Thus distinguished both from similitude and meta- phor, and regarded as a species of allegory, the parable may be said to be a story which, either true or possess- ing all the appearance of truth, exhibits in the sphere of natural human life a process parallel to one which exists in the ideal and spiritual world. It differs from the "s^r^"of the modern romantic tale chiefly in the fact that its incidents are drawn from ordinary life, while the latter deals with unusual and marvellous conjunctures, such as rarelj' if ever occur in reality. The moral efiect therefore is very different. See Al- legory.
III. Use of Parables hy our Lord. — It will help us, however, still further to understand the meaning of the parable, and its high significance as a method of tuition,
PARABLE
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if we consider the grounds upon -which its power to in- struct us rests. For that power is not simply depend- ent upon the pleasure which an aptly chosen simili- tude always affords. It is rather dependent upon the truth, of which we become gradually more sensible as our views of religion rise, that the whole of nature and providence, the whole constitution of human life, and the laws which regulate the progress both of the indi- vidual and of society, spring from one God, and are maintained by him. All outward things thus become transfigured to us — are not merely what they are to the bodily eyes, but are pregnant with a fuller mean- ing, colored with a richer light to the eye of ftiith. Beneath the outward we see the inward ; beneath the material, the spiritual ; beneath the visible, the invisi- ble; beneath the temporal, the eternal. Everywhere the same perfections of God's being, the same rules of his government, appear. We feel ourselves placed in the midst of a grand harmonious sj'stem, all the lines of which spring from the same centre, and return to it again. Whatever lesson, therefore, is associated ■with any one part of the Almighty's works or ways, comes to us with the weight, not of that one part only, but of all. If God reveal himself in this way here, he will reveal himself, we reason, in this way elsewhere. We call in the universe to bear witness to the truth which we may be considering ; and we rest in the as- surance that, could we explore it all, we should find analogous principles at work in it.
It may be said indeed that this view of parables is Christian, and that our Lord's parables were addressed to Jews. The statement is true. The feeling which we have expressed belongs, in its most developed form, to Christianity alone. In its thoroughness and com- pleteness it was first revealed in Christ. He alone has taught us to behold in everj'thing the tokens of our heavenl_y Father's presence, and yet to avoid the pan- theistic error of merging the Father in his works. But although fully developed only in Christianity, this lesson was one also of Judaism. The Jew believed in a personal God, and looked upon the world as his handi- work. What he lacked was that well-grounded belief in the love of God which could alone guide him through the many perplexities and reconcile the many appar- ent contradictions by which he was surrounded. Still he knew enough to make him in a great degree alive to this power of the parable. Further, we must bear in mind that our Lord, as the great Teacher of man, could not, while he sought to be understood by the Jew, be limited in his teaching by the cap;icity of the Jew to understand. He had to speak for all ages, and all stages of advancement ; for the spiritual as well as for the carnal, for full-grown men as well as babes. More than all, we must remember that in his teaching the Saviour had to present himself— that his lessons were not like those of an ordinarj^ teacher, who may be more or less taught bj' others to speak what he him- self is not. Christ was to embody in himself the high- est conception of Christianity. He was to exhibit our faith in living reality, by showing how he himself felt and lived — how he himself looked on heaven and earth, on God and man. Therefore, even although the Jew might have been less favorabUf^ situated than he was for owning this particular element of the parable's power, such a method of instruction would still have possessed a divine and beautiful appropriateness in the lips of Jesus.
To understand the relation of the parables of the Gospels to our Lord's teachings, we must go liack to the use made of them by previous or contemporary teachers. We have sufficient evidence that they were frequent!}' emploj'ed by them (see Horwitz, Hehreio Tales, Lond. 18-2(5; N. Y. 1847; Levi, Parabole dai libri Tnlmudici, Florence, 1861). The}' appear fre- quently in the Gemara and Midrash (comp. Lightfoot, Hor. Heh. in Matt, xiii, 3; Jost, Jtidenthum, ii, 216), and are ascribed to Hillel, Shammai, and other great