den death of a rich worldling, by a comparison with various natural objects, by contrast with the heathen, and by the higher im]iortance of a preparation for heaven (Luke xii, 1, 6, 7, 13-31, 33, 34, and parallels). IJeing informed of a recent atrocity of Herod against some Galileans, he declared that an equally awful fate awaited the ini|)enitent among his hearers, and enforced the admonition by the parable of the delay in cutting down a fruitless tree (Luke xiii, 1-9). Again leaving his home the same day, he delivered, while sitting in a boat, to a large audience upon the lake-shore, the sev- eral parables of the dift'erent fate of various portions of seed in a field, the true and false wheat growing togeth- er till harvest, the gradual but spontaneous develop- ment of a plant of grain, the remarkable growth of the nnistard-shrub from a very small seed, and the dissem- ination of leaven throughout a large mass of dough (Matt, xiii, 1-9,24-30; Mark iv, 26-29; Matt, xiii, 31- 36 ; and iiarallels) ; but it was only to the privileged disciples (as he informed them) in private that he ex- jilaindd, at their o^vn request, the various elements of the first of these parables as referring to the different degrees of improvement made by the corresponding classes of his own hearers, adding various admonitions (by comparisons with common life) to diligence on the part of tlie apostles, and then, after explaining the par- able of the false wheat as referring to the di\-ine for- bearance to eradicate the wicked in this scene of proba- tion, he added the parable of the assortment of a hete- rogeneous draught offish in a common net, indicative of the final discrimination of the foregoing characters, with two minor parables illustrating the paramount value of piety, and closed with an exhortation to combine nov- elty with orthodoxy in religious preaching, like the va- ried stores of a skilful housekeeper (Matt, xiii, 10, 11, 13-23; V, 14-16; vi, 22, 23; x, 26, 27; xiii, 12, 36-43, 47-50, 44-46, 51-53 ; and parallels). See Parable. As Jesus was setting out, towards evening of the same day, to cross the lake, a scribe proposed to become his con= stant disciple, but was repelled by being reminded by Jesus of the hardships to vvhich he would expose him- self in his company; two others of his attendants were refused a temporarj^ leave of absence to arrange their domestic affairs, lest it might wean them altogether from his service (jMatt. viii, 18-22 ; Luke xi, 61, 62 ; and parallels). AVhile the party were crossing the lake, Je- sus, overcome with the labors of the day, had fallen asleep on the stem bench of the boat, when so violent a squall took them that, in the utmost consternation, they appealed to him for preservation, and, rebuking their distrust of his defending presence, he calmed the tem- pest with a word (Matt, viii, 23-27, and parallels). See Galilee, Sea oe. On reaching the eastern shore, they were met by two frantic demoniacs, roaming in the de- serted catacombs of (iadara, who prostrated themselves before Jesus, and implored his forbearance ; but the Sa- tanic iufiuence that possessed them, on being expelled by him, with his permission seized upon a large herd of swine feeding near (probably raised, contrary to the law, for supplying the market of the Greek-imitating Jews), and caused them to rush headlong into the lake, where they were drowned [see D.bmomac] ; and this loss so offended the worldly-minded owners of the swine that the neighbors generally requested Jesus to return home, which he immediately did, leaving the late maniacs to fill the country with the remarkable tidings of thiir cure (;Mark v, 1 -21 , and parallels). Not long afterwards, on occasion of a large entertainment made for Jesus by Matthew, the Pharisees found fault with the <lisciples because their Master had condescended to associate with the tax-gatherers and other disreputable jiersons that were guests; but Jesus declared that such had most need of his intercourse, his mission being to reclaim sin- ners (Matt, ix, 10-13, and parallels). At the same time he explained to an inquirer why he did not enjoin sea- sons of fasting like the Baptist, that his presence as yet shoidd rather b3 a cause of gladness to his foUowtrs,
JESUS CHRIST
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JESUS CHRIST