It is possible, no doubt, that the individual parts of a parable may be full of instruction. In that of the sower, what a field of thought is opened by the expres- sion, " The seed is the Word of God" (Luke viii, 11). In that of the prodigal son, the description of the 3'ounger son's wandering from his father's house, of the famine that came upon him in the strange land, of his want and misery, and of the degrading service to which he was subjected, form a striking representation of the nature and consequences of sin, which it is im- possible to pass over. But in both cases, as in all oth- ers, the particular point to be observed is this, that such lessons must be kept subordinate to the main drift of the parable, and must be so treated as to bring more powerfully home to us its one leading idea. That in themselves the}' may teach more is possible. Who shall measure the infinite extent of the wisdom of Ciirist, or the inexhaustible meaning which may lie in the simplest utterance of him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," who is "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.^" But, consid- ered as parts of the parable in which they occur, such separate clauses or incidents are to be looked at in the light of the general lesson which it teaches, and may onl}' be so treated as to lend that lesson force. This is the one great principle by which we are to be guided; and, when we hold it fast, we maj' at once admit that the fuller the meaning which can be naturally impart- ed to each individual portion of the parable the more justice do we do to it. The danger of forgetting this has been frequently illustrated. It has led to an un- due and unscrijitural pressing both of specific traits of parables and the want of tliem. Thus, in that of the laborers in the market-place, we might be easily led, by the last part of it (Matt, xx, 8-14), to the supposition that in the heavenly state the rewards of all Christ's servants will be equal — a supposition at variance with many other passages of Scripture. How often has it been argued that the doctrine of the atonement was not taught by the Redeemer, because in the parable of the prodigal son there is no mention made of expia- tion or intercession before the wanderer is welcomed to his father's house, and embraced in tlie arms of his father's love. It is of the utmost importance, tlicre- fore, to fix clearly in the mind the general lesson of a parable, and to keep everything subservient to it.
2. While there is thus one leading idea in each par- able, the explanations already referred to as given by our Lord further show that there are even few of its smallest particulars which have not a nu^aning. The difficulty, indeed, of determining what the meaning in each case is, and tlie extravagant and fanciful lengths to which some interpreters have gone, has generally led to an opposite conclusion. It has been urged, and not wholly without reason, that every story
PARABLE
649
PARABLE
must have some things in it which serve only to give liveliness and force to the delineation, which are mere transition points from one part of the narrative to an- other ; and that to assign a meaning to these is to substitute simply human fancies for the teaching of God. To this the only reply is that there is danger in either extreme ; but that our tendencj' ought to be to seek a meaning in such traits, rather than the re- verse, seems clear. For, in the first place, the aim of the parable is not poetical, but ethical. The storj' is not told for its own sake, but for the sake of the les- son ; and it is reasonable, therefore, to infer that it "will be constructed in such a manner as to answer this end as far as possible in all its traits. In the second place, the course followed by our Lord is con- clusive upon the point. In the parable of the sower, the field, the birds of the air, the heat of the sun, the thorns and brambles of the bad ground, the thirty, sixty, and hundred fold of the good ground, have all a meaning. Nor is it otherwise in that of the tares and the wheat. How readily might we suppose that the reapers were only subordinate to the harvest. There cannot be a harvest without reapers. Yet "the reapers are the angels;" while the field itself, the man who sowed good seed, the enenw who sowed tares, and the harvest, are each explained. There is hardly a trait in either parable that is destitute of force. The conclusion is irresistil)le. However difB- cult it may be to make the application of each, the attempt is to be made, and our main object must be to discover the limits beyond which we may not go. Here, again, we cannot offer rules which promise to be of much use, but attention to the following princi- ples may help us.
(a) Traits which cannot be applied to the relation between God and man belong only to the coloring. In the parable of the laborers in the vinej'ard, we read that the Master said to one class of the workers, "Take that thine is, and go thy way" (Matt, xx, 14). Words like these cannot be literally applied to the relation between God and man. We have nothing of our own, no claim of our own to reward. After we have done all, we are unprofitable servants. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." This trait, therefore, is simply a part of the filling out of the narrative.