His words abound in bright little sketch-pictures of the life and labours of men — etched, one might almost say, upon the margins of the Gospels. ' Fishers of men ' (jNIk 1"), one with his hand upon the plough-handles but his head turned back (Lk 9'''^), some with loins girt and lamps burning, wait- ing for the sound of their master's returning foot- ste^js (12*''- ^^), another 'strong and fully armed' (11-') — these are among the countless images which will recur to every reader. The hair upon men's heads is not vaguely referred to — it is seen as black or white (INIt 5^") ; the water in the cups they carry is cold water (10^-). The pictures He draws, as in a flash, of the unconscious busy life of men and women before the most terrific catastrophes, show an extraordinary vivacity (Lk 17"^" ^) ; and there is a wonderful perfectness about the descri])tion of the farmer's life, ' 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 ' (Mk 4-'). There is little colour in His pictures, and the rich man ' in purple and fine linen ' (Lk 16'^) is exceptional ; but nothing could surpass the brightness of tlie scene Avhere the King pauses as he conies to .see the feast, his looks arrested by the dulness of the everyday garment in the midst of the shining raiment of his wedding guests (Mt 22'^). Not less remarkable, though of a very different kind, are such realistic jjictures as tliat of the blind leading the blind into the ditch (Lk6"'').
These are simple pictures, but sometimes His poetry is more elaborate. In the old Welsh songs there was a curious device by which, for mnemonic purposes perhaps, the lines of story or sentiment were interlined with references to nature, con- cerning the reeds in the water or the wind in the trees. Was it perhaps with the same instinct that .Jesus interwove the three denials of St. Peter with the two Growings of the cock (Mk 1430) V gyt; some of the images are themselves complex. How subtle, for example, is the imaginative insight that first described ' the branch abiding in the vme ' (Jn 15-^) ! Again, who but the rarest of poets would have imagined the birds sowing, reaping, and gathering into barns (Mt 6^6), or have separated in thought the idea of the lily and its robes, the flower 'clothing itself according to its nature,' or rather 'God clothing the grass of the field (630)'? jn reference to this nature-Work, Dr. Sanday contrasts Tennyson's * Flower in the crannied wall' with the passage about the lily just quoted. 'The one,' he says, 'gives utterance to a far-off, unattainable dream or wish — the other is the expression of perfect insight and knowledge ; it is not an aspiration after a glimpse of God's working in nature, but a clear unbounded vision of that work- ing.' Thus is the Divinity of Jesus seen most plainly in His exquisite naivete, the simpleness rather than the grandeur of His poetic vision ; and we learn of Him 'not by a planet's rush but a rose's birth.'
Occasionally the images are elaborated into a pageantry, but this is generally held in check. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was the one actual pageant which He sanctioned ; and that was only after the days of His life were numbered, that the memory of the spectacle might impress men, and when it could lead to no revolutionary consequences among enthusi- astic crowds (Mt21i etc.). His disciples wanted the spectacular, and perhaps even missed it in His fellowship. The request of two of them for places on His right hand and on His left (Mk 103") hints at gorgeous dreams on their part. Its appeal to Himself is portrayed in the temptation of the pinnacle of the Temple (Mt 45), whose meaning undoubtedly was a magical display before the eyes of wondering crowds. Occasionally, as we said. He permitted His images this elaboration into pageantry. Now and then the canvas is crowded with angels. ' Twelve legions of angels ' wait upon His prayer to the Father (26^3) ; and by those who look with opened eyes, angels may be seen daily ' ascending and descending upon the Son of Man ' (Jn l^i). The twelve
Apostles are seen seated on tvvehe thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt 19-'''), and for them and for all believers there are ' many mansions' in the Father's house (Jn 14'-). As to the connexion between the earthly and the heavenly life, whatsoever they bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven (Mt 16i«). The accounts (Mt :24) of His Second Coming are among the niostditticult parts of the New Testament. But, how- ever their details may be interpreted, they are brilliantly poetic flame-pictures which gather up into themselves nnich of the wild beauty and wonder of the apocalyptic imagination t|ien so universal. A favourite scene is that of the Son of Man sitting on the clouds of heaven (2()W) ; but a sublimer picture is that which the same Son of Man draws of Himself standing ashamed among His angels because of the pusillanimous spirit of some of His followers (Mk 8**). Nor could anything surpass the brilliance of the scene where ' the righteous shine forth as the sun ' (Mt IS-l^), ami we seem to see great shafts of light as the cloud rack of Judgment Day passes, and past its flaming edge are seen the seats of the glorified spirits in heaven.