him commendation for his clev-
 
 THE DISHONEST STEWARD. 319 
 
 erness and shrewdness in the plan he had formed for his future 
 provision and comfort. What is this but the very echo of what 
 we hear continually amid the ranks of worldly men ? Persons 
 who will no1 defraud others, and who take good care not to be 
 defrauded by others, and yet who can not refrain from admiring 
 the " sharp practice" of the less scrupulous, and even at the very 
 moment when they condemn dishonesty, and visit it with a heavy 
 penalty, yet speak of the fraudulent person as a very clever though 
 an unprincipled man. 
 
 Then, as to the second party in this group. He is not such as 
 our Lord had spoken of, some little time before " "Who then is 
 that faithful and wise steward ?" He is a dishonest and cunning 
 one. He goes on for some time using the opportunities he has of 
 fraudulent conduct, and indulging himself at the expense of his 
 master, but he manages to save appearances. "When, however, 
 he is detected, far from repenting of his former evil course, he 
 takes advantage ' of the last moment, before he renders up his 
 stewardship, to defraud still more, and to implicate others in his 
 evil deeds, in order, if possible, to secure for himself such shelter 
 and help at length as he will need. "Sit down quickly" he says 
 to his lord's debtors no time to be lost. If you do not change 
 your bill now, you will never be able to do it afterward. If you 
 do, I will take care in my reckoning that you are not exposed. 
 He displays his tact and shrewdness in taking advantage of the 
 very last moment he had at his disposal, and also by implicating 
 others with him in his fraud. 
 
 Then, there are the debtors themselves persons who will not 
 strike out such a plan of fraud and crime as the steward does, but 
 who are not on the whole unwilling to lend an ear to his sug- 
 gestions; not as bold in dishonesty as the other, but equally 
 greedy after the wages of iniquity, and content to connive at 
 what is sinful, if, peradventure, they may themselves " suck there- 
 out no small advantage." 
 
 Now, all these persons are " in their generation wiser than the 
 children of light." They are not wiser in regard to what they 
 are, because, by implication, they arc children of darkness, but in 
 their way with the end they have before them they show much 
 more shrewdness and cleverness in their efforts to attain that end 
 than the children of light. Are the latter as prudently careful
 
 320 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 over what they possess as this rich man was over " his goods f " 
 Are they as watchful as he, that none shall in any way rob or 
 defraud them of these precious things which have been given to 
 them ? Are they as clear-sighted and watchful over their eternal 
 interests as he was about his temporal ? Are they, again, as quick 
 and prompt to take advantage of every moment, in order to 
 make provision for the time to come, as the steward was in regard 
 to his future prospects in the world ? Are they eagerly vigilant 
 not to let slip any opportunity which may be improved in pro- 
 moting "the things which belong to their everlasting peace?" 
 Are they as ready to gather from the experience of others, from 
 their foresight and decision, what may add to their own store of 
 the riches of Christ, so that they may also out of that abundance 
 be a means of blessing in return, as these debtors were in the pur- 
 suit of their earthly prosp*erity ? Alas, no ! In all these points 
 they are put to shame by the people of the world. They have 
 a glorious inheritance the true riches unsearchable riches 
 gold that perisheth not a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, 
 and yet there is no comparison between the .zeal, and the care, 
 and the wisdom, and the shrewdness with which they " lay up 
 for themselves in store," and what those manifest who have set 
 their heart upon the world, and have taken the things it offers as 
 their treasure and chiefest good. The latter teach the people of 
 God many a lesson which they would do well to profit by, in 
 real earnestness, regarding the things on which they have severally 
 set their hearts. 
 
 But, lest there should be any misapprehension regarding the 
 imagery used in this parable lest it might be supposed that he 
 was doing more than merely drawing such an inference as that 
 just given lest it might for a moment be supposed that he was 
 marking with his approval the conduct of the parties in the par- 
 able, our Lord proceeds to give his second application of it. 
 "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of 
 unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlast- 
 ing habitations" These men in the parable, were not doing this. 
 They were wise in their generation, no doubt, but they had missed 
 this true wisdom they had not gained the secret of making the 
 mammon of unrighteousness, the gold and the silver of the world, 
 their friends. They had not acquired a real knowledge of the
 
 THE DISHONEST STEWARD. 321 
 
 character of these things. While they showed great sagacity in 
 pursuing them, they were, nevertheless, ignorant of their real 
 value. They knew well how to run eagerly after them. They 
 knew not how to keep them. They could grasp them in their 
 hands, but it was only to feel them pierce them with sorrow, or 
 see them take wings and fly away as quickly as they came. 
 
 Now, our Lord's earnest advice to his disciples by means of 
 this parable, was to take warning by those spoken of in it, and 
 not to do as they are represented as doing. Their hearts were so 
 set on the mammon of unrighteousness, that it became the prolific 
 source of mutual enmity. It likewise became an enemy to them 
 in their own bosom. Their care and love for the world filled 
 them with anxieties and fears. The disciples of Jesus were to 
 take heed that it was not so with them. They ought to " make to 
 themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness}' 1 They were 
 to use the world as not abusing it. They were to set its proper 
 value on it, and keep it in its right place. They were not, with 
 the means at their disposal, to provide for themselves " barns and 
 storehouses," nor "purple and fine linen," and sumptuous fare. 
 They were not to make use of them for the mere purposes of self- 
 indulgence, and personal ease or comfort, but they were to make 
 "friends of them" they were to make such a use of all worldly 
 things, as that these should not rise up in judgment against them 
 at the last, and condemn them, but be an evidence in their favor 
 that they sought to serve God with the very things which worldly 
 men reserve for themselves. In other words, we are taught that 
 a sanctified use of what is in itself worthless and perishing, will 
 turn it into a friend. It will then be a witness for us and not 
 against us ; one or other of which it must be. It will speak in 
 our favor before God not as showing merit in us, but as proving 
 the true work of grace within, that we have been led to consecrate 
 every thing within our reach to God, instead of misspending it 
 on ourselves. 
 
 And this receives still further force from what our Lord added, 
 "No servant can serve two masters." The worldly man loves mam- 
 mon and serves mammon, and, therefore, he is a slave who does 
 what his master bids, while by this very choice of mammon, he is 
 at enmity with God. But the true disciple has chosen God as his 
 master, and thus he is not enslaved by the world, but, on the 
 
 21
 
 322 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 contrary, he is above it, and by reason of this relationship with 
 God, he can " make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." 
 To be at enmity with God is, in other words, to serve mammon. 
 To serve God is, in other words, to turn the curse of mammon 
 into a blessing to extract sweetness out of bitterness to change 
 " the root of all evil" into a goodly plant to turn a deadly enemy 
 into a real frierid. 
 
 "That when ye fail" proceeds our Lord, or rather more accu- 
 rately, when it, (i. e., the more money, the actual gold and silver, 
 when we are beyond the power of using it any longer,) " when it 
 fails, they (the friends made by it) may receive you into ever- 
 lasting habitations." The evidences of your faithfulness in the 
 mammon of unrighteousness will be 'produced at last in your 
 favor, and though they will not open the wayybr you into your 
 everlasting habitation, will, nevertheless, welcome you thither. 
 "Your bread cast upon the waters will be found after many 
 days." You will find that you have " laid up in store a good 
 foundation against the time to come." The use you have made 
 of earthly things will bear friendly testimony to you in Heaven, 
 and the keeper of this friendly testimony will be none other than 
 your Master himself as it will also be none other than He who 
 will at last declare and publish that testimony to the universe 
 " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye 
 have done it unto me." This is " to make friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness." This is the friendly welcome which they 
 who do so shall receive at the last* 
 
 And here, then, the disciple of Jesus is earnestly reminded 
 that while he has given up the world, in order to follow Christ, 
 he is still in the world, and has a great deal to do with the world. 
 
 * The following admirable note tends to show very clearly the connection between 
 the above parable and the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth verses following, which present 
 at first sight considerable difficulty. The three verses are " closely connected with 
 the foregoing. The faithfulness in the least is the same as the prudence and shrewd- 
 ness just spoken of; in the case of the children of light, they run up into one who 
 then is that faithful and icise steward? 'That which is least'='the unrighteous 
 mammon' ' that which is another man's' i. e., the wealth of ihis present world, which 
 is not the Christian's own, nor his proper inheritance. The 'much'= 'the true 
 riches, '=' that which is your own,'=i/*e true riches of God's inheritance. The wealth 
 of this world is u.u6-p<oi 'another's,' forfeited by sin orly put into our hands to 
 try us, and to be rendered an account of." Alford.
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 323 
 
 First, he is, by the example of worldly men, the shrewdness, dil- 
 igence, care, and forethought which they exhibit in their pursuit, 
 to be prudent, diligent, earnest, and active in his. He is to prove 
 by all his words and works that he is as really in earnest on his 
 side as they are on theirs. He is to learn a lesson from their worldly 
 wisdom, and to put it into practice without their worldliness. And 
 then, secondly, he is to extract true value out of " unrighteous 
 mammon," he is to turn to the very best account the mere dross 
 of this world its gold and its silver and so " provide himself 
 bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth 
 not, where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth." Thus 
 will the wise builder fashion precious stones out of very unprom- 
 ising material. Thus will the poor prodigal himself restored 
 search the land wherein he had formerly dwelt, that he may 
 bring the things he had once basely squandered, and lay them at 
 his Father's feet. 
 
 "We advance now to another parable closely connected with 
 that just considered, .delivered by our Lord on the same occasion, 
 and evidently completing what was there illustrated in a very 
 solemn and striking manner. 
 
 " There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and 
 fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day ; and tJiere was a certain 
 beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and 
 desiring to be fed with tiie crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: 
 moreover, tJie dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, 
 that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
 bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted 
 up his eyes, being in toi-ments, and seeth Abraham afar offhand Laz- 
 arus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have 
 mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger 
 in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But 
 Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy 
 good tilings, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is com- 
 forted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and 
 you there is a great gulf faced: so that they ivhich would pass from 
 hence to you can not ; neither can tfiey pass to us, that would come 
 from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou 
 wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; (hat 
 he may testify unto them, lest they aim come into this place of torment.
 
 324 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets ; let them 
 hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham ; but if one went 
 unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, 
 If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded 
 though one rose from the dead.' 1 ' 1 Luke xvi. 19-31. 
 
 We are told by the Evangelist that the Pharisees, "who were 
 covetous/' on hearing the parable of the unjust steward, derided 
 Jesus. And our Lord, then, in the parable now before us, gives 
 a terrible illustration of the man who fails to " make unto him- 
 self friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." 
 
 "We have here, first of all, a description of one of the " children 
 of this world" a rich man living in luxury and splendor. His 
 clothing, his eating, and his drinking, all as sumptuous as carnal 
 heart can desire. It is important, however, that we do not exag- 
 gerate the character here portrayed. There is nothing said of 
 this man as implying any thing in his outward deportment or 
 conduct but what might be " highly esteemed among men." He 
 is not said to be dishonest, nor avaricious, nor yet a spendthrift. 
 He spends his money freely, but not, as far as the story shows, 
 with reckless extravagance. He might be regarded by others as 
 one merely living handsomely according to his means. We have 
 nothing hinted at, as if displaying a specially selfish character 
 with reference to those in his own house. On the contrary, the 
 simple notice of what he says near the close of the parable of his 
 " five brethren," would rather lead us to regard the character 
 intended to be represented as amiable and generous in the esti- 
 mation of the world. And even as to the beggar at his gate, it 
 is wrong- to regard what is said of the latter, as if pointing to a 
 marked and special contempt and neglect on the part of the rich 
 man toward his poor afflicted neighbor. If the description of the 
 beggar, "full of sores" refers to the plague of leprosy, as appears 
 probable, then there was a legal necessity for his not being 
 allowed to go farther than the gate of the house. And when 
 likewise it is said of the poor man that he " desired to be fed ivith 
 the crumbs" &c., it means that he did obtain his wish, that he 
 " looked for" and " willingly took" it. He was laid at the gate, 
 according to his wish, as the most convenient place where he 
 could lie, and where he knew he would receive of the superflui- 
 ties of the rich man's table. There is nothing to prevent the
 
 THE EICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 325 
 
 supposition that the rich man gladly assented to this. In the 
 latter part of the parable he recognizes Lazarus, and so we may 
 gather that at least not unwillingly he knew of the daily relief 
 which the poor beggar received at his gate. Nay, as he himself 
 passed in and out, he may have bestowed kind words on the 
 afflicted leper, even as he allowed him to be fed from his table. 
 
 To make this man out to be unamiable, uncharitable, cold, and 
 contemptuous to the poor and the suffering, is not within the 
 scope of the parable at all, or rather, it militates against its true 
 bearing, and assuredly is not supported in the least degree by the 
 words of the parable itself. But whence then his condemnation, 
 according t the terrible description given at the close of the par- 
 able ? "Was it simply because he was rich ? Far from it. No 
 fair construction of the parable can ever admit of such a view. 
 And it is not unworthy of passing remark, that, as if to prevent 
 us for a moment harboring the thought, we have Abraham intro- 
 duced as on the other side of the gulf, and yet he " was exceeding 
 rich." 
 
 The real key to this man's character and the cause of his con- 
 demnation, is to be found in a single expression used by Abraham 
 toward him, " Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst THY 
 good things" " What a weighty, precious word is this, ' THY,' " 
 exclaims a modern commentator. It scatters to the winds the 
 false deductions of De Wette and others, that the parable means, 
 " Woe to the rich, but blessed are the poor." " THY good things" 
 the things you have chosen as your portion the things of earth, 
 and time, and sense, in the enjoyment of which you lived content- 
 edly and happily as your own. God put them into your hands 
 as a steward to be taken care of and used for him ; you have dis- 
 honestly seized and appropriated them to yourself, as if they 
 were your own property. They have been your good. THY good 
 things! How this, as formerly noted, binds several of these para- 
 bles together ! The prodigal son demanded the portion of "goods 
 which falleth to ME." The rich fool made all preparation for 
 preserving " His goods" the " children of this world" contended 
 with each other about what each wished to call "HIS goods" 
 (verse 1,) and now here this rich man, instead of making friends 
 of his riches, using them for God's glory, as a faithful and a wise 
 steward, has just taken them as his own ; thus wasting what did
 
 326 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 not belong to him, spending it as he pleased, not as God required; 
 until at length being called to give an account of his stewardship, 
 he is found guilty and condemned. 
 
 And in the word " receivedst" as in the original, there is great 
 emphasis. " It expresses the receipt in full the exhaustion of all 
 claim on. Those that were good things to thee came to an end in 
 thy lifetime : there are no more of them." "Whatever can be de- 
 rived from the guilty use of the things of earth, apart from the 
 giver, and in neglect of fidelity to him, had been received by this 
 rich man. He had taken them as his own, and he received his 
 reward. They gave him as much as they could, and then left him 
 to perish. The rich man in this parable, then, is the* representa- 
 tive of that large class of worldly persons who have " their por- 
 tion in this life," who stand well in the estimation of those who 
 judge according to the outward appearance, but who are altogether 
 destitute of love to God, and blind to the solemn responsibility 
 laid upon them, to use their possessions not for their own indul- 
 gence, but according to his will. They are persons who, with all 
 their amiability, are deficient in every emotion of gratitude toward 
 God with all their integrity regarding their fellow-men, are dis- 
 honest in respect of their heavenly Master, and with all the def- 
 erence they exhibit for the opinions and the wishes of the world, 
 have none for the plain requirements of Jehovah. 
 
 Turn now to the other party introduced to our notice in this 
 parable the beggar. It is worthy of remark, that just as the 
 character of the rich man is marked by a single expression such 
 as we have noted, so it would appear that our Lord by a single 
 word would convey to us the impression he desired regarding the 
 poor man. This is the only one of his parables in which he in- 
 troduces parties to us by name. We have, first, the beggar named 
 Lazarus ; and then Abraham is brought expressly before us, in the 
 latter part of the parable. We may readily assume that our Lord 
 had some special reason for this unusual addition to the general 
 characteristic of his parables. When, therefore, he says the beg- 
 gar was called Lazarus, (the Lord my help,) it is not too much to 
 infer that he wished by this very name to give us this insight into 
 his character, that he was one of the true Israel ; that he belonged 
 to those who trusted in the living God, who realized in his poverty 
 and disease, that " man doth not live by bread alone, but by every
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 327 
 
 word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ;" that amid all 
 that was so dreary and dark outwardly in his condition, he was 
 a partaker of the blessedness of the man who " has the God of 
 Jacob for his help, and whose hope is in the Lord his God." 
 
 "We see then in him an entire and striking contrast to the other 
 as regards outward things. The one is clothed in purple and fine 
 linen the other in rags. The one fares sumptuously the other 
 desires to be fed with the leavings of the rich man's table. The 
 one reposes on his luxurious couch the other is laid at the rich 
 man's gate. And yet the contrast in the external condition is not 
 more remarkable than that which exists when we look farther. 
 The rich man takes all that he has as his good things the poor 
 man has evil things ; but note, they are not his evil things, they 
 are sent by his heavenly Father for a set purpose and a set time 
 to prove and try him, and he has nothing further to do with them 
 they are as little his portion in reality as the good things which 
 the rich man has belong to him. He knows it the rich man does 
 not Again, the rich man trusts in what he has the poor man 
 trusts in God takes what God sends him without murmuring 
 is thankful for crumbs, and suffers even the " dogs to lick his 
 sores." And thus, while the one would ever find abundance of 
 thorns in his bed of roses, the other would often forget the hard- 
 ness of his outward lot by the gracious manifestations of his 
 Father's love to him ; realizing, it may be, as bright visions, as 
 Jacob did when he had no softer pillow than a stone whereon to 
 lay his head. 
 
 "We come now to the turning-point in the parable. We have 
 both these men strongly contrasted with each other in life we 
 have them both brought together for a moment, and but a moment, 
 in deatfi. "Tlie beggar died" " The rich man also died." "It is 
 appointed unto all men once to die." Nothing but the mere act 
 of death connects the two. Even its accompaniments were widely 
 different in both cases. The rich man had a stately funeral. This 
 was a fitting termination to a life whose main feature was the in- 
 dulgence of the poor body. The beggar, too, was buried ; but no 
 mention is made of his burial here. His dust was precious in the 
 sight of that God in whom he trusted, and in the resurrection- 
 morning God will show how much he prizes the redeemed bodies 
 of his saints ; but the parable has only at this point to do with
 
 328 THE PABABLE OF 
 
 what takes place among men ; and so it merely leaves us to infer, 
 that while the rich man was carried to the tomb with earthly pa- 
 geantry and state, the poor diseased body of the beggar was hid 
 out of sight in any obscure grave which the hand of charity 
 might provide for it. 
 
 Now let us tarry for a moment at this point in the story. Let 
 us place ourselves in imagination at the door of the rich man's 
 house, when the band of hired mourners has passed away, as his 
 body is* borne to the grave. His place is empty now within the 
 gorgeous halls he called his own. That tenant is gone forever. 
 The place of poor Lazarus is empty too. There is the spot on 
 which he rested his wearied aching limbs, and received his daily 
 pittance from the rich man's table. That spot shall know him no 
 more forever. Turn now from the things that are seen, and pause 
 in solemn awe as he who has the keys of death and Hades draws 
 aside with his own hand that dread veil which hides the things 
 that are unseen and eternal. What bright spirit is that which, shi- 
 ning with heavenly radiance, is conducted by the angels to the 
 abodes of bliss, where are Abraham, and all who have followed 
 in the footsteps of his faith? It is Lazarus. "He is carried by the 
 angels into Abraham's bosom" Fadeless bloom, endless light, un- 
 broken peace, are there, and all are his forever. But whence is 
 that wail of anguish ? Look across that terrible unfathomable 
 gulf, and, as the eye becomes accustomed to the dread darkness 
 resting there, behold him in this region of despair from whom this 
 bitter cry has arisen. Can you recognize him ? It is the rich 
 man. He diecl. He was buried. He has " lifted up his eyes" in 
 Hades, " being in torment" Now, judgment and eternity are stern 
 realities brought before him face to face. He sees now as he never 
 did before. And from amid his desolation he beholds Abraham 
 and Lazarus, but alas, both are " afar off" and so he cries with an 
 exceeding great and bitter cry from the unutterable misery which 
 has fallen upon him. Ah, if the rich man's couch is empty now, 
 and the place at his gate also where the beggar was wont to lie 
 the region of bliss and the abode of misery have had each a 
 place filled in them, and the contrast of time is as nothing in com- 
 parison of that in eternity with this terrible change severally in 
 the condition of the two, that " now he (Lazarus) is comforted, and 
 tkou (the rich man) art tormented"
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 329 
 
 And here we must enter a protest against all those attempts 
 which have been made to set aside a very important inference to 
 be drawn from this part of the parable, by affirming that our Lord 
 did not necessarily mean to convey to us any view of the actual 
 condition of each soul at death, but merely based his parable on 
 the Jewish notion that all true believers when they died were 
 carried to Abraham's bosom. Such dealing with the parable is 
 utterly indefensible. It is turning the parable into a fable, taking 
 the illustration out of the region of reality, and so altogether 
 destroying its force. The connection between a vine and its 
 branches is a real not a fabulous thing. The office and work of a 
 shepherd is not a fabulous thing. The obedience of some sons, 
 and the profligacy of others is not a fabulous thing. The rela- 
 tionship between master and servant, husbandman and laborers, 
 is not a fabulous thing. The losing of a sheep or a piece of 
 money is not a fabulous thing. The fraudulent ways of the chil- 
 dren of this world is not a fabulous thing. And so here, unless 
 we would withdraw this parable from all the rest, and rob it of 
 what distinguishes every one of them, we must conclude that our 
 Lord has laid bare to us one of the most solemn, as it is one of 
 the most startling truths connected with our present condition, 
 namely, that death to the believer ushers him at once into endless 
 felicity, and that to the impenitent, also, it brings him under the 
 immediate pressure of everlasting despair. He teaches us here, 
 that to the child of God to be " absent from the body is to be 
 present with the Lord," while to the impenitent, to be dismissed 
 from the body is but to " go to his own place," where " the worm 
 dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 
 
 See with what terrible distinctness all this is delineated in the 
 parable. The rich man dies, is buried, and is "in torment" There 
 is no waiting for the last day and its final judgment. The die is 
 cast, and while the body is not yet returned to the grave, the 
 spirit has joined those who like itself have chosen death rather 
 than life. The whole pleading of this wretched man with Abra- 
 ham implies that the day of grace for those he had left behind 
 still lasted, and that the day of final judgment was still future. 
 Then, just as this gives us the instantaneous plunging of the im- 
 penitent into misery at death, so also does it mark the hopeless- 
 ness of any change after death. Not even a drop of water to be
 
 330 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 found there. A "great gulf between the righteous and the 
 wicked, and that " FIXED," so that the passage from the one to 
 the other is impossible on either side. When once the spirit has 
 taken its flight from its earthly prison, the dread decree comes 
 into force never to be relaxed " He that is unjust, let him be 
 unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he 
 that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, 
 let him be holy still." 
 
 Then consider further what the parable intimates to us. The 
 wretched man entreats that Lazarus be sent to his five brethren 
 lest they also join him in the place of torment. Alas, as long as 
 they are in this world the wicked find their greatest satisfaction 
 in drawing others after them in their forgetfulness of God, and 
 indulgence of themselves. It will be widely different in the world 
 to come. Then every addition to the sad and guilty throng will 
 plant an additional sting in the bosom of the lost. Increasing 
 numbers will only increase their anguish ; and if there can be a 
 glimmer of hope at all where every thing is despair, it is only 
 expressed in such terrible words as these, " lest they also come into 
 this place of torment" 
 
 But much light is thrown upon the whole truth intended to be 
 illustrated here by the express mention of Abraham, and what he 
 says to the rich man. Can there be any room for doubting the 
 purpose of Jesus in singling out Abraham in the place of rest, and 
 peace, and joy, as the one whom Lazarus joined? Both of these 
 persons, the rich and the poor, were his children after the flesh 
 one only was his child according to the faith. Abraham himself 
 in bliss is there specially as the " father of the faithful." He has, 
 " through faith and patience, inherited the promises ;" and so, 
 when Lazarus joins this "friend of God," we are unmistakably 
 informed that he has reached that happy abode, not by works 
 not in consequence of his sufferings, nor by reason of his sub- 
 mission under them but because he walked in the steps of the 
 faith of Abraham, and so now his faith is also swallowed up in 
 sight, and, like his great progenitor, he receives full possession of 
 the promises which he formerly embraced, and of the reality of 
 which he was fully persuaded long before. The picture in the 
 parable of Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, is the precious repre- 
 sentation before the eye of the words of the Apostle, " So then
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 331 
 
 they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham" (Gala- 
 tians iii. 9.) 
 
 It is just this which makes the eternal distinction between 
 Lazarus and the rich man. The one believed, the other did not. 
 And so Lazarus sits down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the 
 kingdom of God, while the rich man is cast out. Through faith 
 the one has entered into rest. Because of unbelief the other 
 enters not, and so the wrath of God abides upon him. And just 
 as this is implied in the mere introduction of Abraham here, so 
 his conversation with the rich man fully proves it. See what the 
 latter desires for his brethren. He begs that Lazarus may be sent 
 to testify to them, if it may be that they will "HEAR," " BE PER- 
 SUADED," and "REPENT." Tbia is just as if he had confessed, 
 that in his lifetime he had done none of these things. It is his 
 acknowledgment that his lot in torment was but the necessary 
 result of his not hearing, believing, (or being persuaded,) and repent- 
 ing. It distinctly and unequivocally implies that Lazarus in 
 Abraham's bosom had escaped the torment with which the other 
 is now enveloped, just because he did hear, believe, and repent. 
 It was not his riches that gave the rich man his place in torment ; 
 neither was it the poverty of Lazarus that gave him his place in 
 bliss. It was because the one rejected the counsel of God against 
 himself, and turned a deaf ear to God, who, " at sundry times, 
 and in divers manners, spake in times past unto him ;" and be- 
 cause the other "believed God, and so it was counted to him for 
 righteousness." 
 
 And besides all this, the language of Abraham clearly sets 
 forth what is the grand and fruitful source of all man's misery 
 and death. Not the deficiency of evidence, but the deficiency of 
 willingness to receive any evidence at all. "If they hear not Moses 
 and the prophets, neither will they be. persuaded though one rose from 
 the dead. 11 It is impossible to pass unnoticed the wonderful con- 
 firmation of this statement which the after history of Christ sup- 
 plied, and which is still more striking from the identity of the 
 names. When Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was 
 raised from the dead when those who had seen him a dead 
 corpse, saw him once more sitting at the supper-table with his Mas- 
 ter this, instead of bringing the enemies of Christ to his feet, 
 only stirred them up all the more to conspire againt him, to put
 
 332 THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 him to death. Verily, a Lazarus did go to them from the dead ; 
 but a deaf ear to Moses and the prophets made them blind to this 
 also, and so they were not " persuaded." 
 
 And here, then, the true disciple who is building on the one 
 foundation, even Christ, is taught some precious and important 
 truths regarding his work. He must be ready not only to do, 
 but to suffer. He must make up his mind to a cheerful acquies- 
 cence in the will of God, even if God shall be pleased to send 
 him manifold " evil things" in his outward lot even if he be 
 laid as a Lazarus at some rich man's gate, and dependent on the 
 merest charity for his daily food. In other words, he must let 
 patience have her perfect work, and rest assured that those will 
 not be among the least precious or beautiful of the stones he is 
 building on the tried foundation, which, under the chastening 
 hand of God, give some blessed tokens of resemblance to and 
 fellowship in suffering with him who "knew not where to lay 
 his head." Further, this parable must teach him not to be jeal- 
 ous at the prosperity of the wicked ; it must tell him how uncer- 
 tain these things are which the men of the world choose as their 
 portion, and how "the rich man," who trusts in his riches, "fades 
 away in his ways." And far from envying them, therefore, when 
 they are " flourishing like a green bay -tree," it appeals to his 
 every sympathy and feeling to lose no time in seeking, by prayer 
 and every other possible means, to do that which the poor man 
 in torment so eagerly desired to do, but in vain, namely, to turn 
 the wicked from his wickedness the rich man from his confi- 
 dence that they may be converted and live.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PHAEI8EE AND FtBLICAN THE SON ASKING BREAD THE FBIEND AT MIDNIGHT 
 THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 
 
 WE come now to a very interesting and important group of 
 parables. When the bitterest persecutor of the early church was 
 converted to God, he was pointed out to a disciple of Jesus, in 
 his changed condition, by these significant words, " Behold, he 
 prayeth." And that prayer was a life-long one. The simple 
 turning of his heart toward his Father, and the affecting words 
 poured forth by the poor prodigal, beautifully represent the spirit 
 of adoption in the true child of God, " whereby he cries, Abba, 
 Father." We have then, as we might expect, some precious par- 
 ables bearing on this express mark of true discipleship. The 
 wise builder must not only see to his foundation, take heed unto 
 his spirit, and diligently add to his building one stone after an- 
 other of those " works which are by Jesus Christ to the praise of 
 God," but he must ever throughout the whole process see that he 
 uses proper tools for his work. Unless he does this, he will not 
 proceed either so rapidly or so successfully in his work as he 
 might, and as he ought. If he uses inferior tools, he will often 
 be satisfied with " wood, hay, and stubble," for his materials. It 
 is only when he has those tools in his hand which are altogether 
 suitable for his work, that he never will use any thing but the 
 finest and most precious material " gold, silver, precious stones." 
 What he has to labor with, then, throughout his whole course of 
 work, is prayer. Just as the man who has " the whole armor of 
 God," will not even then fight well unless he is " praying always," 
 so he, who has reached the true foundation, and has discovered 
 the way to the proper quarries, will not even then build well, 
 unless he continue " instant in prayer."
 
 334 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 The first of this series of parables emphatically poiats out what 
 prayer really is. 
 
 " Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the ortx, JL Pharisee, 
 and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with 
 himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, 
 unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, 
 I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar 
 off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon 
 his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this 
 man went down to his house justified rather than the other : for every 
 one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth him- 
 self shall be exalted." Luke xviii. 10-14. 
 
 Our Lord, just before delivering this parable, had spoken an- 
 other, " to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to 
 faint." But while encouraging them to this duty, he takes care 
 to impress upon them in that now before us what that duty really 
 is. A mistake here is fatal. He has no encouragement for a 
 life-long prayer, such as that offered up by the Pharisee, but only 
 for that breathed forth by the publican. 
 
 It is important to notice that this parable was not spoken to 
 Pharisees and publicans, nor concerning Pharisees and publicans. 
 These two sections in the Jewish people are introduced by our 
 Lord into the parable as fitly representing two distinct classes of 
 mankind in general those who " trust in themselves that they 
 are righteous, and despise others," and those who, with gracious 
 humility, repent truly before God. It is not improbable that, 
 even among his own followers, Jesus detected the seeds of self- 
 righteousness which needed to be cast out of their hearts, and 
 that even such men as Peter, and James, and John, needed the 
 solemn warning of this parable to guard them against exalting 
 themselves and despising others. That he should, however, 
 introduce a Pharisee into the parable as a type of the self-right- 
 eous spirit generally, is a remarkable proof in confirmation of 
 what has been already advanced in this volume, namely, that our 
 Lord's frequent allusions in his discourses to the Pharisees, the 
 Sadducees, and the Publicans, must not be regarded as merely 
 addressed to them severally and exclusively, but to them as 
 "each representing psychologically a distinct class of persons." 
 It is thus that from the pages of the Gospel the mere names of
 
 THE PHAEISEE AND PUBLICAN. 335 
 
 these sects seem to vanish away, and leave only those grar A prin- 
 ciples they represent, and by one or other of which all mankind 
 are moved. Self-righteousness and pride unbelief and self- 
 indulgence or, godly sorrow for sin. 
 
 Let us then first note what the parable condemns, though it has 
 the outward aspect of prayer. The very mode in which the Phar- 
 isee is represented as engaging in prayer is suggestive, "He stood 
 and prayed." This expression, "he stood" does not refer to the 
 mere attitude of standing instead of kneeling at prayer, but it sets 
 forth a certain formality in his proceedings forcibly descriptive of 
 his state of mind. It is as if it were said, " He took his place" 
 he set himself pompously in the position he chose, in order to go 
 through regularly and formally the routine of his devotions. We 
 are by no means to suppose that he was in this acting a hypocritical 
 part. He may have fancied all the time that he was really devout, 
 and a true worshiper ; but his very outward conduct indicated 
 thus much, that if he practiced devotion in its outside observance, 
 he knew nothing of its inner spirit. 
 
 Then, look further at the subject-matter of his prayer. "Why, 
 he is not as a suppliant, asking at the hands of God what he needs. 
 He stands as one in need of nothing as one rich in every spir- 
 itual gift and grace and in the full tide of self-righteous feeling, 
 he pours out a series of thanksgivings for what he is and what 
 he does. His is not an humble prayer for what he requires, it is 
 an arrogant, self-satisfied enumeration of what he vainly thinks 
 that he possesses. And what is so broadly expressed in this part 
 of the parable is just what exists in reality in unconverted minds. 
 They pray, it may be yea, they may do so constantly. Their 
 place of devotion may be a distinguished one ; but if the inward 
 bearing of the spirit could be noticed, it would ever be found in 
 reality to be breathing such a self-righteous spirit as that before 
 us contentment, with its present spiritual condition satisfied 
 and happy with what it fancies that it has, rather than earnestly 
 seeking what it has not. 
 
 Then, see further how this spirit is expressed in the parable. 
 The Pharisee not only enumerates a long list of excellent graces 
 which he possesses, he also with great complacency regards him- 
 self as very much superior to others. He thanks God that he is 
 ' not as other men are" and specially that he is not as the poor
 
 336 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 Publican. These two things are always to be found together 
 a lofty imagination of our own excellences, and a contemptuous 
 glance at others. The heart that is self-satisfied, is just the heart 
 that is ever on the alert to claim superiority over others. And 
 so our Lord unites these two things in the statement with which 
 he opens the parable, as descriptive of the character he was about 
 to paint. " He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in 
 themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" 
 
 But turn now to the illustration of what true prayer is. The 
 Publican stands " afar off" He does not bustle into his place as 
 the Pharisee. He must come where " prayer is wont to be made," 
 because he must pray. But he stands afar off. He will keep out 
 of sight. He has no desire to be seen of men in this act. The 
 external part of devotion has but a slight hold upon him in com- 
 parison of what is rising up so vehemently of its spirit within 
 him. Outward things the people surrounding him do not en- 
 ter into his thoughts. It is enough for him that he is in the pres- 
 ence of an all-seeing, a heart-searching God. This absorbs his 
 whole thought. This is too solemn a presence-chamber for him to 
 see any other, save Him with whom he has to do. And so even 
 amid many worshipers, he draws nigh to prayer, alone with God. 
 
 Then, " he would not so much as lift: up his eyes to heaven" Why 
 so ? Did he not come to pray ? "Why then not look up ? To 
 say that he was so humble, is only to give half the explanation. 
 
 The humility with which he kept his head bowed down to the 
 earth, was but the consequence of that deep introspection which 
 he was making into his own heart. It was there that his eyes an 
 thoughts were directed. It was there he was gathering startling 
 arguments of terrible power to force him to his cry of penitence 
 and sorrow. Unlike the other who was gazing into the world at 
 good deeds done, and around at greater sinners than himself, as 
 he supposed, this poor Publican kept his eye fixed on that evil 
 and corrupt and deceitful heart which he bore about with him 
 every where, and as if the sad and terrible realities he discovered 
 there their deadly nature, their pollution and deceitfulness, 
 amounted almost to physical agony, " he smote upon his breast. 11 
 The whole man was busy within himself not in the wayward 
 folly of looking away, so as to picture in imagination an excel- 
 lence which had no real existence, but looking in, so that every
 
 THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN. 33 / 
 
 dark corner might be visited, and every root of bitterness dragged 
 forth and seen. 
 
 And then hear his cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner" He 
 " has come to himself.' 1 ' 1 He has found out what he is. He casts 
 about for no palliation thinks of no excuse. He has none to 
 condemn but himself. He has not the folly to suppose he can 
 help himseli He has not the madness to promise that in future 
 he will do better if only he be suffered to escape at present. No ! 
 Unreservedly, fully, and yet confidently, he leaves himself in the 
 hands of God. "Be merciful to me a sinner" God and himself 
 are the only parties in his view. No third party can interpose. 
 He is a sinner, and unless he gets rid of his sin he is lost. God 
 alone can do this ; and the only thing he can plead with such a 
 God is, "Be merciful" He had for himself found out in some 
 measure what the prophet meant when he said, " O Israel, thou 
 hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help found" " Take with 
 you words, and turn to the Lord and say, Take away all iniquity." 
 
 Our Lord adds, "I tell you this man went down to his house justi- 
 fied rather than the other" Of course he does not mean by this 
 that the prayer of the Publican justified him. That the man who 
 pleaded merely for mercy should be justified by his prayer is ab- 
 surd. He was justified, forgiven, his sin pardoned, his guilt re- 
 mitted, by that mercy which he had invoked ; but it was mercy 
 in answer to his prayer. And thus we have brought before us 
 these two things in connection with the sinner in the presence of 
 God. God's love, mercy, and forgiveness toward him are marked 
 by the humility and earnestness of his prayer to God. The free 
 redemption from all sin granted by God to the sinner is ever ac- 
 companied on the part of that sinner with the heartfelt cry for 
 mercy. In other words, true prayer such as that of the Publican 
 does not and can not exist out of a state of justification, but only 
 in it. It was after Paul was met by the way that he began to 
 pray, no longer as the Pharisee, but as this Publican ; and so also 
 in his case the proud was abased, and the humble exalted. 
 
 Here, then, is the great instrument which must ever be in use 
 by him who is building his house on Christ. Every stone which 
 he lays must be done in the spirit of such prayer as this. Every 
 thing he does must be begun, carried on, and ended, with this 
 upon his heart, "God be merciful to me a sinner ;" and then truly 
 
 22
 
 338 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 he will be "blessed in his deed." He will have the sweet assur- 
 ance within him of one whose mercy is over all his works ; and 
 the labor of his hands will no longer be a grievous toil and a 
 heavy burden, but a happy, joyous, and free service. He will go 
 down from every undertaking "justified freely from all things 
 through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." This will 
 ever be the precious, cheering word of truth upon his- heart " If 
 any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." 
 
 But just as this parable shows us what true prayer is, so also 
 another parable of our Lord gives a most precious view of the 
 confidence with which we may come with such a prayer as that 
 of the Publican to God. Let us turn to this. 
 
 " If a, son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give 
 him a stone f or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent f 
 or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? If ye then, 
 being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ; how much 
 more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 him f" Luke xi. 11-13. 
 
 Here, then, we have these things set forth. "We have first of 
 all the relationship expressed which subsists between the suppli- 
 ant and God it is that of a father and son. This betokens the 
 covenant of grace and mercy, under which the poor penitent 
 makes his supplication. The Being whom he addresses is his 
 "heavenly father.' 11 This endearing relationship has been formed 
 by Christ. He it is who gives power to as many as believe in 
 him to " become the sons of God." And "because they are sons, 
 God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, whereby 
 they cry, Abba, Father." Oh, how precious it is to be able to 
 begin every prayer with such a word of confidence and love, 
 " My Father." The very word itself, as it trembles on the lip 
 of the true believer, carries peace to his heart. It is the language 
 of adoption. It is the utterance of one who has found a friend 
 nigh at hand, and has not to gaze hopelessly after a God afar off. 
 
 But again, our Lord in pointing to the relation between God 
 and the humble suppliant, is graciously pleased to draw from the 
 domestic circles of earth some precious arguments for confidence 
 in approaching our heavenly Father. There is something very 
 touching in the manner in which he places his Father and our
 
 THE SON ASKING BREAD. 339 
 
 Fatter, as it were on a level with earthly parents, as regards the 
 most common and ordinary emotions of their hearts toward their 
 offspring. " If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, 
 will he give him a stone ?" This is not the way you ever dream 
 of dealing with your children who depend on you for their sup- 
 port. When they arc hungry, you do not mock them by giving 
 them that which is not food. On the contrary, does not your 
 heart rejoice when you can supply the nourishment they require? 
 Would you not rather be without it yourselves, than that they 
 should be famished? And still more, who among you would 
 give a noxious and deadly thing instead of food ? not merely 
 mock at the urgent necessities of your children, by giving a stone 
 instead of bread, but would give serpents and scorpions that 
 might bite and sting, and inflict fatal injury on your own chil- 
 dren ? Jesus regards all this as so unnatural, that the general 
 feeling, even among fallen men, will rise up in horror and detest- 
 ation against such a want of parental love and care. 
 
 Well, then, he adds "If ye, then, being evil, know how to give 
 good gifts unto your children ; how much more shall your heavenly 
 Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him ?" Can any thing 
 be more tenderly set forth than this ? Can any thing exceed the 
 kindness and the grace with which he thus encourages the sup- 
 pliant to " ask that he may have ?" We see and recognize the 
 feelings which exist between a parent and his offspring we 
 understand their action and feel their power, and we are then as- 
 sured by Christ that all such emotions in the earthly relationship 
 of parent and child, are as nothing in comparison of what our heav- 
 enly Father bears toward his spiritual children. u How much 
 more" says he, " will your heavenly Father," &c. 
 
 And then, mark what he says that our heavenly Father will 
 give " The Holy Spirit." This comprises every other gift. 
 Whatever the poor suppliant stands in need of whatever he 
 longs to obtain in the kingdom of grace, is included in the prom- 
 ised gift. St. Matthew says, " How much more shall your Father 
 which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him ?" All 
 good things are conveyed to the waiting, praying child of God by 
 the Holy Spirit. Not a single blessing for time or eternity, that 
 is not immediately the result of his presence with the suppliant. 
 When the poor penitent cries for pardon, u God be merciful to
 
 340 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 me a sinner" the Holy Spirit given, brings the pardon and the 
 peace after which it pants. When the earnest soul entreats, 
 " Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out 
 of thy law" the Holy Spirit given, " takes of the things of Christ 
 and shows them" to the awakened and inquiring heart. When 
 the convinced soul earnestly prays, " Create in me a new heart, 
 and renew a right spirit within me" the Holy Spirit given, does 
 all this by his mighty power and love ; and when the reclaimed 
 sinner is journeying toward his home, and eagerly desires to 
 " run in the way of God's commandments," the same Holy Spirit 
 given, works in him mightily both to will and to do of God's 
 good pleasure. 
 
 Here then is encouragement and confidence given to the disci- 
 ple of Christ regarding prayer. All that he does must be begun 
 and ended with prayer yea, such a prayer as that of the Publi- 
 can. But let him pray thus confidently for he is speaking to a 
 Father in Christ Jesus a Father more ready to grant every 
 needful blessing than any earthly parent to his offspring a 
 Father who opens his hand wide to fill every empty soul, and to 
 satisfy every longing soul, by the one gift of his Holy Spirit, 
 which includes all that He can give, or the soul receive. 
 
 But we turn now to a distinct branch of this subject of prayer. 
 What we have been considering in the last two parables, refers 
 to individual supplication on the part of the penitent sinner on 
 behalf of himself. They tell us what his prayer ought to be 
 with what constancy it ought to be offered up and what gracious 
 encouragement he has in doing so. We have now to observe 
 what the parables teach us regarding intercessory prayer. Here 
 is the first view presented before us of this duty and privilege. 
 
 "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and 
 shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me 
 three loaves ; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I 
 have nothing to set before him f And he from within shall answer 
 and say, Trouble me not : the door is now shut, and my children are 
 with me in bed; lean not rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though 
 he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of 
 his importunity lie will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 
 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye 
 shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one
 
 THE FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT. . 341 
 
 that askeih, receiveth and he that seeketh, findeth / and to him that 
 knocketh, it shall be opened." Luke xi. 5-10. 
 
 Our Lord, immediately before delivering this parable, had given 
 to his disciples that form of prayer, which is so simple that the 
 merest child may use it " with the heart and with the understand- 
 ing also," and yet so sublime, that the most mature in grace, and 
 knowledge, and virtue, need nothing more. After having given 
 this form of prayer, Jesus, in this parable, proceeds to urge very 
 forcibly on his disciples the duty not merely of praying, but of 
 praying urgently, importunately, yea, of never ceasing to pray 
 until the prayer be granted. And this exhortation of his is 
 specially associated with intercessory prayer. That it should be 
 so is just what might have been anticipated, when we regard the 
 arrangement of the prayer he had just taught his disciples for 
 the intercessory petitions in that prayer, " thy kingdom come 
 thy will be done on earth," precede the personal supplications 
 which the individual believer offers up. Therefore we need not 
 be surprised if he enforced continued, energetic prayer, and that 
 specially in intercession for others. 
 
 But, besides this, surely there is special comfort to be derived 
 from this fact. If the exhortation to importunity in prayer had 
 been given simply in connection with personal supplication for 
 ourselves, it would, indeed, be precious encouragement to pray, 
 and not to faint, to wait, to ask, to knock, and never to be weary, 
 until we receive an answer ; but this would not have compre- 
 hended the other. We could not have argued from the assurance 
 given to personal prayer when constantly urged to the same 
 regarding intercessory prayer. But now, when the assurance is 
 so richly and fully given to intercessory prayer, we can confidently 
 assume that all things which we need for ourselves, and for which 
 we earnestly pray, will be given unto us. 
 
 Our Lord's application of the parable, "And I say unto you, 
 Ask" guides us with certainty in the interpretation, specially 
 when we couple that application with what immediately follows, 
 and which we have above considered, regarding the Father and 
 the gift he so willingly bestows. The man who goes to his 
 friend to ask for three loaves, is the believer drawing near to ask 
 a favor from God. The friend to whom he goes is " the Father 
 in Heaven." And what the friend gives at length, represents
 
 342 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the gift of the "Holy Spirit" all "good things" that arc sought 
 for. 
 
 Without endeavoring to trace out too minute resemblances in 
 the details of the parable, we may, at least, in passing, suggest 
 the following. The friend who is in want of the bread, and for 
 whom application is made, comes, as we are told, " at midnight" 
 It is only in this dark world that such requests can be made and 
 responded to. Appeals for help by one sinner to another, and 
 intercession on behalf of a fellow-sinner, can never be of any 
 avail, except in this day of gloom and thick darkness. As soon 
 as the bridegroom cometh, and his day commences, no such 
 communications can any more take place. Then it is said that 
 this man was " in his journey" The margin gives a very striking 
 rendering, and most probably the true one " out of the way." 
 This gives great naturalness to the story. It is the case of a 
 benighted traveler one who has lost his way in the darkness, 
 and providentially lights upon the house of a friend. And so we 
 have the condition of a poor sinner, "out of the way," walking 
 on still in darkness, not knowing whither he goeth, and then ob- 
 taining help from a fellow-sinner. 
 
 Then mark what the man does whose door the wanderer had 
 reached. He goes to a friend's house, and he begs three loaves 
 of bread, for he says he has nothing to set before the poor needy 
 man in whom he is interested. This is just the believer bearing 
 on his heart before God the case of one whom he can not help 
 himself. What that other needs is heavenly food the bread of 
 life that he may eat and live forever. The believer knows 
 where this is to be had, but he has no power in himself to bestow 
 it. All that he can do is to entreat him who has it, and who can 
 give it, to bestow it on his needy friend; and the parable then 
 points to the blessed assurance that the help thus sought will not 
 be denied. 
 
 But further, see what the parable tells us of the man to whom 
 the application was made. He says "Trouble me not: the door is 
 now shut, and my children are with me in bed ; I can not rise and 
 give thee." This person is meant in the parable to represent Him 
 to whom the believer is urged to go. And yet let it be distinctly 
 noted what the ground of comparison is. It is not that the one 
 is like the other, but the argument is 'from the less to the greater,
 
 THE FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT. 343 
 
 or rather from the worse to the better. " If selfish man can be 
 won by prayer and importunity to give, and unjust man to do 
 right, much more certainly shall the bountiful Lord bestow, and 
 the righteous Lord do right." 
 
 The two points which are mainly brought out in the parable 
 here are, first, the assurance given to the believer .to pray for a 
 needy fellow-sinner that if the churlish man was at length led 
 to do as required, infinitely more may the believer reckon on the 
 help and favor of God. Then, besides this, we are taught that it 
 is only in answer to unceasing prayer, urgent, earnest prayer, 
 that this will be given. The believer is to be as importunate in 
 his entreaty as if he had overcome the greatest dislike on the 
 part of his heavenly Father to grant to him the desires of his 
 heart. This importunity is very forcibly set before us by our 
 Lord's application of the parable, "ask," "seek" "knock." Each 
 one of these words manifests increased not diminished importun- 
 ity, encouraging the believer to this realization of his privilege, 
 namely, that far from being cast down, when, again and again, he 
 seems to be repulsed, each successive apparent refusal should only 
 add earnestness to his entreaty, and more impressive urgency to 
 his prayer. 
 
 For, be it observed, that the repeated refusals on the part of 
 the man in the parable, which arose merely from dislike to be 
 troubled, are, in the case of the believer, represented in it most 
 important trials of his faith not thrown in his path out of the 
 caprice or whim of one who is dealing with him, but for the 
 wisest and most loving pupose first, that his own confidence in 
 his heavenly Father might be put to a proper proof might be 
 fairly tested as to its strength and firmness, and so the gift, when 
 at length bestowed, be a suitable confirmation of that faith. 
 
 Our Lord's conduct toward the Syro-Phenician woman exhib- 
 ited in a very remarkable manner the leading points which this 
 parable is intended to illustrate. On that occasion we perceive 
 one coming to Christ, not on behalf of herself, but on behalf of 
 her child. Her daughter is suffering under Satanic agency, and 
 she, the poor mother, is helpless in the way of giving relief. 
 Christ can do this, she knows ; and she knows of none other who 
 can. She comes anxiously to him then. She is thoroughly in 
 earnest in the matter, and deeply interested in the result. At
 
 344 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 first, Jesus replied not at all. He seemed studiously to repulse 
 her. Just like the man in the parable who suffered the applicant 
 to remain outside the house did not even open the door, and 
 allow him to prefer his request on the threshold so Christ, when 
 the Gentile woman first asked, gave her not the slightest encour- 
 agement. Far from checking her earnestness, however, this 
 seemed only to make her more importunate. She came and wor- 
 shiped him, and cried, '" Lord, help me." Then Jesus appeared 
 even harshly to extinguish all hope of assistance from him, 
 almost spurning her from his feet " It is not good to take the 
 children's bread and cast it to dogs." But even this failed to turn 
 her from her purpose. It only gave her a fresh argument for 
 continued entreaty. " Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs 
 which fall from their master's table." And now her faith was 
 crowned with blessing. She had asked, not only so but sought, 
 not only so but knocked, and now she received, she found, and the 
 door was thrown wide open to her. " O woman, great is thy 
 faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Jesus withheld his 
 answer for the purpose not only of proving and trying her, but 
 also of giving her a larger and a fuller joy at last; and she 
 learned by the process through which she had passed that impor- 
 tunity in prayer was not required in order to induce Christ to 
 listen, but that it called forth the graces of patience, of child-like 
 confidence, of loving expectation, and added preciousness to the 
 blessing when received. 
 
 Here, then, we see duty and privilege going hand in hand as 
 they always do. It is our solemn duty to seek for the bread of 
 life to be given to others. This duty becomes more palpable and 
 direct the nearer that those who need it are to ourselves. And 
 it is at the same time our precious privilege to be assured that 
 we shall not ask, or seek, or knock in vain. Then precept and 
 encouragement go hand in hand also. The injunction manifestly 
 laid down in the parable is, to "continue instant in prayer" 
 never to allow any refusal, or number of refusals, to cause de- 
 spondency, but the reverse to quicken and make more earnest 
 and pressing than ever our anxious entreaties. And the encour- 
 agement lies close by. The very length of time when we may 
 be held waiting the very absence from day to day of the desired 
 blessing, is not for one moment to be set down to an unwilling-
 
 THE UNEIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 345 
 
 ness to hear and give on the part of our heavenly Father, but, 
 on the contrary, to his graciously preparing to give us " more 
 than we can even ask or think." That is a remarkable termina- 
 tion to the story in the parable " I say unto you, Though he will 
 not rise and give him, because he is a friend, yet because of his impor- 
 tunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." The 
 importunity of the man at the door at length prevails, so that the 
 man in the house does not order some one of his household to 
 rise and give just the three loaves, but he himself rises, and is 
 ready to give " 05 many as he needeth" And so the believer is 
 encouraged to know that thus it will be with his heavenly 
 Father, that "because of his importunity he will rise and give" and 
 that, too, out of the tenderest friendship, which did not influence 
 the man in the parable at all, He will be ready to pour upon 
 him such a full blessing as there shall not be room enough to re- 
 ceive it. 
 
 One other parable still remains, which completes the view 
 presented before us of the great duty and privilege of prayer. 
 
 11 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought 
 always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a 
 judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man : and there was a 
 widow in that city ; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of 
 mine adversary. And he would not for a while : but ajlerward he 
 said within himself , Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet 
 because this icidow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her contin- 
 ual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what tfie unjust 
 judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day 
 and night unto him, though he bear long with tliem ? I tell you that 
 he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when tfie Son of man 
 Cometh, shall he find faitii on the earth f" Luke xviii. 1-8. 
 
 In this parable, as in that we have just considered, the argu- 
 ment is from the worse to the better. " None but the Son of 
 God himself might have ventured to use this comparison. It 
 had been over bold on the lips of any other. For, as in the par- 
 able of the friend at midnight, we were startled with finding God 
 compared to a phurlish neighbor, so here with finding him likened 
 to an unrighteous judge. Yet we must not seek therefore to ex- 
 tenuate, as some have been at great pains to do, and by many 
 forced constructions, his unrighteousness ; but, on the contrary,
 
 346 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the greater we conceive that to have been, the more encourage- 
 ment does the parable contain, the stronger the argument for 
 persevering prayer becomes. If a bad man will yield to the 
 mere force of the importunity which he hates, how much more 
 certainly will a righteous God be prevailed on by the faithful 
 prayer which he loves ?" (Trench, p. 492.) 
 
 Before noting the special bearing of this parable, it will be well 
 to glance briefly at the different points in detail. The only two 
 points in which there is a direct and complete resemblance be- 
 tween this unjust judge and God are these ; first, the delay before 
 granting the request of the suppliant ; and next, the favorable 
 issue at length of the supplication itself. In all other respects 
 the unjust judge and God stand in direct and complete contrast 
 with each other. It is, however, from this very contrast, forcible 
 as it is, that the main argument in the parable derives its fullest 
 confirmation. Let us look at these in succession. 
 
 Observe, then, the character of this judge generally, "He feared 
 not God, neither regarded man. 1 ' 1 This is said, irrespective of the 
 special case about to be detailed in the parable. It is the descrip- 
 tion of what this man was always and under every circumstance 
 thoroughly, radically, lawless and unjust. On the contrary, 
 without respect to this special act of his people praying to him, 
 Jehovah is "just and true in all his ways." His every act is in 
 strict conformity with his own most holy law, and through the 
 whole course of his government the Judge of all the earth doeth 
 right. And see here, then, the contrast between the condition 
 of the poor woman in the parable and God's elect. She had 
 none other than one unjitst judge to whom she could -appeal- - 
 that tribunal was her only refuge ; failing that, she had no pros- 
 pect of relief. The other also has but one tribunal to which they 
 can appeal ; but then righteousness and judgment are the estab- 
 lishment of that throne on which their Judge forever sits, and 
 thus they are assured of an equitable sentence. 
 
 Again, mark when this unjust judge resolved on yielding to 
 the widow's request, how in a special manner his unrighteous 
 character displayed itself in his very act of granting relief to her. 
 He took no pains to discover whether her cause was right or not. 
 It was a matter of perfect indifference to him whether she were 
 the injured party or not whether she really needed to be de-
 
 THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 347 
 
 fended from another, or was herself only anxious to inflict an 
 injury. All this never entered into his calculations. His sole 
 reason for yielding assent to her petition was the fear of being 
 constantly troubled by her importunity, " lest by her continual 
 coming, she weary me." Nay, he makes a boast of this : 
 " Though I fear not God, nor regard man" he says. He is anx- 
 ious to clear himself of the possible weakness of acting in the 
 widow's case from principles of justice and truth. His sole desire 
 is to save himself all further trouble in the matter. On the con- 
 trary, when God hears the prayer of his elect, and answers it, he 
 proceeds on the strictest principles of law and justice not a sin- 
 gle petition granted to one or all of his people, which is not 
 stamped with the image and superscription of that King, " the 
 girdle of whose loins is righteousness" and who gives, not because 
 he cares not to withhold, but because his law is magnified and 
 made honorable in the gift. 
 
 But further, as this unjust judge did not grant the widow's peti- 
 tion out of any regard to the justice of the claims she advanced, 
 neither did he grant it out of any regard to the poor suppliant 
 herself. She was an object of perfect indifference to him. He 
 cared nothing for her happiness and prosperity on the one hand, 
 or her misery and wretchedness on the other. All he sought was 
 to get rid of her and her petition together, and so hear nothing 
 more of either. "Well may our Lord, mark this contrast so em- 
 phatically in this parable. "Hear what the unjust judge saith. 
 And shall not God avenge His OWN ELECT? How these words 
 " his own elect" touch in the tenderest manner the great and eternal 
 contrast -between this unjust judge and God ! The latter yields to 
 the prayer of the suppliants ; first, because it is right to do so, 
 and then he does it with his whole heart, it is his joy and delight 
 to do so. The suppliants are his own beloved people his chosen 
 ones, very precious in his sight so precious, indeed, that it is said 
 of them, " he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye." 
 And so his gift comes to them distinguished by the tokens of that 
 "holiness which becometh God's house forever," as well as of "a 
 love which passe th knowledge." 
 
 Mark, then, how the very contrasts here presented only tend to 
 confirm the blessed assurance which the parable conveys to God's 
 people, that he will without fail grant their requests. His eternal
 
 348 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 character as a righteous God must be sustained. The prayers of 
 his saints present a righteous claim. And moreover he loves his 
 own elect with an everlasting love. While, too, he requires from 
 them a patient continuance in supplication, and an ever-increasing 
 earnestness in drawing near to him, even as if he needed to be 
 overcome by such importunity, he yet sustains their faith by such 
 pledges of his truth and love, and by such exceeding great and 
 precious promises, as may, indeed, cause them " always to pray, 
 and not to faint" 
 
 And now, it is important, as we draw toward the great appli- 
 cation of the parable, to observe, that it is Christ who is specially 
 set forth in it, as the avenger of his own elect. The question at 
 the close, settles this point, " Nevertheless, when the Son of man 
 cometh." For what purpose ? Let the Apostle Paul furnish the 
 reply. ""When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven 
 with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance ; or, as it 
 is very forcibly rendered in the margin, " yielding vengeance," 
 that is, yielding to the cry of his elect for vengeance. The aven- 
 ger of God's elect, then, is the Son of man at his coming. 
 
 And this must be carefully borne in mind, if we would rightly 
 understand the special view of continuing instant in prayer, which 
 this parable is designed to set forth. It is not personal prayer 
 nor is it intercessory prayer for friends. It is indeed, well quali- 
 fied to give encouragement in both these respects. But it is 
 specially and distinctively prayer for the whole body of Christ's 
 Church prayer for the coming and establishment of his kingdom, 
 and the complete and final overthrow of all his enemies. The 
 great subject of the prayer is, "Avenge me of mine adversary" 
 And, as in the parable, the party who utters this, is a poor widow 
 woman, so we are by it reminded of the church in her present 
 bereaved and desolate condition deprived by her enemies of 
 what is due to her suffering oppression and sorrow ; and yet as 
 generation after generation pass away from the tribulations of the 
 world, there lingers ever on the track of their trials and their 
 griefs, the earnest cry, " Lord, how long dost thou not judge and 
 avenge our cause !" 
 
 And here we see one resemblance in the parable between the 
 unjust judge and Christ. We are told of the first : " he would not 
 for a time ;" and of the Avenger of God's elect, it is added, " though
 
 THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 349 
 
 he bear long with them," that is, stays his hand; he knows the limit 
 which he himself has appointed for the long trial of the faith and 
 patience of his church ; but though he tarries, yet he slumbers 
 not. Just as he longed to accomplish his own work of suffering 
 for them, so he longs to put an end to their trials, and to " avenge 
 them speedily" 
 
 And thus the meaning of the question at the close of the parable 
 becomes very plain. " Nevertheless, when the Son of man com- 
 eth, shall he find faith on the earth ?" That is, when the Son of 
 man shall at length come arise to take vengeance to bring in 
 the year of his redeemed the very thing Avhich his people in 
 every age have been praying for, " thy kingdom come," the very 
 thing which his whole character as a righteous God and a loving 
 Saviour are pledged to secure which he has promised to bring in 
 confirmed his promise with an oatfi, and scaled it by his own 
 blood, and entreated his people to pray for without fainting will 
 he, when he at length appears, find a faith among his people at 
 all commensurate to the truth, love, and fullness of what he has 
 done and promised on his side ? Will he find such unflinching, 
 faithful prayer, when the last shadows of the night that precede 
 the dawn of his day are gathering thickly around, as shall show 
 no yami-heartedness among his people? Will the cry, "Lord, 
 how long" "Avenge us of our adversaries," become stronger or 
 weaker as the day approaches ? Will there be vigilant, prayerful 
 eagerness to redouble entreaty and importunately to multiply 
 prayer, as the hours of the last terrible conflict ring out their knell? 
 or, like the disciples in the garden, will there be " sleeping for 
 sorrow ?" or, the " love of many waxing cold," by reason of 
 abounding iniquity? Solemn questions, indeed. Enough to 
 make each child of God tremble for himself. Enough to make 
 each one, as he truly desires to "stand in his lot at the end of 
 days," take good heed to the weighty lesson taught in the parable, 
 that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint" Always! Not 
 merely in the sunshine of peace and quiet, and when there is little 
 comparatively to try faith, but equally when the storm and the 
 tempest are abroad, and nothing but a sure and steadfast -anchor 
 of the soul can prevent it from drifting away to everlasting ruin. 
 
 And thus in these last parables, we have the implements with 
 which the wise builder must ever labor when building his house
 
 350 THE PARABLE OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 
 
 on the sure foundation. Prayer humble, faithful, persevering, 
 importunate prayer; prayer for himself, " Give us each day our 
 daily bread;" prayer for his brethren of mankind, "Thy will be 
 done on earth;' prayer for the establishment and glory of his 
 Master's kingdom, " Thy kingdom come." With such prayer as 
 this constant through life, and instant by its urgency he will 
 indeed " prove himself to be a workman that needeth not to be 
 ashamed."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SALT OP THE EABTH THE LIGHT OP THE WORLD THE OFFENDING ETB, FOOT, 
 OB HAND BBOTHER, SISTEB, AND MOTHEB. 
 
 THERE are still three views of true discipleship which we must 
 pass rapidly under our notice, and which will very suitably close 
 this division of the parables. The first of these concerns the in- 
 fluence which a true follower of Christ has, and ought to exert in 
 the world. If Christ's inner work of grace be truly proceeding 
 in him, this influence must ever be proceeding steadily from him. 
 "We have, in a few verses, a most precious view given us of this 
 influence, in short parabolic sentences. 
 
 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, 
 wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to 
 be cast out, o.nd to be trodden under foot of men. 
 
 " Ye are the light of the world. 
 
 "A city that is set on an hill can not be hid. 
 
 "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on 
 a candlestick ; and it giveth light to all that are in tJie house" Matt, 
 v. 13-15. 
 
 When the prodigal turns again to his father in bitter sorrow, 
 he must not only express his penitence, but he must "bring forth 
 fruits meet for repentance." He must not, however, do these 
 things in order to be seen of men, but to have " praise of God." 
 Still, it is important to bear in mind, that if on the one hand he 
 esteems lightly and at its proper value, the applause or praise of 
 men, and proceeds on his way, irrespective of their frowns or 
 their smiles, yet he must honor and confess his God before men. 
 He must take care that " the beauty of holiness" is manifested in 
 his whole life and character, so that all men shall see whither 
 he is going, and have some faint conceptions of the purity and
 
 352 THE PARABLE Of 
 
 brightness of his home above, by the sl.ining garments with 
 which, as a pilgrim, he is traveling onward to heaven. The wise 
 builder, while his chief object is to raise his house as God ap- 
 proves, must see that he wait on God continually to know how 
 best he may also manifest before men the work of God in his 
 hands. 
 
 The verses just quoted show four different ways in which the 
 believer is called upon to take heed unto himself that Christ's 
 work in him shall be felt, seen, and known among men. He 
 must remember that he is " the salt of the earth." Salt preserves 
 that with which it is mingled from falling to decay. And believ- 
 ers are said to be "the salt of the earth" for these two reasons: 
 First, by their presence among the otherwise godless race of man- 
 kind. They are the cause why God's wrath is held back from 
 the latter. To what an extent this preserving influence is ex- 
 ercised by them, through the tender-mercy of God, may be seen 
 by ther remarkable intercession of Abraham on behalf of Sodom. 
 There, though the men were exceedingly wicked, and even among 
 idolatrous nations the cry had come up for marked and condign 
 punishment upon them, yet, even there, Jehovah promised to hold 
 back his hand and not to destroy the place, if there were only 
 ten righteous men in it. Another instance forcibly confirming 
 this view, is to be found in the opening chapter of Isaiah, where 
 the Prophet declares that it was alone by the presence among 
 them of " a very small remnant," that the terrible judgment which 
 had overtaken the guilty cities of the plain had not also over- 
 taken them. The parable of the tares and the wheat speaks sim- 
 ilar language. The tares are suffered to remain, because of the 
 wheat. 
 
 Again, believers are the salt of the earth, because in their 
 direct intercourse with mankind, they, by their good works, their 
 holy life, their pure aspirations, produce a great effect in restrain- 
 ing the tide of evil and ungodliness. Their direct personal influ- 
 ence is continually pervading, more or less, the whole mass of 
 human society, and thus many checks are imposed on iniquity, 
 and a bridle put in the mouth of the wicked. They impercep- 
 tibly, but truly, exercise an influence, in the absence of which 
 the whole human family would soon become nothing else than a 
 lazar-house of plague and corruption a vast cemetery of the dead.
 
 THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 353 
 
 Now the preserving quality in salt is its savor. If that be lost, 
 the salt becomes utterly useless. Whether there can be such a 
 thing as salt without savor, is matter of dispute, but is unessen- 
 tial to our present purpose. All that we need to mark is, that if 
 salt have not its saltness, or its savor, it is utterly worthless. And 
 so if believers lack what in them corresponds to the savor of the 
 salt, they also must be utterly worthless in these two things just 
 mentioned either in arresting God's judgment upon the earth, 
 or in stemming the torrent of actual corruption. Now it is 
 manifest that Christ is the savor in all true believers. It is alone 
 by his presence in them that any one benefit or blessing is con- 
 veyed to the earth in which they dwell. Each one of them has 
 been washed in the blood of Christ, and this blood speaks better 
 things than "that of Abel." The latter cried for vengeance. 
 This cries for mercy. So that whenever God looks on a loving 
 child on earth, he sees the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, his 
 only-begotten Son; and seeing this, he bears long with the 
 iniquity of the guilty ones of earth he spares them he forbears 
 to strike he gives them, again and again, opportunity to repent, 
 and, as in the days of Noah, his " long-suffering waits." Thus it 
 is only when the believer can say, in a measure, that it is " Christ 
 to him to live," that his savor is made manifest in every place. 
 It is when people take knowledge of him that he has been with 
 Christ when he bears about with him the presence of his Divine 
 Master, that wickedness is restrained, and sin shamed into corners. 
 If Christ be not thus with them who profess his name, they are 
 no blessing, but the reverse, to the people of the world around 
 them. They are causes of offense and falling, of decay and death, 
 not of preservation and life. And it is just in proportion as the 
 believer fully lives up to the excellence of that savor which he 
 possesses, that he exerts the full influence he may ever do os"the 
 salt of the earth" 
 
 But further, the believer is also " tiie light of tfic world" As 
 " the salt of the earth," he is a gracious means of preservation 
 from decay. As " the light oftlie world" he is the gracious means 
 of preventing the whole earth from being covered with gross 
 darkness. This he does by " holding forth the word of life." 
 He has received into his heart and understanding those great 
 truths which God alone can teach, and which are excellent and 
 
 23
 
 854 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 perfect, and he exhibits them in the midst of a perverse and sin- 
 ful generation. Imperceptibly his influence is felt here likewise, 
 as in the former case. Though men may refuse to accept fully 
 what he has received, though they may not choose to " come to 
 the light," lest their deeds should be reproved, yet they can not 
 prevent some scattered beams of that light from reaching them. 
 Thus the enlightening and ennobling principles of the word of 
 God as precious for the intellectual as the moral man, pervade 
 human society, wherever true disciples of the Lord Jesus are to 
 be found. High principle, based on the revealed maxims of the 
 word of God, unwittingly drawn, or, as it were, stolen from 
 thence steady, well-balanced mental activity, stimulated by the 
 actual presence of what reflects Infinite Wisdom, are found to 
 exist even among the ranks of the people of the world. And 
 thus while they affect to despise the humble, the lowly, and the 
 meek follower of Jesus, they are in fact deriving from his vital 
 " holding forth of the word of life," whatever of true light shines 
 in their habitation. And here, too, it is just as the believer holds 
 forth Christ, that he is "the light of the world" Christ is the 
 source and the author of the light he possesses. He shines as " a 
 light in the world," because Christ " the true light" shines in him. 
 But again, the believer is " a city that is set on a hill," and so 
 ** can not be hid" In the last figure, the influence of the believer 
 is felt by the world, without the latter knowing or caring to 
 know that it is so. In this figure it is intimated to us, that a true 
 follower of Christ will assuredly, just as his Master did, draw 
 attention to himself. He " can not be hid" because he is " a city 
 set on a hill" If he is careful in his walk specially if he be 
 jealous in manifesting that all he is depends on Christ, and all he 
 does is for Christ if he make it very clear that he is built upon 
 the rock Christ, he will draw eyes to himself. Men will take 
 note of him ; they will see that he has solid reason for happiness ; 
 they will perceive that he has discovered that, of which they in 
 the plain of destruction knew nothing ; that he is secure from 
 the floods which may overwhelm them below, and so they may 
 be drawn by the influence of what they behold in the strength 
 and safety of the believer as resting on his Master, to seek for the 
 same foundation, to share in the "munition of rocks" which 
 guard and defend him.
 
 THE OFFENDING EYE, FOOT, OB HAND. 355 
 
 Once more, the believer is like "a candle," not "lighted" to be 
 "put under a bushel," but " on a candlestick," that it may "give 
 light to them that are in the house" This is not to be regarded as 
 a mere repetition of the former verse, " Ye are the light of the 
 world." Its purport is perfectly distinct. In that verse it is 
 " the world," among whom some rays of light penetrate from the 
 believer when he bears Christ with him and holds forth his word. 
 In this it is the house, and the people in the house who are benefited 
 by the light. The area is vastly circumscribed here. In the 
 former case the light travels over the world, lighting up bright 
 points here and there on the dark mountains of vanity, so that at 
 least, it may be said, that there is some witness for the light of 
 life among men. In the latter, the light is confined to the house. 
 It is then the influence which the believer may exert among the 
 household of faith. That which tells in this does not tell upon 
 the world at large ; but he must be as jealous and watchful in 
 the one case as in the other. He must be as careful of all that 
 he is in the eyes of the church, as an example to believers, as he 
 is in the eyes of the world, as a warning against their evil ways, 
 and so his light must shine before men, all men, whether in the 
 Church or in the world, and we may add, whether in private or 
 public, within the circle of his family, or amid the busy haunts 
 of men, that they may see his good works and glorify his Father 
 which is in heaven. 
 
 We pass on to another group of parabolic passages, which 
 present before us another and a very solemn view of what is 
 required at the hands of a true disciple. 
 
 "And tf thy hand offend tfiee, (or, cause thee to offend, margin,) cut 
 it off: it is bettei' for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two 
 hands to go into heU, into tiie fire that never shall be quendied ; where 
 the worm dieth not, and t/iefire is not quenched. 
 
 "And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. . . . 
 
 "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it oui." Mark ix. 43-48. 
 
 It is important, in gaining a correct apprehension of this pass- 
 age, that we note well what it is in the figure that we are 
 required to put away, if it either cause offense to ourselves or to 
 others. A hand, a foot, or an eye. Observe, it is not the one or 
 the other of these under the influence of disease, but simply re- 
 garded by themselves. And here, then, is a lesson of self-denial,
 
 356 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of a peculiar character, indicated to the believer. All the evil 
 and corrupt lusts and passions which belong to depraved human- 
 ity, he is of course called upon at once to part with. He must 
 crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts he must mortify 
 his evil and corrupt members that are upon the earth he must 
 make no more provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof, 
 and cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit ; but 
 when all this is in process of being done, there is something else 
 besides which must not be left undone. There are certain things 
 which he must be willing to give up, nay, violently to thrust 
 away from him, which are not to be found in the list of the affec- 
 tions and lusts of the flesh things which, considered in them- 
 selves, may be as really good and lawful to the soul as the hand, 
 or the foot, or the eye to the body. There may be things pleasant 
 to the eye, agreeable to the taste, refreshing to the mind, and cap- 
 tivating to the intellect there may be things in which the hand 
 might be most pleasantly engaged there may be places where 
 the foot might very willingly and happily be often found, and 
 each one of these things so agreeable to our inclinations be at 
 the same time perfectly lawful, involving in themselves no sin or 
 guilt on the part of him who seeks them ; and yet, if they become 
 sources of spiritual offense to ourselves or to others if, however 
 good in themselves, they become, under the present circumstances 
 of our lot, liable to check the growth of the inner spiritual life, 
 and to call forth into proportionate activity some of the latent 
 germs of the old nature within, then we must have no hesitation 
 in parting with all these things. The process may be a most 
 painful one the things which we, as it were, " cut off" or "pluck 
 out" may be in themselves perfectly harmless ; but we must cast 
 them all from us that we fall not into condemnation. Truly, if 
 our Lord Jesus Christ solemnly warned his disciples that it were 
 better for a man that a millstone should be hanged about his 
 neck, than that he should cause offenses to those around, we 
 need not be surprised at the strong terms in which he insists on 
 believers earnestly watching against the indulgence of any thing 
 which, however lawful in itself, may yet lead to scandal or 
 offense, nor of the unshrinking self-denial which he demands in 
 dealing with it and putting it away. Surely many things will be 
 suggested to the thoughtful mind, which will range themselves
 
 BROTBER, SISTER, AND MOTHER. 357 
 
 under the above category, of lawful, but not expedient, and 
 therefore to be dealt with at once as ^"they were unlawful. Paul 
 furnishes us with a remarkable example in his own person of the 
 carrying out of this rule. In alluding to the practice of idolaters 
 eating in the idol's temple meat that had been offered to idols, 
 and by which act they were generally regarded as idolaters ; and 
 seeing that some Christians at Corinth, using their liberty, were 
 found partaking of the food, without meaning by so doing to 
 acknowledge the idol as any thing ; and yet, by this conduct on 
 their part, were wounding the consciences of their brethren, 
 filling their minds with uncertainty, and so in reality putting a 
 stumbling-block in their way the Apostle emphatically declares 
 what his conduct would be under such circumstances. " If meat 
 make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world 
 standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." 
 
 One other passage still remains, and it fitly closes this part of 
 the subject. A very brief notice of it will suffice. 
 
 " But he answered and said unto him that told him, "Who is 
 my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched 
 forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother 
 and my brethren I For whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
 which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" 
 Matt. xii. 48-60. 
 
 We have seen the influence which the disciple of Jesus is 
 called upon to exercise constantly in the world and in the 
 Church. We have seen the call upon him for unsparing self- 
 denial, even in lawful things if they become matters of offense. 
 And now we have set forth his high and glorious privilege. If 
 the inner work of the grace of Christ leads to such a blessed, and 
 bright, and holy life and conduct as shall constrain others to glo- 
 rify God if it shall make him ready even to pluck out an eye, 
 or cut off a hand, rather than offend one of God's little ones how 
 blessed and precious amid all this is the relationship which the 
 same grace calls forth and establishes between Christ and him- 
 self! Let the wise builder on the true foundation well consider 
 this. Let the faithful laborer in the vineyard earnestly ponder 
 over this. "He that doelh the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
 the same is my brother, and sister, and motfier" The very labor in 
 which they are engaged is that which marks their privilege in
 
 358 THE PARABLE OF BROTHER, SISTER, AND MOTHER. 
 
 this wondrous relationship with Christ. The very burden and 
 heat of the day which they are bearing, is just doing the will of 
 their Father in heaven ; and so as they have grace to be thus 
 faithful, thus " fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," their divine 
 Master encircles them with this unutterable glory, crowns them 
 with this distinguished honor they are to him as " brother, and 
 sister, and mother." The mere earthly ties which bound him to 
 his mother and brethren according to the flesh are as nothing in 
 comparison of this. They vanish and disappear in the presence 
 of this most excellent and glorious distinction bestowed on the 
 members of his mystical body, the Church. And if the former . 
 sought to realize the blessing and the glory of relationship to 
 Christ at all, and feared to be disowned by him, it could only be 
 by entering within the spiritual circle of true discipleship, and 
 therein doing the will of God from the heart. 
 
 And mark the fullness of the privilege. "Brother, sister, and 
 mother" all that can be conceived by the heart of man regarding 
 these relationships, in their highest sense and purest condition 
 all that can be imagined of brotherly, sisterly, and motherly 
 union, within the hallowed circle of a pure and a holy home, is 
 intended by our Lord to be considered by his faithful ones as 
 only affording a faint shadow of that bright and better relation- 
 ship existing between himself and them. He has a brother's 
 love for them, with its manliness and self-devotion. He has a 
 sister's love for them, with its gentleness and constancy. He has 
 a mother's love toward them, with all its unwearied watchfulness, 
 its unselfish care, its sustained forbearance, and its unspeakable 
 tenderness. Oh, if even here the heart of a true believer leaps 
 with joy, when sometimes the deep, spiritual impressions of his 
 Saviour's home-love break in upon him, by the gracious inner 
 speaking of the Holy Spirit what will his emotions be on that 
 day when the work of grace shall be completed by the work of 
 glory, and He that sits upon the throne shall, as it were, stretch 
 forth his hand toward his chosen ones, and say. "Behold my 
 mother and my brethren."
 
 PART IV. 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OP GRACE, IN ITS HISTORICAL AND PROPHETICAL 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 SECT. L GENERAL RECEPTION AND PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SOWER THE GROWTH OP THE SEED THE WHEAT AND THE TABE& 
 
 WE have now arrived at another section of the parables of Je- 
 sus. Those we have considered in the last part of this volume 
 have more to do with the inner history of Christ's kingdom. 
 fTliese now before us are chiefly directed to the external history 
 of that kingdomTj Still, as we proceed in our examination of the 
 latter, we shall be ever gaining farther insight into important par- 
 ticulars regarding the former. As we watch the mighty stream 
 of the Gospel in its onward course to the glorious consummation, 
 when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the 
 waters cover the channel of the sea, we shall never cease to ac- 
 quire deeper insight into all those things which pertain to the 
 work of grace in each heart, which manifest the principles in 
 progress there, and the precious fruits which these principles pro- 
 duce. 
 
 We go on, then, to examine those parables which specially il- 
 lustrate the reception of the Gospel in all ages of this dispensa- 
 tion among those to whom it is sent, and what its actual progress 
 is and will be. The first to be considered is the following : 
 
 " Behold a sower wentfortfi to sow : and when he sowed, some seeds 
 fell by Vie wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some 
 fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith
 
 360 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth : and when the 
 sun was up, thei. were scorched: and, because they had no root, they 
 withered away : and some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung 
 up, and choked them : lut other fell into good ground, and brought 
 forth fruit, some an hundred-fold some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold" 
 Matt. xiii. 3-8 ; Mark, iv. 3-8 ; Luke, viii. 5-8. 
 
 Before expressly considering this parable, it may be well to 
 
 realize the scenery in the midst of which it was delivered. The 
 
 following description will give us some idea of what it probably 
 
 Avas. Jesus uttered this parable from a boat into which he had 
 
 ' entered on the Lake of Genesareth, while the people to whom 
 
 Ut was uttered stood on the shore. "The Jewish writers, (says 
 
 Trench,) would have it, that it (Genesareth) was beloved of God 
 
 above all the waters of Canaan ; and, indeed, almost all ancient 
 
 authors that have mentioned it, as well as modern authors, speak 
 
 Un glowing terms of the beauty and fertility of its banks. Hence 
 
 sometimes its name of Genesareth has been derived, which some 
 
 explain as 'the garden of riches,' though the derivation is inse- 
 
 fcure. And even now, when the land is crushed under the rod 
 
 \of Turkish misrule, many traces of its former beauty remain, 
 
 many evidences of the fertility which its shores will again assume 
 
 in the day which assuredly can not be very far off, when that rod 
 
 shall be lifted from them. It is true that the olive gardens and 
 
 vineyards which once crowned the high and romantic hills with 
 
 which it is bounded on east and west have disappeared, but the 
 
 i citron, the orange, and the date -trees are still found there in rich 
 
 Abundance ; and in the higher regions the products of a more 
 
 temperate zone meet together with these ; while lower down, its 
 
 C banks are covered with aromatic shrubs, and its waters are still 
 
 f as of old, sweet and wholesome to drink, and always cool, clear, 
 
 and transparent to the very bottom, and as quietly breaking upon 
 
 the fine white sand with which its shores are strewn, as they did 
 
 of old, when the feet of the Son of God trod these sands, or 
 
 walked upon these waters." 
 
 We can easily imagine how such scenery as this would at once 
 supply to our Lord the imagery of the parables which he de- 
 livered 'on this occasion. It may be, that "the Lord lifted up his 
 eyes, and saw at no great distance an husbandman scattering his 
 seed in the furrows." This would furnish the ground-work for
 
 THE SOWER. 361 
 
 his parable of the sower, and of the tares in the field. And even 
 when he had retired with his disciples into the house, (verse 36,) 
 /some of whom were themselves fishermen of Galilee, it may be 
 I that the dragging of some net to shore, just as they left the mar- 
 gin of the lake, would be equally suggestive of the parable with 
 / which this remarkable series closes. 
 
 In giving our attention to the parable of the sowei^let us first 
 of all notice one or two of its leading features. [Who is the 
 sower here spoken of? In the explanation given by^our Lord 
 of this parable, he does not directly answer this question, though 
 it is obviously implied."} In the next parable, however, where we 
 have similar imagery introduced a sower sowing in his field, he 
 /expressly declares what he means. " He that soweth the good 
 \ seed is the Son of mp^" We carry back therefore this explana- 
 tion to the parable now before us, and take it as a settled point, 
 that the " sower" here also, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 
 Then as to the seed which the sower scatters, our Lord explains 
 as we find emphatically, in Luke's account. " The__seed is 
 1 nf Gnf?." Exactly the kind of seed which we should ex- 
 
 pect from the hands of such an husbandman. In the parable of 
 fthe tares in the field, Jesus calls this seed " good seed.' 1 ' 1 The seed 
 ywhich be sows is_always good. Whatever be the result of the 
 sowing however some may fall on"grbund where no fruit is ever 
 brought to perfection this is not the fault of the seed. It is good 
 seed. Or, as the Apostle Peter speaks of it, " t/ie incorruptible 
 d" of the "living God." As the " word of God," it must be 
 good, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear 
 whether they will listen and receive, or close their ears and re- 
 ject whether they are doers of the work, or forgetful hearers, 
 et " He abideth faithful." He " can not deny himself." His 
 word is "the word of truth," and, like himself, it "liveth and 
 abideth forever." 
 
 See, then, what the great Head of the Church has at his dispo- 
 sal. He has his "good Spirit," and his "good Word." With 
 Him, and Him alone, there rests all power in the Gospel-field. 
 He baptizes " with the Holy Ghost and with fire," he alone can 
 bestow the efficient cause by which dead souls shall live, and bar- 
 ren soil become fertile. He sows " the good seed" he alone can 
 bestow the instrumental cause of spiritual health and life, so as 
 
 :
 
 362 THE PAEABLE OP 
 
 "by his own will to beget us with the word of truth, that we 
 should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." 
 
 Now when we look at this parable generally, as given by these 
 evangelists, there is a peculiarity in the language which they use 
 regarding this seed when sown by the great Sower, which must 
 not be passed over without notice. At first sight, there would 
 almost appear to be a confusion in the similitudes, when we lay 
 the different accounts side by side with each other. Thus in the 
 explanation given by Matthew, he always speaks of the different 
 classes as they " who received" the seed. Mark, on the other hand, 
 speaks of these classes as "those who are sown; 11 and so also 
 Luke, " That which fell among thorns," &c. Now in reality there 
 lies a deep truth under this apparent confusion of the metaphor. 
 /" The seed sown, springing up in the earth, becomes the plant ; it 
 is therefore when sown the representation of the individuals of 
 whom the discourse is." (Alford.) In other words, whenever 
 the heart of man, under any of the conditions placed before us 
 in the parable, is brought into contact with the Word of God 
 when according to the similitude, the seed falls on the ground, 
 then, from that time, it must be regarded in reference to its recep- 
 tion or rejection of that word its fruitfulness or barrenness in 
 connection with that word. It can no longer be considered sim- 
 ply in its former condition. A message has been brought to it. 
 An offer made to it. What is it then after this has been done ? 
 It is plain that this question may be answered, either by describ- 
 ing the perverse action or otherwise of the heart regarding that 
 which has been sent, or by describing the results of that action as 
 they appear. And so this is just what the evangelists have done 
 in this parable. The one speaks of the different soils, as marking 
 the inner cause or action which brings about the various results. 
 The other speaks of these results themselves. The one tells of 
 the ground the other tells of the plant springing from the ground, 
 the result of the inner action on the seed sown. 
 
 Let us then proceed to gather from this parable, the different 
 kinds of reception which the good word of God has at the hands 
 of sinful men. The grand leading distinctions between the vari- 
 ous " hearers" of mankind are given us very clearly. The one is 
 often found to run into the other, but it is of the utmost import- 
 ance to regard them in their distinctive characteristics.
 
 THE SOWER. 363 
 
 We have then 3 first the wayside hearer " when he sowed, some 
 feU by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up" The 
 explanation given by our Lord himself is " When any one hear- 
 eth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then com- 
 eth the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in 
 his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside." The 
 ground here spoken of, was probably the hard beaten path on 
 which the sower was walking, as he scattered his seed. The seed 
 does not sink into it at all. It lies for a moment on the surface, 
 and then the fowls of the air devour it. Now this forcibly repre- 
 sents to us the case of the man who hears the word, but " under- 
 stands" it not. That is, he does not in the least appreciate its 
 excellence. He may understand what it means, but he does not 
 in the least understand the urgent necessity of his immediately 
 receiving and keeping it. He may know all about it ; but he un- 
 derstands sojittle of itej^alue^jhat he suffers it to lie exposed to 
 the first temptation, to be trodden down or snatched away. This 
 is the true secret of the wayside hearer. He may have nothing 
 to say against the excellence of the word itself. Nay, he may give 
 it all praise and commendation. He may assent to its evidences, 
 and admire its precepts but he blindly refuses to see the direct 
 and immediate interest which he has in it, and so he recklessly 
 suffers it to pass away from him as quickly as it came. 
 
 St. Luke adds an emphatic word in the description of the way- 
 side hearer "It was trodden down" This is one of the first and 
 most certain effects produced in consequence of the hard heart 
 refusing to let the seed penetrate into it ; or, as above, to " under- 
 stand it." The good word of God is exposed to the scorn and 
 contempt of others by it. Every man who turns carelessly away 
 and gives no entrance into his heart of that which is offered to 
 him by the goodness and the love of God, is just doing all he can 
 to add to the contempt which a wicked world regards all God's 
 mercies. He exposes that to be trodden under foot, which he 
 ought to have cherished in his own breast He has lent his aid 
 to " put the Son of God unto an open shame." 
 
 And how terribly does the dark shadow of the Prince of dark- 
 ness the prince of the power of the air, again come down here 
 on the parabolic scenery I The three Evangelists mark him out 
 with fearful distinctness, " Then cometh tiie wicked one" "Satan"
 
 364 THE PAEABLE OF 
 
 " the devil" He who in the natural heart has been truly repre- 
 sented as dwelling in it as his own home considering it as his 
 palace, and as a strong man holding his goods in peace within it, 
 is now seen in his bitter hostility against the Prince of the king- 
 dom of light. All his efforts were in vain to prevent the entrance 
 and glorious triumph of Emmanuel in this world. " The stronger 
 than he" overcame him, but again and again he returns to the as- 
 sault of the unhappy race for whom Christ died ; and as this great 
 and gracious Being scatters the good seed of the word, " which is 
 able to make wise unto salvation," he is ever at hand to catch 
 up and snatch away all good and holy impressions, if but for a 
 moment the careless heart suffers them to lie upon the surface- 
 The expression, "fowls of the air" most aptly brings before us this 
 hateful work of Satan. His breath of temptation. His rapidity 
 of movement. His sudden assault, so that the soul hardly knows 
 what it has had and lost. The deadly spite which leads the ene- 
 my of all righteousness to do this, is given by Luke, " lest they 
 should believe and be saved." Modern Theologians and Tractari- 
 ans may talk loudly of their forms and their ceremonies of their 
 fonts and their altars their crucifixes and their candles while 
 they sneer at bibliolatry and "preaching the word" But Satan 
 knows better than they. He will give them all these things which 
 their souls lust after, and make them heartily welcome to much 
 more too, if they will only allow him to snatch away the word, as 
 seed after seed of it falls upon the heart by the wayside ; for he 
 well knows that all these things have never saved, and can never 
 save a soul but he knows equally well that the word really re- 
 ceived into the heart, ^jbl1 nwp d t>J heliemng u upto Mdnafon" 
 
 Turn now to the second class of hearers as described in this 
 parable. "Some fell on stony places, where they had not much earth" 
 Luke expresses it, "Some fell on a rock" And this is the real 
 meaning of the words in Matthew " roclcy ground" a rock, with 
 merely a thin layer of soil on the surface. In this case the seeds 
 enter partly into the soil. "Forthwith they sprung up, because they 
 had no deepness of earth" Quickly up, they as quickly disappeared. 
 "When the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no 
 root, they withered away" Here the heart_j_as_Jiard t _Qi: harder 
 than in the first class ; but there is a thin covering of outside pro- 
 fession. And so when the word comes, it is apparently received
 
 THE SOWER. 365 
 
 with much joy. Much eagerness is displayed many good reso- 
 lutions formed much emotion felt and great promises of future 
 growth. Note that word in the parable "Forthwith it sprang up, 
 because it had no deepness." True in nature as in grace. The 
 rock under a thin layer of earth may, by the heat which it reflects, 
 stimulate the seed into a rapid growth. The heart which remains 
 hard and unconverted, is just that which, if there be a momentary 
 profession of religion which is agreeable to it for a time, so that 
 it receives it with joy, will make the most rapid show of what it 
 has got. It will stimulate the growth of outward seeming with 
 amazing rapidity. But such a man has " no root in himself." The 
 word has never gone down into his heart. The roots lie along in 
 the profession of the man, not in the man himself* And so, no 
 wonder if^ " in time of temptation, he falls away." "When any 
 thing arises to prove him to try of what character his reception 
 of the word is no wonder that he is offended. Just as the sun 
 soon scorches the plant whose roots are only on the surface of a 
 rock, and thus lack moisture, so the practical things of Christian- 
 ity the cross-bearing after Christ the denial of self, and the 
 confessing him before men the strong light and heat of the Sun 
 of righteousness soon prove the utter lack of grace at the root 
 of the profession, and shrivel it up into a dead and worthless 
 thing. 
 
 Mark the third class of hearers, "And some fell among thorns, 
 and tfie thorns sprung up and choked them" There is more reality 
 in this class than in either of the former. The seed of the word 
 penetrates more deeply ; but, alas ! it is so mingled with other 
 things which exercise an all-powerful sway over the feelings and 
 affections, that it is rendered useless and unprofitable. How 
 pointed is the description given in Mark's account of this class. 
 " They hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceit- 
 fulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke 
 the word, and it becometh unfruitful." They do not with hard- 
 ened hearts reject the word, or endeavor to keep it out. On the 
 contrary, they are conscious of its great importance, and welcome 
 it as something which they require, and the growth of which is 
 essential for them in time and in eternity ; but witfi this there 
 enter in, at the same time, these things "cares of this world, 
 deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things ," or, as Luko
 
 366 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 has it, " cares, and riches, and pleasures of life." And all these 
 are so strong and luxuriant in their growth they have so much 
 in common with the natural soil of the heart, that they rapidly 
 spring up, and long ere the good seed can bring forth fruit unto 
 perfection, they " choke it" render it feeble and attenuated de- 
 stroy its vigor, and cover the life and conversation with the weeds 
 of vanity. Let not these expressions in two of the gospels be 
 omitted first, these lusts of other things " entering in" (Mark,) 
 that is, with the seed. And, "the thorns sprung up with it" 
 (Luke,) and " choked it." The very knocking at the door of the 
 heart by the preaching of the word, often opens it to the entering 
 in of these " other things." Men warm for a little moment at the 
 sound of the Gospel, and then the rein is given to their desires 
 on the mountains of vanity. And if there should be any appear- 
 ance of growth of the good seed afterward if serious thoughts 
 begin to intrude, and the calls of truth and love begin in some 
 measure to be felt, then those " other things" without loss of time 
 spring up with these the natural heart takes alarm, and soon 
 drowns thought and anxiety for the future by "the cares, the 
 riches, and the pleasures of the present."* 
 
 One other class still, remains. "But others fell into good ground, 
 and brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some 
 thirty-fold. 11 One evangelist reports to us that this means those 
 " who hear the word and understand it" the very reverse of the 
 wayside hearers. The latter are utterly ignorant of the true 
 value of the word, and of the urgent necessity for them to receive 
 it the former feel it to be all-important for them. They under- 
 stand that the " entering in of the word giveth life," and so they 
 are never at rest until it has been received into their hearts and 
 is kept safely in their bosoms. St. Luke's words are very re- 
 markable in describing this class. He says they are such as " in 
 an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and 
 bring forth fruit with patience." They do not let it be snatched 
 
 * " This class is not confined to the rich. IlAovrof in Scripture, is not riches abso- 
 lutely, as possessed, but riches desired. Here there is a divided will, a half-service 
 which ever ends in the prevalence of evil over good." (Alford.) What an affecting 
 example have we of this class the choking of the seed, the unfruitfulness, and the 
 condemnation, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, who " kept back part of the 
 price," and " lied unto God !"
 
 THE SOWER. 367 
 
 away as the first do they " keep it" They may make less show 
 and profession than the second or the third, but " they bring forth 
 fruit with patience" They receive it in an " honest and good 
 heart ;" in other words, a heart prepared for this precious seed. 
 This preparation does not appear in this parable : we shall have 
 to notice it in a subsequent one. It is not the subject of this. 
 The present has simply to do with the scattering of the word of 
 life by the Son of man upon the hearts of men, and the manifest 
 and clearly-seen results of this. When therefore the seed is seen 
 to take deep root downward, and to spring up and bear much 
 fruit upward, then, when that is seen, there is the mark of an 
 " honest and good heart," just as the springing up of the seed 
 scattered by the sower, and bearing an hundred, sixty, or thirty- 
 fold, proves that it has fallen, not on barren, or hard, or unculti- 
 vated ground, but on soil prepared before for the reception of it. 
 
 On the whole, we may remark three things, as regards the 
 first three classes. The first rejects at once. The second not so 
 speedily. The third still less so. If we attempted to distinguish 
 between the guilt of these several rejections, we might almost 
 affirm that it is in the inverse ratio of their order here. It has 
 been also forcibly remarked, that " the first is more the fault of 
 careless, inattentive CHILDHOOD ; the second of careless, shallow 
 YOUTH ; the third of worldly, self-seeking AGE." Again, just as 
 we have three different kinds and degrees of sin, in rejecting the 
 word, so we have three degrees given us of fruitfulness under it, 
 " an hundred-fold, sixty-fold, thirty-fold." It is not enough for 
 us merely to watch and pray, lest we be found hard, rocky, or 
 weedy ground ; but it ought to be the unceasing study of our 
 life to bring forth the " hundred-fold," nay more, to bring that 
 forth "unto perfection" not only much fruit as regards the 
 quantity, but the best fruit as regards the quality. 
 
 We have, therefore, in the parable before us very striking ex- 
 amples of the reception of the " word which by the Gospel is 
 preached unto us." And the solemn lesson to be gained from it 
 is expressed by St Luke in a single sentence " TAKE HEED 
 HOW YE HEAR: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given ; and 
 whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he 
 soemeth to have." 
 
 We *go on now to consider the next parable in this series, and
 
 368 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 for reasons which will presently be advanced, in doing so, we 
 break in upon the order and sequence of the parables as given 
 by Matthew after that of the sower. 
 
 "And Jesus said, so is the Jcingdom of God, as if a man should 
 cast seed into the ground ; and should sleep, and rise night and day, 
 and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For 
 the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then Hie ear, 
 after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, 
 immediately he puttelh in the sickle, because the harvest is come." 
 Mark iv. 26-29. 
 
 This parable is peculiar to Mark. There is unquestionably 
 great difficulty in ascertaining the exact purport of one portion 
 of it, and this difficulty is probably increased by the apparent 
 isolation of the parable, or rather from its being too much re- 
 garded by itself, in consequence of being found only in Mark. 
 
 The great difficulty is as to the sower. If we conclude that he 
 represents the Lord Jesus himself, then the question arises, how 
 can it be said of him that the seed springs and grows up " he 
 knows not how f" On the other hand, if we take the sower to 
 mean the servants of Christ, then truly the parable answers well 
 as regards them, that the seed groweth they ." know not how ;" but 
 then a still greater difficulty remains, for the parable closes thus, 
 " When the fruit is brought forth, immediately HE (the sower) 
 putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come" The latter is no 
 doubt the more perplexing difficulty of the two. 
 
 Now, in looking at the position which this parable occupies in 
 Mark's Gospel, it seems very obvious that it was delivered by our 
 Lord to his disciples privately, and that immediately after the 
 parable of the sower. Matthew has omitted it, probably because 
 he only meant to narrate those which were either delivered to the 
 multitude as they were gathered on the sea-shore, or those which 
 were afterward given when they retired into the house. By com- 
 paring the accounts given by the Evangelist, it seems certain that 
 after the delivery of the parable of the sower, there was a pause 
 in the Lord's address to the multitude. The disciples being alone 
 with their Master in the boat, took that opportunity of asking 
 him to explain it. Now, the Evangelist Mark, immediately after 
 closing his account of this explanation of the parable of the 
 sower, with the solemn admonition, " Take heed what yc hear,"
 
 THE GROWTH OF THE SEED. 369 
 
 proceeds at once to give this parable " And he said," &c. Assur- 
 edly, then, we must regard it as following up the train of thought 
 suggested by the former parable, and yet privately given to the 
 disciples alone. Nor need there be any surprise at this parable 
 being in one Gospel and not in another. This may be said of 
 others ; and in truth at the best, there could only be a very limit- 
 ed selection made in the reporting of what Jesus did and said, 
 for otherwise, as St. John, says, " I suppose that even the world 
 itself could not contain the books that should be written." 
 
 Even apart from this manifest fact in the history, we might be 
 disposed to regard the same train of thought carried on from the 
 parable of the sower to this, by the identity of the imagery ; the 
 sower sowing seed in his field, and then the seed appearing and 
 progressing until it brought forth its ripe grain. And from this 
 last circumstance, namely, the ripening of the grain, we seem to 
 be irresistibly drawn toward the last class in the parable of the 
 sower, in which alone the seed sown attains to maturity and bears 
 fruit. And then when we reflect that it was to his disciples alone 
 he was now speaking to those who were hearing and understand- 
 ing and keeping the good word of God, and in the way of bring- 
 ing forth fruit with patience, then it does appear more than prob- 
 able, that the parable now before us was uttered to the disciples, 
 in further elucidation of the good seed sown on "good ground." 
 
 Keeping this connection steadily in view, we shall find that this 
 parable does indeed add most important and instructive reflec- 
 tions to that which goes before, and likewise that the difficulty 
 referred to above, is greatly diminished, if not entirely removed. 
 The words in which Mark narrates the explanation of the last 
 class in the parable of the sower, are " such as hear the word of 
 God, and receive it." All the other classes reject it. This last re- 
 ceives it. Well, it is the more complete history of this reception 
 which is given in the parable before us a reception not, bo it re- 
 membered, into the hearts of individual believers, though it may 
 be with perfect propriety applied to each one of these, but the 
 reception of the good word into the whole body of believers 
 the one class as distinct from all the others who reject it the 
 multitude of the faithful of every place, and in all generations of 
 the Christian age, from its commencement to its close. What 
 then do we learn from the parable regarding this class ? 
 
 24
 
 370 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 "jSo if the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the 
 ground.' Delivered as the parable was, after that of the sower, 
 and just before that of the tares in the field, we can not do other- 
 wise than conclude that He that " casts seed into the ground" is 
 " the Son of man" It is added of the sower in the parable, that 
 after sowing " he sleeps, and rises night and day." This expression 
 is admitted by the best commentators simply to mean, that after 
 he had scattered his seed, the sower went about his ordinary avo- 
 cations, while all this time the seed was "growing and springing 
 up he knew not how" Clearly there must be some limitation to 
 these last words. The husbandman does know in one sense 
 how the seed grows, that is, he knows that it is by the fertilizing 
 power in the earth which has received the seed. He does know, 
 that unless the seed be in the earth and unless that earth be pre- 
 pared and specially unless the rain and sun from above are re- 
 freshing and warming it, that the seed can not grow. This is 
 knowing a great deal. Obviously, then, the words mean simply 
 this, that his personal work is ended for the time, when he casts 
 the seed into the ground. Up to that point, he is a direct and im- 
 mediate agent in the matter. Beyond this, he is not. It is his 
 care and his duty hitherto. Beyond this, another agency must 
 see to it. His own hand is engaged in it so far. He commits it 
 to another afterward. The words, " he knoweth not how" can not 
 be strained to any thing further than this. 
 
 Again, however, the sower appears in his field. The seed 
 which in spring he had sown, has now passed through its several 
 stages of development and growth, and being ripened by the 
 summer sun is ready for the harvest. The direct personal work 
 of him who first sowed, is again seen in his reaping his precious 
 grain " When the fruit is brought forth, (ripe, margin,) immediately 
 heputteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." 
 
 Now this very remarkably presents before us the fact of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ personally visiting his church on two occasions. 
 The first of these was, as it were, the seed-time. He made every 
 preparation for the sowing of the field. He spared himself no 
 pains or cost in order to secure perfectly good seed to sow in it. 
 The word which he gave was perfect for the purpose he designed, 
 for it was himself himself as the author of eternal life to all that 
 shou!d believe on him. And this living word was set forth,
 
 THE GROWTH OF THE SEED. 371 
 
 made known, declared by the written word which his servants 
 were ordained by him to publish. Then after having done this, 
 he retired personally from the field. He returned within the vail. 
 Having giver, the word, the good seed, he went away, as he him- 
 self declared it was expedient that he should do leaving the 
 seed to grow and manifest itself during the long and changeful 
 season of this dispensation. But he will again visit his field. He 
 has scattered good seed over it, and he has a right to look for a 
 plentiful increase. He has left it for a time, but it is only to re- 
 turn at the harvest, that he may gather and store up in his heav- 
 enly garner all his chosen ones who have sprung up from the 
 merits of his death, and are bearing fruit, some a hundred, some 
 sixty, some thirty-fold. 
 
 But while he himself warned his disciples that thus it must 
 be " It is expedient for you, that I go away ;" " I leave the 
 world and go unto the Father ;" " Father, I come to thee ;" 
 " Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world ;" 
 he joined with this warning the gracious promise that his personal 
 removal from the field was just to make way for the personal 
 presence and work of another. " If I go not away," he says, 
 " the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will 
 send him unto you." The work of this infinitely gracious and 
 glorious agent would be to " guide into truth ;" " to bring all 
 things to remembrance whatsoever Christ hath said ;" " to take 
 of what belongs to Christ and show it" unto Christ's people, to "con- 
 vince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." 
 
 And here, then, we mark the field of the world under the dis- 
 pensation of the Spirit, with the word scattered over it by the 
 Divine sower. The Son's personal work is for a time closed on 
 earth. He has prepared the seed and sown it, and he leaves all 
 work now to the operation of the Holy Ghost. So that every 
 proof of vitality in the seed sown, every token that a heart has 
 become instinct with spiritual life, is by the direct application of 
 the written word, through the power of the Holy Ghost, bringing 
 the soul into immediate and blessed fellowship with the living 
 word. Every advancement in spiritual growth, whether it be 
 clear discernment, heavenly-mindedness, or true godliness, is 
 alone the work of the Holy Ghost in bringing more and more 
 clearly before the sinner all that pertains to Christ causing him
 
 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 to realize more the glory of his union with him as the living 
 word through the instrumentality of the written word and, by 
 his various dispensations of grace and mercy, as well as of chas- 
 tisement and correction, rapidly maturing and preparing him for 
 the heavenly garner, by the warm rays of the Sun of righteous- 
 ness, and the refreshing influences of the " water of life," con- 
 veyed to him by his own personal work. And when all this 
 spiritual process is passed through in the mighty field where the 
 word is sown, when the Spirit has completed and perfected all 
 his work of preparation, then shall the Son himself again return 
 to his faithful and longing people, and " receive them unto him- 
 self, that where he is, there they may be also." 
 
 It is interesting to observe how the personal absence of Christ 
 from his church during this dispensation is, in the individual 
 work of grace in the heart of man, exhibited in the parable of the 
 barren fig-tree, where the vine-dresser is the Spirit, and Christ is 
 merely introduced as inquiring into the condition of the tree, but 
 taking no direct hand in its culture while here in the parable 
 before us, in which the whole history of the church from seed- 
 time to harvest is set forth, the same absence of Christ is point- 
 edly illustrated. 
 
 And here, too, we perceive what it is that makes what is called 
 in the parable of the sower, " good ground ;" and in the explana- 
 tion, " an honest and good heart ;" or, in the parable now before 
 us, " the earth bringing forth fruit of herself." It is the presence of 
 the Spirit in the temporary absence of Jesus. There can be no 
 good ground no honest reception of seed into the heart no 
 power of bringing forth, unless under the immediate and direct 
 presence of the Holy Ghost. " The earth of itself," taken abso- 
 lutely, can not bring forth fruit. It can only do so as it is brought 
 under such influences as will make it fertile. According to that 
 word in the Hebrews, " The earth which drinketh in the rain 
 that cometh ofl upon it, and bringing forth herbs meet for them 
 by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God." So with 
 the heart of man, if the influences of the Spirit are all turned 
 back if they never penetrate beneath the surface, then no seed 
 can spring up or flourish there. But if it " drink in" the " former 
 and the latter rain" of that Spirit, then it " bringeth forth fruit,' ; 
 and " receiveth blessing from God."
 
 THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 373 
 
 And let the order of these parables be noted. First the sower, 
 and then the seed growing. The very sequence is natural as 
 regards the illustration. Then as to what is meant. The Spirit 
 can not work before Christ. It is only because of Christ that he 
 can work at all. Unless Christ had perfected his personal work 
 at his first advent, the Spirit could have nothing to do in the 
 field of the world. But, on the other hand, though Christ's work 
 comes first, yet without the Spirit's work it would be of no avail. 
 And just as he has handed over his completed work to be under 
 the sole charge of the Holy Spirit, so the latter will at length 
 give back to Christ his completed work too. Both works need- 
 ful, and both done. Each dependent on the other each with a 
 common end in view and both terminating in " bringing many 
 sons and daughters unto God," justified through the meritorious 
 work of Jesus, and sanctified by the inner operation of the Spirit 
 righteously inheriting by virtue of the one made forever meet 
 by the power of the other for the glory and the presence of the 
 everlasting Father. (Appendix E.) 
 
 We pass on to another parable, which is closely allied to both 
 of those we have been considering. 
 
 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of 
 heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field ; but 
 while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, 
 and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought 
 forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the house- 
 holder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in 
 tfiy field ? from whence then hath it tares ? He said unto them, An 
 enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou tfien 
 that we go and gather them up ? But he saul, Nay ; lest while ye 
 gather up tJie tares, ye root up also tfie wheat with them. Let both 
 grow togeOier until the harvest: arid in the time of harvest I ivill say 
 to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind tiiem in 
 bundles to .burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." Mat- 
 thew xiii. 24-30. 
 
 The precise explanation graciously given by our Lord to his\ 
 disciples of the various particulars in this very remarkable para- ] 
 ble, leaves us nothing to desire regarding its scope ; and all that 
 remains is to dwell briefly on one or two of these. When the 
 disciples sought to be informed as to this parable, our Lord thus
 
 374 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 replied to them " He that soweth the seed is the Son of mau ; 
 I the field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the 
 /kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the 
 Wemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of 
 (the world ; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the 
 tares are gathered and burned in the fire ; so shall it be in the 
 end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, 
 and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, 
 and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace 
 of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then 
 shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
 Father." 
 
 Notwithstanding this precious and full explanation of the 
 parable, some have attempted to add to it in some important 
 particulars. Thus, it has been affirmed that while " the reapers 
 are the angels" yet that " the servants" who first detect the tares in 
 the field are ministers of Christ's church on earth ! Now, surely 
 when we look over the explanation given step by step by our 
 Lord himself noting with the greatest distinctness each success- 
 ive particular, it is a bold thing to hazard such an assertion as 
 the above. If these servants of the householder are ministers of 
 Christ's church on earth, we may reverently ask the question, 
 Why is there a gap altogether in the explanation regarding 
 them ? Specially does the force of this appear, when it is con- 
 /sidered that the main drift of the parable depends on the discovery 
 (made by these servants, and their desire for immediately uproot- 
 (ing the noxious weeds which had been sown in the field. Why, 
 then, we repeat, when all the other matters in the parable are, as 
 it were, placed side by side with the things they represent, why 
 is nothing said of this ? If there is truly such a marked distinc- 
 tion in the parable, that the servants mean ministers on earth, 
 and the reapers angels from heaven, is it possible to conceive 
 that this too would not have been declared ? 
 
 We at once reject all such additions to this explanation, as being 
 not only in the highest degree improbable by the marked silence 
 regarding it, but also because it is altogether uncalled for. The 
 story in the parable speaks for itself. The householder in posses- 
 sion of the good field in which he has sowed good seed has his 
 farm-servants. When these are first introduced they are merely
 
 THE WHEAT AND THE TABES. 375 
 
 asking a question they are not actually engaged in field work, 
 and so they are only called servants. At the close of the parable,\ 
 however, they are engaged in field work, and so they are called) 
 " the reapers" They are obviously the same parties as are spoken 
 of at first, but are now named " the reapers" from the employment 
 in which they appear at last to be engaged. And as our Lord 
 says " the reapers are the angels," we can not come with proprietv 
 to any other conclusion than that these " servants of the householder 11 
 are angels too. The double reference, indeed, to these beings in 
 the parable is in exact accordance with what Scripture says re- 
 garding them. They are, on the one haud, " ministers (or serv- 
 ants) of God who do his pleasure," that is their general designa- 
 tion. They are likewise a " flame of fire," that is their particular 
 designation when they are specially sent forth by him to execute 
 his wrath. The "servants of the householder" were made " the reap- 
 ers." The angelic ministers are made " a flame of fire." 
 
 It is no matter of surprise, when such an interpretation of " the 
 servants" in the parable is given, that it should be followed up by 
 certain views of other parts very cognate to it. Thus, it has been 
 said, that the field is the visible Church ; and that the coming of 
 " Hie servants" to the householder is the surprise and anxiety which 
 ministers of that Church feel when they behold such noxious 
 things as they are compelled to do, growing up within the out- 
 ward fold, as show plainly they came from the evil one. More- 
 over, it is added, that when the servants ask, "Wilt thou,tfien, that 
 we go and gather them up?" this is the language of those who have 
 authority to exercise discipline in the Church of Christ, and who, 
 if left to themselves, would with unsparing and probably indis- 
 criminate zeal, seek to cast out, or, in other words, excommunicate 
 from the fold all that offends. 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive any thing more alien to the 
 whole bearing of the parable than these matters. "The field is not 
 the visible Church. Our Lord expressly says it is " the world ;" 
 and yet, with this clear and emphatic statement, so entirely irrecon- 
 cilable with the view just referred to, many fanciful theories have 
 been propounded as deducible from this parable about the extent 
 and limitation of church-discipline, and so forth ! This parable, 
 indeed, was a special battle-ground in the early history of the 
 Church, and is frequently introduced in the controversy which
 
 376 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 raged between the Donatists and Augustine, who opposed them 
 on the orthodox side. That controversy was very similar to some 
 modern ones whether it is or is not the duty of the members of 
 the visible Church to exclude every one from their communion 
 who does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness ? The Do- 
 natists said it was ; Augustine said it was not. The latter adduced 
 this parable in support of his view. The former evaded the force 
 of it by affirming what is in itself true, that the field is " the world" 
 not the Church. But the truth is, the parable does not help either 
 side. It does, indeed, indirectly prove the Donatists to have been 
 in error, because it sets forth the state of Christ's Church during 
 the whole of this dispensation as mingled wheat and tares ; but 
 it says not a word about the discipline, more or less, which may 
 or ought to be used in order to purify the visible Church from 
 corrupt membership, or whether all such discipline should indeed 
 be let alone. It is the attempt to make " the servants" in the par- 
 able ministers of the Church on earth which has introduced such 
 confusion into the explanation, and brought in matters entirely ir- 
 relevant to the figure employed. 
 
 Let us start from the firm ground of our Lord's own words 
 "The field is the world" " Go ye into all the world (the same word 
 as in the parable), and preach the Gospel unto every creature." 
 Such is the field ; the material world, or the whole race of man- 
 kind taken simply in its natural, worldly sense. When the Sa- 
 viour gave the glorious commission to his servants, just mentioned, 
 v then did the Son of man "sow good seed in his field." 
 > Now, observe a remarkable change here from the parable of 
 the sower. It is the word which is there said to be sown. Here 
 it is " the children of the kingdom." The reason for this change is 
 obvious. In the former parable Jesus meant to show the recep- 
 tion of his Word by the heart of man under its great leading va- 
 rieties. In the latter he means to show the history in the world 
 of those who have received his Word into their hearts, and so be- 
 come " the children of the kingdom" This history is comprised in 
 two words. As the husbandman sowed his good seed in his field, 
 so Christ places his beloved ones in the world, throughout it, 
 spreads them over it, as the "salt of the earth," and the "light of 
 the world." And, as the husbandman found tares mingled with 
 his wheat, so Christ finds evil men who profess to be "children of 
 

 
 THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 377 
 
 the kingdom," and appear in the midst of " the world" as such, but 
 who in reality are " the children of the evil one" And so the whole 
 figure assumes its proper and simple form. The field is " the 
 world." " The wheat with the tares" is the visible Church of 
 Christ in the world, having the " evil mingled with the good." 
 
 We are farther told how this state of things came about. Not, 
 be it observed, evil in the world, for that prevailed in the world 
 long before, but evil within the Church in the world. " While 
 men slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares among the ivheat, and 
 ivent his way" " While men slept," that is, at night, when the deed 
 could be done secretly and stealthily, under cover of the darkness ; 
 so were the " children of the evil one" stealthily introduced among 
 the godly in Christ Jesus, This mystery of iniquity began to work 
 even in apostolic days, and was not long before it showed in its 
 revelation how busily the enemy had been engaged. " The ene- 
 my" is " the Devil." Again, we are brought in sight of this great 
 adversary. In the parable of the sower we see him on the watch 
 to catch away if possible the living word from the hearts of poor 
 sinners, lest they should believe and be saved. Here he is craftily 
 and secretly introducing such evil men within the profession of 
 the Gospel as he trusts may spread death not life in the world, and 
 destroy the growth of the kingdom of light. How emphatic are 
 the words, " and went his way" This is a kind of work in which 
 it is for his interest to bo as little seen as possible. His object is 
 to fill the world with evil children, but they must have the appear- 
 ance of the children of light. They must be his in heart, but 
 they must be Christ's in name. They must be- really dead, but 
 they must appear to live. They must be barren and accursed, but 
 they must have the semblance of good and profitable seed. So, 
 after having done his utmost to attain this end, he keeps out of 
 sight, he retires into the back-ground, satisfied with leaving a seed 
 behind him who call Jesus Lord, but in works deny him. 
 
 When at length the work of this enemy appeared, " tiie servants 
 of the householder came andsaul unto him," &c. We have already 
 denied the accuracy of the view which makes these " servants" 
 mean ministers of Christ's church on earth. One reason we have 
 already given, and it is sufficient in itself. Others remain. What 
 is said cf the mingled growth of wheat and tares in the field, ap- 
 plies tt ministers, and to those having authority in the visible
 
 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 church, as well as others. The evil is mingled with the good there, 
 even as in the body of the church at large. (2 Corinthians xi. 
 13-15.) To make them apply, therefore, to their Master under 
 such circumstances, is, to say the least, a most incongruous ex 
 planation of the parable. And this incongruity is greatly height- 
 ened by putting such words as these into their mouths, " Wilt thou 
 then, that we go and gather them up ?" And if the refusal on the 
 part of Christ, "Nay, let both grow together" was meant to apply to 
 them, and to the exercise of discipline in the visible church, we 
 know that in the apostolic age, this was not carried out ; for we 
 find at least one of the most prominent of the apostolic band, en- 
 gaged himself, and engaging the other members of the church, 
 " to put away from among them that wicked person." 
 
 "The servants" are the angels of God, who are able to look over 
 the field at a glance, and who, as faithful themselves, are exceed- 
 ingly jealous for the honor of his name. It is altogether consist- 
 ent and congruous to the subject in hand, that they should come 
 and seek information about what appears so strangely adverse, as 
 they think, to the progress of that kingdom and the children of 
 it, in which their own future interests are so much involved. 
 They had seen from the beginning the works of Satan in the 
 world ; but now there is something new which they do not yet 
 comprehend. Christ has planted his kingdom in the world. He 
 has sown the seed the precious, the good seed of that kingdom 
 throughout the world. And hardly has he done so, when before 
 the eyes of these angelic servants there appears this strange anom- 
 aly Christians without Christianity something in the earthly 
 stage of the kingdom of Christ apparently springing out of it, 
 and yet utterly diverse from it. "From whence then hath it tares ?" 
 How is it possible that these should have arisen 1 The servants 
 of the householder, when told that an enemy had done this, im- 
 mediately begged to know whether they should go and at once 
 root up this evil and noxious crop. And here, we have just such 
 another intimation of what angelic minds may feel regarding what 
 passes in this world, as we had in the parable of the prodigal son. 
 Their first impulse is to go at once and take out of Christ's king- 
 dom any thing that offends. They can not endure such dishonor 
 to be cast upon him. They burn with holy jealousy to root out 
 all unbelievers from the field in which the church is passing
 
 THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 379 
 
 through her period of probation. They would do it at once. 
 They would have no delay. But their Master thinks otherwise. 
 He restrains their just and holy ardor. He will not, for wise pur- 
 poses of his own, allow them to go forth at once against those 
 who have only a " name to live ;" but the time is coming when 
 he will send them forth, and then their zeal for the Lord of hosts 
 will clear out of the field every root of bitterness, and destroy 
 every noxious plant. Let it be noted in passing, how this parable 
 is dovetailed into that of the lost son, by what it reveals of the 
 mind and feelings of angels regarding the whole scheme of re- 
 demption. First, they need to be instructed in, and reconciled to 
 the great work of redemption, as marked by Christ receiving sin- 
 ners ; and next, they need further instruction in regard to the long 
 preparatory course over which the children of the kingdom must 
 pass before being finally severed from all that is hostile to Christ, 
 and dishonoring to God. 
 
 But now as to the tares sown in the field. Many discussions 
 have arisen as to whether the plant here spoken of was of such a 
 kind as that the good wheat might degenerate into the evil tares ; 
 or, on the other hand, the evil tares be improved into the good 
 wheat. And then, of course, this application has followed that 
 if evil men may be changed into, or may become good, so, on 
 the other hand, good men may become evil. Now, in truth, the 
 parable has nothing to do with any such thing at all. This is not 
 a subject in the least within its scope. Whatever be the truth or 
 otherwise, either physically or spiritually, which may be held on 
 this point, this parable is altogether independent of it takes no 
 cognizance of it, and is complete in its great lesson without it. 
 " In the parable, the Lord gathers, as it were, the whole human 
 race into one life-time, as they will be gathered in one harvest, and 
 sets forth that as simultaneous, which has been scattered over the 
 ages of time." (Alford.) And all, then, which lie means to con- 
 vey by this parable, is, that in all ages of the church's history, aa\ 
 a matter of fact, the evil will be mingled with the good the good J 
 being the good seed, the evil the bad, and at first sight not readily-/ 
 to be distinguished. And that at the close of this dispensation 
 the great harvest of the world this will be found to be so still. 
 But at that time, he will see to the entire separation forever of all 
 that is really good from all that is really bad.
 
 380 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 All that we have to do with the plant called " tare" in the par- 
 able, is to see whether it bears out this manifest intimation, that 
 it might at certain periods of its growth be mistaken for wheat. 
 This is the special point in the parable the resemblance of the 
 wheat and tares at first, the time when the difference began to be 
 descried, and yet the danger at that time of endeavoring to root 
 them up and cast them out of the field. The researches of scien- 
 tific men have settled this matter. The tare in the parable is un- 
 questionably a plant, which in its first growth and development, 
 bears a very strong and marked resemblance to wheat in the same 
 stage of growth. So much, indeed, is this the case, that it needs 
 a very practiced eye to discover some minute features which indi- 
 cate the different classes to which these plants belong.* 
 
 The work of the enemy would not then appear at once. The 
 parable tells us when it was that it did appear, " When the blade 
 was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also" 
 Mark that the tares are meant here to be in the same stage of 
 development. The fruit had begun to appear in both. Now this 
 is just the stage at which the plant, which botanists consider to 
 be the tares of Scripture, displays its entire distinctiveness from 
 the wheat. As soon as the fruit appears, the plant is known. And 
 so it has been, and ever will be, in the history of the visible Church. 
 Only "by their fruits shall ye know them." No other means for any 
 one but Jehovah himself to know who are his, and who are not. 
 
 But then, " the servants" are forbidden from going at once and 
 gathering up the tares, and for this reason, " lest -while ye gather 
 up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them" We do not care 
 to deal with the notion which has been sometimes advanced in 
 explanation of the danger which would be incurred by presently 
 uprooting the tares, namely, that the roots of the plants might be 
 so far mingled with each other, as that violence to the one would 
 be fatal to the other and so making it in some way or another 
 necessary for the righteous in this world, that the evil should not 
 be violently taken from among them. This is altogether unsat- 
 isfactory and alien to the point at issue. The great thing is the 
 final separation of the evil and the good. " The Lord knoweth 
 
 * I have great satisfaction in referring to Appendix F for an admirable note on 
 this subject from my excellent friend the Professor of Botany in the University of 
 Edinburgh.
 
 THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 381 
 
 them that are his," but his judgment, his separation at last, will 
 be according to works, according to that done in the body, 
 whether good or bad. Now he will not suffer his angels at once 
 to proceed against the evil in his visible Church, because the time 
 has not arrived when the full manifestation of fruit of both kinds 
 will clearly show who are his, and who are not ; and therefore 
 even they might make mistakes in the matter. 
 
 An expression in the parable of the "seed in its growth," 
 seems to suggest the true meaning of this part of the parable 
 now before us. Speaking of the growth previous to harvest, our 
 Lord says, " First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn 
 in the ear." Now this is just what we may see in any field of 
 grain. There is ever this gradual development ; and more than 
 this, we shall invariably find different plants at different stages 
 of this development. "While one is nearly " the full corn in the 
 ear," another will be only as far on as " the ear," another not so 
 far, only " the blade." Now in the parable before us, the time 
 mentioned when the servants made the discovery, was when " the 
 blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit" In other words, 
 some of the most advanced of the plants began to show distinctly 
 what their true character was, either wheat or tares. But many 
 would be yet a stage or two behind. The real distinctivencss 
 derived from the first appearance of fruit could not yet be detected 
 in them, and hence the danger of attempting at that period to root 
 out the tares. This could only be done with safety at the extreme 
 period of harvest, when the time for the sickle had come, and 
 when every plant in the field would then show itself of what 
 kind of seed it was. 
 
 And so the whole lesson of this solemn parable lies before us. 
 God at present pauses in his judgment on those who, with an 
 outward profession, yet are none of his in heart He waits until, 
 over the whole field of the world, and during the entire history 
 of the Church, such distinct and tangible evidence shall be pro- 
 duced as to " the children of the kingdom," and " the children 
 of the evil one," that the angels whom he shall send forth to 
 gather out of his kingdom all those that offend, can not possibly 
 misunderstand their work, for then, as they cast the wicked into 
 the furnace of fire, even as tares into the burning, " t/ie righteous 
 shall shine (before them) in the kingdom of their Father."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MU8TARD-SJED THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE 
 
 THE DRAG-NET. 
 
 THE following parables still further illustrate the history of the 
 progress of the Gospel in the world, and its reception by man. 
 
 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of 
 heaven is like to a grain of mustard -seed, which a man took and sowed 
 in his field : which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is 
 grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomefJi a tree, so that the 
 birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." Matthew 
 xiii. 31, 32. 
 
 In the parable of the sower, the seed scattered yielded a return 
 to the husbandman in only one of the four kinds of soil on which 
 it fell. This by itself might have left an impression on the minds 
 of Christ's hearers, that his Gospel must be deficient in power, if 
 it proved successful in only one out of four classes of mankind. 
 The work of the enemy in the parable of the tares might have 
 rather strengthened, than otherwise, this impression. So in this 
 parable he sets before the people the inherent power of the 
 " kingdom of heaven." It may seem at first to find little accept- 
 ance with man. It may have its " day of small things." It may, 
 by the permission of the Prince of the kingdom, encounter a 
 long-continued effort of the enemy, either to make it of none 
 effect, or to overrun it with the worthlessness of a hollow and 
 counterfeit profession. Nevertheless, amid all these tokens of 
 apparent weakness, this shall be its history. Small and insignifi- 
 cant at first, indeed, to outward sense begun by a man, igno- 
 miniously crucified, with a few illiterate followers, having no 
 countenance or support from the ordinary forces of the world, it 
 has yet daily become greater and greater, and at length it shall
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD-SEED. 383 
 
 be for shelter to all tlie inhabitants of the earth. This is manifestly 
 the purport of the imagery in this parable. It sets forth the in- 
 herent power in the kingdom of heaven to strike its roots deeply 
 in the earth, to grow in spite of all obstacles, to " stretch forth its 
 boughs unto the sea, and its branches unto the river," until the 
 whole earth shall gladly seek for and find protection under its 
 shadow. This parable assures us of the outward glory and 
 triumph of the Messiah's kingdom in the earth. It is the repre- 
 sentation of all those glorious promises regarding his " govern- 
 ment and peace" in the world. It places before us in a lively 
 and striking figure such truths as these " The earth shall be 
 covered with the knowledge of the glory of God, even as the 
 waters cover the sea," "All shall know me, from the least to the 
 greatest." It marks the sure progress from the manger in the 
 stable at Bethlehem, with a new-born infant lying there, " because 
 there was no room for him in the inn," to that other day when 
 there shall be " great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of 
 the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ, and he shall reign on the earth." Then shall the lowly 
 one, who as an " infant of days" was " despised and rejected of 
 men," esteemed " small and of no reputation," and who, in ap- 
 parent weakness, hung dead upon the cross, then shall that very 
 Being " have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth." If for a time " the world" has been, by 
 his wise permission, partly overrun by tares, he will take care 
 that at length all such offenses shall be cast forth, and in "his 
 field" still will be gathered "all the kindreds of the people" to 
 rest under the shadow of that kingdom which is " righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."* 
 
 " Another parable spake he unto Oiem : The kingdom of heaven is 
 like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of 
 meal, till the whole was leavened" Matt. xiii. 33. 
 
 The parable of the mustard-seed represents " the inherent of self- 
 developing power of the kingdom of Heaven as a seed containing 
 in itself the principles of expansion ; this, of the power which it 
 possesses of penetrating and assimilating a foreign mass till all be 
 taken up into it." (Alford.) 
 
 * See Appendix G, for some remarks by Professor Balfour, regarding the plant 
 referred to in this parable.
 
 384 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 These two parables have often been regarded as representing 
 one and the same aspect of truth, namely, the gradual progress 
 from the small beginnings of the kingdom of Christ up to its per- 
 fect development and establishment. But nothing can be more 
 mistaken than such a view. The bearing of each parable is per- 
 fectly distinct from the other. The first has to do with the open, 
 manifest triumph and glory of Messiah's kingdom, with the na- 
 tions of the earth finding a safe and a happy shelter under its 
 universal dominion. The other shows that coextensive with 
 this, there is proceeding an inward process of "penetrating and 
 assimilating" so that the dwellers under the shadow of the king- 
 dom shall also have it " within them." Just as the tree of right- 
 eousness, planted by the love and watered by the sufferings of 
 Christ, is advancing to its glorious maturity, so is regeneration 
 and sanctification by every means of grace constantly proceeding 
 in the souls of his people, and when the perfect consummation of 
 his work for them shall be at length made manifest, his perfect 
 work in them shall be completed too. ' ' The whole shall le leavened"* 
 
 The parables we have just been considering were, equally with 
 those of the sower and the tares, delivered by our Lord to the 
 multitude on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Those which we 
 are now to look into were delivered by him to his disciples alone, 
 after he had retired into the house, (ver. 38.) And bearing this 
 in mind we shall the more readily perceive the main scope of 
 what was uttered under these circumstances. 
 
 * I have not thought it necessary to notice here the opinion that " the leaven*' 
 in this parable is symbolic of pollution and corruption, and therefore that the 
 parable refers to the progress of corruption and deterioration in the outward visi- 
 ble Church. Let the following remarks suffice for this view. " But, then, how is 
 it said that the kingdom of heaven is like this leaven ? Again, if the progress of 
 the kingdom of heaven be toward corruption, till the whole is corrupted, surely there 
 is an end of all the blessings and healing influences of the Gospel in the world. 
 It will be seen that such an interpretation can not for a moment stand on its own 
 ground, but much less when we connect it with the parable preceding." (Alford.) 
 I add the following admirable remark by the same writer regarding the woman 
 and the three measures of meal. " As to whether the ywrj has any especial mean- 
 ing (though I am more and more convinced that such considerations are not always to 
 be passed by as nugatory), it will hardly be of much consequence here to inquire, 
 seeing that -yvvalKef airoTroioi would be every where a matter of course. ' The three 
 measures,' an ephah, appears to have been the usual quantity prepared for a bak- 
 ing.- (See Gen. xviii. 6; Judges, vi. 19; 1 Sam. i. 24.)"
 
 THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD. 885 
 
 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in afield: 
 the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goetJi 
 andselkth all that he hath, and luyeih that field" Matt, xiii. 44. 
 
 Hitherto our Lord had spoken of the kingdom of heaven in 
 its reception among men, and its external and internal process, in 
 respect of the power with which that kingdom itself operates. 
 Thus it is good seed cast into the ground, and then springing up. 
 It is also a gram of mustard-seed, becoming at length a tree ; and 
 also it is leaven pe'rvading the mass into which it is introduced, 
 until 'the whole is leavened. Now, however, Jesus represents 
 this reception of the kingdom of heaven under another aspect, 
 namely, the eagerness of men to possess it, when they come to 
 know its value. He shows to his disciples, who were already, by 
 his Spirit, earnestly seeking after that kingdom, that in the mat- 
 ter of its reception, men were not acted on, as if merely inert 
 and passive, like the soil of the earth, but they were eagerly de- 
 sirous to obtain that which, by the Spirit, they had discovered to 
 be " unsearchable riches," and unspeakably precious. 
 
 The parable before us illustrates the case of the man who makes 
 an unexpected discovery of the inestimable value of what the 
 Gospel of the kingdom is ; and who, when he has once done so, 
 strains every nerve, gives himself no rest, until he can call that 
 precious treasure his own. Our Lord took the similitude from a 
 very common occurrence in Eastern countries, both in ancient 
 and modern times, where the insecurity of property is proverbial. 
 It was and is no unusual thing, for men of wealth to divide their 
 property into three parts ; one part to be invested in the daily trans- 
 actions of commerce ; a second converted into precious stones, 
 which might be easily secreted about the person and carried away 
 on any emergency ; and the third buried in some secret place 
 known only to the owner. It has frequently happened, that the 
 owner has never returned to recover his property ; and thus 
 another, often very unexpectedly, has lighted on " the hid treas- 
 ure" Our Lord supposes such a case, and as the law then in 
 force in Judea would make the present proprietor of the field in 
 which the treasure lay the legal possessor of the latter, this man 
 is said, as soon as he made the discovery, " to sell all that he hatfi, 
 and to buy the field" in order that he may possess the treasure. 
 
 Observe, our Lord merely takes such a case as frequently oc- 
 
 25
 
 386 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 curred, as the similitude of the truth he wished to inculcate 
 As to the honesty or otherwise of the man in the matter, we have 
 nothing to do. It is no more intended that we should act upon 
 the principle which influenced him, than we are to act upon the 
 principle which influenced the unjust steward. Just as in the lat- 
 ter case, it is the man's shrewdness, not his dishonesty, that is the 
 lesson ; so in the parable before us, it is the man's eager desire to 
 obtain at every cost the " treasure in ike field" which is the lesson, 
 not the craft and cunning by which he attained his end. 
 
 What, then, does the " treasure hid in the field''' 1 mean ? It can 
 not mean what the field in the former parables does " the world" 
 There is no treasure in that field worth the buying ; neither can 
 it be, in any sense, said of any one, that he " bought the world? 
 Neither can it mean " the Church," as some would have it, for the 
 Church has no such treasure in her which can thus be taken pos- 
 session of. She may tell of such treasure, and point to where it 
 is to be found the faithful may tell where they themselves have 
 found it, but they will say as Paul did, "We neither received it of 
 man, neither were we taught it, but by revelation cf Jesus Christ." 
 Besides, how can it ever be said with any propriety, that as the 
 man in the parable bought the field for the treasure, so also he who 
 seeks for the Gospel treasure must possess himself of the Church, 
 in order to obtain the treasure ! Surely it is enough to state this 
 view plainly, in order to condemn it. 
 
 The "field" in this parable is the same which is set forth in the 
 parable of the sower by " the seed." It is " the word of God" 
 When the direct power and energy of the word upon the sinner's 
 heart is intended to be shown, then it is good seed sown on good 
 ground, springing up and bearing fruit. When it is the sinner's 
 eager desire to possess that word with all its hid treasure, to give 
 up all, in order to obtain it then it is " a field" in which " a trea- 
 sure is hid" Now mark the process illustrated here. The writ- 
 ten word of God lies before the sinner as the field in the parable lay 
 before the man. It does not yet belong to him. He looks at it 
 he may labor in one sense in it but as long as he is unconverted, 
 as long as his desires are " earthly, sensual, devilish," he has "no 
 part or lot in the matter ;" and as long as this state lasts, he has no 
 desire to possess it. There is nothing, as it appears to him, so 
 precious in it, as to make him " sell all that he has" in order to get
 
 THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD. 387 
 
 it. But let the Spirit of God " reveal Christ" to that sinner's soul, 
 awake him to a sense of sin, a need of pardon, a fear of hell, and a 
 hope of heaven, by showing him " the Lamb of God," then he has 
 made the great discovery of the treasure which the field contains 
 of what the Scriptures hold, " they are they which testify of 
 me" And so he never rests until he has really and spiritually 
 made himself possessor of that which " is the testimony of Jesus." 
 He must have as his own, and at every cost, the written word, be- 
 cause of the living word within it. 
 
 See, moreover, what he does when he makes the discovery of 
 Christ in his Word. "He hideth it" This is the only way in which 
 he can secure possession of it. " Thy Word have I hid within . 
 my heart." " Thy words were found, and I did eat them," that 
 in the inner process of spiritual life, known only to God and the 
 soul, the latter might appropriate to itself the "unsearchable 
 riches of Christ." Then '''for joy thereof he goelh and selleth all that 
 he hath, and buycth that field" Mark well, this does not mean the 
 believer buying his salvation. He has not a farthing wherewith to 
 attempt to do that. The treasure in the field of the Word is al- 
 ready a bought salvation a salvation purchased not with " cor- 
 ruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood 
 of Christ." It is this which makes it so infinitely valuable, so 
 gloriously precious ; and when, therefore, the sinner sells all that 
 he has in order to buy this, it means that " what things were gain 
 to him," these he must now "count loss for Christ;" and he must 
 be ready to "suffer the loss of all things, that he may win Christ," 
 God's unspeakable gift. 
 
 And so we pass on to the next parable. 
 
 "Again, tfie kingdom of heaven is Wee unto a merchant-nian seeking 
 goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went 
 and sold all that he had, and bought it" Matt. xiii. 45, 46. 
 
 In the former parable, we have the case of a man who, without 
 any previous heart-searching, is suddenly brought face to face with 
 the Gospel treasure, and so becomes eager to obtain it. The case 
 of the woman at the well of Samaria is a remarkable example of 
 such. In this, on the contrary, we have the case of a man so far 
 enlightened, so far awakened, as to have become thoroughly dis- 
 satisfied with his own condition, and who has received strong im- 
 pressions of the odiousness of sin, and of the beauty of holiness.
 
 388 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 One who feels that lie can not sit still, and make no effort after 
 what is good. He is conscious of his need, and sincerely sets 
 about endeavoring to get what he wants. He is seeking "goodly 
 pearls.' 11 The grace of God leads him to discover the one "pearl 
 of great price," even Jesus Christ. He had been searching for 
 "pearls" for many ornaments. He finds one, worth more than 
 them all. In other words, when the awakened soul is sincerely 
 and really desirous to put on " whatsoever things are lovely, hon- 
 est, just, pure, or of good report," then he discovers that in Christ 
 every such precious thing is to be found. He discovers that if he 
 obtains- Christ he gets " all things" besides that if he " put on 
 Christ" it is the certain and the only way in \vhich he can put 
 away what is vile and unworthy, and be clothed with such a sal- 
 vation as shall not only be a covering for him in the way of par- 
 don, but shall be glorious apparel, in which he may walk adorned 
 with all the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God. When 
 Paul said, "to me to live is Christ" he showed that he had parted 
 with every thing, and made the "pearl of great price" his own. 
 And just, then, as in the "treasure hid in the field" we have the 
 believer hiding the precious word with Christ in it within his heart, 
 as his heritage forever ; so in this latter parable we have the be- 
 liever setting forth the preciousness and glory of Christ before 
 men, wearing this " pearl of great price" as his unspeakably costly 
 ornament, and so "adorning the doctrine of God his Saviour in 
 all things." 
 
 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into 
 the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they 
 drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast 
 the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall 
 come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast 
 them into the furnace of fire,: there shall be wailing and gnashing of 
 teeth" Matt. xiii. 47-50. 
 
 While this parable is identical with that of the tares in thejkld 
 in two points, namely, the permitted mingling of good and evil 
 within the outward Church on earth, and the final and complete 
 separation of these in the day of the Lord at the end of the 
 world, as it is called in both, but more properly the end of the age, 
 or the present dispensation ; the aspect under which these are 
 presented to us is perfectly different in the two parables. A brief
 
 THE DRAG NET. 389 
 
 examination of this one will suffice to show the points of differ- 
 ence. 
 
 It is not a field now in which seed is sown, but the sea into 
 which a net is cast. From this we gather an important distinc- 
 tion between the general bearing of the two parables, while each 
 closes with the separation of the good from the evil. The parable 
 of the tares intimates to us that the ungodliness of mere profes- 
 sion will be seen to be mingled more or less with the reality of true 
 godliness during the progress of this age or dispensation. The 
 parable before us indicates another view of the matter. The net 
 is cast in, and as " it gathers of every kind" its operation is out of 
 sight. The end will show what it is gathering ; but as it is drag- 
 ged along it is under the water, and so out of view. 
 
 The same Being, likewise, who is mentioned in the former, is 
 implied in this. "The Son of man," who is represented as if 
 " sowing good seed in a field," must be regarded here as if " cast- 
 ing a net into the sra." But the imagery of the two parables sug- 
 gests a widely different application. In the parable of the tares 
 in the field we see the representation of the vital power of the 
 Word in "the children of the kingdom." They are the "good 
 seed," because with prepared hearts they have received the Word 
 and keep it. In the parable now before us we behold the judicial 
 power of the Word in retaining its hold on every one with whom 
 it is brought into contact, unto the judgment of the great day. 
 
 How solemn is the lesson thus taught ! The Lord Jesus has 
 given his Word. In other words, he has himself announced his 
 Gospel message, preached the kingdom of heaven, and, by his 
 ministering servants he never ceases to call attention to this fact 
 This, then, is as if a man "cast a net into Hie sen" To whomso- 
 ever that Gospel comes, it never leaves him. From that moment 
 he never can shake himself loose from its power. It takes fast 
 hold of him, and he never can escape from it. He may appear 
 in outward things just as he appeared before. Men may mark no 
 difference in him. They, may be as little aware of a change of 
 condition in him as a man standing on the shore is ignorant of 
 what may be inclosed in a net which is being drawn, but in real- 
 ity he has become inclosed within the meshes of a net which is 
 dragging him irresistibly along. Whether for good or for evil 
 whether for acquittal or condemnation whether to be gathered
 
 390 THE PARABLE OF THE DRAG-NET. 
 
 among the pure in heaven, or cast among the guilty ;n hell, he 
 can not arrest his progress for an instant toward the judgment to 
 which he is being carried from the first moment when the offer of 
 salvation in the Gospel was made to him. 
 
 How different the condition of the two parties involved in this 
 mighty net cast into the sea ! The one good, the other bad. The 
 one " the children of the kingdom," the other " the children of 
 the. evil one." The one carried on toward everlasting life, the 
 other dragged toward everlasting death. Truly as the prophet 
 has it, " Thy word shall not return unto thee void" When as a 
 net it is at length "brought to shore" it will be "full;" and then 
 shall the angels of Gk>d "come forth" summoned now to cast out 
 all evil from the communion of the kingdom, and sever the wick- 
 ed from among the just ; and then shall the Apostle's words be 
 fully verified that the Gospel message must be either " a savor of 
 life unto life, or of death unto death." Reader, bear well in mind 
 that the Gospel of Christ is like the pillar on the shore of the Eed 
 Sea, which had its bright side for the Israelite, its dark and threat- 
 ening one for the Egyptian. So is the Gospel to you. If you will 
 not have it in one way, it will in wrap you in gloom in another. 
 If it is not your salvation it will become your condemnation. If 
 it does not give life, it will deepen the horrors of eternal death. 
 It will not let you go without a blessing or a curse. " How shall 
 you escape" the last, if you despise the first ?
 
 PART V, 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OF GRACE IN ITS HISTORICAL AND PROPHETICAL 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 SECT. H. THE CALLING AND CASTING AWAY OF THE JEW, AND 
 THE CALLING AND BRINGING IN OF THE GENTILE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GREAT SUPPER. 
 
 IN the last section we have had a wide field of contemplation 
 spread before us, regarding the reception of the Gospel generally 
 by those to whom it is sent, and the progress of that Gospel itself 
 from the time that it was given by the Son of man until the day 
 when it shall bring before him for final judgment and separation 
 all who have come within its mighty influence. We now turn to 
 another view of Christ's work of grace, as it appears in its histor- 
 ical and prophetical character, and that with special reference to 
 the Jew and the Gentile. 
 
 U A certain man made a great supper, and bade many : and sent 
 his servant at supper-time to say to them t/tat were bidden, Come; for 
 all tilings are now ready. And they all wit/i one consent began to make 
 excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece, of ground, and 
 I must needs go and see it: I pray Mice have me excused. Andanot/ier 
 said I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove t/tem: I pray 
 thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and 
 therefore lean not come. So tfiat servant came, and showed his lord 
 these things. Then the master of tlie house, being angry, said to his 
 servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of tlie city, and bring 
 in hither the poor, and t/ie nuiim&J, and tiie halt, and the blind. And 
 the servant said, Lord, it is done as tiiou hast commanded, and yet
 
 392 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the 
 highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may 
 be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were lid- 
 den shall taste of my suppsr." Luke xiv. 16-24. 
 
 Allusion has already been made in these pages to the occasion 
 on which this parable was delivered. Our Lord was at the " house 
 of one of the chief Pharisees." Most probably guests of dis- 
 tinction sat down with him to eat bread, for the anxiety he ob- 
 served among them to choose the chief places at the table drew 
 forth the parable of the lowest room. This is still more manifest 
 from what he said directly to his host (verses 12-14). 
 
 When our Lord referred to " the resurrection of the just," one 
 who sat at meat with him cried out, " Blessed is he that shall eat 
 bread in the kingdom of God." The Jews entertained the ex- 
 pectation that the resurrection of the just would be ushered in by 
 a great and glorious festival, and it is most probable that this man 
 with a low and carnal view of the Messiah's kingdom altogether, 
 " spoke these words," as Trench remarks, " with a very easy and 
 comfortable assurance that he should make one of them that 
 should thus eat bread in the kingdom of God." As a Jew he 
 looked upon himself as belonging to the favored band who should 
 be present at the festival in the kingdom of God. He took it for 
 granted. To instruct and warn him as well as the rest our Lord 
 put forth the parable before us. 
 
 The last verse we have quoted gives us the key to the parable. 
 ' I say unto you!" 1 (tf.wr*'). Now, in the parable there are only two 
 persons introduced, the householder and his servant, as conversing 
 about the supper. These words, then, can not be meant as if 
 spoken by the man in the parable to his servant, but they are the 
 words of Christ to those around the table with him at the time. 
 
 " I say unto you." And he thus at once gives us to understand, 
 that he is " the man who made a great supper, and bade many," and 
 that the supper to which he invited guests was the Gospel that 
 " feast of fat things" of which the prophets had written. 
 
 Bearing this in view, the parable is most impressive. Our Lord 
 was then an invited guest at the table of a chief Pharisee, sur- 
 rounded by others of the same class, who were most willingly 
 present. He tells them in the parable then, that he also has made 
 a great supper and has bidden many. And he puts it to their
 
 THE GREAT SUPPER. 393 
 
 hearts and consciences whether they have as cordially attended to 
 his invitation, as they did to their host at whose table they were 
 then sitting. The point with which this appeal was made will ap- 
 pear as we consider the different parts of the parable in detail. 
 
 The parable is based on a custom existing among the Jews in 
 giving entertainments. They first issued their invitations to their 
 guests generally, then on the day appointed they sent out again to 
 them who were invited- to call them to the feast. The Master of 
 the Gospel feast in the former dispensation " bade many" He had 
 made all previous preparation for the glorious festival widen he 
 had determined to give, and he had made the most clear announce- 
 ment of his purpose. He spake in times 'past unto the fathers by 
 the prophets. When, however, "the time of the promise drew 
 nigh," when the Gospel feast was being really spread, then he 
 sent forth a special message to those who had been invited, " Come, 
 for all things are now ready}" 1 This was John the Baptist's sum- 
 mons when he began his ministry in the wilderness of Judea 
 this was its sum and substance, " Repent, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand.' 1 
 
 The reception of John's invitation to the Gospel feast, by the 
 "chief Pharisees," the scribes and the rulers of the people, is the 
 first thing with which our Lord deals in the parable. These "sat 
 in Moses' seat," and had authority in the land. They professed 
 to be the guides of the people, and the latter took the law from 
 their lips. What then do they say to the express invitation, now 
 that Gospel times have arrived "Come, for all tilings are now 
 ready?" This was the natural order to take in showing what con- 
 sideration Jesus, who "made the great supper" received at the 
 hands of those whom he invited. And it is not uninteresting to 
 bear in mind, that when John came preaching, it was the Phari- 
 sees who came prominently forward to demand an account of him 
 and of his message. It was markedly with them that the settle- 
 ment was first to be made regarding the " supper now ready" 
 (John i. 19-24.) 
 
 See, then, how these persons received the message "They all 
 with one consent began to make excuse" Our Lord proceeds to givo 
 specimens of the excuses these persons made, which indeed too 
 truly represent the worldly-rmmlod and the sclf-righteouH of all 
 ages, who have no love for the good things of the Gospel. Note
 
 394 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 the variety not only of the excuses made by each, but of the terms 
 in which the refusal is couched. The first man has bought " a 
 piece of ground," and " he must needs go and see it." He pleads the 
 necessity of his case. He is sorry not to attend, but he has what 
 is more urgent, as he thinks, on hand. He will come another 
 time. The second says, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I goto 
 prove them" This man does not plead the necessity of the case 
 as the other. He goes to prove his yoke of oxen, simply because 
 he chooses to do this, rather than go to the feast. The third says, 
 " / have married a wife, and therefore I can not come" This is a rude, 
 point-blank refusal. The cares and the pleasures of life so fill the 
 man's soul, that he has no room even to think of another time 
 when he may possibly attend, or feel an inclination to go. He 
 dismisses all thought of it at once. 
 
 With such variety of feeling existing in individuals to whom 
 John's message came, our Lord as we have seen, groups them all 
 together in one class under this general character, common to all, 
 ''They all with one consent began to make excuse" "We must not 
 suppose that our Lord meant absolutely that all the leading men 
 among the Pharisees did so. There may have been some ex- 
 ceptions, such as Nicodemus, for example. But these were so rare, 
 that he was justified in marking the whole class as he does here. 
 In alluding to them on the occasion of his putting forth the par- 
 able of the two sons, as those who " went not," he says, " John 
 came unto you in the way of righteousness, and YE believed him 
 NOT : but the publicans and the harlots believed him, and YE, 
 when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe 
 Mm. And these men themselves gloried in this their rejection of 
 the Gospel message. " Are ye also deceived ?" they said once in 
 their council, to their own officers sent by them to apprehend Je- 
 sus. " Have ANY of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on 
 him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed." 
 (John vii. 48, 49.) 
 
 Such is the first class in the parable to which the invitation is 
 given, and who so unanimously reject it. There is a single word 
 at this part of the parable which demands attention : "The master 
 of the house BEING ANGRY." Through the whole of Christ's min- 
 istry of love and reconciliation, it is alone when dealing with " the 
 scribes and Pharisees," that we behold the flashing forth of his
 
 THE GREAT SUPPER. 395 
 
 righteous indignation. At one time he looks round upon them 
 with anger. At another he denounces them for their hypocrisy. 
 And, again, he marks them with special condemnation, because 
 they neither would " enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, 
 nor suffer those who were entering, to go in." 
 
 If this be the true application of the first part of the parable, 
 we can well see how it must have cut into the heart of many of 
 those " chief Pharisees" with whom he was then sitting at meat. 
 One of them had spoken of the eating bread in the kingdom of 
 God, as if it were already his. " Take heed," says our Lord in ef- 
 fect to him, " that you, too, are not found among those high-mind- 
 ed, worldly, carnal men, who with one consent are rejecting me, 
 and so returning careless or insolent refusals, as the case may be, 
 to the only Being who has the power to admit to that great supper" 
 
 The second sending forth of the servant, refers to the commis- 
 sion given to the Apostles of Christ to preach the glad tidings of 
 his Gospel, and invite sinners to his feast. By the terms of this 
 commission, they were to " begin at Jerusalem." And so here it 
 is, " the streets and lanes of the city" to which the servant is sent. 
 " To the poor the Gospel is now preached," both those who were 
 of low degree, and those who were poor in spirit, but still expressly 
 among the Jews. Among the great masses of the people, while 
 the proud Pharisees despised and rejected Christ, were to be found 
 those who as " poor, and maimed, and halt, and blind," (mark 
 here the connection between verses thirteen and twenty-one,) were 
 bidden, as on the day of Pentecost, and who " gladly received the 
 word," and who pressed eagerly in, to " eat bread in the kingdom 
 of God." And even when those proud Pharisees began to do to 
 the servants as they had done to the Master, and persecute them 
 even to the death, yet was the " number of the disciples multiplied," 
 and " the street and tfie lanes" of Jerusalem witnessed to the faith and 
 patience of many who " rejoiced that they were counted worthy 
 to suffer shame for the name of Christ," and who would not be 
 hindered from going to share in the rich bounties of their Master's 
 feast of love. 
 
 But " yet there is room," is the intimation given by the servant 
 to the master of the feast. That feast must have its full comple- 
 ment of guests. It has been prepared at a most costly price, and 
 there must not be one vacant place at the table. Here we have
 
 396 THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER. 
 
 the glory ol the Gospel of Christ specially set forth. Though 
 first delivered to the Jew, it is not limited to the Jew. This limit- 
 ation in the former dispensation was needful for the day of prepa- 
 ration. But when once ready, nothing will satisfy the master of the 
 house, but to embrace all the families of the earth in his universal 
 invitation, "Come, for all things are now ready" And so, here, the 
 servant is desired to go "OUT into the highways and hedges ;" no 
 longer to the city, but to the country, to the pagans, the heathen, 
 the Gentiles, and bear to them the glad tidings of the Gospel of 
 peace. The Apostles " beginning at Jerusalem," were not to be 
 satisfied without preaching the Gospel to every creature." And 
 this was to be their special attitude, they were " to compel them to 
 come in" They were to use all earnestness and persuasion, as 
 those who must give account, that many might be gathered from 
 the north, and south, and east, and west, and so their "master's 
 house be "filled" How remarkably does the ministry of Paul an- 
 swer to this description ! a Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the 
 Lord," he says, " we persuade men." "As though God did beseech 
 you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God." 
 The parable closes with the indignant declaration of the master 
 of the feast, to which reference has been made already. "For I 
 say unto you, That none of those men that were bidden shall taste of 
 my supper" When we reflect on what that feast is, and who gives 
 it, this exclusion is, indeed, an awful one. The feast is salvation 
 with its untold blessings ; the master of the feast is the Author and 
 the Finisher of salvation ; and to have no part or lot with these, 
 is to have a part in the lake which burneth with fire forever. 
 Terribly does our Lord describe the final condition of those who 
 had trifled away their day of grace, who had refused his repeated 
 invitations " There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when 
 ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and. Jacob, and all the prophets 
 in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they 
 shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, 
 and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." 
 They who with " one consent began to make excuse," while the 
 door into the master's house was open, will find, when too late, 
 and when the door is shut, what they have lost ; and their cry, 
 "Lord, open unto us," will be replied to, by the righteous con- 
 demnation, " I know you not" " depart from me."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN THE MARRIAGE OP THE KING'S 8OK. 
 
 THE next parable in this section was delivered at a later period 
 of our Lord's ministry than that we have considered in the last 
 chapter ; and this will account for the increasingly stern character 
 of the announcement now made. 
 
 "Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which 
 planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press 
 in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a 
 far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his 
 servants to the husbandmen, that tJiey might receive the fruit of if. 
 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, 
 and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: 
 and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his 
 son, saying, They will reverence my son. But ichen the husbandmen 
 saw the son, they said among tlicmselves, TJiis is the heir ; come, let us 
 kitt him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And (hey canght him, and 
 cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the Lord therefore 
 of the vineyard cometh, what will he do u to t/iose husbandmen f 
 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and 
 will kt out his vineyard unto otlier husbandmen, which shall render 
 him the fruits in their seasons." Matt. xxi. 33-11 : Mark xii. 1-12 ; 
 Luke xx. 9-18. 
 
 In the immediately preceding part of this chapter, our Lord had 
 given a well-merited rebuke to the " chief priests and ciders of the 
 people," in the parable of the two sow, and he takes the opportu- 
 nity of still further setting forth their evil conduct in the parable 
 before us. " Hear another parable," he says to them. The Evan- 
 gelist Luke tells us, that he spoke this parable to the people; 
 but he also notes the presence within hearing of those Scribes
 
 398 THE PAKABLE OP 
 
 and Pharisees. And we thus gain from the separate accounts, 
 what it was that our Lord specially desired to represent in the 
 parable. The whole Jewish people must be regarded as the hus- 
 bandmen. " Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall 
 be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
 thereof." But as it is the chief priests and Pharisees who were 
 leading on the people to the filling up of their iniquity as they 
 were the chief instigators in all those things which were bring- 
 ing wrath upon the ration unto the uttermost, it is not to be won- 
 dered at, if they are made in the parable the special representa- 
 tives of the people, in connection with the desolation which was 
 coming on the latter under their guidance. And no wonder that 
 it is added, " When the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his 
 parable, they perceived that he spake of them." 
 
 What is the " vineyard" in the parable ? It can not mean here, 
 as in others, "the house of Israel, and the men of Judah," for 
 these latter are the husbandmen to whom it is first let, and who 
 are then driven out to make room for others who shall " bring forth 
 the fruits thereof." The vineyard must be something which was 
 first put into the hands of the Jews to keep, and then taken from 
 them because of their wickedness. This can be nothing else than 
 the revealed truth of God a revelation embracing all that he was 
 pleased to make known of himself of the condition of man of 
 his plans toward the latter of his warnings and his promises. 
 This revelation, first spoken and then written the " lively oracles" 
 of God, was first committed solemnly to the charge of the Jewish 
 people. The covenant in the wilderness formally and distinctly 
 settled them as keepers of this vineyard, with all things pertaining 
 to it. This covenant installed them as the responsible parties for 
 all that the Householder had reason to expect from his vineyard 
 in other words, for all the blessed results which such a trust as 
 they had from the God of truth, love, light, and holiness, was, if 
 duly improved, capable of providing. It was in the wilderness 
 that the vineyard was expressly "let out" under the terms of a 
 binding covenant, to the first husbandmen. 
 
 The " hedging round about," the "wine-press dug" the "tower 
 built," must not be pressed too minutely in the interpretation. It 
 is enough that we see generally in these, that the householder 
 could not have done more than he did in his vineyard. Its de-
 
 THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN. 399 
 
 fenses were such that proper care on the part of the husbandmen 
 would have sufficed for its protection. Its means were all pre- 
 pared and at hand to extract the precious sweetness of divine truth. 
 And it had its tower of prayerful watchfulness, where the inter- 
 ests of the Lord of the vineyard might be vigilantly guarded. 
 
 The messages that are spoken of in the first part of this para- 
 ble, as sent by the householder to the husbandmen, for the fruit 
 of the vineyard, refer to the constant appeals made to Israel by 
 God's servants the prophets. Jehovah is represented as so 
 anxiously engaged in this effort to obtain fruit from his vineyard, 
 as " to be rising up early and sending" these servants. The re- 
 ception which they met with, is just as described in the parable. 
 They were despised they were shamefully entreated they were 
 often put to death. The history of the prophets of Israel is as 
 remarkable in the testimony it bears to the long-suffering and 
 patience of Jehovah in continuing to send one servant after an- 
 other, " at sundry times and in divers manners," as for the terrible 
 proof it gives of the stubbornness, rebellion, and ungodliness of 
 the husbandmen who so wickedly betrayed their trust. 
 
 The turning point in the parable is where the householder is 
 said to send his son as the very last effort he could possibly make 
 in order to bring the husbandmen to a proper sense of their duty. 
 This necessarily refers to the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. 
 Up to this time, the prophets and servants of God, under the Old 
 Testament, had come to the husbandmen, and in vain. The Son of 
 God himself closes that long period of waiting and long-suffering 
 by his own advent, in the "form of a servant," to make one last 
 appeal to the husbandmen. 
 
 The parable as given by Luke is most striking and affecting 
 just at this point. " Then said the Lord of the vineyard, What 
 shall I do ? I will send my beloved son : it may be they will rev- 
 erence him when they see him." These words carry their own 
 interpretation with them. Jehovah lias but one gift better than 
 all the others left he has given prophets and holy men, Samuel, 
 Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, but to no purpose. " What will he 
 do?" He has " his beloved son in whom he is well -pleased," the 
 " only -begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Will he 
 part with him ? Will he send him to such ungrateful and wicked 
 wretches ? Will he put him for a time in their power, within
 
 400 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 reach of their malice and wickedness, that they may have this one 
 final opportunity of turning away from their evil and accursed 
 ways? Yes, even this shall not be withheld! "I will send my 
 beloved son : it may be they will reverence him when they see 
 him." 
 
 The awful guilt of the people to whom the Son of God thus 
 came, is shadowed forth in the parable, and written as in letters 
 of flame on the pages of the New Testament. The husbandmen 
 conspired together, and in the mad hope of acquiring the vineyard 
 to themselves, they took the son of the householder and cast him 
 out of the vineyard and slew him. " Ye men of Israel," said 
 Peter on the day of Pentecost, "hear these words: Jesus of Naz- 
 areth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and won- 
 ders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
 yourselves also know : Him ... ye have taken, and by wicked 
 hands have crucified and slain." " Ye stiff-necked and uncircum- 
 cised in heart and ears," exclaimed Stephen, before the Sanhedrim, 
 " ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ; as your fathers did, so do 
 ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? 
 and they have slain those which showed before of the coming of 
 the just one ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and mur- 
 derers." 
 
 There is a remarkable account given by John, which shows the 
 singular point and force of the parable, where it is said of the 
 husbandmen, that they said one to another, when the Son of the 
 Lord of the vineyard came : "This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, 
 that the inheritance may be ours" After the raising of Lazarus, the 
 Evangelist informs us that the " chief priests and Pharisees gather- 
 ed a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many 
 miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe in him : 
 and the Eomans will come and take away both our place and na- 
 tion." The very original of the parabolic picture ! " All men 
 will believe on him" Then " the Romans will come and take 
 away our place and nation." Thus our position will be irretrieva- 
 bly ruined, if we suffer this man to escape from us any longer. 
 He will get the heritage, if we do not take instant measures to 
 prevent it. " It is therefore expedient for us that one man die for 
 the people." "This is Hie heir ; come, let us kill him, and the inher- 
 itance shall be ours /"
 
 THE "WICKED HUSBANDMEN. 401 
 
 The parable closes with the miserable punishment inflicted on 
 those wicked men, who were both unfaithful to the trust commit- 
 ted to them, and who perpetrated such atrocities in order to pro- 
 mote their own infamous purposes. They are destroyed, and the 
 vineyard let out to other husbandmen. What kind of destruction 
 is referred to here regarding the Jews will be seen in the next 
 parable. It is enougfi to observe just now, the fact so distinctly 
 announced by our Lord. The people, urged on by their rulers, 
 were stirred up to cry with blood-thirsty eagerness, " Crucify him, 
 crucify him," and in the overflowing of their malice against " the 
 heir" they formally placed themselves under the curse of innocent 
 blood : " His blood be on us, and on our children." And just 
 then, as he was about to give himself into their hands with the 
 full knowledge of what was before him, he solemnly declared 
 their occupation of the vineyard to have ceased : ' Your house 
 is left unto you desolate," " The things which belong unto your 
 peace are forever hidden from your eyes." And so, to use the 
 figure of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Jews were cut off as 
 worthless branches of the olive-tree, in order that the Gentiles 
 might be graffed in. 
 
 Our Lord intimates further the awfulness of this destruction 
 which he predicts against the Jews. The " heir" cast out and 
 slain is in a following verse " the stone which the builders reject- 
 ed." Both mean the Lord Jesus. The rejection of the latter, 
 however, is followed, as he declares, by its being made the " head 
 of the corner," and this change in the similitude is to show, that 
 although they might reject, and cast out, and slay the sou, yet He 
 himself would finally be victorious over them ; and it is this which 
 will cause the destruction to be so terrible. He that takes offense 
 at Christ will be broken he does it at his own cost, and will suf- 
 fer accordingly ; but he on whom the weigh* of Christ's special 
 vengeance shall fall, as on those wicked murderers, shall be dash- 
 ed to pieces ground to powder. The privilege the latter have 
 despised the slight they have offered to Christtheir malicious 
 designs against him their hands stained with the blood of the 
 Prince of Peace all these shall bring upon them a swifter de- 
 struction, a more terrific judgment, than they shall experience 
 whose iniquity has not abounded as theirs did. We go on to an- 
 other parable which was delivered immediately after that which 
 
 20
 
 402 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 we have just considered, and which deals very much with the 
 same subject. 
 
 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a 
 marriage for fiis son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were 
 bidden to the wedding : and they would not come. Again, he sent 
 forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, 1 
 have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my failings are Jailed, and 
 all things are ready ; come unto the marriage. But they made light 
 yf it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize : 
 2nd the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and 
 slew them. But when Hie king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he 
 sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up 
 their city. Then saith he to his servants, TJie wedding is ready, but 
 they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the 
 highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those 
 servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all, as 
 many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnish- 
 ed with guests." Matt. xxii. 210. 
 
 We shall consider the concluding part of this parable separately. 
 
 It is now all but universally admitted that this parable is en- 
 tirely different from that of the great supper as given by Luke. 
 It is indeed wonderful how they could ever have been confounded 
 together. Except that a feast is spoken of in both, that invitations 
 are issued in both, and that some reject and others accept these, 
 there is nothing in common between the two. The places at 
 which these parables were delivered were different. The great 
 supper was delivered during an entertainment in a Pharisee's 
 house. This parable was delivered in the temple. The times, too. 
 were different the former was delivered at an earlier period of 
 our Lord's ministry the latter, as that ministry was drawing to its 
 close. The tone of the two parables coincides with this. In the 
 one the persons simply refuse to attend, and so their punishment 
 is spoken of under the milder term of exclusion. . In the latter, 
 refusal is followed by overt acts of violence and murder, and so 
 the punishment is expressed in proportionate sternness. How 
 suitable was this to the times in which the parables were uttered ! 
 It was only toward the close of our Lord's ministry that the hard- 
 heartedness which led many of the Jews to reject him from the 
 first, had become so aggravated, that nothing but the blood of Christ
 
 THE MABRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 403 
 
 and of his servants would satisfy their malice. Then mark, that 
 just as the wickedness of Christ's enemies is more distinctly set forth 
 as the time passed away, so the deadly character of their sin is more 
 clearly made known. In the parable of the great supper, it is 
 simply a man who makes the supper and bids many. In the par- 
 able of the husbandmen, it is the possessor of a vineyard a per- 
 son of property and authority. In the parable before us, it is a 
 king making a marriage for his son. The first displays the in- 
 gratitude of the recusants the second, their breach of covenant 
 accompanied by violence the third, their rebellion, daringly seal- 
 ed by the blood they shed of the subjects of their king. It was 
 the crime of Barabbas " insurrection and murder in the insurrec- 
 tion." 
 
 There is likewise this progressive illustration to be noted in 
 these three parables. The first comprehends the period of our 
 Lord's ministry, and marks his righteous indignation because of 
 the hardness of heart with which he was met. The second em- 
 braces the same period likewise, with the additional announce- 
 ment of his own violent death. The third refers to the period 
 subsequent to Christ's ministry altogether, namely, to the preach- 
 ing of his Gospel to Jew and Gentile from the day of Pentecost, 
 down to the day of the restitution of all things. And mark the 
 nicety with which the figure is chosen in consequence. Before 
 Christ died, he offers a feast he publishes peace" Repent, for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand." But it is after he died that he 
 specially received the character of the Bridegroom. His death 
 was the price he paid for his bride, the church. It was only by 
 his death that the marriage of the king's son could be contem- 
 plated ; and so we see how suitable it is to present under the fig- 
 ure of this parable, what not only occurred after Christ's death, but 
 what derives its peculiar signification from the fact of his death 
 
 We have, then, the invitation to the marriage of the king's 
 son, met, in the first instance, by two distinct classes of persons. 
 The first are those who neglected so groat salvation, 
 are those who, to their neglect of the salvation, added persecution 
 even unto death against those persons who announced it to them. 
 Of the former, we arc told that they went one to hufarm, anot 
 to his merchandize,"-^? were men who had property, and were 
 engrossed in what thej had, and men who were equally engr
 
 404 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 in getting what they had not before ; both so pre- occupied by 
 worldly care, that " tliey could not come" Yea, when again en- 
 treated in the most impressive manner, " all things are ready" the 
 king having prepared the " feast upon the sacrifice" for them, they 
 "made light of it;" because, Demas-like, they "loved this present 
 world" rather than Christ. Of the latter, we are .told that they 
 " took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them" 
 
 How this description in the parable was realized to the very 
 letter, the Acts of the Apostles give large testimony. Through- 
 out that early record of the Church, we read not only of the con- 
 tinued and general resistance of the Jews against the truth, their 
 constant "contradicting and blaspheming," but of their deter- 
 mination to extirpate, if possible, by violence, the very name of 
 Christ from the earth. Stephen and James were only the first of 
 a large "army of martyrs," who sealed with their blood the tes- 
 timony they bore to Christ, being " entreated spitefully and slain" 
 
 And here we come in the parable to a more distinct announce- 
 ment of the particular kind of judgment which was to fall on 
 those despisers of Christ, and persecutors of his saints, than in 
 the more general statement of the preceding parable, " He will 
 miserably destroy these wicked men." In the parable before us, 
 we are told, that "when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and 
 he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up 
 their city" The destruction which fell on the Jews because of their 
 wicked and bloodthirsty opposition to Christ, was just this they 
 and their city were destroyed together, with an amount of awful 
 calamity, such as never had been known before, and has never 
 been equaled since. The " armies" here spoken of, may refer to 
 the Roman armies, who took Jerusalem, and like other nations of 
 old (Is. x. 5 ; xiii. 5 ; Jer. xxv. 9 ; Joel ii. 25), were Jehovah's 
 messengers of wrath against that devoted city ; or they may re- 
 fer to the " legions of angels" who are sent forth by him to exe- 
 cute his righteous judgments in the earth, whatever be the lower 
 instrumentality employed, whether famine, pestilence, or sword. 
 It was afe the terrible destruction of Jerusalem, then, that this part 
 of the parable was fulfilled, as that event likewise accomplished 
 the words which Jesus spake on another occasion " Therefore, 
 said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, 
 and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood
 
 THE MAKRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 405 
 
 of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the 
 world, may be required of this generation." Thus were the first 
 husbandmen in the vineyard " miserably destroyed." 
 
 Now, although previous to the destruction of Jerusalem the 
 Gospel had been preached to the Gentiles Cornelius, the centu- 
 rion, specially called, and Paul chosen as the Apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles yet it was not until that destruction that the actual, formal 
 removal of the Jew, and the substitution of the Gentile in his 
 room took place. It was not till that event that the language of 
 the parable was as it were, proclaimed to the world, that although 
 the Jews were bidden to the marriage, they were now considered 
 by the king, who invited them, to be " not worthy" They them- 
 selves had, according to Paul's own declaration made in their 
 hearing, "judged themselves to be unworthy of everlasting life;" 
 that is, they unworthily rejected the offered salvation. And so 
 the destruction of their city with all the horrors which then be- 
 fell those murderers, were the tokens that Jehovah was dealing 
 with them on that very account 
 
 Again, therefore, in the parable the servants are sent forth not 
 now to the city, but to the highways and as many as they could 
 find, they were to " bid to the marriage.' 1 '' Obviously this means 
 the calling of the Gentiles the changing of the outward aspect 
 of the kingdom of God among men, just as it is said immediately 
 before, " therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be 
 taken from you (the Jews) and given to a nation (the Gentiles), 
 bringing forth the fruits thereof." But observe what the servants 
 did: "They gathered all, as many as they found, both bad and good." 
 The " bad and the good" here mean those who were regarded as 
 such, when the invitation came to them. And so they direct us 
 to this truth, that the message of mercy in the Gospel the invi- 
 tation to the marriage-supper of the Lamb is the same to all kinds 
 as well as all conditions of men, those who are outwardly moral 
 and those who are not ; and that they who at length answer the 
 invitation and " come unto the marriage" are drawn alike from 
 those who, like Nathaniel or Cornelius, may be, in one sense call- 
 ed the " good" and from those who, like the woman that was a 
 sinner, may be in the same sense called the " bud." And note 
 here, that this single expression in the parable guards us against 
 misconception as to the other just noticed, " they are not worthy."
 
 406 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 Since the " bad" are at length among the "gathered" we necessa- 
 rily conclude that the unworthiness spoken of does not refer to 
 moral unworthiness, but to the special act of their unbelief and 
 rebellion in voluntarily " putting away from them the word of 
 God." 
 
 We turn now to the concluding part of this parable : "And 
 when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had 
 not on a wedding-garment : and he saith unto him, Friend, how earn- 
 est thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment f And he was 
 speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and 
 foot, and take Mm away, and cast him into outer darkness : there shall 
 be weeping ana gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are 
 chosen" Verses 11-14. 
 
 The servants of God in this dispensation are engaged in " gath- 
 ering" together the guests for the marriage of the Lamb. When 
 these shall be finally gathered, both those who accept the invitation 
 heartily, and those who only profess to do so, then shall the king 
 come in to "see" them. He will come in to see that there is 
 nothing there that " offends," that none are there but those who 
 not only come invited, but also who are suitably prepared for his 
 presence. This part of the parable, then, corresponds to the har- 
 vest in that of the tares to the coming of the bridegroom in that 
 of the ten virgins and the final separation between the righteous 
 and the wicked, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne 
 of his glory. 
 
 " He found there a man," we are told, " which had not on a 
 wedding-garment." It is still a matter of dispute whether the 
 custom was ever a general one, to provide a garment for every 
 guest invited to a marriage-feast. Some affirm it was; others 
 question it. It is of secondary importance how this may be set- 
 tled. It is quite enough for us to observe, that obviously in the 
 story of the parable before us, it is taken for granted, and would 
 be so understood by those who heard it, that some such provision 
 had been made for the guests, which made the conduct of the man 
 who had not on the wedding-garment altogether inexcusable. 
 The very manner in which the king addressed him implies this : 
 "How earnest thou in hither, not having on a wedding -garment ?" 
 Every thing has been provided for you, why have you not taken 
 advantage of it ? The man's silence, too, equally proves that the
 
 THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 407 
 
 story was based upon what the hearers would perfectly understand, 
 that it was owing to his own culpable carelessness, as well as to 
 his contemptuous disregard of what was due to the king, that he 
 appeared thus without a wedding-garment. 
 
 But what, then, does the wedding-garment mean? Some say 
 faith, others love. But why disconnect the two, instead of just 
 speaking of them as one, " faith working by love." If the wed- 
 ding-garment be faith, then it is such a faith as shows itself by 
 love. If it be love, then it is such a love as springs only from 
 faith. Better though to say, that it is what comprises both faith 
 and love which implies them both which demands them both, 
 but which is higher than both the righteousness of Christ " unto 
 all, and upon all them that believe," and " who walk in love." 
 This is what has been provided for the poor sinner, " without 
 money and without price." This is what " covers his sin," and 
 " clothes him with salvation." This is the " new garment 11 which 
 Christ has himself prepared for him, " woven . from the top 
 throughout." This is the " best robe" which the Father puts upon 
 his penitent child, as he seals his justification by the kiss of peace. 
 This is the wedding-garment which " white in the blood of the 
 Lamb," alone qualifies for a place at his marriage-supper. It is his 
 purchase, and the price was his blood. Clothed with it, the poor 
 sinner is "justified freely from all things through the redemption 
 that is in Christ Jesus." And it is as necessary at the last as at 
 the first. It has been his admission into the family of God. It 
 alone must be hie raiment of glory in the " inheritance of the 
 saints in light." 
 
 But why in this parable is there but one man singled out, as not 
 having a wedding-garment? Evidently to point attention to the 
 minute personal examination that awaits all who have received 
 the Gospel invitation. It intimates to us how searching will be 
 the judgment of that day, when Christ shall separate "one from 
 another," even as a shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. 
 And it points to the heart of each individual who reads the para- 
 ble, as if with the solemn warning, to take heed, lost he should at 
 length be as the man without the wedding-garment Amid the 
 thousands that will at length be found in this case, let each man 
 reflect that he will be individually detected, exposed, and cast out, 
 as if he, and he alone, were the exception in that mighty gathering
 
 408 . THE PARABLE OF 
 
 of those who shall sit down at length clothed with the wedding- 
 garment. 
 
 Mark the tone of address to this man, "Friend, how earnest thou 
 in?" For what purpose is this ? It is to mark, that the judg- 
 ment which at the last day shall bring home to the heart of the 
 unrighteous man his sin, and condemn him, shall not be the stern, 
 terrible blaze of revealed majesty, as it were bearing him down 
 to destruction, but it shall be the still small voice of awakened 
 conscience. The sinner who is destitute of Christ's righteousness 
 at last, will not be rendered "speechless 11 by the unspeakable terror 
 of manifested power and glory, but by the unutterable inward 
 horror that he has sinned away his own mercies. It is not the 
 pressure of irresistible power which will consume him with mis- 
 ery, but the fearful dawning of such light within him, revealing 
 truth despised and love slighted, which will make him speechless 
 in his wretchedness. Oh, the silence of self-conviction at the last 
 day, under the. eye and within the hearing of Jesus! "Friend, 
 how earnest thou in hither, not iaving on a wedding-garment ?" 
 is far more awful to think of, and will be infinitely more dread- 
 ful to realize, than all the thunders, and the lightnings, and the 
 loud trumpet voices of Sinai. Yes, then there shall be acted out 
 on the mightiest scale, and before an assembled universe, what 
 appeared in type when Jesus once stood in the temple. They 
 who hear his voice at last in such an address as that in the para- 
 ble, " convicted by their own consciences, shall go out, one by one, 
 beginning at the eldest, even unto the last." 
 
 Ah, reader, what will matter all the " binding hand and foot" by 
 the king's servants, to one bound thus by the adamant of an 
 awakened conscience ? What will matter the " outer darkness" 
 in comparison of that "blackness of darkness" which will brood 
 forever on the soul, as it feels, " I might have been, but am not 
 saved ?" 
 
 It is impossible not to observe the gracious purpose of Christ 
 in drawing this parable to such a close. He had shown in it the 
 destruction of the Jew, and the choosing of the Gentile in his 
 room. Let the latter, then, take heed. " If God spared not the 
 natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." " Be not 
 high-minded, but fear." If ye are found without "the wedding- 
 garment' 11 x last, after such amazing love and goodness to you, it
 
 THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 409 
 
 may be, that you will envy the fate of those whose city was de- 
 stroyed. And let all who now among the nations are privileged 
 to have the invitation to the marriage of the King's son brought 
 to them, solemnly remember, that while the singling out of only 
 one without the wedding-garment is meant to make each man look 
 well to himself and his own hope, on the other hand, our Lord 
 gives the sad intimation, that "many are called, but few chosen," 
 to show that in the Gentile day of grace as well as the Jewish, it 
 is after all but a small remnant who really accept of God's invita- 
 tion of mercy at all.
 
 PART VI, 
 
 CHRIST'S WORK OF GRACE, IN ITS HISTORICAL AND PROPHETICAL 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 SECT. III. THE RETURN OF THE SON OF MAN. 
 
 WE have now reached the closing and not the least solemn 
 section of the parables of our Lord. The last section set forth 
 before us the close of the Jewish dispensation. This carries us 
 forward to the close of the Gentile age. Eepeatedlj in Scripture 
 we are assured that the close of this age will be signalized by the 
 " glorious appearing" of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to this great 
 and stupendous event, then, that the parables still to be considered 
 specially refer. The event itself is spoken of as " the coming of 
 the Son of man." (Matt. xxiv.; Luke xii.) And also as "the 
 return" of the Son of man. (Luke xii., xix.) The time when 
 this event shall take place is called " The day of the Lord" (Luke 
 xvii.), or "the hour" in which "the Lord" or "the Son of man" 
 shall come. (Matt, xxiv.) In turning our attention to what is 
 given to us in the parables regarding this coming or return of 
 Christ, we shall first glance at two or three very brief but em- 
 phatic parables, which severally present in detail the most promi- 
 nent circumstances connected with it, and the most striking fea- 
 tures of it. Here is the first of them. 
 
 " And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of 
 the Son of man. . . . Likewise also, as it was in the days of 
 Lot. . . . Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man 
 is revealed." Luke xvii. 26, 28, 30. 
 
 These two most terrible and awful occurences in the history of 
 the world are turned by our Lord into exact similitudes of what 
 is yet to come; "As it was," &c. "Even thus shall it be," &c. ; 
 and they present before us therefore a very solemn picture of what
 
 THE PARABLE OF THE DAYS OF NOAH AND LOT. 411 
 
 the state of the world will be when the Son of man returns. It 
 will be such as to combine in its great characteristics all that can 
 be said of the world before the flood, and of the inhabitants of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah before their destruction. Then these par- 
 ables show that after a period of long-suffering, and when iniquity 
 shall at length abound, judgment shall surely and suddenly come 
 upon the world. And the horrors of that day may be like the 
 combined horrors of a flood of water and a flood of fire. And 
 thus, too, we are taught to look forward not to a world gradually 
 becoming better, and holier, and happier, but to a world becoming 
 every day more hostile to God, more ripe for judgment, and at 
 length shaken out of its carnality and spiritual slumber by over- 
 whelming desolation. Look now at the reverse side of this pic- 
 ture. 
 
 "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is 
 come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no 
 more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." John 
 xvi. 21. 
 
 From our Lord's remarks in the context we assuredly gather 
 that these words give us the state of the true Church of Christ at 
 his return. "Ye" says our Lord (Judas had gone out ; he spake 
 then to those left, as representing his own chosen and faithful 
 ones), " ye shall weep and lament." The absence of your Mas- 
 ter will cause sorrow and sadness to you ; and this will become 
 deeper and darker as the time goes on, just as with the woman 
 " whose hour is come." All this time, however, " the world shall 
 rejoice" they will go on as in the days of Noah and Lot. But 
 " ye shall be sorrowful." Like your Master, whose last hours 
 were marked by his being " exceeding sorrowful even unto death," 
 so shall it be with you.. But " your sorrow shall be turned into joy." 
 Like the woman who " remembers no more her anguish" the very 
 matter of your grief will be the matter of your joy. 
 you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man 
 taketh from you." Thus we see that although the moment of 
 judgment for the world will be the hour of extreme trial for the 
 people of God, it will, at the same time, be the hour of their 
 deliverance, when they and the world shall severally exchange, 
 the one their sorrow for joy, the other their joy for sorrow, 
 will at the same time be the day when they shall "sec" Christ
 
 412 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 again, and he will take care that their joy shall never be taken 
 from them. 
 
 Observe, further, the indications of the approach of this day of 
 the Lord. 
 
 "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree : When his branch -is yet 
 tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so like- 
 wise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it (He, margin 
 " The kingdom of God," Luke xxi.) is near, even at the doors." 
 Matt. xxiv. 32, 33. 
 
 It would be impossible, and out of place here, to enter into any 
 detail regarding " these things" here spoken of. Suffice it to say, 
 that if the people of God are really " looking up" simply, hum- 
 bly, patiently seeking " to discern this time," they shall be guided 
 to "understand" these also, as clearly as they know by the putting 
 forth of the leaves of the fig-tree that summer is nigh at hand. 
 Their Master, who has told them that he will " come as a thief in 
 the night," that is, all unexpectedly to the people of the world, 
 warns them not to let that event come upon them unawares, and 
 we may rest assured therefore that he will not leave them in 
 darkness as the day approaches. 
 
 But, again, note the suddenness with which the Son of man shall 
 be revealed. 
 
 11 As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the 
 west ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" Matt. xxiv. 
 27 ; Luke xvii. 24. 
 
 Though by the children of God the gathering thunder-cloud 
 shall be long descried, and they shall distinctly note the tokens 
 of coming vengeance on the wicked, as well as " redemption 
 drawing nigh" to themselves, yet at length, just at the moment 
 known only to God, like the lightning-flash from the bosom of the 
 storm, the Son of man shall be revealed in his day. And not 
 only so, but there will be no mistake about it then. People will 
 not be saying, " Lo here, or, lo there." All these false cries and 
 vain speculations can only exist when as yet he has not appeared. 
 But when he does, " every eye shall see him." The " brightness 
 of his coming" shall be " out of the one part under heaven, even 
 unto the other part under heaven." 
 
 And if we put the question as the disciples did, " "Where, Lord ?" 
 then the following will supply the answer :
 
 THE TEN VIRGINS. 413 
 
 " Wheresoever the body is, there shall the eagles be gathered together." 
 Matt. xxiv. 28 ; Luke xvii. 37. 
 
 The day of the Lord will be that in which he will " make in- 
 quisition for blood," in which he will "come out of his place to 
 punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." Wherever, 
 therefore, there is a faithless servant, a disobedient child, a rebel- 
 lious subject, there, as upon a dead carcass, shall fall the judgment 
 of that day. Wherever there is to be the sifting out of the 
 wicked from among the just, the gathering of the tares from the 
 wheat, the good from the bad in the net the one " taken and the 
 other left" wherever this is to be done, will the Son of man be 
 in his day, " destroying them which destroy," or " corrupt" 
 (margin), as with the presence of a putrefying dead body, " the 
 earth." 
 
 So far then, generally, as regards, the return of the Son of man. 
 We now proceed to inquire into what our Lord has charged par- 
 ticularly on the heart and conscience of his people in the pros- 
 pect of that coming. And the parables in which this will be 
 found, are directed specially to the condition of the outward 
 Church of Christ in view of his appearing. Here is the first of 
 them. 
 
 "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; and ye 
 yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return 
 from the wedding ; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may oj)en 
 unto him immediately." Luke, xii. 35, 36 ; Mark, xiii. 34. 
 
 In this passage we have the case of certain servants to whom 
 is intrusted the care of their Master's house during his absence 
 from it. He has gone forth, and is expected to return from his 
 marriage, bringing his bride with him. The servants, then, nrc to 
 " WAIT for their Lard." They are to be in their right plnco, not 
 taking advantage of his absence to be out of the way, but remain- 
 ing at home, ready, as soon as the Master " cometh and knocketh" 
 to "open unto him immediately" Mark speaks of the servant ftfl 
 " the porter." And this just marks the special duty here required, 
 namely, quiet, steady " waiting" at his post for the return of hia 
 Master ready just at the moment when he hears him, to open 
 the door. 
 
 And here then we have set forth what believers ought to be 
 in their present condition their Lord being absent from them,
 
 414 THE PARABLE OP 
 
 and faithlessness abounding in his professing Church. They 
 ought to be " waiting" for Christ. As the Apostle has it, " The 
 Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, 'and into the 
 patient waiting for Christ." This means steady, calm endurance 
 even to the end, not moved by " evil tidings," or " casting away 
 confidence," but kept in perfect peace, having " the mind stayed 
 on God." It means that the believer should " hold fast that which 
 he has," and be ready at any moment when his Lord returns, to 
 say, " Lo, this is the Lord ; I have waited for him." 
 
 But there is something more demanded of the believer than 
 merely ivaiting. The servant may be in his right place, in expect- 
 ation of his Master's return, but he may be drowsy, and lacking 
 in that wakeful diligence which shall prevent him from being 
 taken even for a moment unawares by his Master knocking at the 
 door. We have therefore a very striking parable given us, in 
 order to enforce something more than waiting. 
 
 " Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, 
 which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And 
 five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish 
 took their lamps, and took no oil witJi them : but the wise took oil in 
 their vessel's with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all 
 slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made. Be- 
 hold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him. Then all those 
 virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto 
 the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the 
 wise answered, saying, Not so ; lest there be not enough for us and 
 you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And 
 while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready 
 went in with him to tiie marriage : and the door was shut. After- 
 ward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 
 But he answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not." 
 Matthew xxv. 1-12. 
 
 " Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened" at the time 
 spoken of in the preceding chapter, namely, the " coming of the 
 Son of man." As the night closes in upon this dispensation, then 
 shall those things represented in the parable take place. The 
 following is an interesting and just description of the custom on 
 which the parable is founded. " The bridegroom, accompanied 
 by his friends ' the children of the bride-chamber,' goes to the
 
 THE TEN VIRGINS. 415 
 
 house of the bride, and conducts her with pomp and giadness to 
 his own house. She is accompanied from her father's house by 
 her youthful friends and companions, while other of them, the 
 ' virgins' of the parable, at some convenient place, meet and join 
 the procession, and enter with the rest of the bridal company into 
 the hall of feasting." The number ten is given, simply because 
 that number was regarded as a company. The virgins have 
 lamps, because the marriages in the East are always performed at 
 night, and so both to give needful light, and to add brilliancy to 
 the marriage progress, those who wish to do honor to the bride- 
 groom, or hope to share in the festivities of his, house, always 
 " go forth to meet" him thus. The close of the parable is also 
 based simply on the custom, that it is only those who are ready 
 to go in with the bridegroom who are admitted. And that when 
 once he and his party have gone in, no intreaty can induce them 
 to open the door to any one else. 
 
 Now this parable is not directed against the openly irreligious 
 and the ungodly. These are not taken account of at all in it. It 
 is a solemn warning to those who make a profession of godliness, 
 as well as to those who are what they profess to be. " The king- 
 dom of heaven shall be likened," &c. The kingdom as it appears 
 outwardly before men in this dispensation. The mingled wheat 
 and tares in the field, and the good and bad in the net. The 
 visible Church on earth will " then be likened," &c. 
 
 Of the one company of ten virgins, we are told "five were wife 
 and five were foolish" Apart from other considerations, this de- 
 scription is decisive as regards the main character of the sections 
 of the visible Church represented by these two groups. The one 
 are " wise unto salvation" the other have thoir "fnolM he-irt> 
 darkened," whatever profession they may make. The parable of 
 the two builders confirms this view. The one was wise, the other 
 foolish. Both builded their houses, that is, both made a formal 
 profession of discipleship. But the one had a foundation, the 
 other had not ; that is, the disciple represented by the . 
 has Christ he who is represented by the foolish builder has not 
 Christ. And so here. The " wise virgin*" mean those who " hear 
 Christ's sayings and do them." The " foolish virgins" 
 
 do not." 
 But the wisdom of :he one, and the folly of the other, are alike
 
 416 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 exhibited in the parable. " The foolish took their lamps, and took 
 no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their 
 lamps" The first were satisfied with a certain show, the others 
 took care not to be " found wanting." These lamps which all the 
 virgins carried, mean that which in the outward church appears 
 before man. As far as this goes, it is not always possible to dis- 
 tinguish between the two sections pointed out. The distinction 
 will at length be manifest, but in reality it exists from the first. 
 The foolish virgins had only their lamps. The wise, besides their 
 lamps, had a store of oil in vessels which they carried. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the signification of this part of the 
 payable. What is it that makes the believer " shine as a light in 
 the world ?" It is alone the Spirit of God, so frequently spoken 
 of in Scripture under the figure of " oil." (2 Cor. i. 21 ; 1 John 
 ii. 20, 27, &c.) Nothing but the continued supply of the Spirit 
 of all grace can suffice to keep his light from being extinguished. 
 This supply the believer carries always about with him for use ; 
 and the vessel which contains it for him is " the Word of God 
 and prayer" not the one without the other, but both together 
 the latter being the lid, as it were, of the vessel, which must be 
 lifted up, in order to get at the supply within the former. Here 
 the believer has an unfailing supply. This will suffice to trim 
 his lamp through all the days of his pilgrimage, and at the dark- 
 est midnight at his Lord's coming, will so fill him with all grace, 
 that he shall be as a " shining light, shining more and more unto 
 the perfect day." 
 
 The "foolish virgins" who " took no oil 11 with them, are precisely 
 similar to those who are represented in the parable of the sower 
 as receiving the seed on " rocky ground." They at first " receive 
 the word with joy." A marked and apparently very decided pro- 
 fession is speedily made. They are eager to "go forth," but they 
 have " no root in themselves" no " oil with them" no grace 
 in their heart. They " lack moisture" they have no supply for 
 their lamps they have not the Spirit, and so in " time of temp- 
 tation they fall away" their " lamps go out" and leav e them in 
 darkness. 
 
 This parable, then, would in one respect seem to warn us, that 
 in the last days of this dispensation, previous to the coming of 
 the Son of man, this special feature of nominal Christianity shall
 
 
 THE TEN VIRGINS. 417 
 
 abound a hasty and very zealous profession " a spinging up" 
 of this forthwith a going forth with it with much seeming joy 
 a bright flashing of lamps, and then, at- the moment when there 
 ought to be the strongest evidence of true discipleship, " a falling 
 away" and " a going out." 
 
 " While the bridegroom tarried" we are told, " they all slumbered 
 and slept" The tarrying of the bridegroom marks well the period 
 referred to in the parable. It is not when he set forth to bring 
 the bride nor when be had been gone for some time but when 
 he was expected back, and when to those who " went forth," he 
 appeared to be " delaying his coming." The direct consequence 
 of this apparent delay, or tarrying (for, be it remembered, there 
 was no real tarrying on his part), was that " they ALL slumbered 
 and slept" first became drowsy, and then slept. It seems to be 
 impossible to gather any thing else from this very positive state- 
 ment, than that the whole professing church of Christ will be 
 found at last in the state here set forth. The kingdom of heaven 
 will then be found like the ten virgins who " all slumbered and 
 slept." Of course, the sleep here spoken of is a widely different 
 thing in the several cases of the wise and the foolish. The fool- 
 ish are sleeping in their carnal security, quite satisfied with the 
 profession they make deceiving themselves, and "at ease in 
 Zion." The wise are sleeping, overcome by their lengthened 
 watching, and because of the weakness of their faith. They are 
 sleeping, as the Apostles did in the garden, " for sorrow," weighed 
 down by the days of darkness and of gloom which have settled 
 on the church. They are sleeping, because their faith has not 
 arisen proportionately to their Lord's demand, that " they should 
 pray always and not faint" because when he returns he will not 
 find that it has a strength at all commensurate with his promises, 
 or that its living energy has gone on increasing during the period 
 when he "bears long with them," and appears to delay his com- 
 ing. 
 
 The consequence of this slumbering and sleeping would be at 
 once apparent in the company of the ten virgins. During that 
 time none of them would be trimming their lamps at all. The 
 foolish would not have their attention directed to the ominous 
 fading of the light in their lamps. The wise would not see that 
 their lamps were not burning so brightly as they might and ought 
 
 27
 
 418 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 to have done. Thus it will be before the Bridegroom cometh. 
 The spiritual slumber of the merely nominal believer will close 
 his eyes to the imminence of his danger. He will become more 
 insensible to the worthlessness of a mere profession. And, on 
 the other hand, the languid faith of the true believer his faint- 
 heartedness and his feeble hope will prevent him from taking 
 care that his light shall not even flicker will prevent him from 
 such a stead} T , unflinching, and watchful perseverance through 
 the whole dark night of his waiting for his Master, as truly is be- 
 coming on his part, and as his Master well deserves at his hands. 
 
 Suddenly, then, " at midnight" the Bridegroom came, and the 
 cry sounded in the ears of the waiting virgins, " Go ye out to meet 
 him." And now the distinction between the two groups becomes 
 palpable. The wise had their oil with them in their vessels, and 
 though not so prepared as they ought to have been, they had their 
 full supply to replenish their lamps, and they accordingly arose, 
 trimmed them, and were ready. It is evident that in the parable 
 there is a short period marked between the cry, " Go ye out to 
 meet him" and the account, " while the foolish virgins went to 
 buy, the Bridegroom came." And it may be, then, that just as the 
 time of the " promise draws nigh," there may be such a startling 
 cry such " signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars," 
 as shall effectually rouse the people of God, and by the full out- 
 pouring of the Spirit in these last days, make them to shine glori- 
 ously just as the Bridegroom actually returns, so that they shall 
 be indeed "ready to go in with him to the marriage" 
 
 But what of the "foolish virgins?" They, too, tried to trim 
 their lamps, but in vain, for the oil was spent, and they had no 
 supply. " Our lamps" they cry, " are going out" (margin). They 
 begin to see the reason ; they lack oil. They apply to the wise, 
 "Give us of your oil" but they can not get what they want there. 
 So as they rush to them who sell, in order to get it, the Bride- 
 groom comes those that were ready go in with him, and they 
 are shut out. This presents before us very forcibly the fact, that 
 the very period at the close of this dispensation, when the people 
 of God shall "begin to lift up their heads," because of their "re- 
 demption drawing nigh," will be marked by the discovery of the 
 impossibility of mere profession " abiding the day of Christ's 
 appearing." While the " wise shall understand," and shall " stand
 
 THE TEN VIRGINS. 419 
 
 in their lot at the end of days," the foolish shall awake to a con- 
 sciousness of their lamentable folly in trusting to a lamp with- 
 out oil. Their " hearts shall fail for fear, and for looking after 
 the things which are coming on the earth." The warning of the 
 Son of man's approach, which will at length cause the true disci- 
 ple to cry rejoicingly, " This is the Lord, we have waited for 
 him," will make the nominal disciple ready only to cry to " the 
 rocks to fall on him, and the hills to cover him from the wrath of 
 the Lamb." 
 
 The details of the parable at this point are most instructive as 
 well as touching. "Give us of your oil" the foolish virgins cried 
 to the wise. " Not so" the latter replied, " lest tli&re be not enough 
 for us and you" How striking this refusal ! It just means that 
 no man has more grace than he needs himself that while there 
 is an unfailing fountain from whence alone every one can obtain 
 what he requires, each as he receives has nothing to spare for 
 another. He may direct to the same source which has supplied 
 himself, but he can not afford to part with any of his own. He 
 will need all that he has for his own use. He has nothing ap- 
 proaching to supererogation, he has not " enough" for himself and 
 another. The wise virgins counseled the foolish to go to those 
 who sold oil, and buy for themselves. This was all they could 
 do in the emergency. The latter went. In the mean time, how- 
 ever, the Bridegroom came. He went in. The door was shut. 
 And when they came and cried, " Lord, open to us," all admittance 
 was refused. The Bridegroom declared "/ know you not" and 
 so they were left out. In this we see remakably set before us 
 the true bearing of God's people toward those who will apply to 
 them for help, as the last moment approaches, and the Bride- 
 groom is close at hand. They can give no help themselves. 
 But they earnestly urge them to go and seek for what they need 
 where alone it can be found. They urge them to go and get it 
 at any cost to sell all and obtain it. But alas, the parable seems 
 to intimate that then it will be too late ! The careless and heart- 
 less disciple may be roused to anxiety and dread, and he may con- 
 fusedly run hither and thither for help, but in the mean time the 
 Lord comes, they that are ready go in, and he is shut out. And 
 when it is said to him as he knocks for entrance, and knocks in 
 vain, "/ never knew you" this just shows that lie never knew
 
 420 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 Christ, that there had never been any thing save a barren lifeless 
 calling him, "Lord, Lord," and that now, though "he seeks to 
 enter in, he shall not be able." 
 
 And thus we come to the great and solemn lesson inculcated 
 by our Lord in this parable. " Watch, therefore, for ye know 
 neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh." 
 Observe this is urging more than merely waiting. The disciple 
 may be waiting, that is, like the " porter" at the door, he may be 
 in his right place ; but he may be asleep at his post. He may 
 not have gone out of the way, and be idling his time in pursuits 
 and in places dishonoring to his Master, and showing unconcern 
 for his name ; but he may, while in the way, be "slumbering" and 
 " sleeping /" and so the earnest appeal to him is not only to wait, 
 but to watch for the coming of his Lord not only to be at the 
 door, ready to open when his Master knocks, but wakefully to be 
 looking out from his watch-tower of prayer, and, as it were, speed- 
 ing on the return of his Lord, by the watchful cry, " Come, Lord 
 Jesus, come quickly." 
 
 And surely the parable further urges on true believers the 
 guilt of slumbering and sleeping at all in reference to those who 
 make the same profession with themselves. If the wise virgins 
 had been as watchful as they ought to have been, they might 
 have more opportunely and more earnestly urged the foolish vir- 
 gins to look well to their lamps, and to lose no time in getting a 
 supply. And let every child of God, then, "according as he sees 
 the day approaching," "watch unto prayer" himself. "Watch and 
 pray that he enter not into temptation ;" and then give all dili- 
 gence to rouse the carnally-minded and the self-deceivers around 
 him from their vain hopes and refuges of lies ere it be too late, 
 and the awakening from their slumber shall only reveal to them 
 at one and the same time the emptiness of their profession, and 
 the door forever shut against them. 
 
 But our Lord, when drawing the attention of his disciples to 
 his return at the close of this dispensation, gives them further in- 
 structions as to what he then will look for and require at the 
 hands of his faithful people, and also gives further warning to 
 those who have only " a name to live." 
 
 " For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far 
 country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his
 
 THE TALENTS. 421 
 
 goods. And unto one he gave Jive talents, to another two, and to 
 another one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and 
 straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five 
 talents went and traded with the same, and made them other Jive talents. 
 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But 
 he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his 
 lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and 
 reckonetfi with them. And so he that had received five talents came 
 and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me 
 five talents: behold, I have gained besides them five talents more. His 
 lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; tfwu 
 hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 
 things : enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received 
 two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents : 
 behold, I have gained two oilier talents besides t/tem. His lord said 
 unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been 
 faithful\ over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : 
 enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the 
 one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard 
 man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou 
 hast not strawed : and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent 
 in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered 
 and said unto' him, Thou wicked and slotliful servant, thou knewest 
 that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not' 
 strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the ex- 
 changers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own 
 with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto 
 him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be 
 given, and he shall have abundance : but from him tliat hatli not, 
 shall be taken away even that which he hat/i. And cast ye the un- 
 profitable servant into outer darkness: tfiere shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth}' 1 Matthew xxv. 14-30. 
 
 One special purpose in this parable is to teach us that in look- 
 ing for the return of our Master we must be found actively en- 
 gaged in the performance of all those duties which he requires us 
 to fulfill. "We must not only wait, we must also watch for his ap- 
 pearing. And lest the last parable should give to this watching 
 too much of a merely contemplative character, lest the notion 
 might possibly be entertained that the proper watching for the
 
 422 THE PAKABLE OF 
 
 Lord means an idle, looking out for him, lest it might be supposed 
 that the attitude of expectation ought to be merely that of the 
 wise virgins, only awake and not asleep our Lord teaches us in 
 /this parable that we must not only be faithfully waiting, and wake- 
 l fully watching, but diligently working that he is not the servant 
 who does his Master's will, who, though in his place, and expect- 
 ing him, gazes forth into the darkness, and consumes his time in 
 idle speculations as to the exact manner or . time of his Lord's re- 
 turn, or in dreamy contemplation of the coming event, but who 
 is engaged in his household work, who is in his right place, wake- 
 ful and vigilant, and is " doing with his might whatsoever his 
 hands find to do." That man will not think the less deeply, or 
 expect the less anxiously, or look the less clearly for his Master 
 who works the most diligently " while it is called day." 
 
 Besides, we ought to observe that, as in the parable of the ten 
 virgins, it is the inner life of the believer that is specially set forth 
 there, by their carrying oil with them in their lamps ; so here it 
 is the outward manifestation of that inward life which is set forth, 
 not now in the steady burning of a true profession, but in the 
 faithful discharge of duty to our Master. 
 
 Of course we must not form our impressions of this parable 
 from households as existing among ourselves. There is nothing 
 in the latter at all resembling the groundwork of the parable. 
 'But "slaves in antiquity were often artisans, or were allowed 
 otherwise to engage freely in business, paying, as it was fre- 
 quently arranged, a fixed yearly sum to their master ; or, as here, 
 /they had money committed to them wherewith to trade on his 
 i account, or with which to enlarge their business, and to bring him 
 /in a share of their profits." Something of this latter sort is as- 
 'x sumed in the parable. 
 
 Observe, then, as the master in the parable means to leave his 
 house for some time, he does two things with his servants who are 
 to remain behind. First, he " delivers unto them his goods" He gives 
 in charge to them the valuable things in his house. Here gene- 
 rally we have set forth the Gospel with all its treasures, its 
 unsearchable riches, its blessings for time and eternity committed 
 into the hands of Christ's servants. The Church of God on earth\ 
 has this sacred deposit given her by her Divine Head. She is to I 
 guard it with the utmost jealousy and watchfulness ; and she will J
 
 THE TALENTS. 423 
 
 / have to give account at last for her faithfulness or otherwise in 
 
 \ this trust. 
 
 But besides this, the master of the house in the parable gives 
 certain talents to his servants, and to these in different propor- 
 tions, to be used by them in the interval of his absence, and 
 turned to the very best account in his service. He gives to one 
 five, to another two, and to another one. What do these talents- 
 mean ? They can not mean mental endowments, intellectual ca- 
 pacities, and so forth, because it is said that the talents were/ 
 given to each "according to his several ABILITY" or power. Each) 
 servant got something proportioned to the endowments and ca* 
 pacities which he had already. Neither can the talents mean 
 spiritual graces, for it can never be said x>f them that they are 
 givn according to the ability of the servant. Spiritual graces en-\ 
 large capacity and increase ability, but they are never bestowed^ 
 according to these. What then, is it that is meant by this dis^\ 
 tributirig of talents ? It is by remembering that these servants ) 
 had a general trust given them of their master's goods put into 
 their hands, besides the talents, that we shall gain the just view 
 of the latter. Thus the servants of Christ, his people, the mem-\ 
 bers of his visible Church on earth, have a solemn trust* committed I 
 to them, even the precious things of his Gospel. Each one of 
 them also has ability, fitting him if he please to serve his Master. 
 The ability may be great or small, he may be endowed largely or\ 
 moderately with it, and according to this will much or little be 
 expected from him. He will be reckoned with according to that J 
 which he hath, not according to that which he hath not. But be- 
 sides this general trust of his Master's good things, and the ability I 
 bestowed on him to serve Christ if he will, his Master expressly J 
 gives him opportunities to exercise that ability in his service/ 
 Not, indeed, such as he has not ability to take advantage of, but 
 such as are exactly suited to that ability, and which if used and 
 improved will redound to the glory of the Master and the good 
 of the servant. These are the talents in the parable. To one 
 whose ability is proportionably large, he gives, suitably to this, 
 large opportunities of faithful, diligent, active service, expressed 
 by the five talents. To another, whose ability is not so great, he ) 
 gives only as much as may be represented by two talents ; while 
 to a third, whose ability is still less, he gives only one. Observe
 
 424 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 these opportunities, by the due improvement of which we may 
 faithfully serve our heavenly Master, are set forth by the various 
 numbers of five, two, and one, just to show that each one who is 
 professedly *a member of Christ's Church, has throughout his 
 whole earthly course a certain amount of opportunity afforded 
 him in the use of which he may do the will of God ; and whether 
 that amount be as five, or two, or one, yet that it is just in ac- 
 cordance with his ability to use it. And if enlarged ability re- 
 ceives as five, instead of one, let it be remembered that the respons- 
 ibility is proportionally increased, for " to whom much is given, 
 (of him will much be required." Guilty as the man is in the 
 parable who left unimproved his own talent, the guilt of the 
 other would have been much greater if he had left unimproved 
 his five talents. And so here we observe the loving wisdom of 
 the great Head of the Church. He gives opportunity to serve 
 suited to each one, but he does not impose upon any a responsi- 
 bility unsuited to his capacity. 
 
 Now, the first two servants just doubled their talents. The 
 became ten, and the two four. They represent those in the 
 lurch of Christ, therefore, who improve the opportunities given 
 
 them whereby they may serve Christ. They turn the oppor- 
 tunity to the account their Master intends and wishes, that is, to 
 good account. The talent doubled, is just good fruit springing 
 from active, diligent use of opportunity to serve Christ. The 
 doubling of the talent admirably expresses the due improvement 
 of an opportunity. An opportunity not duly improved, is, in 
 other words, not improved. And so there is, as it were, a fixed 
 proportion between the opportunity and the improvement of it ; 
 and that is aptly represented by each talent being doubled, neither 
 more nor less. 
 
 "After a long time" we are told, " the lord of the servants cometh 
 and recJconeth with them" The Lord Jesus Christ, after having 
 provided such "good things as pass man's understanding," for his 
 people to keep, "traveled into a far country" returned to his 
 Father went within the vail passed through the heavens. As 
 each professing servant after another appears in his outward 
 church, he receives his solemn charge of the goods, and such a 
 number of talents as are according to his ability. When the 
 " long time" of the Church's trial, during the absence of her Lord
 
 THE TALENTS. 425 
 
 is past, then he will return, and lie will take account of all that 
 has passed during his absence, whether it be good or bad. 
 
 Those servants who have not been " slothful in business, but 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," he will receive into his 
 special favor. And this favor will be shown to them in two 
 ways. As in the parable, the lord of the servants then says, 
 " Thou hast been faithful over a few tilings, I will make thee ruler 
 over many things" so the favor which Christ will show at last to 
 his faithful servants will be first of all this He will show greater 
 confidence in them now than ever. They have had a certain^ 
 charge committed to them they have been faithful in that 4re 
 will now enlarge his trust exceedingly which he will place in their\ 
 hands, on the principle he himself enunciated, "He that is faith- J 
 ful in that which is least, will be faithful also in much." And"*^ 
 then, as the master in the parable says, "Enter thou into Hie joy of 
 thy Lord" so the Lord Jesus shall, as it were, call his people " no 
 longer servants, but friends" bring them into such close and in- 
 timate union with himself as they never had before cause them 
 to sit down with him at the feast prepared to celebrate his return, 
 and so make them partakers of the joy which will satisfy him, as 
 he sees the fruit of the travail of his soul. Oh, who would not 
 encounter shame for his name ! who would not rejoice in all self- \ 
 denyings, and cross-bearings ! who would not wait, and watch, I 
 and work, and pray, if at last these unutterable blessings crown/ 
 our time of trust and service on earth if at last we hear the ex- 
 pression of our Master's approval "Well done, good and faithful 
 servant I" an enlarged trust be put into our hands by himself 
 and as we enter on that, to enter also forever into his joy ! 
 
 One servant of the three in the parable, was found at the day 
 of reckoning with his talent unused. He had buried it in the 
 earth. When called to account, he endeavored to screen his own 
 wicked conduct, under imputed harshness or the part of his mas- 
 ter. "/ was afraid" he said. His master judged him rightly : 
 " T/iou wicked and slotfiful servant" "Wickedness and sloth were 
 the real causes of his evil conduct. Upon his own showing, also, 
 he was condemned. "If I were such a master as you describe, 
 there was the more urgent call for you to work so zealously that 
 I might have received mine own with interest on my return." 
 And the sentence passed upon him was just, " Take away the
 
 426 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 talent which has been lent him till now," and "put him away from 
 my household forever." 
 
 Observe here, that as in the parable of the ten virgins, the five 
 foolish set forth those who are rejected at last because they think 
 too lightly of the requirements of the Lord, so here, on the other 
 hand, this servant represents those who are rejected because they 
 think too hardly of his commands. Our Lord touches the root 
 from which both these spring, " wickedness and sloth}'' And notice 
 further, the servant is not condemned because he has turned the 
 talent to bad account, but because he had not turned it to any 
 account at all. He has been idle and slothful. And so we have 
 /this very -solemn truth pressed upon us, that the judge who will 
 I reckon with us, will not be satisfied with the plea that we have 
 \ done no harm (which plea, however, never can be substantiated), 
 /but he will equally condemn on the ground of our having done 
 ' no good. To bury amid the cares and pleasures of life, so as to 
 turn to no account, every opportunity of serving Christ which 
 he may put into our hands thus, " to hide it in the earth, "" in- 
 \stead of improving it, will call forth this terrible sentence, " Cast 
 re the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." 
 And note further, " take from him the talent." All opportunity 
 serving Christ is now forever withdrawn. He has slighted 
 that on earth, and he is driven away in his wickedness out of the 
 dwelling of his Master, wherein service is alone possible. There 
 'is something very startling in the reflected light which is thrown 
 on this part of the parable by that other, where the " rich man" 
 in torment. He desires a drop of water for himself. He can 
 ['not have it. Hope as regards himself is extinguished. But if 
 \that can not be, he would help his brethren he would send a 
 message to them, to warn them. That can not be either. While 
 ae was on earth, he buried his opportunity of serving God in 
 regard to these as well as other things, amid his "purple and fine 
 linen," and " sumptuous fare." And now the " talent is taken 
 from him." He wishes to do now what he might have done be- 
 fore ; but the time is gone by the die is cast and " the outer 
 darkness" wraps in its eternal gloom the idle, slothful, wicked 
 servant who hid his Lord's money. 
 
 And yet, once more, " Give the talent unto him that hath ten 
 talents" A deep and precious truth lies under this. The man
 
 THE POUNDS. 427 
 
 who had received five talents, got that number " according to his 
 ability" By having another talent given him at last, is intimated 
 that his " ability" has become greater than it was before. And so 
 it will be, indeed, with the faithful servant who shall enter into 
 his Master's joy in heaven. His ability, his capacity, his power, 
 will be gloriously increased and enlarged ; and still " according 
 to that ability" will his divine Master place within his reach in- 
 creased and enlarged opportunities of serving him. And the 
 servant who sits down at the table with his Master will realize in 
 the activities as well as the rest of heaven, the blessed fullness of 
 his Lord's words, " unto every one that hath shall be given, and he 
 shall have abundance" 
 
 But we go on now to another parable, in some respects similar 
 to that we have just considered, and yet in others perfectly dis- 
 tinct from it. 
 
 "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself 
 a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and de- 
 livered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 
 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We 
 will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that, 
 when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he com- 
 manded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given 
 the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by 
 trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained 
 ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant : because 
 thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten 
 cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained 
 five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five 
 cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, 
 which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee, because thou 
 art an austere man : thou takest up tiiat thou layedst not down, and 
 reapest that thou didst -not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine 
 own moutfi will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that 
 I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not doicn, and reaping 
 that I did not sow: wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the 
 bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? 
 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him Die pound, and 
 give it to him that hath ten pound*. (And they said unto him, Lord, 
 he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, Thai unto every one which
 
 428 THE PABABLE OF 
 
 hath shall be given ; and from him that hath not, even that he hath 
 shall be taken away from him. Bat those mine enemies, which would 
 not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before 
 me." Luke xix. 12-27. 
 
 It is wonderful how this parable could ever have been supposed 
 to be identical with that of the talents. They were delivered at 
 two distinct periods of our Lord's ministry, and in different places. 
 [The parable of the talents was addressed to the disciples alone, 
 Shis to the disciples and the multitude. The former has to do 
 merely with the proprietor of a house, the latter with a king. 
 And so in the one, faithful or unfaithful service is all that is 
 taken account of, while in the other rebellion is likewise repressed 
 and punished. In the former there are only three servants 
 spoken of. In the latter there are ten. In the parable of the 
 talents there is an inequality in the number of talents given, 
 while there is an equality in the blessings bestowed on the faith- 
 ful servants at last. In the parable of the pounds all this is re- 
 versed. There is equality in what is first given, and inequality 
 in the blessings finally received. For all these and other reasons 
 we conclude that the two parables are perfectly distinct from each 
 other. 
 
 The groundwork of the parable before us must have been well 
 understood by our Lord's hearers. " Thus Herod the Great was 
 at first no more than a subordinate officer in Judea, and flying to 
 Home before Antigonus, was tlien declared by the senate, through 
 the influence of Antony, king of the Jews. In like manner, his 
 son Archelaus had personally to wait upon Augustus, before he 
 inherited the dominions left him by his father." And this cus- 
 tom, then, is made in the parable to represent the departure of 
 Christ, after his work on earth was finished, to the throne of God, 
 there to obtain, as it were, the investiture of the kingdom he had 
 purchased, to be "the king set on the holy hill of Zion," and to 
 have " all enemies put under his feet." 
 
 Passing by for a moment the allusion to the citizens, let us see 
 what charge is given to the servants here. He gave to each of 
 his ten servants one pound, and charged them, "Occupy till I 
 come" Here is no mention made of a general delivery of his 
 goods into their hands, nor of their ability, but each one of the 
 servants, irrespective of his own personal qualification, and also
 
 THE POUNDS. 429 
 
 of the circumstances in which he is placed, has precisely the same 
 gift as his fellow. Surely, therefore, from this we must conclude 
 that what is given in this parable means the gift of God's grace 
 freely offered to the professing servants, that they may occupy it 
 faithfully and diligently until the king returns. They are " no 
 longer under the law, but under grace" And "unto every one 
 of us," as the Apostle has it, " is given grace" " not according to 
 our ability," but " according to the measure of the gift of Christ ;" 
 and what that measure is John the Baptist informs us "And of 
 his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." The giv- 
 ing of the pound, then, to each servant, represents to us Christ's 
 free offer to each one of his professing people, of his salvation 
 with its unlimited means for his service, and its unmerited re- 
 wards. (Titus ii. 11.) 
 
 And mark, then, on the day of reckoning, what a different 
 view is set forth here from that in the parable of the talents. 
 The two faithful servants mentioned here (manifestly a selection 
 made for the sole purpose of eliminating this truth, the ethers 
 being passed over in silence), are not said to have doubled their 
 pound. Instead of this the first servant gains ten pounds by his 
 one, the second five. By this we are given to understand the un- 
 bounded power of expansion in the gift of God's grace in Christ, 
 when really and faithfully received by his servants. As far as 
 the similitude teaches us, there was no reason why the servant 
 who gained Jive pounds might not have gained ten, nor why the 
 other might not have gained twenty. The limitation as regards 
 the productiveness of the gift of God's grace, does not spring from 
 any thing in that gift itself, but from lack of faithfulness and un- 
 ceasing diligence on the part of those who have it. And, again, 
 observe whatever be the return, whether ten or five, yet in each 
 and every case it is the result of the gift itself. The servant by 
 his want of vigilance and prayer may impede its full productive- 
 ness, but whatever be the gain must arise from the gift alone 
 " THY pound hath gained ten pounds." It is not here the man 
 merely turning to account an opportunity of service, and so 
 doubling his talent, though he can not do even that without 
 God's help, but it is the inherent power of a received gift from 
 God in Christ, which of itself bears much fruit. (1 Peter iv. 10.) 
 
 Then look at the reward bestowed. The one man is made
 
 430 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 ruler over ten cities, the other over five. The re ward is in propor- 
 tion to the gain. The latter, indeed, creates the capacity for the 
 former. He who has made the best use of the gift of grace on 
 earth, is on that very account most fitted for the highest place in 
 heaven. And mark how the idea of glory enters into the reward 
 here. In the parable of the talents the servants are admitted into 
 the joy of their Lord, and there is perfect equality there. They 
 are here raised to glory, and there is a difference. This is just 
 what we might expect from the scope of this parable. The gift 
 of grace ends in the gift of glory, and the rewards of the latter 
 differing, indeed, in the various servants of Christ, shall be 
 " reckoned not of debt but of grace." 
 
 Of the one faithless servant in this parable it is unnecessary to 
 say much in addition to what has been remarked regarding the 
 faithless one in the last parable. Suffice it to say, that sloth does 
 not appear so much in the condemnation of the servant here as 
 daring wickedness. He has not listened to the entreaty. " We 
 beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." He 
 has done what he could " to frustrate the grace of God." It may 
 be, that he is the representative of those " ungodly men" of 
 whom Jude writes, "who turn the grace of God into lascivious- 
 ness," and who thus brings upon themselves swift destruction 
 the blessings which they might have had forever taken from 
 them, and given to add to the glory of the good and faithful serv- 
 ant. 
 
 But now turn for a moment to " the citizens 1 '' who are spoken 
 of in this parable. The mention of these is accounted for when 
 we consider our Lord's audience at the true. His own professed 
 followers are solemnly addressed as " the servants" in the parable. 
 The multitude (ver. 3), who were then pressing on Christ . are 
 " the citizens" In the momentary enthusiasm which they felt, 
 they were ready to accompany him as a triumphant king to Jeru- 
 salem. They had come " nigh to Jerusalem," and "they thought 
 that the kingdom of God" in its glory " should immediately ap- 
 pear." To check such expectation, and to exhibit the true char- 
 acter of this mixed multitude to themselves, was, then, the other 
 object which Christ had in view in this parable. He first of all 
 gave them to understand that he knew where all their present 
 enthusiasm would end. Their shouts of " Hosanna" would be
 
 THE POUNDS. 431 
 
 exchanged for the cry " Crucify him." He would choose the man- 
 ner of his departure in order to " receive his kingdom," and then 
 their real sentiments would break forth " We will not have this 
 man to reign over us." " We have no king but Caesar." " Say 
 not, The king of the Jews." And just as he then revealed what 
 their conduct would be, he took occasion, as we have seen, to 
 teach his own disciples that before the kingdom in its glory shall 
 come, and be enjoyed, the kingdom in its grace must be received, 
 and a long and toilsome occupation of the gift in the latter expe- 
 rienced, before the "honor, glory, and immortality" of the form- 
 er can be attained. Then, once more at the close of the para- 
 ble the rebellious citizens are brought forward for condign pun- 
 ishment. This intimates something different from the " destruc- 
 tion of the city," in the parable of the "Marriage of the King's 
 Son." It points to some judgment yet future that is, at the re- 
 turn of Christ when he shall have received the kingdom which 
 shall light upon the rebels on whom shall be found the red spot 
 of the murderer, " His blood be on us and on our children." 
 
 It is interesting to observe how the Evangelist Mark seems to 
 have been led by the Spirit to express in two or three verses the 
 leading points of these last parables we have been considering. 
 " For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left 
 his house, and gave authority to his servants (' delivered unto 
 them his goods'), and to every man his work (talents and pounds), 
 and commanded the porter to watch. (Luke xii. 35, 36.) Watch 
 ye, therefore : for ye know not when the master of the house 
 cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the 
 morning ; lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping" (as the ten 
 virgins). 
 
 And in view of these solemn announcements, the " ministers 
 and stewards of the mysteries of God" may well ask Peter's ques- 
 tion, " Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?" 
 (Luke xii. 41 ;) and then lay to heart our Lord's reply " Who 
 then, is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make 
 ruler?" &c. "Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he 
 cometh, shall find so doing" (as in ver. 35, et seq). " Of a truth, I 
 say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath." 
 Blessed, indeed, will all the servants be who are faithful in their 
 work for Christ Specially blessed will tfiey be, who, saved by
 
 432 THE PARABLE OF 
 
 grace themselves, sliall have besides "crowns of rejoicing in the 
 day of the Lord Jesus," by the salvation of others. Bur, if 
 faithfulness here will have a special reward, faithlessness will have 
 its special punishment. If the " steward of the mysteries of 
 Christ" forgets his Master amid his own duty, and acts as if he 
 said, " my Lord delay eth his coming," and exhibits either of these 
 two terrible characteristics of faithless pastors tyranny and op- 
 'pression under pretense of his derived authority "beating the 
 men-servants and the maidens" or, self-indulgence at the expense 
 of the flock "feeding himself" "eating the fat, clothing him- 
 self with wool" "eating and drinking with the drunken," then 
 will his Lord not merely, as in the case of the unprofitable serv- 
 ant, banish him from his presence, but "he will cut him asun- 
 der" he will mark the condemnation of him by a specially terri- 
 ble sentence, and " appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." 
 He that, instead of feeding Christ's flock, made them his prey, 
 shall have his own lot cast at length with unbelievers, and his 
 acquired habit on earth of gratifying himself at the expense of 
 others, will make him all the more terribly sensitive to the portion 
 he shall at length receive with those who have forever banished 
 themselves from the presence of God. 
 
 We come now to the closing parable in this series, and solemn 
 indeed are the thoughts which it suggests. 
 
 "And before him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall sepa- 
 rate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the 
 goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the 
 kft." Matt. xxv. 32, 33. 
 
 This, indeed, forms a fitting conclusion not only to this section, 
 but to the whole of the parables. "We have met with this 
 Shepherd of whom it testifies, first of all in the parable of the 
 good Shepherd, in which we behold the excellency of his per- 
 sonal character and work. We have seen him again in the 
 parable of the lost sheep, directly in contact with the poor sinner, 
 on whose behalf all his toil has been undertaken, and all his work 
 done. And now at last we see him as the Shepherd separating 
 and dividing his sheep from the goats. 
 
 The context leaves us no room to doubt respecting the applica- 
 tion here. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, then 
 shall he sit on the throne of his glory." The same day of which
 
 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 433 
 
 the parables of the virgins and the talents and the pounds 
 specially testify, is the day spoken of here. It is the day of the 
 Bridegroom's return. It is the day of reckoning with the ser- 
 vants of the house. It is the day when it shall be seen that 
 Christ has received the kingdom ; and so he shall come in his 
 glory, his holy angels with him, ready at once to execute the 
 commands of their Master now seated on "his throne of glory." 
 
 Observe, too, this is merely giving a more enlarged and grand 
 and solemn view of what is the main subject of the preceding 
 parables. They all give in detail the separation of the wise from 
 the foolish, the righteous from the wicked. The separation here 
 is painted on larger canvas and a multitude is set before us in 
 the judgment, not a few household servants. 
 
 And this ought to lead us to the conclusion, that they are the 
 same classes of persons who are judged in this parable as in the 
 former. And, indeed, all that is said regarding this latter sepa- 
 ration, makes it necessary that we regard it, as a separation be- 
 tween real and nominal Christians not between the wicked gene- 
 rally and those who are saved from among them. 
 
 It can not be such a judgment as is spoken of in Revelation, 
 where the great white throne is seen where the sea and the 
 land give up the dead which are in them, both small and great, 
 because the very point on which the discrimination here recorded 
 proceeds is one which can not be applied to all mankind. The 
 condemnation here hinges on the manifestation of an unloving 
 spirit toward Christ's servants, as proving that there is no love 
 to Christ himself. The welcome, on the other hand, hinges on 
 the very reverse of this. But hundreds of millions of the human 
 race never heard of the name of Christ, or had an opportunity 
 either of receiving him or rejecting him in the persons of hia 
 servants. They, therefore, can not be meant in a separation 
 which proceeds wholly upon a test which has never been applied 
 to them. 
 
 "We must regard, then, " the nations," who are said here to be 
 gathered before Christ, as the nations in the world at the time of 
 Christ's second coming, and those of them and in them who have 
 had the Gospel preached to them, whose ears ha^ve listened to the 
 joyful sound, and who have heard the summons, " Repent and 
 believe the Gospel" " Come, for all things are ready." And 
 
 28
 
 434 THE PARABLE OF THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 
 
 thus we are brought again into the presence of the same event, as 
 is intimated by the harvest, when the tares are separated from the 
 wheat, and the bad separated from the good when the net is 
 drawn to the shore. The separation here is just as there, not be- 
 tween the bad and good generally, but between the bad and good 
 within the outward fold of Christ's church, between those who 
 call him only " Lord, Lord," and those who really " do his will." 
 And here we have the true distinction between this nominal and 
 real discipleship when the one profess to be Christ's, they " do 
 it NOT unto him" the other, on the contrary, " do all in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus," and for his sake alone. 
 
 And just, then, as we have seen the Lord at the close of the 
 Jewish Dispensation, "searching Jerusalem as with candles," so 
 here we see him at the close of this dispensation searching the 
 Gentile churches, with this great and marked distinction, that the 
 former took place at the close of his first advent, the latter will 
 take place when he returns again to take the kingdom to himself 
 and reign forever. 
 
 Eeader, may you and I be able to " abide the day of his ap- 
 pearing," by seeing one on the throne whom our hearts tell us 
 that we love. May it not need a spoken word then to make us 
 understand that our place is on the right hand of the kingly 
 Shepherd. And may we discover amid the unutterable blessings 
 there the "exceeding great weight of glory" there that one 
 priceless gem above all the others has been given to us, which 
 even in the new Jerusalem will shine brightest and most lovely, 
 the " confession" of him who sits upon the throne, " Ye have 
 done it unto me." 

 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 " THIS remarkable narrative brings before us the whole question of 
 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS in the Gospels, which I shall treat here once for 
 all, and refer to this note hereafter. I would then remark in gen- 
 eral, (1.) That the Gospel narratives are distinctly pledged to the historic 
 truth of these occurrences. Either they are true, or the Gospels are false. 
 For they do not stand in the same, or a similar position, with the dis- 
 crepancies in details, so frequent between the evangelists ; but they form 
 part of that general groundwork in which all agree. (2.) Nor can it be 
 said that they represent the opinion of the time, and use words in accordance 
 with it. This might have been difficult to answer, but that they not only 
 give such expressions as dainovi&uevo;, 8atf*o*iadels (Mark v. 18; Luke 
 viii. 36), and other like ones, but relate to us words spoken by the Lord 
 Jesus, in which the personality and presence of the demons is distinctly 
 implied. See especially Luke xi. 17-26. Now either our Lord spoke 
 these words, or he did not. If he did not, then we must at once set aside 
 the concurrent testimony of the evangelists to a plain matter of fact ; in 
 other words, establish a principle which will overthrow equally every 
 fact related in the Gospels. If he did, it is wholly at variance with any 
 Christian idea of the perfection of truthfulness in him who was truth 
 itself, to suppose him to have used such plain and solemn words repeat- 
 edly, before his disciples and the Jews, in encouragement of, and conniv- 
 ance at, a lying superstition. (3.) After these remarks, it will be un- 
 necessary to refute that view of demoniacal possession which makes it 
 identical with mere bodily disease, as it is interpreted above ; but we may 
 observe, that it is every where in the Gospels distinguished from disease, 
 and in such a way as to show that, at all events, the two were not in that 
 day confounded. (See Matt. ix. 32, 33, and compare Mark vii. 32.) 
 (4.) The question then arises, Granted the plain historical truth of de- 
 moniacal possession, WHAT WAS IT? This question, in the suspension or
 
 436 APPENDIX. 
 
 withdrawal of the gift of ' discerning of spirits' in the modern Church, 
 is not easy to answer. But we may gather from the Gospel narratives 
 some important ingredients for our description. The demoniac was one 
 whose being was strangely interpenetrated (' possessed" 1 is the most exact 
 word that could be found) by one or more of those fallen spirits, who are 
 constantly asserted in Scripture (under the name of dai/nows, 5utu6vta, 
 novr]g&, nvstftuTa dxddapra, their chief being 6 didfiolog, or 
 to be the enemies and tempters of the souls of men. (See 
 Acts v. 3 ; John xiii. 3, et passim.) He stood in a totally different posi- 
 tion from the abandoned wicked man, who morally is given over to the 
 devil. This latter would be a subject for punishment ; but the demoniac 
 for deepest compassion. There appears to have been in him a double 
 will and double consciousness sometimes the cruel spirit thinking and 
 speaking in him, sometimes his poor, crushed self-crying out to the Sav- 
 iour of men for mercy ; a terrible advantage taken, and personal realiza- 
 tion, by the malignant powers of evil, of the fierce struggle between 
 sense and conscience in the man of morally divided life. Hence it has 
 been not improbably supposed, that some of these demoniacs may have 
 arrived at their dreadful state through various progressive degrees of 
 guilt and sensual abandonment. ' Lavish sin, and especially indulgence 
 in sensual lusts, superinducing, as it would often, a weakness in the 
 nervous system, which is the especial band between body and soul, may 
 have laid open these unhappy ones to the fearful incursions of the powers 
 of darkness.' ( Trench on the Miracles, p. 160.) (5.) The frequently urged 
 objection, How comes it that this malady is not now among us ? admits 
 of an easy answer, even if the assumption be granted. The period of our 
 Lord's being on earth was certainly more than any other in the history 
 of the world under the dominion of evil. The foundations of man's moral 
 being were broken up, and the ' hour and power of darkness' prevailing. 
 Trench excellently remarks, ' It was exactly the crisis for such soul-mala- 
 dies as these, in which the spiritual and bodily should be thus strangely 
 interlinked, and it is nothing wonderful that they should have abounded 
 at that time : for the predominance of certain spiritual maladies at cer- 
 tain epochs of the world's history, which were specially fitted for their 
 generation, with their gradual decline and disappearance in others less 
 congenial to them, is a fact itself admitting no manner of question.' 
 (Pp. 162, 163.) . . . . But, (6.) The assumption contained in the 
 objection above, must not be thus unreservedly granted. We can not 
 tell in how many cases of insanity the malady may not even now be 
 traced to direct demoniacal possession. And, finally, (7.) The above 
 view, which I am persuaded is the only one honestly consistent with any
 
 APPENDIX. 437 
 
 kind of belief in the truth of the gospel narratives, will offend none but 
 those who deny the existence of the woijd of spirits altogether, and who 
 are continually striving to narrow the limits of our belief in that which 
 is invisible ; a view which at every step involves difficulties far more 
 serious than those from which it attempts to escape." (Alforcfs Greek 
 Testament, vol. i. pp. 76, 77, 2d ed.) 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The following extract from the writings of one of the most celebrated 
 of modern authors, will show the lax view entertained by many of the 
 VALUE of man's work : 
 
 " I trust this poor woman had remaining sense to feel and join in the 
 import of my prayers. But let us humbly hope we are judged of by our 
 opportunities of religious and moral instruction. In some degree she 
 might be considered an uninstructed heathen, even in the bosom of a 
 Christian country ; and let us remember, that the errors and vices of an 
 ignorant life were balanced by instances of disinterested attachment, 
 amounting almost to heroism. To him who can alone weigh our crimes 
 and errors against our efforts toward virtue, we consign her with awe, 
 but not without hope." 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 " Another instance, I would humbly submit, is in the common applica- 
 tion of Matt. xvi. 18, 'The gates of hell (or, hades) shall not prevail 
 against it,' (xmioxixrovaw x&TTjg). The idea is that of prevailing by supe- 
 rior strength to keep an adversary down. This text is almost always 
 quoted as a promise that Satan shall never destroy Christ's Church on 
 earth. But what can the gates of hades have to do with the Church on 
 earth ? But viewing hades as the place of departed spirits, where they 
 remain till the resurrection, the passage is clear, and the excellence of 
 the promise at once seen. It is a promise that the Church shall not re- 
 main always in that place of intermediate rest, but shall be ultimately 
 delivered from it by him who ' hath the keys of hades and of death.' 
 (Rev. i. 18.)" (Goode's Rule of Faith, vol. i. p. 113, 1st ed.) 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 " It might be here, perhaps, urged, that the picture drawn in the para- 
 ble, if it be applied to more than a very few the deepest sunk in de-
 
 438 APPENDIX. 
 
 pravity, is an exaggeration both of the misery and also of the wickedness 
 even of those who have turned^ their backs upon God : that in the cor- 
 ruptest times not all, and in more moral epochs only a few, even of these 
 fall so low in wretchedness and guilt. This is true, yet all might thus 
 fall. By the first departure from God, all this misery, and all this sin, 
 are rendered possible, they all are its legitimate results ; and they only 
 do not always follow, because God, in his infinite mercy, does not suffer 
 sin, in all cases, to bear all the bitter fruits which it might, and which are 
 implicitly contained in it. In the present case, it is suffered to bear all 
 its bitter fruit: we have one who has done ' evil with both hands earn- 
 estly,' and debased himself even unto hell : and the parable would be 
 incomplete without this ; it would not be a parable for all sinners ; since 
 it would fail to show that there is no extent of departure from God, 
 which renders a return to him impossible." (Trench's Notes on the 
 Parables, pp. 400, 401.) 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 " But it still remains to consider in what sense that which is said of 
 leaving the seed to itself can be attributed to Christ. Olshausen sug- 
 gests this explanation of the difficulties above noted. It is true, he says, 
 that the inner spiritual life of men is never in any stage of its develop- 
 ment without the care and watchfulness of the Lord who first communi- 
 cated that life ; yet are there two moments when he may be said espe- 
 cially to visit the soul ; at the beginning of the spiritual life, which is the 
 seed-time, and again when he' takes his people to himself, which is their 
 time of harvest. Between these times lies a period in which the work 
 of the harvest is going forward without any such manifest interpositions 
 on his part not indeed without the daily supply of his Spirit and the 
 daily ordering of his providence, but so as that he does not put to his hand 
 so plainly and immediately as at those two cardinal moments. And the 
 difficulty will be slighter when we make application of the parable as 
 undoubtedly we are bound to do to the growth and progress of the uni- 
 versal Church, and not only to that of the individual soul. The Lord at 
 his first coming in the flesh sowed the word of the kingdom in the world, 
 planted a Church therein : which having done he withdrew himself; the 
 heavens received him till the time of the consummation of all things. 
 Many and many a time since then the cry has ascended in his ears, ' Oh 
 that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down !' 
 often it has seemed to man as though the hour of interference had ai>
 
 APPENDIX. 439 
 
 rived, as though his Church were at its last gasp, at the point to die, as 
 though its enemies were about to prevail against it, and to extinguish it 
 forever, unless he appeared for its deliverance. Yet he has not come 
 forth, he has left it to surmount its obstacles, not indeed without his 
 mighty help, but without his visible interference. He has left the divine 
 seed, the plant which he has planted, to grow on by night and by day, 
 through storm and through sunshine, increasing secretly with the increase 
 of God ; and will let it so continue, till it has borne and brought to ma- 
 turity all its appointed fruit. And only then, when the harvest of the 
 world is ripe, when the number of his elect people is accomplished, will 
 he again the second time appear unto salvation, thrusting in his sickle, 
 and reaping the earth, and gathering the wheat into his barns." (Trench's 
 Notes on the Parables, pp. 286, 287.) 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 " In regard to the word Zizania, translated tares, I am disposed to 
 think that it was a plant resembling wheat as regards its foliage, and 
 probably only fully distinguishable from it when the harvest came. It 
 seems to be a grass, and in all probability is the Lolium temulentum, or 
 Darnel-grass, which is said to have deleterious qualities. There is an 
 Arabic word Ziwan, which is considered as meaning darnel Avicenna 
 describes two kinds of ziwan, one resembling wheat of which bread is 
 made, and the other inducing intoxication, and often found among corn. 
 The genus Triticum (.wheat), and the genus Lolium (darnel), are very 
 like each other in appearance. They are readily distinguished when in 
 fruit, by the Triticum having two glumes, and having the florets placed 
 with their edges toward the axis, and the Lolium having only one glume 
 and the back of the florets next the axis. I am constantly in the habit 
 of showing my pupils these distinctions between Triticum repens and 
 Lolium perenne, which otherwise are very like. Indeed, an ordinary ob- 
 server would not perceive the difference. These are the reasons why I 
 consider Zizania as being the infelix lolium of Virgil. Both wheat and 
 tares belonged no doubt to the family of grasses, and could only be sep- 
 arated with certainty at the time of hervest." 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 "As to the mustard, the Greek Sinapi, the plant appears to be Salvo- 
 dorapersica, known under the Arabic name of Khardal. This word khar-
 
 440 APPENDIX. 
 
 dot is the common name for mustard in the East, and it is applied to a 
 plant quite different from our mustard-plant. The plant in the East is a 
 tree of considerable size, a native of the hot and dry parts of India, 
 Arabia, and Persia. The berries are much smaller than a grain of black 
 pepper, and are pungent like cresses. The plant has a small seed, which 
 becomes a tree, in the branches of which the birds can and do lodge. 
 The seed is used in the same way as our mustard." 
 
 THE END.
 
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