rabbins of the two preceding centuries. The pane- gyric passed upon the great rabbi Meir, that after his death men ceased to speak parables, implies that up to that time there had been a succession of teachers more or less distinguished for them (.iota, fol. 49, in Jost, Jtidenthum, ii, 87; Lightfoot, I. c). Later Jewish writers have seen in this employment of parables a condescension to the ignorance of the great mass of mankind, -who cannot be taught otherwise. For them, as for women or children, parables are the natural and fit method of instruction (Maimonides, Porta Mosis, p. 84, in Wetstein, On Matt, xiii), and the same view is taken by Jerome as accounting for the common use of parables in Syria and Palestine (Ilieron. In Matt. xviii, 2o). It may be questioned, liowever, whether this represents the use made of them by the rabbins of our Lord's time. The language of the Son of Si- rach confines them to the scribe who devotes himself to study. They are at once his glory and his reward (Ecclus. xxxix, 2, 3). Of all who eat bread by the sweat of their brow, of the great mass of men in cities and country, it is written that " they shall not be found where parables are spoken" (xxxviii, 33). For these, therefore, it is probable that the Scribes and teachers of the law had simply rules and precepts, often perhaps burdensome and oppressive (Matt, xxiii, 3, 4), formula; of prayer (Luke xi, 1), appointed times of fasting and hours of devotion (Mark ii, 18). They, who would not even eat with common people (comp. Wetstein and Lampe, On John vii, 41)), cared little to give even as much as this to the " people of the earth," whom they scorned as " knowing not the law," a brute herd for whom they could have no sympathy. For their own scholars they had, according to their indi- vidual character and power of thought, the casuistry with which the Mishna is for the most part filled, or the parables which here and there give tokens of some deeper insight. The parable was made the instrument for teaching the young disciple to discern the treasures of wisdom of which the "accursed" multitude -were ignorant. The teaching of our Lord at the commence- ment of his ministry was in every way the opposite of this. The Sermon on the Mount may be taken as the type of the " words of grace" which he spake, " not as the Scribes." Beatitudes, laws, promises, were utter- ed distinctly, not indeed without similitudes, but -with similitudes that explained themselves. So for some months he taught in the synagogues and on the sea- shore of Galilee, as he had before taught in Jerusalem, and as yet without a parable. But then there comes a change. The direct teaching was met with scorn, unbelief, hardness, and he seems for a time to abandon it for that which took the form of parables. The ques- tion of the disciples (Matt, xiii. Id) implies that they were astonished. Their jNIaster was no longer pro- claiming the Gospel of the kingdom as before. He •was falling back into one at least of the forms of rab- binic teaching (comp. Schottgen's Hor. Heh. vol. ii, "Christus Kabbinornm Summus"). He was speak- ing to the multitude in the parables and dark sayings which the ral)bins reserved for their chosen disciples. Here, for them, were two grounds for wonder. Here, for us, is the key to the explanation which he gave, that he had chosen this form of teaching because the people were spiritually blind and deaf (JIatt. xiii, 13), and in order they might remain so (Mark iv, 12). Two interpretations have been given of these words : (a.) Spiritual truths, it has been said, are in themselves hard and uninviting. Men needed to be won to them by that which was more attractive. The parable was an instrument of education for those who were children in age or character. For this reason it was chosen by the Divine Teacher, as fables and stories, "adminicula imbecillitatis" (Seneca, Epist. 59), have been chosen by human teachers (Chrysostom, Horn, in Johann. 34). (6) Others, again, have seen in this use of parables something of a penal character. Men have set them-
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selves against the truth, and therefore it is hid from their eyes, presented to them in forms in wliich it is not easy for them to recognise it. To the inner circle of the chosen it is given to know the mj'steries of the kingdom of God. To those who are without, all these things are done in parables. Neither view is wholh' satisfactory. Each contains a partial truth. All ex- perience shows, first, that parables do attract, and, when once understood, are sure to be remembered ; secondly, that men may listen to them and see that thej- have a meaning, and yet never care to ask what that meaning is. Their worth, as instruments of teaching, lies in their being at once a test of character, and in their presenting each form of character with that which, as a penalty or blessing, is adapted to it. They withdraw the light from those who love dark- ness. They protect the truth which they enshrine from the mockerj' of the scoffer. They leave some- thing even with the careless which may be interpreted and understood afterwards. They reveal, on the other hand, the seekers after truth. These ask the meaning of the parable, will not rest till the teacher has ex- plained it, are led step by step to the laws of interpre- tation, so that they can "understand all parables," and then pass on into the liigher region in which para- bles are no longer necessary, but all things are spoken plainly. In this way the parable did its work, found out the fit liearers and led them on. It is also to be remembered that even after tliis self-imposed law of reserve and reticence, the teaching of Christ presented a marvellous contrast to the narrow exclusiveness of the Scribes. The mode of education was changed, but the work of teaching or educating was not for a mo- ment given up, and the aptest scholars were found in those whom the received system would have altogether shut out.