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BROADWAY!
GEO.
S.
APPLETON,
M
148
CHESNUT-ST,
DCCC XLVn.
ADVEMSEMENT
That a work has reached a third edition in England, although one evidence of its merit, may not always be a safe Or satisfactory reason for But in regard to the volume herewith its republication in this country.
sent Ibrth, the subject of which
ability with
it treats is of such general interest, and the has been prepared is so marked, and has been so universally acknowledged, that the publishers cannot hesitate to believe they are doing good service to the cause of sound theological learning in making it accessible to a large class of American readers, who in all probability would not otherwise be able to possess it.
which
it
The
by age
parable, whilst
it is amongst the earliest modes of conveying truth same time the most effective. Never losing its vigor
or repetition,
it
From
the parables of our Lord form a very considerable portion of his recorded
moral
and
to give prophetical
it is
obvious
it is
es-
member of
the Church.
perusal.
like
Samuel
7,)
fail to offer to
and examples
Thus do they
illustrate the
plurimum
At-
adhibebatur.
Ut Hieroglyphica Uteris,
ita
que hodie etiam et semper, eximius est et fuit Parabolarum vigor cum nee argumenta tam perspicua nee vera exempla tam apta, esse posslQt.-^BACONi de Augmentis Scientiarum,
lib. 2.
cap. 13.
man
Trench, while informing the understanding, has never neglected the opportunity to excite the affections, to regulate them, and lead them to seek
Holy Spirit which can alone purify them and them for the service of God. These " scattered jewels of God's word," of which Dr. Arnold speaks, he has brought together, and fixed them in a what silver, or gold setting, not worthy indeed of their richness and lustre even, of human workmanship could possess such value? but the framework is yet skilfully constructed, and is wrought by a devout as well as a learned and earnest mind, and will hold its pearls of wisdom so that we may have the opportunity of gazing upon them in their concentrated form with delight and profit. Under these convictions of the importance of the subject and the successful manner \i\ which it has been treated by Mr. Trench, this volume is now commended to the notice of American readers by the Publishers.
the blessed influences of that
fit
New-York^ June
IStft,
1847.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
CHAP,
I.
PAGE.
On
II.
On
On
On
Teaching by Parables
the Interpretation of Parables
....
.
16
III.
30
43
IV.
PARABLES.
8
XXII. The Lost Sheep
CONTENTS.
XXIV. The
Prodigal Son
XXV. The
XXVII.
Unjust Steward
288 298
303
331
352 376
382
392
400
XXIX. The
INTRODUCTOM EEMARKS.
CHAPTER
I.
to
have found
an easy task
its
to
as should omit
none of
same time
Rather
,
than attempt
to
add another
many definitions already given f I what seems to me to diflference it from the fable,
to the
it
the allegory,
upon
it.
is
most nearly
allied,
i.
e. tI rivi,
one thing
and
it is
for parable,
though
not necessarily included in the word, that the purpose for which they are set side by
side
is
that they
is
may
That
this
is
not necessarily
itself
included
proved not only from the derivation, but from the fact that the word
irapiPoXos, Tapo,<?oXa)f, parabolanus, are
used
growing out of
it
the
same
root, in
which
the no-
putting forth
is
is
retained, but
is
no longer
for the
purpose of comparison,
irapiffoXos, qui ohjicit
which
Thus
who
exposes his
life,
Many
to
s.
v.
Kapa0o\n-
Jerome, on
Mark
iv.,
defines
it
thus
Sermonem
umbra
:
et in recessu,
and he
calls
it
finely in
another place
(Ad
Algas.), Quasi
p.
praevia veritatis.
Among
Teelman
:
the
modems,
30)
rem sublimiorem.
Parabola est
spirituale
communibus
:
et obviis
Bengel
Parabola
rebus ad vitae
communis usum
pertinentibus
desumtam,
veritates
morales repraesentat.
10
likely to be confounded,
perties will
ON THE DEFINITION
and justifying the
distinction, its essential pro-
come before us much more clearly than I could hope to bring them in any other way. 1. There are some .who have confounded the parable with the ^sopic fable, or drawn only a slight and hardly perceptible line of distinction
between them, as
for instance
it
as possible.
But not
this.
to
say
dif-
ference
is
is
much more
all
its
real,
and
The
:
parable
this
not
is
and and
never
lifts itself
It
to in;
culcate
these
it
maxims
will
self- forgetting
The
will understand
and approve.
But
it
has no place in
the Scripture,* and in the nature of things could have none, for the pur-
it ;
awakening of man
of
all
which
is
spiritual in
man, and
not,
which are
the j-ecommendation and enforcement of the prudential virtues, the regulation of that in
man which
him only a
That world
for
these purposes, examples and illustrations taken from the world beneath
suited .f
is
region, though
even
* The two fables that are found in the Old Testament, that of the trees which would choose a king, (Judg. ix. 8-15), and the brief one of the thistle and cedar, (2 Kin. xiv. 9), may seem to impeach the universality of this rule, but do not so in fact.
For
only
in neither case
is it
God
of
that
is
counsel: but men, and from an earthly standing point, not a divine.
to
teach the
:
men
Shechem
sin
this is
beyond
its
region
it
is
also folly.
And
way, would make Amaziah see his presumption and pride, in challenging him him any moral lesson, but only giving evidence
which he uttered, that
his
in the
fable
own
pride
was offended by
the challenge
of the
Jewish king.
t
this
;
The
it
greatest of
all
fables, the
Reineke Fuchs,
affords
ample
life
illustration of all
is
and
the deliverer
from
all ev^l.
OF THE PARABLE.
when men
are introduced,
;
it is
is
related to
man.
The
But
all
man's
relations to
man
also.
are spiritual,
many
of his relations
to the
for instance,
on his higher
therefore, as in
it
spiritual nature, is a
to
the instance of the shepherd and sheep (John x.) and elsewhere,
will
God
to
man.
it
belongs
to this,
no jesting nor
rail-
or the crimes of
at the
men,*
while
Severe and
indignant
it
may
be, but
its
it
never jests
is
indignation
in this rail-
and
;-\
in
these bitter mockings, the fabulist not unfrequently inbiting salt into the
is,
dulges
he rubs
it
wounds of men's
souls
it
may
in
be, perhaps
generally
still
men poured
oil
and wine
wounds of humanity.
Duplex
risum moveat,
consilio
monet.
As
La
it
La Cigale ayant
is
it
chante tout
how
sung
all
the
summer, and
dance now.
That
fable,
commending
as
it
of need, might be compared for purposes of contrast to more than one parable urging
the same, as Matt. xxv. 1,
list
Luke
xvi. 1
it is
up
day when not the bodies, but the souls that have nothing in
store, will be
v.
to
the
French
was very
well
capable of such higher application, had he been conscious of any such needs, (see Prov.
vi. 8,
i.
p.
Enarr. in Ps.
whence La Fontaine's
distinctly intimated.
in this
207.)
The
fable with
which Plero-
141,) relates
Cyrus
to
him a
specimen of the
bitter irony, of
which
this class
of composition
12
ON THE DEFINITION
And
yet again, there
ftible.
is
While
is
re-
it is
when he
and
trees,
and
birds,
which
him
to indulge
even
of
its
ing.
it
came from
the Creator's
to
hands,
much
really
of reverence owing to
is.
it,
be repre-
The
nature
in
he presents to us no
we
The
parable
is
different
any
in
dis-
possible to separate
which
the
mythus
itself
birth, or those
which
it
was
heartily believed.
The mythic
fect
is
a per-
consciousness in
all
essence, shell
wine which
artificial
it
There
is
also the
mythus of another
class, the
many
inimita-
But
have
many
points of resem-
blance with the parable, yet claim no credence for themselves either as
actual or possible, (in this differing from the parable,) but only for the
el.
Laz.,
p. 2):
Fabula aliquod
vita;
et
nonnunquam
:
communis moexemplum
exemCicero
plum
iia
excogitatum ut
i.
cum rerum
"Ean
is
maxim6
convenire videatur.
And
(De Invent.,
19)
Fabula
est in quft
But
napa^oMl,
13
yu'O/ifvor,
nil
There
then
some reason
which Calov
the
commonly using
terms fabula and fahella in speaking of our Lord's parables, terms which certainly
in the ear.
OF THE PARABLE.
truth
13
is
The same
;
the case
when upon
some
perit
some
myth
it
by an afterthought
live in the spirit
;
in
which case
may
all
outward subsistence
it is
denied
to
it,
for the
made
to con-
tain.
To such
a process, as is well
known, the
falling in love
with his
bol of
ces,
own image in the water-brook, and pining there, was the symman casting himself forth into the world of shows and appearanto find the
and expecting
hereby
rality
to vindicate that to
put a moral
life into
whereby
it
should maintain
its
ground
against the
new
life
The
it is
parable
is
also
though
ably in the
Thus,
23),
the
is
more
strictly a
proverb
so again,
when
to his hearers,!
Lord had used that proverb, " If the blind lead the blind,
is
v.
36
a proverb or proverbial
it
which name
bears.
So,
upon the
other hand, those are called proverbs in St. John, which, if not strictly
parables, yet claim
much
parable than
to the pro-
sheep,
is
verb," though our translators, holding fast to the sense rather than to (John x. 6, compare xvi. 25, the letter, have rendered it a " parable."
294)
^t is
how
this
should have
come
to pass.
Hebrew
*
rive
it
ITapoi/jia, that
is,
oljjiov,
trite,
wayside saying,
^ irapoSia
from
o'i^in,
tale, or
poem.
of the latter
s.
word shows
v. irapoifiia.
t It
verbs, in
I
is
current at least
now
Turkish Pro-
Von Hammer's JMorgenl. Kleehlatt, p. 63. The word napa0o\fi never occurs in St. John, nor
Evan-
gelists.
14
ON THE DEFINITION
and
itself
arose from the parable and proverb being alike enigmatical and some-
what obscure forms of speech, "dark sayings," speaking a part of their the rest to be inferred.* This is evidently true of
the parable, and in fact not less so of the proverb.
proverbs as have become the heritage of an entire people, and have obtained universal currency,
may
be, or rather
which
more or
less
remote allusions,
comprehension. f
And
how
the
yet
very commonly
verb
parabolical,:}: that
rests
22.
Or
many
known
4.
proverbs might thus be beaten out into fables, but they are not un-
frequenlly allusions to or
fable.
It
summings up
in a single phrase of
some well-
only remains
to
allegory,
which
it
there being in
first
being attributed
to the
and the two thus blended together, instead of being kept quite and placed side by
we
find our
dis-
tinct
side, as is the
||
Thus, John
* So
xvi. 25),
common Greek
is
proverbs:
Xj3fi<ra ;^aX/vti'Mi'
would
re-
some knowledge of
obscurity that
is in
the
Homeric
narrative, BoCj
yXwo-tnit,
of Attic monies.
The
proverbs,
sufficiently
all
shown by
Adagia
on
their elucidation,
satisfactory explanation.
And
p. xi.-.xvi.
Xo'yoj t(Txii'aTtiTiiivoi, for
It is
not necessarily, as
instance
out figure
but very
many
which
On
and
some good remarks in Hash's Thes. Now Theol. P/iilolog., v. 2. p. 503. Thus LowTU (De Sac. Pues. Heb., Pral. 10) His denique subjicienda est quasi lex quaedam parabola;, niniirum ut per omnia sibi constet, neque arcessitis propria
:
II
admista habeat.
In quo
multum
diiTerta
prima
meta-
OF THE PARABLE.
XV. 1-8, "I
15
am
is
are two allegories scarcely kept apart from one another, John x. 1-16,
the
first,
in
sets
Lamb
of God,"
is
an allegorical, "
cal expression.*
tion to be
He
to
is
brought as a lamb
slaughter," a paraboli-
The
it
brought
it
contains
its
interpretation
within
in
itself,
hand with
it
;f
more elaborate and long drawn out comof the same kind, in the same relation that the parable does to the And as many proverbs are, as we have comparison or simile.
manner many
is
it
an Eastern proverb,
are dogs,"
terpret itself as
tation
be brought to it from without ; while it is otherwise with the proverb spoken by our Lord, " Wheresoever the carcase is there will
this gives
no help
to its
own
interpre-
is
To sum up
things natural,
all
moving
as
it
from
order of
phor& paulalim procedens, non semper continue excludit proprium, a propriis in translata paulatim illapsa,
recipiens.
* Thus,
ver. 7
;
Isai. v.
1-6
is
is
separately given,
is
while on the other hand, Ps. Ixxx. 8-16, resting on the same image,
;
an
allegory
since, for instance, the casting out of the heathen, that the
is
vine might be
planted,
signified,
wherein the
viii.
note that distinguishes the allegory from the parable consists, as Quintilian {[nst.
3, 77), observes; for
/ffoXp
n-apa-
aut praecedit similitudo, res sequitur, aut praecedit res, similitude sequitur: sed inest.
The
allegory then
is
iranslatio, the
parable co/latio.
I find that
Of
all
this
ample
illustration,
Mr. Hallam (Liter, of Europe, as a certain drawback upon the book, that, " in his lan-
much with
:"
the fable
is
we might
but
IQ
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
in the parable,
scious blending of the deeper meaning with the outward symbol, the
from
the proverb,
inasmuch
paring as
as
it
is
longer
carried
out,
figurative,
from
them apart
the other.
CHAPTER
II,
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
However
this
our Lord may on one or more occasions have made use of manner of teaching by parables, with the intention of withdrawing
tlie
knowledge of
truths,
unworthy or
we may assume
1.
i.
c.
2)
No
this
was sometimes
who
is
do great violence
Evangelists.
10-15
Mark
them
iv. 11,
we
St.
find
in St.
Luke viii. 9, 10.) When we examine the words themselves, Mark to wear their strongest and severest aspect. There and in
12
in parables is said to be that (Jva,
;
while in St.
Matthew he speaks
it is
In
said to be so
done,
lest (unTtore) at
while in
to
Luke
this
'va
finii.
entirely wanting.
evacuate
and
25,
jjtfjTTOTt
TT0Te=ctKOTi:, " if
[ifiTTOTc SoJri
perchance
;"
to justify
which
made
to
2 Tim.
"
if
God peradventure
will give
them repentance
;"
so that thus
we
should get back to the old meaning, that the aim of his teaching by
if
parables was, because they could not understand in any other way, and
the
perchance
Now
there
is
but even
is still
if
the
on could be
Where would
the
then
Prophet there
and namely,
this
to
recog-
nize
what was
and character
its
ultimate
and crowning
when
thoughts and works, that they could see no glory and no beauty in Christ, could recognize nothing of divine in the teaching or person of
flesh.
It is
in the
command,
"
Make
10),
we need understand
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
general aim* was not different from that of others
17
hand
to
say either
spiritual
to illustrate or to
prove
analogy
merely
illustration, but
some
the
to the
sort proof.
It
is
make
more vividly
mind, which
is all
allow
them.:j:
Their power
lies
deeper than
this, in
the
that the
his
would
;
its
is
;
Rom.
i.,
to
have taken
its
course with
illicitas cupidines who says also in another place, Quorundam peccatorum perpetrandorum facilitas, poena est aliorum praecedentium. The fearful curse of sin is that it ever has the tendency to reproduce itself, that he who sows in sin reaps in spiritual darkness, which delivers him over again to worse
;
sin
all
which
is
For when we
in our viciousness
grow hard,
Oh
misery on't, the wise Gods seal our eyes, In our own filth drop our clear judgments, make us Adore our errors, laugh at us, while we strut To our confusion.
this
Duplex apud
homines repertus
ad lumen
mirum
sit,
ad contraria adhibetur.
et
et illustrationem. See also De Augtn. Scient., 1. 2. c. 13 and the remarkable passage from Stobaeus, on the teaching of Pythagoras, quoted in Potter's
edit, of
Clemens Alexandrinus,
p.
676
note.
all
:
acknowledged on
viii.
sides, equally
3, 72.)
And
Seneca styles
them, adminicula
et
called.
:
ignorantiam.
The
33), expressly denies of parables, that they darken the light of the Gospel (obum-
V. TTapalio\fj,
See also the quotation from Chrysostom in Suicer's Tkes. it, Xoyof dxpiXtfioi fieT tiriKfivxpco}; fierpiai, with that
shall provoke, not
The Lord,
he expresses
it
we might
t
dive
down
Ita
So SteUini
vivacitate no-
tionis evidentiam
commendantur, ea
stabiliora sunt
ulla consenescunt.
18
consciously
felt
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
by
all
and plainly perceived, between the natural and spiritual worlds, so that
analogies from the
first
They
may
be
world of
root,
spirit,
the
same
truth readily
All lovers of for that very end. acknowledge these mysterious harmonies, and the force of
made
1
after
mount (Exod. xxv. 40; 12;* and the question suggested by the Angel
the
earth
Be but the shadow of heaven and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought ?"t
For
it is
from whence
it
same
skill
might have
to
;
one
they
It
affinity.:}:
1.
4, c. 14, 3.
Many
among
Thus
in the
est
lam exigua
109,
mundo,
quae
non
alii
correspondeat.
d.
In Gfrorer's Vrv. 1,
:
christenthum,v. 2,
p.
Mos.
Cult.,
p.
many
No
all
one was
fuller of this
than Tertullian
c. 12).
God
divinarum virium
again,
And
De Animd,
illustrait
is for
him
at once
an argument and an
tion
paraboles, sicut
Out of a
the
word
likely.
There
is
men
is
Analogy
is
declares at the beginning, in one particular line of this thought, that the like
likely.
also the
ON^TEACHING BY PARABLES.
is
jg
not an
that
happy accident which has yielded so wondrous an analogy as of husband and wife, to set forth the mystery of Christ's relation to
Church.
his elect
There
is
far
more
in
it
than this
rests,
and
of which
it
is
the utterance.
When
Christ spoke to
birth
into this
new
birth,
it
the most suitable figure that could be found for the expression of that
spiritual act
accomplished
the circum-
God's kingdom
but
all
stances of this natural birth had been pre-ordained to bear the burden of
The Lord
is
title
from the
not the
own
title to
them
and
name
its
earth, with
righteous laws,
its
its
stable ordinances,
punishment and
and of his kingis
grace,
its
majesty and
ruleth over
Him
dom which
all
so that "
:
not in fact a
and the earthly kings that are figures and shadows of the true.
as in the world of
And
relations, so also is
it
in the
world of
nature.
The untended
ral harvest is a
soil which yields thorns and briars as its natupermanent type and enduring parable of man's heart,
to
the
husbandry
will
The weeds
of the present admixture, and future sundering of the righteous and the
The decaying
and the rising up out of that decay and death, of the graceful stalk and
the fruitful ear, contain evermore the prophecy of the
tion,
final
resurrec-
even as
at
a lower stage,
the
the
itself forth
things.
Of course
and
this,
it
will be
for those
who
fection
and
who
them as even that imperfect order would render it will be possible for them to say it is not thus, but that our talk of heavenly things is only a
transferring of earthly images and relations to
them
we
conceive
a dream
of earth
that the
for instance
(and
this is
Arian-
ism) are only improperly used and in a secondary sense when applied to
20
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
difficulties
and
not
be used at
all
that
we do
only
This denial
will be
always
;
possible,
and has
moved from
upon
all
God
is
the
measure of man,
that the
his throne in
his temple
upon earth
that
these characters of nature which everywhere meet his eye are not a
common
God
and
he counts
and because
in the midst
ment and teaching. For such is in truth the condition of man around him is a sensuous world, yet not one which need bring him into bondage to his senses, but so framed as, if he will use it aright, continually to lift him above itself
:
a visible world to
make known
And
this truth
in fleeing
in the
all relations,
is to
of higher mysteries
reverence, seeking
by
faithfulness to
significance
entertaining
it is
guests,
besides
without which
this
it
inconceivable
all its
God has another and an elder, and one indeed how that other could be made, for from
signs of communication.
to last,
appropriates
and
visible
world from
its
first
its
with
its
its
kings and
its
subjects,
its
its
parents and
its light
children,
sun and
moon,
its
sowing and
its
harvest,
and
its
darkness,
its
sleeping and
waking,
birth
and
its
death,
is
from beginning
to
once
to
our
faith
and
to
our understand-
true that
men
them
the portals of
is
tliis
palace
and then
drudge.
serving him,
man moves
its
world, alternately
its
taskmaster and
to
become
at the
falsely cul-
his inner
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
ear heavy, so that there
21
him
:
come no
and
out
indeed in
all,
more
or less of the
There
is
none
to vi^hom
nature
tells
would be willing
to tell
Now
its
tive
language,
a re-awakening of
man
the
mystery of nature, a
:
giving back to him the key of knowledge, the true signatura rerum
and
this
comes
out, as
we might
expect,
but by no
means exclusively,
in those
which by pre-eminence we
They have
this point
a calling heed to powers which were daily going forward in the midst of men, but which, by their frequency and their orderly repetition, that
ought
to
no more, had
be startled
have kindled the more admiration, had become wonder-works lost the power of exciting attention, until men had need to
anew
to
the contemplation
In
like
facts
manner the parables were a calling of which underlie all processes of nature,
and which, though unseen, are the
Christ
of
human
society,
moved
in the
midst of what
seemed
eye of sense an old and worn-out world, and it evidently became new at his touch ; for it told to man now the inmost secrets of
to the
:
his being
he found that
to
it
respondencies
that oftentimes
it
helped
to
gling to be born,
that
were helplessly strugof these two worlds, without him and within, each
of a real teaching by parables, such
For on
a teaching
resting upon
air,
building on the
or painting on a cloud,
it is
mere
is
is
that the
world around us
dream
who would
is
set a great
of nature and of grace, seeing this from a good, but that from an imperfect or an evil power,
lie
it is
And
hope
:
man,
For
is
in part
redeemed only
in
not, that
is,
in the present
we must
its
present
;
state, like
it
man
coming glory
its
cannot
it is
tell
out
all
secrets;
it
has
it
too
is
its
very
22
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
serving us, since
tlius
it
imperfection wonderfully
more fitting symbols to declare to us our disease and our misery, and symbols not merely of the processes of their healing and removing ; but also of man's sins and wretchedness it has God's grace and power,
its
sores and
its
wounds,
its
storms and
its
wildern3sses,
its
lion
and
its
than by
its
life
and
all
it
to
in this
fails
its
come
short of
purpose and
meaning
it
as the philoso-
culpS
it
does not give always a clear witness, nor speak out in distinct accents,
Of
these
it
is
to
declare them at
but rather in
to
all
:
of the
will be otherwise
it
one day
it
will be trans-
embodies,
it
so wondrously.
For no doubt
always, as the
will then
the end and consummation will be, not the abolition of this nature, but the glorifying of
it,
that
which
is
now nature
{iiatura), birth,
word expresses
indeed born.
it,
be
The new
be as the snake
abolished,
its
but
putting off
soiled
holiday ap-
at last.
Then,
deli-
when
it
too
shall
have put
is
now overlaying
which God
all
that
it
has at present of
shall
disappear.
This nature,
for
it
mirror in
But
fall,
at present,
share in man's
has
won
in
fitness
expression of the
that cling to
him and
beset him,
it
It
These
human
relationships,
and
this
ON TEACHING
in the
to
B\^
PARABLES.
is
23
Obnoxious
to all
which
of the earth.
sinful
element
is
entirely pure
and
The
he
father
They break down under the weight that is laid upon them. chastens after his own pleasure, instead of wholly for the
;
child's profit
in this unlike
that
is to set forth.
The
seed which
word of God,
that
at
Word which
last.
liveth
and abideth
of the
communion of the faithful when here celebrated, be mixed up with much that is carnal, and they come to their close in a few hours. There is something
will often,
all this in
image of the pure joy of the kingdom, with their Lord and with one another,
exactly analogous to
Scripture
the
men
that
Man.
Through
their sins, through their infirmities, yea, tions of their earthly condition,
and
very often even the part which they do sustain, they sustain
Thus,
ple
this
for
instance, few
which he reared,
an instant
is
all
point to a greater
whom
is
he foreshewed.
Yet
vouchsafed
to
us only
for
it is
but a glimpse of
it
we
catch.
Even
is
before his
reign
done,
all
is
beginning
to
of
its
His wisdom
darkened,
no more
in
whom
:
there
is
such was
one mobut then
consider
or persons
whose
lives at
;
ment and another seem suddenly to stand out as symbolic sink back so far that we almost doubt whether we may dare
to
them
as such at
all,
to
wonld involve
in infinite
embarrasment.
It is
is
Samson
will at
scarcely
contained
when
de-
liverance for Israel through his death than he had wrought in his
life.
24
(Judg. xvi. 30.)
is
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
Yet we
for
hesitate
how
far
in
every case,
is,
And
liar
:
so
it
he
is
false, that
fails to
to the
it
embody, and
in-
bring
out in
the fulness of
its
So that of the
truths of
God
in the
cludes man's acts as well as his words,) of these sons of heaven married to the daughters of earth, it may truly be said, " we have this treasure
in earthen vessels."
And
it
for,
that
somewhere
make
misapprehensions of those
iii.
to
whom
the
language
addressed (as
John
11), or
by the language
itself,
by
the
men themrace,
though
the noblest,
it
may
be, of their
all
its
age and
yet
divine truth in
fulness and
complete-
ness.*
No
doubt
it
was a
feeling,
working more or
all
Paul terms
it,
face to face,f
* It
is
now
rather
Cf.
U jiipovi, h
alviyjiari^
,
(5('
ccStrTpov, (1
8.
Cor.
xiii. 9,
12),
-napoifiiati,
Bernard, In Cant
215).
Serm. 31.
this tnith,
which he has
p.
finely expressed.
Morgenl. Mystik,
ist
der Geistwelt,
quellt.
Herab von
Die
in der
dieser jener
Nahrunsgmilch
Worte Kerker
sich verbargen.
Muss
flags hinab er
zum Verstande
Der muss die Schattenbilder ihm gewahren, Damit er konn' Unendliches erklaren. Doch nimmer ist das Abbild je volikommen, Nur Selbstverstandniss kann dir wahrhaft frommen.
Denn
Musst
f
ziehst
hier
Kara v6rjaiv
and Kara
we assumed
and
\.
they very
nearly agree with the threefold division of St. Bernard (Z?e Consid.,
opinio, the fides,
5, c. 3), the
and the
intellectus (intuition),
we
;
first,
that
it
is
common
to
all
privilege of the
men, being merely notional, knowing about God the second is the faithful now, the knowing God the third, the airofiircia of the same
facierum of the Jewish doctors, will be their possession in the
is finally
school, the
Arcanum
indicated
by Augus-
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
(1 Cor. xiii. 12,)
25
with such earnestall
to press
we
to
that
is
which we
But
it
in
in setting
as the
men
own
whether
symknow-
which he uses
be
to
him more or
not
less conscious
does
and mainly on
this
one,
whether he
may
or
may
accompany
religious growth,
reflect
One who possesses the truth only as it is porated in the symbol, may yet have a far stronger hold upon it be influenced by it far more mightily may far more really be
ished
incor-
may
nour-
by
it
to the
in
is true,
them
it
who have
for others,
waters of
its
for
them
it
is
is,
of
the
them be separable
but then
it
them
It
This
comparison
may
that, as
when
the seed
tine,
it,
Videre Videntem.
It
was
this,
according to
many
of the
Jewthy
life
;
ish interpreters,
Thee, show
me
glory," but
man
in this present
live."
" Thou
18-20).
phets.
my face,
no
man
see
me, and
(Exod. xxxiii.
Yet he
came nearer
to this than
illustr., p.
373.)
a striking
fearful
Mohama thing
it
medan
would be
comply with
his
Show me
thy glory,"
by suffering a spark of
upon a mountain,
to see, to fall
which
continually urging
Ut
the
same
and indeed
all
Dionysius
26
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
time the kernel disengages itself from the outer coating, and alone
remains and
fructifies,
so in the
fall
seed of God's word deposited in man's heart, the sensible form must
off,
germ
releasing itself
may
germinate.
urged thus
to a
the inner
The
outer covering
is
not to
fall off
become
for
glorified,
made
Man
is
body and
soul,
and being
him need of a body and soul likewise: it is well that he should know what is body and what is soul, but not that he should seek to kill
the body, that he
may
to
Thus
all
it
was provided
in the
our attempts
must always
end be unsuccessful.
for the
It
changing of
worse
truly stir the heart, and getting dead metaphysical abstractions in their
The aim
element
it
of the teacher,
who would
find
his
to
way
to
the hearts
and understandings of
bolical
never be
make
much and
as fre-
quent use of
^ffort
as
;
he can.
for
And
all
to
of his
own
while
language
more or
of the stamp (who, for example, that speaks of msuZ^iTzg', retains the lively
prostrate
body of a
foe)
it is
hearers
that
is,
of truth, but
all
clothed, as
He
;
acted him-
must
act, if they
would be scribes
(Matt.
old
:
and able
to instruct others
xiii.
52;) he brought
help of the old he
new and
by the
made
the
intelligible the
new
by the
;
he introduced them
ed more easily
to
to that
unknown.
all
And
in his
own manner
of teaching,
all
and
effectual teaching,
of
as
was
said of one
hearers.
There
is
mind has
in this
manner
To
like
itself.
to
compare
it
to
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
of teaching, appealing as
it
27
man
calling as
man with
all his
activity
and things thus learned with delight are those longest rememspiritual truth,
bered *
.
how many
of his words,
partly from his hearers' lack of interest in them, partly from their lack
away from
their hearts
them
in this
form, under some lively image, in some short and perhaps seemingly
awakened
and even
if
mind, yet the words must thus often have fixed themselves in their
memis
And
till
there should be a
pre-
pared for
its
in
which
it
memory were to many that heard money of another country, unavailable it might be for preof which they knew not the value, and only dimly knew that sent use, it had a value, but which yet was ready in their hand, when they reached that land and were naturalized in it. When the Spirit came and brought
needs.
him
like the
all
all
substance, quickened
forms
of
life.
Not perhaps
meanings of what they had heard unfolded themselves to them. Small to the small, they grew with their growth. And thus must it ever
be with
tion, the
all
is
transference of a dead
to another,
sum
one mind
at the
first.
That we
like
far
is
which
teneri ab auditoribus
non
of the pseudo-Dionysius, so often quoted by the schoolmen, Impossibile est nobis aliter
radium
nisi varietate
Bernard:
An
28
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
which
shall kindle
new
where they fall, the planting soil where they are cast,
their branches
and striking
shall
their roots
upward,
grow up into goodly trees. Nor is it unworthy of remark, when we are estimating the extent of
parabolic element
is
the
in
Scripture,
how much
there
by a more
especial right, we separate off, and call by that name, every type is a The whole Levitical constitution, with its outer court, its rea/ parable.
holy,
its
holiest of all,
its
high priest,
its
sacrifices,
and
all
its
ordinan-
ces, is such,
(ix. 9.)
and
is
The wanderings
who
In like
manner we have
par-
in their
;
own characters they did, but as they represented One higher and greater men whose actions and whose sufferings obtain a new significance, inasmuch as they were in these drawing lines quite unconsciously themas Abraham when he cast selves, which another should hereafter fill up bondwoman and her son, (Gal. iv. 30,) Jonah in the whale's belout the And in a (Ps. xxii.) ly, David in his hour of peril or of agony.
;
narrower
circle, without
by an acted parable rather than by any other means, and this because there was no other that would make so deep and so lasting an impression.
Thus Jeremiah
is to
may
(xix.
1-11
;)
he wears
a yoke that he
may
;
proaching bondage
of a redemption
xxviii.
10
;)
he redeems a
land,
field in
pledge
It
the
(xxxii. 6-15.)
will at once be seen that these examples might be infinitely multiplied. And as God will have them by these signs to teach others, he continually
It is
not his word only that comes to kingdom pass before their eyes
first
his
in-
to the spiritual
eye,
They
will at
any others, this was true. And have a great example of the same teaching in in the New Testament we all the visions of the St. Peter's vision, (Acts x. 9-16,) and throughout
whom, more
Apocalypse. Nay,
est
we might
all,
it
was with
the high-
that
which includes
it
all
others
the manifesintelligible
This, inasmuch as
was a making
ON TEACHING BY PARABLES.
of the otherwise unintelligible
not
;
29
;
making
a teaching
by
doctrine, but
by
life,
was
the
parables.*
With regard
by
St.
to the
is
record which
we have
Gospels
that
True Vine,
and mainly
that Jesus
Of
the other
Matthew was originally written for Jewish its leading purpose being the Jews of Palestine
;
readers,
to
show
was
the
King of
him the
the
Jews
Son of David
the
fail to
Son of Abraham
appear
in the
that in
The
theocratic
recorded
being
commonly
is
the de-
claration of things
likened,"
Luke. The same theocratic purpose displays itself in the form in which the Marriage of the King's Son appears in his Gospel, compared with the parallel narration in Luke in the last, it is only a man who makes a great supper, while,
form which never once finds place
;
in
Matthew,
it is
his son.
St.
Luke had
tlie
his
the
merely from David, the great type of the theocratic king, nor from
Abraham,
mankind.
Adam,
the father of
wrote his Gospel originally for Gentile readers, so that while St. Mat-
apostles, corresponding
twelve tribes of Israel, he relates the mission of the seventy, anto the
swering
at
Babel
was
divided.
He, as writing
for
God
no depar-
God
The
in the parables
which he
re-
In this view, the three at chapter xv. are especially characterlast, that
c. 5,
Clem. Alex.
^^'^PX'^
''^^'
6, Potter's Ed.,
p.
o x"'P""''^'iP
SiOTt Kal h
KCpiOf, ovK
30
and not
less so that of
ON THE INTERPRETATION
Dives and Lazarus,
if,
as Augustine, Theophylact,
and some
later
may
knowledge of
God, and glorifying themselves in those blessings, while Lazarus, or the Gentile, lay despised at their door, a heap of neglected and putrifying
sores.
the poor
corded not
was a Samaritan who showed kindness to x. 30,) would seem also to have been rewithout an especial aim, to be traced up to the same leading
it
Mark has
is
by
itself,
(iv.
26,)
in
which
stance to that
ap-
pears
to
occupy.
There
is
not,
CHAPTER
III.
their
outward form,
in
are
workmanship, but
Avhich,
itself
is
are laid up
or as fruit,
still
however lovely
upon,
yet
more delectable
key
to
lost,
in
its
inner sweetness.*
To
golden
;
touch of which
its
it
shall reveal
treasures
open
nothing of
And
now
step
;
which we have
arrived, there
is
itself
?
anew
at
every
how much ject there have been among Some have gone a great way
namely
this,
significant
and on
this sub-
interpreters the
in saying,
This
make
was introduced
which
is
and a general
air of verisimilitude to
the story,
the
* Bernard
quis fregerit t
Superficies ipsa,
tanquam a
foris considerata,
sit,
et si
nucem,
intus inveniet
xii.)
:
quod jucundius
et
OF PARABLES.
substratum of the truth, a consistent whole, since without
3|
this consist-
to
hold together
own
room
to an-
too anxiously
somewhat
rest
t""!"
language
like
this,
" Be
own
interpretation
not
and
in like
:|:
Theophylact
ciples.
own
prin-
So
also Origen,
who
great beauty.
He
says,
meaning by a comparison of " For as the likenesses which are given in picillustrates his
tures and statues are not perfect resemblances of those things for whose
sake they are made but for instance the image which is painted in wax on a plain surface of wood, contains a resemblance of the superficies
and colours, but does not also preserve the depressions and prominences,
but only a representation of them
serve the likeness which consists in prominences and depressions, but
not as well that which
is
in
it
mean
and
is not an image of those things which are within in same manner, of the parables which are contained in the Gospels so account, that the kingdom of heaven, when it is likened to anything, is
prominences, but
the
not likened to
it
according
in that
instituted, but
certain quali-
in
times
et
quid
utique decern
gralissi-
drachmae?
et quae
illae
scop?
mam
Deo
unum
drachmam
in
domo, tam
Hujusmodi enim
curiositates et
ad struendam et disponendam
et
texendam parabolam.ut
J.
C,
p.
175)
exemplum procuratur. Brower {DePar. Talia omittinon potuerunt,quoniam eorum tantum ope res ad eventum
illuc
perducantur, cui
facile perduci posset, ciim alioquin saltus fieret aut hiatus in narratione,qui rei narratae
similitudini
omnino noceret,
nepiepyd^ov.
vel quia
quses-
t TdXXo
t
i^ri
Ttvoiv ipiaiv, oi
TOL
napeXfiipOri.
ii'
S oiSi
j^jsJ)
navra
dW
baov soikc
Ta Xoiira
tj iTapa0o\}j
Comm.
in
Matth.
xiii.
47.
32
to
ON THE INTERPRETATION
but oftentimes rather as a plane and a globe, which, though brought into
contact, yet touch one another only in one.
On
same
principle,
the
less,
which
And
I
in
modern times,
in affirming
whence
it
rious care
is
literal
in
the parables, being confident of the riches of inward truth which every
he goes on
to say,
" Of my
I
feelings and
simili.
have found no
have
to pass
in a strait,
but being
that
all
opening
into
and
full
populous
unspeakable
is
the
On
a review of the
whole controversy
may
;":}:
favourite saying " Every comparison must since one may well demand, " Where the neces.
their
is
is
no force
in the
it
did so,
it
would
not be an illustration of the thing, but the thing itself; since two lines
to
it
may
well be considered,
quite true,
is
not
all
to
which
this
1.
may
be done in an exposi-
Son, given
in
in his
Quast. Evang.,
Teelman (Comm.
Luc.
xvi., p.
34-52) defends
at
length and
with
I
much
ability.
Omne
simile claudicat.
(in
Theophylact
Suicer's Thcs.,
S.
v. irapaffoM)
i';
'H
au^n-
dW avrd CKCtvo,
(!('
TrapaQoXfi.
OF PARABLES,
edge, nor a
33
which does not
musical
in-
harp
all
strings
that
much
in the knife,
cut, is yet of
much,
in the
strument, which
many
parables are like the feathers which wing our arrows, which, though
they pierce not like the head, but seem slight things and of a different
matter from the
rest,
it
make
and
that
do both convey
in the other
to
true, also,
scheme of
danger
lest a delight
may
cause
is
it
the truth
the
main purpose of
all
Scripture
even
how
to
extort from
it
" This
circumstance
is
not
to
we may
the
meaning
for us,
we may
fail to
observe
to cor-
and
to
respond with
instance,
is
antitype.
For
as a
work of human
that the
the
more perfect
in the
measure
life,
Holy Scriptures
1.
Fifth Objection.
There
is
a remarkable
16,
c. 2),
where he
view
still
fur-
Non
sane omnia quae gesta narrantur, aliquid etiam significare putanda sunt
ilia
sed propter
ilia
fieri possit,
mem-
Et
soli
caetera in
non percutiuntur
significant, et
prophetica historia dicuntur et aliqua, quae nihil significant, sed quibus adhaereant quae
1. 22. c. 94. A Romish expositor, Certum est gladium non omni ex parte scindere, sed una tantilm nee enim per manubrium secat, neque per partem obtusam oppositam aciei, neque per cuspidem, sed tantilm per aciem secat. Et tanien
quomodo
religentur.
Cf. Con.
Faust.
:
nemo
tamen
Ita in
aciei, necessaria
manubrium aut cuspidem aut partem obtusam oppositam nam etsi per se ipsa non scindant, serviunt
:
adsecandum
efficiant,
ad quod praestandum
34
was
in the sculptor's
ON THE INTERPRETATION
mind, breathes out of and looks through every feathe greater being the triumph of spirit, pene;
so
much
which it has assumed so the more translucent a parable is in all parts with the divine truth which it embodies, the more the garment with which it is arrayed, is a garment
of light, pierced through, as
brightness within,
was once
it
so
much
the
more
it
must be esteemed.
It
may
who
much
is to
when
comes
to the applica.
;
is to
be set aside
it is
what
one
rejects,
Moreover,
always
foliage
and branches, of
made
for
Prodigal leaving his father's house has any direct reference to man's
it is
at
of
how much,
It
deprive us.
may
first
be remarked
inter-
Tares,
it
is
key
own
down
the prin-
be applied throughout.
Now
in
application descends to
details of
plained as Satan
who
19,)
(Matt.
xiii.
22,)
"
It
similitude
;:t^
is
perfect in
proportion as
on
all
sides
rich in applications
and hence,
De Paraholis
With
this
Lowth
De
Domini plus
veritatis eliciunt,
quam
generate
Non quod
OF PARABLES.
expositor
35
that there
it,
is
import in every
it
when
show
either
do.es
not
we can
for the
clearly
We
except
when by
holding
fast as essential
is
It
will
much
not,
if,
is
essential
and what
we
we
obtain fast hold of the central truth which the parable would set forth,
and distinguish
all
it
in the
mind
we can from
"
for only
point will
One may
compare," says a
on the
parables,"!"
is
so
long as one has not placed oneself in the centre, neither the circle
itself
appears in
radii
its
which
the
converge
is all
observed so
Even
so in the parable, if
tutionis
aut
persuasionis
genus,
si
Domino
nostro placuisset
illud
adhibere,
cum
summS
Domini
ejus sapientia
non potuisse
consistere.
qualis ilia fuit Filii Dei, nos merito plus praesumere, ac propterea,
ita
parabolee Christi
earum
partes
commode
et
absque violentis
et cseteris
praeferendum existimo.
si
Quanto enim
nihil
obstet,
commendabimus
sapientiam.
* Out of this feeling the Jewish doctors distinguished lower forms of revelation
in the
higher
all
;
was
and
there
dream
" As
when
was
superfluous
is
and
insignificant."
They would
instance Joseph's
left
dream
all
(Gen. xxivii. 9
;)
the
moon
out,
him
yet this
who
j).
178.)
+ Lisco
22
a sound
and
useful work.
It
may
Having occaof
it
thus
1000 Seiten starkes Werk, breiter Sprache (a book more than a thousand pages thick, very diflfuse) which however reappears in the translation " A work of great power in many respects, in broad dialect."
iiber
:
Ein
36
ON THE INTERPRETATION
its
we have recognized
middle point,
its
main doctrine,
we
so far as the
main
truth
is
There is another rule which it is important to observe, which at the same time is so simple and obvious, that were it not very frequently neglected,
it
to
be
left to
common
that as in
the explanation of the fable, the introduction (n^oixvd-iov) and application {ini^v&iov)
to,
so here
what
some have
terms would have done sufficiently well, which are invariably the fingerposts pointing to the direction in
which we are
meaning,
the key
instance,
to the
whole matter.
attentive heed,
;
for
how many
the
worked out of
Labourers
much
as once proposed, if heed had been paid to the context, or the ne-
cessity
into
harmony These
himself, (Matt. xxii. 14; xxv. 13;) sometimes by the inspired narrators
of his words,
(Luke xv.
1,
2;
xviii.
1 ;)
xviii.
9; xix. 11
sometimes, as the
Luke
its
;
xvi. 9.)
Occasionally a
parable
is
right understanding
and ap-
plication both at
opening and
its
close
is
as
is
that of the
Unmerciful
wound up by
So again the Parable, at Matt. xx. 1-15, begins and finishes with the same saying, and Luke xii. 16-20 is supplied with the same amount of help for its right understanding.
himself makes, (ver. 35.)
* Tertullian (De Resttr. Carn. ,c. 33): Nullum parabolam non aut ab ipso invenias
edisseratam, ut de Seminatore in verbi administratione
:
aut
p.
which
terpret
is
worth noticing.
it,
which
it
grows, which
is
may
it
also
be regarded as the
for in the irpofiiOiov
itself;
spoken, which
to be looked
clothes
which
it
enfolds.
OP PARABLES.
Again,
37
we may
its
accordance with
being applied
interpretation
to
bring
into
must be so without any very violent means such agreement even as, generally the
;
must be easy
if not
it is
always easy
to
be discovered, yet
;
For
the
discovered,
itself,
and commends
;
unto
all.
And
law
there
that
is
it
it
is
explains
all
the
phenomena and
in
not merely
some
it:
that
it is
all
marshal themselves
order under
so
we have found
false
since
it
will
" invariably
member
parts,
of an entire ac-
we have
will
the right
key
in
wards, but
all,
key
will turn
need
to
be defended and
we have made
drawn from
Once more
the parables
may
but
not be
made
first
sources of doctrine.
may
be illustrated, or indeed
by them
it is
by
their aid.f
They may be
* That which is required in a satisfactory solution, is well stated by Teelman (Comm. in Luc, 16, p. 23) Explicatio non sit hiulca, non aspera,non auribus nee judicio difficilis, non ridicula sed mollis et verecunda, leniter manantis fluvii instar amcenitate in aures auditorumque judicium influens, appropriata, proxima, et ab omni
:
And
again
Ex
1.
argumenta
efiica-
202.
There
is
a beautiful passage in
1, c. 4,
on the
futility of
indeed can but serve as graceful confirmation of truths already on other grounds re-
all.
The
sed
si
objector
is
who
presses
made to reOmnia
:
non
sit
aliquid solidum
nam
maneat quod
pingit.
Nemo enim
pingit
quia
ibi
nulla
manent
pictures vestigia.
Qua
rei gestae
obtendimus, quo;
bem
Monstranda
prius
veritatis
rationabilis
38
not the
tive,
ON THE INTERPRETATION
main texture, of the
to the
proof. For from the literal to the figuramore obscure, has been ever recognized as
This
rule,
for
some weak
position,
one
for
no other sup-
Thus
Bellarmine presses the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the circumstance that in that the thieves are said Jirst to have stripped the traveller,
and afterwards
which,
to
have
inflicted
wounds on him,
as proving certain
fall,
the succession
And
in the
merely on
his
satisfaction
made,
or
that in the
any mediator intervening, we may draw from this same way, and without requiring sacrifice
his debtors
God pardons
But
too
far the greatest sinners against this rule in old time, especially the former.
to these,
Manichaeans
welcome
who could
find
no colour
to
scheme
in the
them
to find in this
by attending
any such canon as this. The whole scheme of the Gnostics was one, which, however it may have been a result of the Gospel, inasmuch as
was yet
of independent growth
not
to
learn
its
language, but
to see if
it
speak
theirs.::!:
They came
Scripture
De Grat. Prim. Horn. : Neque enim sine causa Dominus in parabola ilia hominem spoliatum, posterius autem, vulneratum fuisse, cCim tamen contra
;
prius
acci-
nimirum
TAeoZ., ioc. 9.
c. 2.
86.)
common
sense,
which
is,
that
we
every place the whole circle of Christian truth to be fully stated, and that no conclusion
may
is
clearly stated
;
in others.
1.
2)
Neque enim
in
omnibus
iocis
docentur omnia
Jerome
Ad
OF PARABLES.
its
39
meaning, but
to thrust into
When
they
fell
to their ends,
would naturally
;
invite
portions of Scripture
portions of Scripture
for
it
was
them almost more than any other must abandon the literal
was
which might receive more interpretations than one ; such perhaps they might bend to their purposes. Accordingly we find them revelling in
these
;
for
they seem
to
upon them
own
ca-
continually compelled to
abuse
to
which they submitted them, who not merely warped and drew
them a little aside, but made them tell wholly a different tale from that which they were intended to tell.t Against them he lays down that canon, namely, that the parables cannot be in any case the original or the exclusive foundations of any doctrine, but must be themselves interpreted
according
to the
analogy of
faith
since, if
of these might
So
to build
were
sand.ij:
1.
1, c.
All this
itself in
Swedenborg,
in
whom,
many
resem-
blances to the Gnostics of old, especially the distinctive one of a division of the Church
into spiritual
tation, thus
speaks
and carnal members. One, estimating his system of Scripture interpre" His spiritual sense of Scripture is one altogether disconnected
:
from the
literal sense, is
which
is
be planted, for
it is
altogether independent
acci-
1.
1,
c.
8),
it till it
became altogether
who
wrought by a
the pieces
different plan,
some
vile
im-
to the'stones as
this,
was
the king's
image
Thus Con.
HcBr.,
1.
2, c. 27.
sic
enim
lutionem accipient
membrorum
et
Sed
erit
quae
non aperte
Sic
semet invicem.
So too
c.
Quia autem
40
Tertullian has the
the Gnostics
brain,
ON THE INTERPRETATION
same conflict to maintain. The whole scheme of was a great floating cloud-palace, the figment of their own
in the actual
world of
realities.
They
diffi-
as they would.
They
found no
upon their
side.
For they
till
was
but
it
was given them from above, and in it was an invention of their own,
as they pleased, and as best suited
We,
we do
is
their doctrine
is
their
own
they
can
first
dexterously adapt
it
to
the parables,
its
this adaptation as a
testimony of
truth.*
the early Church, exactly so
;
As
it
was
it
with the cognate sects of a later day, the Cathari, and Bogomili
too found in the parables
tion,
they
the
uppermost
in their minds,
which having framed, they afterwards turned to Scripture to find if there was not something there which they could compel to fall into their scheme.
reliiiquentes
quod ccrtum
et
indubitatum et veram
est,
valde praecipitantium se in
]
et nura-
suam domum,
Cf.
Unde
hujusmodi
aedificationis.
2, c. 10
and
for
to
and
the Lost
Piece of Money,
1, c. 16.
;
The
see
1.
1, c. 7,
and
1.
2, c. 24.
*
tici
Be
Pudicilid,
c. 8,
9.
Among much
metals
;
else
which
is
interesting,
Enarr.
This meaning
?
wanting
in
Scheller's Bictionary .]
Quare
aptissinie
Quo-
niam
a primordio
trinse.
Vacavit
quorum parabola
Thus
Be Prase. Haret.,
c.
8, Valentinus
non ad
OF PARABLES.
Thus
the apostacy of Satan and his
4X
after
drawing
him
of heaven, they found set forth by the parable of the Unjust Steward.
Satan was the chief steward over God's house, w^hom he deposed from
his place of highest trust,
with the suggestion of lighter tasks and relief from the burden of their
imposed duties.*
But, though not testifying to evils at
all
so grave in the
devisers of
the scheme, nor leading altogether out of the region of Christian truth,
is
such a theory concerning thWm as that entertained, and in actual exposition carried out
by Cocceius, and
his followers of
what we may
call the
historico-prophetical school.
By
have
right, are
But
it
in
determined
to find in
the world,
to the
remotest times.
They
Thus,
any
to
be
merely
righteousness, but
affirm all
be historico-prophetical.
to
let
purpose.
To
may
God
ing
of an Epos, whose
first
in the
began
do so
to the
name and
containing
The kingdom of God. The the Gospel of the kingdom, not merely as
Epos
is,
doctrine,
but
its
progressive development.
They
con-
nect themselves with certain fixed periods of that development, and, as soon as these periods are completed, lose themselves in the very com* Neander, Kirch. Gesch.,
the
v. 5.
p.
still,
1082.
They
dealt
more
perversely,
and
at
characteristically
whom
to
the king
whom
him.
God
pitied him,
he promising,
number of
per-
men
Therefore
mission that for six days, the six thousand years of the present world, he should bring
to pass
But
Not
Krummacher who
is
now,
or
was of late,
42
pletion
:
He must mean,
of
all
in the light of
henceforth be regarded.
same
Some,
if not
meat they
afford us,
adduced
tlie
Mustard Seed and the Wicked tlusbandmen as plainly conon, " I despair not to see unheeded
in
prophecies disclosed
others of them."*
Parables
-f
is
scheme of
interpretation, and
Asa
Church, but who, misusing the powers committed to them, were warned by the invasion of Goths, Lombards, and other barbarians, of judgment
at the door,
for
punishment
contrary,
of God, and
now more than ever oppressed and maltreated the true servants who therefore should be delivered over to an irreversible
gives a yet more marvellous explanation of the Merchant
this pearl of price
to all
doom.
He
to
Other examples
may
be found in
Cocceius
an
Ten
same
*
fashion.*
school of
nothing
On
the
the
Style of the
Fifth Objection.
There
is
new
however
in this
scheme,
belief.
for
I
is
evident from
many
much
same
would
refer particularly to
what he says on
the parable
to labour
{Comm.
in jSIatth. xx.,)
where he seems
under the sense of some great undisclosed mystery concerning the future destinies of
the
St.
Ambrose {Ajmlog.
of the Unjust Judge.
Alt.
David,
of the
like
in
it is
known, as indeed
Frankfort, 1717.
The volume
consists of
little
grain to be
proportion of chaff.
t
Schol. in
Matth. xxv.
More
43
demnation on them.*
for
many
they declare
how
new element
of
life,
ing into men's hearts and into the world, would work
ences and
grow
to
a great tree
would
had
till it
much
the facts as
insight
by giving
facts.
Historico-prophe-
only a few
Wicked Husbandmen
which
which there
is
and the transfer of the privileges of the kingdom of God from the Jews
to the Gentiles.
"-But
again present
itself to
us
when
we have
CHAPTER
IV.
the most
perfect specimens of
this
form of composition,
the most perfect
those by which the comparative value of all other in the like kind are
be measured, are
to
is
noted,
is
The parable, as among the favourite vehicles for conveying moral Our Lord took possession of it, honoured it by
it.
it his own, by using it as the vehicle for the very highest truth But there were parables before the parables which issued from
his lips.
It
seems
to
belong
to
our subject
to
say a
to,
little
concerning
his,
those,
yet preceded
Van
Till,
may
be
named among
* Ohss. Sac,
He
notes
how
the
same scheme
of interpi'etation
Of
this,
various
examples
may
be found in Lampe's
Commentary on
vi.)
St. John,
on the
(John
They form
which
much
that is admirable.
44
immediately on
is,
and the
And
first
the
To
this
should de-
this
JiOrd's
is
teaching from
idle,
very
and the suspicion with which parallels from the uninspired Jewish have been regarded, altogether misplaced.
It is
writino-s
the
same
anxiety which would cut off the Mosaic legislation and institutions altogether from Egypt ;* which cannot with honesty be done, and which,
in truth, there
is
no object whatever in attempting. For if Christianity dispersed rays it must gather into one all
elements of truth which are it must appropriate to itself all anywhere scattered abroad, not thus adopting what is alien, but rather claiming what is its own.f There cannot be a doubt that our blessed
Lord
its
commend
countrymen.
it
;
to their receivino-
of
need was
it
be attractive.
Thus
he appealed
to
proverbs
in
common
use
among
to
them.
He
When
terms of
upon them, he willingly used them ;X and in using, did their old meaning, yet at the same time glorified and transHe used them, but all his words into something far higher.
all
new
spirit
of
life.
The
prayer, "
formed
already a part of the Jewish liturgy, yet not the less was
* The attempt
ia
fails
new prayer
It
man
as Witsius.
not from grounds such as he occupies in his JEgyptiaca, that books like Sfencer's
be answered.
{Strom.,
tjcTrtiri)
1.
Clement
1, c. 13)
Awarh
fi
dh'ideia
awayayctv ra
Kav
if t>iv oXXoJaTrfjv
y^v.
There
is
2, p. 8^3,)
with the
an interesting Essay in this point of view by Schoettgen, (Har. Heb.,v. In the same way the whole title Christus Eabhinorum summus.
the world in
colouring of Ezekiel's visions, and the symbols which he uses, are Persian and Babylo-
is, to
which he
lived
and moved
yet
45
on the lips of all who had realized in any measure the idea of the kingdom, and what was signified by the coming of that kingdom, as " So, " Peace be unto you he first had enabled them to realize it.
!
salutation
among
the
Jews long
before, yet
upon
his
much deeper a significance, and one how lips who was our Peace, and who, first causing
to
altogether
new
us to enter our-
speak peace,
our brethren.
In like
manner
is
not to be doubted
that a proselyte
was
in the
Jewish schools
entitled, " a
new
creature,"
and
were
in his
it
we can
see, to express a
change only
;
outward relations
that
his
kinsmen were
his
kinsmen no more
re-
mained
for
them
it
to the
higher
Nor
less
is
by the help of parables, or briefer comparisons, use among the Jewish teachers,"}" so that it might also
that without a parable they taught nothing.
The very formulas with which their same as those we find in the Gospels
;
Where-
unto shall
liken
the
it
?"
is
of continual recurrence.
in
was
not in
As some may
are like,
I
meet.
The
following
is
occa-
Why
It
It is
God
is
they
into sin.
To what He
this
like?
is
like a
king who,
walking
in his
an ineffable sweetness.
when they
After
a while, the king entered the garden anew, thinking to find the roses
to delight
the place, he found them pale and withered, and yielding no smell.
He
'
Had
v. 1, pp. p.
328, 704.
Hillel
ViTRiNGA,
De Synagogd,
678, seq.
illustrious teachers
after.
R. Meir immediately
With
bly declined.
This
is
The
fig-tree of
no
fruit
any more.
46
have no pleasure
in them.'
The
next year the king walked in his garden, and finding roaebuds scattering fragrance, he
commanded
his servants,
last
'
year they
" A
man had
was
three friends
being
for
summoned
:
to
appear before
first,
;
the king, he
terrified,
and looked
an advocate
the
whom
best, altogether
another
palace, but
him; the
third,
whom
appeared with him before the king, and pleaded for him so well as to procure his deliverance. So every man has three friends, when sumthe first, whom he most prized, before God, his Judge money, will not go with him a step the second, his friends and kinsmen, accompany him to the tomb, but no further, nor can they dewhile the third, whom he had in least esliver him in the judgment good works, appear with him before the king and teem, the Law and
moned by death
his
But this is in a nobler strain ; deliver him from condemnation. "f " suggested by those words, " In thy light shall we see light."
it
is
As
man
travelling
by night kindled
lit,
his torch,
at
which, when
it
*
was
extin-
guished, he again
shall I
length exclaimed,
till
How
long
weary myself
is
my way
I
better to wait
when
the sun
shining
in
will
pursue
my
journey'
were oppressed
Again
Again they were subdued by the Grecians, At length the Romans when overcame them, when they cried to God, We are weary with the conAzariah delivered them.
Mattathias and his sons helped them.
'
tinual
deliverance
we
is
ask no further
holy and blessed
that mortal
for ever.'
man may
"^
There
nets,
is
who who
great trouble, darting hither and thither, while the stream was being
drawn with
proposed
to
them
to leap
on dry land.
This
is
put in
when
v. 1, p.
v. 1, p.
682.
1129.
How
different is
this
view of the
v.
Law
25, 26.)
who compares
to be worsted
!
to
This parable,
much
;
sephat,
c.
13
quarters
in the Eastern
traditional sayings of
Fundgruben
t
d. Orients, v. 1. p.
315)
v. 2, p.
691.
47
his friends to
who observed
say, "
yet,
if,
the law,
was counselled by
abandon
in
it.
He would
;
We, while we
to
in our element
inevitably
plain
one of
why
a proselyte
proselyte
is
compared
to a
which
is
which from
youth he had
put forth in the morning and brought back at evening, should love him,
but this
up
in deserts
and
to
ing the
title
urging collection
There are besides these a multitude of deservof similitudes rather than of parables. Thus there one, " a man brought of prayer,
is
spirit in
to this effect
If
it,
were
to
turn
dis-
king be justly
pleased
? ":{:
In
common
to all,
after
ing
There
is
why
God
its
command
it is
keeping.
In
another
to
is
good
said,
R.
Ammin
Sadducee who
Numquid
jussit id
pulvis vivet
Rem
tibi
in loco, qui
aquS
resBdificari in
Negant
Turn
ille
?
iratus,
I
Quum
non possetis
656.
slight va-
riation occurs in
Chiysostom, {Horn.
Ham.
II
v. 1, p.
388.
l.p. 187
p.
If
232)
et
sic collo-
quutus aliquando
Corpus inquit
peccavit,
anima a judicio
Quomo-
do
Corpus
dicat,
Anima
laxata
sum nexu,
tibi
ecce volito
nam ex quo ilia a me discessit, ecce lapidis instar Anima autem dicat, Corpus peccavit, nam ex quo illius per aerem aviculse in morem. Ad ha;c Rabbi, Paraboclaudum
et
1am, iniquit,
dabo.
Rex
caecum.
Claudus,
visis fructibus,
caecum
48
Evangelical parables, will be noted in their due places, are the most
memorable which
parison,
I
have met.
will be
When
is
think
it
one
supposed that
Some, indeed, have thought the similarity so some way or other to be accounted for, and have our Lord adopted those which he found in any way fitted
remodelling and improving them as they passed under
his hands.
than those in the Gospels, and that the Rabbis, while they searched the
Christian books for the purpose of ridiculing or gainsaying them, enriched
spoils,
they afterwards used, concealing carefully the source from whence they
were derived.*
by the Jews out of the Gosjiel jf but neither here, nor in the parallels elsewhere adduced, is the resemblance so striking as to carry any persuasion
to
my
mon
origin.
The
which was
felt
makes
extremely improbable.
The resemblance,
external
life,
after all, is
when
the
same
common
storehouse, from
alike by
all.
whence images,
it
illustrations,
Perhaps
will be as well at
once
Talmudical parables, frequently compared with one spoken by our It is one of the best of those which pretend to any similarity Lord.
with
his,
of the Marriage
wedding garment.
xii. 7,
it.'
"
where
it is it
written,
return unto
uti in
He
gave
to thee unspot-
admonuit, ipsum
rent.
humeros
claudus
quo
illos
deceiperet, et
illi
inter se devora-
Insedit
igilur
cervicibus,
et
decerptosque
fructus
absuniseiuut.
de fructibus requisivit.
Cum
caecus,
ille ?
Quid
Quum
hunc
:
illius
et plexit.
Consi-
militer faciei
Deus
anima coipoii
animam
et corpus judicabit.
Mohamm.,
th.
40-43
Gfrorer's Urchri>itenlhum,v.
1, p.
115, seq.
THOSE
ted, see that
IN
THE SCRIPTURES.
to
49
It is
thou restore
it
unspotted
him again.
like a mortal
king,
who
Then
those that
were wise, folded them carefully up, and laid them by in the wardrobe ; but those that were foolish went their way, and, clothed in these garments,
engaged
in their
;
ordinary work.
the wise returned
garments again
and stained.
'
them white as they had received them Then the king was well pleased with
;
in the
wardrobe,
and
said,
let
'
so will the
Ivii.
as
it is
written, Isai.
to be washed, and those servants be Lord do with the bodies of the righteous, with their souls, 1 Sam. xxv. 29 ; but with
;
Ivii.
21
souls,
and the matter of praise and condemnation turning on a garment, what resemblance is there here ? In fact, if we penetrate a little below the
surface, there
is
more
real sunilarity
is
between
this parable
and that of
But
then,
how remote
a likeness
whole
actual
The
distributing of
be worn, and
how
what
analogy has
this
any thing
in
different
and
returning,
in the
account.:}:
There
are no parables
is
apocryphal Gospels.
altoge-
* Meuschen, N. T. ex Talm.
illust.,
and
more
in
Westein's N.
T., pp.
727, 765.
a converted Jew,
who
afierwards relapsed
into Judaism, in
book
entitled
for the
more
(Pfeif-
th. 39.)
t This, with so
many
if it is
to
carry any
:
it,
treatise.
Ad
Heiennium,i- 9
;
Ver-
ut
mos,
dicemus
si
spatia tem-
possit, aut
temporis parum
fuisse,
aut causam
non
all
fuisse, aut
pati
non
potuisse.
do
these requisites
t
meet
New
Testament
Jes. Nat., p.
com-
with
he Jewish parables,
Partim
.
ut
absterreremur a
Jesu
quodammodo
utili,
50
was only
to
be expected
communicating
Jewish parables.
This much
in regard of the
Among I am
the Fathers
aware,
who
Two
The whole
is,
is in-
There
are,
however, parables
is, I
of
this for
example,* which
:
think, an
Lord the
spirit entire
for if
thou gavest
it
to
was
'
entire,
and desiredst so
to receive
it ?
to thee rent,
I
delivered to thee
it
my
garment
entire,
it
and
made
in
it,
useless
It is
thee,
who gave
it it
which
Lord
?
spirit
for
it
There
are a good
writings of
many parables, regularly brought forward as such, in the Ephraem Syrus, but such of these as I am acquainted with,
:
they are.*
Eadmer,
many
Among
these
name
whole
collection.:}:
There are
t This
translation
:
is
only judge in
its
Latin
Duo homines
proficiscebantur
ad quandain civitatem,
rat triginta. in
quo sylvae
tatio.
instar cursoris
mansit.
tiinuit,
atque
ita diutius
dum
occuparet, beslia ex
traxit in
quaj in sylva
commoranlur
neque
perrexit.
It is I
prodiit,
suum antrum:
S.
iter neglexisset,
urbem
De
Anselmi Smilitudinibus.
I
of St. Anselm.
do not
know whether
can
51
though none perhaps of that beauty which the works that come directly
from him might have led us
to expect.
Far
out,
I
Greek
religious
romance
any
more
is
up
to ear-j-
is
Cor etenim nostrum simile molendino semper molenti, quod Dominus quidam cuidam servo suo custodiendum
41)
:
dedit
uerit,
prsecipiens ei ut
ipse vivat.
tanti^m
annonam
in eo molat, et ex
si
quando
arenam
statim
;
si
Dominique
sui
tantum annonam
moluerit, et
Domino suo
serv'it,
Hoc
itaque
molendinum
est
humanum,
40, seq.
et institute
exstitisse accepi, in
sibi ipsis
regem
constituerent,
esset,
ille
quique libere et
impedimento quicquid
Post autem,dum
metu
versaretur,
perpetuumque
num
dam
eum
hentes, ac
et
nudum
magnam
quan-
eum
petentibus,
atque animi
spem
ipsi
concessa fuerat, in maerorem rursus praeter spem omContig'it ergo ut pro antique
nem
et
expectationem commutata.
magno
ingenii
acumine
prseditus ad
regnum
ascisceretur.
Qui statim
eorum
eret.
imitatus,
animo anxio
et solicito id agitabat,
quonam pacto
Dum
quonam
sibi
Cixm
igitur
hoc cognovisset,
illud et alielibe-
num regnum
rum usum
praemisit.
thesauris suis,
erat,
Ac
caeteri
quidem amentes,
temporis
fame laborabant
ille
rum civium metu prorsus abjecto, bat. Compare 1 Tim. vi. 19.
nomine beatum
52
Bernard,*
much
be considered.
But
if
parables,
and so do not claim here to which are professedly such, are not of
Church
to
What
boundless stores,
happy
illustration,
One
is
speaking of the
one as an example.
He
sinner in the
;
"how
dungeon
and the
has come
:
to see
They
who can
for his
dom when he
great
is
fast
bound there
offences.
So man,
re-
and
man
Or
"If you entered the workshop of a blacksmith, you would not dare to find fault with his bellows, anvils, hammers. If you had not the skill of a workman, but the consideration of a man, It is not without cause the bellows are placed what would you say ? here the artificer knew, though I do not know, the reason.' You would not venture to find fault with the blacksmith in his shop, and do you dare
ments of providence
:
to find fault
'
to
God
in the
too, is
very rich
in such similitudes, which need nothing to be parables, except that they should be presented for such ; as for instance, when speaking of
the exaltation of outward nature, the redemption of the creature, which " To shall accompany the manifestation of the* sons of God, he says,
what
child,
is
It is
up a royal
and when he ascends his paternal throne, she too rejoices with him, But the field here opening before us and is partaker of the benefit."
+ In Ep.
t
Joh., Tract. 2.
c.xlviii.
Enarr. in Ps.
Horn, in Eom.
He
ts
form
Enarr. in Ps.
ciii.
26.
19.
53
all
wide
to enter
on.'*'
It is
New
Testament, that
my
wish
to
speak
and these
in order to consider.
*
however, deny myself the pleasure of transcribing the following para1.
I will not,
ble from
2, pars 14, c. 8)
cem
in
filium quasi
cum magno
Sed
illo
tur, ut
non quasi
materna per
contumacem ad humilitalem
vehementer patrem
suscepturam ashere he
iratum nuntiet, se tamen inlerventuram spondeat, consilium salutis suggerat, .... non
nisi
causam tamen
rei se
serat, et
omnem
se
perducturam promittat.
that have at
The mother
Readers
;
may
is
worthy a reference
and another
in
I will
quote for
its
deep significance.
take
it
from Des-
p. G4.
The Persian moralist is speaking of the manpleasures cause men to forget all the deeper interests
le
of
On
homme
qui, fuyant
un elephant furieux,
;
descendu dans un
puits,
s'est
meaux
une
saillie
dans
I'interieur
;
il
devorer.
les
deux
rameaux auquels
c'est
il
est suspendu, et
deux
Un
se
met
manger de
est
qu'ily trouve
oublier les serpens sur lesquels reposent ses pieds, les rats qui ronil
est
suspendu, et
le
danger dont
!e
il
menace
a chaque inle
moment
de sa chiite pour
devorer.
Son etourderie
renipli de
et son illusion
et
Ce
puits c'est le
monde
le
dangers
de miseres
jour et la nuit,
dont
la
le
dragon
c'est le
terme inevitable
le
miel, enfin,ce sont les plaisirs des sens dont la fausse douceur,
nous seduit
et
This
is
again, with
some
in p.
slight alterations, to be
among
Von Hammer
p. 183,)
(v. 2.
c.
12,
and elsewhere.
ticularly at
its
and
in
aus
d.
Morgenl. Myst., there are several parables from the mystical poets of Persia
PARABLE
I.
THE SOWER.
Matt.
xiii.
Mark
iv.
Luke
It is
viii.
of St.
Matthew
the parables recorded in the thirteenth chapter of his Gospel as the first
commenced a manner
is
This
sufficiently indi-
Why
speakest thou
unto them in parables ?" (ver. 10,) and the answer which our Lord gave,
(ver. 11-17,) in
which he justifies his use of this method of teaching, which he had in adopting it and no less so,
;
when he seems
'
to
which were
ye know
sion on
all
to follow
" Know
all
ye not
iv,
this parable
parables ?"
(Mark
13.)
which he brought
occa-
treasure, (see
forth with the
ver. 22,) so
was
it
largest hand.
We
else
Gospels so rich a
'
bear comparison
is
chapters xv. and xvi. of St. Luke, where there are recorded five parables
were
all
The seven
that
first
the
the
three
last,
as
it
them out of the ship, would seem, on the same day, in the narrower
own home.
let
Before proceeding
to
us seek to
blessed
listening multitudes
thew
tells
us that " Jesus went out from the house," probably at Caper-
THE SOWER.
naum, which was the
close
that
city
55
after his
open min-
own
which was
in his
in the
down by
the sea-side,"
is,
ministry.
Gospels.
This lake (now Bahr Tabaria,) goes It is often called simply " the sea," (Mark
or
"the
Sea of Galilee," (Matt. xv. 29, John vi. 1,) or "the sea of Tiberias," (John xxi. 1,) though indeed it was an inland lake of no very
great extent, being but about sixteen miles in length, and
no more
belov-
But
it
extent
would have
it
that
was
ed of God above
all
of
its
banks.
derived,
which some
garden of riches, "f though the derivation, I believe, is insecure. And even now, when the land is crushed under the rod of Turkish misrule,
many
which
traces of
its
its
many
evidences of the
fertility
very far
when
from them.
It is
true that
with which
it
is
peared
rich
abundance
and
in the
its
banks are
as of old,
waters are
cool, clear,
fine
still,
and always
and transparent
which
of
when
Son
God
*
On
the edge of
T))i/ 7rapa0aXa(7ai'ai/,
makes Gennesar
= hortus principium.
is
3. 10,
de-
scribing
attractions
and
c.
Meuschen, Nov.
Yet Robinson
He
(p.
312,)
summer when
his
;" but the form of the hills, " regular and was to his eye " rounded and tame :" and as it was visit was made, the verdure of the spring had already
56
this beautiful
THE SOWER.
lake the multitude were assembled, in such numbers, that
v. 1,)
it
convenient
little
is
It rests,
of the
common
life.
may
and saw
at
man
As it
belongs
it
familiar doings of
common life,
occupy
The
Man
Of
man
walk
while
at the
same time
sower
went forth
to sow,''
what
these
few
all
words, used in the sense in which the Lord here uses them, given in
after-times to the toils of the
husbandman
in the furrow.
to
The comparison
sown,
is
those
to the
seed
we must
not
wonder
i.
to find
;
it
of frequent reiii.
23
John
9); but in
who have
realized in
spirit
any mea-
of one
man
ought
to
them
the
living
is
and expanding
such, while
all
truths.
While
all
teaching that
is
worthy
name
as seeds, with a power to take root in the minds and hearts of those that
many more
but
it
merely
ca {Ep. 73)
Deus ad homines
homines
Semi-
na
in corporibus
humanis disperse
sunt, quae
si
:
qudm humus
ster-
THE SOWER.
hear them, contain germs
selves ;* in a
In
57
by degrees develop themthe Seminal
them
that only
much higher
of the
Word
Word
which he communicated. f
Best right of
the
title
not merely
is
received, but
renews them,
that
kingdom of God, and of which the effects endure for ever. I cannot doubt that the Lord intended to set himself forth as the chief sower of the seed, (not, of course, to
are born
into
anew
the
the exclusion of the apostles and their successors,) that here, as well as
in the next parable,
is
the
Son of man
and
this,
is difficult to
see
how we can
meaning
into the
stop
short of him,
when we
ivent
to
to the
words, "
sower
forth
;
soto."^
His entrance
sow
the
;
which word he
soil
;
men
;
his
first
they
teas
trodden down
(Luke
fell
it
and
the fowls
Some,
was
on the surface
prey
to the feet
at length
it
became an easy
in large
to the birds,
such as
which These words are explained by Christ himself; for of this parable we have an authentic interpretation, one that has come from and which is important, as has been observed, not merely his own lips
flocks the
to gather up, if they can,
husbandman,
the seed-corn
he has scattered.
Thus Shakspeare,
of a
man
of thoughtful
wisdom
them
in
Par. Evang.,
p.
30)
Quemadrnodiim
Evangelium
Redemptor
et redeniptio, Legis-
Sator et semen.
Nee enim
est aliud
ipsum,
quam
See, however, the arguments adduced to the contrary by Mr. Greswell (Exp. of
p.
29)
assumens,
Rex
esset.
58
in its bearings
THE SOWER.
on the parable
itself,
as enabling us to
feel that
we
are
how
:
far
we may
"
When
any
one.
heareth the
word of and
it
was soion
in
his heart."
St.
Luke
brings
adversary and hinderer of the kingdom of God, (of which there will be fuller opportunity of speaking in the following parable,) by adding the
reason
why
"
?est
and
Matthew alone records, " and un. be saved.'' are very important for the comprehending of what it not" derstandelh this first state of mind and heart is, in which the word of God is unpro-
St.
it
not
he does not recognize himself as standing in any relation to the word which he hears, or to the kingdom of grace which that word proclaims.
speaks of
All that speaks of man's connection with a higher invisible world, all that sin, of redemption, of holiness, is unintelligible to him, and
to
this state ?
He
road
common
every
*
ment
he has laid
;
soil in
to the
ploughshare
it
which,
if
he had suffered
to
it
to do,
before, prehis
away even
germinating there
also
is,
that besides
One watching to take advantage of that evil condition, to use every weapon that man puts into his hands, against man's salvation and he,
;
lest
by
possibility
his
ministers in the shape of evil thoughts, worldly desires, carnal lusts, and by their help, as St, Mark records it, " immediately takeih away the
word
that
was sown
in their hearts."
And
the
Lord concludes,
" This
way
side."
first,
Other of the seed, which the sower scattered, appeared to have at For we read, but in the end had not truly any better success.
not
"
much
earth ;
and forth-
Via
est
:
cor frequenti
malaium
cogita-
et arefactum.
Corn, a Lap.
Via
consuetude.
THE SOWER.
with they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth, and
59
when
the
sun was up,* they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away." The " stony places " here are to be explained by the "rock " in St. Luke, and it is important, for the right understanding of
the parable, that the words in St. Matthew, or rather in our translation
would have
as indeed
the
it,
astray. A soil mingled with stones is not meant ; for these, however numerous or large, would not certainly hinder the roots from striking deeply downward, as those roots, with the instinct which they possess, would feel and find their way, penetrating between the interstices of the stones, and would so reach the moisture below. But what is meant is ground, where a thin superficial coating of mould covered the surface of
it
barrier,
rendering
it
certain depth, or
While
it
it
deep moist
soil
to resist the
scorch-
ing heat of the sun, and being smitten by that, withered and died.
Concerning the signification of this part of the parable we learn, " They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the jvord
with joy ; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time
of temptation fall away." Though the issue is the same in this case as in the last, the promise is very different ; so far from the heart of this
manner of hearer appearing irreceptive of the truth, the good news of the kingdom is received at once, and with gladness.:}: But alas the joy
!
is
joy
New
iv.
Testament, Matt.
v.
45
so
Gen.
It is
;
sun or
Num.
xxiv. 17
Isai. Ix. 1
Mai.
2
;
plants from
i^avirtiKt, in
the earth.
Gen.
xix.
25
Isai. xltv.
Ezek.
Ps. xci. 7
and
so,
this present
parable.
title
dvaroM belongs
to Christ,
and has been applied to him in both as he is The Branch LXX.), and as he is the Day-spring (Luke i. 78).
t Bengel
:
Non
:
continuum, sub
X
Cocceius
Statim
Isetari
est
malum signum,
si
rectc percipiatur, in
cor con-
famem
Matt.
v.
60
THE SOWER.
and hazards and sacrifices are taken
from an overlooking and leaving out of
which circumstance
fatally differ-
this class
44,)
who
field
all
that
was
things,
We
mind not
stub-
deeper earnestness,
such as that of the great multitudes that went with Jesus, not considering what his discipleship involved,
those multitudes
This
is
to
whom
he turned
and
told
at large,
and
in the strongest
(Luke
them beforehand
in Christianity
whatever was
fair
and beautiful
first
presents
itself,
its
;
doctrines
answer
to
human
heart; as neither
when he
to
received the
" So hath he
endure hardness
not root
in himself, but
and by he is offended." It is not here, as in merely come and take the word out of the heart without further trouble that word has found some place there, and it needs that he bring some hostile influences to bear against it.
;
What
trials,
these
being compared
rally the light
It
is
and
2; but not
Isai. xlix.
always, for see, beside the passage before us, Ps. cxxi. 6
10
Rev.
vii.
16.
As
that
heat,
its
ripening,
fit-
would have
fur-
thered the growth in grace of the true Christian, and ripened him for
heaven.
earth,
Bede
caelestibus ad
horam
t It
was with
to
the rising of the sun, that the KaOaiov, the hot desert wind,
all
began
to.
commonly
(Jon. iv. 8:
Jam.
i.
11.)
THE SOWER.
tions
61
faith,
cause a
faith
which
When
offended, as though
him
:f
for
sifting,:}:
Matthew describes
it,
no root in
inward
root, falls
away.
having
is
The
25,
to the
oil
And
iii.
(Ephes.
17
Col.
ii.
Jer.
Hos.
ix. 16.)
It
has
it
derives
its
life
which
is
and as
to the
drawn up
life,
continues green, and the tree does not cease from bearing
in the
even so
Christian's hidden
that life
which "
is
God." lie the sources of his strength and of his spiritual prosperity. Such a root in himself had Peter, who, when many others were offended and drew back, exclaimed, " To whom shall we go ? thou hast the
words of eternal
his root, causing
life."
(John
vi.
life
68.)
This
and no
him
to stand firm
when
so
many
fell
away.
better
So again
and an enconcerning
when
the
Hebrew
in
knowing
their
heaven a
knowledge,
this faith
take that
done.
root which enabled them joyfully to draw back unto perdition, as so many had Compare 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18, where again the faith in the unseen
and not
to
* Augustine
tribulations will
is
on the
different effects
faith,
which
and those
affliction
:
Thus {Enarr.
palea,
in
ibi
in Ps. xxi.)
aurum,
ibi est
non
the
est diversus,
et diversa agit,
paleam
cinerem
auro sordes
1.
tollit.
See
for
same image
Chrysostom,
t See Job
\
Ad
viii.
we have
original, rests
this
image
tribulatio
afflictive
men God
separates their good from their evil, their wheat from their chaff.
It is
with allusion to
Paevfjpi^oi,
1.
this
men
Greek Fathers,
nohfpi^m.
Compare with
Shepherd of Hernias,
3, sim. 9, c. 21.
62
eternal things
is
THE SOWER.
the root, which, as St. Paul declares, enables
affliction light,
It
him
to
and
to
endure
to the
might
at first sight
be more correctly ranged under the third class of hearers ; since he forsook Paul, " having loved this present world." But when we examine
at
Rome
at the
moment when
trial
Demas
danger
sake.*
left
;
him,
we
it
find
it
to
and
so that
came
'^
word's
But
thorns,
thirdly
of
fell
the seed
cast,
it,^'
and
the
or as Wiclif has,
It is
grown, as in
roots of these had not been carefully extirpated, in ground which had not been thoroughly purged and cleansed ; otherwise
it
could not be said in the words of Luke, " that the thorns sprang up
it."
with
They grew
together
air
seed, shut
and
in
the shade.
them
forming indeed a
was no
soil,
blade, but unable to form a full corn in the ear, bringing no fruit to perfection.
It is
not here,
as in the
first
case,
that there
or
nor yet
was
soil.
but what
was
deficient
Here there was no lack of soil, it might be good was a careful husbandry, a diligent eradiwould op-
Of this
we have
'
" He
and
among the
world and the deceitfulness of riches [and the lusts of other things ^ entering in (Mark iv. \Q)'\, choke the word, and he hecomcth
* See Bernard
{Be
Offic.
Epist.,
c.
4,
interesting discussion,
it
whether the
faith of those
comprehended under
in
fact,
be possible to
fall
from grace
given.
t Columella:
Angentem herbam.
in
The image
nobler,
is
permanently embodied
in our fields
name
cockle, given to
weed well-known
t
derived
Winer
Catullus
lusts
'H
(Gratiwi., p. 177)
would
ratlicr
translate.
The
THE SOWER.
unfruitful,'^ or, as St.
It is
63
Luke
first
gives
it,
^^
word of God
is totally ineffec-
tual
nor yet as in
is
to
an evident falling
:
as the withering
life is
retained, the
is
name
to live still
remains
but
?
the
by de-
And
To two
and
its
pleasures
It
of the soul.f
may seem
strange at
first sight,
that these
which appear
so opposite to one
same
evil
consequences attributed
to
here present
us this earthly
life
sides,
under
its
two aspects.
There
is first, its
toil
how to live
for a
faith,
its
;
at all, to keep hunger and nakedness from the door, the struggle daily 'subsislence, " //ie cares of this life,"X which if not met in
But
life
has
flattering as well as its threatening side, its pleasures as well as its cares
and as those who have heard and received the word of the kingdom with gladness, are still exposed to be crushed by the cares of life, so on the
other hand, to be deceived
by
its
flatteries
its
and
its
allurements.
is
In
power, nor
first
the old
man
dead
for
awhile he
may seem
endures
joy on account
his strength
anew.
Unless the
soil
of the heart
It is es-
Oi
T'Ks<x(l,opovat.
The word
New
Testament.
pecially used of a
rity.
woman
its fruit to
matu-
1.
emblem
of the
moun-
and
briers
It
is
and so
to
They
the earth
iii.
17,)
till
that
Lord.
it,
It is
image
that others
same
truth.
Thus
the
xal \a-
Mcpifiva from
is
that
i.
See Hos.
x.
divided,"
i.
e.
8.)
between God and the world; such a heart constitutes See Passow, a. v./ip<//i'a, who quotes Terence Gurae
:
animum
diverse trahunt.
64
THE SOWER.
it seemed a thogrow up apace, and choke
will again
While
that
is felt
to be good,
but
felt
to
same
an attempt made
;
to
they who
to
make
it
no
which
it
was
word of God
produce
proves
says, "
in
them.
fatal to those in
Take heed
xxi.
34
and
St.
when he
They
that will
be rich,
fall
into temptation
and a
in
many
foolish
and hurtful
lusts,
;
(1
Tim.
vi.
see Matt.
25
34.)"j"
But
spiritual
ii is
husbandman
which thus sooner or later perishes. The sow in hope, knowing that with the blessing not always sow in vain, that a part will prosper.:(:
Thauler {Dom. 22 post Trin., Serin. 2)
loliis
Thus with
ipsi,
a deep heart-knowledge
Nostis
quod
dum
tamen
ut
minime deprcseniina
hendantur.
oriri
Interim
humus
dum bona
necdum
mortificala
quidem
sunt, et per
bona
sunt, quae postea exoriuntur, et ubi divina, beata, virtuosa, laudabilis vita ex pro-
5, v.
4G3-46G,) of the
tilings
which hinder
the returns of an harvest exactly include, with a few slight additions, those which our
is
little
different
Et modo
sol
avidieque volucres
Thus
the author of a
v.
6, p.
Non
ergo no9, dilectissimi, aut timor spinarum, aut saxa petrarum, aut durissima via perterreat
:
dum tamen
foe-
Ego spargam,
(luomodo accipias
ego erogem,
tu vide
THE SOWER.
" Other fell
into
65
Luke
baTe fruit a hundred fold," leaving out the two lesser proportions of return which St. Mark gives ; who, however, reverses the order of the
three, beginning from the smallest return,
and ascending
thus
to the highest.
The
is
it is
said of Isaac^
fold, and the Lord blessed him ;" (Gen. xxvi. 12;) and other examples of the same
We
learn that " he that receiveth seed into the good ground, is he
it,
and some
the
thirty," or with
they,
Luke, "
that on the
who
in
word keep
it
it,-\
important, because
and
in
comes
distinctly
forward a
difficulty,
in the parable as
recorded
dis-
by the other Evangelists, but did not come forward with an equal
tinctness,
tation
must altogether depend. What is this " honest and good heart how can any heart be called good, before the Word and Spirit have made
it
so ? and yet here the seed fnds a good soil, does not make it. The same question recurs, when the Lord says, " He that is of God, heareth God's words;" (John viii. 41 ;) and again, " Every one that is of the
truth heareth
my
But who
in this sinful
world
men become
not that they hear his words because they are of the truth
is
it
it is
good %% This
is
common
v. Arab., p. 153,)
(in loc.)
mentions
Wetstein
has collected
men-
Kar;^ot)(T(.
So John
viii.
51, rnp^iv
rdi/ \6yoi>,
word.
St.
Mark
and
also has
soul.
an instructive word
napaSi^"'^'^"')
'hey receive
into their
inward
life
difficulty and solves it in this quorum enim erant bona opera ? Nonne venisti ut justifices impios? He replies; Initium operum bonorum confessio est operum malorum. Facis veritatem, et venis ad lucem. Quid est, facis veritatem ? non te palpas, non
X
manner
Quid
est
hoc
tibi
blandiris,
non
tibi
adularis,
non
dicis,
Justus sum,
cum
sis
iniquus; et incipis
facere veritatem.
66
THE SOWER.
much
those passages from St. John, as well as this present parable, and
more
also in the Scripture, bear witness to the fact that there are condi-
tions of heart in
" doing
finds readier
entrance than
the soil
as
in othi^s.
truth,"
all
signify the
God's words
honest
are ante-
forth fruit
they cannot signify a state of mind and heart in which the truth
positive
which there
No heart
only.
can be said
to
be absolutely a good
as none
is
;
good
save
so
And yet the Scripture speaks often comparatively it may be said of some hearts, that
God
will alone receive the
of good
men
even
son of
they are a
soil fitter
Thus the"
x. 6,)
peace"
while yet
truly
is
make him
it
a son of peace.
He was
the
Gospel which
first
makes actual
find tinder,
potential.
So
may
be likened
to the scattering
of
sparks
flame
ing
to
;
where they
or to a lodestone thrust in
itself all
among
would
never and could never have extricated themselves from the surrounding
heap.
to
whom
the
word of
Christ, as actually
preached by himself, came, there were two divisions of men, and the
same will always subsist in the world. There were first the false-heartwho loved their darkness and ed, who called evil good and good evil
make
and refused
walk
in that
light
when
it
own darkness
self-excusers and
self-
such as were
Christ
with
whom
came
first,
in contact.
much greater
but
who
wish
had no who,
when
they
drawn
to
it,
even though
knew
that
it
would condemn
lives
their darkness
that
it
would require
and hearts
all
who
it is
Not
would
show how
demn even
THE SOWER.
word of life.
67
"
whom was
soil
no guile"
man
with the
of an honest and
fitted for
one of a simple,
to the light
truthful,
faithful
which he had,
and best
For we must keep ever in mind comes as much from God, as the seed which is to find
the preaching of repentance, God's secret
there
its
home.
and
word of the
kingdom
when
it,
word comes,
it
finds
life,
as a
word of eternal
fold, in
than others.
When
it
in
brought forth
some an hundred
to
some
sixty,
and
some
thirty,
seems
difficult
of fidelity in those that receive the word, according to which they bring
forth fruit unto
God more
occupy, as to
five talents,
to
another two
in
which instance
and
fidelity
appear
to
praise the same, since each gained in proportion to the talents committed
to
many more
in
other
Luke
lie
records, (ver. 18,) " Take heed therefore how ye hear, for whosoto
ever hath
him shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall
to
23,) are
very important
the avoiding
which
in
else
The
disciples
which the
definitively
word found
fixed
;
that
it
in others that
it
for a little
Now
how ye hear,"
ob-
such a mistake,
5, c. 39, 2,)
tells
us that, according as
and Cyprian
Evangelic
1.
it,
{Ep.G9)
Eadem
a credentibus sumitur, in
postmodum
Doniinicum semen
in multiformem
copiam
uberante cumulatur.
68
the
THE SOWER.
word
is
its
success be
that
while
it is
which has gone before in a man's life, will greatly influence the manner of his reception of that word, for every event will have tended either to the improving or deteriorating the soil of his heart,
will therefore render will prosper there,
it
and
more or
it
God's
word
yet
lies in
him now
to
take heed
how he
hears, and through this taking heed to ensure, with God's blessing, that
it
come to a successful issue. (Compare Jam. i. 21.) For while this is true, and the thought is a solemn one, that there is such a thing as laying waste the very soil in which the seed of eternal
shall
life
as
it
or a wasting of the
fitting it to
;
soil,
so
no nutriment there, or a
nourish
hand, even
tions,
soil
for those
a recovery
is still,
may
again become
deep
and
the hard
rich and
its soil,
the
shallow
soil
may become
it
so
must use
it,
for
it
cannot alter
soil
it
it
upon
it is
softening
it
where
But the heavenly seed, if where it is cast, also reacts more mightily is hard, (Jer. xxiii. 29,) deepening it where
its
nature.
it is
en-
cumbered with
and wherever
it is
till
it
at first,
good ground,
to afford
nourishment
to
Word,
c.
3)
Mutamini cum
potestis
agro lapides
Nolite habere
durum
unde
cito ver-
bum
Dei pereat.
non sedeat.
Sed estote
v. 6, p.
vobis spargitur
597,
Bened. ed.
Si
Creatorem
illo
tuuni.
ab
stagna aquarum,
in
exitus aquarum.
As
tlie
hearers of the
The
receives,
for others
ii.
the good
wine
whatever of dregs
through the
THE TARES.
gg
PARABLE
11.
THE TARES.
Matthew
xiii.
"Another
lips
Of this parable also, that we have an authentic interpretation from the And this is well for it is one, as all students
:
much
Allusion
to to
to
it
occurs
at
Church had
it
and the
to dis-
whole exposition of
will
need
putes which, though seemingly gone by, yet are not in fact out of date,
since in one shape or another they continually re-appear in the progress
we shall presently arrive. " The kingdom of heaven is likened From our Lord's own unto a man that sowed good seed in his field." This lips we learn, " He that sowed the good seed is the Son of man."
fine flour
To
these
1.
2, v.
Semina ciim
Dura lapillorum made, ne decidat illuc Quod seritur primo quoniam praefertile germen
:
Luxuriat
succo
mox
Neve
in spinosos incurrant
semina vepres
Aspera
nam
Ac
Et ne jacta
Immundisque jacent
fceJa
ad ludibria corvis
Agrorum
*
JlaptdrjKev.
redigit fructus.
The word
and
is
it
before
set forth
spirit-
or propose a riddle,
is
whom it is
may
discover
solution.
Rosenkranz {Gesch.
484
seq.) quotes
from an old
70
is
THE TARES.
title
it is
vii.
He was often understood, Church and among the Reformers, by tliis title to signifywhile others nothing more than his participation in the human nature have said that he assumed the name as the one by which the hoped-for Messiah was already commonly known among the people. But it is clear that, on the contrary, the name was a strange one to them, so that,
viour appeared bodily to the eyes of Stephen.
in the early
;
hearing
it,
Who
is this
(John
xii.
34.)
The
popular
name
for the
Messiah
at the
(Matt. ix. 27
title,
xii. 23; xv. 22 ; xx. 31, &c.) No ; (which was already given him in the Old
it
13,)
inasmuch as
realized the
the second
Adam, who,
unlike the
should maintain
perfect flower which had ever unfolded itself out of the root and stalk of
humanity.
And
using this
title
title
might have led, and the Gnostic, against which the appellation " Son of man " must have been a continual witness.
At
first
there might
seem a
slight
disagreement between
this parable
in the
two
is
the children
"The
the
word
God;"
rable to this.
word of God
the instrument
by which men
i.
are born
i.
18;
1 Pet.
itself,
23
;)
that
while here
considered after
in-
which has brought him into the position of a child of the kingdom, and which is now so vitally united with him, that tlic two cannot any more be considered asunder. (Compare
as that
Jer. xxxi.
man
27
Mos.
ii.
23; Zech.
is
x. 9.)
The
the world,'' at
slight,
and seemingly of
little
Holy Eucharist.
It
is
well
we exknown
o aXriOivii
avOponos.
THE TARES.
that, putting aside the
7^
merely personal question concerning the irregugrounds on which the Donatists justiChurch Catholic were these The idea of
:
body
holiness
is
not
all
merely one of
did not
its
its
which
They
deny
that
it
was
remain in
it
communion with
out from
it;
by the exercise of
discipline, then
forfeited the character of the true Church, and the faithful were to
come
since remaining in
its
communion, by
defiled.
Isai.
would themselves be
1,
and
all
other which
to
evil,
were meant
be
were not
applicable,
Church.
Hero, as on so
many
Church owes
to
to
can owe
clear consciousness that which hitherto she had implicitly possessed, yet
By him into a perfect clearness, even for herself. any way gainsaying the truth which the Donatists proclaimed, that holiness must be an essential predicate of the Church, but only refusing to accept their idea of that holiness, and showing how in the Church, which they had forsaken, this quality was to be found,
and combined with other as essential qualities
stance, to
;
The Church
members who
are in true
his sanctifying
may have
ing to
are in
;
it,
but not
of'ii
ing multitude
viii.
(Luke There are certain outward conditions without which one cannot pertain to his Church, but with which one does not necessarily do so.
45.)
And
they
who
are thus in
it
but not of
their
it,
hid,
numbers may not without greater evils ensuing be expelled,* do not defile the true members, so long as these
or open offenders,
who from
* Augustine's
to
which
discipline
its
enforcing,
may
following passage.
Having
and
to
Coll., c. 5)
Quibus parabolis
etfiguris Ecclesia praenunciata est usque ad finem sa:culi bonos et nialossimul habitura,
72
share not in their
spirit,
THE TARES.
nor communicate with their evil deeds.
They
same ark as the clean, goats in the same pastures with the sheep, chaff on the same barn-floor as the grain, tares growing in the same field with the wheat, endured for a while, but
are like the unclean animals in the
in the
end
to
be separated
off,
The
toric
Donatists wished to
make
Church
in its visible
form and
his-
manifestation,
identical
Church now
he affirmed
ponents affirmed of him, two Churches, but two conditions of one and the
in
same Church the present, in which evil which it shall be free from all evil
;
;
is
endured
in
it,
the
future,
now
humours
in
winch
will be expelled
and rejected altogether, as never having more than accidentally belonged to it; and he laid especial stress upon this fact, that the Lord himself
his
Church
cum
Ecclesias tolerantur,
rint
demonstrari
ita
afque concefsis,
qiite
salva
among
on which
*
ebrarum,
et manifestet consilia
cordium.
And
another place
He
often
rebukes the Donatists for their low Pharisaical views concerning what the
Thus {Serm.
88,
c.
20)
Displicuit
tibi
quod quisque
imniundum.
et qua;
Redarguisti,corripuisti,monuisti,adhibuisti etiam,si
:
congruam
is
see much
who
said,
more
that
excellent.
"Go
11,)
church?
liber in
Continendo
permansit.
;
se a consensu
non
tetigit
immundum
conspectu Dei: cui neque sua Deus peccata imputat, quia non fecit, neque aliena,quia non approbavit, neque negligentiani, quia non tacuit, neque superbiam, quia
in unitate
cidit
Angelas
?
Paradisum
See also Ad Don. Post Coll., c. 20. And once more Cenumquid inquinavit cesium ? Cecidit Adam numquid inquinavit Cecidit unus de filiis Noc numquid inquinavit Justi domum 1 Cecidit
:
;
THE TARES.
net,
73
fish witli the
good, so the wicked with the righteous, and should remain so mingled
to the
;*
it
this not
merely as an
historic fact,
but that
attempts to have
The
had
how
other parable.
but
made answer,
" By the
They were
The
put to
Lord's
own
showing "
parable,
you
in the least,
in the
world, (that
is
Church. "]"
a dogmatic
first
But
must be evident
to
is
not warped
by
interest,:}:
as the
Lord announces
at its
It
been so
little
very needful
offended,
appear
that
to expect the same in the Church, that it was warn them beforehand, both that they might not be and think the promises of God had failed, when the evil should and also that they might know how to behave themselves, when
prepared
to
mystery of
iniquity,
now
foretold, should
begin manifestly
to
work.
This
extract
is
at Paris.
This Sermon
is
among
many, which
Alia
Donatists
how Augustine answers this argument. Ad Don. jmst Coll., c. 8. As the professed to make much of Cyprian's authority, Augustine quotes often from
1.
2, c. 4,)
:
Nam
impediri debet aut fides aut caritas nostra, ut quoniam zizania esse in Ecclesia cerni-
mus,
ipsi
de Ecclesia recedamus.
cixva.
esse possimus, ut
cceperit
Nobis tantummodo laborandum est, ut frumentum frumentum Dominicis horreis condi, fructum pro opere
versy one
way
or the
other,
acknowledge
esse
this.
Thus Calvin
Quanquam autem
quin proprie hoc
mundum
est,
Sed quoniam
sibi
agros excoleret in
transtulit, quod.'
mundo, ac spargeret
mundum
magis quadrabat.
74
Nor need
it,
THE TARES.
the term
*'
it
was
No
have sufficed
was contemplated
sown
in
every part
of the great outfield of the nations. " But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed * tares among the
wheat, and went his loay."
Our Lord
to
a form of
hearers
one
so easy
little
is
risk,
malice met, this should often have been the shape in which they
played themselves.
in the
We
meet traces of
it
in
many
directions.
is
Thus
Roman law
contemplated,
of the East, with which he had become familiar through a sojourn there,
same
to
be
now
practised in India.
lurking villain
his field
:
watching
for the
time
when
his
ished,
and goes
i.
pandinellu,
e.
pig- paddy
this
the good seed, and scatters itself before the other can be reaped, so that the poor
owner of the
field will
troublesome weed.
But there is another noisome plant which these the ground of those they hate, called perum-pirandi,
to vegetation
which
says,
is
more destructive
will plant the
Has
man purchased
'
the
perum-pirandi in his grounds.' "f first words here significant, and suppose that
in
unawares,
(Acts
xx. 29, 30
which Lachmann
retains.
friend
who
We
home.
Ireland
have
known an outgoing
the fields
These,
like
above, ripening and seeding themselves before the crops in which they were mingled, it became next to impossible to get rid of them.
}
So Augustine
prtepositi
THE TARES.
Jude 4
;
75
thus indefinitely put, and
so,
2 Pet.
ii.
1, 2,
19.)
But seeing
if
it is
the servants,
first
who
are
to
mark a
would seem
men who
is
equi-
means nothing further. (Job xxxiii. 15.) This enemy seized his opportunity, when all eyes were closed in sleep, and wrought the secret mischief upon which he was intent, and having wrought it undetected, withdrew. " The enemy that soiced " the tares, we learn, " is the devil,"* so that we behold Satan here, not as he works beyond the limits of the Church,
deceiving the world, but in his far deeper
skill
and malignity, as he
:
at
in the
words of
We
may
what
ing Satan and his agency, his active hostility to the blessedness of man,
of which there
is
so little in the
in our Lord's
teaching
in the
;
New.
till
As
the
the lights
suffered
become brighter, the shadows bemightier power of good was revealed, we to know how mighty was the power of evil
:
is in
to the
dis-
given.
So
it
was not
that
the
also
same
the
and adversary of
it,
who
is
And
sig-
Ecclesiae
r.ificat
TTODf,
and Chrysostom.
H. de
Matth.)
Mortem
:
'Avdpu-
cum
quam
descriptio opportunitatis
dicit custodes, si dicit
Cum
enim
somno ocupatos.
see
Du Cange,
s. v.
zizanium
and
c.
16,)
Avenarum superseminatorem,
no doubt there
et frumentaricB segetis
(c.
nocturnum interpolatorem.
one be found among them,
parable.
When
10) that no
this
an
allusion to
t Cf. Tertullian,
t
Be
vi.
Quo
apertius quisque
Scripturas
JQ
THE TARES.
kingdom of God
proceeds
to
unfold
itself, in
and he
other.
It
is
brouo-ht
which details Church till the" end of time, we hear more of him in more evidently and openly working than in any
the last book of Scripture, that
too, that
;
is
very observable,
of the Son of
is
Satan
is
the
enemy
man
for here, as in so
many
great conflict
was
scheme of
re-
demption, that the victory over evil should be a moral triumph, not a
triumph
We
end
it
who
it, (1 Cor. xv. 21,) and therefore as by and through kingdom of darkness was to be overthrown, so the enmity of the Serpent was specially directed against the seed of the woman, the Son The title given him is " The wicked one y" the article is emof man.
man
phatic,
evil,
of
whom
in
;
the
ground of
at all,
For as God
i.
is light,
and
in
him
is
no darkness
(1
John
is
i.
Jam.
and
him
is
no light;
there
no truth in him.
Man
is
in a
middle position
he detains the
truth in
but,
whichever
still
may
is
there,
kept
down
indeed,
but
itself.
is
Herein
sibility
only perverted
but
for a
Satan's will
what
it
is
never possible
man
for
my
therefore as far as
we can
for the
see, a
him.
It
makes much
is
full
of instruction,
that
emblems which
the
liber de
oeconomia
et
branim.
* In Augustine's
justitia super-
andus
erat.
+ It is well known that the word ^i^dvtov nowhere occurs except here, and in the Greek and Latin Fathers who have drawn it from this parable. The Eiijmol. Mag.
gives another derivation of the word besides that quoted by Schleusner, and a better,
will
scarcely
command
assent
t^dvb),
that
which
is
grows
side
;
by avena, which
incorrect
Augustine
;
sufficiently exact
is
it,
when he
says,
Omnis immunditia
German, Tollkorn,
in
nor again
the
stood
it,
the
vicia,
but
a7pa, or
in
THE TARES.
Lord
uses, the
77
Manichsean error
proceeds
to
argue, that as
guarded against, which, starting from wheat and tares are different in kind, tares by no process of culture can become
is
wheat, so nehher can the children of the wicked one become children of
the kingdom.
Satan
is
he can only
may have
been the case with some who call themselves by his name, is careful to guard against that conclusion here, which would have been an abuse of parabolical language, a pressing of accidental circumstances too far.f
to
distinguish
it
which
it
name
in
common, because
causes,
when mingled with and eaten in bread. This in the East, despite its poisonous qualThe it being so hard to separate it from the wheat. ities, not uncommonly happens assertion made above, that it is a degenerate wheat, seems, I think, perfectly made " Wheat Lightfoot quotes these words, distinctly asserting it, from the Talmud. out. and zunin are not seeds of different kinds.' Where the gloss is this,' zunin is a kind
'
of wheat which
is
changed
in the earth,
both as to
its
form and to
is
its
nature.' "
And
in a passage quoted by Buxtorf, {Lex. Talm., p. 680,) this gressive deterioration of nature,
in
" they sowed wheat and the earth brought forth zunin."
{Mos.
Recht,
V. 4, p.
who probably never saw a corn-field in matter see also Ambrose Hexaeifl., 1. 3, c.
:
10.
Yet on
old
the other
1,
some
:
frugum morbus
upon
quam
pestem numeraverim
lolium, writes thus
difficulty of
and an
Scholiast
know-
ing them apart, and the danger, therefore, of plucking up one for the other: since only
when
The tendency
generate
is
well
known, and
(see
2, c. 9)
Gesenius on
Isai. v. 2)
"
It
The tendency
fall
away from
its first
perfec-
worsen,
is
logies
which
workl of man.
By
and
:
2026)
it
when
the
was
written, but
it
arrives altogether at
the
same conclusions.
* Observing
how
this
passage he proceeds
Atqui
in-
scimus, quidquid
vitii est
quam
in
(John
44,) "
Ye
;
Imi-
Compare Irenaeus, Con. Har., 1. 4, c. 41. 2, and Grotius on Matt. vii. 18 and who has not heard in arguments concerning predestination, how goats can never become sheep, nor sheep goats ? (Matt. xxv. 32, 33.)
t
right,
8) he
compares
the
Church
78
THE TARES.
in
even supposing that the tares and wheat had been altogetlier different
their kinds.
But the
fact
in natural history,
cuing
this
that,
deji.
it
has not an
efficient,
but only a
Having sown
Church,
often has
enemy
The work
often, in
did
sight,
appear
How
the
how
fruit
in
like a higher
could see the mystery of was already working could detect the imnclujn saliens out of which it would unfold itself; but to most, evil would not appear as evil till it had grown to more ungodliSt. Paul, indeed,
iniquity,
which,
ness
not,
to the
till
might be expected,
formed
when
the ear
thus
ful-
Augustine, noting
bring forth
racter,
how
it
By their fruits ye shall know them." was only when the blade began to ripen and
tares
fruit, that
the
began also
it is
to
makes
except
to
him who
in
is
" None," he says, " appear evil in the Church, good ;" and again, " When one shall have begun
all
him
and
"
It is
;
manners of
the wicked
by which he who
he
is
little,
re-
to a better ark.
ilie
an
hawk
entered
this
in,
forth, a
wolf entered
in,
forth. in,
But into
*
an
hawk
in,
and a sheep
issues forth
may
here be adduced:
est, et
quamdiu herba
nondum
where
is to
whole parable.
THE TARES.
cedes from his
79
own
wickedness,
is
As
there
must be light, with which to contrast the darkness, height wherewith to measure depth, so there must be holiness to be grieved at unholiness
:
and
member
of
it,
that as the
new man
is
man
will
into
displeasing,
" So the servants of the householder came and said, unto Mm, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?"
Theophylact interprets
heresies, scandals,
^'
this
and ofiences
Church
for
having explained,
while
men
slept, ''^
is,
servants, that
who ought
better to
have kept
finds
Church from
enemy, he now
inconvenient
to
much
offended
so clearly
pointed out (ver. 30) as different from the servants, mistake and even granting that the words " while
,
must be a
cate, as
still it is
some
slept,
men slept,'' do indiwho ought to have watched, and some wished to do away with the
These servants are not angels,
animated those disciples,
the
spirit as
who would
fain
have commanded
fire to
Those
did well that they had a righteous zeal for their Master's honour
in
but
to be
The
field
question which they ask, " Didst not thou soio good seed in thy
not put merely to give opportunity for the householder's re-
.?" is
:
ply
but expresses well the perplexity, the surprise, the inward ques-
tionings,
which must
too
often be
felt,
which
in the
first
custom had
been
felt
much
very strongly by
who were
visible
was
thing ?"
spirit,
faithful
in prayer, of
from whence
*
then hath
it
tares ?
Church
sua.
to
Tantum enim
mei
:
torquet justum
iniquitas aliena,
quantum
recedit a
Cf.
Nondum sum
totus instauratus ad
imaginem
forme
est.
80
be a pure and holy
THE TARES.
communion
?
is
?
as should
whence then
is
it
that
even with-
in the holy precincts tkemselves, there should be so selves openly sin and cause others to sin ?"*
But
mischief is traced up
"An
prevent even a Divine idea from being more than very inadequately
realized by
men
;
ual
enemy
No
itself
it
finds
best.
(Luke
ix.
54.)
They
who And
thus speak have often no better than a Jehu's " zeal for the Lord."
therefore "
all
/te
said,
Nay."
By
bidden
such measures
as shall leave
them no
possibility
is
for after
repentance or amendment
whenever we
meet
in
we may
is
is
making war on
vp also
the
tares,
wheat.
The
given
up
This might
be,
either
become
wheat
children of
:
by
faith
or
it
Menken
fares
?' is
first
study of Church history, and remains afterwards the motto of Church history, and the
riddle whicii should be solved by help of a faithful history
;
instead of which,
many
so-
called
Church historians [authors of Ancient Christianity, and the like], ignorant of the purpose and of the hidden glory of the Church, have their pleasure in the tares, and
imagine themselres wonderfully wise and useful, when out of Church history, which
to be the history
ought
made a shameful
history
They have no
desire
or the
knowledge of the
ignorant world."
truth
Church would
ei
gratify a proud
and
12)
Potest
suboriri
voluntas, ut tales
:
auferat,
si
sed utriirn
facere debeal, jusiitiam Dei consulit, utrCim hoc ei prwcipiat vcl permittat, et hoc offi-
velit.
Jerome
Monemur, ne
cilo
amputemus
fratreni
quia
fieri
potest, ut
ille,
qui
hodie noxio depravatuB ait dogniate, eras resipiscat, et defendere incipiat veritatem.
THE TARES,
take of the servants, who, with the best intentions, should
fail
81
to distin-
guish between these and those, leaving the tares and uprooting the
wheat.
It is
who with
them
in earlier times,
wrote in
Thus Aquinas
says,
only binding,
when
in
is to
danger or no.
The
Pope, he adds,
is
is
go and gather up
exhortation to
all
the tares
and he concludes
an
servants, and rather, like them, need to have their eagerness restrained,
to
to
is
declare
the harvest."
trine concerning Antichrist, not indeed the personal Antichrist, but the
is
implicitly declared.
to
is
We
to
is not,
as so
wane and
ever
to
develop
unfold itself
Thus
it
will
go on,
in
till
at last
highest
manifestation,
the
on the one
and good,
man
in to
whom
grow,
the fulness of
evil
Both are
they come
full
to
an head,
till
they are ripe, one for destruction, and the they are to grow together
;
other for
salvation.
And
the visible
Church
is to
have
its
or an attempt to set
up a
*
little
Where men
Cum
metus
iste
Summa
10
non
subest,
non doimiat
Ecclesifuerit,
severitas disciplince.
t
Est enim
puritas.
Iijec
periculosa tentatio,
nuUam
am
in
putare, ubi
Nam
aliis
quicunque
liac
occupatus
necesse tandem
discessione ab
omnibus
sanctus videatur
nempe
82
THE TARES.
command,
it
it is
what
it
on their
own
spiritual life
must bring upon them, and into what a snare of pride it must cast them. For while even in the best of men there is the same intermixture of good
and
evil as there is
infalis
libly lead a
man
which
in himself,
and in the
seem
to
be successful.
Thus Augustine
succeeded,
succeeded,
fact that
would not dare to assert that they had forming what should even externally appear a pure combe,
munion
and
among
lii.
themselves, this
as inapplicable
was enough
to
to
render
all
such passages as
Isai.
1,
them
as the Catholic
Church in its present condition. And yet on the assumed purity, they displayed a spirit of the most
And
the
same
sins cleave
more or
less
schismatical
bodies,
is
itself that
this matter.
Not
to
that there
;
is
not
something
in
every
man which
Nay,
this
it
inclines zeal
him
is
to the error
every young
first
tempted
little
be somewhat of a
Donatist in
spirit.
would argue
to
in him, if he
had not
longing
see the
Church of
is
Saviour a
that the
glorious
Church without
time
spot
or wrinkle.
in itself
it is,
desire, righteous
and holy as
;
fulfilment
brethren
is
meant
to
wring out
appear,
may
apud eo3
* See Augnsiine
{Coll.
Carth., d. 3,
c.
9) for
an extraordinary instance of
this
c.
2) enumerates
si.x
reasons
why
:
grace wicked
men
"
in the
kingdom of
hy-
First, because
;
cause
tians,
if
men
should
make
the
him that can search the heart secondly, beseparation, weak Christians would be counted no Chrisa load of imperfections,
for all
;
would be count-
ed reprobates
thirdly, because
made castaways
fourthly, because
God
THE TARES.
He
learns that
all
83
self-willed
communion of
saints
are indeed works of the flesh, and that however well they
at the first,
may
promise
no blessing will
rest
even
appear
to
in fear lest
arguments should
to
revive stricter
made by
They
argue, therefore,
not instructive of
to be,
Church
what the conduct of the servants but merely prophetic of what generally that this offer of the servants is merely
for the master's reply,
brought in
to
afford
an opportunity
purpose
and that of
But
it is
clear that
when
it is
his
to
make
mean time
but
till
any attempts
to anticipate the
to
That
and patience of
fifthly,
many
;
lastly,
the
make them
:
the
more
day
Quo
?
non gemat
Solitudines petat
sequunturscandala.
patiatur
?
Separaturus est
omnino hominem
pati, convincitur,
quid
si
et
ipsum antequam
vuli pati, eo ipso
nemo
vellet pati
hominem
?
quod non
profecerit.
An
quia veloces
The
whole pas-
is
too long to quote, but deeply instructive concerning the vanity of every attempt
to found a
objective
basis,
on the personal
holi-
ness of the members, instead of recognizing one there to be founded for us, where the
pure word of
God
to
1.
is
who
are duly
commissioned
{Con. Cresc,
these offices.
c.
How
3,
35)
non aream, ne
nihil
sim
and
Evang. Kirch.
41)
Zeit., 1833,
No. 52,
t
p.
385.
c.
:
TertuUian {Apol.,
seculi
finem, non precipitat discretionem quae est conditio judicii, ante seculi finem.
84
sation ;*
till
THE TARES.
the
will the
to
not time of the harvest f householder com and then he give command not these servants, but the reapers, the be gathered out from among the wheat. Not the end of the world Son of man send servants nor even then earthly ministering but " and
mand,
will
the
to
that
tares
till
will the
forth his
his
servants,:}:
his angels,
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and all lohich do iniquity" in the words of Zephaniah (i. 3,) " the stumbling-blocks
The
The
20,
or
lot
of the tares
is
to
|1
and consumed
moment
of the
or avvT.
Heb.
two
aeras, (see
Job xxiv.
i.
LXX.
4,)
12) =:
icdo-^os ovto;,
ii.
(Mark
x.
30),
a'iuivci CTTCp^onii/oi,
ii.
(EplieS.
is
(Heb.
vi.
5)
= oiVou^ek;
(1
I'l
^tcWovaa,
(Heb.
5).
The
two
phrase
tojv aidjvuv,
tremities of the
aeras, the
am
is
and
reaped,
is
e.
The
wheat of God
(Matt.
xiii.
30.)
applied to the clusters of the vine, and they are cast into the great
This
is
judgment.
fit
In Joel
iii.
e.
the grapes
for gathering, as
ap-
In Jer.
Ii.
33, the act of threshing the corn upon the floor, not
It is true
the
image of judgment.
xiii.,) is
;
Sa-
but
is
harvest
able
t
fit
itself."
It
may
manner
in
into his
scheme
quite satisfactory.
erit
And Cyprian
fringere
20, 21)
et
tuum ? quantum
fictilia
vasa con-
Domino
soli
concessum
data
Nemo
care.
Si
jam mundata
aKavSaXa.
Ta
way,
to
draw suddenly
In the
New
it
is
were men's
its
feet,
it
to fall
rayi'j
it is
nfidaKOftfta.
On
account of
derivation
nearly allied to
and
Oi'ipu,
and we
find
it
them, Rom.
II
xi. 9.
Augustine explains
this
something
in the
the
THE TARES.
with
fire, vi.
5
end
7,)
.
is to
be burned.
sons of
(Heb.
In David's words
all
(2
Sam.
xxiii, 6,
"
The
Belial shall be
away
or, as it is here expressed, the angels " shall cast them into the furnace of fire." Elsewhere (Mark ix. 4348,) the woe of hell is described under an image borrowed from the
valley of the children of Hinnom, where carcases were cast out that
from time
of
all
to
fire
forms of punishment, one not indeed in use among the Jews, for
look at David's act (2
we must
Sam.
xii.
death by
fire.
It
was
in use
among
22
Dan.
iii.
6,)
tradition,
which
is
probably of great
antiquity,
Nimrod
Abraham
and
in
worship his
false gods,
bable the explanation which some have given of the gnashing, which they
rather understand as a chattering, of the teeth,
that
it is
the expression
cold,"j"
Dantean
hell,
But
after
it
has been thus done with the wicked, " then shall the
As
for
on
Hoc est, rapaces cum rapacibus, adulteros cum adulteris, homicidas cum homicifures cum furibus, derisores cum derisoribus, similes cum similibus.
s.
:
= Tpm/jos
1.
djoircoi',
;
but
it is
simpler
for in Cyprian's
inefficax deprecatio.
1.
7, c.
31,
c. 6,
'EK\an\pov(Tiv, in
which
differt
force
is to
Schleusner
indeed says,
Paritm
a simplici Hermas,
but
difi'erently,
Her-
are
two
beautiful
(1.3,
sim.3 and
4,)
is
engaged
same
truth,
all
The Seer
shown
and
in the first a
number
of trees,
fore to
him
alike
dead
and he
distinguishable from one another in the winter, while all alike are leafless and bare, so
86
fire
THE TARES.
was
is
kingdom of
hell, so
is
light
Then,
when
ment
iii.
removed, shall
this
it,
come
forth
in its
full
Rom.
:
viii.
18
A
to
the saints
it
shall not
merely be brought
out
but rather a glory which they before had, but which did not before
appear, shall burst forth and
evidently
show
itself
flesh, at the
moment of
his
That
shall be the
forth
of
shall shine
xii.
day of the manifestation of the sons as the sun when the clouds are rolled
by
all
3;) they shall evidently appear and be acknowledged ; as the children of light, of that God who is " the Father of
i.
Lights.*'! (Jam.
17.)
And
then,
but not
till
then, shall be
accom-
Testament,
" Henceforth
"
which are
Old
there shall no
(Isai.
Iii.
more come
1.)
Thy
people
;
also shall
be
all
righteous."
(Isai. Ix.
;
Compare
iii.
Isai.
xxxv. 8
Joel
iii.
17
Zeph.
13.
In the second, he
is
again shown
still
now some
shall
it
remain-
ing bare.
Thus
it
be in the future age, which for the just shall be a summer, and
life
as
down
the burning.
these visions
in
and
and
Ps.
cxlviii.
is
used,
very remarkable
5,)
the Christian as he
rit
cilm vene-
Intus est medulla quae viget, intus sunt folia arborum, intus
(p.
ver
est.
It is
Mahommedan
fire.
filii
Calvin
dis-
omnibus
suos in sublime
omnem
eorum
fulgor obruitur.
It
Quemadmodilm
Sol et
Luna illuminant
hoc seculum,
futurum est ut
justi illuminent
seculum futurum.
97
PARABLE
III,
31, 32
Mark
iv.
30-32
Luke
xiii.
18, 19.
that follows,
;
would seem,
at first sight,
merely
other
same
truth
The
it
onhe Leaven,
itself
is
displays
tensive,
That
sets forth
the
power and
it,
action of the
itself,
how
this the
it is
as the
up within the seed, which will unfold itself according to the inward law of its own being. Both have this in common, that they describe the small and slight beginnings, the gradual progress, and the final
how,
to
whole earth.
(Dan.
ii.
34, 35.)
Chrysostom
all thai
;
the con-
of the Sower, the discides had heard that three parts of the seed sown
perished, and only a fourth part prospered
of the Tares, and of the further hinderances which beset even this part
that
remained
lest
to despair, the
encouragement.
My kingdom,
may
appear,
it
will, like
branches,
like potent
leaven,
through
all
the world.
uses, likening the growth of his kingdom was one with which many of his hearers may have been
The growth
with which the
So
to
sit
the queslion
parable
introdnced in St.
Mark
(iv.
30)
Cum
ea
eidem Satanas
dicemus
?
tot
modis
insidietur, ut vix
de
illo
gg
of a worldly kingdom
iv.
had been set forth under this image, (Dan. 10-12; Ezek. xxxi. 3-9,)* that also of the kingdom of God. (Ezek. X. vii. 22-24; Ps. Ixxx. 8.)t But why, it may be asked, comparison is a mustard-tree $ here chosen as that with which the
shall be
made
its
Many
named.
but
But
with referproportion
ence
to
ultimate greatness,
with reference
the
this
between
the
the
from thence.
attention,
For
not
its
the
point
to
which
but
its
calls especial
greatness in
itself,
whence
it
springs;
since
what he desired
was
dom
and
wAk
and
though
appearance so
trivial,
altogether without
It
significance
was esteemed to possess medicinal virtues against of venomous creatures, and against poisons, and was used as a the bites Nor can I, with a modern interpreter, find remedy in many diseases.
||
iib.
Daniel, p. 139.
Appendix
to
The
reli-
antiquity
p.
was accustomed
out of mind.
The most
which goes by
this
name
in
the
his
Flora Jiidica
and see
in the
Dr. Royle, read before the this khardal, say, " It has a pleasant, though a strongly aromatic taste, exactly re-
AthencEum of March 23, 1844, an interesting paper by Captains Irby and Mangles, describing Asiatic Society.
irritability
if
of the
There
is
in the
;
Gentleman's
1.
20,
c.
87.
it
Pliny (Ibid.)
Plautus applies to
of
its
and Columella's
sinapis.
is
line is often
quoted
may
!.
be a part of
its
fitness here.
For neither
may
uKpeXiixois
(Clem.
Alex., Strom.,
The comparison
Sicut sinapis
is
an uncertain author
accipimus,
ergo et ciim
fidei
Christianas
mandata
et
percipi-
ipsam salu-
89
it
Its heat,
its
it
gives out
and
in so
small a compass,
may
well have
moved him
to select this
image under
which
and
to
of
the doc-
trine of a crucified
Greeks
foolishness,
the
them
that believed
Yet
is it
Church which he
signified
seed."!"
by
this grain
of mustard seed.
He
is
in
For the kingdom of heaven, or the him, and from him unfolded itself, havit
much
oneness of
life
was originally shut up, and out of which it grew. He is at once the sower and the seed sown for by a free act of his own will, he gave himself to that as he himself death, whereby he became the author of life unto many
:
;:}:
had
said, "
;
Except
if
it
a corn of
it
wheat
fall into
the
ground and
fruit."
die,
it
abideth
24.)
alone
but
die,
bringeth forth
this
much
(John
;
And
tern
the field in
which he sowed
fletu
"
xii.
hisjield,"
ac moerore consequimur.
Moreover, thnt
its
active
energj',
which
ill
;
make
it
as apt an
emblem
of the good
as the
and as such
was
sent
Great;
for
when Darius
his soldiers,
him a
number of
he sent a bag
* Thus the author of a Sermon which as been attributed to Augustine {Serm. 87, Appendix) and to Ambrose Sicut enim granum sinapis prima fronte speciei suae est
:
parvum,
vile,
cans suavitatem
odorem suum
fundit,
acrimoniam exhibet,
mirum
sit
in tarn
tantum ignem
conclusum,
tenuis,
ita
ergo et fides
Christiana
vilis, et
non potentiam suam ostendens, non There is great fitness and beau-
this sermon was preached, namely, the martyrdom of manner of whose death is well known. There is much also that is instructive, with somewhat merely fanciful, in the remarks which Ambrose (Exp. in Luc. 1. 7, c. 176-186) makes on this parable.
upon which
(p.
347, Bened.
ed.,)
who
also notes
how
the mustard
its fiery
1.
and austere
So Ter-
TULLiAN, Adv.
X
Marc,
4, c. 30.
this.
:
enne,
Le
Christ dans
un tombeau
de
sa bouche sort
un
90
or, as St.
(xiii. 19,)
made
came unto
" he
is
came unto
his
own."
into the
ground
words which have often perplexed interpreters, as there are many seeds,
as of poppy or rue, that are smaller
know that Small as a grain of mustard-seed, was a proverbial expression among the Jews * for something The Lord, in his popular (See Luke xvii. 6.) exceedingly minute.
worth making
;
it is
sufficient to
To
?
signified
What,
less of
to the
eye of
flesh,
dom
of
God
Son of man
for
He grew up
in a distant
till
bosom of
his family,
then taught
made
a few
converts, chiefly
among
own
part or his
:
fol-
lowers
to release
such, and
so slight,
in
in this the
was the commencement of the universal kingdom of God. For kingdom of God differs from the great schemes of this world ;
have a proud beginning, a shameful and a miserable end
first
^these last
So
is it
so
is it
in
every single
The word
little,
of Christ falls
slight
{Treat
God
same
to light.
{Comm.
the last
:
promising
little
Proedicatio Evangelii
minima est omnibus disciplinis. Ad priniam quippe doctrinara, fidem non habet veritatis, hominem Deum, Deum mortuum, et scandalum crucis praedicans.
libris
sit
eorum,
caeteris
sermonum,
ilia
et
videbis quanto
minor
Sed
cum
creverit, nihil
et
mordax,
nihil
vividum,
totum flaccidum,marcidumque,
moUitum
ebullit in olera
batur in principio,
cum
vel
in
anima
mundo
sata, fuerit,
non
91
tree,
It is
when it is grown, it is
the greatest
and lodge
to
well
known
a size which
never known
man
climb up into
;"j"
its
branches, though
indeed,
is
or to ride on horse-
And, on
this
branches
he mentions as well
when
it is
advanc-
ing
to ripeness,
its
on
weight
This
and the manner in which, therefore, they congregated in the branches, was probably familiar to our Lord's hearers also. They, too, had beheld them lodging in the branches of the tree, whose seed thus served them for meat, so that there must have been a singular liveliness in the image which the parable presented to their minds.
Neither need
for the
we suppose
eye
this last
in a
more
lively
manner
to the
of the mustard-tree
when
and
food,
(Ezek.
xvii. 23,
" under
every wing,")
we
for all
men
in the
Church
all
how
make
;:}:
and proving
is
the
* Kuinoel's
is
it
is
a comparative for a
its
superlative, since
which
justifies
and explains
is
use (see
Mark
iv.
32
John
x.
29
Ephes.
;
iii.
8)
I
if I
say that a
man
men,
is
the best
but
a superlative.
So neither
Virgil
immanior omnes
Omnium feminarum
New
Testament,
accurate interpreta-
221.)
c.
2)
rae
principes sub
nomine
Persequebantur
confugiunt
idolis,
Omnes
ad auxilium
Ecclesiae, in
omni
omni
tribulatione sua.
Crevit illud
granum
sinapis, veniunt volatilia coeli, superbi saecuh, et acquiescunt sub ramis ejus.
92
THE LEAVEN.
that doth meditate good things in
man
Wisdom.
He
children under her shelter, and shall lodge under her branches
by her Theo-
phylact concludes his exposition of the parable with this practical application
:
And
small, indeed, in
virtue,
appearance, for
but fervent,
becomes thee not to make a spectacle of thy and zealous, and energic, and armed to reprove."
PARABLE
IV.
THE LEAVEN.
Matthew
This parable
xiii.
33
Luke,
xiii.
20,
2L
kingdom of
God
outward
;
declares
development
touches upon
from within
all sides.
but
its
The mustard
it
light
upon
its
branches
was hidden
it is
in the
lump.
It
this or
evil.
(1 Cor.
Luke
ii.
xii. 1
Gal. v. 9.)
Tliis is
this,
it
was forbidden,
11
;
3j
Lev.
Amosiv.
xxiii.
The strict command to the people, that they should carefully put 17.) away every particle of leaven out of their houses, during the Passover
week,
needed
rests
on
this
view of
it
as evil
to put
away from
When
leaven
is
for the
First
Sunday
after
the fig-
mentum malum,
the
that in
man which
doing the things that he would, the leaven in the lump, and the reason
given in
book Sohar: Prava concupiscentia vocatur fermentum, quia parum ejus cor pervadit, et in tantum exturgescit, ut findatur pectus. (See Schoettgen's Hor. Heb.,
THE LEAVEN.
thus used in an evil sense,
those
its
93
to
tendencies to
corrupt are
is its
therefore, to interpret
little
bands of mo-
dern
separatists:}:
it
though
were, in
iquity.
Woman
is
to
which, with
often represented
v.
under
this
image.
1; Zech.
7-11.)
The
last
of
these passages
Teelman
asserts to be
an exact parallel
to the
parable
before us.
said that at
If this interpretation were the true one, if it could be any time the whole Church was thus penetrated through
false
it
doctrine,
;
the
gates
it
of hell
should
it is
difficult to
understand.
But the unquestionable fact, that leaven is, in Scripture, most commonly the type of something false and corrupting, need not drive us into any such embarrassment. It was not, therefore, the less free to
use
ing,
it
in a
good sense.
its
in
V.
1,
p.
:
597.)
the
same
sacred
things
19.)
Diali fas
non
est.
:
(Gell. x. 15,
Plutarch (Quast.
"
is
The
leav-
en
itself is
it
mingled."
Thus
comes
a^vnot.
gives the
reason
11)
voluptuosum,
nisi
quod in se habet
These omissions had doubtless the same symbolical meanof the gall
away
was
among
the
Romans
It
the Latin
Church
to
who
used
it,
Archaol.yV. 2,
p.
662.)
Comm.
in
Luc. 16,
p.
59, seq.
Vitringa
by
J.
gives, with
first
an
I
evil sense,
N. Darby, 1845,
p. 40.
He makes
upgrowth of
in the
same way
a proud world-hierarchy.
94
the present,
tie
its
THE LEAVEN.
warmth,*
its
lit-
of it has
to lend its
savor and
virtue to
much wherewith
it
comes
in contact.
The
but
it is
minor
details, so that
one and
the
same thing. The devil is " a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;" (1 Pet. v. 8 ;) yet this does not hinder the same title from
to Christ,
being applied
;)
only there the subtlety and fierceness of the animal formed the point of
far,
:
when he says
and could scarcely have had this " Leaven, in the inspired writings,
Ignatius shows
own application of the image, how it may be freely used, now in a good, now in a bad sense ; for warning against Judaizing practices, he writes: " Lay aside the evil leaven which has grown old and maketh sour, and be transmuted into the new leaven, which is Christ Jesus. " Nor is it to be forgotten that if, on one side, the effects of learather by his
to
something
to
something good, as
to
is
universally agreed
effects
on bread are
render
it
more
tasteful, lighter,
and more
obvious
more wholesome.
to
There
sense, that
is
no need, then,
its
it is
concerning the
Gospel
and not the corruptions, of the understand the word of the kingdom,
which Word,
seed, out of
As
the mustardall
which a mighty
is
was
to
seeds,
yet, at
so the leaven
and
the
same
time,
mighty
in operation.
Thus,
too,
of Christ
shall see
"
He
when we
no beauty that we should desire him;" but then presently again, " By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many, ... and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;" (Isai. liii. 2, 11, 12 ;) and when
*
Zu/.;
from
fco),
as fermentum
lift
(=
leaven, in French
levain.from levare, to
t See
up.
c. 2)
:
distat
ab invicem,
.
quam
.
Christus et Diabolua?
leo, propter fortitudinem
Tamen
:
lUe
leo,
ille
ad vincendum
ille
ad nocendum.
\
Cf Serm.
10.
32,
AdMagnes.,
Cf.
Gregory Naz.,
^v/iri
(Orat. 36,
c.
90,)
who
men, uyaTrtp
ytvojitvoi
tw
THE LEAVEN.
96
he had communicated of his life and spirit to his apostles, they too, in their turn, poor and mean and unlearned as they were, became the salt
of the earth, the leaven of the world. For, in Chrysostom's
to the rest
;
words,
is
it
since as the
makes
still
that
which
is
already kindled
it is
and so seizes
also with
kneading being proper to women, it should be here said, that it " a woman" who took the leaven, and hid it in the three measures was
act of
of meal
or
may we
Luke
it
than this
com-
parison with
xv. 8, the
lost
of money,
is
may
the word
to this
it
here,)
may
be meant.
But
if it
be asked,
why
as a
woman,
is
may
In and
the
only
to
So again, why
perhaps be suf-
It
may
19
;
was
just so
much
vi.
as at one time
1
would
i.
xviii.
Judg.
Sam.
24.)'j"
Yet
it
may
be that
we
to this
numAu-
ber three.
Some
perceive in
others again, as
human
Noah
which
is
And
those
find in
has
to
not been
Ham, do
indeed answer
make up
the
man
the
But leaving
this,
the leaven
is at
once different
it
for the
is
woman
took
from
a
else-
where
to
mingle
it
therein
the Gospel,
kingdom
not of this world, (John xviii. 36,) not the unfolding of any powers which
* InMatth., Horn. 46
discipuli,
So Cajetan
Christi
caelestis vitae
promoverunt.
^irpa.
rpU
96
already existed in the world,
THE LEAVEN.
a kingdom not
vii.
17,) but a
round which
the energies
which
;
which
itself
youth.*
And
it
is
ob-
said not
its
merely
to
influence
was
to be exerted.
The
God
it
effects, is
it
ends not
there
a mighty change also in the outward and visible world. derfully exemplified in the early history of Christianity.
effectually hidden.
The
a
leaven was
remarkable evidence of
all that
ignorance
little
below
the
manner
in
this not
when
the
mustard-tree might well escape notice, but, with slight exceptions, even
to the very moment when the triumph of Christianity was at hand. The leaven was hidden, yet, by degrees, it made itself felt, till at length the whole Roman world was, more or less, leavened by it. Nor must we
up
that
be done
besides this,
was
round
work which lagged very considerably behind fact, was never thoroughly accomplished, till the
to pieces,
whole structure of
tonic
room.
while the leavening of the
effected,
away
of
ail
wa8
daily
etiam
Thus Serm. 81
Parum
tibi praestitit
mundi
misit
tibi
Christum, ut tunc
te reficiat, te
fecit.
Venit
novum
Res
jam vergebat
seni
in
occasam.
venit
ille,
et conso-
promittere
sempiternum quietem.
;
mundo.et
Perit
mundus,
mun-
dus, deficit
mundus, laborat
sicut aquils.
THE LEAVEN.
mass has never ceased
consider these words "
to
97
and we cannot
a prowill diffuse
whole
is
leavened" as
;
less than
it
phecy of a
itself
final
all
that
through
all life.
And we may
its
of
life,
working,
man
in
obedience to
it,
sanctifying
him wholly,
Jesus.*
It
so that
he shall be altogether a
new
creation in
its
Christ
shall claim
own, and
make
itself felt
in all.
forth to us the
which can
Spirit,
is that
ex-
Hammond, who
words
"
The Gospel
it is
the
fitly
resembled
it
to
visibly, yet
We
may
fitly
conclude, in the
is
"
May
the
figured under
woman
in the Gospel,
Jesus in the
warmth of
the
Divine wisdom penetrate into the most secret recesses of our souls."f
Dicit autem,
Donee
fer-
mentatem
ut totani
est
mentem
in future
vero
perficitur.
t Exp. in
Luc,
is
1.
7, c.
187.
Clemens of Alexandria
in very
iVj^iJj
fj
(p.
few words.
The kingdom
of
tov
Adyov
Jwar/j,
ttjOoj
TtavTa TOV Kara&t^ajievov kol ivTOi iaVTOv KTrjaa^tvov aiirnv, iTnKCKpv^jxtvwi re Koi dipavois
iavrfiv ?Axt(, Kai to ttSv avTOv (rioTrifia
ti's
tvorrira avvdyn.
98
PARABLE
V.
44.
The kingdom
thing
;
of
God
is
it is
also an individual,
it is
man must have it for himself, and make it his own own will. He cannot be a Christian without knowing it. He may come under the shadow of this great tree, and He may dwell in a Christenpartake of many blessings of its shelter. dom which has been leavened, and so in a manner himself share in the
the world, but each
by a
distinct act
of his
universal leavening.
this is
There
two para-
bles *
which
follow.
but
They were
These are addressed as having found the hid treasure f the pearl of price and are now warned of the surpassing worth of these, and that, for their sakes, all things are to be joyfully renounced. The second parable does not merely repeat what the first has said, but re;
peats
it
:
with a difference.
so that
The two
complement of the
of the rich treasures
other
treasure,
may
For
may
man,
who
feel that
for
in the possession of
which he
shall be blessed,
* Origen
(Comm.
more
fitly
be called simili-
For a
among
the
Jews,
e.
avvayoiyh
)(_()rijxa.Twv
KCKpvjtjitvr],
as an old
;
Lexicon explains
TiQr]jn
it.
commend
themselves
not
and avpov
= aunon
rum, the receptacle of gold, since the word anpov seems not so old as
Oijuaupdj itself,
and
The Jurisconsult
Paulus gives
exstet
legal definition,
et
Thesaurus
memoria,
habeat.
THE
therefore,
HID. TREASURE,
99
Such are
at the
likened to the merchant that has distinctly set before himself the purpose
in
number, but
for
same
life,
others,
who do
to
man's
Jesus,
that there
all,
is in
is
revealed
them.
to the finder
who stumbled upon it unawares, neither expecting nor looking While the others knew that there was a good, and were looking for
discovery of the good
is
it.
the
to
such
at all
whose
being the
;
joy at the
is
expressed
parables thus
Thus Hammond, bringing out this distinction, paraphrases the two " The Gospel being by some not looked after, is yet some:
times met with by them, and becomes matter of infinite joy and desire to
them
and so
is
likened
fitly to
a treasure, which a
it,
man
for
finding casually
to get into his
Others there
are which have followed the study of wisdom, and thirsted after some instruction
:
to
merchant, which
upon
it."
The
trast
cases of
though of course,
in the
case of the Jews, or the chiefest part of them, the example cannot be
carried through, as they, though seeking the pearl, having a zeal for
righteousness, yet,
when
was
offered to them,
to sell all,
to
self-righteousness, and all else that they held dear, that they might
of them,
at
buy number
them man.*
vita
Christ
that sought
who
for
* Grotius
Inventus
sum non
quaerentibus
siderio
Messiam
avidis
animis expectabant.
(v. 1,
There
is
rather a coais
100
Or
again,
more
still
re-
ceptive nature,
him
striking example,
or a
more
the Samaritan
woman, (John
iv.)
the well.
Yet
absence of seeking
only
it
is
in the soul,
and displays
when
acquiescence
same
at all
when
it is
known, and
to hold
it
fast
and hazards.
On
we
ture of a noble nature, seeking for the pearl of price, and not resting
till
he had found
;
it,
as that
in his
Con-
fessions
when he
tells
how he
in vain
find-
something which would satisfy the longings of his soul, and never
till
he found
it
in the
Gospel of Christ.
supplies the
groundwork of
much more
us.
it
can be with
three parts
port
;
in
commerce, or
for their
it
prove needful
them
But while
is
buried, so
the
as good as
(compare Jer.
upon
it.
in Eastern tales,
how
man
to
a mo-
in fact,
an occurrence
Modern books of
:
"
The kingdom
same mould,
it
it
of heaven
is
like
unto treasure."
said,
Now
of
so that
The kingdom
;"
heaven
unto a pearl
is
ia
merchant-man
there at the centre of the spiritual picture, the thing found, here.
This
is
scarcely accidental.
Languages,
Jjc, of
Eastern Nations,
p.
180)
quoted
IQl
;
so
obtaining information
is
among ancient ruins, by the jealousy of who fear lest he is coming to carry away concealed hoards of wealth from among them, of which, by some means
endangered, in his researches
being
will successfully
be looked for.*
Often, too, a
man abandoning
(See Job
iii.
21
4.)
The
contrast, however,
we
he ra-
upon
it
engaged as an
and
Some,
the
in the interpretation,
;
draw a
distinction
between the
field
the treffsure
making
a
the
first
to be the
Holy Scriptures;
the second,
which when
objects
that
man
discovered, that
all
is,
and got a
willing to renounce
having leisure
his
is
to
tures, to
make them
own, he
Christ
sents
which therein
the outer
spiritual,
contained.
may become rich in the knowledge of Yet to me the field rather reprein-
visible
ward
As
the
man
v. 5, p. 197).
Compare
for
by Tacitus, Annal.,
1.
16, c. 1-3.
275
and
evidence of
tiie
same
in
t
t
The
De
it
Such a
ly
as Horace
si
urnam
argenti fors
si
So Jerome
in
Thesaurus
iste,
sanctse Scripturae in
I.
1, qu-
13)
Thesaurum
cum ex
magna
omnia
sua, et emit
agrum
ilium, id est,
otium,ut,sit di-
Alex.
Knox has an
Eemains,
v. 1, p.
418.
102
who
but as an-
other
now sees
it,
in
it
so
new worth, now determines that nothing shall he who recognizes the Church, not as an hu-
man
that
institute,
but a divine,
heavenly,
it is
who has
which
is
learned that
God
is
in the
midst of
it,
sees
now
it
all
earthly
is
societies, with
it
and henceforth
sake of
outermost
its in-
ward
glory,
is
now
blessedness
unalterably linked to
as the
man
golden pipes of the sanctuary are used for the conveyance of the golden
oil;
(Zech.
iv.
at the
same
fering,
warring Church
both or
But not
" when a
to
parable,
it
this
treasure
man
open
in the disco-
very, he covers
the field.
effects the
purchase of
By
these words
who
has discovered the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in
Christ Jesus, will desire to keep his knowledge to himself, since rather
he will
all
feel himself, as
to all
is
men,
to
make
have
men
will
see what
is
hid in Christ.
He
go like Andrew
him "
We
If he hide the
should lose
there
it.*
In the
first
moments
it
is
may
some means or
do
so,
again
it
may
not
and precautions
be the truth
signified
by
it
this
Having thus
and
selleth
secured
for the
moment, the
* Maldonatus
Matth., in
loc.)
Non ne alius inveniat, sed ne ipse perdat Jerome (Comm. in Non quod hoc de invidia facial, sed quod timore servantis et nolentis
:
H. de
:
Sto. Victore
1.
3,
c.
6)
tum manifestat.quiaccepium donum Sapientiaj in ostentatione tem inventum abscondit, qui accepto dono Sapientiai nou foris intus coram Deo inde gloriari qua;rit.
t 'Arrd
t/Ij ;^;a|odj
portat.
in oculis
a v r o v.
(dn-u ri7
103
is
and huyeth
that field
:^''
the joy
expressly mentioned
here, being that in the strength of which the finder of the spiritual trea-
sure
is
enabled to go and
is
sell
all
that he hath ;*
no compulsion, no
;
command
celleth."
necessary
he cannot do otherwise
all
now no
Augustine excellently
ing the crisis of his
this joy, to give
Describit,
own
conversion, and
through
up
all
be obliged
to
bound
to
in the chains
he renounced,
it
seemed
:
him
as though
it
would not be
to
to
to
be endured, he exclaims
"
How
sweet did
!
at
I
once become
me,
and what
didst
castall
to part with.
For thou
cast
edst
them them
forth
Thou
forth,
pleasure. "f
that he
The
that he had,
field.
Compare
Phil.
iii.
Paul declares
in his
us
how he
renounced
own
him."
the treasure
parted with
man parted with the dearest thing that he had, so to make his own though, in each case, how different was the thing So, too, whenever any man renounces the thing that is
:
an hinderance
to his
emhis
own
all
money renounces
his covetousness,
and
and and
is
when the
man, man,
the
his
what he has
may buy
the field
When
Lord
He
that
we have see also Matt. xvi. 24 and Mark ix. 43-48, where the same command is given. And yet, in the present case, it is not merely it is not to be considered as an arbitrary condition, imposed a command
;
* Bengel:
Gaudium
1.
spirituale, stimulus
:
abnegandi mundum.
t Confess.,
9, c. 1
Quam
rum,
et
Ejiciebas
enim eas
dulcior.
a me, vera tu et
summa
omni voluptate
104
even as a
hitherto he
willingly fling down pebbles and mosses, which had been gathering, and with which he had filled his hands, if pearls and precious stones were offered to him;* or as the dead leaves
fall off
from the
tree,
the
in the
circumstance of the
it is
field,-f
evident that he did, from the owner, the knowledge of the fact which en-
hanced
the
its
it
at all, or
only at a
much
higher price.
They argue
that
it is
against
decorum of
be used even for the outward setting forth of a spiritual action which
is
that there is
it
such ends
in fact,
difficulty, or
seeking
to
difficulty,
himself brings forward the likeness existing between the two, and affirms
that, in both,
mended
at least,
it
to divine things, is comsame class, and in this respect, But to the objection made above,
seems enough
is
treasure,
* Augustine
aliunde
petis a
Deo,
1
et dicis,
Domine, da mihi.
Quid
tibi
dabit qui
manus
;
et
non videt
ubi ponat
Bono implendus
es,
funde malum.
implere Deus.
mel pones?
Funden:
dum
est
Mundandum
cum
labore,
cum
tritura
ut
fiat
aptum cuidam
t It
is
curious,
and
is
we
should have in ancient history, an account almost exactly answering to that which
supplies the
groundwork of
had stood
where
his tent
Polycrates, a
it,
Theban, buying
was
it.
Kivci.
(See the
363.)
my
left
unfinished by his
death.
German
the-
this.
6)
Non undecunque
THE PEARL.
but only his earnestness in securing the treasure found
;
105
his fixed pur-
make
is
it
his
own,
at all
costs
and
all
hazards, and
(which,
suppose,
manner
in
which
that
was praiseworthy or
not. *
PARABLE
VI.
THE PEARL.
Matthew
xiii.
45, 46.
Almost
all
to
it
before.
The
relations in
:
which
the
two stand
to
like
man\ seeking
:
goodly pearls."
search
is
To
find
his labours
" the
He
has set
;
bending
all his
energies
he
is
one
in fact,
who has
who
felt
that
for
is
the crav-
determined not
good.
He
is
know
that
ing he
how
far
and where a
frequently adduced, as by
1.
Quaedam enim
sunt, quae
nunquam
Et
gemma?
ratio est
occupanti conceduntur,
et
eadem
de thesauris antiquo tempore sub terra occul talis, quorum non extat aliquis possessor : nisi quod secundiW leges civiles tenetur inventor dare medietatem domino agri si in
alieno agro invenerit.
thesauri, quod emit
xiii.,)
de inventore
We
read of Apollonius of
rel
it
Tyana
1.
seller
of such a
field,
as to which of
them a
treasure found in
it
shall belong.
He
does not
much
to
which-
ever of the parties shall be found, on scrutiny, to have lived in time past the holiest life. t The pearl-merchant was termed margaritarius, though this name was sometimes
also given to the diver.
106
it is
THE PEARL.
many
quarters
:
makes much
in
for the
fitness of the
image used
we keep
in antiquity, f
so that there
single pearls,
when
which materially diminished their value, as for instance, if they had a yellow or dusky tinge, or were not absolutely round or smooth. The skill and wariness which on this account the pearl-merchant must have needed
lest
not be without
answer
in the
spiritual world.:]:
Origen observes,
is
many
adds an emphasis
to the epithet
here used.
The merchant
seeking
^'goodly" pearls, as
himself, not
he
whom
mean and
in times
anterior to that in
which he
He
is
He
money, or the winning of the high places of the world, the end of his But he has been, it may be, a seeker of wisdom, a philanthrolabours.
pist,
to
* Augustine {Serm. de Disc. Christ., v. 6, p. 583, Bened. ed.) assumes the oneness
is
between
this parable
and the
last.
There
the
kingdom of heaven
is
presented
as manifold, even as a treasure would contain precious things of various kinds laid up as much as to say, This which is so multifold, in it here it is presented in its unity
;
is
also single
and
omnium rerum
pretii
word which was rendered (Prov. iii. 15; xx. 15; xxxi. 10) by earlier translators of Scripture most commonly as rubies, is generally believed now to signify pearls though according to Winer (Eeal WOrterb., s. v. Perlen) the question is still unsettled.
;
c.
:)
Discite
rum.
Comm.
much
The
detailed by him.
The
fish
it
dew
was pure and round, or cloudy and deformed with specks. (See Plin. H. N., 1. 9, c. Ammian. Marcell., 1. 23, c. 6, 85.) The state of the atmosphere at the time 35. of their conception, was then naturally supposed to exercise a great influence on their canThus Isidore Ilisp. Meliores size and colour, and even the time of the day.
:
didje margaritae
quam
quae flavescunt
illas
ceptio reddit Candidas; has senectus vel vesperlinus aiir reddil obscuras.
v. 2, p.
220-222
1.
5, c. 5-8.
THE PEARL.
find his soul's
107
this pearl of price,
satisfaction in these.
But
what
is it,
which
at length
he finds
Many
yet,
to
all
the
the soul,
all
kingdom of God within a man, or God revealing himself in or the knowledge of Christ, f or Christ himselfjlj: these are
the
but different
ways of expressing
the
same
thing.
But when the merchant had found this pearl of price, he " went and and bought it.'^ What this selling of all means, has
;
and
to
we may compare Isai. Iv. 1 Matt. xxv. 9, 10 Rev. iii. 18 and Prov. xxiii. 23, " Buy the truth, and sell it not;" obtain the truth at any price, and let no price tempt you to let it go. The contrast between the one pearl which the merchant finds and the many which he had been seeking, is here by no means to be overlooked the same contrast is marked elsewhere Martha is troubled about many things Mary has found that but one thing is needful. (Luke x. 41, 42.)
what
it
There
is
may have
the truth
one, even as
God
is
one
unity into the heart of man, which sin had destroyed that which through
* See Suicer's Thes.,
t
s. v. fiapyapirns.
:
H. de Sto Victore (Annot. in Matth. :) BohcE maigaritaB, lex et prophetEe una pretiosa, Salvatoris scientia. So Origen on this place says, the law and prophets were as the lamp which was precious till the sun arose he has these instructive references,
;
Matt.
xvii.
5-8
2 Cor.
iii.
10.
v. 1, p.
:
132
:)
Judsei
as in later Latin,
Another name
bore signified
t
The
Beloved.
it
was at a moment when it lightened that the conception dew took place, which explains an otherwise obscure pasp.
is
the
whom
vine lightning." Augustine, too, (QucBst.ex Matth., qn. 13,) likens Christ to the pearl:
this point of
comparison
luci-
dum
candore
veritati?, et
solidum firmitate
aeternitatis, et
divinitatis, qui
pars 2,
the
1.
5, c. 8, in fine,)
kingdom
of
God, and a
:
H. de Sto Victore
uno bono
rerum
quam
intus caecata
potest, quasi
These
words are from a Commentary on Ecclesiastes, which book tary on this parable.
itself is
a profound
commen-
108
sin
now
it
was intended
at first to
God
alone in
;
whom any
;
intelligent crea-
only
him,
Augustine's beauti-
heart
and often quoted words," Lord, thou hast made us for thee, and our * is disquieted till it reacheth in thee."
it
may
just be worth
mention, were
it
only for
its
singularity, an interpretation,
which
is
now
Christ himself.
The Church
the pearl of
that he had,
of a servant, f explanation, is
the merchant,
it
Or
still
common
make
who
that he
to
us and
ours, though he
was
so rich, gladly
made himself
poor,
buying that
:):
PARABLE
VII.
47-50.
to
seem
Maldonatus, led
away by
apparent identity of
related the parathat this should
is
purpose
in the
Here however he
clearly mis-
te.
same
to the parable
. . .
preceding
Homo
qui pro
Christus est
comparando tanto sanctorum thesauro omnia bona sua distraxit. Compare the Briej Exposition of Matth. xiii., by J. N. Darby, pp. 30, .SI. t So Drexelius (0//;>., v. 1, p. 209 :) Quis verior Christo Domino mercator, qui pretium sui sanguinis infinitum pro pretiosis
illis
mercibus dedit
Ver6
abiit,
vendiditque
109
there
is this is
tral truth
of that
of
this,
;
of that, that
men
of
this, that
by God be
effected
so that
is
we have them
is
this,
kingdom of God
is
represented rather in
it
its
idea, as
:
which
brace
yet,
all
itself,
to
that greater
the
Church
gatherinsr in
its
members from
Much
the
apply here.
The same use has been made of eitlier parable there is same continual appeal to this as to that in the Donatist controversy, and the present conveys, to all ages, the same instruction as that, namely, that the Lord did not contemplate his visible Church as a communion in which there should be no intermixture of evil but as there was a Ham in the ark, and a Judas among the twelve, so there should Esau shall be a Babylon even within the bosom of the spiritual Israel contend with Jacob even in the Church's womb,* till, like another Rebe;
;
to
exclaim, "
Why am
conveys,
too, the
same
often called
which
end
The
show
Jam
in niaricapti
gaudeamus nos
retia,
retia
I'acti
sunt potins,
quam
illi
qiios se
non potuisse
tolerare dix-
erunt.
found at the
commencement
to,
of his Anti-
Donatist
Tracts, and which he wrote as he says, to bring the subject within the
and exposition
of,
this
Abundantia peccatorum
110
It is
THE DRAW
worth our while
to
NET.
consider what
manner of net
it
is to
which
is
called a
draw
net,
and
this,
its
all-embracing nature,
certainly not to be
left
The kingdom
forward be a net, not cast into a single stream as hitherto, but into the
reticulo misso in
mare,
et inde,
Quos cum
Bonos
malos in mare.
cum
timore:
cum
peccatore
:
Quando
retia ruperunt,
multum
dilexerunt mare.
The following quotations from the minutes of the conference at Carthage will show how the Donatists sought to evade the force of the arguments drawn from this parable, and how the Catholics replied. They did not deny that Christ spake in this parable of
sinners being found mingled with the righteous in the Church upon earth, yet
it
was only
concealed smnera
d. 3,)
quoniam reticulum
a sacerdotibus,
Ita et
tanquam
pisces mali A
iii.
allusion to Matt.
12
{Ad Don.
post Coll.,
c.
10)
Numquid
non
ea rusticus csecus
operatur?
It is
an accidental circumstance in the parable, namely, that so long as the nets are under
water
their contents
*
net, as
Layfivri (not as
some derive
it,
from
eo-w dyeiv,
(Matt.
iv.
18)
in
Latin,
was
where
it is
now
length.
On
seine or sean, a
corruption of the
it
is
somethe
much
smaller
among
is
)
in the
it
compass of an
sagena, Manilius
may sweep
it
and supported with corks above, and having been carried out so as
space of sea, the ends are then brought together, and
is
with
all
that
it
in provincia, in
drawn up upon the beach Cicero calls Verres, with a play upon his name, ererriculum contains. and in the Greek Fathers we have Oacuroti that he swept all before him
;
Suicer's Thcs.,
8.
v.)
in
to the
Ill
broad sea of the whole world, and gathering or drawing together (John
xi. 52,)
nation.
Or when
said, that
it
As
" gathered of every kind," we may understand the servants who were sent to invite guests to
all,
as
many
all
as they found, both bad and good ;" so here the fishers take fish of
men of every
racter have the Gospel preached to them, and find themselves within the
limits of the visible
Church.*
But
is
Church has
sat doion
necessary
next described
the
and
this
net,
and gathered
the
when it was full, they drew to shore, and good into vessels, but cast the bad away."
is
"
When
the
number
of God's elect
the precious from the vile shall follow, of the just from sinners.
most likely that from some image like that which our parable supplies,
the leaving and taking of Matt. xxiv. 41, 42,
is to
be explained,
" the
left."
See Hab.
forth
i.
15-17,
LXX.,
com-
is set
under
this
image, and
is
word.
In this view of
it,
as
an
how grand
the
parison in
Homer
whom
Ulysses saw,
jtoXiiIs
CKToadc daXaaar]!
ol it
n Trdvrci,
Ki-)(yvTai.
vi.
:
149
31) of the
manner
the
in
which
;
away
some of
Greek islands
a chain of men, holding hand in hand and stretching across the whole island, ad-
vanced over
its
whole length
thus
taking, as
it
draw net
and
name
c.
cayrivcictv
is
was
is
applied.
;
Cf.
Plato's
1.
Menexenus (p. 42, Stallbaum's ed.) where 698 and Plutarch, De Solert. Animal., trnynvrt in the Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antt
;
the process
described
De
Legg.,
3, p.
26.
There
s.
v. Rete, p. 823.
Ik navrd;
mud,
shells,
sea-weed, and whatever else of worthless would be gathered together within the folds
of a net
;
these things
o-an-po,
away; and
so
it
is
in
the
Geneva
to
version,
"of
all
:
all
kinds of
fish of
things."
all
determine that
it is
kinds,
which
in Matth.)
Congregat ex
Deo
divisi, et
from
this collecting
of
112
Yet hardly with justice ; " but the refused, and the refused but the refuse ?* Whether these " lad "-j- are dead putrid fish, such as sometimes are enfor
been understood
what
is
the "
or
fish worthless,
at the
and good
was
sick and
unwholesome
season," or
such as from their kind, their small ness, or some other cause, are
aside,
to
become food
;
(Ezek.
it is
much
question
and
^^
not
very important,
from
to decide.
fish
are
cast atoay.''
An
its
entire freedom
belongs
to the
ultimately realized.
files its
Notwithstanding
that
mars
brightness,
we
Church
The
hasty
may be
that
it
will
be
no
indicated
cavTCi
28, 31
xvi.
down of the Thus Bengel, who to this Kadi6. At the same time it comthe sitting
Cespite consedi,
dum
lina
madentia sicco,
Ovid.
piscium, quod
anfia,
d.
i^BvSta.
Grotlus
Sunt nugamenta
et
:
quisquiliae
(.'i/^pwra ko!
abjici
Lucian
Yet Vitringa,
must signify
in
Parah., p.
344,
seq.,) refers to
Athenaeus as using
ai-npoX i^^eits in
opposition to rp6a,paTot.
As
the
stale, or
{aa-rrpdi,
that
we
this, the
primary
to find
signification of the
dead
fish in
list
a net, though
will
of the
how many, though perfectly fresh, would be flung noxious, the immunda chromis, merito vilissinia
in corpore virus Loligo, durique sues; or
ictu,
again,
Et
all
in this aayinir].
We
the
which
is
sea-
was
stung, while
would of neceshave taken place, not because some of the fish were dead, but because they were unclean " all that have not fins and scales shall be an abomination unto you." (Lev.
this rejection of part of the contents
sity
xi.
9-12.)
it,
aairpi.
explains
Our
translation
Fritzche combines both meanings, for he using the word " bad," has not de-
termined absolutely
a v.
113
it,
we
we
see cleaving to
which
is
not holy,
is
an alien disturbing element, which shall one day be perfectly separated As all the prophets foreannounce such a glorious consummafrom it.
tion,
so in the Revelation
it
is
contemplated as
at last
accomplished
" ivUhout are dogs," (Rev. xxii. 15,) where, as in the words used here,
and
in so
many
it
Church
is
contemplated as an holy
to
enter
it
and from
which,
if
shall sooner
or later be excluded
shut out
for ever,
were obliged
to
remain
camp, which was the figure of the true kingdom of God. offers no explanation of the " vessels " into which the good
thered
;
Our Lord
fish
are ga-
nor, indeed, is
any needed
;
at ver. 30,
the "
many mansions
the
" prepare for his people, the " everlasting habitations (Luke xvi. 9) into which he promises to receive them,f the " city which
Lord went
Abraham
looked
for.
(Heb.
xi. 10.)
?
But
to
whom
is
Here
ij:
can-
also Vitringa's,
its
that those
who
tles
contents, being,
same
Lord's promise,
xlvii.
19
Luke
v.
10
Ezek.
10
Jer.
) so the last
must be
From
this
image
is to
'|w,
and
(as
its
The Church
/coct/ios
regarded as complete in
itself,
distinctly
iv.
drawn.
Col. iv. 5
(ol
c^u,
Mark
11
that is expel from this holy enclosure, this city of refuge, those that
vi.
come
to
him.
(John
37.)
The
xii.
is
redeemed creation.
He
that
as
the dead vine branches are flung forth from the vineyard
kingdom of God.
:
c.
3)
mag-
na secreta.
X
Erklar. This
last
d.
Parah.,
p.
351, seq.
we
connect
this
it
what
follows, but as
before,
and so make
not a threat, but a promise that into whatever place the Lord's people have been scattered,
from thence he
hymn
attributed to
Clement of Alexandria,
addressed
114
ments, but the same messengers of the Covenant, and as such, angels,
to
No
progressive de-
always thus judging and separating (1 Cor. v. 4, 5 ; Jude 22, 23;) putting away one and another from her communion, as they But she does not count that openly declare themselves unworthy of it.
velopment,
is
she has thus cleansed herself, or that this perfect cleansing can be effected
we
41
;
named
as the executionIt
xxiv. 31
xxv. 31
seems
then contrary
to the
analogy of
passage in
also inspect
its
away
but
it
is
pushing
this
circumstance, which, in
weak
same
should also hold good in the spiritual thing signified. In the nearly allied
parable of the Tares, there was no improbability in supposing those
who
to
who
:
finally
in
marked
those are
The
same way
here, but
it is
marked way.
be,
The
human
may
impersonally.
And when
the
Lord himself
the beginning of
away
upon which
to
is
which
drawn.
'X^^^ nyvovi
'A.Xiev jiepdiroiv
ircXayoDf Kaxia;
yXvKcp^
fojoT
ScXea^wv.
is
a marked distinction^
which
ters
it
is
little
likely should
doom
reapers
in
the
in the
[SoiXoi)
and attendants
(oJ
the
Pounds between
the
ser-
KapccruTCi ,
Luke
xix. 25).
116
and
:
it be at the end of the come forth and sever the wicked from among the
lay
" So shall
and
Assuming then
as
we may, and
and leavers,
we may
find
is
attributed to them.
Ever since
constitution of the
withdrawn from men's sight for so epoch of the kingdom, they shall again " come forth" from
down among
first
men, the
judgments.
at the
Though
the
the parable, as
to that
was observed
beginning, at
sight
appears so similar
same
moral of
in fact, is
very
different.
is
It is
need-
purpose of that
clearly, that
we
that be not content with being enclosed within the Gospel-net, " they are not all Israel, who are of Israel," but that, in the "great
house" of the Church, "there are but of wood and of earth, and some
and meet
of
all
(2
Tim.
ii.
20, 21
;)
and
will
an end, separating,
and
from the
vile
it
humanity
for a while
was enveloped.
seven parables, the present
Having arrived
will be a
fit
and how far they constitute a complete whole. number seven has offered to many interpreters a temptation too strong to be resisted for the seeking in them some hidden mysand when the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, and the names tery
relation to one another,
The
mystical
vi. 5,)
states of the
ii.
Church, not
iii.,)
it
was scarcely
be expected that
prophetic of
made
They have
have apologized
for
making an
Chrysostom well
in Evang.),
Timendum
est potiCis
quam exponendum.
t Alex.
Knox,
in his
Eemains,
v. 1, p.
408.
116
unheard
of.
Having
"
It is
my
per-
suasion that the parables in this chapter are not to be considered disjointedly, but to be taken together as a connected series, indicating, pro-
advancement through which the mystikingdom of Christ, upon earth, was to proceed, from its commencement to its consummation. ... It will be understood, then, that each
parable has a period peculiarly
its
own,
in
which the
state of things, so
signified,
predominates
but
when another
It
state of things
commences,
;
operative
way
bination of all that has gone before, and, of course, the grand concluding
spirit
whole."
first
tlieory,*
thus: the
apostles,
when was
word of eternal
The
third,
that of the
Mustard Seed,
to the
time of Constantine,
when
it,
its
shadow and
protection.
The
Leaven, refers
to the
The
fifth,
more
(xii.
6) by the
woman
The
shall
glorious time
when
the
kingdom
be esteemed above
all
things,
The
seventh, of the
compare the two schemes with one another, will be inhow merely capricious they both must be, when he notes the considerable differences that exist between tlicm. They have two out of the seven, the fifth, and the sixth, altogether ditlerent.
duced
to
suspect
in a
to
were
to
come
Praeter
communes
convcniunt
et
jEtates
quidem
complemento
incipiat,
non tamen
sequenlis exeat. An essay which I know only by name, Reuss Meletema de sensu septem Parab., Matih. xiii. prophetico, Haun. 1733, must no doubt be an exposition of the same theory. See against it Marckius, Syll. Dissert.
prior quaelibet ante initium
:
Exerc.
4.
HJ
them
to ac-
only
it
was
main purpose
in uttering
quaint his servants with the future destinies of his Church, but rather to
give them practical rules and warnings for their conduct.
So, too,
doubtless the seven have a certain unity, succeeding one another in natural order,
in
themselves
thus
in the
Sower
are set forth the causes of the failures and success which the word of
the Gospel meets,
when
it is
development of Christ's kingdom, even after a Church has been hedged in and fenced round from the world, are destacles to the internal
clared and are traced up to their true author, with a warning against
the
manner in which men might be tempted The Mustard Seed and the Leaven declare
and therefore implicitly prophesy of
its
to
remove those
obstacles.
the
victorious might,
the
;
first,
kingdom
development
obstacles,
and
its
As
general, so the two which follow are subjective and individual, declar-
its
how
all
those
who have
its
renounce
things for
sake
This
in the
which
second
we saw
that
pass,
that separation
which
it is
own
time,
and
lookino-
forward
to
which, each
is to strive
that he
may
ileges and
him, that he
means of grace, which the communion of the Church affords may be found among those that shall be the Lord's when he shall put away all the ungodly like dross, when he shall set a difference between them who serve him, and them who serve him not.
PARABLE
VIII.
23
35.
;
There
is
while, at the
same
which this parable was spoken Then came Peter," seem to mark
X18
that the
unbroken.
It
may
perhaps be thus
traced
felt in
manner of
we had
is
forgiven,
we could
even
him thus;
fellowship,
to the
14, 15,)
and with
it
a view
as
to his recovery,
Nor does
mean,
we might
be too
much
a better mind,
we
should even
;*
for
St.
Were
(see ver.
15-17
is
;)
and that
to
in opposition
what immediately
follows,
where
it
extended
number
was taking
more than the Jewish masters enjoined.:}: He increased the number of times with the feeling, no doubt, that the spirit of the new
four times
law of love which Christ had brought into the world, a law larger, There was required this. freer, more long-suffering, than the old,
As
neither,
on the other hand, does the command to forgive till seventy times if need be, of severity, provided always it be a dealing in love.
83,
c. 7)
:
non recedat.
Plorat
secandus, et secalur
tia
Non
medici dicatur.
Cf.
Sa3vit in vulnus, ut
homo
sanetur, quia
vulnus palpetur,
homo
perditur.
Serm. 211. t Our Lord's " seventy times seven" of forgiveness makes a wonderful contrast, which has not escaped the notice of St. Jerome (v. 2, p. 565, edit. Bened.) to Laiv.
;
24.)
for
as Origen and
it,
70
-[-
= 77
ifiiofjii^KovTa JirroKif,
but 70
x 7 = 490.
and not more, on
They grounded
also
Amos
i.
on Job
x.\xiii.
29, 30
loc.)
at
this last
While
It is
number
(Hipcais)
seven.
the
number
in
the divine
was ever
linked.
;
The seven
;
Lev. XXV. 28 cf iv. 6, 17 xvi. 14. 15. It is true that we find it as the number of punishment or retribution for evil also; (Gen. iv. 15; Lev. xxvi. 18,21,24,28; Deut.
xxviii.
25
Ps. Ixxix. 12
Prov.
vi.
31
Dan.
iv.
16
Rev. xv.
;)
119
of love,
new law
at
though
time, a
it
overcome by
hate,
good by
evil.
the
same
fundamental error
notion, that a
which forgiveness should not extend, there was evidently implied the man in forgiving, gave up a right which he might, under
The purpose of our Lord's answer, is to make clear that when God calls
right to exercise in the matter
:
on a
member
nounce
to
now no
to
show
it
and
it
is difficult
instruction could have conveyed this truth with at all the force and conviction of the following parable.
better,
" Therefore," to the end that you may understand what I say the " is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which
first
would take account of his servants." This is the which God appears in his character of King.
with
of the parables in
are the servants
is
We
;
whom
he takes account.
Yet
this is not, as
plain, the
fnal
Luke
xvi. 2.
To
he brings us
face,
by of our before our by awakening and alarming our conscience was asleep by casting us of by bringing us
by
the preaching of the law,
the setting
sins
that
before,
into adversities,
into perils
death, so
that
before us
feel that
we
more than
when through one means or another he brings our careless carnal security to
an utter end.
the
(Ps.
1.
21.)
before
word of Nathan the prophet (2 Sam. xii.) thus the Ninevites by the preaching of Jonah, thus the Jews by John the Baptist. " And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which
God by
one
talents ;" he had not to go far, before he lighted This perhaps was the he had only " begun to reckon."
;
first into
there
may
lies
ment
phere.
It is the
storm which violently restores the disturbed equilibrium of the moral atmos-
why
Peter should
!>
159)
Hapernpriaei'
Ilfrpot,
E/i^ao-ii' t')(tiv
'e,li66^r\ ftjxcpa
Travaeus TtXtt'of, ov
ariixcTov
to aa0l3aT6v c^tiv, h
dird
yeviccus.
120
more
to
likely he
for
(Rom.
ii.
5) an
is
immense, whatever
differ
;
talents
in
we suppose
it
these to have
to the
would
very
much
amount, according
which we assumed
if,
indeed, the
Hebrew,
would then be a
express the
sum
perfectly
enormous
;*
fitter to
us, the
may
be best exser-
;"]
or
seeing that in the despotisms of the East, every individual, from the
to the
monto
in fact
name
be one, to
whom some
chief post of
in the
a satrap who
by comparing
should have remitted the revenues of his province to the royal treasury.
*
it
How
great a
sum
it
to ourselves
made
in Scripture.
;
(Exod. xxxviii. 24
David prepar;
ed
for
talents
(1
the queen of
;
Sheba presented
14
and
Solomon, as a royal
gift,
one hun-
(1
Kin. x.
(2 Kin. xviii.
at the last,
in the
the land
was brought
upon
it,
Hor. Heb.
of
v. 1, p.
semblance
men
is
impossible to pay
it is
which
is
owing
to the king,
and which,
inhabitants,
he remits.
t
According
to Plutarch,
{Eeg.
et
Imp. Apothegm.,)
it
was
the
exactly this
sum
of
ten thousand talents with which Darius sought to buy off Alexander, that he should
same sum was imand when Alexander, at Susa, paid the debts of the whole Macedonian army, they amounted to only twice this sum, though every motive was at work to enhance the amount. (See Droysen's Gesch. Alexanders, p. 500.) Von Bohlen (Das Alt. Ind.,\. 2, p. 119)
not prosecute his conquests in Asia
;
as also
the
payment of
posed by the Romans, on Antiochus the Great, after his defeat by them
gives
do not
know whether
the
to his
man
of sin (2 Thes.
ii.)
that
is
here
indicated, or stranger
the Devil
v.
v. 1, p.
121
far
that he
is
whom
Nor would
his goods,
have gone
pay such a
;
debt, unit is
though,
true, the
words of the original do not imply that the king expected the
debt to be discharged with the proceeds of the sale, but that whatever
those proceeds were, they were to be rendered into his treasury.
The sale
them
to
for the
king commanded
rested
of his property.
Thus, according
Roman
were
That
it
to sell
an insolvent debtor,
it
is
family also came into bondage with him same custom in other places. (2 Kin. iv. 1
and we
Neh.
Jer. xxxiv.
8-11
Amos
ii.
viii. 6.)
it,
later
should be sold to
clined to think
make good the damage which he had that there was no such practice among
this
Jews
in
our
is
There
is
much
make
this pro-
bable
it is
we twice
meet with
law
;
in
parable,
where the creditor possessed the power of selling him into " The Tormentors'^ bondage, it would have been totally superfluous. also, (ver. 34,) those who make inquisition by torture, have a foreign apindeed,
to
where than
to sell those,
in
Judea.
For
God may be
said
whom
power of another.
By
may
be
Lord
thy
Compare
Thou
sellest
The
to
doom pronounced
him.''
against
him by
his lord, betakes himself to supplication, the one resource that remains
him
he
^'fell
The
observance
v. 3, p.
58-60.
122
was
but
it is
not said
vant.
His words, " Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee
are characteristic of the extreme fear and anguish of the moment, which
to
When
now
a
;
words
con-
first
vinced of his sin, they show that he has not yet attained
into his relations with his
this
to
full insight
God
much
due
to
learn
as
namely
;
make up
since
that future
God claims
it
it
even were
perfect,
which
We may
were allowed,
it
could
make
It
good
all
The words
portant, as
is
to
come
immensity of
his debt.
the subjective
measure of
little,
his
own
all.
estimate,
It is
was
or not at
true that
by
his
demeanour and
thei'e
his
would
own
it
was, in
while he
at
lost sight
of it altogether.
However,
the debt."
to
that servant was moved loith compassion, and loosed him, andforgave him
The
severity of
it is
till
the sinner
is
brought
thren, nothing
and having done its work, more than love in disguise to the acknowledgment of his guilt and misery, reloosing the bands of his sins and letting
the debt,"* a.nd thus this
appears as grace again, granting him more than even he had dared to
ask or
to hope,
him go
free.
v. 5, p.
285)
Toute disgrace
soi la
un reverse
denue en un
suite.
ille,
instant
si
entierement
lui.
. .
.
On
lui
femme
et ses
enfans
Son
sort s'adoucit
dans
la
Le
son
sujet.
On
lui
temps a etre
dans
les
bonnes graces de
la cour, et
123
been
the chiefest
so bringing
mercy of
it,
that
it
So
is it
God will forgive but he will have the sinner to know what and how much he is forgiven he summons him with that " Come now and let us reason together," before the scarlet is made white. (Isai. i. 18.) The sinner shall have the sentence
There cannot be a forgiving
;
of death in him
first, for
life
for
him.
xii.
by
his
mercy was shown did not receive it aright 5 he forgot it, and showed that he had forgotten conduct towards his fellow-servant. For going out from the preto
whom
;)
this
19
too soon
after, as
lord's
oiced
How striking
and instructive
is
that
word
going
slight as
it
For how is it that we are ever in danger Because we "go out" of the presence of our
God
greatness of our
vant's going out
By
the ser-
The term
'^fel-
low-servant" here does not imply any equality of rank between these
filled
similar offices
same
relation of servants to a
common
lord.
And
the
sum
talents,
to
show how
little
man can offend against his brother, compared man has offended against God, % so that,
to those are as
a drop of water to
of the
man
in
is
"
He
h tw
laid
the
* Theophylact
Oih\i yap
The Hebrew
talent =:
300
Assuming
this,
the
10000
that
is,
talents
100 pence
fifty
::
1250000
1.
thousand to one.
ponitur, ut sciamus nos valde multa et
si
Melancthon
summa
magna magna
magna
negligentia in invocatione,
magna
diffidentia, et
124
throat* saying,
in the original,
When
find therein
an aggravation of
harsh-
ness and cruelty, as though he was not even sure whether the debt were
owing or not,f this is on every ground to be rejected. That the debt he found a fellow-servant " who owed was owing is plainly declared ;" and the very point of the whole parable would him an hundred pence
;
be
lost
by the supposition
that
we had
it
;
of the
common
;
sort.
In that case
to
speak a
the law
a one
but here
right,
we have
namely
summum
this, that
it is
not
always
the
may
be indeed
to
summa
injuria.
This
man was
one
who would
fain be
measured
by God in one measure, while he measured to his brethren in another. But this may not be each man must take his choice he may dwell in but then, receiving grace, he must show grace the kingdom of grace If on the contrary he exacts the finding love, he must exercise love. uttermost, pushes his rights as far as they will go, he must look to have the uttermost exacted from him, and in the measure that he has meted It was in vain that ''his fellowto have it measured back to him again. servant fell down at his feet, and besought him," using exactly the same words of intreaty which he, in the agony of his distress, had used, and using had found mercy he continued inexorable ; he " went," that is, departed, dragging the other with him till he could consign him into
;
the safe keeping of the jailor; and thus in the words of St. Chrysostom, he refused " to recognize the port in which he had himself so lately es-
extreme
was condemning
himself, and
own mercy.
is
But such
man,
ignorance
own
guilt
makes him
is
or if by chance he
not so, he
by the weak defences of natural character, which may at any moment be broken down. The man who knows not his own guilt, is ever
so
The
ti
Ti
i(pci\cii, is
difficult, is to
be preferred to
Lachmann, does not imply any doubt as to whether but the conditional form was originally, though of the debt were really due or no course not here, a courteous form of making a demand, as there is often the same
6ipci\eii,
and which
retained by
;
X25
sin,
to
(2
Sam.
xii. 5,)
The man
it is
done
is
be as extreme
in
judging others, as he
hand,
whom
of a brother
in a
and
when he urges on Titus the duty of being gentle, and showing meekness unto all men, he adds, (Tit. iii. 3,) " For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures."
that passage, (Matt. i. 19,) in which man,"* would not make Mary a public example, whom yet he must have believed to have done him grievto be humane is human ; ous wrong. It is just in man to be humane, In exact
harmony with
this
view
is
it is
may
whether
man
own proper
in
guilt.
is
(John
viii.
7-9.)
But not
heaven only
there indignation,
when men
measured to them. There are on earth also those who have learned what is the meaning of the mercy which the sinner finds, and the obligations which it lays on him and who grieve over all the lack of love
"
When
his
to
them
grief, to
ascribed.
The
its
own
guilt,
come
to ripeness in another,
in
own
one
sorrow
be the predomiis
is,
but in
when the spectacle of moral evil God the pure hatred of sin,"j- which
Lord
all that
brought
indeed,
* AiKatn;,
= ^pnaTos,
l-msiKfu.
On
the
there are some very valuable remarks in Augnstine's reply to the cavils of a Manichaean (Con. Adv. Leg. et Proph., 1. 1, c. 20) Pcsnitentia Dei non est post errorem Ira Dei non habet perturbati animi ardorem Misericordia Dei non habet compatientis miserum cor Zelus Dei non habet mentis livorem. Sed poenitentia Dei dicitur rerum
:
Ad
Simplic,
I.
2, qu. 2.
126
ous complain
that are
to
in their
wrought
themselves, the wrongs which they are not strong enough to redress themselves, they can at least bring unto him, and he hears their cry.
and addresses
it
is
no-
ticeable he had not used before for his debt's sake, but
gave
now he uses on and ingratitude " Q thou wicked servant,* Iforbecause thou desiredst me : shouldest not thou also
wert thou bound, was not a moral compassion, even compassion had been shown
not
have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ?"
there
obligation on thee, to
to thee ?
show
as
We may
needing
is
mercy, he refused
unmerciful
still
;
to
show
it,
so that they
who
like
him
are hard-hearted and cruel, do not thereby bear witness that they
;
is,
an
we have been made partakers in our baptism benefit, stands firm, whether we allow it to exercise a purifying, fying, humanizing influence on our hearts or not. Our faith
that
fact, the
great
mercy
of that
sancti-
appre-
it,
set
it
in the
heavens.
was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors," according to that word, " He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy." (Jam. ii. 13.) Before he had dealt with him
his lord
And
" The as a creditor with a debtor, now as a judge with a criminal. tormentors " are not merely the keepers of the prison as such ; but those
who
to
also, as the
;
word
implies, shall
make
and
the
life
him
in that
fellow-sinners
evil angels
it
instruments of
strange that the
But here
is
* Bengel
Sic
Be
Grotius
makes
= icapoipi^aKCi, and
;
Kuinoel,
who
observes
we know,
tlie
Rome
there were
(see
v. 1, p.
i2J
for his ingra-
and
to
punishment not
him.
to
"When Hammond says, that the king " revoked his designed mercy," and would transfer that to the relation between God and sinners, this is an exampie of those evasions of a difficulty by help of an ambiguous expression, or a word ingeniously thrust in by the commentator, which are so frequent even in some of the best interpreters of Scripture.
It
was not
to forgive
him, but in the distinct words of the earlier part of the parable he "for-
An
ingenious explanation
is
is
that
which would
make
that
which he
Paul's, "
now
no
mercy
to
and love, which he had not paid, but which yet was due, according
word of
St.
Owe
man
ii.),
Nor
are the
They no
were punished
had
it
far
yet
still
it
is
may
down its own punishment; and moreover, to produce parallels from the questionable acts of imperfect men, is but a poor
of God.
sins,
by the Schoolmen
ing him to terms
;*
and of course
centurion
Ductum
is
se ab creditore
non
in serviiium, sed in
eigastulnm
inde ostentare
the
who
some
the
(/iutnii'o?,)
one shape or
to
we know
that
it
is
often
life is
nowadays,
often
make
or
if
made
bitter tc
him
In
all
for
the puris
27
;)
so that there
no
reason
why we
it,
the
word
Besides,
now have
been
less
was threatened, when his offence was not near so great as now it had become for then he was to have been sold into slavery. * By Pet. Lombard, 1. 4, dist. 22 Aquinas {Sum. TAeoZ.,pars 3, qu. 88,) and IL
;
228
which may be drawn from it, always take a prominent place in such But it may be worthy of consideration, whether the difficulties do not arise mainly from our allowing ourselves in too dead and ; from our sufformal a way of contemplating the forgiveness of sins
discussions.
same
time weak
and often failing ones, for the setting forth that truth.
One
cannot conceive of remission of sins apart from living communion with Christ ; this is one of the great ideas brought out in our baptismal service, that
we
are
But
fall
if
through sin
members of a righteous Person and justified in him. we cut ourselves off from communion with him, we
which
is
back
and death, a
upon which therefore the wrath of God is abiding. If then, laying apart the contemplation of a man's sins as a formal debt, ^\ hich must either be we contemplate the life out forgiven him or not
life
a walking
in darkness,
we
is,
can
better understand
falls
how a man's
back
into the
upon him
that
he sinning anew
delivered, and no doubt all that he has done of evil in former times adds
to the thickness of that darkness,
to
(John
Even
as also
it
left
forgiveness
find
short of the
is
in the
must
in
man
abide in faith
and obedience,
which he
whom
but on the contrary evidently and plainly showed by his conduct, that
he had " forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." partake of the final salvation must abide in Christ, else he
forth as a branch,
He
that
is to
This
is
the condition,
not arbitrarily imposed from without, but belonging to the very essence
of the salvation
DE Sto Victore.
deant.)
Cf.
itself;
as, if
(Z>e
Sacram
1.
diinissa re-
1, c. 12.
Cajetan, quoting
Rom.
xi.
29, "the
gifis
God
of the pardon which had once been granted: Repetuntur debita semel donata, non ut
fuerant prius debita, sed ut
the decision of Aquinas.
mod6
which
is
exactly
that he abode there, and did not again cast himself into the raging
ters.
this parable
light,
by
John
i.
7,
"If we walk
sin."
in the light as
he
in the
we have
his
He whom
falls
back
he has,
familiar to
many
that the
often found
an argument
was
it
v.
26
But
is
now be
;-|-
that
For
man
it
he
is
which
ble
fulfilled,
was
way
just as,
re-
when
would not
turn to
again,
till
the
was
in fact the
most emphatic
;
form
the present.:}:
:
shall
The Lord concludes with a word of earnest warning " So likewise my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts ^forgive
" So"
with
the
same rigour
it,
loc.
27,
c. 8.
tov-
1, c.
11)
Donee
solvas....miror
solvet, seci
si
non earn
significat
SoRemigius
solvere.
is
Semper
nunquam
persolvet.
t Just as the
+
Roman
proverbs,
Ad numum
extremum assem
to pass
Just so
put
come
them
fly all
to
Dunsinane
merely of acts of
vindicvestris,
Ephes.
but also of
all jivriaiKaKia.
;
H. de Sto Victore: Ut nee opere exerceat and Jerome Dominus addidit, de cordibus
;
omnem
simulationem
fictee
pacis averteret.
30
Chrysostom observes,
imply
relationship
my heavenly
Father, meaning to
yours he will not be, since so acting you will have denied the
;
Lord
to the
often says.
My
Father,
On
the
mercy received and a mercy yet needed. Sometimes for showing mercy " forgiving one another as Christ forgave you ;" (Col. iii. 13 Ephes. iv.
between
first
is
sometimes the last, " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall " obtain mercy ; " (Matt. v. 7 ;) "Forgive and ye shall be forgiven ;
32
:)
(Luke vi. 37; Jam. v, 9;) and so the son of Sirach, (xxviii. 3, 4,) " One man beareth hatred against another, and doth he seek pardon from the Lord ? he showeth no mercy to a man who is like himself,
and doth he ask forgiveness of
to look
his
own
sins
"
!
forward
to the
mercy which he
Bengel beautifully
receive, as a
calls the
Benigna
to
its
:
talio
new
provocation
this point
abundant exercise. Tholuck has " From the circumstance that mermerciful
here [Matt.
part,
it
v. 7]
on our
'
we
;
are to
but this
conclusion would only be just on the supposition, that the divine compas-
to
man
it
is
life
culminating point
in eternily,
it
behooves us
God
for
for
one
another."*
And
of a difficulty suggested
by Origen,f namely, where in time we are to place the transactions for on the one hand, there arc reasons shadowed forth in this parable
!
why
it
they should be placed at the end of this present dispensation, since, might be asked, when else docs God take account with his servants
for
if
it
were
p.
93.
Comm.
in Mallh., xviii.
131
which he
show
?
the harshness
The
difficulty disappears,
when we no
forward,
life.*
some
definate
it
as ever going
as
running parallel
PARABLE
IX.
THE LABOURERS
This parable stands
in
IN
THE VINEYARD.
Matthew
xx. 1-16.
the preceding chapter, and can only be rightly understood by their help, so that the actual division of the chapters
is
causing, as
it
to
dently of the context, and without any attempt to show the circumstances
out of which
it
sprung.
And
* There
V. 2, p. 334.)
is
briefly this.
at
vision
other,
had
fallen out.
who was
the
a priest, refused.
While
it
the persecution of
Valerian began; and Sapricius, the priest, having boldly confessed himself a Christian,
was on
way
again refused.
of execution.
fice to the
to death. Nicephorus met him and again sued for peace, which wag While he was seeking and the other refusing, they arrived at the place
He
was here
faith:
while Nicephorus, boldly confessing, stepped in his place, and received the
lost.
finely parallel
to Christ,
Be-
own
away
he
advantages of his position, his Lord was angry, took away from his
him again to fall under those powers of evil from which he had It comes out, too, in this story, that it is not mei-ely the outward wrong and outrage upon a brother, which constitutes a likeness to the unmerciful serthe unforgiving temper, even
1, qu.
vant, but
apart from
.
all
such.
So Augustine
{QucBst.
Evang.,
1.
25)
Noluit ignoscere,
illi
eum hunc
animum,
ut supplicia
vellet.
132
THE LABOURERS
IN
THE VINErARD.
of,
and was
in fact
an answer
tion will
What shall we have?" the success of the exposimainly depend. The parable now to be considered is only secUnjust Steward in the number of explanations,* and
it
;
ond
to that of the
those the most widely different, that have been proposed for
also only second to that, if indeed second, in the difficulties
it.
as
it is
which beset
I
These Chrysostom f
states clearly
and strongly
though few,
is first
think,
There
the dif-
harmony with
it
the saying
by which
is
trate
is
same
as finds place
in regard
himself a
it,
"be
member of the kingdom of God "by that lowest of all passions, enmurmurers and
and
ulti-
vy, and an evil eye," grudging in his heart the favours shown to other
or, if
it
that
kingdom, how
all
day
?
in the vineyard,
And
what
to
is
main docthey,
which we are
those
gather from
Of
to interpret
it
there are
first
who
the
key
to the
dom
lier
of God.:}:
But
however
may
appear
to
evidently agrees
connected with
this parable,
;
con-
no
less
are given in
Wolf's
Curee.
all
Denarius
ille
vita ffiterna
;
est, quae
all
omnibus par
est,
in the
kingdom of God
for
In like
7, c. 11,
same firmament, yet " one star differeth Cf. De Sand. Virglory :" (Splendor dispar, cesium commune.) manner Bernard, In Ps. Qui habitat, Serm. 9, 4 and see Am;
brose, Ep.
this
1.
4, c. 36.
he says
qui recedere
nee
cum
illo,
133
" Many
that
all
is
and
would
be,
;"*
of
all
upon a
level.
meant to
truth,
God does
Of this view
it
more
at large,
will be
enough now
this
entirely gratuitous
it,
circumstance,
if
the narrative
had turned on
asserts that
its
Calvin
again
purpose
over-confident, be-
cause
we have begun
well
our exertions,
first, fall
we
into
that
it
to boast,
armour.
But neither
in
will
who
were
labour dur-
not the
penny equal
to all,
cessive hours at which the different bands of labourers were hired, the
And
these interpreters
may
ary,
first
of the diflferent summonses to a work of God has made to men from the beginning of the to Moses, and lastly to to Abraham, to Noah, to Adam, world, the apostles, bidding them each, in his order, to go work in his vineyard.
make
it
to contain a history
righteousness, which
Of these,
sations,
all
had not
the
such abundant
God
members of
Christian Church.
set forth
gnome
thus
Qui
eum
secuti
but
:
this is
So Maldonatus
mercedem
vitae
;
aBternse
and Kuinoel
If
Non
alio
Dominum
spectasse
quam
ut suos
citaret.
fere
we
it
;
gnome by
we might
makes of it,
134
by
THE LABOURERS
IN
THE VINEYARD.
more oppressive time of the
and that
;)
at the
day
faithful
who were
dispensation,) and
in
John [1 Ep. ii. 18] calls the Christian were made partakers of the larger, freer grace that But in Christ, had to endure little by comparison.
it
to this explanation,*
may
murmuring
Those prior
have taken place, even supposing the people of God could thus grudge
because of the larger grace freely bestowed upon others?
generations could not have so
things were even revealed
murmured in their lifetime, for before the which God had prepared for his people that
graves.
came
fect.
after,
they were
in their
Far
less is
it
to
be conceived as
per-
day of judgment, or
in the
Unless, then,
we
quite explain
away
the
it
who
were imparted
might be provoked
to
murmur
at the
more richly endowed successors, were it possible to imagine that such a unless we accept feeling of envy could be entertained in their heart,
as,
were
it
worth while,
be
Then
hours
at
men's
lives, at
the purpose
on his service,
now
to
gences
might
rest.
This
John
is,
in the main,
iv.
35-38 would
afford a
there declared.
The
''
other
men"
went before, doing their harder tasks under the Law, breaking up the fallow ground of men's hearts, and wiih toil and tears sowing their seed, this would answer to the bearing here the burden and heat of the day. The blessedness of the disciples is there magnified, in that theirs is an easier task, the reaping and
are the generations that
which
is
the counterpart to the coming into the vineyard at the eleventh hour.
feeling of the
first
there also declared, the only feeling which could find place in the
kingdom of God,
they " rejoice together," (ver. 3G,) are unenvying partakers of the same joy.
t
And
also Jerome's
{Comm.
in Maith.)
Samuel
cum
Psalmista dicere.
Ex
utero
THE LABOURERS
while,
IN
THE VINEYARD.
may
If that
"[35
under certain
limitations,
such encou-ragement
another thing
to
undoubtis
it is
the
admonishment which
interpretation, in
it is
were the
what
living connexion
what went
spirit
or with the
out of which that question grew, and which this teaching of the
to
meet and
to
correct
is
it
more
is
truth in
that
which makes the parable a warning and a prophecy, of the causes which would lead to the rejection of the Jews,
first
the
ly their proud
own work
their
at
once
Gcd
made with
is
the
first
of
in
by no means
to
be excluded.
was notably
the
Jews
but
its
application
for
between man and God, that they are continually finding their fulfilment.
Had
this
however been the meaning which our Lord had exclusively, we should expect to hear of but two bands
first
of labourers, the
all
those
to
that the
first,
;
thirdly,
less strict-
witnesses for
jugum
Christi
nonae, qui
jam
declinant ad senium
accipiuiit
Et tamen omnes
pariter
praemium,
is
satisfies,
Grotius
for it
and
also
v. 4, p.
everything whereof
capable, to
whi acceptance
for
136
directed against a
wrong tem-
and
spirit
men
have need
to be,
time the immediate occasion from which the parable rose, was not one
in
This
is
primarily addressed to them, but to the apostles, as the chiefest and fore-
most
vineyard "
toil
Church, the
the first,'"
amount of
suffering and
undergo.
They had
to
man
They
be,
as in
all)
so
many
spokesman of
this
all for
would
fain
know what
their
reward should
very
the Gospel's
first
they and
same for his sake, should reap an abundant (ver. 28, 29.) reward, At the same time the question itself, " What it was putting their relation to shall we have ?" was not a right one there was a tendency in the question to their Lord on a wrong footing
many
as should do the
much work,
so
much reward.
There was
so
much
comparison between
themselves
and the
who had not shrunk back from the command to forsake all, young man who had found the requirement too hard for him.
of self-exalting comparison of ourselves with others, which
That
is
spirit
so likely to be stirring,
part,
was
at
work
in
them
to their question
had been
mind, obscurely working within him, one of which he was himself hardly
conscious
;
with a glance
to the direct
question, went on
by
the
lest
bud before
it
should proceed to
this
once the evil sprout in develope itself further. " Not of works,
the truth
was
in
danger
;
of losing sight
if nothing
and
of works, but
of grace for
all,
137
shall
we have ?"
it
As they in
sired to
deed and
had forsaken
be,
all for
know what
their
reward should
good
to
reward
shall be great.
so,
as
is suffi-
But many
;"
and he will warn them now against giving place too much
out of which the question
to that spirit
own work, an
to
certain attempt
bring in
God
as
their debtor.
it is
against
directed,
entitled,
On
kingdom of God,
the whole
finding
a most instructive
commentary
in
Rom.
iv.
more deeply
As
far as
is
it
is
the parable
careful to
watch against
For we
communion of
Christ.
Least of
all
to forgot that
* Gerhard
ta, et
Sub finem,
quia Christo Petri et reliquorum confidentia non fuit ignosese aliis preeferrent,
et
verendum
hunc
metu
refers
Muhi autem
ahum
So
also Olsliausen,
who
to ver.
20-28 of
Mark
x. 35,) as
an evidence how
liable the
promise
(xix. 28)
was
to be perverted
and misunderstood by the old man which was not yet But the whole matter has been strangely reversed by
in the parable
a follow-
seem
first
in the
kingdom of God while the first, young man and all the
day of the Lord."
But
it
this
would indeed
the very pur-
have been
fuel to
fire
was
^ke.
10
138
he also
is
THE LABOURERS
IN
THE VINEYARD.
to
come
to
an head, actually to take form and shape, which they do in the parable,
as justifying them
to
to
murmurers
"
here.
kingdom hereafter
for love
fact of
another would prove that he himself did not dwell in love, and therefore
was himself under sentence of exclusion from that kingdom. f It is then a warning to the apostles, and through them to all believers, of what might be, not a prophecy of what shall be with any that share in the
final
reward
abundant
their labours, yet if they had not this charity to their brethren,
fly in the
however great
first
it
and from
they would
to last,
ference between the narration in the parable, and the truth of which
is
it
for the
householder altogether
first
labourers of their
and
quently they receive their wages, and are not punished with more than a
severe rebuke, yet the lesson to be taught to Peter, and through him
all disciples in all
to
times,
is,
that the
first
may
be altogether
forget
last, that
those
who seem
is
reward
of grace and not of works, and begin to boast and exalt them-
may
which
their
::j:
and those
who seem
the
may
;
yet,
by keeping
humility, be acknowledged
first in
day of God
and
is like
in proof of this,
the parable which follows was spoken. " The kingdom of heaven It commences thus
:
unto a
man
thai
is
in the
morning
to
hire labourers
in other words.
The manner
* In the beautiful worcl3 of Leighton (Pralect. 6.): '0 (pOunoi i^io tov Osiov x"?"^' sed caritas absolutissima, quaunusquisque simul cum sua alterius inutuo felicitate fruicoltetatus ; unde inter illos iiifinita qiiaedam tur et beatus est ilia scillicet tanquam sua beatiludinis repercussio et multiplicatio est ; quails foret splendor aula; auro et geniniis, vegum et magnatum clioro, nitentis, cujus parietcs speculis undique iucidissimis
pleno
obtecti essent.
murmuring
Coslorum regnum nullus murmurans accipit nullus qui accipit, murmurare poterit. Great again {Moral., 1. 19, c. 21) Ferit <mine quod agitur, si non t Gregory the
:
THE LABOURERS
those
is,
IN
THE VINEYARD.
his Church,
139
whom
he calls
to the
privileges of working in
his
kingdom
that
is
similar to that
of an householder,
who went
This
ever true in the heavenly world, that God seeks his labourers, and not they him ; " You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
is
Every summons
:
to a
work
in the
heavenly vineyard
;
is
all
which
it is
is
man's
in the
matter
summons, which
It is
his
melancholy prerogative
to the instructive
that he
is
able to do.
:
Scriptural expression
is
call implies
no force, but
something which
may
be obeyed or refused,
so also
is it in
the spiritual.
for a
The householder agreed with the first labourers The different terms upon which the different bands
their work,
penny a day.f
of labourers went to
were
to
be laid on
would scarcely have been so expressly noted, unless stress it. An agreement was made by these first-hired la-
bourers before they entered on their labour, exactly the agreement which while those subsePeter wished to make, " What shall we have ?"
spirit,
was
pre-
Thus we have
spirit
which
comes
to
;)
on the other
side,
we have
is
the
true spirit of
will give far
that
God
not un-
* Fleck
Non
in
consistit
to
remark of
the
frequent application.
denarius, a
Roman
fact
;
silver
coin,
Greek
drachm, though in
the
was
commonwealth
p.
mon, though a
custom
liberal day's
(See Tob.
v. 14.)
through Persia,
in
the market-place at
Hamadan
before
spades
in their
This custom
me
we
still
idle,
and
re-
membered
cause no
t
his words,
'
Why
us.'
stand ye here
all
the
day
to
idle
?'
as
most applicable
us,
'
to
Be-
man
hath hired
Thus Bernard,
many
interesting
Ille
140
At
THE LABOURERS
the third, at the
at
IN
THE VINEYARD.
ninth hour,
sixth,
and
at the
at nine
in the
morning,
midday, and
at three in the
whom
ahout
the eleventh
others standing
idle?''''
and
Why
labour that
Church,
no
in his sight a
standing
idle.
man
There was a
amount of rebuke
in the
for
it
question,
which
It
it
is
away
under sacramental obligations, with the pure word of God sounding in or at least, only in such their ears, that this answer could be given
now presents, where in the Church multitudes have been allowed to grow up ignorant of the blessing which her communion affords, and the responsibilities it and even in their mouths there would only be a parlays upon them
woeful cases as that which our
own
land
bosom of
the
tial
No man
would only be
when
"
it
the
kingdom of God
hired us,
is first set
up
in a land, enters as a
new and
hitherto
unknown power,
that sinful
men
with
full truth
could answer,
No manhath
it
Satan,
if we have been living in disobedience to God, we were ignorant of him, if we were serving was because we knew no other master, because we knew not
that there
as living for
his
bringing forth
honour of
and
Yet while thus the excuse which the labourers in the parable plead, to them who growing up within the Church, have despised to the last, or nearly to the last, God's repeated biddings to go work
appertains not
* These would not, except just at the equinoxes, be exactly the hours, for the Jews,
as well as the Greeks and
Romans, divided
summer
is
than in winter
for
by no
means
trifling
48"", with
The
come
v.
into
p.
Eom.
Antt.,
s.
Horn,
485.)
as the
Probably the day was also divided into the four larger parts here indicated, just
Roman
Mark
xiii.
35.
t Maldonatus
Totum mundum
THE LABOURERS
in his vineyard
IN
THE VINEYARD.
14^
to
matters
little at
obligations
upon the service of God, how long they despise his vows and which have been upon them from the beginning ; yet one
that there
is
in the Christian
men
being called,
long before,
or
Church
to
as
men obeying
Only
the case
I0 that
to make the same excuse as they who being bidden to go work in his
;
but rather to
father's vineyard,
refused, but afterwards repented and went (Matth. xxi. 28 ;) and such an one, instead of excusing and clearing himself as respects the past, which these labourers do, will on the contrary have deep repentance in
his heart, while he considers all his neglected opportunities
continued despite which he has done to the Spirit of grace. Yet while thus none can plead, " No man hath hired us," in a land where the
Christian faith has long been established, and the knowledge jpf
it
brought
home unto
such
;
all
is
its
application in
many
vineyard
even
to a late one,
of their
lives,
and who,
may
find their
work, be
it
may
The author
it it
of a
modern Latin
essay,
De Sera
to
if
which
that
from
sed
Oportuisset dixisse
operarios in
conducendum
isti
to be drawn regnum ooelorum simile est homini egresso alto mane, ad vineam suam. Invenit tales quibus fecit maxima promissa,
manere
in foro ad
ludendum
et
compotandum. Re.
eadem
illisobtulit, et instantius
Idem
fecil
in utiles.
quin etiam ipsum male exceperunt, ipsique proterve dixerunt, quod nolIpse ne sic quidem ofTensus, reversus est, cixm non nisi una diei
Il!i
summam
ventum.
et
illi,
tantam
euaderi, spectantes
maxime quod
suum
:
in
vineam ad-
6) has the
same
iilos
line
of thought
Numquid enim
nisi
qui sunt ad
....
dixerunt
;
illi
Exspecta, non
nisi
imus
hora sextA
Non imus
hora nona
?
tantumdem daturus
facturus
sit,
Quid
daturus
sit et
quid
Tu quando
who
used
vocaris, veni.
this
Compare Gregory
142
THE LABOURERS
belongs not
hast thou done ?" but "
IN
THE VINEYARD.
kingdom of God.
to
the
Not "
How
which
much
What
art thou
now
;
men have
yet
the parable is
all
tlie
the
against
many
the lord of the vineyard saith ujilo his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, heginning from the last unto
thefrst.'^
same evening,
command
it,
him
and
Job.
he
is
poor,
;
upon
5
;
it."
v.
Mai.
iii.
Jam.
Tob.
iv.
14.)
the steward, or
(Heb.
iii.
John
v.
27;
Matth.
xi.
27.)
hands, and in
to the
this,
householder's
last
full
nired, those
commands the labourers are called together ; the who came in without any agreement made, receive a
is
penny.
Here
encouragement
have delayed
to
en-
ter
for
on God's service
till
not
encouragement
to delay,
we everywhere
*
on early piety
is
to
the
carried to
possible distinctness.
trois mille
124
il
faut avoir
amasse
How glorious, on the other hand, are Thauler's words upon the way in which we may have restored to us " the years which the canker-worm has eaten"
(Joel
ii.
2.5)
quis possit,
cum nullum
tam breve
et velox
temporis
cum omni virtuteac facultatc nostrA Deo crcalori deboamus. Scd hie in parte consilium sanissimum prieslatur. Avcrtat se quisque cum omnibus tam supremis quum infimis viribus suis ab omni loco et tempore, seque in illud Nunc ffiternitatis recipiat, ubi Deus essentialiter in stabili quodam Nunc existit. Ibi neque prseterituni aliquid
est,
neque futurum.
scilicet,
Ibi
principium et
finis universi
Ibi,
in in
Deo
Et qui
hi
Deum
se
immergere alque
ipso
commorari,
nimium
locupletes,
immo
licet.
plura inveniunt
in ipso
quum
THE LABOURERS
but encouragement
IN
THE VINEYARD.
and with their might.
^43
It is
now
to
work
heartily,
work
will
the
more strenuously
all
on the contrary,
is
that
parable which
may
likely to feel
them
it
encourages them
to
labour in hope
full blessings
of Christ
and of
It
his salvation.
may
all
between the
it
last
and the
first
though
is
alone which
is
others conceived
To
assume, as so
many
late
work
negligently
last hired,
1
such
for instance as
a Paul,
whom
it
and quoting
much
in their
is
hour as
assume
that of
which there
this,
And more
much,
than
such an assumption
lies
which
in this
very thing,
suffer
infinitely
more than
others,
and yet
be
last
may
and the
like
It is
whole matter
to
is
thus
the
in
commonest
man
does as
much work
one hour as
another in twelve,
ward.
Every
difficulty disappears,
it
except indeed
to utter
if
this,
how
the
Lord
to
or
But
to
in truth this
level,
from which
raise
us the
we have
is
who died at a very early age, and is as To what was R. Bon Bar Chaija like ? To a king who hired many labourers, among whom there was one hired, who performed his task extraordinarily well. What did the king ? He took him aside and walked with him to and fro. When
Talmud
follows
;
it is
"
even was come, those labourers came, that they might receive
their hire,
and he gave
'
him a complete
laboured hard
wages as we.'
And the labourers murmured, saying, We have all the day, and this man only two hours, yet he hath received as much The king saith to them, He hath laboured more in those two hours.
hire with the rest.
'
144
gelical, parable,
THE LABOURERS
IN
THE VINEYARD.
is
of debt,
meant
to
gainsay.
When
last
same sum as the others and no man of the house, saying, These
have wrought hut one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us,
the burden and heat* of the day.^' These other, they would say, have been labouring not merely a far shorter time, but when they entered on their tasks it was already the cool of the evening, when
toil is
us.
Either
number of God's
faithful
people,
murmur
or they
laboured the whole day through in his vineyard, and actually carrying
away
at last the
life ?
for
it is
a very un-
So R. Bon
plied the
law more
in eight
in the
an altered shape. Von Hammer (Fundgruben d. Orients, v. 1, p 157) has a curious extract from the Sura, or collection of Mahomet's traditional sayings,
Spicilegium of L. Ca-
which looks
like a distorted
The Jew,
Mathe
will
hommedan
evening twice as
much
'
as the others.
It
ends thus
to these
But
No.'
Have
is
wronged you
d.
in
your reward V
grace.'"
They answer,
Then
an overflowing of
my
terial differences in
v. 1, p.
Gerock's Christol.
Koran,
p.
141
Scriptures, they
ers.
when seeking for prophetic intimations of their faith in our make distinct reference to this parable, and its successive bands of labour{Aiitt. Jud., 20. 9. 7,)
which proves
a very re-
markable precedent
The Jewish
the
New
in the rebuilding or beautifying of the temple a whole day's pay, even though they
The
Kaiauiv,
which word
'
:
is
used in the
LXX.
i.
the
1.
wind from
:
the wilderness,"
e.
(Hos.
of which
in Os.,
3, c. 11)
Kauffufa,
ariditatem, sive
It
ventum uren-
est, et
has
much
in
comwind
mon Sam
with, though
it
or Samiel, to which
it
modern
travellers attribute
life
yet
more
destructive
effects,
speaking of
of
man
and wliose
effects
Venema {Comrn.
Subito corpora
p.
in Ps. xci. 6), thus describes: Penetrat ventus, venenatis particulis mixtus, testu Suo
venenato
41.
THE LABOURERS
natural
is
is
IN
THE VINEYARD.
^45
way
thine" as meaning,
Take
the damnation
which belongs
to thee,
and
discontent.
Thcophylact and
much
murmurwhich
king-
and make
it
the unexpected
position
here, will
occupy
in the future
But the expression of their discontent is too strong, and the rebuke which it calls out too severe, to allow of any such explaining
of glory. f
dom
of their dissatisfaction.
is
no analogy
to
be
man
There
you
is
it is
dom
beginnings
check
all
inclinations to look
grudgingly
now found
in the
same spiritual privileges,:}: or to look down upon and despise those who occupy a less important field of labour, who are called in the providence of God to endure and suffer less than yourdom, and are sharers
selves
;
check
all
you a claim of
right
ing
that
all
of the free
must be saved entirely by grace. murmurers actually receiving their penny, it is ingeniously remarked by a Romish expositor, that the denarius or penny was of different kinds there was the double, the treble, the fourfold; that of brass or rather copper, of silver, and of gold. The Jew (for he applies the parable to Jew and Gentile) received what was his, his
you
as well as others
to the
With regard
* Bellarmine
t
significare videtur.
is
The
of the
same
kind, though wiih particular reference to the Saints and Patriarchs of the Old Testa-
ment
ducti ad
regnum non
et
sunt,
quod
regno vixerunt,
spirit
tamen diu
xi.
ad percipiendum regnum
t
dilati sunt.
quotes Heb.
39,40.
There are many and interesting points of comparison, as Jerome observes, bethis parable
this,
tween
and
chiefly
labourers in
that.
and
he had
full
many
;
he
remon-
them
for
manner
him.
146
penny of
tlio
THE LABOURERS
moaner metal,
IN
THE VINEYARD.
and with that went his
way
but the Gentile the golden penny, the spiritual reward, grace and
is,
and yet
it
may
The penny
same,
"
very different
is
though
ohjeclively the
suhjeciively
very different
it
is in
fact to
will
make
it.*
What
this,
the Lord
said to
am
to
impart
him as he is, this is the penny unto all but they whom these murmuring labourers represent, had been labouring for something else besides the knowledge and enjoyment of God, with an eye to some other reward, to something on account of which they could glory in themselves and glory over others. It was not merely to have much which they desire, but to have 7nore than others, not to grow
himself.
namely
for all
To
see
together with the whole body of Christ, but to get before and beyond
their brethren |
and
the
did not
seem enough
while
penny then, because it was common to all, in fact it was to each what he would
* Thus Aquinas, in answer to the question whether there will be degrees of glory
in the future world, replies that in one sense there will, in another there will not
:
for,
frui
;
ad ejus fruitionem
and
ad mensuram gratim
et gloriee suscipiendae.
This
one vision of
God
but there
for
profoundly expressed in
Danto the
centre of light and life. Augustine {Enarr. in Fs. Ixxii. 1) carries yet further the view of the one vision of God for all he compares it to the light which gladdens the
:
healthy eye but torments the diseased (non mutatis sed mutatum).
vourite notion with the mystics that
ish
It
was
also a fa-
God would
differently
on different natures,
as, to
use
their
own
illustration, the
the clay
The
to
Zend-Avesta supplies a
to
parallel:
it is
same
streatn
it
warm
milk
the
will be as
molten brass.
:
The
true feeling
is
expressed by Augustine
fit
Sed tanta
passage,
est multis
and
in a
sublime
De
Lib. Arbit.,
2, c. 14,
bride, he exclaims
Omnes amatores
singulis casta est
:
suos nuUo
modo
communis
est et
Qui
quam numerus
The same
is
Com'
In
pill
ricchi
Di
se,
THE LABOURERS
make
it.
IN
THE VINEYARD.
constitute the blessedness of
is
247
the
For
if the vision
of
God
know
like, all
ad-
may reflect more distinctly the divine image, may see more clearly the divine glory, an that it may receive more amply of the divine
it
of
end by altogether
is
in
its
degree a
found place, darkening the eye of the heart, as a consequence the re-
it
enough
;")
instead of beto
willing, or rather
make
it.
" But he answered one of them," probably him who was loudest and foremost in the expression of his discontent, " and said, Friend,^ I do thee
no wrong
commonly a word
of address, as
me for a jjeimy .?" " Friend " is would be among ourselves, from a Scripture is a word of an evil omen, seeit
it is
Judas when
he came
to
own
and
They had
answered
is,
and go thy
long as
loay ;"
I
I am good
? so
am
just to
sed
quemadmodum idem
magis
calefacit
ab aquila
quam
ab
aliis
avibus, et
idem
ignis
sic in
eadem
et jucundius gaudebit
As
the heathen
:
and again
t
Non
Our "
it
potest
quisquam
Amice
c. 3,)
Sodalis,
which
it,
is better.
as
now
much
of contempt in
though
else
Envy
is
Sam.
xiv.
xviii. 9, ("
:")
Prov. xxiii. 6
lies in
xxviii.
22
Tob.
iv.
Sirac.
10
xxxi. 13
Mark
vii.
22.
There
widest spread in the world, of the eye being able to put forth positive powers of mischief
Thus
;
in in
Greek
and
0aaKalvttv
:
(pOoveiv
in Italian, the
mal-occhio
Persius
Urentes oculos.
See Becker's
148
you,
THE LABOURERS
may
I
IN
THE VINEYARD.
them."
not be
good* and
liberal to
The
that,
namely
is
away
to
the
human
adapt
relations,
it
must
itself, it
have made
them
forfeit their
displayed.
own hire, notwithstanding the bad Yet we may say their reward vanished
feeling
which they
and
absothis
in their hands,
God an
grudging, unloving, proud spirit has come to its full head for immediately after, " So the last shall be first, and the first last."
it is
said
Many
into
expositors have been sorely troubled how to bring these words agreement with the parable ; for in it first and last seem all put upon
footing, while here, in these words, a
;
the
is
same
asserted
highest,
;
it
is
compare
Luke
first,
xiii.
30,
where
the unbelieving
last,
declared.
Origen,
whom
Maldonatus follows,
tion of the difficulty in the fact that the last hired are the first in order of
payment
first
but this
is
must be
The circumstance
first
paid
is
ration; if the
paid, and,
as
then gone their way, they would not have been present to see that the
others had obtained the
same remuneration as themselves, and so would have had no opportunity of expressing their discontent. Neanderf finds
the difficulty of reconciling the parable with the words
which introduce
and
finish
it
we should
lose
confidence in the
He
ion
thinks the sentences and the parable to have been spoken on diirerent
occasions, and only by accident to have been here brought into connex;
this so
weighty parable
to
bring
through forced
it.
artifices
into
are
alien to
sufficient
Charikles, v. 2,
p.
We
o/ieaX/.oj,
the un-
grudging eye.
*
(Sirac. xxxii. 10
LXX.)
dyadoi and
<5iVaios
The same
is
opposition between
finds place,
Rom.
v. 7,
which
indeed words.
THE LABOURERS
answer;
but
is
IN
THE VINEYARD.
is
149
its
if that
not merely in
place here,
human
affairs,
could
forfeiture
There
is
more
"
Many
is
he
called,
hutfeio chosen."*
They
the connexion
easy and
of the King's Son, Matt. xxii. 14, but here they have
interpreters,
much
perplexed
such
at least, as will
Some
shown
explain them.
to
Many
less, their
reward
should be equal
thus Olshausen,
final salvation,
in the kingdom of God. These last hired had, in his view, laboured more abundantly, but this their more abundant labour was to be referred to a divine election, so
men
that the
cial
name "chosen"
or elect
becomes them
well, to
whom
such espe-
But
this supposition
part mars, as has been already noted, the whole parable, and
by no
means
to
be admitted.
may
the
refer to
who had
refused
altogether
work
in
at
the vineyard,
comparison with
whom
were so few, that the Lord could not bear that any of these should be shut out from his full reward. But the easiest interpretation seems to be, Many are
invitation,
who
called to
work
in
spirit,
any claim as of
to
own
:{:
part,
which
will allow
them
in the
end
Thus Wolf
also
(Curm, in
loc.)
sibi oppositos
tatis.
t
felicitatis
The
felicity
which God
seems
to bring us
back
and
to
150
PARABLE
X.
THETWOSONS.
Matthew
xxi.
28-32.
to i]eiice liim, if
he should decline to
if
answer, or
to obtain
he should give
as-
which, as
in
glass held
their
up before them, they might see themselves, the impurity of hearts, their neglect of the charge laid upon them, their contempt
Yet
but since
it is
a scrip-
vi. 1
Luke
vi.
35
it,
2 John 8
Rev.
find
no
reason
why we
its
even as
we
shrunk from
Thus
we pray
at the
" that
we
plenteously bring-
fruit
of good works
may
and
in the
Yet
:
understand what
we mean by
it.
Aquinas says
justitiae
quandam praesuppositionem
to
and
reward
has relation
is,
of merits expressed
tionis.
There
is
8, 14.)
When
it
it
is
said, "
God
;
is
of love,"
is
i.
faithful
(ovk SJikos
Com-
pare
John
Cor. x. 13
1 Pet. iv.
c. is
19.
By
free
4):
Non debendo
Deus
fecit.
a certain retrospect
ment
of
all
justifies is
upon
"
faithful that
and not any other thing must remain always the ground expectations and hopes and what these expectations are to be, and what they
this
:
promised"
He
is
it is
the
main purpose of
this parable
to declare.
in
to
work, and
which God
work
when he
says: Vera caritas mercenaria non est, quamvis merces earn sequatur.
THE TWO
SONS.
151
spoken,
if
it
were
yet possible to turn them from their purpose, to save them from the fearful sin
to
commit,
to
win
kingdom of
God.
The
first,
that of the
Two
is
Sons, goes not so deeply into the matrather retrospective, while those other
ter as the
certain
man had
tioo
sons."
Here, as
at
Luke
XV. II, are described, under the image of two sons of one father,
divisions of
all
almost
with
whom
his teaching
and
preaching came
in contact.
Of one
though
evil.
times.
In this
are included
in the
who
evil
Now
that
than
this
open unrighteousness;
provided
always that
it
is
ready
to
when
;
that appears,
provided
knows and feels its own incompleteness and this will always be the case, where the attempt to keep the law has been truly and honestly made the law will then have done its work, and have proved a schoolmaster to Christ. But if this righteousness is satisfied with itself, and this will be, where evasions have been sought out to escape the strict;
if,
it
imagines that
it
submit
itself to the
righteousness of
his eyes
opened
to perceive his
misery and
guilt,
even though
it
had
state,
of that which
is
lack-
^just
as
it
would be
it
might be
felt
and acknowledged
it
than
life
that
should be se-
cretly lurking in, and pervading, the whole system, and because secretly,
its
it
was threatening.
fault as count-
From
lesson
Rom.
is
vii.
taught us in
fault.
Scripture
It
that there
no such
ing
we have no
;
is
towards his father and returning brother in the parable of the Prodigal
Son
and again, in the conduct of the Pharisee who had invited Jesus
152
to his house, in
demeanour
to
him and
into the
to the
woman
to
who went up
and
temple
pray.
(Luke
in
xviii.
Compare
"
v.
29-32.)
to the first
And
he came
said, Son,
go icork to-day
my
vine-
yard."
Moses gave,
spised.
men
to
This
call the
licans and harlots, and all open sinners, manifestly neglected and de-
The
son
first
bidden
to
go
to the
will not.''*
The rudeness
tempt
he does not
me
he
is
And
I
he came
said,
go, 47>."f
The
their
way
as though
commands
this
profession
was
lays to their charge, that they said and did not, (Matt, xxiii. 2,) even as
he quotes the prophet Isaiah as having long before described them truly,
(Matt. XV. 8,) " This people draweth nigh unto
me
is
and honoureth
me
with their
the
was
"in
it
here.
When
far from me," so marked time arrived, when it was needful to or the other, when the Baptist came unto them
lips,
way of
righteousness,^''
and summoned
of the
to earnest repentance, to
a revival of God's
work
in the hearts
entii'e people,
then
many
of
those hitherto openly profane were baptized, confessing their sins; and
like the son
who
at first
to his father's
bidding,
'^repented
real un-
When
Lord demands of
Whether of the
to
tivain
did the will of his father ?" they cannot profess inability
question, as they had done that other; (ver. 27
;)
solve this
now
* Gerhard
Nolumus
The readings here are very various, vai Kvpie, vTzayo Kvpu, and t 'y(o, Kvptc. many more, which however may be easily traced up to transcribers wanting to amend
a phrase which they did not quite understand, and which seemed incomplete
ftat,
:
Tropeio-
direpx"!"", OT
supplied.
See
Sam.
iii.
4,
6; Gen. xxii.
1,
LXX.
153
unto
" They say give a reply, though that reply condemned themselves. Mm, The first ;" not, of course, that he did it absolutely well, but
Whereupon
the
wrung from
into the
the publicans
and harlots go
kingdom of God before you.^^ When he says, they " go before you," or take the lead of you, he would indicate that the door of hope was not yet
shut upon them, that they were not yet irreversibly excluded from that kingdom * the others indeed had preceded them, but they might still follow, if they would Some interpreters lay an emphasis on the words,
" in the loay of righteousness,''^ as though they are brought in to aggravate the sin of the Pharisees as though Christ would say, " The
you
He
did
not come,
calling to the
new
am
you might
have misunderstood
the old bottles; but he came, himself fulfilling that very idea of right-
to have set before yourselves, that which marked separation of himself from sinners, and earnest asceticism and yet you were so little hearty in the matter, that for all this he found no acceptance among you, no more acceptance than I have found. You found fault with him for the strictness of his manlife,
ner of
as
you
find fault
with
me
for the at
first,
condescension of mine,
but afterward
when
his
of sinners, t\'hen
God
had thus set his seal to it, when the publicans and harlots believed him' even then you could not be provoked to jealousy ; " Ye, when ye had seen it, repented not-\ afterward, that ye might believe him."
In
many
copies, and
it is
is first
* But he does not affirm more, so that there need be no difficulty here on account
of the Pharisees, or the greater part of them, never having followed
yovaiv) does not
;
the
word
(Trpuu-
it
tered
first,
leaving
open
to
them
to follow or
the
still
stronger use of
Ov
iicTCjieMdriTC
the
in itself describe so
is
comprehensive a change
more ihan
done, which
may
be
felt
may
is
.3.)
be merely re-
felt
it
worthy of
re-
mark
tions
word
/ira/:<X;ei<r is
(Matt, xxvii.
In the preaffec-
is,
distinction
v. 3, p. 16, seq.
11
]^54
spoken
who promises
first,
to
go,
who, refusing
Probably the order was thus reversed by transcribers, who thought that
the application of the parable
must be
to
the successive
callings of
Jews and
But the parable does not primarily apply to the Jew and must be referred rather to the two bodies within the bosom kingdom of it is not said, the Gentiles enter the of the Jewish people
be preserved.
Gentile, but
:
and harlots
had admitted,
it
far stronger
way
of provoking them
jealousy.
(Rom
in the
The
Gentile world,
same
relation
to notorious transgressors.
But
it is
not
till
Jew
and Gentile,
lations to the
in their relations to
PARABLE
XI.
33-44
Mark
xii.
1-12
Luke
xx. 9-18.
Lord's hearers would have been well content that he here should have paused. But no ; he will not let them go " Hear another parable,'' as if he would say, " I have not done with you yet ; I have still
The
This
is
the
also
by
Jerome,
who
quotes as a parallel to" I go, sir," the words of the Jews at the giving of
the law, " All that the Lord hath said will
we
is
(Exod. xxiv.
7.)
The Auct.
it
as
it
to
Jew and
Gentile.
and
is
periontX,
plexed
how
but the
i)? ijiol
with which Origen introduces his explanation, marks, that there was another opinion
current in the Church in his time
;
even as
is
explicitly stated
by Jerome
Alii
non
155
that he
now summons
tlie
them
to listen.
There
is this
accounts
St.
Matthew and
it
Mark
to
was, according
Luke, spoken
to the people.
itself supplies
St,
the
away
this slight
apparent difference,
Luke
mentioning the chief priests and scribes (ver. 19) in a way which shows that they were listeners also ; and thus, being spoken in the hearing of
both parties, in the mind of one narrator the parable seemed addressed
mainly 1-7
to the
people
in that
at
of the others,
to the Pharisees.
no doubt our Lord here takes up the prophecy there, the more
the law
him of destroying
gone before
and not
in
the whole
Jewish history,
own appearing with all that had so that men should look at it
as part, indeed as the crowning and final act, of that great dealing of
of the kingdom of
to this parable,
mercy and judgment which had ever been going forward. The image God a savine-stock * or as a vineyard f is not peculiar
but
(Deut.
ii.
xxxii.
32;
Ps.
Ixxx.
xix.
8-16;
Isai.
v.
1-7;
xxvii.
1-7;
Jer.
21;
this
especial
fitness, that
viii.
no pro11, 12,)
none was therefore of such price and esteem, even as none required such unceasing care and attention.:}: Our Lord compares himself to
the vine as the noblest of earthly plants, (John xv. 1,) and in prophecy
to
it
long before.
*
tine
;
The
V. 3, p.
vitis
et
palma, ut
lum erant
Judseae.
t Bernard
draws out the comparison between the Church and the vineyard
Ser7ii.,
30)
quo
Hoc
certe
vinum
cum
verbo suo extirpare semina mala de cordibus nostris, aperire cor nostrum tanquam
aratro sermonis, plantare semina praeceptorum, exspectare fructum Ppietatis.
Cf.
Amto
brose, Exp. in
t
Luc,
1.
9, c. 29.
It
no doubt belongs
does,
if it is is
bring forth richly, require the most diligent and never-ceasing care, that there
no
much
it.
156
It would not be convenient to interpret the vineyard here as the Jewish church, since the vineyard is said to be taken away from the
to
another nation
and
it is
Jewish church.
indeed,
it
the
de-
consistently with
this,
is
stroyed,
its
its
labour of prun-
manded
stand by
it
any more.
Here, where
it
is
trans-
ferred to other
it
the
and more faithful husbandmen, we must rather underkingdom of God in its idea, which idea Jew and Gentile
in
conditions to realize.*
Inasmuch
to the flesh
was
the
first
church
at that time was the Jewish was only accidental and temporary, and not of necessity, as the sequel abundantly proved. They were not idento them indeed it was first given to tified with the kingdom of God realize that kingdom, as to these husbandmen the vineyard was first
all
privileges
and advantages, with the transfer of them to others. The householder was more than the possessor of this vineyard, he had himseW planted " it. (Exod. xv. 17.) The planting of this spiritual
in the establishing
12-14.
See Ezek.
done
xvi.
9-14;
Neh.
ix.
23-25.
details of things
the hedging of
round about,f
sliongly, in
to be
kept in mind by
all
to
whom
a spiritual vine-
beginning
Est etiam
ille
omne levandum
annus.
requirit.
And
*
so Cato
Origen {Comm. in 'Matth., in loc.) draws out clearly and well the difterencea
between
t
u6i) is
Mr. Greswell's observation, {Exp. of the Par., v. 5, p. 4,) that this fence (ippayrather a stone wall than a hedge of thorns, or of any other living materials, I
Numb.
xxii.
24
Prov. xxiv.
Isai. v. 5,)
though
in that last
I57
are
to
these,
?
it
may-
be asked,
they
to be
to
them
or are
God made
for his
people?
Storr, as usual,
them
beyond a general expression of God's Church, such as found utterance in his words by
at all
What
in it?
could have been done more to my vineyard, that I " (Isai. v. 4.) But even those who like him most
is
Ephes.
ii.
14,
is
Jew and
Gentile.
By
alone, and
not reckoned
at
among
ration
the nations.
(Num.
xxiii. 9.)
once
of separation and of
defence,"|" since in
between themselves and the idolatrous nations around them, lay enjoy the continued protection of God.
is
That
that
protection
;
called a wall of
;
fire,
(Zech.
is
it
ii.
5,)
cxxv. 2
Isai.
xxvi. 1
xxvii. 3.
Nor
its
circumscribed and by bounty of nature on every on by the Jordan and two fended guarded on the and mountainous country of Idumsea, on the south by the observes and by Anti-Libanus on the north west by
round
river
the
lakes,
desert,
the
the sea,
for
so,
Vitringa, had
God
who
ed with both.
Yet one of
that the
15)
and
the wild boar (Ps. Ixxx. 13), were not to be effectually repelled except by fences
made
of stone
see
Neh.
iv.
is
may
admor-
inflict
upon the
stone walls, but a careful keeping of the hedges as the adequate measure of defence,
The
formed, as
is
common
in the
more
See
Homer, II. 18, 564. The word fpayftui itself determines nothing, as mental meaning of 0f;ufr<7oj seems to be to surround or enclose (Passow
the funda:
umgeben,
how
it
t Ambrose {Exp. in
valalvit,
Luc,
1.
9, c. 24,) explains
and Hexaem.,
1.
3, c. 12
158
The
pleteness of a vineyard
building, the kiosk
which belongs
for delight, but
to the perfection of
an Eastern garden,
use as ornaprotect the
here serving as
themselves.
It is difficult satisfactorily to
ed forth by these, or
to affirm that
more
is
* Arprof
torcular, in
Mark
vvoXriviov
lacus, in
for the
whole
lowed out of the earth and then lined with masonry, as Chardin mentions that
found them in Persia
(Dionys., 12. 330)
;
solid rock.
Nonnus
describes, in
some
spirited lines,
how Bacchus
ix.
In the
Xiji/oj,
feet
of men, (Judg.
27
Neh.
;
15
Isai.
at the
bottom
of this press
ran into the
its
was a
which the
i-iroXfiviov,
LXX.,)
It
may
in
be this Kvpyo;
resided
;
was
the villa
where
at
once the
fruits
husbandmen
have seen
approaching
but
it
watchmen.
Spain temporary towers erected for them, at the season when the grapes,
to ripeness,
might tempt the passers by, which were there the more nethe road without
scaffolding
to
was
matting above
manded an
extensive view
founded on
porque de
la
campana
Assaltando sus
portillos
Se descubran a
Sus ambitos,
lo lejos
sin
que puedan
Sus
frutos,
para Atalaya
Tampoco
This tower
Specula
p.
is
los
passageros
i.
La
8, xxiv. 20,
quam
:
Niebuhr (Beschreib.
I
Arab.,
it
138) says
Yemen,
there as
were nests
fields.
in the trees, in
watch
this
their corn-
In
Tehama, where
built
v.
for
purpose an
Ward
(Vieio
of the Hindoos,
buffaloes
2, p.
uri,
327, quoted by
Georg., 2, 374]
"The
[silvestres
;
make
are
told
to
men
sometimes,
effect, to
as a friend has
me, on mounds
slings,
built
ed with
away invad-
The Greek
X59
and godliness,
his blessings.
All the explanations which are given of this tower and this wine-press*
appear fanciful, and though often ingenious, yet no one of them such as
to
command
an absolute assent.
Having thus richly supplied his vineyard with all things needful, he " let it out to husbandmen.'^ These last must be different from the vineyard which they were to cultivate, and must, therefore, be the spiritual
leaders and teachers of the people, while the vineyard itself will then
who were
to
be instruct-
ed and taught, to the end that, under diligent cultivation, they might
bring forth fruits of righteousness.!
to those,
By
the
vineyard
we must understand
to the
of this charge
priests
and Levites
their
solemn commission
ii.
Ezek. xxxiv.
2.
is
so constructed as to imply
were
to
dye
no doubt
*
it
was a great
benefit to the
husbandmen
to
be put in posses-
is
:
Thus
ubertas
Irenaeus {Con.
praeparavit.
Har.,
I.
4, c. 36)
:
Torcular
fodit,
Hilary
(m Matih.)
modo quaedam
1.
So Ambrose, Exp.
in
Luc,
9, c. 24.
was on a
toward the rays of the sun, and that the stones were gathered out from
iii.
(2 Kin.
with allusion
to the for
God's people.
cxxv. 3.)
With
There
too, in the
same manner,
although under altogether a different image, the Lord upbraids the ingratitude of his
people with the enumeration of the rich provision which
With
10-12 of
manner
what
God
X
friend
who
kindly looked over the notes on some of these parables before pub[
lication has
am
ed
interpretation, but
it
seems
me
rather an escape from a difficulty which does not exist more in the par-
able than
in all our
The Church
:
is
both
teacher and taught; but the teachers are not merely the ministers
the whole
Church
its
The Church
existing out
The whole
subject requires
160
25
Deut. xvi. 11,) and every thing implies that they had entered into covenant with the proprietor, concerning what proportion of the fruits
;
they were
to
pay
to
him
in
their
season
at
even
made
God
God, so they would be his people. The householder then, having thus intrusted the husbandmen with
and cultivation of the vineyard on some certain terms, afar country" and, as St. Luke adds, '^for a long ivhile." At Sinai, when the theocratic constitution was founded, and in the miracles which accompanied the deliverance from Egypt and the bringing
the keeping
"went
into
into
may
be said
to
Israel,
this done, to
what
manner of works
"
And when
the time
to the
How, it may be servants to be distinguished from the husbandmen ? asked, are these Exactly in this, that the servants, that is, the prophets, and other more eminent ministers of God in his theocracy, 7oere sent, being raised up at
husbandmen
that they might receive
of
it."
their
power lying
in their
more regular and permanently established ecclesiastical authorities, whose power lay in the very constitution The servants were sent to receive the fruits of the theocracy itself.f
or,
of the vineyard,
as St.
Mark and
St.
Luke have
it,
to receive
"of
produce,
* Kmhrose {Exp. in
videretur exactio
:
e6
:
inexcusabilior
pervicacia.
Theophylact
h dTroSnina
Bengel
turnilatis, ubi
See Ezek.
viii.
12
Ps. x. 5.
according
still
to the
known
in parts of
in Italy
the
two
parties
would
tates
in
Latin be styled
partiarii.
Pliny {Ep.,
9.
which had hitherto been very badly managed, that the only way in which he was by letting them on this system Medendi una ra:
non
nummo
he
was
to appoint
and custodes)
produce
differing
is
these servants, that they were to be permanently on the spot, to prevent fraud, and to
see that he obtained his just share.
ed.) gives
v. 5, p.
384, Langles
much
commonly
151
fruits.
in
no wise
be explained as particular
much
rather as the repentance and the inward longing after true inward right-
was unable
to
bring about.
in
It is
by no means
its
meant
ness
:
to
it
producing uprighthidden
abomination
basis.
(Rom.
iii.
20.)
The
servants
who seek
they
may
link to
their
own position,
denied
The conduct
is
two
the
In St.
of impunity
**
heat
is distinctly traced. When the first servant came, they him and sent him away empty ;" the next they not only beat, but
" entreated him shamefully,'" or according to St. Mark, who defines the very nature of the outrage, " at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head,* and sent him away shamefully handled." The expi*ession
made
in Persia,
and violent
qui
le
jamais gardee, et ce
y a de
que
le
seigneur
du
He
these frauds
true,
here sup-
posed.
See
Du Cange,
has here
it is
s.
vv. Medietarius
and Medietas.
* St.
Mark
(xii.
word
Ke<pc\at6ui,
as to
wound
in
one head
of
It is
which
its
more
correct use,
in the Epistle of
Barnabas,
quoted.
Tiwv
rate
c. v.,
which as bearing
in another aspect
may
be
KC<pa\aidJari toT;
avrov.
when he
says,
with allusion, as
it is
is
=zKC(pa\i^oj, todten.
For
clear
it
does not
mean
to decapitate or
wound mortally
whom
We
have
on the stomach,
yvaduu),
on the cheek.
The
notion of
some
it is,
breviter vel
it,
summatim
egerunt, they
made
short
or as Lightfoot expresses
mand payment,
is
quite untenable.
162
husbandmen further devised some insulting outnamed in the parable, against this servant, whereby they might the more plainly testify their scorn of the master some outrage, perhaps, like Hanun's, when he " took David's servants, and
cruelty and pride these
rages, not expressly
off their
garments
in the
Sam.
x. 4.)
The
third they
forth,
it
wounded,
might
be,
and cast out of the vineyard with violence, In the two with hardly any life in him.
reaches even
St.
to the killing of
it
flung
him
first
in
Luke's narration
is
is
and worst
might
outrage
be said that some of the prophets were not merely maltreated, but actually put to death.
Thus,
if
we may
trust
Jewish
tradition,
Jeremiah
was stoned by
nasseh
;
and
for
;
an ample historical
1
Jer. xxxvii.
38
Kin. xviii. 13
xxii.
;
24-27
vi.
31
;
xxi. 16
52
Thess.
ii
(Heb.
ings,
"
And
yea moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned . . they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword of whom the world was not worthy."
;
The
tions
is
wonderful,
that he sends
messenger
after
messenger
to a
if possible,
these wicked
men
sense of duty,
inflict
at
sum:
mary vengeance,
and
this his
power
to do,
upon them
it
patience
may
set
:
" Howbeit
you
all
my
hate."
" Nevertheless
they
were disobedient,
and rebelled
against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets
who
testified against
provocations." (Neh.
26.)
The whole
confession
made
in that
chapter
by the Levites is in itself an admirable commentary on this parable. " But last of all he sent unto them his son," or in the still more affect
ing words of St. Mark, (ver. 6,)
well-beloved, he sent
him also
last
'
AireiTTti'kav rtriyoiiiivov.
163
effort
1.)
last
and crowning
of
one side
all
per-
The
description of the son as the only one, as the wellpossible the difference of rank between
beloved,
marks as strongly as
him and the servants, the worth and dignity of his person, who only was a Son in the highest sense of the word ;* (see Heb. iii. 5, 6 ;) and undoubtedly they who were our Lord's actual hearers quite understood what
he meant, and the honour which
in these
words he claimed as
his
own,
to
him on
Son of God.
evil
When
however those
hardly
worth while
that he
to
make
a difficulty here, as
the fact
whom
:
known from
to
the beginning
what treatment
his
whom
same
which
it
he sent him
difficulty
not
the
one another f
it
and
does everywhere
and therefore requires not to be especially treated of in this place. " But ivhen the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,
is the heir ;
This
come,
let
let
Compare John
xi.
"When
this
off,
even before he
him, and they
therefore,
him
to slay
Behold
dreamer cometh.
Come now
become of
his
us slay him,
.... and we
it
shall see
what
will
dreams."
As
God concerning
their
younger
ments
to fulfil that
when proving
the di-
Son
;
as by
1.
5, c. 7)
filium nominavit
ut scias
commune cum
servis.
1.
4,
36, 1. + Jerome:
citur:
Quod autem dicit, Verebuntur forte filium meum, non de ignorantia diQuid enim nesciat Paterfamilias, qui hoc loco Deus intelligitur ? Sed semper
dicitur, ut libera
ambigere Deus
1.
Cf.
Ambose, De Fide,
5, c. 17,
1^
164
to
bring to nothing.*
for
18
iv.
27, 28.)
to
" This
is the heirj^'
he
whom
the inheritance
is
meant, and
whom it
it is
will in
due course
rightfully arrive
For
evident that
lord,"!"
"heir"
com-
it
often laxly
is,
synonyme
Phil.
ii.
for
of one
ing
to
who
it,
is
must be held
i.
(Compare
he
is
9-11.)
Christ
for the
is
" heir
of
all
things," (Heb.
2,) not as
the
Son of God,
Church
has always detected Arian tendencies lurking in that interpretation, but as he is the Son of man. So Theodoret " The Lord Christ is heir of
:
all things,
It is
man
in
for as
God he
;
is
maker of
all."
the heart
which speaks
their lips
God's hearing
the thought of
men's
it
heart
is
their true
the
husbandmen
let
us kill
not that
we
secretest counsels ever trusted one another so far, or dared to look their
own wickedness
'=
This
is
the
Messiah, therefore
us slay him."
But they desired the inheritance what God had intended should only
till
be made permanent,
and
this,
which would cease when the more perfect scheme was brought in, or rather which, not ceasing, would yet be transformed into other higher privileges, for. which they had no
care.
The
great master-builder
was about
its
to
take
down
the temporary
scaffolding
ajad
were determined,
whatever
uttermost.
And
of
further,
may we
not
see in this thought of killing the heir, and seizing on the inheritance and
making
which
is
it
their
own, an allusion
to the principle
all
self-righteousness,
comprehend
it is
which
is
recog-
permitted to be a
partaker, but which he neither himself originated, nor yet can ever possess in fee, or as his
it
from another; a
take
*
it
ligiit too,
to
into his
own
Ut
possession,
Augustine
= dominus.
presumptio, spes inanis
retineri.
Hilary
Consilium colonorum
est gloriam
^55
in
light if
we succeeded
cutting
it
off
luminous source
a truth
and
mournful experience.
him out of the virieyard, and slew him as thus " cast out of the vineyard," by which we are reminded of him who " suffered without the (Heb, xiii. 12, 13 John xix. 17.) By that, as in the Pentagate." teuch by the exclusion from the camp, was signified the cutting off from
cast
And
him."
all
Thus when
Naboth perished on charges of blasphemy against God and the king, that is, for theocratic sins, " they carried him forth out of the city, and
stoned
it
him with
stones, that
he died."*
In St.
Mark
they denied
it
the
common
rites
of sepulture
they flung
that
forth to
their
show what they had done, and as much as answer to the householder's demands.
the tale of these
to say,
was
Having brought
and prophesied
husbandmen's
guilt to a conclusion,
to the
Christ proceeds to ask, " When the lord, thereof the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those hushandmen ?" very observable how the successive generations, who for so many
centuries had been filling up the measure of the iniquity of Israel, are
considered, throughout the entire parable, but as one body of husband-
men. And this, because God's truth is everywhere opposed to that shallow nominalism which would make such a word as " nation " a dead abstraction, a
to the
understanding.
God
will deal
to
ex-
were
so, all
con-
meaning
at all.
This
is
one of the
The
act of
Naboth dying
for his
not by word, but by deed, of the death of Christ and the purpose of that death.
Thus,
Ambrose addresses
his
own
blood (a:p. in
iwc,
1.
9, c. 33)
Church which he has purchased with te non Salve vinea tanto digna custode
:
unius Nabuthae sanguis, sed innumerabilium prophetarum et (quod est amplius) pretiosus curor Domini consecravit. lUe
.
. .
te
vero in
We
to
men
their wickedness,
away from
Ha-
2 Kin.
viii.
12-15.
166
many ways
cies
;
which God encounters our selfish, self-isolating tendenis an abundant blessing in this law of his governit
ment, supplying as
does
new
each
is
is
life
of the
whole, there
is
also a life of
part, so that
which
is
all its
descend-
yet
it
for
indeed always from sharing in the outward calamity, though often there
will be an ark
when
when Jerusalem
is
de-
stroyed, but always to withdraw himself from that which really constitutes the calamity,
is
visitation
The
renders
it
whom
men
he
is
slain,
and cannot,
forth, rise
must necessarily be
is
that
is,
the Father
neither
there
any thing
here which
is
Scripture, for
who
to
both
at Sinai,
and will
also, in the
take
vengeance on all that obey not the Gospel. In the question itself, " When the lord of the vineyard cometh, lohat will he do unto those husbandmen ?" Christ makes the same appeal to his hearers, compelling them to
their
may
whom
he addressed himdid,
"
He
let
or Olshausen
may
and
more
Tam
enim liquidum
est
Dei
jus, ut si
homo exuto
vult,
af-
per
neminem Deus
su-
damnat,
nisi
um tribunal,
aedem
judicii, et per
omni homine
t Ka/fovj KUKui, a proverbial expression, and one as Grotius observes, petila ex pu-
This remarkable
iQj
:
to affect to
misunderstand
" There-
fore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Then at length
Christ and his adversaries stood face to face, as did once before a pro-
when
from the
lips of the
ed the ashes from his face, and the king " discerned him that he was of the prophets," and that he had unconsciously pronounced his own doom. (1 Kin. xx. 41.) The " God forbid," which, according to St.
Luke, the people uttered when they heard the bandmen, gives evidence
their
terrible
doom of
the hus-
comprehension,
that they
had understood
it,
even before
its
plain
The
much
wariness and
self-command
them.
to
to
The
exclamation
was
or of
That
shall
be,
last
This
it
is
utter-
ance.
Thereupon
the Lord,
in
hearers, quotes a prophecy from the Old Testament, which proved that
in the counsels
one, which
is
a parallel in
may
suffice in place of
many
that
might be adduced.
Toiyap
a(p'
AUr)
Tdv
to preserve the
paronomasia, which
double
for
evident rea-
is far
The same
(pdcipcn', (1
Cor.
17,)
for
:
failed to give
an equivalent.
Compare
Apuleius
At
In
we
meet Ka\dv
koXus.
How remarkable
connexion with
this
Josephus, {Bell. Jud., 4, 5, 2,) in which he asserts his conviction that the causes of the
destruction of Jerusalem might be traced up to the
high priest
he only errs
in the person
1.
whom
may
in
he names.
is
2, c. 70)
in itself so slight,
and so
who
general
makes
the weakest
it
and thousand
to
worth while
bring for-
ward
this.
168
of
God
" Did
is
ye never read
in the
Scriptures,
The
same
is
become
The
quotation
from Ps.
cxviii. 22,
already has
Messiah, and of
ii.
which there
allusion
is
the
same application
at
Acts
ii.
iv.
11
1 Pet.
and an
20.*
husbandmen
they were
reason
appointed of
The builders answer to the God to carry up the spiritual spiritual vineyard. The rejection of
to the
answers exactly
The
is
why
its
vineyard,
the truth,
this, that
because of
inadequacy
to
make
namely
God,
that not
merely vengeance
set
it.
Now
this is distinctly
by the rejected stone becoming the head of the corner, on which on which they were the builders stumbled and fell, and were broken, f now already thus stumbling and falling, and which, if they set them-
selves against
it
to the end,
would
14
fall
them
his
utterly.:}:
;
They
(Isai.
fall
Christ in
low estate
were already
guilty.
34 ;) of this sin his hearers There was yet a worse sin which they were on
viii.
ii.
Luke
they on
whom
who
set
Lord,
to
him and
kingdom
and be broken,
*
7.
The
dKpoywviaioi there
:
\iOoi th
Ke(j>a\tjv
yMi/iai here
v. 17.) It
iv.
Aquila
o AiOuj
-KpoiTiiwi'.
(See 1 Kin.
was a
Gentile,
instance
was called the corner stone, because he united the Jew and making both one thus Augustine, in almost numberless places, for Angulus duos parietes copulat de diverse venientes. Quid (Serin. 88, c. 11)
:
et
prtEputium, habens
unum
:
rum parietem
t Cajetan
de gentibus
:
Plus subjungit
quam
parabola pateretur
dictam duxit
itate
X
:
filii
non privavit
filium haeredlapidis.
hoc enim
Lachmann marks
;
ver.
44
in
Matthew, as an
its
Luke
it
and
it
certainly
seems out of
place, as one
for
1.
3,
c.
7)
and Augustine
summo
veniet,
im-
169
one might recover himself, though with some present harm, from such
as this
fall
powder,
but on them the stone shall fall and shall grind * them to in the words of Daniel, " like the chaff of the summer thresh;
ing-floors," destroying
irreversible,
All three Evangelists notice the exasperation of the chief priests and
scribes,
when they
perceived, as they
all
it
would
seem some sooner than others, that the parable was spoken against them : they no longer kept any terms with the Lord, and, had they not feared Yet not even the people, would have laid violent hands on him at once.
so did he give
relation to
them up
God
was
laid
of the
sets
forth in a yet
more
inviting light
not any
to
more
them
pios conteret
sabit
hoc dictum
est
de lapide
illo,
Qui
venerit, conteret
eum:
ill.
quam conteri.
AiKfifjaei,
Xi*f/iof
tttvov,
Matt.
which
the chaff,
is
which in
scattered
the act of threshing had been crushed and broken into minute fragments,
In the
N. T.
it
occurs only
Dan.
44,
\iKiJifiaci -rraa-a;
ra; Bnai'Xcias.
(Annott. in Luc.)
fidelibus
H. De Sto Victore makes the following application of the parable to every man Secundum moralem sensum vinea locatur, ciim mysterium baptismi
:
cum Lex,
sed contumeliis
affecti,
cum sermo
Missum
est,
in-
super haeredem occidit, qui filium Dei contemnit, et spiritui quo sanctificatus
con-
tumeliam
facit.
Vinea
alteri datur,
cum
gratis,
quam superbus
abjicit,
humilis ditatur.
12
IJQ
SON.
PARABLE
XII.
SON.*
1-14.
This parable, and that which is found at Luke xiv. 16, are not to be confounded with one another,! as if they were only two different versions of the same discourse, though Calvin, indeed, and others have so confounded them. It is true that the same image lies at the root of both, yet it is plain that they were that, namely, of an invitation to a festival
spoken on very different occasions,
and
that, too, at a
much
which
afterwards arrived
on
the contrary,
one of the chief Pharisees, on the very occasion when the other parable was spoken, had invited the Saviour to eat bread
we
find
But when
this parable
was spoken,
their hos-
tility had already attained to the highest point, even to the formal deter,
mination of making
53.)
to
away with
:
Then
there
47won over
obedience to the truth now they were fixed in their rejection of the counsel of God, and in their hatred of his Christ. And consistently with the different times, and the different tempers of the hearers, the parable
in St.
Luke wears
in the
latter the
more
terrible.
In that other,
;
the guests decline indeed the invitation, but civilly excuse themselves
in this,
they mark
it
worth their while to make any excuse, and some of and killing the servants, the bearers of the message. them maltreating
can, not thinking
Doubtless
too,
had
it
parts of the
narration, the king's son himself would have been the bearer of the invi-
* This
title,
which
is
is
sometimes
called,
namely, the
Wedding Garment
for
then the
name
is
is
which
but an episode in
Marriage of the King's Son, quite as effectually distinguishes the present parable from that of the Great Supper in St. Luke.
t See Augustine,
De
Cons. Evang.,
1.
2, c. 71.
SON.
jy-j
was the householder's son in In that, the contemptuous guests are merely excluded from the festival, in this, their city is burned up and themselves
their outrage, as
de-
stroyed.
And
as the contempt
would be aggravated
in proportion to the
and other, who makes the festival, so that rebellion is mingled with their contempt, and the festival itself no ordinary one, but one in honour of his son's marriage ; by which latter circumstance is brought out the relation of the Jews, not merely to
dignity and honour of the person inviting and the solemnity of the occasion, this increased guilt is set forth by the fact of it being a king,
in that
no common man, as
the
kingdom of God in general, but their relation to Jesus, the personal theocratic King ; and in every way the guilt involved in their rejection of him is heightened. And again, while in the parable recorded by St.
Luke, nothing more is threatened than that God would turn from one portion of the Jewish people, from the priests and the Pharisees, and
offer the benefits
nation,
same
knew
with only a slight intimation (ver. 23) of the call of the Gentiles; in St. Matthew it is threatened that the kingdom of God shall be taken wholly
away from the Jewish people, who had now proved themselves in the mass, and with very few exceptions, despisers of its privileges, and should be given to the Gentiles.*
But one of the latest cavillers,f not attending to these circumstances which justify and perfectly explain the appearance of the parable
in
forms so
different,
Luke
is
Matthew has mixed up with them some particulars, as of the maltreatment and murder of the servants, drawn from the parable preceding and has also blended into the same whole, the fragment of another, namely, the Wedding Garment, which when uttered, was totally distinct. For the first assertion his only argument wearino- the
some heterogeneous elements,
for instance,
slightest
appearance of probability,
is,
that while
it is
quite intelligible
their lord,
how
the
Dix>., p. 241) with truth observes: Parabolarum in posterioribus partibus propositarum talis est indoles, ut sacrum divini animi mcero-
rem spirent, et severum prodant habitum. Incidunt in ea tempora quibus Pharisseorum, sacerdotum, seniorumque plebis machinationem, maligna consilia, et ccecitatem abunde expertus Servator, divina; caussB quotidie infestiores prsvidit futuros.
And
Jes. Nat., p.
122)
jam
:
t Strauss
Leben
172
SON.
and thereis,
them
it
is
inconceivable,
that
it
however
kill
unwilling
them
It is
when we suppose no
presume
sist
utterance here
whom would
express as
much
may have
showing an
hostility,
entertained.*
The
little
fitter to
men
should
who came
to
to
tidings of good
things,
should be
ready
foot.
the weddincp
His other objection, that the latter part of the parable which relates to garment cannot have originally belonged to it, is partly the having
which, as the course of the story goes, he had no opportunity of
old one, that the guest could not in justice be punished for not
that,
obtaining
rnark
on and
into,
duced
to,
the parable
something appended
But
we
have here a wonderful example of the love and wisdom which mark-
For how fitting was it in a discourse ed the teaching of our Lord. forth how sinners of every degree were invited to a fellowship which set
in the blessings of the Gospel, that
that
former
to the
conversation,
in
marriage-feast
is
we
are
all called,
but the
:
life
the King
king
;
make
* Oftentimes in the East, a feast would have a great political significance, would in
fact be a great gathering of the vassals of the
contemplated on
fusal to
to
come
at once
rebellion.
is
Thus
there are
many
reasons
same as the great gathering which Xerxes (Ahasuerus) made when he was planning his Greek expedition, (aiWoyov iniK'KrfTDv Ticpaiwv tmv apiarwi', Herod. 1. 7, c. 8,) though Herodotus brings out more its
suppose that the feast recorded in Esth.
the
political, the
sacred historian
SON.
I73
ination of those who, having entered into the faith, shall be found in filthy
garments"
a most needful caution, lest any should abuse the grace of God, and forget that while as regarded the past they were freely called,
which
this
we
see
how
Lord
is
person of the kingdom, giving here a far plainer hint than there of the There he was indeed the son, the only and benobility of his descent.
loved one, of the householder
;
is
royal,
and he ap-
This appearance of the householder, as the king, announces that the sphere in which this parable moves is the New Testament dispensation
is
was announced before, but was only actually precoming of the king. That last was a parable of the Old Testa;
ment
history
last
and
new kingdom.
them.
here,
There, he
that his
is
goodness
not accepted
there he
And
this
thus, as
we
The two
blessino-s of the
new
covenant, and of
;
Cant.
1) and
ix.
that of a
;
mar-
Ixii.
Hos.
ii.
19; Matt.
15
John
iii.
29;
2,) are united and interpenetrate one another Ephes. V. ; marriage festival f here. There appears indeed this inconvein the
32
2 Cor.
xi.
The
phrase noidv
is
y//oi/,
Tob.
viii.
19
Mace.
ix.
Esth. ii. 18,) and sometimes the notion of feast than the marriage, (see Matt. xxv. 10 so for instance, the marriage is altogether lost, and that of the festival alone remains
:
Esth.
ix.
word be understood at Luke xiv. 8, and at ver. 4 of the present parable. Singularly enough, exactly the reverse has happened with the German Hochzeit, which signifying These marriage fesat first any high festival, is now only the festival of a marriage.
tivities
lasted
19.)
commonly seven
or fourteen days.
(Gen. xxix. 27
Tob.
viii.
Nuptioe ipsas figurant arctissimam Christi cum + Vitringa {In Apocal., xix. 7) Ecclesid unionem, fide utrinque data, et fcederali contractu obsignatam, ad faciendam
:
Epulum
nuptiale adumbrat
tum
beneficia
174
nience,
SON.
human
to
set forth
But in the progress of the narrative the circumstances of the marriage altogether fall into the back ground ;f the different conduct of the guests invited to the feast becomes
the prominent feature of the narration.
its
last,
has
groundwork and
;
its
11
Zeph.
i.
7,
Prov.
and
it
and ushered
in by,
to
a glorious festival
make
xxii.
at
image
same
is
till
truths.
(Luke
Rev.
xix. 7, as
when we keep
mind how
not
distinct the
espousals
first
and the actual marriage were held in the East, and contemplate his
till
his
second coming
At a
to call
them that
were hidden
for in the
to the
we must presume, a
numerous company,
private
man
corresponding parable in St. Luke, the giver of the feast, a as it would seem, " bade many." Here then we may sup-
pose
feast
still
larger numbers to have been bidden, even as the maker of the was a greater person, and the occasion a more solemn one. (Comi.
pare Esth.
3-9.)
This second
invitation,
or
admonishment
rather,
illorum beneficiorum
fruitione
communionem,
cum
bonorum
gratiae conjungitur, et
Non quomodo
in
frequentant
in Ecclesia
qui frequentant,
bene frequentant,
sponsa
fiunt.
t This difficulty
if
we understood
this
marriage as one
Word and
the
human Nature,
and making
so Augustine and Gregory the Great (Horn. 38 in Evang.,) have underto the exclusion of the
his
Church.
nuptias
fecit,
quo
^cin-i-o/i-X/jropff,
iXcarpoi.
See Prov.
ix.
3-5.
SON.
invites
is
175
quite
Thus Esther
Haman
actually(vi. 14.)
to a
comes
Modern
the invi-
the
moment when
at all
all
things are in
actual readiness
so that there
is
no reason
why
with some
we
to
should
make
mean them
lie
that
were now
be bidden.*
for
have been
new was
to
all
be heard, not as
to
tending, the birth with which the whole Jewish dispensation had been
pregnant,
and which
at length
gave
its
meaning
When
would
he
fain in
have taught those who then heard him, that there was nothing sudden
the
fore
coming
in
its
tory
been laid, that all which they clung to as precious in their past hiswas prophetic of blessings now actually present to themselves. f The
went
of
its
come.
The
whose
time the kingdom was actually present, the wedding feast prepared, the
king and the king's son manifested, and the long-invited guests sum-
moned.
By
the
first
band of servants
should certainly
mission
now underac-
first
that
which they
complished during the lifetime of the Lord, his Incarnation being the
* Thus Storr (Opusc. Acad.,
nify vocandos as vocatos!
cisive in the matter.
t
v. 1, p.
KCK^rifiivov;
may
as well sig-
Did not
this
Luke
would be de-
See in
its
this
this
c.
parable, or
31.)
rather of
parallel;
(Luke
xiv. IG,)
(1.
4,
whose
New
So
4, c. 36.
176
SON.
in
summoning
is
the
Come
unto me,"
na-
was needful
to observe, to
himself a bearer of the invitation; but yet did he in the reality of his
infinite
whom the
was no
be sent forth
to call the
We
first
;
occasion, there
nor was
but
to
as yet no posilife-
thei-e
at the first
It
was
"
Ye
not
come
me, that ye
may
have
life."
forth of
made subsequent to the Crucifixion of this, as was needful, nothing was said, for the parable would not bear it. It need not perplex us to
find these
in fact,
many
other
company same yet went forth as new men, full of the Holy Ghost, and with a somewhat altered message, not preaching generally a kingdom of God, but preaching now " Jesus and the resurrection;" declaring, which it may be observed they had not
Those,
too,
ated with them, Stephen and Barnabas and Paul and a great
who were
the
all
which
man's
iii.
sin
19-26
iv.
12
;)
(Acts
38,
shed, there
was forgiveness of
to
God.
to
summon
have
Thus Origen applies them both to the sending of the prophets under the law; Jerome makes no doubt that the first mission (ver. 3) is to be so understood, though he is more doubtful about the second. So too Gregory the Great
misit, quia
it
Incarnationem Unigcniti
I
nunciavit factam.
am now
the
main
the true
explanation
who {Com.
eorum enim
erat proprium,
commonefacere
eos,
The death
it
for
command
at all
he
was
and more-
was
for
SON.
I77
its
which gives
contempt.
The
possible that they deferred coming, as not being aware that the prepa-
rations
found place, instead of threatening or rebuking, told his servants only to " Tell them press the message with greater distinctness and instancy
:
tell
them
ready."
;
And
;
it
how
willing
were they
to
look upon
iii.
that
was
how
17,) "
And now,
!
brethren,
ig-
sin,
this
The
Nor
guests,
"made
light
of it, and
is
luent their
to his
farm, another
to his
merchan-
dise."
this the
The
it,
vouchsafed, which appeared from the beginning, and has grown in some
to this
contemptuous rejection of
to
an absolute
message
spitefully,
So there are
:
some whc^ ever in the world two kinds of despisers of the Gospel of God " take the trouble perhaps of saying, " I pray thee have me excused
others in
first
whom
it
Those
in the
for
it is
said that
The question natuanother to his merchandise." Can we make a distinction here? did the Lord intend a distinction ? Perhaps if we understand of the first as one who went to his estate, which the word will perfectly justify, the distinction will come more clearly out. The first is the landed proprietor, the second the
ways, one
rally ai'ises.
merchant
the
first
would enjoy what he already possesses, the second Exactly so, is his only in anticipation.
Luke
go and see
is
condition
to the
the guest
who would
second.
The
at all the
* "
My oxen
killed."
nearness of the
feast.
la
meilleure
(See Gen.
xliii.
16
Prov.
ix.
1-5.)
378
same.
SON.
to
quite difference
account for
the distinction.
One of the guests when urged to come, turned to that which by his own or others' labour he had got another to what he was hoping to get.* They are either those who are full, or are hoping to be full of this world; and the woe which the Lord pronounced, Luke vi. for this fulness has prevented them from dis25, has come upon them
hunger and
souls. But " the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.'^ The oppositions to the Gospel are not merely natural,
evils in
which are
it
wounds men's
pride,
it
and they
visit
on the bringers of
Three forms of
out-
much They
xxi.
They
18;
"
took,'"
viii.
3.)
19;
xii.
xvii.
5;
30;
2;) they
^^
slew
them"
(Acts
vii.
58;
cf.
The insult was to where an ambassador is outraged, it is his master whom it is intended that the blow shall reach. (2 Sam. X.) .As such it was avenged; for the king " sent forth his armies," that is, as some say, his avenging angels, the armies in heaven,
;
(Matt. xxvi. 53
2 Sam. xxiv.
16,):j: or,
it
may
Rome,
* Bengel
who
is
wonderful
skill,
difference exactly so: Alius per falsam airapKciav, alius per cupiditatem acquirendi detentus.
And Gerhard
c.
(Harm. Evang.,
153)
Quid
si
;
To
this part
When
/
messengers
throughout
J
'
was about
to city
. .
to
.
keep, that
is,
feast.
" So the posts passed from city mocked them." Yet as guests were
case, also,
and came
t
to
Jerusalem."
:
ilia
Angelorum
agmina,
^
Regis nostri
So
IrensBus, Con.
Har.,
1.
4, c. 36, 6.
SON.
179
even ungodly
men
are
men
whom
;
wicked.
(Thus
5
;
"
O Assyrian,
41
Jer.
Thus
Ezek.
xvi.
xxv.
" Nebuchadnezzar,
my
servant.")
In fact, the two explanations flow one into the other, for
is to
when
to-
God's wrath
gether.
The
natural eye sees only those, the spiritual eye beholds the
It is
ever
at
such moments as
multitude, to
it
was with
Israel of
The
his
whom
eye was wanting, beheld only the outward calamity, the wasting
lence, but
David
lifted
up
ing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand.* " The city of those murderers^' can of course be no other than Jerusalem,
the central point of the Jewish theocracy. (Matt, xxiii. 34, 35
xiii.
;
Luke
There lies an awful threat in this appellation. It is their city, not any longer the city of the great King, who owns it no more for his own. With a similar threatening Christ says, " Your house is left unto you desolate ;" (Matt, xxiii. 38 ;)
33,
34
Acts
vii.
39
xii. 2,
3.)
to
" your house," not mine, for I no longer fill it with my presence. So Moses God says, " Thy people have corrupted themselves ;" (Exod.
mine; for the covenant between him and them was suspended by their sin. " Then" (compare Acts xiii. 46) " saith he to his servants, The wedis
ding
worthiness consisted in their rejection of the invitation, even as the worthiness of those
who did
previous
of sitting down at the king's table, but in their acceptance of the invitation.
"
Go
many as ye
shall
this.
how
;
the multitude
saw but
his
their
destruction
but to Eneas,
;
when
to
him
Apparent
dirae facies,
Numina magna
gives both meanings,
DeClm.
6tc^o6ot are transitus or exitus, (Passow Durchgang and Ausgang :) whether the thoroughfares, (see Ps. i. 3,LXX., where the word is used for channels of waters,) or the outlets leading from the city, (Grotius Viae extra urbem ducentes,) or such as issued into its places and squares, (Kuinoel Gompita viarum,) or the points where many roads or streets meet Chrysostom (Horn. 69 in Matth.,) more than once substitutes rpUiov;. (Schleusner:
: :
platae
concurrunt.)
180
SON.
Here the doctrine so hateful to Jewish ears, (See Acts xxii. 21, 22,) the calling of the Gentiles, and that by occasion of the disobedience of the Jews, is again plainly declared. By the
olive, there
shall be
room
made
Paul
(Rom.
xi.)
so
sets forth
the
same
truth
which here
his
would
image of the exclusion of the guests, who in the natural order of things best become the wedding, and were invited to it, and the reception
of those gathered in from the highways in their stead. Compare Matt. viii. 10-12, of which this parable is only the ampler unfolding.
Hereupon
gether all as
and gathered
to-
many as they found, both had and good." In the spirit of this command, " Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them" there (Acts viii. 5 ;) Peter baptized Cornelius and his company and Paul declared unto the men of Athens how God now commanded " all men everywhere to repent." When it is said they ga; ;
in
is
a passing
to the
to the
we are
not to
see here an explanation of the fact that one should hereafter be found at
the festival without a
wedding garment
heve
is
it is
way
for
and
to
account
"
for that fact, that these different qualities of the guests are
mentioned.
Bad"
;
wedding
garment" there
for here the
on the contrary,
many were
" had"
when
he might make her fair."* Neither may the terms " had and good," and least of all the latter, be pressed too far ; for speaking with strict accuracy, none are good till they have been incorporated into the body
of Christ and are sharers in his Spirit.
Yet, at the same time, few will
of being places of resort, where the servants might hope soon to gather a company.
to
make
us think of
places in the country as contradistinguished from the town, whither the servants were
;
image throughout
the parable
is
noble, those
who
come
to his
banquet, whereupon the poor of the same city are brought in to share
where
{in 1
9,)
among
Amavit nos
prior qui
sem-
Et quales amavit,
foedos et deformes?
pulchri?
amando eum
qui
semper
est pulcher.
Quantiim
in
crescit
amor,
tantiini
Igl
to obe-
even anterior
There are "good" such, for instance, Gentiles that were a law to themselves (Rom. ii.
;
14;)
and "
had,'" those
who
men
them
;*
The Gospel
within
its
ample
folds both
of Christ is the draw-net which brings them who have been before honestly striving
ut-
some of both classes " The wedding was furnished with guests " accept This, which was the conclusion of the other and earlier spoken parable, (Luke xiv. 16,) is only the first act in the present. There is still another solemn act of judgment to follow. Hitherto the parable, with all the prophetic hints and glimpses which it gives of the wickedness of men
and
sins.
Its
invitation
and Pha-
cared not or as
for
now
those
who
have accepted their portion therein, with an earnest warning also for them. Besides the separation between those who come and those
who
the not
;
refuse actual
to
come,
it
shall
be
also
tried at
the last
their vocation
and according
ration.
We
is
friend
But however
the
was
the servants'
work
to
heavenly banquet,
it is
in the
parable of the Tares, to separate finally and decisively between the wor-
And
how should
it
garment which distinguishes these from those is worn, not on the body, but on the heart :f and only " the Lord trieth the hearts."
for the
:"
quum sciamus
ad
ad mala,
alios
ob honest-
atem morum
virtutibus deditos.
hindered him from expressing himself exactly in these last words, and he will only allow these " good" to be minus mali than the others. Yet he too is most earnest
against the abuse of these words, which should argue for allowing
men
to
come
all
to
human
their
for that
were
to
make
et
of the tares.
:
(De Fide
Oper.,
c.
17.)
Ambrose {Exp.
in
Luc,
1.
202)
m^liora commutet
pascentur.
ut compleretur illud
quod lectum
est
Tunc
lupi
et
agni simul
t Augustine
Vestis quippe
ilia in
182
KING'S SON.
We
all
all
till
at the
for
so
much
is
im-
word by which now the guests are described.* But then, when he " came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment." Among the guests, ranged in order and splendidplied in the
who lacked
to
a royal festival.
it
Him
he addresses, as yet
was yet
;
to be
away
his apparent
contempt
?''
it
was unreasonable
to
expect of
to
that he
was
go home and
such
or that no time
?
a garment
Some,
any semblance of harshness in the after conduct of the king, maintain that it was customary in the East, when kings or
great personages
made an
this
Such a custom, they say, is here tacitly now appeared not having and such a garment, because he had rejected it when offered to him had thus both despised the grace done to him in the gift, and had also by that rejection plainly declared that he counted his ordinary workto the guests.
by them presented
assumed, so that
day apparel, soiled and stained as it may probably have been, sufficiently good in which to appear in the presence of the king, being guilty thus
of a twofold offence. Ernesti, however, and others, have denied that any certain traces of such a custom are anywhere to be found, affirming that the only notice which we have of anything like it, is the mod-
* To5j aiuKtinivovi.
the meat.
Wiclif,
The men
sitting at
t
tion,
We
may
is
observe that
jif)
it is
the subjective,
oi
which
here used,
and not
^ij
e'xuv
ycjiov,
knowit
was
wanting.
The
is
i'fSvua yaiwv is
of Chariton, 1,
which
(Becker's Charikles,
2, p. 467.)
Yet
there
may
which seems
at
first fitter
it is
who
and ^s
he
is,
SON.
183
ern custom of clothing with a caftan those that are admitted into the
must be acknowledged
proof, fails to prove
adduced in
evidence
is
not forthcoming of
yet
we know enough
make
it
extremely probable
presents of dresses
were
often distributed
among
ers, to
whom
gift
those customs
consciously supplied the gap in the narration, and taken for granted
such a
so severe a pen-
alty inflicted
upon
We
know
in
want which otherwise he could not the first place, that it was part of the
to
have
great store of costly dresses laid up, as at the present day a great portion
of their wealth
costly apparel.
is
in
numerous changes of
v.
(Job xxviii. 16
Isai.
iii.
Jam.
2 Kin.
x. 22.)*
Keeping
this in
mind,
we need
number of
guests,
however
great,
moreover that
would have created any embarrassment. We know costly dresses were often given as honourable presents,
22
;
marks of
Dan.
V.
Sam.
xviii.
2 Kin.
as
v.
Est. vi. 8
1
;
Mace.
x.
20
and marriage
vi.
;) that
they were
then,
ii.
now,
festivals (Est.
which
gifts
should
at once, as part
be
lost,
which was
to
to testify to the
giver,
and also
add
not
is
appearance of a slight put upon ever naturally esteemed as a slight and contempt not of that gift
The
story told by
Horace of the
five
amining
he possessed,
well
known
and
this extract
all later
from
whom
inqui-
may
be accepted in proof that the number of the garments needed would have been readily
at
hand
On
ne sauroit croire
la
depense que
fait le roi
Le nombre des
pleines.
est infini.
On
en
On
les tient
dans
les
So strongly
is this felt,
that
we
modern
history of
184
But
SON.
it
to be
going before
was
Even with us
when such conduct would be felt as manifesting a serious much more among the nations of antiquity, especially respect
;
lack of
those of
the East,
with us, would such an omission as that whereof this guest was guilty, be
felt
to the
manners so
having
little
good as ancient,) of a
vizier
the ment of honour sent to him by the king. Chardin mentions the circumstances officer through whose hands the royal robe was to be forwarded, out of spite sent in its The vizier would not appear in the city arrayed in this, lest it stead a plain habit. should be taken as an evidence that he was in disgrace at court, and put on in its stead a
royal habit, the gift of the late king, and in that
made
When
this
was known
Sefi's habits.
who
severely
felt
and
it
v. I, p.
94.
Cf. Herodotus,
gift
1.
9, c. Ill, for
an example of
manner
in
was
resented.)
whom
He
was
told us
by
mehmandar,
that
we
and so appear
it
in his presence.
The am-
refused
but the
mehmandar urged
did others, that the omission would greatly displease the king, since
other envoys
last
we
also, the
rejection of the
appear in
would be
felt
as an insult, clears
away any
difficulty
which
any from the apparent unfitness of the king's palace as a place changing of apparel. In fact, there was strictly speaking no such changing of apto
garment of honour was either a vest drawn over the other garments, or
Schulz, in his Travels, describes that given to him, as
"a
down
(for the
arm
is
goat's hair,
woven
;"
and
his
on before
traveller.
appearing in the presence of the Sultan, agrees with that given by the earlier
v. 5, p. 76.)
when he
est,
1.
4, c. 36,
this the
exceeding stress which Cicero lays, in his charges against Vatinius, {In Vatin.,
12, 13,) on the fact of the latter having once appeared clad in black at a great
and
in
it,
solemn
festival (supplicatio)
saw
and
also
"
Who ever,"
he
SON.
185
more splendid and becoming apparel ought to have been put on more honourable the person the more serious would be
So
that,
to
say something
as
was
he
had
anything to say
for
was
stopped, he
contemptu-
ous behaviour; he stood self-condemned, and judgment therefore imme" Then said the king to the servants," diately proceeded against him.
or rather to the ministering attendants, "
take
into outer
darkness."
into this the was light and joy, but without it was cold and darkness unworthy guest, with no power of resisting the fulfilment of the decree, and there for for his hands and feet were first bound, was to be cast
;
him, under the sense of his shame, and loss and exclusion from the glorious festival,
would be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." to an end according to the letter, yet latter part which demands an accurate inquiry.
asked, does the king
is
there
When,
come
Not certainly
exclusively in the
day of
final
judgment, though
guests
:}:
at
every time of
trial,
which
is
also in
asks, " even in a time of domestic grief apreared at a supper thus arrayed in black ?"
and
we
many
for
v. 2, p.
others, that
was
same among
;
the
Hebrews,
for
one exhorting
to continual
merriment and
ix. 8,) that
is,
festal
so we
read that tohite robes were given to the souls under the altar, (Rev.
11,) a pledge to
little
season be admitted
Lamb and
;
the bride
is
'E<ptfjiw9n,
from
(jyijxds
tTrioro^ioi/,
a gag.
it,
Kar-
tKptvev cavTuv.
Such gags,
for
(in
beasts, but
sometimes
The word
is
used in
its literal
is
+ Qcaofxai, which
picio et intueor
the
et dijudicandam.
In the Vulgate,
Ut
videret discumbentes
t
had
better,
Ut
inspiceret discumbentes.
:
Augustine
Intrat
Deus
manet tolerando
13
186
aration,
SON.
are laid
final
when
the thoughts of
last
many
hearts
bare
though
day of the
separa-
and then
fulfilled in all.
Some would
the
wedding garment, but seek to hold it fast in the interpretation. They have suggested that Judas may perhaps be immediately pointed
out.*
It is
who
suffers
none
for
to perish
without warning,
a merciful warning
him here.
the
man
of
sin,
by
whom
:
they understand
is in-
the Pope.
It is
" for the "/ezo tended, but rather under this one a great multitude presently said to be " cJwsen" in comparison to the " many called^'
would seem
to
sifting.
Why
these
many
Townson
instances
it
as an
example of
what he happily
servant
calls
;
"the lenity of supposition,^' which finds place in as he instances in like manner there being but one
who
money
to
account.
Gerhard gives
an ingenious reason,
that " if
^'
But he
will
is
home
every
man much
that great
multitude of men, shall on the last day escape the piercing eyes of the
Judge.":]:
Nor
is
there
any
difficulty in thus
Imperf.
Tunc regem
ingredi,
quis-
* Thus Pseudo-Athanasius, (De Farab. Script.,) and in later times Weisse. (Evatig.
Gesch.,v. 2,
t
p.
114.)
As GuRTLEK, Syst. Theol. Proph., p. 676. He finds a confirmation of this view Antichristus singulariler est Irarpoj, viin the fact, that the man is addressed as haXpc The Jews have a carium iliius se venditans, et solio ejus solium nequitiae associans curious tradition about Esau, who is their standing type of Antichrist, that he will be
:
!
It is
mud, and
is
as follows
" Esau the wicked will veil himself with his mantle, and
among
come
will
draw him and bring him out from thence, which is the sense of those words, Obad. 4, 6." t Cajetan the same Subtilis discretio in tanta multitudine describitur quia enim
:
ita
unus describitur
SON.
187
wicked are one, being gathered also under their one head,
Satan.
which
is
The
mystical Babylon
is
mystical Jerusalem.
There
is
kingdom of darkness
itself, it
kingdom of God.*
But concerning the wedding garment
It is
who was
known
that the
to press this
pas-
sage into their service, in the controversy concerning the relative value
of faith and charity.
ity in
faith,
it
which
this
faith,
for that
all
he had
unless ex-
ternally
and playing
they must
it
as a
to the truth,
and
this
most unfairly,
know
that
it is
only in the
latter
sense of the word that any would attribute this guest's exclusion to his
wanting
faith.
Were
it
would
the other, as infinitely the deepest and truest, since the slower
said to be contained in
may
be
root in
t-'ie
flower,
and so
great
to
charity in
faith,
There
iS
however no need
The
was
Ixi.
4)
tendere
homo in tam magna turba recumbentium. unum ilium hominem, unum corpus esse quod
.
.
.
os-
eum
vero electi
runt.
Qui sunt
remanserant?
Quomodo,
projecto
c.
uno multi?
See also
20.
We
have
There
number of the elect are included in the " one that t Ignatius {Ad Ephes., 14) calls the twain, dp'xh ^oifjs kuI
ayULTTr).
apxh
f^iv T^iarts,
H-
Xoj it
X
1.
vestimentum
1, c. 6)
he says
amictum
caritatis,
velamen
gratias
and
Luc, I. 7, c. 204): Vestem nuptialem, hoc est, fidem et In the same way Augustine {Ser7n. xc.) joins them both: Habete fidem caritatem. cum dilectione. Ista est vestis nuptialis. The Auct. Oper. Imperf. : Nuptiale vesti-
188
SON.
For what
and
its
its
root of faith
flow-
er of charity.
He had
not,
" put on
according
to
Christ;"
in
which putting on
faith as the
power put-
By
faith
is
we
recog-
akin to us,
is in
spirits
who
is
the
And
this righteousness
by
we
also
make ours
we
it,
it
the righteousness
Jesum Christum et justitiam ejus see also Basil (on Yet no one would deny the other to be the side upon which the Fathers more frequently contemplate the wedding garment, as charity, or sanctity. Thus Irenaeus (Con. Hair., 1. 4, c. 36, 6) Qui vocati ad CEenam Dei,
est fides vera quae est per
;
mentum
Uai.
ix.) for
like
interpretation.
propter
tionis confessione
reservatur.
So Gregory
:
38
in
Evang.
Yet Grotius
affirms too
much
Holy
when he
says
Ita veteres
I thii.k
And
this is the
predomi-
Communion
ham.
4, 2.)
I
much
it
meritum apprehend-
ju(]'.cio
tanquam
tum sancta vita conversatione, qua, ipbius vestigiis insistimus, (Rom. xiii. 14,) ciim and Christus non solum nobis datus sit in donutn, sed etiam propositus in exemplum Vestem tiuptialem, hoc est, vestem superccelestis Jerome's words are remarkable
;
hominis,
as veteris
hominis exuvias.
One might
I.
3, sim. 9,
13.
He
some
virgins,
it is
answered that
they represent the chief Christian virtues: Spiritus sancti sunt, non aliter enim
potest in
homo
regnum Dei
eum
veste su^.
Etenim
eis.
its
accipere
nomen
filii
its
peculiar fitness.
Thus we
(Rom.
baptism
xiii.
iii.
10
;
Ephes.
Thess.
iv. 22,) to
God
27.)
(Ephes.
vi.
13-16
V.
;)
iii.
See
further,
Rom.
xiii.
12
Ezek.
xvi.
10
Isai. Ixi.
10
Sirac. vi. 31
v. 1, p. 699,)
shows
hid-
den from
the
Jews
many of
the
SON.
X89
accu-
constitutes the
complex of
man and show themselves in his life. The wedding garment then is righteousness in whole adornment of the new and spiritual man,
it is
its
including
the faith
without which
which no man
shall see
:
him,
it is
or,
him
to
is
tues themselves.
son,
Let us contemplate
who
is
making and
or
who
fession
liness
is
he
he
is
rejecting
him
at his baptism,*
and which
freely at
if
he has since
may
yet,
on
any moment claim he is a despiser, counting himself good enough merely as he is in himself, in the flesh and not in the spirit, to appear in the presence of God. But a time argift,
rives
when
was
it
is
too late to
to
himself in
the king's
so
it
word which struck the intruder speechless of God shining round and shining in upon the
day reveal
to
sinner,
which
no longer.
We
may
well understand
how he also, like the unworthy however forward he may have been in
;
other times to justify himself, in that day his mouth will be stopped
will not even pretend to offer
he
any excuse, or
to
why
at once.
The
The
5
who
name and
on
to the
heavenly kingdom
as grace
is
there.
;
"
He
vi.
same
shall be clothed in
iv.
11
vii.
2 Esd.
ii.
Enoch
vestes
vitae.
(v. 2, p.
310,) where
it is
said of
the angels, that according to the Jewish tradition they strip off the giave-clothes from
every one
*
who enters Paradise, and clothe him in white and glistering raiment. See one of Schleiermacher's Taufreden, in his Predigten, v. 4, p. 787.
190
office
KING'S SON.
from the servants who invited and brought in the guests,* can be no other than the angels who " shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend,
xix. 24.)
some
by
is
and them that do iniquity." (Matt. xiii. 41, 49 Luke These are bidden to "hind Mm hand and foot," which by made to mean that upon the sinner the night is come, in which
;
for
him
all
is
gone
though
in a
which
striver against
feet
God
all
is
reduced. f
The
command
away"
ven, the
Church now glorious and triumphant in heaperfected kingdom of God.:}: (Matt. xiii. 48; 2 Thess. i. 9.)
:
Nor
is
it
is
They
him
lies
God's
joy.|j
For
is
kingdom
is
light,
and
*
into
which
who
Those were
that
feet of
ii.
5, 9.)
They
here appear as
lic-
tors
name, from
ligare,
having allusion to
this
hands and
condemned
;
criminals.
t H. de Sto Victore
ben^ operandi
but
Notat
to
^fta^ov xal
v.
to
aipcvKTov irrogati
divinitus supplicii.
parallel.
Taking
in this
is
meaning, Zech.
the great
it
;
Jerome
in
plumbi
modum
mat alque concludat,ne quo modo possit erumpere. The women with wings, who bear away the ephah, will further answer to the servants here and the outer darkness here
;
to the land
its
;
The whole
sinners in
X It is
similarity to
this parable
that
and
this
speak alike of the cleansing of the Church by judgment-acts of separation upon the
it.
interesting to
compare Zeph.
i.
7,
sacrifice,
sacrifice,
And
it
shall
come
to pass in the
princes and
II
LXX.)
Lombard
(1.
4, dist. 50)
luce Dei.
SON.
life.
jgi
(Compare
end
to the light
of everlasting
Wisd,
xvii.
21
xviii. 1.)
On
teeth,''
The parable terminates like that of the Labourers in the Vineyard with that weighty saying, " Many are called, but feto are chosen," which
refers not
merely to the expulsion of this unworthy guest ; but in the " called " and not " chosen " must be included those others also, that did
not so
much
as
to
embrace
who
city.
And
its
these words do but state a truth which had long before been
fulfilment in the
finding
alas
is
always
accomplishing there.
They were
of that entire
in the
they were all "called'' to a kingend " chosen " to it, since with most of them God
(1 Cor. x.
was
1-10
Heb.
7-19
Jude 5.)
it
They were
first
fulfilled
on a smaller scale in
those twelve to
whom
was given
to see
two
only drew strength and encouragement from that sight, and they only were " chosen " to inherit it. They found their fulfilment in the thirty
these
all
were "
three hundred were found worthy, and in the end " chosen " to be help-
such a
all
sifting
(Judg.
vii.)
They were
the
a type
to-
when Esther
alone of
gether to the king's palace was "chosen" by him, and found lasting
(Esth. ii.)f
illust., p.
It is
who
- some of
these prepared
door
till
he should pass
there
for this, as
the feast
would
latter,
The
to
when
the king
demanded suddenly
were obliged
to
had no time
change
;
he was
and not
displeased,
made
But
if
can be said
it
resemble any of
it is
evidently the
Ten
should be compared,
hand
electae
sunt, ut
una
eligeretur, ilia
caeteris videretur.
tas eligunt
ad cultum.
Rex
ipse
unam
eligit
ad thalamum.
Prima
facta est,
secundum
192
PARABLE
XIII.
The
they supply the groundwork of the present parable, are sufficiently well
illustrated
and indeed no
less
for the
customs alluded
hold in
full force to
15
2)
and brings her with pomp and gladness (1 Mace. his own home, or occasionally, should that be too narrow
guests, to
37-39)
to
to receive the
some larger apartment provided for the occasion. She is acfather's house by her young friends and companjoin the procession,
ions,* (Ps. xlv. 15,) while other of these, the virgins of the parable, at
filius
venit in hunc
mundum (quem
ipse crea-
est.
Et
mundum
congregare animas,et
id est,
Ecclesiam, et
et
ibi
Sacramenta
ad reparaiionem
lis
verita-
dicitur,
admissi, ad
regnum sunt
eligendi
nisi
tantum
qui
sic
et excolere, ut ci!lm
magis
debes.
velit eligere
quam
te
reprobare.
es, et intelliges
quid facere
Posuit enim
Sponsus tuus
pigmenta
mensasua ministrari tibi praecepit, quidquid ad sanitatem, quidquid ad refeclionem, quidquid ad reparandam specicm, quidquid ad augendum decorem valere potest, tribuit. Cave ergo ne ad colendam teipsam negligens
sis,
ne
in nirvissimo tuo,
Praepara
te, sicut
sponsam Regis
*
coelestis,
The
193
company
Such seems
somewhat
is
to
me
They
;
the
virgins meet
to fetch,
going
his
own.
But
this
besides
it
being inaccurate in
itself,
also
considerably weakens
its
for the
parable
is
certainly
meant to leave on our minds the impression that the joining of the bridal company, for the purpose of passing in with it to the house of feasting, was a swift and momentary thing, to be done upon the instant, and of which if the opportunity were once lost, it could not be recovered. Such would not be the case, if there were this going first for the bride, and
only then
after
a leading of her
home
to
her future
that per-
Neither can
feast
it
be replied
was celebrated
as
was
much
its
contrary
to all the
(see John
ii.
spiritual application.
The marriages
in the
old, as
Bingham
some
22,
c. 4,
7,)
home
of the bride
so that without
it
the marriage in
view was
was
One would
not lay any stress on the fact that some of the earliest versions read,
;"
except as
it
was looked
at
actually
neighbouring countries.
confirms the view
to the ancient
:
(v. 2, p. 20,)
first
we can
"
We
went
to
procession which always accompanies the bridegroom in escorting his betrothed spouse
to that of
hundred of the
first
band of music.
equal
After having received the lady they returned, but were joined by an
evithe
number of ladies, who paid this compliment to the bride." These " ladies" dently answer to the virgins of our parable, and they join the processsion, not till
bridegroom with his friends have received the bride at her
ing her to her
fathers' house,
new
abode.
194
riably at night, hence the constant mention of lamps and torches carried
by the
we
2 Esdr. x. 2.)
These, however, do
tians
which they had Greek and Roman marriages,f or even in those of the early Chrisbut were in use, partly as being actually needed, partly as addreligious significance
same
ing
to
in
number
not accidental
number, according
course the
first
to the
number formed a company, which a less Jewish notions, would not have done4 Of
this
Who
to
has given
as virgins
Christ.
rise.
:
There
it is
is first theirs,
who
all,
Some,
at the last
moment, and
all
13,)
blessedness.
They who
resurrection.
From
the blessedness of these they should be shut out for the unreadiat the
coming
much
remained
in
* Thus, Rev.
together.
23, the
^'Zs
Xi^^vov
and the
vvii^ri;
are joined
Among
;
the
in chiefest use.
Epitkal., 98:
Viden'
faces
:
and again:
quate taedam
so Apuleius, 10
;
bus praelucebant
465.
and Euripides
vvjKptKai
Xafiira&ci.
Cf.
Becker's Ckarikles,
Among
to
the
Jews lamps
The
early Christians
seem
conjugales, denote.
is
>.af.inii
came
not a torch
earlier
or link,
but as
here
oil,
which would at an
s. v. Xu/ittijj.)
or c\\vx'"oi'-
(See Passow,
Yet
the mention of oil would not of itself exclude the possibility that these also were torches.
For Elphinstone
of lighting up
bottle [which
t is
{Ffist.
of India,
v.
"The
true
oil
Hindu way
who
from a sort of
would answer
Thus
it
was
was a
built.
may
d.
Mos. Cultus,
v. l,p.
175.
THE TEN
this exclusion,
VIRGINS.
to
I95
which
all
who were
thus
left
But the
heaven.*
drawn
and
yet the
to
and
de-
to specify
them as virgins.
But seeing
in the natu-
no weight
argument
is
literal,
to those
].
4,
c.
Illi
qui tempore
que negligentiis
iniplicati,
nondum
inquam
in terra,
dum
videbunt.
Sanctorum
differetur.
Hoc ipsum
satis
Videmus enim eas ob negligentiam suam a convivio nuptiali fuisse exclusas, etiamsi Janua Virgines fuerint, et lampadem fidei habuerint, et Dominum invooaverint. enim jam ciausa nunquam ilerum aperiebatur dum hoc tempus durabat quoniam comet
;
quam Deus hoc in sam operabitur (quae veluti janua Adhuc semel, inquit, futura est.
poris per puritatem perfectam
divinae hujus motionis receptis
mundo futura est anlequam finis ejus ac periodorum adveniat, per mundo et in omnibus quas ibidem adsunt, mutationem banc glorioerit
nisi
semel
et
movebo caelum
terram
omnesque qui
turn
tem-
mutabuntur
at post
Tunc enim aderit dies quietis eandem jam erunt introducfae. Abhinc vero oportebit, ut Virgines fatuas, et quicunque nondum vcste nuptiali fuerint induti, iEternitatem ipsam exspectent. Neque enim probabile videtur Virginibus istisnegligentibus, in quibustamen tot jam erant dispositiones bonae pariterque iis, qui eo tempore nondum rite parati, bona tamen initia jam fecerant, aeternum pereundum esse sed nee probabile est quamcumque illi, post januam semel clausam, praeparationem sint adhibituri, Christum iterum ex quiete sua exiturum, et in gratiam eorum novam crisin ac separationem aliquam peculiarem in natura instituturum esse. Von Mayer (Bl&tter fUr hOkere Wahrheit,v. 7, p. 247) interprets the parable in the same manner, and Olshaugeneralem usque, nulla nova commotio aut mutatio
fiet.
naturae ac creaturarum
omnium
quae
in
sen.
c.
2)
warns
Catholicam fidem,
xi. 2.
et
opera in EcclesiaDei
Virgines appel-
mens eorum
idololatriae turba
non con-
196
the virginity here
spiritual
to
is
fornication, of apostacy
who go
all
who
love his
be-
appearing,
who with
who
come again
to
quick and the dead," and who do not by their deeds openly deny that hope all are included, who would desire to include themselves in the
;
number of his
confess to the
believing people.
all in
same Lord, they profess to have even as the virgins were alike in this, that they
to
the
all
went forth
immediately added, "Jive But, of them were wise, and jive of them were foolish ;" the numbers make nothing to the case only the division is essential. They are not disit is
vii.
25-27,
"wise" and "foolish," for as a certain degree of good will toward the truth is assumed there in the foolish from their putting themselves in
the relation of hearers, and even attempting to build, so here from their
going forth
to
We
i.
the wise,
2 Pet.
i.
9.
The Lord
oil
is
wherein the
of those consisted
with them
;
"They
is
hut the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."
ble turns
must depend on
may
mean.
the
Romanists
and the Reformers, not different from that wliich they held concerning
the signification of the
The
what
was
of faith
their
stupratur
1.
2)
sed solicitorum et pigrorum exempla sunt, quorum aiteri semper Domini praestolantur
adventum,
aiteri
somno
et inertiae se dantes,
There
is
made
1.
of
it
in a
prayer for
3, p. 311,)
where,
among
lian
Yet
this
may
be no
{De Ani7nd,
c.
Gnostics
made
of this parable
The
much
are the reasonable powers, which have the capability of apprehending ideas.
THE TEN
before
faith
to
;
VIRGINS.
the inner spirit of
life,
I97
the living
men
this
was
was
if their
lamps were
his appearing.*
The Romanist
faith,
was a
ii.
failh
j)
but then it which, not having works, was " dead, being alone j" (Jam.
to
was
17
lamp of
for
in sight of
;
light
stir
done
and
in the
God
up the
in them, and so through this sluggishness and which they did not use was taken from them their lamps burned dim, and at last were wholly extinguished, and they had
the grace
them anew.f
It is
the
Romanist as the
root
the
Reformers as the
and
livinor
If
it
were not
of the
same term,
another,
or exclude, one
fair reconciliation.
For
life,
we may
with
oil,
law of
* This
is
very
much Augustine's
. .
.
c.
33
Serm. 149,
c.
11)
Lampades bona
conversatio
;
sunt opera
coram hominibus
fiat
. .
lucet laudabilis
est ergo ferre
ibi
Quid
oleum secum,
Doctrina
finem
homines laudent.
oil
in the
:
vessels thus,
and Cajetan, a
Romanist
will quote
them
In hoc diflerunt
words are so excellent that I operantes bona opera, quod aliqui habent testimonihis
um
tantum in
intus
se dili-
gere Deura in toto corde, se pcBnitere peccatorum quia sunt ofTensae Dei, se diligere
proximum
Sanctus
diligere
propter
foris
Deum.
Alii
autem operantur
sic
testimonium
testificetur spiritui
eorum quod
filii
Dei sunt.
Deum,
pcenitere propter
Deum,
hoc
est
diligere
proximum
et breviter
Deum
enim oleum
in vasis propriis.
:
its
supporters
among
the Fathers
fide
thus Jerome
confiteri, sed
(in
joc.)
Non
X
Dominum
virtutum
opera negligunt.
As
when he says Animae tuae anima fides. For instance, who would refuse to accede to the explanation
Augustine,
given by Gerhard?
:
in vasis interior cordis juslitia, vera fides, sincera charitas, vigilantia, prudentia, quae
solius Dei,
198
God,
to
or again,
we may
con-
lips,
and hold-
ing fast the form of the truth, yet are not diligent in the work of the
Lord,
in acts
by
that
law which decrees that from him who hath not shall be taken
lose that
find that
they have
lost
it
moment when
It is
is
were need that they should have it in largest measure. that whatever is merely outward in the Christian profession
clear
the
lamp
whatever
When we
works as
faith is the
is
inward and
spiritual
is
contemplate with St. James the faith as the body, and the
that
which witnesses
for
in the vessels
but when on
it.
the
other hand
we contemplate with
St.
value from the living principle of faith out of which they spring, then
the works are the lamp, and the faith the
in either case, before
oil
Yet
oil,
we have
meaning of
the
we must
get beyond both the works and the faith to something higher
quickens the
faith,
standing symbol.
Zech.
12
Acts
x.
38
Heb.
i.
9.)
relation
between the
is,
oil
lamps and
in
the vessels,
as
we
is
members
it
Regarded
warning
weary of well
says.
doing,
number of
those
who
are
is
over
is
their affections,
seen only of
God
that
Spirit of Christ
This
is
a point which
is
c.
by Gregory the
among
tollitur
the
works of
St.
Bernard
722)
Oleum
in larnpade est
opus
bonum
in
plerumque
el
dum dum
non
in
Domino
gloriatur,
hominibus
lucet,
I99
adds
much
to the
meant,
solemnity of
self-conscious dissemblers,
much
less the
those,
whose
scheme
oil
first
to please at all
God who
;
seeth in secret.
Nor
is it
that they
;
have actually no
their lamps,
when they
In
go
was approaching.
exactly parallel
having no
oil
is
to the
(Matt.
xiii.
till
;)
up
till
the
lamps burn on
something
it is
more than
to itself that
no-
thing besides
it
is
was no
in
faith,
the
Christian
manifestation,
But
who
recog-
may
Church
;
glory
of
toil
may have
a long
life to live
and
feel
fore the
kingdom
and who
them
consequently
that
it is
not a few
warm
them suc-
which
fire
will enable
to
end
for
up and
as
among straw, which will quickly blaze quickly be extinguished. They feel that principles as well
little
re-
oleum quod
animse
in
in vasis
dum
dum
toto desiderio ei
clamant quotidie.
Haec
est gloria
filiac
regis
dum
quim
de eo quod lucet
judicat
omne quod
cernitur, nee id
dignum
remune-
hominum
prosequuntur.
lacrymas
testes amoris,
haec est
gloria, sed
filiae
regis et amicae.
Hoc oleum fatuae virgines non favorem hominum bona non operantur.
Hoc oleum
in
200
God.
If the
come
at once,
it
perhaps
it
might be an-
is that,
since
may
possibly be otherwise,
When
ry,
it is
tar-
we may number
it
among
the
many
was
delayed
;
was
a hint
and no more
if
more had been given, if the Lord had said plainly that he would not come for many centuries, then the first ages of the Church would have
been placed
ful
in a
motive
to holiness
to
faithful,
by the
possibility
not
he will cer-
tainly return in their time, for he does not desire our faith and our practice to be
all
founded on an error,
and practice of
should
But
it
is
a necessary element
it
it
improba-
The
assume
faith
made them
and joy of
to
that
coming
to
be close at hand.
In the strength
died, the
this
when they
kingdom was indeed come unto thern.f But in addition to the reason here noted, why the Church should not have been acquainted with the precise time of her Lord's return, it may be added, that it was in Prophecy is no fatalism,:}: and it was alitself, no doubt, undetermined.
ways open
to
every age by
faith
and prayer
to
to hasten that
mere;
ly as looking
Pet.
iii.
God
(2
12
;)
19, "
Repent ye
...
that the
times of refreshing
may come
up of
the
kingdom of Christ
and we
same
* Augustine: Ariima,
c.
why
of that day
Ut
diem observans,
Non
ergo
ille diligit
;
Adventum Domini,
sed
ille
propinquare, aut
sit,
ille
qui asserit
non propinquare
potiusquieumsive prop6
sive longfe
t
201
is
conditional,
9.)
In agreement
to
we pray
and
that
to
it
may
please
God "
accomplish
number of his
left
elect,
matter was
But while the uncertainty, it was yet images of the Church had
the
first
proved
to
be ungrounded, those
who examined
Scriptures should
Of these
many, and
passage
is
one.
But
and
to
slept."
The
steps
by which they
fell
into
foundly.
among
though with
and easily removed its removal being actually signified by the trimming and replenishing of their lamps, while that of the others will be beyond remedy .f Augustine proposes, but it is only to reject, this interpretation, that by the sleeping of all is signified the love of all in some measure growing cold for he asks, Why were these wise admitij:
ted
unless for the very reason that their love had not
is,
grown
cold
But there
he says, a sleep
is
common
and
of death, which
by
these words
indicated
this is the
explanation of Chrysostom,
all
to that other
which under-
it is is
would have, as
gence,
it
dili-
we
most im-
probable of
that
we
Ne
be always ready,
that
we
be
7iot
taken
c.
5):
tempus, quo
eum
crediderant
de
ipsa,
mercede
:
fidei desperarent.
So Cocceius
primam
view
fol-
cum pace
invasit
and Grotius,
iii.
in this
;
Maldonatus gives
present day
X
:
this
explanation in
Serm. 93,
Ep. 140,
c.
32.
14
202
unprepared.
not be
this
may
meant than
to
ed needful
enable them
calmly and securely awaited his approach.* Moreover, the conveniences of the parabolic narration which required to be consulted seem to
require such a circumstance as
in a condition to
this.
foolish
virgins been
their
them,
would naturally
arrived,
to
mark the lapse of time, and the gradual warning of knowing that they had not wherewith to replenish lamps, they,
have bestirred themselves before the decisive
procure a
moment
company
new
supply.
The
fell
awakened except by the cry of the advancing bridal and scarcely anything else would give, an easy and
oil at
the
moment when
dance.
there
have
it
in abun-
And had
had
it
they been
would have
seemed
upon
panions of the lapse of time and the increasing dimness with which their
possible.
was
to
at midnight,
and not
till
crymade, Becry
this
we may
suppose
their lively
sympathy
in
But the
Most are agreed to find an allusion to " the voice of the archangel and the trump of God," (1 Thess. iv. 16,) which shall be heard when the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. Some, however, explain
the cry as
in the
by whom
al-
have
been observed, and who will proclaim aloud the near advent of the Lord,
the heavenly Bridegroom,
when he draws
nigh, accompanied
by the angels
triumphant
home
to
that
Comm.
meaning and
the preceding
Exspec"
est, et in pcEnitentise
Borum.
t Storr,
I
De Far.
si
Augustine {Quasi.
59)
Ex
ipsis
sponsa,
tanquam
ad matrem
*
so he
203
the house of everlasting
may
And
this
cry
is
" at
was an opinion current among the later Jews, that the Messiah would come suddenly at midnight, as their forefathers had gone out from Egypt and obtained their former deliverance, at that very hour, (Exod. xii. 29,) from which belief Jerome* supposes the apostolic tradition of not dismissing the people
on Easter eve,
till
was
first,
past, to
be assembled
Christ should
They waited till then, that they might come, who was twice to glorify that night,
and again, by assuming in
in the
it
by
in
it
resuming
:
his life,
the do-
passage before
pace
night
at the
is
middle night.
But
it is
more natural
is
to
the time
deep sleep
upon men,
when
for,
when commonly
and because thus the unexpectedness of Christ's coming, of the day of the Lord which " cometh as a thief in the night," (1 Thess. v. 2,) is
manner set out.f But when the cry was heard, med their lamps.^j^ Every one
in a lively
''
and
trim-
at the last
merely of men,
for that
he now
Many
hope
put off this examination of the very grounds of their faith and
to the last
moment
to defer
it,
ble discoveries which will then be made, beyond the grave, even
the
day of judgment,
but
cannot be deferred.
When
the
concurrere dicantur,
cum ex
ipsis filiis
(See
Comm.
in Matth., in loc.
c. 6)
; :
Quid
est
:
media, nocte?
Quando non
speratur,
and
Jerome
Ward View
in India of
mony
of the Hindoos, v. 2, p. 29), describing the parts of a marriage cerewhich he was an eye-witness, says " After waiting two or three
:
it
;
was announced as in the very words of Scripture, go ye out to meet him.' All the persons employed
now
procession
too late to
in their hands to fill up their stations in the some of them had lost their lights and recre unprepared, hut it teas then seek them ; and the cavalcade moved forward."
;
Augustine
suis.
Cocceius
Quivia
homoapud
204
day of Christ comes,
it
THE TEN
will
VIRGINS.
to
remain ignorant
any longer of
day
den things of men, of things which had remained hidden even from them selves ; a flood of light will then pour into all the darkest corners of all
hearts,
to
tion will be
no longer possible.
Thus when
to their
dismay that
of nourishment
wherewith
need
to
replenish them
to their
and
lamps were on
had not
in their
that they
so that they
were compelled
wiser companions, saying, " Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.''* Of course the request and the refusal
turn
which
it
calls out,
no
but of
we
truth
how im-
we
from
men
for that
shall be miserably
disappointed, if
we
won,
that
is,
diligent en-
he not
enough
for us and you.'' Every man must live by his own faith. There is that which one can communicate to another, and make himself the richer
as one
who
walks henceforth
but there
very
The hand-lamp was naturally small, and would not contain a supply of oil for many hours of continuous burning even the lamps used at a festival, which would
:
if
Thus
;
Petro-
22
see also c.
it
70.
is
Such
in the
margin of our
gone out,"
to trim
their
companions
The trimming
was clogging the wick. For the last purpose there was often a little instrument that hung by a slender chain from the lamp itself pointed for the removing of the snuffs (the putres fungi) from around the flame, and furnished with a little hook This inat the side by which the wick, when need was, might be drawn further out.
ered round, and
strument
is
sometimes found
:
still
In Virgil's Moretum, 11
Callus,
t
haste.
V. 2, p.
(See Becker's
205, seq.)
in the
The answer
Greek
is
strongly elliptical as in a
illi
moment
of earnestness and
conveniens.
On
Non
desperatione
:
sed sobrii et
pift.
humilitate
Ov
Si' d(rTr\ayy(viav
THE TEN
is also
VIRGINS.
in
its
205
that
is
man to man, which can be obtained only from above, and which every man must obtain for himself; one can indeed point out to another
from
where he
is
it
all
is said,
each one
must bring
up
for
own
was
efforts.
The
wise virgins
possible,
and buy for yourselves ;" turn to the dispensers of heavenly grace, to them whom God has appointed in the Church as channels of his gifts, or as some would explain it, to the prophets and apostles, and learn from their words and teaching, how to reSometimes vive the work of God in your souls, if yet there be time.
"
Go
sell,
how much
more
pleasing,
whom
the wise virgins represent, to see in them a counsel of love, of that love
things,"
an
man, but betake themselves, if it yet be the sources from which true effectual grace can alone be obtain-
work of grace
in their hearts.
Nor
can we refuse
to
see in the reason which they give for refusing to comlest there he not
words.
"
Rommay resist the drawing of any such conclusion from the The righteous shall hardly be saved ;"f the wise virgins
aught
to others.
attain was,
that their
allow
them
to
make
chamber.:}:
c.
8)
Non
:
impiorum.
34)
respondentibus
se nescire, utriim
illo
sufficiat ipsa
conscientia,
mundum
Pudic,
c.
this part
of the para-
ble,
when he
opposing the
:
iibelli
in the African
Church
purg&sse.
fuerit consecutus.
tem sua
Proinde qui ilium aemularis donando delicta, si Si vero peccator es, quomodo oleum faculae plane patere pro me. et mihi poterit ? Gurtler {Syst. Theol. Froph.,^. 711) gives a
Dei
filius ?....
206
while
the others
anew from
their
to the
shut as
much
12.)
for the
(See Gen.
vii.
16
Rev.
iii.
"What
homily on
is
open
to
may
sit
and Jacob,
in the
kingdom of heaven,
will in
that
Door which
saith,
it
Him
now
that
cometh
to
me
Behold how
is
Murderers come,
re-
unclean
publicans
of this
rather
Adamus, which witnesses how strongly it was once felt was here an argument against all hoping in man and in the merits of men The words are these " There was a. d. 1322, exhibited at than in God.
:
Eisenach before the Margrave Frederick of Misnia, the mystery concerning the
wise and as
five
The wise were St. Mary, St. Catharine, St. BarTo these come the foolish, seeking that they bara, St. Dorothy, and St. Margaret. will impart to them of their oil, that is, as the actor explained it, intercede with God
many
foolish virgins.
for
heaven.
also may be admitted to the marriage, that is, to the kingdom of What happens? the wise absolutely deny that they can communicate aught.
Then a
prayer
the
foolish
but
were bidden
and buy
oil.
Which
fell
when
that prince
is said to
into
if
What,' he exclaimed,
is
From
this
rise,
was
This event
It
told
may
was a very
favour-
(See
Du
is
this
comparison
est vestibulo,
tri-
seculum futurum
clinium.
in almost every
Compare Milton's Sonnet to a Virtuous Young Lady, where word to this latter portion of our parable.
there
is
allusion
Thy care is fixed and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light. And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore
Thou, when
Passes to
the
be sure.
Bridegroom with
bliss in the
extract
207
itself to
deny
the Door,
is infinite to
amount of wickedness.
saith he
The
door
is
shut.
No
one's penitence,
no one's
no
any
after his
which not only did not repel Peter after his threefold denial, but (See Luke xvi. 26.) vered its keys to be guarded by him."
came
for
the other
virgins,
sayings
to us,''
in vain, they
come looking
title
time of judgment.*
In the
to stand in a
him
some say,
confidence
but
sesses them, lest they should be excluded from the nuptial feast, lest
be now too
part
;
even
as
it
proves
for in
them
Church
hymn must find itself true. Plena luctu caret fructu And in reply to their claim to be admitted they hear
sentence of their exclusion,
you,
sera pcenitentia.
"
is
ife answered
and
said, Verily
I say
unto
I know you
not."
It
"
know my
sheep, and
know them in that sense in which the Lord says, am known of mine." This knowledge is of
it may seem at first a when explaining, ^^ I know you " Ye know not me." Of course
not," he observes,
the issue
is,
for ever,
from
(See
Isai.
13.)
On
this
their
exclusion
Bengel observes, that there are four classes of persons; those that have
an abundant entrance into the kingdom, entering as
set into the
it
were with
sails
haven
On
c.
35.
We
have at Luke
it
xiii.
25, the
trance, though
who
all
When
up and bars
and those of
open them.
who have lingered and arrive later cannot persuade him again to They remain without, and he declares the fellowship between them never been more than an outward one, and now is broken altogether.
208
THE TEN
evidently the broad
VIRGINS.
who go
them
;
way
to destruction,
whose
sins
go before
while again, there are those who, though they seemed not far off from the kingdom of God, yet miss it after all such were these five
:
foolish virgins,
fell short,
and the
fate
of these,
who were
the
so near,
and yet
after all
ble of
all.
Lest that
may
be our
fate,
Lord says
his
to us,
for
to
what
every
he said
to his
member
day nor
of
the
it
every age,
;'*
"
all, to
Church and
'
Watch
so,
therefore,
hour
and
this
being
upon
the
without a remedy
doom of
shown you
which
ment.
'
Watch
it is
therefore, for ye
know
cannot be huddled up into a moneither the day nor the hour.'' "
if
we keep in memory
at
while
is
the
last,
come
Church,
wise and
cost,
among
those
who
Thus
:
at Pente-
when by
Church, he came
the pru-
feast,
Thus
that
too he came at the Reformation those that had oil went in those had empty lamps, the form of godliness without the power, tarried without. Each of these was an example of that which should be more
:
remains
to
in
which
this parable
it
how
happens
marriage
supper, and
are not so
that this
is
is
only from thence cast out, while in this the foolish virgins
It
much
accidental,
struction of the
two parables
may be explained away and we treat them when we look for some deeper lying reason. The
marriage
festivities which are there In Gerhard's words, " Those are
spoken
of,
celebrated in this
the
Church
day
in the
What
is
more
it
have no place
in the text,
excluded
209
Church triumphant. To those, even they are admitted who are not adorned with the wedding garment, but to these only they to whom it is
granted that they should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for
the fine linen
is
; ;
(Rev. xix. 8
;) to
those
men
to these
by the trumpet of
To
is
those,
who
:
be cast out
who
once introduced
is
wherefore
said,
'
"
We may
;
the words in
"Now
we
the
among
present world
but only
let
may
* Serm. 93,
c.
10.
Luke
well.
(xii.
The
bour
for their
Lord
to,
for
him not
duaXicrci
as here
when
he shall come
but
when he
wedding
(tto'ts
U rwf ya^toi/),
from the heavenly bridal, the union with the Church in heaven.
preparedness to meet him clothes
itself
;
have
i.
17
Pet.
13,)
that
is,
they
to
home must
be bright
and beam-
The
festival
his return,
for
his admission
"
He
shall gird
make them
in a
t
to sit
down
What
what he
more
glorious
manner
favourite subject of
Christian Art.
Munter
Cemetery of
the
Church of
Agnes,
at
p.
Rome, probably
345,) describing
Judgment
a Cathedral, says:
On
femmes,
les
la
meme
a.
lampe renvers^e.
du Christ,
et
la droit
bienheureu.t
les
folles
Didkon's Manuel
Chretienne,
217.
210
THE TALENTS.
PARABLE
XIY.
THE TALENTS.
Matthew
xxv. 14-30.
While
the virgins
were represented as waiting for the Lord, we have for him there the inward spiritual rest of
:
was described,
here
There, by the
end of the
cays
in
foolish virgins,
we were warned
in the
inward
spiritual life,
here against
outward work,
if
we would
It is not,
therefore, without
Virgins
work
for the
kingdom of God,
the heart.*
distinction
is
God
Or
there
we may
consider the
represent
first
the
more contemplative,
the Church,
a
this
of
more
It is
active
working members of
though
of
of late nearly
the
lost sight
among
us.
member
Church ought
to
even under
to all
;
may
own
which he
and the
We
xiii.
to
Mark
34, with not unimportant variations, as there also are traces at the
coming suddenly he
which
St.
distinctly, being
by
St.
Mark blended
together,
and more
briefly recorded.
* Or they
c.
1G4)
may be co-ordinated with one another. Thus Gerhard (Harm. Evang., Lampas fulgens est talentum usui datum, lampas extincta, talentum otiosum et
interram absconditum.
THE TALENTS.
There
is
211
same discourse which both
St.
it
it
is
the
Luke
to this one,
however some
expositors, as Maldonatus,
may
have affirmed
is
against this.
The
time
which Luke records, having been spoken when Jesus was now drawing near to Jerusalem, but had not
and place are different
;
yet
made
this,
of Olives, the third day after his entry into the city.
to the
this in the
of his
own most
earth.
whom
the
he was about
con-
fide the
menced on
is
The scope
of that, which
is
twofold, and
may
be thus defined.
The
many
that
was now
going
to sit
David
at
Jerusalem.
He would
teach them,
must yet be a long interval ere that should be, and only after a long period return, and that not till
the
must go away,
had elapsed,
In
that period
should the powers that opposed his kingdom be effectually put down.
mean time, (and here is the point of contact between the two parables,) those who stood to him in the relation of servants and friends, were not to
be
idl}''
waiting the time of his coming back, but should seek earnestly to
according
to the
ability
work should
ance
enemies,
be
return he would reward each accordin g as his at which time of his return, as St. Luke, in accord-
to the plan
break
to
bow
fold.
to
the sceptre
It is
of his love.
The
scope of /s parable
two-
who
were following Jesus with an expectation triumph, and who, when they should find
might, perhaps,
woulds speedily
Crucify him.
many of them turn against him and join in the cry, He warns them that his triumph over his enemies, though
it
would be
to his
terrible
it
con-
him and
;
which should
him
at
Jerusalem
and
hard.
the
stated by Ger-
212
suffer themselves to be
THE TALENTS.
drawn
into the
ranks of his
were
doomed
to
an utter
this
destruction.
For the
disciples also
contains a
warning, that
again in glory and in power, was not to be for them a period of sloth
and
good
to
show
all
absent Lord
which
fidelity
knowledged and abundantly rewarded, even as negligence and would meet also their due recompense of reward.
Here
it
is
at
which have
by the
third Evangelist.
The
riage of the King's Son, a blending together, through loose and floating
tradition, of
heterogeneous materials,
to
that in fact
we have
there, joined
in one,
what ought
joinings are
plainly discernible
for
a while.
He
stand in no relation to one another, that with the very slightest alterations,
ver. 12, 14, 15, 27,
the re-
maining
But only
let that
forgotten, or never to
whom
the
in St.
Luke, and
will at
to all, to his
own
In
Luke
the parable
is
plex purpose to
fulfil.
Matthew
it is
simpler
for
it is
addressed to
meant
find
no
place.
To
the apostles then and to none other the parable of the Talents,
It is
v. 1, p.
675.
is little
not
new
and
ago.
Ungeron
:
the
same ground of
omnium Christi parabolarum simplicitatem atque unitatem recordanti mihi Lucas visus est cum illfi simplici parabola, hie alteram similem, sed alias et aliier prolatam, in unam composuisse.
Nat., p. 130)
Itaque siniplicem apud Matthasum parabolam,et
THE TALENTS.
understanding of
its
213
in
mind the
for that
servants, as
it
now
exists
among
us, affords
no satisfactory explanation.
The master
and
it is
of an household goin
gaway
moneys wherewith
to
nor
if
he
did,
here punished.
But slaves
to
in antiquity
were often
master
artisans, or
it
engage
sum
to their
or as
was frequently arranged, a fixed yearly here, they had money given them wherewith
to
to trade
enlarge
their business,
and
to
assumed, when
it
is said,
is
as a
man
travelling into a
to
far
country,
delivered
It
own f servants and was " afar country " into which the Lord
called his
;:}:
who
to travel
fur-
them, and
all their
suc-
whose
representatives
many
excellent gifts.
was no doubt the tim^ when the goods, that is, spiritual powers and capacities, were by him most manifestly and most abundantly communicated to his servants, that they might profit withal.
The day
of Pentecost
Yet^nvas not that the first occasion when they were Lord had communicated to them much during his earthly the so given sojourn with them, (John xv. 3,) and before his ascension, (Johnxx. 22,)
(Ephes.
iv.
;
8-12.)
forth
to
This being
all
so, the
:
parable
it
times
yet
not primarily to
persons
was
addressed to the apostles alone, and the gifts for the exercise of the
are called in
which Christ has given to his Church, are signified, by the committed talents. Seeing, however, that all their measure to edify one another, that all Christians have
gifts,
more or fewer,
is
for
applicable to
While,
it
has relation
first to
spiritual
gifts
and capacities,
yet
to those
* See Mr. Greswell's Exp. of the Far., v. 5, part 2, p. 27, seq., and the Diet,
of Gr. and
Rom.
Antt.,
s. v.
It
own
for there is
iSiov;.
It is only the
in later Latin
So Matt.
dicit,
dypov,
Ad Patrem
iturus, peregre se
iturum
prop-
cum magis
214
THE TALENTS.
men
that they
to
may be
are
ca-
render an
There is, indeed, a witness for this in our English word account. " to/en<," which has come to signify any mental endowments, faculties,
or powers whatever, a use which
parable, even as
into the thoughts
it is
is
a proof of the
manner
in
which
it
has worked
itself
But
different
men
to
another one ;
to
every
man
according
to his
it,
several aiility.''*
phylact explains
were
to
measure of
his faith
and purity,"
these gifts
ral is the
;
which
but
to
each according
ability,
is
spiritual
does not dissolve the groundwork of the individual character, nor abolish
all its peculiarities,
all that
are subject to
iv.
it
to
common stand-
ard
(see
Cor.
4-31.; Ephes.
16.)
The
as the vessel,
according
to its
which may be large or may be small, and which receives capacity ;) but which in each case \s filled ; so that we
who had
any more
than
we
was destined
for
di-
same
Spirit,"
and
as the
body
nor are
are
all
all in
an army generals or
captains,:}: so
neither in the
Church
of naSpirit,
we speak
wine of the
we must
away,
be quite taken
even as
fidelity
to dilate
so that the person with far inferior natural gifts yet often
brings in a far more abundant harvest, than one with superior powers,
who
* Cajetan
neminem
onerat
donum congraum
suis viribus.
t Jerome
quomod6
is
et apostolus
dicit.
c.
used.
THE TALENTS.
Having thus committed
unto each according
215
to his several
heavenly
it is
not altogether so
still
remains in
them was the smallest, one The following hard upon the other, however the order was reversed. three verses which follow (17-19) embrace the whole period intervenTwo of the servants, ing between the first and second coming of Christ.
full force
:
those to
whom
the largest
sums with
that
moneys have been committed, lay out those These are the representatives of all
in their
office
and
faithful
is this
may be.
:
There
"
proportions
He
that
had received
made them
other jive
talents" and again, " he that had received the two, he also gained other
two ;"
tions
;
while
all
sums
in different propor-
had alike received a pound, but one gained with that pound Two most important truths are thus ten pounds, and another five. brought out, as it could not have conveniently been done in a single narration
first
by
St.
Matthew
according as
we have
differ
re-
ceived will
as
it
be expected from us
zeal,
and
if
this
men
differ in fidelity, in
amount
"
But
He
that
committed to them, it was otherwise with the third ; had received one " talent, " we7it and digged in the earth, and hid
his lord's
gifts,
money "
"
an
for
Wisdom
that is hid,
is
Better is he that hideth his folly, than a man them both ? In St. Luke he hides (Sirach, xx. 30, 31.) that hideth his wisdom."* his pound in a napkin, but that would have been impossible with so large
profit is in
Compare Shakspeare " Heaven does with us, as we with torches do Not light them for themselves for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched
:
:
But
The
But
thrifty
216
a
THE TALENTS.
as a talent,
sum
^^
which
is,
therefore,
more
fitly
said to
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with
In the joyful
them.''
coming forward of
we
see an
example of boldness
in the
day of judgment
What
is
of rejoicing
at his
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ ? coming ?" (1 Thess. ii. 19 Phil. iv. 1.) In St. 2 Cor. i. 14
; ;
Matthew
the faithful
Luke it is, " Thy pound hath gained;" thus between them they make up the speech of St. Paul, " I yet not I, but the
grace of God that was with me." And even in St. Matthew, " I have gained " is preceded by that other word " thou deliveredst me y" it is
only thy
gift
which
I is
have so multiplied.
according
this,
to the talents,
and two
is
for
Consistently with
the
express-
ed in exactly the same language, even as the reward to each is precisely to each it is said, " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"f the same
:
that
this
is,
become a sharer of
is,
my
joy.
No
language
by a great
festi-
val, to
his ac-
counts, and
shown
that he has
been true
It is
to
absence,
is
bidden freely
to enter.
well
to sit
;
of manumission
* Jerome
in a napkin
:
coUigandum,
tractandum, nee in
defodiendum, terrenis
scilicet cogitationibus
t Leighton's words on this entering into the joy of the Lord are beautiful
obscurandum. " It
:
is
but
little
we can
receive here,
some drops
we
shall
Tam magnum
prehendi, ideo
in
1.
enim
erit illud
gaudium, ut non
possit in
homine concludi
vel
ab eo comintrat illud
homo
hominem
velut ab
homine comprehensum
Lord: Triplex
tui.
est
gaudium
est
est
gaudium
affluentia,
seculi.est gau:
dium tuum,
seculi,
gaudium Domini
:
Primum
de terrenil
secundum de
bona, conscientia
Non
igitur
exeas in gaudium
. . .
Ad primum non remaneas in gaudio tuo, sed intrcs gaudium Domini tui homo, cum cecidit de paradiso ad secundum venire incipit, ciim per fidem Tunc autem ad tertium perveniet, cCim videndo ipsum sicuti est reconciliatus Deo.
exivit
:
s.
v.
Manumissio,
p.
596.
THE TALENTS.
Perhaps there
217
be here allusion to something of the kind the incorof what once he had spoken in words, " Henceforth I poration in an act
call
may
you not
xii.
servants,
;
but
Luke
37
Rev.
iii.
20.)
But there remains one who has not yet given in has been often observed how solemn a warning there
in the fact, that
and
it
and
to
how many,
is
he
to
whom
:
the one
who
is
found faulty
to
since
such
little is little
to
my
I
charge, that
it
how
administer that
at
the best
cannot do
much
God's glory ; what signifies the little, whether it be done or left unBut here we are instructed that the Lord looks for fidelity in done ?"
as well as in
little
much.*
We
why
he should
have lingered
lord.
It is
to the last,
being reluctant
true that he had not wasted his master's goods like the
Unand
just Steward, nor spent all his portion in riotous living like the Prodigal,
Unmerciful Servant
an entire mistake
to
mix up
when
it
should be
The consequence
its
with theirs would be, that the very persons whose consciences the parable
was meant
to
force.
When we weave
the
all
are evidently by their lives and actions denying that they count Christ
to
at all
it is
not for
their talent, or
own
ped
hearts,
deny that they have ever received one the law, and their tell them sufficiently plainly of their sin and danger. But the
is for
their talent,
who
being equip-
sphere of activity in the kingdom of God, do yet choose, to use Bacon's words, " a goodness solitary and particular, rather than genera-
tive
and seminal."
There
is
many
and the
toil
There
is
show of humility in the excuses that a person so inclined would make ; as for instance, " The care of my own soul is sufficient to occupy me
wholly
that
I
;
(/
the responsibility of
it ;
any
spiritual
I
work
is
so great, so awful,
while
am employed
others, I
may
perhaps be losing
my own."
15
218
in the early
THE TALENTS.
Church, who on grounds like these, persisted in refusing
called,
charges
to
whom
The warning
low after
this
then
is
to fol-
generation according
of God.
The
root out of
which
this
mischief grows
ters,
is laid
has
its rise,
as
in a false
this
God.
merely
it is
The
and
in
his gracious
for
to
him.
This was
whom
for
But
to
know
God's name
in his
is to
trust in him.
They
who undertake a
ministry
mit manifold mistakes in that ministry, which they might avoid, if they
declined that ministry altogether,
even
many
things which they might escape, if they wholly refused that charge.
* Augustine, in a sermon preached on the anniversary of his exaltation to the episcopal dignity, {Serm. 339,
c. 3,)
makes
ing of the temptation, whereof he was conscious, to withdraw from the active labour in
the Church,
and
Si
non erogem,
et
pecuniam servem,
terret
me
Evangelium.
Possem enim
dicere:
Quid mihi
iquis,
Quid mihi
minibus?
Accepi quomodo vivam, quomodo jussus sum, quomodo praeceptus sum, as;
signem quomodo accepi de aliis me reddere rationem quo mihi ? Nam ad islam securitatem otiosissimam nemo me vinceret terret.
nihil dulcius,
Evangelium
:
me
quam divinum
thesaurum
dulce est,
magnum
Sed
onus,
num
lium.
terret
And
Si
autem
fueris frigidus,
:
marcidus, ad te
sufficiens, et dicens in corde tuo Quid mihi est curare anima mea, ipsam integram servem Deo Eja non tibi venit in mentem servus ille qui abscondit talentum et noluit erogare 1 nunquid enim Compare what he beauaccusatus est, quia perdidit, et non quia sine lucro servavit?
solum spectans,
quasi
tibi
tifully
t
and
also
De Fide
et Oper., c. 17.
all
THE TALENTS.
But
shall those
219
who
would they
not, so
acting,
testify there-
by
that they thought of God, as he thought of his master that he was an hard * lord extreme to mark what was amiss making no allow-
ances, accepting never the will for the deed, but watching to take ad-
Nor
roll off
If only he
may
a charge from himself, he cares not for affixing one to his lord.
in
this
respect, a
from attributing
to
despot, ff
who
who would
reap what he has not sown, and gather whence he has not strawed.f
In these words he gives evidence that he as entirely has mistaken the
to
which he was
mas-
whom
it
done.:}:
fault therein,
though very
liable of being
pleaded as here
true,
when most
to
be
word of
its
own
to express
it,
cuAu/Jcia,
from
cv ^afiffdvciv,
templated as costly yet delicate vessels, which must needs be handled with extreme
* The
<jK\np<>i
here
is
Luke
;
xix.
21
that
:
word being
adtppotv Kal
never
thus Plutarch
^i>
This
last is
fruit or
wine, which
;^;p>;oTO{,
is
crude, un.
v. 39,)
is
wanting
in
its
opposite in
to the
(Luke
(XK^npos
opposed
dulcis.
But
an
which
is at is
opposed to
and
vyp6;.
Nabal
is aKk-npdi xat
(1
Sam. XXV.
LXX.)
churlish
and
Terence {Adelph.,
v. 4,) unfolds
the cK\np6i,
when he
The words
10.
refer to the
Rather there is a step in the process of the harvest, saying the same thing twice. " Where thou hast not strawed" or better, scattered with the fan on the barn floor,
there expectest thou to " gather" with the rake
to purge
:
as one
who
away
12.)
the chaff, yet expects to gather in the golden grains into his store.
AitwopTTKraf, the
(Matt.
iii.
mak37
;)
;
enemy, (Luke
i.
51
Acts
v.
or as the wolf the sheep, (Matt. xxvi. 31,) or as the Prodigal his goods, (Luke xv. 13
xvi. 1
;)
or as here, the
Notionem
X
ventilandi
husbandman the chaflT. Thus rightly Schott on frumentum in arefi repositum exprimit.
which
this ^icirKdpmaas
Aquinas
Deus
nihil
220
THE TALENTS.
as something to be done
for God, instead of being a work to be wrought in him, or rather, which He thought that God callhe would work in and through his servants.
ed
to
that he laid
on a task,
and put no joy nor consolation into the hearts no wonder then that he should shrink from
it.
fulfilled
Thus, he goes on to say, " I was afraid ;"* he justifies the caution and timidity which he had shown, and how it was that he would attempt
nothing and venture upon nothing
lest in the
:
he feared
to trade
on that
talent,
to
profess to fear to lay themselves out for the winning of other souls, lest,
so doing, they might
thine."'\
" Lo,
Here
to
it
be hidden, and
to
lie
yet
restored
him
since
the suffering
them
idle
is
one form of wasting them ? In reality they could not be so reIt is only that men imagine they can be given back, when they stored.
in fact
is all
that
God requires of
to
him
homine
nisi
the
same
Da quod
jubes, et jube
* Hilary
afraid."
{Comm.
was
It is,
he says, the voice of them that choose to abide, as the Jew, in the law
and
vice
and
Timui
te,
et
metum veterum
t Cocceius
s. v.
TaXavrov.
There
is
an instructive Eastern
It is
which in
its
as follows
:
and
to his
neighbours twaia
He
Deep
And
and strewed
the
it
The man
returns at last
it
;
asks of
same
; ;
first
sack
'tis
the
thou hast
safely back."
Unharmed
it
shows without
but
gH
One half of what was there proves rotten and decayed. Upon the other half have worm and mildew preyed. The putrid heap to him in ire he doth return, Then of the other asks, " Where is my sack of corn ?" Who answered," Come with me and see how it has sped" And took and showed him fields with waving harvests spread.
THE TALENTS.
221
But his lord answers him on his own grounds, and making his own mouth condemn him (Job. xv. 6 2 Sam. i. 16 ;) nor does he take the trouble to dispute or deny the truth of the character which his servant
;
;
"Thou
by calumniating
wicked and slothful servant ;"'' wicked," in his lord, and " slothful,'' as
that
I had
not strawed ;
that
me
to
me
justice
still
and there was a safe way, by which thou mightest have done
with
little
this,
not the large gains, which were possible through some bolder course,
my
monies
Thou
my money
to the
my
the
This putting
:
money
to the
"
Those
timid natures which are not suited to independent labour in the king-
dom
may
Then cheerfully the man laughed out and cried, " This one Had insight, to make up for the other that had none. The letter he observed, but thou the precept's sense, And thus to thee and me shall profit grow from hence
;
fill
for
me,
The
quadam
thee."
So fenus
been,
is
To estimate how great the master's we must keep in mind the high rates of intes. v.
Interest of
Money,
523
and see
description of the
si
non ausus
dono Dei
tamen debuit
illo, in
actionibus in qui-
me
this
Teelman {Comm. in Luc. xvi.) has a curious exmoney to the Tpairci^Xrai, starting from the notion that the " If you thought of these money-changers was in itself and necessarily unfair unfair man, why were you not consistent? why did you not seek for me the
parvo periculo.
;
cum
gains which you must then have supposed would have been welcome to
me 1"
not
saying
this as
to
him of conduct
whether
own
assertions.
It is
an interesting question,
where
has
its
to be
found in the
New
Testament, VivtaOt
66Ktiioi
it
(orKoAoi, or ^pdvi/^oi)
rpaircC^lTai,
origin here.
Many
it is
difficult
222
that
it
THE TALENTS.
makes
these words not merely useful to add vivacity to the nar-
rative,
as the natural
but
gives
them likewise a
spiritual significance,
which
is
if they yield it easily and naturally, must by no means be rejected. Certainly this meaning is better than that which Jerome proposes, that the money-changers are believers in general, to whom the intrusted word of grace should have been committed, that they, trying it, and rejecting any erroneous doctrine which might be admingled with it, but holding fast what was good, might be enriched with the knowledge of God. Such can hardly be the meaning, for that is the very thing which the servant ought to have done in the first in-
stance, boldly to have laid out his gift for the profit and edification of his
brethren
to the
money-changers
is
And
who
is
neither in one
;
way
pronounced
it
to lie idle,
" Take,
is
consists
in the loss
therefore, the
xi. 29.
him."*
We
This
deprivation
may
For there
and
this
analogy be-
in the natural
which
is
strength by de-
to see
Tpairs^iTai
here occurs.
exhortation
of that
distin-
guish the good from the bad coin, receiving the one but rejecting the other.
this parable, there is
Now
in
no
direct or indirect
lies
The
words can as
this view.
;
little
s.
defends
The precept would be much more easily deduced from 1 Thess. v. 21, 22 even as we find yiv, 66k. rparr. sometimes called an apostolic saying, attributed by many of the Fathers not to the Lord but to one of his apostles, or to St. Paul by name,
and by some, indeed, even inserted before
and the whole question
Krit-, for 183G, p. 179.
is
this
very passage,
for
und
v.
He
maintains
words.
1, p.
Mark
15.
Jerome
(Comm.
word.
*
in Matth. xxi. 12, 13,) has a singular, but erroneous derivation of the last
cum
pigritiii
And
again,
THE TALENTS.
grees
223
its
muscles and sinews disappear, even so the gifts of God, un" From him that hath not shall he taken fail from us
:
away even
is
And on
not
but rather
by
it
nerved
;
and
it
God
they are
" Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance." " The earth which bringeth forth herbs
meet
for
them by whom
is it
;
it is
is,
a far-
(Heb.
Nor
merely that the one receives more, and the other loses
;
what he had
he
is
but that very gift which the one loses the other receives
;
We
For
plete
this
taking
away
comnot
consummation
at
at the
is is
And
little,
herein
mercy, that
till
done
there
all
once, but by
little
and
so that
:
all
is
withdrawn,
is still
at
some warning to hold fast what still en the things which remain that are ready to die."
drawal, there
^Chrysostom (De
for ever in
Christ.
Free, Con. Anom., 10) has two other comparisons, to unused will quickly depart: " For as the corn, if it be let lie
;
the barns,
cast into
is
but
if it is
brought
forth
and
if it
the
word,
by
envy and
sloth,
and decay,
is
quickly extinguished
but,
is
as on a fertile
field, it is
multiplied to
them
is
that receive
and
to
him
that possessed
it
and as a fountain
word of
it,
continually
drawn
forth,
forth, is
fails altogether,
be continually
;
drawn
and
if
who
rises
up the more
but
if restrained
Augustine
Ap-
August. 0pp.,
in
v. 5, p. 81,
manner
which
It
gifts
is
multiply through
throughout an appli-
widow
oil
(2 Kin. iv.)
pour
it,
but which,
stopped:
when
quandiu
tribuitur.
debemus vasa
quajrere, ubi
dum
Vasa
carl talis,
homines
sunt.
224
at
THE TALENTS.
efFort
is
greater,
that sin
is
it
less
but to complain of
it
;
complain
and however
this is the
till
mournful
same
lime,
it
may
But
man
work
in his soul.
till it
had never
irrevo-
awoke
cably
to the
lost
;
was
too late,
till
all
was
and now
said, not
but yet further, " Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness
there shall be wailing
While there
is light
and
The comparison
and those which led
of im-
and
sinful.
They were
overbold, he
was
in a chart, the
service,
it
the
we may
to
it
easy a thing
this servant
thought
too
hard
they esteemed
work
In them,
we have
this
:
They were
" Strait
is
representa-
narrow
(Matt.
is
j"
vii.
14
;)
ii.
"
Work
;)
12
"
own salvation with fear and tremIf any man will come after me, let him deny
out your
need
to
to
be reminded
"
He was representative of a class that would Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again
fear;" (Rom. viii. 15;) "Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and darkness, and tempest ;
and
to Jesus, the
Mediator of the
speaketh
better
new
Covenant, and
to
tlie
blood of sprinkling,
(Ileb. xii. 18, 22, 24.)
that
225
PARAELE XV.
26-29.
which
is
Like that of
and will
it
seems
to
that
it
has
life in itself,
;
its
own being
it
has in
common
kingdom has
that in
which
will allow
The main
Whom
shall
we
understand by the
man
himself, or
?
man casting seed in the ground ? is it those who in subordination to him declare
the
Son of
the Gospel
There are embarrassments attending either explanation. If we say that the Lord points to himself as the sower of the seed, how then shall we explain ver. 27 ? it cannot be said of him that he knows not how * the seed sown in the hearts of his people springs and grows up ; since it is only his continual presence by his Spirit in their hearts which causes it to grow at all. Neither can he fitly be compared to a sower who, having scattered his seed, goes his way and occupies
of the kingdom
it
lies
must be
left
and
its
own
is
again
till
is
no
fit
descrip-
tion of him,
who
who
also conducts
through
all its
intermediate stages
it
and without
unable
to
active co-operation
would be
totally
make
Or on
we
messengers of the
truth,
to
teach
may
own
It is
a poor
way
that
is,
the seed
it
knoweth
not
how
it
grows
itself; since,
did,
who would
think of denying
it 1
226
powers
of that
has a
life
of
its
own,
a
life
life
independent of
even as a
child, after
born, has a
it
no longer depend?
was
originally derived
But
ty
;
then, with this explanation, there is another and not slighter difficulfor at ver.
29
it is
said, "
when
Son
work of faith has been accomplished in their hearts, into everlasting habitations ? So that the perplexity is this, If we say that the Lord means himself by the principal personage in the parable, then something is attributed to him which seems unworthy of him, less than to him rightly appertains ; while if, on the other hand, we take him to mean those that, in subordination to himself, are bearers
when
when
that he
they have
it
would
seem,
only
is
attributed, than
can be admitted
to
belong rightly
to
any, save
to
him.*
way
of escape
from
this perplexity.
evading
stances mentioned at ver. 27, are not to be pressed, and that they belong,
not to the body
itself,
for clear-
ly there,
in
is
this too
convenient explanation,
first
greiit
Sower of the
seed, and
it
will then
remain
to see
how
far the
acknowledged
It
difficulties are
:
ed or mitigated.
if a
commences thus
" So
is the
kingdom of God, as
man
should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night
and
after
day.'^
By
it is
old
having sown the seed, but his absence of such an after-carefulhe does not think
it
necessary
to
It
would be unjust
to deprive Strauss
(Leben Jesu,
it is
v.
1, p.
namely, that
of that of the Tares, only with the circumstance of the tares left out
t
So Pole {Synops.,
in loc.) in a passage
woven out
of several conmmentators
227
has been cast on the ground, but he sleeps securely by night, and by
rises
day he
full
con-
and grow
difficulty,
on the conteachers in
in the
so long as
we apply them,
word
as no doubt
his
Church.
we fairly may, to those who under Christ are They are here implicitly bidden to have faith
in
the seed
for
it is
the seed of
God
its
when
it
with anxiety concerning the final issue, but rather to have confidence in
indwelling power and might,* not supposing that
it is
who
are
to
keep
it
alive,
and that
it
can only
live
through them
for this of
main-
taining
it.
its life is
theirs,
and he undertakes
to fulfil
They
grow
let
them not be
roots to see
for the
mystery of the
to
of
God
in
any and
its
in
every
unfathomable,
any attempt
way,
is
determine that
course shall
It
be
this
way, or
its
shall be that
only mischievous.
the
has a law,
indeed, for
orderly development,
^'Jirst
is
law
hidden
the works of
God
in nature, so that
Therefore
let
Gospel be content that the divine word should grow in a mysterious man-
which the processes are hidden from them, and believing that it is a Divine power and not a human, let them be of good courage concerning the issue, and having sown the seed, commit the rest to God
ner, and one of
in faith, being confident that
own work
to perfection.
Semente
munia.
The
know, who
will the
Theophylact,
who
mark
sleeping
mean ?
* Calvin brings forward this side of the truth, though an important one, yet too
when he
Sermonem ad
ne
frigidius
Ergo
i!lis
agricolas ad
terram projiciuntj
et surgunt,
hoc
est,
pro more
Ergo quamvis verbi semen ad tempus sufTocatum lateat, jubet tamen Christus bono animo esse pios doctores, ne diffidentia illis alacritatem minuat.
228
Of course
it is
said " the earth hringeih forth fruit of herself,'' this does not exclude
all
when
own,
we say
is
it,
it
God implanted
it
life
of
its
it is affirmed that it will require it ; were it a dead thing would require nothing of the kind, but because it is living, it has need of that whereon it may feed. But then it is a different thing to impart it
nay, rather
and
to
life,
life
to
have a
of their
own once
But
it still
remains
to consider, in
what sense
that
which
is
said of
Olshausen suggests
true, he says, that
its
It is
of
men
is
never
in
any stage of
development
who
life,
first
communicated
is is
said especially to
at the
which
the seed-
when he
their time
of harvest.*
the
Lord
is
his part
to his
hand so
And
the
as
undoubtedly
we
to the
The Lord
in the
coming
in the flesh
We
v.
26
"
Thou
shalt
come
to thy
grave in a
it is
full
age, like
There, however,
favoured of
till
they have
known
(if
one
may
use the
image not
offen-
from
life's feast.
taken
away while
yet the
work of grace
that
it is
is
yet Christ
is
a provident love
only "
when
229
all
him
till
consummation of
things.
ears, "
Many
and
many
that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest often
it
come
down
!"
has seemed
to
man
as though the
hour of interference
at the point to
it,
had arrived, as though his Church were at its last gasp, die, as though its enemies were about to prevail against
guish
it
and
to extin-
he appeared for
its
deliverance.
come
his
forth,
he has
left it to
surmount
its
visible interference.
He
has
left
the
day, through storm and through sunshine, increasing secretly with the
increase of
to
God
and will
let
it
so continue,
till it
maturity
all its
appointed
fruit.
And
only then,
when
the harvest of
the world
will he
sickle,
is ripe,
when
the
number of
and reaping the earth, and gathering the wheat into his barns.*
of interpreting the parable altogether, and taking
at
it
The convenience
in its
important circumstances
eth forth fruit of herself "
might be well
When
it is
may
is
now
it is
teaching
and
if the earth
be
here, as
it
must
is
man,
God which
sower,
sown
power
exercises at the
and
this
done he
is
The
three stages of spiritual growth implied in " the blade," "the ear," and
* Grotius
The Word,
Cf
^^acj,
desidero,
is
Elsewhere
it
New
Testament.
(Acts
xii.
10.
Josh. vi. 5,
LXX.)
It is
the spontaneous bringing forth of the earth in the golden age, during the paradisaical
state anterior to the
iii.
17.
Yet here
yij
it is
dKanaros
mean
the earth
it
which brings
is
which
is
besides
which
is
here excluded
but
In
same idiom
Multa adeo gelida melius
se nocte dederunt.
230
" the full corn in the ear," suggest a comparison of this passage with such
as 1 John
ii.
in like
manner divides
the faithful
made
15
in the spi;
With
I
ver.
xiv. 14,
and the
satis-
why we
with the application of the parable to any less than the Son of
himself,
" And
man
one
sat, like
and
in his
hand a sharp
and reap
is
And
him
is
another angel
came
out of the
Thrust
;
for the
time
come
reap
for the
ripe"
and
same en-
couragement which
St.
when he
liveth
addresses the
and abideth
for
PARABLE
XVI.
41-43.
We
to
may
two
first
Evangelists
and the
(Matt. xxvi. 7
Mark xiv.
John
xii. 3.)
St.
Luke
narrates the
which was a sinner " be Mary the sister of Lazarus, which then must follow, is more difficult, and has been the subject of much variety of opinion from the earliest times in the Church, The
woman
here,
'^
is
not here, as so
many
say, a part of
and in place of Oeptards. There is no argument for this to be derived from the word dnoaTiWu here, which is not stronger than the Ticfu/zov there, where yet it is plain that the Lord is imagined as in his own person the reaper ; and compare Joel
iii.
13,
LXX.,
c^anoareiXaTe SpiKava,
So
231
name
40,) and
most probably so in the other, in which he appears as the master of the (Matt. xxvi. 6 ;) secondly, the seeming unhouse where it was given
;
in so
very unit
as
would
otherwise be, that in each case there should have been on the part of
some present a misinterpretation of the thing done, an offence taken. To these arguments, however, it may be answered that the name Simon was of much too frequent use among the Jews for any stress to be
laid
feet
common
as the anoint-
was not
in itself
only remarkable coincidence here being, that Mary the sister of Lazarus, and the woman " which was a sinner," should have each wiped the
feet of the
Lord with
(Luke
to
vii.
38
John
to the
xii. 3.)
Now
if this
Lord,
which
to offer
we might
repeated
love,
;
but
;
take
it
and then
recurrence
is
no wise wonderful.
woman,
adornment
honour,
;]"
human
while
both.
What
(1.
8, c. 9)
Demtis
(Becker's Charikles,
v. 1, p.
The custom
by
woman
is
frequent-
classic writers.
Thus Terence
Adcurrunt
Inde
alii festinare,
;
lectos sternere,
Ccenam apparare
and
in all the ancient bas-reliefs
and pictures
we
see the
a,
Eom.
Antt.,
v.
Coena,
t
p. 253.)
So
est,
cecidere capilli.
And
:
of
nearly similar uses of the hair in extreme humiliation and deprecation of the divine
anger
Thus Livy,
I.
3, c. 7
Stratae
Cf.
232
then was this service, but the outward expression, and incorporation in
act, of the inward truth, that the highest and chiefest of man's honour and glory and beauty were lower and meaner than the lowest that
an
acknowledging
their subjection
to
him
wonder
the
human
heart,
who called out all that was deepest and truest in who awoke in it, as none else might ever do, feelings
honour?
this
Yet was
it
an honour,
it
we may
observe,
forth.
Once, in the
Mary
was
nal
to
intense gratitude,
life to herself,
eter-
by giving back
whom she now beheld restored to life and pound of ointment "very costly"-]- which she brought, was a thank-offering from her, and as less of shame was mingled in her feelings, she anointed both her Lord's feet and also his head.
her a beloved brother,
health before her; the
Jesus,
But what brought this woman with the alabaster box of ointment to was the earnest yearning after the forgiveness of her sins, and she, in her deep shame and abasement of soul before him, presumed not to approach him nearer than to anoint his feet only, standing the and kissing them with her lips, and wiping with the while behind him
;
it
were, in an outward
act, the to
bidding
uncleanness
ser-
and
to
(Rom.
vi.
19.)
And
to the
argument
it
may
common,
that there
beyond
ples,
the Pharisee,
offended
Judas, but
again,
is
in the other
is
some of
the disci-
the Pharisee
much
woman
the Pharisee,
for
Judas, as
motive of covetoizsness.
* Here, as in so
fore
To
all
which
it
may
many
1, p.
To what
this
waste 1" as though that history could not but be wrong which was thus prodigal in
relating honours done to the Saviour.
t Gregory the Great, applying the " very costly" to this history, says beautifully
{Horn. 33 in Evang.)
Consideravit quid
fecit, et
The
whole discourse
is full
of beauty.
233
of the happy family
testiit
make
it
Mary
title
it
in Bethany,*
whom
the
whom
;
the
of *?!rtner,"f as
is
and, as
at the
table,
even
this
Pharisee
is
surprised to find
first
how much
the
in
Greek Fathers generally distinguishing them the Latin, for the This last part, seeing in them hut one and the same history. opinion however finally prevailed, and was long almost the universal one in the Church, that is, from the time of Gregory the Great, who threw Then, all his weight into this scale,:}: until the times of the Reformation.
most
*
Ef/ii/^ xal
anovSaia, a3 a
t "
Which was
to,
a sinner,"
Greek Father entitles her. must then mean, " which had been a
to
sinner," that
is,
in
and returned
tory
into, the
its
it
must be
Mary took
was
Many
who
partly
moved
thereto by
I
the necessities of his harmony, which admits but one anointing, and partly,
should
for that
he was in
this respect
somewhat
Com-
evidence
was not more than that she was too fond not allow Rahab to have been, at least in
but only the keeper of a lodging-house.
just as others
will
common sense of the term, a -nopfr] at all, But how much does that view maintained by
long since returned to the paths of piety and
Grotius weaken the moral effect of the whole scene, besides being opposed to the plain
sense of the words
holiness,
it is little
;
if
the
woman had
likely that
"for she
life,
ed at the gracious reception which she found, or would have spoken of her as he does, should rather consider this as the turning moment of her is a sinner."
We
and
it
is
it,
for
he says of her
ut rediret sana.
Accessit ad
Dominum immunda
munda,
accessit
aegra
Moreover
"Thy
now
first
this is,
every one
may
judge.
The
by him reformed,
commisit crimina,
16
234
when
the Scriptures
for
till
again in our
maintained,
not
to
Two
ence
had there
as
is
here represented, should have pressed into the guest-chamber, and this
uninvited, either by the Lord, or by the master of the house, and that
she should have there been permitted to offer to the Saviour the form of homage which she did, may at first sight appear strange ; yet after all
its
explanation,
was
same house,
sup-
narrative.
little
meals are so often almost public, where ranks are not separated with such iron barriers as with us, will make us feel with what ease such an
occurrence might have taken place.*
Or
if this
to
Even
so
we have
Qui Mariam
though here
absolvisti
....
;
dedlsti
may
possibly be allusion to
slightest grounds, save
viii. 2,)
often,
(Luke
identified
with this
woman
Mary
was a sinner
Evang.
so that
many
Mary
belief
Magdalene, and
Christendom
an eminently
woman.
two
is
Thus Gregory
himself, Horn. 33 in
itself
The
last
but there
sinful
life,
nothing to
make
us suppose that
in the
before she
was found
is
we
mean seven
sirs.
There
concerning this matter in Deyling's Obss. Sac, * The following confirmation of what above
observing a custom of the country.
3, p. 291.
my
divan on which
their places
at table
we
sat, there
were
Many came
to
in
and took
to those
They spoke
on business or the news of the day, and our host spoke freely
them.
This
235
easily such
remember how
her,
up against
to others, or to herself in
aside, or
it
now
nestness to break through and despise these barriers, nor ever to pause
and ask
itself
whether according
to the
world's judgment
it
be " in sea-
repel the
woman, but
gra-
ciously
itself
the
of one who
to
purifying of the
flesh,-]-
said to that
I
dared
approach unto
am
holier than
and
in,
where the
a sinner
came
washed his feet with her tears. We afterwards saw this custom at Jerusalem, and there it was still more fitted to illustrate these incidents. We were sitting round Mr. Nicolayson's table, when first one and then another stranger opened the
door, and
came
in,
They
leant forward
and spoke
to those
at the table."
land in 1839.
* Augustine {Enarr. in Ps. cxl. 4)
:
Ilia
domum
alienam
c. 1)
mulierem famosam
et quaesisse pii
:
non invitatam
irruisse
:
recumbebat,
impudentia sanitatem
opportuna beneficio
suae
Quia
turpitudinis
Nam
trix
;
tur foris
ostendisti
and another (Bernardi 0pp., v. 2, p. 601) Gratias tibi, 6 beatissima peccamundo tutum satis peccatoribus locum, pedes scilicet Jesu,qui neminem
:
spemunt, neminem
rejiciunt,
neminem
repellunt
;
suscipiunt omnes,
omnes admittunt*
;
ibi
ubi solus
t Augustine
Habebat sanctitatem
in corpore
non
in corde, et quia
c.
non habebat
cxxv. 2
;
Of.
Enarr. in Ps.
and
the
Vera
justitia
compassionem habet,
falsa jus-
dedignationem.
As a specimen of similar
v. 8, puts this
:
among
very quustion
Quanto
spatio a meretrice
jFfei.,
recedendum est?
V. 1, p. 348.)
R. Chasda respondet
again,
at
p.
Ad
And
which
for
them
if
236
thou !"* In the conclusion to which, in his inward heart, he arrived, " This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what
manner of woman this is ;" we trace the belief, so evidently current among the Jews, that discerning of spirits was one of the marks of a
true prophet, and, in an especial degree, of the great prophet of
all,
the
;
Messiah,
Kin.
i.
(See
in
Kin, xiv. 6
to the
v. 26.)
Thus Nathanael
first
exclaims
wonder
Lord
who has
"Whence
knowest thou
me?" and
then presently breaks out into that undoubting confession of faith, " Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel ;" and so the Sa-
maritan woman,
ever
I
"Come
told
me
;)
all
things which
did
is
and on account of
25) expressfor
this belief
it is,
Jesus
knew
it,
John
(ii.
ly states
testify of
man,
he
knew
what was
man."f
dilemma,
in
So
that, in
fact, the
Lord
this
into this
know
it,
woman,
is
which
or
if
he knows
touch and
lacking in
that holiness
which
is
also the
such therefore
he cannot be. Probably as these thoughts were passing through his mind he already began to repent of the needless honour he had shown to one, whose pretensions to a peculiar mission from God he
in either case
But the Lord showed him was indeed a discerner of the thoughts of hearts, by reading at once what was passing in his heart, and laying his finger without more " Simo7i,'' he said, "I have ado on the tainted spot which was there.
somewhat
to
The
he yet so entirely renounced his faith in some higher character as belonging to his guest, but that he still addresses him with an appellation
of respect, " Master, say on." With this introduction, with this leave
to
the parable
debtors
:
is
uttered.
the one
And when
In the words
him
Pharisajum
ilium
murmurantem
atlversus
medicum,
t Vitringa (Obss. Sac, v. 1, p. 479) has an interesting and instructive essay, (De Signis a Messid edendis,) on the expectations of the Jews concerning the miracles
to perform,
237
them
to
no
difficulty,
though
in the application of
one or two of
considerable importance.
needs not
the
men
Of
sums named
it
as the
amount of
may
like in the
same proportion
talents
(Matt, xviii.)
There
the difference
fellow-man
may commit
the
is
no such
in-
man and
another com-
me therefore, which of I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most." The difficulties meet us when we come to the applicafor while that which Simon says is true in the tion of these words order of things natural, can the consequences which would seem thereupon to be induced as relates to the spiritual world be true also? Are we to conclude from hence, as at first sight might seem, that there is any
mits against God.
:
" Tell
Si7non answered,
advantage
in
man
not
he be brought back
he will
it
the
more
sin, the
more love
Would
us sin
now, that we
may
love
much
hereafter,
will
it
let
much
warmness of
sinned but
affections
which
little ?
And would
man
to
have
in the
or,
better
for a
man
to
have grown
a matter of everlasting thanksgiving, would prove an hindrance, opposany very near and very high
love with his Saviour?
communion of
thus,
And
to
would
the
it
this, that
laid
waste
all
to affirm
in fact
the
more he has
sunk
in selfishness
and sensuality,
more capable
But
is
clear, if
we
not as so many outward transgressions and outbreaks of evil, but as so much conscience of sin and this we well know is in no wise in proportion to the amount and extent of evil
:
238
Often they who have least of what the world can call sin, or rather crime, (for the world knows nothing of sin,) have yet the deepest sense
of the exceeding sinfulness of sin
bitterness in themselves
I
a are most conscious of are the most forward exclaim, " Woe
it,
as
root of
is
to
me,
am
undone, because
am
man
most thankful
but he
for the
little
Redeemer.
sinned
forgiven
is
who has
little,
own
corruption
cleaves to
all
the descendants of
learned to take
great
home
may have no
may have
loves
little,
Pharisee had, for Christ, yet esteems that he could have done as well,
or nearly as well, without him.
He
or scarcely at
;
all,
be-
cause he has
little
because he
was
to lie
and bidden
to live,
children of God.*
having
Simon himself was an example of one who thus loved little, who little sense of sin, felt little his need of a Redeemer, and there-
Redeemer but
little
honour done
he had withheld
in the
East
had
nor
(Ps.
him water
(Gen.
xviii.
;
Exod.
7,)
as
cxli.
Matt.
vi. 17.)
exceeded them.
He
had not
she
acknowledges the
modici\m
Dicit
enim
aliquis, Si
cui
modicum
dimittitur,
diligit
:
cui
autem plus
dimittitur,
qakm
minfts diligere
and again
Si invenero plus
utilior erat
:
eum,
multa peccavit,
it
:
multa
iniquitas,
And
he solves
as
is
done above
Pharisaee,
ideo,
parum
quia
parum
tibi
dimitti suspicaris
dimittitur, sed
Compare a
beautiful
sermon by Schleiermacher.
{Predigten,
v. 1, p.
524
239
Augustine
;
heart,* as
calls
head
he
had not
given the single kiss of salutation on the cheek, she had multiplied
kisses,
feet
ordinary
for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little.^' There is an embarrassment, by all acknowledged, on the face of these
words
first,
how
is
to
said to love
much, because forgiven much, and not to much and again how to bring
:
them
agreement with the general doctrine of Scripture, which ever teaches that we love God because he first loved us, that faith is the
into
is
not a condition
consequence.
Some have
felt
for their
they have
which
much," means, " her sins are forgiven, therefore But in the first place, it was not true that she
to
yet
knew her
sins
be forgiven,
;
the
only
and moreover,
this
way
to the plain
words of the
who
pretation of Scripture,
first
grammar, and
the laws of
human
speech, should
itself
be respected, and that the doctrine can and will take care of
will
itself,
that
Church will ever come triumphantly forth out of every word of God. And as far as regards advantage which the
would
fain
Romish
ever
controversialists
draw from
may
The
parable
is
not forgiven
it
but,
They say
oVi is
viii.
44 and
p.
John
iii.
14
but
neither passage, rightly interpreted, yields the least support to the view that the
words
426.)
Incredible as
it v/ill
appear, this
:
by Maldonatus, (ad
loc.)
"
Which
only, he affirms,
240
remitted,
were
it
meant
justify
she
And
besides,
in their sense
who
who
loveth
little,
same
little is
forgiven."
''for she loved much,''
may
best be explained
by con-
sidering what the strong sorrow for sin, and the earnest desire after forgiveness, such as this
arise
;
woman
whence they
is
surely from
this,
by
his sins
God who
Love, while
from the
after
must
be again permitted
it,
to love
else
it
and
die.
Sin unforgiven
forgiveness,
is felt
to
be the
it
if
it
be not a
mere
heart
which case
before God,
is
may
know
itself
then
is itself
made
positive,
it
work of grace,
to
the absolving
so
it
is
the flower of love desiring to bud and bloom, but not daring and not able
but
have
he in
a popular
way
to
of saying, "
Which
him most
V which of
them may
effect to
He
asserts the
same
to
in
the
case of
* Let
me
quote, were
it
it
who
was
hitherto ignorant of
it,
substitute
it
man.
but
"
To many,
myself formerly,
has ap-
it is
tends to give a false direction to our thoughts, by diverting the conscience from
we
?
Sin
is
the disease.
What
term
is
the
remedy?
Charity? Pshaw
faith in the
is
the health, the state to be obtained by the use of the remedy, not the sovereign
balm
itself,
faith
of grace,
God-manhood,
righteous;
ness of our
own
rill
Faith alone
is
the restorative.
is
preposterous
is
it
puts the
Faith
It is
is
the source,
charity, that
is
the
whole
Christian
life, is
;
without charily
The
true
answer would be
it is
not
faith,
but
(Cole-
241
the
once when
to the stern
woman
" loved
much
;"
all
reconciliation with a
God of
love,
from
whom
know
fact,
by her
sins
all
de-
him and
to
and on account of
**
this
was
Thy faith hath saved thee,") she obtained forgiveness of her sins. This
this
acknowledgment
willing to
God
to all
is
not
life
in
God
filled
there
is
who
it
by him
this, call
faith,
gift,
man
what
little
But
that
woman had
it
in large
away
even
God had
in
to bestow,
to
"
Thy
faith
her
it
that
"where
calls all
her Saviour,
Tria-
Tcoi; cvjj/Ho'Xa
Ger-
loc. 16, c. 8,
+ In the Bustan of the famous Persian poet Saadi, (see Thot.uck's BlUthensamml.
aus
d.
Morgenl. Mystik,
p.
251,) there
is
a story
this evangeli-
cal history.
monk, of eminent
sin,
reputation for
was once entertained in the cell of a dervisch or in the same city dwelt a youth sunk in every sanctity
;
" whose heart was so black that Satan himself shrunk back from
last
it
in
horror."
This
monk, and,
presence of the Divine prophet, began to lament deeply the sin and misery of his
past,
tears, to
implore pardon
and grace.
in vain to
The monk
indig-
how
was
seek forgiveness
and in proof how inexorably he considered his lot was fixed for hell, exclaimed, " My God, grant me but one thing, that I may stand far from this man on the judgment-day."
On
this
It shall
be even so
is
granted.
his sins
This sinner has sought mercy and grace, and has not sought them in vain,
are forgiven,
his place
But
is
this
monk
has pray-
ed that he
may
his
prayer too
granted,
hell shall
be
come.
242
PARABLE
XVII.
30-37.
We
up" and
proposed
to
all that
viii.
Matt. xxii. 16
;
which
attrib-
were, in
fact,
life
nor need
we
ute to this lawyer even that desire to perplex and silence, out of which
other questions had their rise. (Matt. xxii. 23.)
the question
itself,
;
For
"What
shall
do
ensnaring one
it
like that
which
it
the answerer,
however he
replied, in a
false position
and further,
the earnestness of
the Lord's reply, that the spirit out of which the question
light or
since
it
was
not his
com-
28,
show
said to
its
to tempt, in
trial of,
make
determined by the
Thus God tempts man, when he puts it springs. him to proof, that he may show him what is in himself, that he may show him sins, which else might have remained concealed even from
motive out of which
himself; (Jam.
strengthen
is that
it;
i.
12
;)
he tempts
;
man
xi.
to
;)
(Gen.
xxii. 1
Heb.
17
the
man may
it is to fore was concealed from him, and watch and pray against it, humble him and to do him good in his latter end ;* only Satan tempts man
*
in
Iltipo^cii'
it
TreTpav
\a^(iavtiv.
God tempts, and the purposes which he has in tempting Omnis tentatio probatio est, et omnia probationis effectus thus {Enarr. in Ps. Iv. 1) Quia homo plerumque etiam sibi ipsi ignotus est quid ferat, habet fructum suum.
which
can be said that
: :
quidve non ferat ignorat, et aliquando prjESumit se ferre quod non potest, et aliquando
243
evil.
The purpose
side that high
of
lawyer
in tempting Jesus, as
little
and
holy one, so as
seems
it
this
The
put the
Lord
tioner
to the trial.
Comparing Matt.
xxii.
35 with Mark
xii.
28-34, both
we
said to
;
have proposed
while in the second Evangelist, the Lord bears witness concerning the very questioner, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of
ing the Lord
God
;" even as he
We canit
not, indeed,
make proof of
mous
Galilaean teacher, he
would measure
his depths,
and with
this pur-
pose he brought forward the question of questions, " inherit eternal life ?"
What
shall I do to
Our Lord's
ready answered
is
reply
;
is
as
much
as to say,
is al-
contained in
what need to make further inquiries, when the answer the words of that very law, of which you profess to be a
?
What
is
"
How
at
once lay
commandment which
was superior
to the
showed no
spiritual in-
proved
that he
common range
of his country,
men
vi. 5, in
Thereupon our Lord bears him testhat his words were right words,
of
all
which they
in-
"
Thou
this do,
let
it
it
knowledge
and
:
will be well.
Now
at
length the
lawyer's conscience
touched
him out
if
in theory the
Still
not been large and free in the exercise of love towards his fellow men,
it is
" True,
am
to
love
my
my
neighbour ?"*
The very
question,
et
invenitur
homo k
as
Cf.
Satan, on the contrary, is The tempter (5 n-tipu^wv := o TTEipao-r^s .) Tertullian, De Oratione, c. 8. * Tholuck {Auslegung der Bergpredigt, Matt. v. 43,) has an instructive inquiry
244
like Peter's,
How
oft shall
my
forgive
He who
asked,
"Whom
shall I
love ?" proved that he understood not what that love meant of which he
who
whose essence
ceed further,
that
it
it
down beforehand how much he was to who had a claim and thus proving that he knew nothing of that love, has no limit, except in its own inability to proat
liberty to stop,
that
itself,
that
it is
a debt
still
owe.
(Rom.
to
xiii.
8.)
to
it
Especially wonderful
him, wonderful, that
is,
blessed Saviour
makes
was addressed, leading him, as it does, to take off his eye from the object to which love is to be shown, and to turn it back and inward upon him who is to show the love ; for this is the key to the following parable, and with this aim it was spoken.
needs of him
whom
"A
*'
certain
went down,"
or,
man went dotvn from Jerusalem to JericJio." He says, "was going down," not merely because Jerusalem
for the
to
its
Jerusalem, as
me-
(See Acts
xviii. 22.)
The
"the
fifty stadia,
wilderness
xvi. 1,)
and
beauty, well watered, and abounding in palms, (" the city of palm-trees,"
Judg.
i.
produc-
tions of Palestine.*
Jerome mentions
to the other,
was
to the
It
Who
is
my
neiglibour ]"
I
reappearing
one
who would
all
little
in
common.
make
this
"
Do
not
tell
of
my
obligation to put
poor
men
in
good
situations.
I tell
thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to
to
me, and
to
whom
;
by
There
is
a class
for
them
I will
go
to
need be
Jericho)
245
;
much
and
with
own
time, there
was
at
one point in
this
wilderness a
;
fort
Roman
of the poor traveller falling in that very journey among robbers seems taken from the
life.
Those among
whom
he
fell
^^
stripped
made some
departed, leaving
cruelty, "
As he
priest that
lay bleeding in the road, " hy chance there came down a certain
way."
us
in
saying rather
'
by coin-
cidence "f than " by chance ;" by that wonderful falling in of one event with another, which often indeed seems to men but chance, yet is indeed
of the
fine
weaving
in,
diflerent
men's
common
He
man's need
one man's
haps which
in
Many
op
our summonses
we
them
this finger
of God.
He
at least
that
way
miss-
ed his opportunity.
There would be a
he was one who was journeying from Jericho, which was a great station
of the priests, to Jerusalem, there to execute his office before God, " in
the order of his course," or who, having accomplished his turn of service,
was returning to his home. But whether this was so or not, at all events he was one who had never learned what that meant, " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;" rather one who, whatever duties he might have
been careful
in fulfilling,
faith ;"
the
^o likewise did a LevitCj^though in his cruelty there was other side." X an additional aggravation ; for he, it might beout of curiosity, drew near
and looked
it
at the
remained was
fast
ebbing through
* Onomast.,
s. v.
Adommim.
There
is
Indeed no
travellers
seem
have gone
this
journey without being deeply impressed with the wildness and deso-
t Kara avyKvpiav.
TiVyKVpta, or
more commonly
vi'ith
avyKvpriTis,
AUjOECJ
]f the
countrymen
(the priest
indeed
from deserving even that limited praise which Tacitus gives them
cordia in promptu.
Apud
ipsos niiseri-
246
his
could endure
to
affording
him the
sliglitest
assistance.
Thus
did they,
who made
it
their
were
which was so
had
said,
careful in pressing
the
duties
"
Thou
(Deut. xxii. 4
Exod.
Here
not a brother's ox or
was lying
in his blood,
themselves from him. (Isai. Iviii. 7.) " But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was."
He
for
for
them-
they
;
did, in
some way or
own
out-
consciences
were not far distant, and might return at any moment, or that the or that he who was found near sufferer was beyond the help of man,
him might himself be accused of having been his murderer. The Sato at least the same danger in all these respects, as
those that had passed before him, but he took not counsel of these selfish
fears, for
sion
when he saw the wounded and bleeding man, " he had compasWhile the priest and Levite, marked out as those on him.^' *
who
were forgetful of the commonest duties of humanity, it was left to the excommunicated Samaritan, whose very name was a by- word of contempt
among
and
to
synonymous with heretic, (John viii. this, not as was required of them,
48,) to
to
show
a fellow,
countryman, but
one of a people
first, for
is
:
mentioned
Gregory the
20,
c.
36)
et
rem
compassionem proximo
tribuit, ei
Our Lord
calls the
Samaritan a stranger,
(aXXoytyiis,
Luke
xvii. 18,)
one of a
dif-
ferent stock.
It is
very curious
how
people,
way
often spoken of as, in a great measure, the later representatives of the ten tribes.
tian antiquity
Chris-
knew nothing
;
saw
yap
in
Thes.,
s. v. Hiajxapcirns,
ol
which
may
be added Theophylact on
Luke
Eo^apiVa<
;)
and the
much
that
makes
against
it.
In 2 Kin.
xvii.,
not a word to
make
us suppose that
any were
left,
or that there
247
no doubt,
had no dealings with his people, that anathematized them ; even all the influences with which he had been surrounded from
his youth,
far as
he yielded
to
them,
to
repay
hate with hate, and insult with insult, and wrong with wrong.
the
For
if
Jew
an
idolater
in his
who worshipped
synagogue,
life,
prayed
ceived,
that
resurrection of
and and
proclaimed that his testimony was worth nothing and might not be re-
that he
who
up judgments
the Cuthites and other Assyrian colonists that were brought in, with a remnant of the
original
was
carried
easily
whom they found slill in the land. It is true that when Judah away captive, many of the people were left still in the land but we can their sins comexplain why they should have been thus differently dealt with
inhabitants,
: ;
paratively were smaller, and the Lord moreover had a purpose of bringing back the
captivity of Judah.
s.
v.
it is
very
unlikely that
some out of
were not
left
But
2 Kin. xxi. 13, seems to give the strongest testimony that there were none whatever. For there the Lord threatening Judah says, " I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahah, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, and turneth it upside down." This, which was only a threat against
Judah, in part averted by repentance, had actually been executed against Samaria.
(See Jer.
unusual,
vii.
15.)
That such an
see from
territory
was not
by
we may
Herod.
140
6.
31.
For an account of
the process
which
was sometimes effected, and which the Persians may well have learnt from The historian their Babylonian and Assyrian forerunners in empire, see p. 110, note. describes a Greek island which had undergone the process, as being delivered to a
it
new
If the
veins, they
claim to be allowed to take part with Zerubbabel and Ezra, and the returned Jewish
exiles, in the rebuilding of the
;
We
seek your
God
as ye
do,
and we do
sacrifice
2.)
When
first
any
city of the
he was not,
till
as
some
tell us,
much
is
dX-
them
dWotOveis,) as
What
singular
is
the expositors of
ago are quite clear of it. Hammond speaks of the Samaritan in our parable, as " being of an Assyrian extraction ;" and Maldonatus Samaritani origine Chaldcei
;
erant
rizi,
the very accurate and learned Arabian geographer, concerning the origin of the
Samaritans, an opinion altogether agreeing with that here stated, see S. de Sacy's Chrest. Arabe, v. 2, p. 177. And Robinson, in his Biblical Researches, speaking of the
Samaritans, says, "
The physiognomy
of those
we saw was
not Jewish."
248
eating swine's flesh
and
We
in
be beholden
to
him
for the
the Samaritan
was
mity and
(John
iv.
will.
9; Luke
ix. 53,)
their spite
may
be gathered.
Jews were
in the
new moon
to those at
they would give the signal on the day preceding the right one, so
perplex and mislead.*
to
that they
sometimes pro-
ceeded
much
Jews who
them most
were going up
dered
many
of them
and once,
that they
fell
horrible of
all,
whole temple, by scattering in it human bones. But the heart of this Samaritan was not hardened, though
influences must have been at
so
it
many
work
to
harden and
to
steel
is
against
Exceedingly touching
he
here the
all
whom
his
all
knew was,
his
that he belonged to a
hostile
to
He
wounds/' no doubt with stripes torn from poured in wine to cleanse them, and then
to
oil to
bring gently the sides of them together, these two being costly but
well
this
known and
East.:}:
All
must have consumed no little time, and this too while there was every motive to hasten onward. But after thus he had ministered to the wounded man's most urgent needs, and revived in him the dying spark
life,
of
he "
set
him on
his
own
beast,
to
an inn," and
so did he ac-
there a"-ain
renewed
his care
all,
and attention.
Nor even
for
" he
is
and said
unto him. Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, lohen
come again, /
* This fact
159,)
mentioned by Makrizi,
it
(see S.
v. 2, p.
who
affirms that
was
this
moment
of the
new moon's
appearance.
Cf.
ScnoEXTGEN's Hot.
Ife6.,v.
t
l,p.344.
2. 2. //. iV.,
1.
See
Isai.
i.
6.
Puny,
oil,
31,
c.
47.
or wine
and
oil, to
"/will repay
249
parable
when
to
and
full
of incentives to active mercy and love, bidding us be kind and tender-hearted, yet
how
and
much
lovelier
still,
provoking how
much more
a deeper
strongly
still
to love
good works, when, with most of the Fathers of the Church, with
too of the Reformers,
many
to
we
trace in
it
meaning
still,
work of
here.
makes the paBut this is a rable to be nothing to the matter immediately in hand. To magnify the law of love, to show mistake for what is that matter ? who fulfils it, and who not. Inasmuch then as Christ himself, he who
It
it,
to love
and
whom
and inasmuch as
us,
it is
his ex-
towards
which
is
fectual in causing us to " love one another with a pure heart fervently,'"
in
and bring
it
They had
4,) while
not
strengthened the diseased, nor healed the sick, nor bound up the broken,
nor sought that which was driven away, (see Ezek. xxxiv.
he
wounded
with which
all
and
it
key we have
lock,
in
our
hand
when
it
when
the
wards of the
however many
for the
and complex.
Of
was reserved
;
The lawyer
was
to
meant
to
parable lose
value
it
to us, as
showing
and love of
man
also
shadows
forth the
love
shown by
the
Son of man
is
The
is
traveller then
the personified
human
Adam
as he
He
Jerusalem, the
heavenly
of peace, and
is
travelling toward
Jericho, he
it,
was
under a curse.
man upon
that score
I
/
will take
those charges
on myself;
or
it
17
250
forsaken the holy city and the presence of his God, and turned his desires
falls
is
at
44,) and by
him and
;
his evil
nor this
full
of
copiously
not altogether dead ;f for as all the cares of the good Samaritan would have been expended in vain upon
flowing.*
Yet
is
he
same time
life
covery
for
to recover,
no
When
own
for
the
angels
with
fell,
as
it
was by a
will,
no
solicitation
them.
But man
tions
is
he has
little
God
however
he
may
be able to resist
its
tempta-
he has
still
His case
is
desperate as concerns
if
own power
to restore himself,
taken
And who
he has
the law do
else but
lost, shall
it ?
Can
have
The
apostle answers,
life,
it
could not
"
if there
had been
iii 21.:}:)
which
iste...
.genus designat
humanum,
exilii
mis-
vulneratum.
6,
See
Amser-
Luc,
1.
7, c.
73
mon
the later
v.
Gnostic perversions of the parable in this direction, see Neander, Kirch. Gesch.,
5, p. 1121.
t H. de Sto Victore Quamvis enim tanta malitiS possit affici ut nihil diiigat boni Hostilis gladius non tanien ignorantia tanta exciecari potest, ut nihil cognoscat boni hominem penitus non extinxit, dum in eo naturalis boni dignitatem omnino delere
:
non
et
potuit.
1.
2, qu. 19)
Ex
homo
premitur,
mortuus
I
The
iii.
16-23,
for
the Epistle
on the Sunday
shows
I think,
when
this parable
251
life
it
more; (2 Kin. iv. 21;) Elisha himself must come ere the child revive.* Or as Theophylact here expresses it " The law came and
:
stood over
him where he
overcome by
to heal
them, departed."
Nor
make
away
guilt
The
Or revealed, could not quicken, neither could the sacrifices truly abolish
The
priest
powerless to help
nard's, f
many
That great
was Moses passed us bv, for he was not the giver of grace, but of the law, and of that law which
patriarch,
Abraham, passed us
faith
of one to come.
by the law.
Aaron
passed us by, the priest passed us by, and by those sacrifices which he
continually offered, was unable to purge the conscience from dead works
to
helpless both in will and deed, for they themselves also lay
that
wounded man.
is,
Only
is all
that
with compassion, as he
that
hearts by failh.
it
Therefore
would not
reaches him
who
alone
very clearly, the interpretation which the Church puts upon the parable.
pel
The Gos-
in the
same
ousness
not by
it,
to be
He
the exposition
left
Compare
dn
jrArji/
a noble
airdg 6
29.
Tis
6'
av liXXoi
7-ij
fiaXXov
fifiSs i.\i!)<jai
tKcivov, Tovi vno rwi/ KO(jfiOKpiir6p(ov tov okotovs oXiyov reda(p60:ns, intdiiniati, d^yuTf, XuTraif, diraTats, riJcwur?
:
tovtcjv
iKKOnTwv
apSriv
ra
tiAdri -rrp-p'^i^a
ovk Mairap o
vdjinq !//(Aii
rrj;
'pvrui-,
dXXa
rriv d^ivriv
AaffiS,
rmTv
Itt'i
rixi
tc-
""fi
oiroi b
Tois
TTii
vyeia; Kai
<rb>Tripias Jeo-fcoiif
ovros o iiavoveTv
fiptv
vnord^as
riji/
em
^tydXrj
uvtoI eXevdtpotOiieovTai
dwoKuXvipiv
tov Ocov.
c. 2,) in
The argument
(as
Senn. 171,
is
proof
sinsular.
illi
He
esset
argues thus: Ciim duo essent verba conviciosa objecta Domino, dictumque
252
If
it
meaning
is
to the oil
and the
wine,
the
we might
oil
Holy
Spirit.*
On
wounds, one might observe that the sacraments are often spoken of in
the language of the early Church as the ligaments for the
soul."}"
wounds of the
for the
It is
in the
Old Testament
healing of
When we
find the
wounded man on
pacing on
foot
own
beast,
by
his side,
we can
be rich,
the
"
who
own
his
own body."
Neither
is it
et
:
dffimonium habeo
futavit
:
daemonium habes, poterat respondere Nee Samaritanus sum, nee Quod respondit, rerespondet autem, Ego daemonium non habeo.
:
quod
tacuit, confirmavit.
Cf.
3.
interpreted differently
the
oil
the
wine as
sit,
;
nus
hibeat
and
beautifully,
and
at
:
more
est
Hinc
quod semivivi
et
illius
;
no
in
stabulum ductus
est, et
:
vinum adhibetur
oleum
vinum mordeantur
vinum mundentur which in
Utinam, Domine
in vino
morsum
putrida, per
And
very beautiful
is
me
summis ad
tenebrarum
incidi, qui
non solum
gratiae spiritalis
sanari desperent.
Utinam oleum mihi remissionis adhibeas, et vinum compunctionis infundas. Quod si in jumentum tuum me imposueris, de tenk inopem, pauperem de stercore suscitabis.
Tu
Si
es
enim
non rapueras
exsolvisti.
Si in stabulum
me
me
refectione cibabis.
curam mei
curro.
Custodia enim
indigeo,
Audi
ergo me, Samaritane, spoliatum et vulneratum, flentem et gementem, invocantem et cum David clamantem Miserere mei, Deus, secundiiim magnam misericordiam tuam.
t Augustine not precisely so
:
the
(LXX)
'O
lionevoi rovi
cvvTCTpiixhovi
Tiiv
ra
oWTpijUidTOi avT&v.
Lyser
Sue
quasi
quaesivit.
253
by some
hospital,
whither
In
the merciful
those
whom
he
has rescued from the hand of Satan, and in which he cares for them
evermore.*
forth in Scripture as a
harmony with this we find Christ's work continually set work of healing; for instance, Mai. iv. 2 Hos^
;
xiv.
Ps.
ciii.
Matt.
xiii.
15
Rev.
xxii.
and typically,
Num.
to
xxi. 9.
And
if,
who was
it
obliged on the
morrow
take
his departure,!
he
is
whose cure
he has begun,
if for
other reasons
is
makes
them dur-
coming again.
to
It
would be en-
scheme of
mean
word and
sufficient that
they signify
all
gifts
left with his Church him till his return. As the Samaritan look out two pence and gave them to the host, and said, " Take care of Mm;" even so the Lord Jesus said unto Peter, and in him, to all his
to
enable
it
to
keep house
for
fellow
apostles,
having
first
gifts,
and
richly furnished
them
for
their work,
my
my
lambs."
mitted an
To
to all that
economy of
God, they
may
And
as
it
was
" Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee
so the
him
that
done
done unto
him
that they
who
ingly
mind,"
they, "
when
the
chief Shepherd shall appear," " shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not
away."
(1 Pet. v. 2, 4.)
Stabulum
or
it is
an inn
degere
X
Ambrose {Exp. in Luc, 1. 7, c. 78) Non vacabat Samaritano huic redeundum eo erat, unde descenderat.
;
:
diu in terris
Melanclhon
Si
quasi dicat
te.
Accedunt labores,
omnibus adero
et
juvabo
Cyprian's apph'cation of the parable {Ep. 51) forms a sort of connecting link be-
254
It is difficult
three
thinkest
The lawyer
had asked, " who is the neighbour to whom I am bound to show the serBut the Lord asks, " Who is a neighbour, he who shows vice of love ?"
love, or he
who shows
it
not?"
to
it is
is
own
measure
shine,
in itself;
it
it is
like the
or what
shall
sun which does not ask on what it shall warm, but shines and warms by the very law
is
of
its
its
own
its
light
and from
;
heat.
marks a
said, "
is it
Declare
faith,
to
me my neighbour
what
one
benefits, or
may know
so
far
to
one blood, the bonds of mutual whom I owe this debt of love ?"
this
a despised Samaritan,
who
who
such as the lawyer conceived would mark out a neighbour in his sense
of the word.
is
The
parable
is
it
no reply,* but
to the spirit
It
says,
"You
ask
who
is
your neighbour
will
own
you and him, which had most of the mind of God, which was most truly
the doer of his will, the imitator of his perfections."
The
parable
is
an
be
appeal to a better principle in the querist's heart, from the narrow and
It is to
to
acknowledge the
truth,
though
literal
and the
allegorical
the
wounded man
is
who had
Cyprian,
to
who
and
them
ab adver-
bus stamus?
ut perimat, et
sicut in evangelio
Christi,
An
quod Christus
Ambrose, De
Poenit.,
1.
1, c.
and
and
which
is
It is
one of the
many
it,
merits of this most intolerant and most abusive Jesuit, (Maldonatus maledicentissimus,)
that he never slights a difficulty, nor pretends not to see
it,
it
or not.
255
to the
has
Lord's
question,
Who was
to
this
circuitously replies,
"He
ivho
showed mercy on
grudging
to
and by name
a Samaritan.*
whether
trust
we
an
humbler and larger-hearted man, " Go, and do thou likewise." These last words will hardly allow one to agree with those, who
later times
to
it,
in
this
that
the
Lord sent
the questioner to the law, to the end that, being by that convinced of sin
and of
his
own
make
the
his
knowing and
his doing,
how
little
to his
fellow-men
how
by the
we
justify
but this
is
seems
me, the
PAKABLE
XVIII.
this parable
is
The
disciples
had asked
to pray, as
He
Church
them
rit
also
by this parable
faith,
in
what
spirit
in the spiis
of persevering
There
the
same argument
* So Bengel
Non
256
to the greater, or
better,
but
with this difference, that here the narrow. heartedness and selfishness of
man
is set
it is
his unrighte-
The won by prayer and importunity to give, and unjust man to do right, how much more certainly shall the And perbountiful Lord bestow, and the righteous Lord do justice.*
ousness which
conclusion
is,
tacitly contrasted
if selfish
man can
yet be
haps there
is this
it is
intercessory prayer,
to
prayer
there
for the
needs of others,
be instant
while
it is
own
needs.
in either
it
were
an overcoming of God's reluctance, when it is, in fact, a laying hold of For though there is an aspect under which his highest willingness. f
God may
present himself
io us,
is
that his is a
Under such
an aspect of seeming unwillingness to hear, did the merciful Son of man But present himself to the Syro-Phcenician woman. (Matt. xv. 21.)
why
her
faith
knew
that
and that
in the end,
though
to her,
moment might be
it
hard,
;
it
more mightily
resistance, before
some manner
the angel of the Lord, the great Covenant Angel, contended with Jacob,
all
left
was
Israel, that
state,
is,
was permanently
up through
an higher
bore,
"
marked by
for as a
Prince hast
name which henceforth he thou power with God and with men, and
that nobler
to
hast prevailed."
The
now we have
life
;
common
8)
:
and spoken
si
humble men,
it
may
c.
Ut hinc
intelligerenius,
miat, a petente excitatur invitus, quanto det benignius, qui nee dormire novit, et dor-
This
is finely
1.
20), in
Da
Che vince
divina volontate,
1'
Non
a guisa che
uomo
all'
uom
sovranza.
;,
257
easily have come within the limits of their own experience " Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves : for a friend of mine in his journey is
to set
before him
words any deeper meaning than lies on the surface ; yet it is well worth observing that they have afforded ample scope for allegorical and mystical interpretations,
For
in-
stance,
it
the spirit of
man,
be-
which, weary of
enly sustenance,
wanderings
in the world,
something
But the
host, that
is,
man,
to set be-
and
distress,*
here taught
is
to
may
receive that
which
is,
There
to
which Augusgive
tine gives.
He
is
and this, because it might often happen that shall win and persuade some one from the yet heathen world, or it might be an heretic, or even a nominal Catholic, weary of his wanderings in eri'or, weary of the bon-
to
faith,
but
go
to the
Augustine.
ipse noster est
Bede (Horn,
in
Luc.
xi.)
Amicus
qui venit de
et
via,,
animus, qui
Redit
ad appetenda terrena
cum
De quo
ilium,
seculi tenebras
Deum
eum
cogitare
And
Amicum
venientem ad me,
Venit
non alium
rire solebat.
intelligo
quam meipsum,
transitoria deserens,
et
ad cor redeo.
me
pauperem
hospitem, et vacuum
?
ingreditur habitaculum.
est,
et miserabili
Fateor amicus
Festina,
amicum tuum
magnum, quo majorem dilectionem nemo Clama et die. Amice, commoda mihi tres
1.
panes.
Compare Augustine
{QutEst. Evang.,
2, qu. 21)
is
not Augustine's, but has sometimes been attributed to him, (Serm. 85, Appendix,)
where
to the
first
sight
seems
comes
same
thing.
Every good
and awakening
in
it
an hunger
and
a longing
God,
is
way, whose
satisfied
by spiritual nourishment,
258
faith.
this
was
possible,
;
all,
that they
have what
nothing
communicate
to
or
if,
arises,
when such
a friend comes
to set
whom
that they
go
to
God,
praying that he would teach them, that so they might be enabled to teach
others.*
Vitringa's explanation f
is
;
With
him
who
who
life,
as they
themselves shall receive the same from God, which therefore they must
with
all
at all
events
is
ij:
here
have
of Christ.
be found or not, for those " In like manner in the " three
to
it
has
sometimes been said that the host craving the three loaves, craves the
sometimes again
the three choicest gifts and graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and
When
it
not, the door is now shut;'' he would say, " The door
is
made up
and
at this
cannot disturb
my
children,
who
me
are
now
with
last
me
"My
bed;"
om-
2: Venit
tibi
amicus de
vi&,, id est,
nes velut peregrini transeunt, nee ullus quasi possessor manet: sedomni homini dicitur,
Refectus
es, transi,age iter,da
venturo locum.
Aut
fortfe
de
via,
mala, hoc
est,
de vita
mala, fatigatus nescio quis amicus tuus, non inveniens veritatem, qua audita
beatus
fiat
:
et
percepta
te,
tanquam ad
rationem, fac
me
Christianum.
Et inlerrogat quod
per simplicitatem fidei ncsciebas, et non est unde reficias esurientem, et te ad-
Tibi
fortfe
illi
non
sufficit.
Nun-
t Erklar. d. Parab.,
t
:
763.
;
Unde
Compare a
ser-
mon
II
by Guerricus,
1023.
5.
Qumst. Evang.,
2, c. 21.
:
why
it
Ut
enim quamlibet
bilia sunt
mundi
cibaria neque
utilia,
absque pane,
ita
absque cari-
tate
fiat.
Euthymius
'Aprovj
ruj OptimKas
259
" All
who by
earlier application to
me
called
my
is
my
kingdom, and
are
now
resting with
me
The
there
it is
the time
past."*
may
be
Our
version, translating
has
\s \\\s
'^
shamehssness'"\
yv\\\c\\
At
the
same
is
which
is
here attributed
it
petitioner
is
may
Through
to,
this per-
tinacity
II
" as
the
many as
Lord
woman
already referred
all his
from
to
at first
seemed
full
to
have shut up
compassion, but
whom whom
at last
he opened the
woman, great
thy faith
be
it
thou wilt."
so
all
much
as
now
rises,
and supplies
When
;
sometimes
;
God
gives tardily, he
commends
his
gifts,
in their
obtainment
those quickly
Dies
Quid
cum tempore
fuit,
pulsare ccEpisti.
the word which we translate " children" would be fitter transand the sense then would be, " I cannot myself come, and I have
;
none whom
dormientem
t
can send
my
It is
clear
Jam
'AvaiScia.
The Vulgate
from which
gives
it
it is
derived,
may
as well as in a bad.
In
the
xviii.
23-33,)
which almost
asking anything
for himself,
but inter-
Sodom.
cii.
Jews have a
dentia etiam
p.
The Extorsit taedio quod non possit merito. regnum sine corona and again they say, ImpuVon Meyer (Blatter filr hOhere Wahrheit, v. 5,
5))
:
;
and how
it is
recon-
(Luke
xviii. 13.)
260
and
all
again,
God
for a
Faith,
and
by
this
temporary
faint,
its
denial of a request.
It is
then seen
who
will
and who
prey
back and cannot be induced to The parable concludes with words in which the
is
in a figure, but
and
command
and
are
more than
to ask,
to
knock than
seek
and thus in
this
ascending
urgency
in prayer,
even
away
the
God
time
All that we have here is indeed to arrive that he may give him. a commentary on words of our Lord spoken at another time, " The
suffereth violence,
kingdom of heaven
it
by force."
Cum
commendat dona.non
negat.
and again, Ut discas magna magne desiderare. Sunt multi qui naturae sunt et conditionis ieonispardi, qui si primo saltu t Stella Ita isti sunt qui rel secundo non assequitur praedam, non amplius earn insequitur.
obtinentur, cito data vilescunt
:
et impatientiae
1.
three
commands (Matt.
to other
vii.
7)
to
two he referred
God
but
in
Ad
instantissimam orationem
omnia
matter.
referuntur.
no doubt on the
Augustine
Deus ad hoc
donorum
and again
Non
261
PARABLE
XIX.
16-2L
In the midst of one of our Lord's most interesting discourses an interruption occurs.
ritual truths
One
which he was communicating, but had the redressing of a wrong, which he believed himself
in his worldly interests, that, as
much
at heart
have sustained
would seem, he could not wait for a more convenient season, but broke in upon the Lord's teaching with that request which gave occasion for this parable, " Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." It has been sometimes
taken for granted, that
this
man who
make an
was here claiming, and was only seeking Saviour's influence. But how much does
especial
that love
this supposition
teaching, would
weaken the moral. All men, without any condemn such unrighteousness as this. But
itself
the affections of the heart from God, and robs divine things
of
all
their interest
against that
is
to
be continually
here,
may
manner and temper in which we hold and reclaim our own as truly as in the undue snatching at that of others " Take heed and beware of covetousness. "]" From this man's confident appeal to Jesus, made in
:
it is
justly to his
But
it
was
TrXeove^ia.
It is
rr\cuvc^ia
has never.
The emphasis on
diceres,
si
t In the Vulgate, Cavete ab omni avariti&,. So Lachmann, d-rrd vdcrn; Tr'Xcoi'e^ias. this " all" is strikingly brought out by Augustine, (Serm. 107, c. 3,)
as though Christ were herein saying to each that stood by, Forte tu avarumet cupidum
qusereret aliena
;
Ego autem
:
sed et
262
THE RICH
FOOL.
whom
the world-
making him
this
of the Lord.
For
that
and
such
in the original means, (see Acts vii. 27, 35 ; Exod. ii. such too the Lord, without publicly recognized authority, could
this in
itself
had nothing
sinful.
St.
Paul himself
recommended
this
manner of
and
how weighty
of the Church
well known.
was nothing
Lord abtrue,
word and
itself,
his
it
was
but
His adversa-
ries
diction
more than once sought to thrust upon him the exercise of a juriswhich he so carefully avoided, as in the case of the woman taken
John,)
as in that of the
Roman
tribute.
snare which was laid for him, keeping himself within the limits of the
moral and spiritual world, as that from which alone effectual improve-
ments
man
:
could proceed.:}:
* Grotius explains
familiae herciscundae, communi dividuncio, aut Lachmann has admitted Kpirnv, in the place oi iixaaSee Tertullian {Adv. Marc, 1. 4, c. 28) for the reasons which
ficpiarni
Qui
moved
Lord here
(Exod.
ii.
14)
and
in
Hammond's Paraphrase
say to those
(in loc.)
t Augustine (Enarr. in Fs. cxviii. 115) complains of this distraction from spiritual objects,
and
that he
to
who came
you
?"
to
for arbitration,"
Who made me
especially
And
Bernard, writing
to
Pope Eugenius,
this distraction
the multitude of these worldly causes which would be brought before him.
t
The
is difficult,
is
any
difficulty in tracing
is
more bijfdened
Euthymius,
make
this the
meaning:
his
When
man
;
possesses
possessions
in short,
life.
(bodily)
live
life
one
among
Riches will
it
It
may
and
it
might pass,
if it
were
^(ofi
this
kind
of
flat
if
were ever
life,
and used
to designate the
mere
soulish
263
uttered
always united with the trusting in uncertain riches, (1 Tim. vi. 17,) for who that did not trust in them as a source of good, as a means of blessedness, would be so eager in their accumulation ? he
proceeds
to
show by
how, though
For, besides
man
is
ever dreaming that these worldly goods are the source of happi-
drawn
to trust in
blessedness,
life,
which has
is
in
it
durance
which
of
may come
to to
an end at
and destitution
him who
to
be
The ground of a
i.
certain rich
man
It
was
'
The
(Prov.
man
how deep
might, at
know-
ledge of the
human
them ."
It
first sight,
our heart
when we should be in chiefest danger of setting upon riches, would be when we saw them escaping from our
from under our hand.
that earthly losses are the
gra^,
the contrary,
perishing
It is
the xpvx^ture
it
much
better to take
/;
^oifi
here in that deeper sense, which in Scripblessedness; and then with Schultz {6. d.
his
79) to put a
comma
to
tf
tu
Trepiaaeietii
rtv'i),
nvl,
and
translate thus:
When
man comes
have abundance
wcpicr.
grow out of
Thus
preserved
all
growing
Luke xvi. 9 Acts i. 18 John iii. 5, 6 xviii. 36, kingdom grows not out of an earthly root,) and The sudden taking away of the rich then the parable is brought in confirmation. worldling's goods, or which comes to the same thing, his sudden taking away from them, shows that his life, his true blessedness, was not froin them, that he had made a fearful mistake in supposing that it was since the very idea of blessedness involves
which
last place the
Lord
asserts, his
something that
to a
;
may
slip
feet
at
any
a
merely earthly
ever liable to do
is
and then,
opened
to
us as being a
it is
which
is
eternal as the
tibi
built.
Ambrose: Dat
tuam.
264
increase in worldly goods
that
to
it,
serving,
fire :*
"
He
that
loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abund-
ance with increase." (Eccl. v. 13.) St. Basil, in the opening of his " There are two manners noble sermon f upon this parable, observes of temptations, either afflictions torment the heart, as gold in the fur:
trial
many in place of other temptation." But it seems a certain exaggeration when he explains, as many others have done, the following words, " he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do .?"
as though they were the utterance of one brought to sore straits and dif-
ficulties
for the
envying him,
was now at his wit's end, and knew not which way he should turn, who was in as painful perplexity through his riches as others are through
their poverty.:}:
is
we
rejoicing over his abundance, and realizing to the very letter the
makhe
to
fulfil
is
As
far as
may
be said
to
to
be perplexed, this
"
/ have no room
where
bestow
my fruits.^'
It
Thou
hast barns,
the
the houses
of the widows,
the
mouths of orphans and of infants. " If he had listened to the prudent admonition of the sonof Sirach, (xxix. 12,) "Shut up alms in thy storehouses," he would not have found his barns too narrow.
To
one thus
little
treatise,
Uepi
(piKon'Xov-iai,
Xo
and
the
satiat.
jjei^Ci}
ttouT,
:
same truth is confessed in the Latin proverb Avaium Compare Seneca, Ad. Helv., c. 11 and the fine Eastern
;
irritat
pecunia, non
tale
c.
of Abdallah, the
4.
v. 2, p.
same moral.
Turbavit
and
in the
new
Paris reprint,
60.
So Augustine
:
hominem
And
Grotius quotes
1.
in this view
c.
Thus
15,
22)
De
suorum
affectibus pres-
quodam rerum
fasce laborabat.
But Unger's
is
Opulentum
(j
sinus,
viduarum domus,
Cf.
era infaniium.
much
this parable.
Augustine,
Serm. 3G,
265
:
admonition
"
God
desires not
their
that thou shouldst lose thy riches, but that thou shouldst
change
Sup-
pose a friend should enter thy house, and should find that thou hadst
damp
floor,
ten-
dency of those
fruits to spoil,
thee counsel of this sort, saying, Brother, thou losest the things which
damp
I
in a
do
Raise
floor,
them
to
a higher
room
listen
thou wouldst
to
And what,
brother, shall
ther suggesting that thou shouldst raise thy fruits from a lower to a
higher
thou mayest receive heaven, lay up perishable things that thou mayest
receive eternal."*
his
not
wax
heaven which
build greater,
and
I bestow
all
''
my goods."
God,
for
Yet according
this
;
to the
his riches
were
was nothing sinful in all makes the example the better Nor yet was there anything which the
and
this
in the decent
world condemns in the plans which he laid out for his future enjoyment, Epicureanism which he meditated ; " / loillsay to my soul,
Soul, thou hast
drink,
and
be
merry."
much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, Having now at last, as he imagines, secured himto
him;
man
His plans of
felici-
may
melancholy as
profound
making him
* Enarr. in Fs.
xlviii. 9.
c.
Cf.
6.
2):
Non
limite perturbalo,
non
spoliato paupere,
non
circumvento simplice.
18
266
to that soul,
which
though thus capable of being dragged down into the basest service of the flesh, imbodied and imbruted, was also capable of being infornaed by the
Divine
Spirit,
He
many
come
he expects, as Job did once, to multiply his days as the sand ; his felicity shall not soon come to an end, but to-morrow shall be as to-day, and
much more
is that
abundant.*
Compare with
all this
"
There
waxeth rich by his weariness and pinching, and this is the porwhereas he saith, I have found rest, and now will tion of his reward and yet he knoweth not what time shall eat continually of my goods
:
that he
must leave those things to others and die," fool which immediately after is
him, TJiou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee."
" Thoufool,"-\
this title is
opposed
to the
opinion
"this night," of his own prudence and foresight which he entertained, and that " soul," which years that he promised to himself, to the many
he purposed to nourish and make fat, it is declared shall be inexorably required," and painfully rendered up.:j: There is no need to inquire here, as has been sometimes done, in what way God spoke to the man,
whether by a sudden presentiment of approaching death, by some strong alarm of conscience, by some mortal sickness at this instant falling upon We are not to understand that in any of him, or by what other means.
these
was not with him as with the Babyword was in whose mouth there fell a voice from
to
him.
It
quaintance, where,
death of a rich act See a striking Epistle (the lOlst) of Seneca, on the sudden among other things, he says Qua,m stultum est setatem disponere
: !
inchoantium. ne crastino quidem dominamur. O quanta dementia est, spes longas Emam, Eedificabo, credam, exigam, honores geram turn demum lassam et plenam senectutem in oiium referam. See, too, more than one of the Greek Epigrams ex;
pressing the
fiirpa iTpi!it!6Tcpa,
his
heaping a
man
is
not able
^lons coipevaai
vi.
surely
is
what
27,
add
to
life, (/(Ai/ci'a,)
many would
and
it
fain
so
who
is
not merely a
great addition, such as a cubit, which he could not make, but the smallest, not even an inch, which would naturally be the thing expressed, if that were the meaning.
I
p.
781) makes here an ingenious reference to 1 Sam. " As his is the Nabal of the New Testament
:
name
is,
so
is
he
Nabal
is
his
name, and
folly is
with him."
Compare
ver.
36-38,
267
(Dan. iv. tellinor him that the kingdom was departed from him. Here we are to suppose nothing of the kind, but more awful still, that while those secure deliberations which have been just described were going on in the thoughts of the man, this sentence was being determined in the counsels of God :* for it is thus that the Lord in heaven derides the counsels of sinners, seeing them in their vanity and folly, and knowing how soon he will bring them to nothing. f Not as yet was there any direct communication between God and the man's soul any mes-
at
of his
twain,
he was promising
There
we may
a force in the words, " shall be required of thee,'^ (with which compare Wisd. xv. 8, " His life which was lent him shall be
is
:
piti-
For from
to
God and
upon
it
as a light burden.
it,
it hard to lay it down, for the body lies But the sinner who has enfleshed his soul,
and imbodied
and made
:
it
its
divulsion
wherefore
is
For he
is
not as a ship, which has been long waiting in harbour, and joyfully
the signal
is
when
its
given
lifts its
which by some
which
wind
is
dragged from
The mere
world-
is
which he
knows, as the fabled mandrake was torn from the earth, shrieking and
with bleeding roots.
" Then whose shall those things be which thou hast
this as constituting part of
provided 7"
the vanity of wealth, and the eager pursuit after wealth, namely, the un-
God
said to
him
this, in the
words of Grotius,
if
Non
It is
we
read not
aippiou,
Fool
so in Lachmann's text.
So on
the other side, the Jewish doctors taught that the angel Gabriel
;
drew
gently out with a kiss, the souls of the righteous from their mouths
to
something of
which kind, the phrase so often used to express osculo Domini obdormivit, must allude.
for
a commentary,
in
its
be required," as well as
268
certainty to
heir would
it
of
(Eccles.
Yea,
hated
all
it
my
labour
which
should leave
to the
man
or a fool ?"
eth not
me: and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man Compare Ps. xxxix. 6, " He heapeth up riches, and knowthem."
(Eccles.
ii.
who
is
shall gather
26
Ps. xlix.
6-20; Job
toward
" So
he
that,
layeth
is not rich
God
for the
two clauses of
the verse are parallel, and in the second not merely a state or condition,
first,
an
effort
manner
altogether different,
assumed.
Self
and God are here contemplated as the two poles between which the soul
is
it
aims and
efforts.
then the
is,
this
man we have
in
seen
the
to
man and
far at least as
it is
his treasure,
come
nothing together.
He
to the perishable
made
an
for there
is
worldly objects, of those affections which were given him that they
in
God
where
his treasure
is,
there
Now
He
that has
no love of
no share in the unsearchable riches of Christ, no sympathies with his brethren, is in fact, " wretched and
miserable, and poor and blind, and naked," and shall one day find out
that he is so,
am
is
nothing with
God
God
On
is
truly rich,
who
in
is
who
rich in
God
who
to,
He
God
for
possesses
all
things,
though
in this
him
*
but to go
So
the
for others
what seems
to
me
the
true
in
Obsederunt
animum
269
Our Lord having thus warned his hearers against covetousness, and how often it springs from a distrust in God's providential care, goes on to teach them where they may find that which shall be the best
knowino-
such over anxious thoughts for the future, nameof the love and care of an heavenly Father, (ver. ly, in the assurance
preservative against
all
is
as close as
it is
beautiful,
between
this
There is also, parable and the instructions which immediately follow. perhaps, in the words of ver. 24 a distinct reminiscence of the parable.
PARABLE XX.
THE BARREN
Luke
xiii.
FIG
6-9.
TREE.
an
The
eagerness of
men
to
be the
first
eagerness which can only spring from a certain secret pleasure in them,* though that be most often unacknowledged even to themselves,
was perhaps what moved some of those present to tell the Lord of a new These persons understood rightly outrage which Pilate had committed.
that he
was speaking,
is
in the
last chapter,
of
men
but, as
to
words
others.
generally the manner of men, instead of applying these their own consciences, they made application of them only to Of the outrage itself, which however agrees well with the
(Luke
xxiii. 12,)
is
its
cause or
its
consequence,
there
no historical notice.
little
probable that the scattering or slaying by Pilate of some by Josephus, which is here adis
and
as Lightfoot observes, to
make
rebel-
tuum
serves pecuniam,
:
patrimonium cumulas, quod te pondere suo graviCis onerat stulia. exulnee meministi quid Deus responderit diviti exuberantium fructuum copiam Quid divitiis tuis solus incubas ? qui in pcenam tuam patrimonii tatione jactanti
non
servat,
tui
pondus exaggeras
S. v.
Deo
fias
See
SuICER'S TheS.
*
ing,
7rXorw.
least,
Two
languages at
to
to the existence of
such a
feel;
having a word
: the German,
Schadenfreude
270
numbernothing
Romans exhausted
it
drove
into
open resistance,
which must have been but a drop of water in the sea, should have remained unrecorded. It is no more stranjje than that the
no place
in profane history.
or excuse for this outrage, which must have been perpetrated at Jerusa-
sacrifices
in
language
were offered. There is something significant which the slaughter of these Galilseans is narrated,
had mingled with their sacrifices."
It is
Pilate
proba-
ble from our Lord's reply, that the narrators urged this circumstance,
it
safe any-
where or
at
any time,
it
unto him.
meant
some great
from the greatness of his calamities, there must have been some hidden
enormous
sin,
guilt,
sacrifices of these
men
to
be
so that they
them-
selves
became piacular
of,
becoming part
or not, the
Lord
at
once
"Suppose ye
that
all
such things ?" Hedoes not deny that they were sinners, justly obnoxious
this or
visitation
of their fellow-coun-
trymen
xiii.
his hearers, as
was ever
his
23
John
them
though
The
but,
not in the least considered heretical like the Samaritans, by the other Jews, they were
yet held in a certain degree of contempt by them, partly because their blood
sidered less pure,
was con-
their country is
see 1
Mace.
i.
and partly
because their faith was considered by the Jewish doctors as less strictly
vii.
orthodox, (John
52
see
i.
46
Acts
ii.
7,)
they in
many
observances departing
tradition.
They spoke
and a broad
.Syriac pronunciation, so
as to
Jerusalem.
c.
86, 87.
271
all
" Except
we
;
ye repent, ye shall
likewise perish."
how
which
befall others
what
their significance
as regards our-
selves
calls to
an earnest repentance.
For instead
we were
like tri-
by
holi-
we
shall learn to
it
ever deadly
fruit
it
bears in another,
But when
this is felt,
it
thoughts of a
life
and on
his
man thus taught to know himself will fall back on his own heart. He will see in the chastisement which
will see in
it
The own
has
For he
will not
the intimate connexion between sin and suffering, but the race which
at
is
is
the sin of
not, of necessity
So
v. 2, pp.
faith in a
this
and
Hebrew
notion," from
which
passage might at
ix. 2,
sight
appear
John
v. 14, lay
this
He
know
not whether in feigned or real blindness, that what Christ condemns ing that any man's particular calamity
affirms, all Scripture affirms, that the
is
the affirm-
He
human
tion in
race
is
sum total of the calamity which oppresses the sum total of its sin nor does he deny the rela;
may
What
he does deny
is
man's power
And
this,
instead of being a
''
vulgar
is
one
for
by
truth
which
men
may
forget or
to
deny
which
is
in the
compelled
acknowledge
when
this confession
it
Thus was
is this
in the
own
xvii.
own
"We
brother,
therefore
distress
18
Judg.
i.
Acts
xxviii. 4.)
come upon us." (Gen xlii. 21 cf 1 Kin. There are some excellent observations upon
d.
this
subject in
Hengstenberg's Authentic
Fentateuches,
v. 2, p.
577, seq.
272
far
is
the
more
close
it
appear.
which he encounters
At every new instance of moral and phyin a world which has departed from God, the Author of all good, even when he proves
man
as he
is
a sinful creature
man
more
Our
would
many
*
persons at once
" Those
eighteen
on
whom
men
and slew them, think ye that they Neither in this that dwelt in Jerusalem ?"
fell
("
to
God than
to
to attribute a
preponderance of guilt
those
who
of outward nature,
were
to
recognize a call
to
repentance, partly as
for
them
For
are
the discords of outward nature, storms and floods, earthquakes and pestilences,
and so too
all
to,
parts of that curse, that subjection of the whole creation to vanity, con-
warning language,
" Except
is,
ye repent, ye
a force in the original word {waavTag), which our English " likewise," from its frequent lax usage as a synonyme for " as well," fails
There
is
to give.
The
threat
manner
for,
as
it
observed, the resemblance is more than accidental between these two calamities here adduced, and the ultimate destruction which did overtake the rebellious Jews, those who refused to obey the Lord's bidding,
and
to repent.
As
fell
its
name, probably
in the
6. 7,
would seem
to distinguish
Though
modern topophrase,
true position.
<2ei/ors
above
all
men?" a remarkable
xii.
selected for
its
58,59.
(Cf. Matt. V.
25
vi.
xviii.
24
Luke
vii.
41.)
273
inhabitants
;
were
and during
also,
numbers
who
the
Roman
in the very act of preparing their sacrifices, so that literally their blood, like that of these Galilaeans,
with another.
doom prepared
doom might
these
still
for the
warning was
then
now bring
:
forth fruit
meet
be averted
but
if not, if
they refused
final catastrophe, which would leave no room for repentance. In the meanwhile they were to see in the fact that as yet the strokes descended upon them for warning, and not the stroke for excision, a proof of the
observes,
as Olshausen
is
closed
side of
by a parable,
He
men
befor
them space
Scripture
for repentance.
of God, so to leave
;
men
3
;)
opportunity
the
Holy
24
was
fixed
(Gen.
vi.
Abraham prayed
for
Sodom
(Gen.
xviii.
;)
till
9.)"
is
at
God
it
in his vineyard."
" A certain man had a Jig tree planted The vineyard here must be the world, and not, as in Wicked Husbandmen, the kingdom of God in the begins thus
;
midst of the world the Jewish people were set and appointed that they
should bear
(Deut.
is
much
fruit,
much
glory to God.
at
iv. 6.)
them,
it
for as Israel
according
to the
flesh
was
is
the representative of
and of each,
who
to the privileges
Indeed there
* Such application of
daeis
it
in
Luc, 1. maxima
7, c.
:
171)
Quod de Ju-
ne fecundum Ecclesiae
274
image very nearly the same by Christ himself. (John xv. The possessor of the fig tree " came and sought fruit thereon.'^ 2.) What is here parabolically related was on another occasion typically
if
(Mark
none."
this
But he then,
found
fruit
Long
and laid
bring forth
much
to the
glory of God, they had fallen from their high calling, and brought
fruit or bitter fruit.
(Isai. v. 2,
forth either
our
version
is to
is
There
men
to fruit
life,
i.
the
;
fruit
(Ps.
Jer. xvii. 8
John xv.
2, 4,
Rom.
vii.
4.)
a comparison which helps greatly to set forth the true relation be-
tween
faith and works, which relation is, in fact, just as plainly declared by our Lord, when he says, " A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt
fruit,
as
by
Paul
in
any of
his Epistles.
spoken of
in the
New
;)"
Testament, which
tree,
may
all
image
the
first,
of
same character
man
fruit,
as
that they
may
be gloried
prayers
made
that they
may
debemus
internos, fructus pudoris, fructus conjunctionis, fructus mutuae caritatis et amoris, sub
uno utero
itatis
aestus cupid-
* BttiGEL on Matt.
mala, indole
s\ik,
16: Fructus
est,
omnes
sed id
omne quod
se.
man and
ii.
his
vi.
ii.
Tim.
10), ipya
Thess.
vcKpa
i.
3).
ix. 14),
'Epya
(Heb.
and sometimes
'ipya v6pov
(Gal.
ii.
16).
275
and
lastly,
its
own
Here
it is,
of course,
:
both the
other kinds of fruit the Jewish nation abundantly bore. For " three years" the master of the vineyard complains that he had come seeking fruit, and in vain. Of these " three years " very many
times of the
natural law,
;
of
grace.
Theophylact
in his
and thirdly,
own
when
made
to the individual,
in childhood, in
manhood,
Olshau-
may
ministry upon earth; but Grotius had already observed against this
view, that
if the
which
of the vineyard
is
granted
to the tree,
ought certainly
to
be
" Culil
'^
final destruction.
19
Luke
xix.
41-44,)
why
^ cumbereth
the
ground ?"
in the threatenings of
God.
proclaims
is
them
to be at
repentance."
proverb, "
There
a
of
The
feet
the avenging deities are shod with wool," to express the noiselessness of
their approach,
is
also,
sign of
what
is
threatened
may
The
rris
threat.:}:
" cumber-
iii.
aapKd; (Gal.
t
the
We
(ii'ari
k a
nV
1
yfjv
Karapyd
;)
which
is
really
tree stand,
itself
which
it is
set
it
fast
Ut quid etiam terrara occupat ? and in De Wette's German translation Warum macht er auch noch das Land unfruchtbar ? Gregory ihe Great (Horn. 31 in Evang.) shows that it had not escaped him Postquam enim se perdidit, quserendum est cur et
:
alios premat.
And
:
Bengel
Non modo
nil prodest,
avertit,
quem
and
have
Augustine
Nemovolens
7,
Xiiyto, iVa
//^
ferire dicit,
:
Observa
ad finem)
Ti/itopiai'
tpo/Sti
no
We
276
filled
the
to
barren tree injured the land, spreading injurious shade, and drawing off
Thus,
Jewish Church
it
not merely did not itself bring forth fruits of righteousness, but
il
in-
Through them the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles (Rom. ii. 24 ;) they hindered the spread of the knowledge of God among other nations, through the
planted.
;
was
15;) even as
ple,
it is
not merely
by
his evil
examto
is
others in the
way
The
it
who
might
is
God
men
(Job xxxiii.
23 Zech, i. 12; Heb. vii. 25 ;) yet not as though the Father and the Son had different minds concerning sinners, as though the counsels of for righteousness and the Father were wrath, and of the Son, mercy love are not qualities in him, who is Righteousness and who is Love
set
parallel,
Heb.
vi. 7, 8.
The
is
there described
it
as Karapas iyyui, but though thus " nigh unto cursing," the
yet
;
it is
foreannounced, that so
is
it
may
not arrive.
;
* The word
to its selection.
not
altogether adequate
nor
is
it
It
first
"Why
a
keepeth
sion.
it
the
place, but
it
has retained
in
later use,
which
is
it
fails
to give us the
noiei)
of the original.
the tree
is
better, for
it
evil
marred
and mischiefed
et solis radius
and around
it.
Corn, a Lapide
radicibus suis,
"
Even so we have in Shakspeare The noisome weeds that without profit suck The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers."
and only here besides
i.
The word
dKiipirouj
KarapyeXv
is
a very favourite one with St. Paul, occurring no less than twen;
in the
N. T.
s. v.
We
8.
277
we must
the reality of the sacrifice of Christ, not merely on the side with
it
which
looks towards
God
these errors
is
shown
(1 Pet.
to
us in those words
xiii.
" the
Lamb
;)
20.)
in time, "
now
manifest in these last times for you," yet took place in the
who offered, and of him who accepted it, before all time, or we must not conceive of man as ever not contemplated by God in Christ there was no change in God's mind concerning the sinner,* because he who beholdeth the end from the beginning, had
purpose of him
rather, out of time; so that
:
first
(Rom.
In this view
we may
tercession of Christ as having found place and been effectual even before he passed
own
and
blood
Holy of
holies
.'\
the long-suffering of
all
God toward
sinners
is to
be referred
I
" The
is
earth
Some
healthy members,
that of the
its
sick
members, or
is
Church
No
1
xviii.
23-33
;
Jam.
v.
Sam. 14-18
;
xii. 19,
;
23
2 Kin. xix. 24
Jer. xv.
John
v. 16,)
excluded
must ultimately
rest.
It
is plain, too,
must be meant,
now
is
the
same who
c.
2)
Qui enim
se
is
well
known,
between the
Traptun
(Rom.
iii.
u,jjc<Tti
a^mpnwi'.
much stress on the distinction The first, the /Pretermission was what the Son obtained for men
laid
aipcais,
flesh,
or entire remission,
the last going along with the gift of regeneration, exclusively the prerogative of the
New
t
Covenant.
As
c.
1):
Qui
278
him
whom
it
all
judgment
is
down.'^
Certainly
it
would not
to
(Matt.
xiii.
29,30.)
As he
while be suspended
to
may
be suffered to
it
continue in barrenness
it
he consents
to its
doom,
if
doom
rightit
;)*
to see if
will
" If
and
if not,
down."
is,
During
and dung
;" that
he
will
tree,
and afterwards
as one
:[:
may
often
see done
now
is
to the
orange trees
of Italy.
By
these apin
pliances
may
moment,
before
those
Thus, be-
before
of their
the Chaldaeans,
most eminent prophets, as Jeremiah before the taking of Jerusalem by and before its final destruction, they enjoyed the minis-
To
this last,
no doubt, allusion
is
here
that
to that larger,
this
manuring the
hitherto unfruitful
"
Though
fruit
;
they were not made better by the law and the prophets, nor yielded
of repentance, yet will
I
water them by
my
it
may
obedience."
No
doubt
if the his-
tory of men's lives were writ as large as the history of nations and of
churches, and could we, therefore, read the history of those as plainly
as of these,
we
is
is
we
should
mark
critical
moments
c.
men's
lives
With
4)
esse secura
and elsewhere,
Distulit securim,
We
xxii.
or
some word
similar, understood,
Luke
X
For a useful
c. 1
:
110,
Ambrose, De
Poenit., 1. 2, c. 1.
279
which
to
all
the future
was
linked, on
visitation
which
it
it
depend,
tance
times of gracious
know, and not
which
to suffer to
Such
was
42;) then was the digging about and manuring the tree which had been so long barren. But it abode in its
in the midst of it;
xix.
(Luke
barrenness,
ed,
it
its
to
an end
and, as here
is
threaten-
the
was inexorably cut down. We may observe, however, that in parable our Lord does not actually affirm that the tree will certainly
last,
"If it
to all
;
For thus
is left
open
they are warned that they are not shut up, except indeed
evil will, in
by their own
it
is
who make
PARABLE
XXI.
xiv.
15-24.
seem
to
prove
at
On
to eat
bread
at the
(Ver. 1.)
Much happened
* Rosenmiiller (Alte
v. 5, p.
"
whom
thou sayest,
it
I will
unfruitful.
He
answers.
be,
Do
it
says. It
must needs
and gives
Nay, do
it,
it
have patience
with
cut
it
down
if it still
down.
Then
is
year be certainly
fruitful
The same
379
;
slory
to be found in
in the
also in S.
v. 2, p.
collection of tracts
De Ee Eusticd,
280
bly no
much
cost
and
were
many
reasons
among
the guests for precedency, or at least a silent, but not unto select for
them-
(Ver. 7.)
to
Then
again, in
way
his kindred
such a
supposition
much
And
yet further,
our Saviour so often borrowed the images of his parables from that which
was actually
hearers
at the
moment
a great supper,
sitting
would seem
tainment.
was
The circumstances
these
:
grew were
at the table
cious words that proceeded out of his mouth, could not help exclaiming,
certainly not in the spirit of mockery, rather in approval and admiration, "
Blessed
is
how,
it
may
be asked,
he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God !" But came the Lord's last words, " Thou shalt be
of the just," to
elicit
recompensed
vation
?
at the resurrection
what natural connexion was there between the two, for such a connexion is evidently marked in the narrative ? When we keep in
the notions then current
mind
among
the
to
would be ushered
all
at
once easy
members of that kingdom, should be partakers, perceive how this man's thoughts, a man it might be
the
mind
like the
resurrection of the just, of which Jesus spake, to the great festival which
was
to
accompany
that
would then be
His
given
to the merciful,
meaning
first
places
is
example of
the fUKpoiiiiXiTinia.
427.
Augustine
:
warning
Bed cor.
281
" Blessed
in
is
the reward
which
first
shall
be
given
and holy
is
warning conveyed in the parable, which we are told was particularly, though we cannot suppose exclusively, addressed to
likely from the
ance that he should make one of those that should thus eat bread in the kingdom of God. He, as a Jew, as a member of the elect nation, had been invited to that great feast of God that was all which he paused to
;
consider
call, or,
on the
away from
to
all
considered whether in
life
of the Gospel,
which
for the
Christ
was now
all
was
own
ultimate
For
his
warning, and
said, "
warning of
"
certain
man made
a great supper. ^^
at
;
Many have
it
a supper "
evening of
evening, so
1
was
in the
18
men
to the fulness
of Gospel blessings.
But
word of
a great
ed
which
is
is
signified.
Men's
relish
is
so
little,
their desire so faint for the things heavenly, therefore are they presentto
be stirred up
a more
'^
c. 5)
Atrn-i'oi',
which, as
is
well
known,
originally,
at least in (he
lime of Homer,
indicates the time
that ScTttvou
meant
and as
little
when
its
the
Or even granting
in
the later
Greek of
New
to signify the
still
it
being the chief and most important meal in the day, was naturally what caused
its
evening.
t
A sermon
:
this parable
begins
beautifully thus
liciae
Hoc
cum non habentur, grave in se desiderium accenduni cum vero habitae eduntur comedentem protinus in fasiidium vertunt. At contr&, spiritales delicias, cum non
habentur, in fastidio sunt
:
cum
;
tantoque k comedente
In
illis
appetitus
placet.
magis
the technical
It is
word
the
(Matt. Mil. 3
John
ii.
Cor. x. 27.)
also
word which
St.
Paul uses
19
282
many^'
us
to
these were
the Jews,
and the
much
who
the priests and the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees, in opposition to
the publicans and sinners, and
all
Those other
righteousness,
seemed as
it
were
to
first
who
all
The maker
things are
to
will
needing thus
show how
as
it
but this
is
a mistake,
;
has been already observed that such was the usual custom
and
their contempt of the honour done them, and their neglect of their word given, for we must suppose they had accepted the invitation before,
is first testified
by their excuses
for not
appearing
at the festival.
There
was, beyond doubt, in the world's history a time, when more than any other it might be said " all things are noio ready," a fulness of time,*
which when
it
was
arrived,
and not
till
then, the
kingdom of heaven
is
was
set up,
and men
it.
invited, the
to enter into
The
servant
Jew who is
first,
Theophylact assumes, our blessed Saviour himself, who " took the form of a servant," and might therefore be aptly represented under this name.
is
not
till
this single servant, the prophets of the " all things are now ready " that this ser-
vant
is
sent forth.
He
who went
before
to express the
men
into his
kingdom.
in St.
John
how
the
44 xii. 32). They have both their peculiar fitness, in that both express power brought to bear on man's will is a moral power, and man a moral
if
he chooses,
of
if is
he will.
Word, inward by
29,) K\r)aii
Tim.
i.
9,) KXijaij
tov Qaov,
(Rom.
xi.
tTTovpai/iui,
(Heb.
iii.
iii.
14,)
which
we have
last is
it,
not the
from an height
not, as
from on
high."
;
* Theophylact has here a remarkable comparison he has remarked the height to which the wickedness of the world had reached at the time of the Saviour's coming, and goes on "Q,!nrep yap vdani^a v-rrov\ov kiX KOKiriOei Ibjaiv, ol iarpoX jrujra rdv novtjpdv
;
vvudv
iaurqj
fKpij^ai,
ttiri
tifl'
otirtof
ra; (fiapiiaKeiaf cirdyovatv, oSrwj Koi [Tho d/iapnuv edei nivra ra oiKcXa
283
concerning the coming kingdom of God and their share in that kingdom,* bade them now enter on the enjoyment of those good things, which
now
any
actually present.
And
to
mind or
spirit,)
" began
make
excuse."1(.
Whether
there
is
essential difference
between the excuse which the first guest offers, and that offered by the second, whether by these are represented hindrances different in their
nature and character which keep back different
both would alike teach us the
men from
Christ, or that
same general
things,
world takes away from men a desire after and a relish for heavenly I should imagine there was a difit is not easy to determine.
ference, as
I
in
speaking of the
said, "
it,^'
cognate parable in
Matthew.
Perhaps ihe
first
who
/ have
repre-
see
who
He
is
Ahab when he
for there
is
visit-
no guilt
of the
sort,
and
it
makes much
veyed
yet
in
the parable,
that tliere
no such attributed
any of the
in itself sinful
and
become
sinful,
to interfere
with higher
merely subordinate,
given to them.
it,
glory in
as
Is
and
of
said,
"
But he is going to see his possession that he may Nebuchadnezzar gloried when he walked in his palace not this great Babylon that I have built ... by the might
for
my
power, and
the honour of
my
iv.
30.)
While in him then it is "the lust of the eye and the pride of life" which are indicated as the things keeping him from Christ, with the
second guest
his soul
;
it
is
fill
he has made an important purchase, and cannot put off for a single day the trial of how it is likely to turnout;* " I have bought
*
Augustine
Vvioixrisy
Qui sunt
prophetas?
;
KopSia;, or
Some
than
(jioivfii,
X JlapaiTcTaOai is
Acts xxv. 11
for
Traprirriucvov is
Tilf
(habeas
me
'Ettuivciv
vX^jao/
an
invitation.
:
So Augustine
(Ser7n. 112, c. 2)
bia castigatur,
vitium
as true as
Amor
est
spiritalium
pennarum.
Ecce con-
284
jive * yoke
prove them."
He
is
one
who
is
getting
what
If in these
two
it
is
it
is
the
him from
Christ.
*'
I have a feast of my own ? why trouble me then with yours ? I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot coffie."f The other two, even while they plead their excuses, are themselves conscious that they are
hardly valid, so that they add out of a sense of this their insufficiency, I pray thee have me excused." But this one accounts that he has a rea''
why
make
As
there
was an ascending
contumacy
here.
making
It
light of the
is
message, others
evil grow to such an enormous height as there, yet still is there this same ascending scale. The first would be very glad to come, if only it were possible, if there were not a constraining necessity keeping him away. It is a needs be, so at least he describes it, so he would have it
no doubt represented
in another direction
to the
maker of
the feast.
The second
upon
alleges no
sufficient reason
The
third
has plans of his own, and says outright " I cannot come."
to the
According
sufficient
but
it is
to the battle,
to the feast.
cupisti, haesisti.
Quia
tibi
verfe requies-
Enarr. in Ps.
us, as Elijah (1
As
of the oxen
was very
needful,
to find place
was
finally concluded.
On
the
1.
(Herod.
X
1, C.
l!it6yaji6i re
vvv fii\ci.
tates
;
Gerhard gives well the three hindrances in three words, Dignitates, opes, volupand in the old monkish rhymes there is evidently an interpretation of them
:
Uxor,
villa,
Mundus,
285
father,
If
to
and mother,
own
life
he cannot be
is
my
disciple;"* and
how
apt a
commentary on
I
the
parable
time
is
short
it
they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they
that rejoice as though they rejoiced not,
possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing
vii.
(1 Cor.
it
29-31,) since
it
was
was
men
have
but
for
the
which proved
feast.
their hindrance,
The
has met
it is
ill
how
coming
even
chiefs of the Jewish nation attached himself openly, and without reserve,
to Christ, so that they could say, "
rulers or of the
Phar
isees believed on
vii.
and lanes and the maimed, and the halt, and In these words there would seem a distinct reminiscence of the blind." the precept which Christ just before had given to him at whose table he was sitting " Call thou the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind." (Ver. 13.) He would encourage him to this by showing him that it is
being angry, said
the city,
servant,
Go
of
and bring
feast.
He
needy
own
virtues,
own
down
at his table.
The
people
who knew
into the
the despised and of publicans and they should enter kingdom of God, before the the wise, the proud, before those who they saw, before those who thanked God they were not other men, before those who counted they had need of nothing.
whom
the
great,
said
as
that
now
it
passes on to be pro-
declares
they,
Of
that he
had prepared a
feast, at
which more
shall sit
down than
for
Church,
in
all
the excuses
made by
illud
His omnibus
Ambrose
286
Gentile as well as Jew,
God."
It is
is
explicitly
declared in the parable, for the time was not yet for unfolding plainly the
great mystery of the calling of the Gentiles
in,
;
but
it
and, like so
much
its
The
servant
returning from the accomplishing of his second mission had said, "Lord,
it
is
is
room,
whereupon,
more
commission, "
come
in, that
new Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to my house may he jitled." If those in the streets and the
vacuum
as
little
as nature,* he receives a
more
sinful,
those
which
city will
in the
wandering
in the
highways and camping, as gypsies now-a-days, under be the yet more despised, and yet more morally abject
to
pagans in all senses of the word. Concerning these the master says, " Compel them
come in."
It
is
how any argument for a compulsion, save indeed should ever have been here drawn from these words. In the
strange
earnest persuasion,
is
a moral one,
first
place, in
the letter of the parable to suppose any other compulsion, save that of
absurd
for
vant
for
he
is
that
from
ga-
the country into the city, a flock of unwilling guests, and these,
too,
whom
he
is
now
sent.
The
on
feast
be,
any reluctance
to
It
was rather that these houseless dwellers in the highways, and by the hedges, would hold themselves so unworthy of the invitation as scarcely without to believe it was intended for them, scarcely to be induced
in
his magnificent
entertainment.
And when we
men
to
come
Nee
thus
be adeo rogandos,
excellently
:
Non
omnimoda
eoaetio.... Aliter
men
into the
c. 7,
outward unity of the Church, Ep. 50, De moder. coerc. Haret., and Serm. 112,
287
when they
vinced of the importance of the message which they bear, and the mighty
issues
rejection of that
which there are for every man, linked with his acceptance or message of the Gospel ? If they " compel," it will be as
when Lot
set
lingered, laid
brought him
xix. 16
to
;)
forth,
and
him without
(Gen.
men
has a
come
in, for
who
right to be heard
by
his creatures,
who
com-
Anselm observes, that God may be also said to compel men to come in, when he drives them by strong calamities to seek and find refuge with him and in his Church ;* or as Luther explains it, they are compelled to come in when the law is broadly preached, terrifying their consciences, and
mands,
all
men, everywhere,
to repent
The
of
none of those
my
supper."
which,
when they
saw
them
he declares
i.
this
is
them now.
(Prov.
28
It is
worth while
compare
this
how
The master
power
to
is
both
much
lighter in
and lighter
person against
whom
it is
and conipare De
De
c. 11.
Evang
t
Is
is
it
The
in
many
made
whole household
or, as
1
Bengel explains
of such
first
vocation assembled
pauperes.
It
round him,
for the
is now speaking in his own person to the Pharisees words must plainly be regarded not as his words, but as the con-
It is
it
is
avipwv not
dv6pJ:>iToyv
here,
which of
itself
brings this verse into interesting relation, as indeed the whole parable suggests the
parallel,
with
Cor.
i.
288
narration.
There
his
command,
merely a
commands.
The
thing less than rebellion, and being accompanied with outrages done to
his servants, called out that terrible retribution.
is
in every
way
that
in the
outward
cir-
cumstance which supplies the groundwork of the parable, since it is merely exclusion from a festival ; though we should remember it is not
lighter,
when taken
for
it
is
nothing less
all
the blessings of
communion of
Christ,
his
power."
PARABLE
XXII.
12-14
Luke
xv. 3-7.
When
St.
Luke
says, "
to the
Lord
all the
all
publicans
at
and sinners
purpose
for to
who were
this
that
it
was
such a ministry as
to
draw
all the
him that there was a secret attraction Word, which drew all of them habitually to him for
" publicans and sinners " the
first
hear him.*
Of these
were men
in-
the second,
Grotius
We
:
in the
:
They were
the habit of
drawing nigh.
Actum continuum et quotidianum genus hoc loquendi significat. And he compares Luke iv. .31 to which he might hnve added Mark ii. 18, and other examples+ TtAtji'ut ((iiro Tov TcXoi wvctaOai) Were of two kinds. The publicani, so called while they were gatherers of the publicum, or state revenue these were commonly Roman knights, who farmed the taxes in companies, and this occupation was not in disesleem, but the contrary. Besides these were the portitores, or exactores, who are
;
;
289
awakened by him
seem
;
to
He
but being
come
to
At
this
murmured and
took offence*
seeming
as
it
They
to the wilderness, so to
And
this
outward separation from sinners, which was the Old Testament form of
righteousness, might have been needful for those
their purity in those times of the
in his
who would
preserve
he, first
law and
till
the
Lord came,
till
own
power of good
bear upon the evil of the world, than ever had been
men
who
work
left
power which of
necessity
was
stationed at frontiers, at
;
gates of cities, on rivers, at havens, (vendentium ipsius coeli et terrse et maris transitus
Tertullian,) for the purpose of collecting customs on the wares
They were
sufficiently hateful
among
the
Greeks on account of
are given of the
with
ajjaprcoXoi,
Cicero {In Vatin. 5) gives a lively picture of their doings, telling Vatinius he must have thought himself one of
these publicans, ciim
omnium domos,
morarere.
4) would seem
it
to say that
TTtira^firiaiatTjiivri
pia, li/vonog
to
aftapria, tiirpoaoiiroi
their
for
Romans,
the
theocracy, and
now
collected for
payment of
foreign yoke.
;
which was the evident sign of the subjection of the people of God
Of
the abhorrence in
is
abundant testimony
no alms
money-chest, nay
it
lawful to change
money
the
9,)
there their evidence was not received in courts of justice they were put on same level with heathens, (to keep which in mind, adds an emphasis to Luke xix. and no doubt, as renegades and traitors, were far more abhorred even than the
;
heathen themselves.
Rom.
Antt.,
s. v.
Publicani, p. 806,
206.)
:
290
brought before.
It
who
felt
them-
infected, but he
was
the phj'sician
who
;
rather
came
and furnishing
divine antidotes
against the world's sickness, sent them also boldly to encounter and over-
come
it
it.
This was what the Pharisees and scribes could not understand
to
seemed
them impossible
that
ted amid the pollutions of the world, seeking and not shunning sinners.
They had
As another expression of their discontent (Luke v. 30) had called out those blessed words, " Those that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick
;
came
repentance ;" so their later murmurings were the occasion of the three
parables which here follow one another, in the which he seeks to shame
the
murmurers out of their murmurs, showing them how little sympathy murmurs found in that higher heavenly world from whence he came. He holds up to them God and the angels of God rejoicing at the
those
this,
The
welcomed him
into their
Would
to
him
at a distance, as
them
Nor
is it
they shut
if
there will
whom
they so
much
He
does not
that
might be
in
them
many
But
were following
after righteousness
if
it,
now
of the Gospel,
life,
this
new
newness of the
though having,
life
from him,
God than
to
they had ever done, ety would now be brought infinitely nearer
as the one sheep
him,
to ike
as
for
was
291
much
as a kid.
Nay,
in
the last parable they are bidden to beware lest the spirit they are
now
indulging
in, if
through
it
new kingdom
which
ihe
and
into
which they, as
Sheep and the
Of the
first,
God
to that love
and
this not
without
reason, since
we
all
first
But yet
is it
same
truth in all
for
it is
ing love from without, and of the faith awakened by the same power
from within,
The
para-
speak nothing of a
nor, indeed,
while the
speaks only of this change, and nothing of that which must have
it,
caused
God
in
going forth of his power and love, which must have found the wanderer,
before he could ever have found himself, or found his God.
We may
thus contemplate these parables under the aspect of a trilogy, which yet
again
is
to
St.
Luke himself
which
But there are also many other inner harmonies and relations between them which are interesting to observe and trace. Thus there is
a seeming anti-climax in the numbers
named
in the
successive parables,
in ten,
which
is in
reality a climax,
one
in
an hundred*
one
one
in
two
the feeling of the valu of the part lost would naturallj' increase
* This was a familiar way of numbering and dividing among the Jews, of which examples are given by Lightfoot here. There is also a striking saying attributed to Mahomet, in which the same appears, The Lord God has divided mercy and pity
into an
hundred parts
of these, he has retained ninety and nine for himself, and sent
d. Orients, v. 1, p. 308.)
292
with the proportion which
And
other
human
feel-
ings and interests are implied in the successive narratives, which would
have helped
to
enhance
lost.
in
The
been in some
sort a rich
woman
:
who, having but two sons, should behold one out of these two
go astray.
Thus we
find ourselves
moving
in ever
narrower and so
in
drawing
is
each suc-
cessive parable nearer to the innermost centre and heart of the truth.
In each case too
we may
In the
the smallest.
The sinner is set forth under Though this is but one side of
sin
is
oftentimes an ignorance
and
if in
he
it
a sheep
knew what
it
it
had even
is it
learned that
it
belonged
fold.
So
with
a multitude of wanderers, in
whom
it
all this
latent,
was
But there
King, on their souls, do yet throw themselves away, renounce their high
birth,
and wilfully
is
Their sin
greater?
but there
to
to have known somewho has stamped us with his image, but whose house we are, and yet to have slighted that
of God
this is the
crowning
this sin,*
guilt
grace of God
sufficient to forgive
even
and
to
this to himself.
to the
The
first
Jewish people.
They
who
too
were shepherds
title,
con;
;
(Ezek. xxxiv.
Zech.
xi. 16,)
under-shepherds of him
own watchful
xl.
cf.
11
Jer.
24; Zech.
xiii.
7;
Ps. xxiii.
Bengel
Ovie, drachma,
filius
pcrditus
plane nesciu?,
sciens et voluntarius.
293
Ixxx. 1
;)
yet now
which they ought, and which the name they bore should
have done.
murmured
came doing
in
his
own
came
to
make good
common
wander back
:
to,
the fold.
it
But
it is
not
this
again
there
is in
wanderings of
Therefore,
if
it it ;
this
sheep could
only be further
can only be by
lost, it
Shepherd
ever.f
for the
going to seek
It
without
this,
being once
must be
lost for
might
one strayed,
the other
^^
ninety
and nine
in the wilderness."
But
it
need hardly be
observed, that
we
sandy or rocky
but
Thus we
read in
was much grass in a place which another Evangelist calls a desert, and no doubt we commonly attach to " desert " or " wilderness," in Scripture, images of far more uniform barrenness and
John
(vi.
would warrant.
Parts,
it is
true,
much from
rock as from
is in
sandy levels
yet
we
false shepherds,
Ezek. xxxiv. 4,
is just this, t6
is
hand of another
or
we
are not therefore to see in his return, in his " I will arise," an independent resolution
this,
suis, sed in
humeris reportata
dum
Non enim
Surgam
ab
et
ille
filius
ad banc
ovem non
nisi
semetipsum
dixit,
et ibo
ad patrem
meum.
Occulta itaque vocatione et inspiratione etiam ipse qusesitus est et resuscitatus, non-
ab
illo
qui vivificat
1
omnia:
illo
294
much
more
left
to refresh
is
the eye,
much
land, than
commonly supposed
he finds
it.
here in their ordinary pasturage, while the shepherd goes after that
is lost till
one which
Christ's
sheep.
His whole
upon earth,
;
his entire
walk
in the flesh,
for in his
this
was a was
which
the very purpose of his coming, namely, " to seek and to save that
was
lost."
And he
sought his
own
till
He was
not
weary
way
feet.
He
came under the extremity of our malediction. For he had gone forth to seek his own till he had found it, and would not pause till then. And having found, how tenderly the shepherd handles that sheep which has
cost
him
all this
it;
he does not
back
it
ver
it
to a servant,
but he lays
upon
it
his
ownf
carefully carries
it, till
he brings
to the fold.
we
his
final salva-
But when some press and make much of the weariness which this load must have caused to the shepherd, seeing here an allusion to his sufferings, " who bare our sins in his own body,":}: upon whom were laid
* This
is
traveller in
the East
monotonous as may be
pose
lie
it is
all
barren.
There are indeed some accursed patches, where scores of miles But far rising before another.
where the earth shoots
forth a jun-
to the
parched
European, as the camel treads down the underwood with his broad
to the
foot,
and scatters
districts,
where
in these regions
trees,
fantastic configura-
along whose base you find the yellow partridge and the black-eyed gazelle."
'Er-i
rotij Mjiovi l
+
t
av
T ov.
est
humani generis
Melancthon
:
in
proprio
Est in tex-
e.
ipse
in se
ipsum.
ovem inventam ponit in humeros sues, The lines of Prudentius {Hymn, post
Jejun.,) have
much beauty
295
seems
to
me
For rather the words " till he find it," I should take as having told the whole story of the painfulness of his way, who came in search of his lost creature, a way which led him, as he would not cease till he
cance.
to the cross
and
to the
grave
and
this is
now
rather the
story of his triumphant return * to heaven with the trophies that he had
won, the
spoil that
lion's jaws.
And
as the
man
home summons
be sharers in his f joy, as they had been sharers in his anxiety, for he speaks of the sheep as one with the loss of which they were acquainted
in
heaven
on the occasion of one sinner repenting, one wandering sheep of the heafold
to
it
is,
that
He
is
justifying
l^is
own
who
is,
that
it
is
heavenly
that he speaks
be
not
plate the occasion of this joy as having been given, since not as yet has
he returned
to his
him
his
Nor should
Devia
silvse
Reddit Reddit
ovili,
Carduus horrens:
Sed frequens
palniis
nemus,
et reflexa
Laurus obumbrat.
* Gregory the Great (Horn. 34 in Evang.)
:
Inventa ove ad
rediit.
;
domum
:
redit, quia
Bengal
Jesus Christus
plane in ascensione
t
domum
rediit
Gregory the Great (Ho7n. 34 in Evang.) on ing remark Non dicit, Congratulamini inventaa
:
coelum ejus domus est Joh. xiv. 2. this " Eejoice with me" has a strikovi, sed niihi
;
gaudium
ejus
implemus.
'
296
we miss
tell
which he gives
seen, (John
say unto
who know,
who, when
you of heavenly
iii.
things, tell
I
11)
say
to
you of mine own, of things which I have you that this joy shall be in heaven on the
had declared, there would be nothing
is
recovery of the
lost.
Were
perplex us
to
Now we
much
larger
we might
all
it is
the
moment
er to love none but that only, and rejoicing at that one child's recovery
more than
is
at the
uninterrupted health of
all
the others.
Or
to
use
What
Auwhen it
it
more delighted
at finding or
?
loves, than if
all
full of witnesses, crying out, 'So it is.' The conquering commander triumpheth ; yet had he not conquered, unless he had fought, and the more peril there was in the battle, so much the more joy is there The storm tosses the sailors, threatens shipwreck ; all in the triumph. wax pale at approaching death sky and sea are calmed, and they are
;
friend is sick,
and
danger
is
all
who long
for his
He
restored,
is
sound and strong. "f Yet whence arises the disproportionate joy
concerning
it.
clear-
knows
But nothing of the kind could find place with God, who whose joy needs not to be provoked
and heightened by a fear going before ; nor with him need the earnest love for the one, as in the case of the mother and her children, throw into
the back-ground, even for the moment, the love and care for the others
so that the analogy hardly holds good.
* Confessions,
h. 3, c. 3.
the noble translation of the Confessions, published in the Library of the Fathers.
tenerijts
mihi
tandem convaluerunt de
spoken
mento,
words which
are the
more valuable
to
it.
297
yet further, there being said to be any " which need no repent-
is difficult,
we
like sheep
have gone
to
ways
commonly given
plexity.*
We
may
by seeing here an example of the Lord's severe yet loving irony. These
ninety and nine, not needing repentance, would then be
like those
not, or
self-
whose present
life
so that
it
would be easy to understand how a sinner's conversion would cause more joy than their continuance in their evil state. But the Lord could and moreover, the whole conhardly have meant to say merely this the ninety and struction of the parables is against such an explanation
;
:
nine sheep have not wandered, the nine pieces of money have not been
lost,
of
that
we understand
their righteousness is
least in the
merely
a part
kingdom of heaven is greater than they. The law had done of its work for them, keeping them from gross positive transgresits
sions of
enactments, and thus they needed not, like like the publicans
;
but
it
work,
it
had
God intended
to
it
had
not
prepared them
receive
and gladly
to
embrace
his salvation.
to
The
;
him
was more
As
;
real
* grare
by Grotius
Quibua non
est
opus de toto
vitae
genere mire-
and by Calvin
Nomen
poenitentiae specialiter ad
eorum conversionem
Nam
alioqui
quum
very curious, but not very fortunate, scheme for getting rid of the difficulty which atThe ninetytends the wrords " who need no repentance^ has been proposed by some.
nine just signify the whole unfallen creation, the world of angels.
Theophylact, who however proposes the interpretation not as his own, {Jiaaiv Tives,) " the good Shepherd left in the wilderness, that is, in the higher heavenly places, for
heaven
is this
all
fulfilled
with
all tranquillity
to seek the
wandering and
human
:
nature.
The
plus
interpretation finds
may
fairly be applied
Dux
in praelio
eum
militem
diligit,
qui post
fugam conversus,
fortiter
20
298
themselves,
in
who
PARABLE
XXIII.
The
that
much
this,
conclude them
merely
qui
identical.
It
would be against
nunquam
alii
all
nunquam
;
terga praebuit et
And Anselm
{Horn.
12)
Sunt
ab
illicitis
se contineant,
magna tamen
Et sunt
postmodum redeuntes ad
lore
compuncii, inardescunt ad
difficiiia sancti
amorem
cuncta etiam
mundi blandimenta
derelin-
quunt
et quia se errasse a
Deo
conspiciunt,
damna
compensant.
* There
is
to
home
We
this
many gems,
seals,
fragments of
and other early Christian relics which have reached us, on which Christ is thus From a passportrayed as bringing back a lost sheep to the fold upon his shoulders.
glass,
c. 7,
10,)
we
learn that
it
on the
which
burden
chalice of the
in
Holy Communion.
Good Shepherd
sheep at his
;
bas-reliefs
one of
his
last is believed to
feet,
him and
hand he most often holds the seven-reeded pipe of Pan, the attractions of divine love, with his left he steadies the burden which he is bearing on his Sometimes he is sitting down, as if weary with the length of the way. shoulders.
in his right
And
it is
observable that this representation always occupies the place of honour, the
In
many
art.
299
two said merely the same thing, twice over. The Hid Treasure, the Leaven and the Mustard Seed, at first Pearl and the
presume
that these
sight appear the same, and the second but to repeat the
first,
and
yet, as
we have
selves
;
and so
is
it
here.
If the
shepherd
in
the
last
parable was
Christ, the
that
is
woman
is
in this
by her
signified
may, perhaps, be the Church ;* or if we say the Divine Wisdom,f which so often in Proverbs
is
here as elsewhere
(Luke
xi.
different view.
when
we keep
Holy
tries
in
how only
it
Church
to
is
quickened
Spirit, is
stirred
up
woman
in
is
only natural
of the Holy Ghost as a mother been at ditferent times far from men's
minds4
the
Keeping prominently
in so far as
it is
mind then
in
is
that
it is
because and
dwelt
that
it
by the
Spirit,
which appears as
woman
seeking her
lost,
it,
say
we
shall
have
Moreover,
any reluctance
the
to
it
were putting
too near
irs
Lord,
is
in this
way
re-
besides, if
we do
Church
it
menced, what
cause he went
is
this but in
greater
only, however,
in
be-
his
own
woman
* Ambrose
tor,
Qui sunt
1
isti,
nonne Deus
mulier Ecclesia
Evang
Ipse etenim
Deus, ipse
et
Dei Sa-
See some interesting remarks in Jerome {Comm. in Esai. xl. 3, p. 303) explainthis language while at the same time he guards with saying; In
;
affecting words,
Luke
xiii.
it is
34.
^ In the original,
monest of Greek
coins.
rule, the
Jews never
300
blance to the
human
soul,
image," Gen.
and superscription of the great King,* (" God created man in his own retains traces of the mint from i. 27,) and which still
it
which
become
illegible. "j"
Nor
its
is this all
money
sin, is
is lost
for all
useful purposes lo
right ownei",
man, through
become
due.
But as the woman having lost her piece of money, will " light a candle and sioeepX the house, and seek diligently till she fold it ;" even
so the Lord, through the ministrations of his Church, gives diligence to
recover the
to the
lost sinner,
to
money
that
was
lost
issued.
The meanIn-
ing which the Mystics have often found in the lighting of the candle
or lamp,
namely
that there
is
an allusion here
the
to the
mystery of the
carnation
the
Saviour had
within, shining
coined any
*
money
of their own.
now
exxxviii.)
drachmam.
Quid est Drachma? Numus in quo numo imago erat Compare Ignatius, {Ad 3Iagn.,c.5,) though he refers not to
uara ivo, S
Toii KOtx^ov
[ilv
Imperatoris nostri.
this parable:
'Ecnv
o't
vofiia-
Qeuv, S 61 Kocjiov,
ol 6i ttiotoi
ko'i
iiriKeiftevov ;^',
uKtaroi
Tovrov,
cv dyaTrji ^apaKTPipa
it
Oeov YlaTpos'iia
'ijjtov
XpiOToC.
It is true
may be said that the Greek drachma, the coin the Roman denarius, (Matt. xxii. 20,) the image
it,
but
as of an owl,
The
says:
erroneous reading, evertit, for everrit, prevailed in the copies of the Vulgate
It
who
Domus et)er<i7ur, quum consideratione reatiis sui humana conscientia perAnd Thauler's interpretation a good deal turns on that very word Deus turbatur. hominem quaeril, domumque ejus penitus evertit, quomodo nos solemus, aliquod requi:
So Wiclif: " Turneih up so down the house." Drachma reperitur, dum in homine similitudo conditoris re H. de Sto Victore para tur and Bernard {De Grat. et Lib. Arb.,c. 10): Adhuc liic foeda et deformis jacuisset imago, si non evangelica ilia mulier lucernam accenderet, id est, Sapientia in carne appareret, everreret domum, videlicet vitiorum, drachmam suam reqiiireret quam perdiderat hoc est imaginem suam, quae native spoliata decore, sub pelle peccati sor:
dens tamquam in pulvere latitabat inventam tergeret, et tolleret de rcgione dissimilitudinis, pristinamque in speciem reforraatam,similem faceret illam in gloria, sanctorum,
:
immo
sibi ipsi
;
impleretur
Bicuti est.
erimus
301
this
must
we
propose.
Rather the
hints of such
15
Phil.
ii.
15
Ephes.
v. 13.
The
candle
is
the
word of God
this
Word.
It is
by the
light of this
Word
find
Church
fit
them.f
to
Having
this
candle
now
to assist
ceeds
pulvere.
What
how does
the dust
down and accumulate begin to rise and how unwelcome that which is going for-
ward more
any
that
may
Thus
that
let
it
it is
Ever-
is,
as indeed
does.
For only
that
Word
is
be proclaimed, and
;
much much
of latent aversion
to the truth
how how
God
active hostility
what an outcry
the world alone.
men
But amid
all
this,
about the dust and inconvenience, she that bears the candle of the Lord
is
diligently looking
meanwhile
till
for
her
lost,
own
again.
this parable
We
went
to
to
and
is
more than
is lost,
accidental.
lost
but
it
is
the
money
is
sought
for.:]:
There
* Thus Cajetan
est Incarnationis,
Verbum
in
came,
tanquam lux
in testa.
t So Tertullian {De
Fudic,
c. 7)
Drachmam ad
lucernae
ad Dei verbum.
t
without
He
is
which he very
which the
namely
that
is,
Philistines, that
Satan and
for us.
And
money was
for,
this
image of God,
mislaid indeed and quite out of sight, overlaid with a thousand other images, covered
302
The
there
to
now
first
appears.
In that other
there was the returning of the Son to the heavenly places, but in this
is
which
And
tions between the two parables, explicable at once on the same supposition that we have there the more immediate ministry of Christ, and
have found
for
it is
my sheep"
not so the
in
The shepherd says, "I woman, " I have found ilie coin" He says, " which was sheep was his.
lost:" but she, " which /lost," confessing a fault and carelessness of
even as
it
must have
be
been;
lost
for a
sheep strays of
itself,
but a piece of
by a certain negligence on the part of such as should have kept it. The woman having found her own, " calleth her friends, and her (Compare neighbours together/' that they may be sharers in her joy.
It
is
to the
ground-
this
summons should
ing the words,
for
apply-
Lord's warrant
is
whose place we
it
shall observe
;
not
was
in the last
joicing together of the redeemed and elect creation upon earth at the re-
pentance of a sinner.
The
down
the earth,
joying
when
a sinner
is
converted,
there
shall
be joy be-
before them,
Spirit,
when the Church of the redeemed, quickened by the Holy summons them to join with it in consenting hymns of thanksgivstill
may
whom
came,
may
again recover
its first
it
had
at the beginning.
Mulier
ilia
quae perdi-
derat
drachmam, non
et
domo
sua.
posteaquam accendit
lucernam,
mundavit
domum
hebetudo congesserat,
adhibeas
intra te
tibi
et ibi invenit
drachmam.
Et tu ergo,
si
accendas lucernam,
si
illuminationem
SpiriiCls Sancti, et in
drachmam.
fecit
litudinem suam
eum
Ciim enim faceret hominem ex initio Deus, ad imaginem et simiet banc imaginem non extrinsecus, sed intra eum collocavit.
;
Ha2C
in to videri
Iste
repleta.
non poterat, donee domus lua sordida erat, immunditiis et ruderibus fons scientiae intra te erat situs, sed non poterat fluere,quia Philistini reterra, et
plcverant
eum
fecerant in te
imaginem
ilia,
terreni.
Sed
tu portasti
quidem tunc
imaginem
terreni,
nunc ver6
his auditis ab
omni mole
Verbum Dei
purgatus,
imaginem
THE PRODIGAL
ing to
SON.
303
if the
God
for the
recovery of a
lost soul.
For indeed
first
creation,
new
(Ephes.
iii.
10
12
;) for
to that exquisite
word of
host.
PARABLE XXIY.
11-32.
if
We
to a
parable which,
it
be permitted
to
compare
all
we might
and crown of
if
as
it is
also the
most elaborate,
again
we
ap-
might venture
to
when
one
Evangelium
its
in
In regard of
different
great
views
in the
in the
recep-
new covenant
as
who grudged
same
all
that
the "sinners of the Gentiles " should be admitted to the as themselves, and
blessings
who on
this
m."
those who,
which was
and with
Et gemma, deterso
luto,
304
then drawing
to
THE PRODIGAL
an end, or brought up
in
SON.
the
Church, have widely departed from God, and after having tasted the
misery which follows upon
all
to
him, as
to the
life
while they
self,
one
righteous in his
which
Jew and
is
alien to the
for that
was spoken
(ver. 1, 2,)
in reply to the
murmurings of
who were
cans and sinners. Before that interpretation can have any claim
must be shown
but
prove,
which he had in the present instance, namely this, that no encouragement could be drawn from this Scripture for the receiving back of great offenders into Church communion. But there is abundant evidence, some Scriptural, and more derived from other sources, that many of the
publicans, probably of those in Judsea,
ber,
if
not
all,
were of Jewish
birth.
Zacchasus was
at the receipt of
"a
son of
numAbraham," (Luke
to the
xix. 9,)
been so too
of John.
baptism
(Luke countrymen on a
29.*)
They were
;
whom
may have been, but doubtless these whom he consorted, were publicans of
Jewish origin,
with none but Jews did he familiarly live during his he was " not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house
xii.
it
was
him
to
break through
v.
4G.
Many
of these
arguments
in pioof tliat
New
Testament
He seems
lost in
wonder
The
all
De
it
Pudicitia,
c.
is
the
and
in his passionate
eagerness for
this,
for in-
stance, he declares the occasion of the parable to have been, quod Pharisaei publicanos
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
305
These " publicans and sinners " then were Jews outcasts indeed of till the words of Christ had awa-
kened in them a nobler life, no doubt deserving all or nearly all the scorn and contempt which they found. The parables in this chapter are spoken to justify his conduct in the matter of receiving them, not to unfold
another and far deeper mystery
which during his lifetime he gave only a few hints even to his chosen disciples, and which for long after was a difficulty and stumbling-block Much more would it now have been an offence to the even to them. to them therefore he would not needlessly have scribes and Pharisees opened it, least of all at a time when he was seeking to reconcile them
;
to his dealings,
and
if possible to
for his
kingdom.
Both
these reasons,
first,
was spoken
Jews
admire
sufficiently
1.
4, c. 37,)
even our Lord's declaration that Zacchasus was " a son of Abraham," is not decisive with him, (Zacchseus etsi allophylus fortasse, tamen aliqua notitia. Scripturarum ex
commercio Judaico
skilled in all
afflatus,)
no
Israelite could
in
which matter
is
difficult to
Roman
known
His fear
is lest
sinners
should be overbold in their sin, having hope, like the prodigal, to find favour and grace
whenever they
will return to
their
God
Who
will
fear to
squander
is
Who
not in
But
if
arguments of
that
this sort,
we might demand
little
Is it
on calculations of
is
this sort
men
rush into sin? and not rather because they believe their good
?
there,
and
not in
it
:
God
And how
was he
really
promoting holiness
sin
for if there
and
no doubt the
prodigal would have sunk, but that his sure faith in the unchanging love of his father
extricated
the sin in
sin into
which
he would but
that there
have
Tell
or,
it,
men after
which amounts
and you
same
thing, give
all
one by
these
precautions and warnings from squandering his goodly heritage, but you
may
hinder
apart
ten thousand poor miserable sinners that have discovered the wtetchedness of a
life
to
their Father's
and henceforward
of these that
is
men, but
to the will
of
to worse, departing wider and wider from his God. It is worth while to see what motives^to repentance Chrysostom (Ad Theod. Laps., 1. 7) draws from this very parable, and his yet more memorable words {De Pa nit., Horn. 1. 4), where among ovros Totwv b vlds eiKdi/a tuv fieri TO Xovrpov (pcpci TicadvTuyv, which he other things he says,
proceeds to prove.
1.
Compare
306
tiles as fellow-heirs
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
unfolded
till
strongly recommend
men
more or
pretation.
Yet
for
will find a
its
primary one,
to
in the relations in
which Jew
to
God.
in respect too of
its
its
within
its
application.
And
not less
the sinner's
may
and in
that
it
was sinners
whom
fain
Of these two
me
the portion
His claiming of his share in this technical, of goods that falleth to me." and almost legal, form* is a delicate touch, characteristic of the entire
alienation from all
heart.
It is
home
affections
in his
:
not as a favour
assume
that he had.
custom
have
existed
among some
But we need
fall to
of
goods as a right
only
as a favour
for
me
at last, I
would
fain
receive
it
now."
*
to the
Tu
in
7rc/?dAXoi/
jxipoi
rtji
ovaia;
ratam
haEreditatis
;
partem
the
phrase like so
many
t
Luke
is
classical
it is
'of
Greek authors.
deed
to
15.
There
is
reference in-
Gen. xxv. 5,
where Abraham
to
;
in his lifetime
would
seem
to
gifts also
these, he sent
them away.
But
it
proba-
THE PRODIGAL
What
to
SON.
307
(Deut. xxi. 17.)
it its
when we come
iii.
to give
spiritual sig.
nificance
be a
God
to himself,
(Gen.
5,)
and
to
life
according
of
to
his
own
own
pleasure.
It is
liv-
ing upon
God and upon his fulness, and desiring to take the ordering of own hands, and believing that he can be a ibuntain of
All the subsequent sins of the younger son are
blessedness to himself.*
are but
We
Give me
my portion
day our daily bread :" we therein acknowledge that we desire to wait continually upon God for the supply of our needs, both bodily and spiritual, that we recognize our dependence upon him as our true blessedness.
In the earthly relationship which supplies the groundwork of the parable, the fact of the son first
his father,
father's
;
it
up
in the
other
spised also.
The
'^
It
would have
little
home home
:
who had
Such,
already in heart
discover,
young man
God
he has constituted
man
a being
with a will
man
is
a perfect
to
freedom, and
man
allowed
make
the
trial,:}:
and
needs
be,
by woful experience,
that
God
that depart-
falls
* Bernard observes,
velle dividere,
when
this
son
bonum
and
1
I.
incipit
quod
in
commune
xii.
44
Luke
word
viii.
43
xxi.
John
3, p.
iii.
k6(thov.
There
is this
use of the
in Plato.
(Z?e Jiep.,
228,
Stallbaum's ed.)
t
See Chrysostom,
:
De
Paenit., Horn. 1. 4.
;
Augustine
ista tibi in
si
autem recedas a
superiori
supplicium convertentur.
308
THE PRODIGAL
the
SON.
And now
younger son
" Lord
is
that
which he desired,
of himself
it.
it
was
not
till
in this circumstance,
that
may
The
;
sinner
is,
diately appear
''not
soon, however,
it
must
and thus
it
not
imme-
pass, that
many days
suppose,
we
a
may
all
money, or
into valua-
and
all
far country."
By
this
gathering together of
all his
the
crea-
"far country"
is
a world
where God
was
it
But there
is
For a while,
it
may
and while
was
so,
he
may have
himself
all
Even
may
flatter
that he
is
God
he discovers not
its
at
once
his
for the
world has
attractions,
But
this is the
whereunto he
he has come
is
more or
The
time arrives
when
to
an end of
for
it
it
and
was not
then
fares with
him
as with the
prodigal
* De Divers., Senn. 8
voluntati,
homo
necdum tamen
possidetur
vitiis et ptccatis.
Jam
crat, sed
necdum elongatus k
bonorum congregatio.
t
Augustine
h.
est.
Bede
Non
quisque
Deo, sed
THE PRODIGAL
spent
all,
SON.
309
and he began
to
famine
to
in that land,
is
be in
want."* He,
in the land
and of all whereby the soul of man indeed lives ; he begins to discover his wretchedness and misery,-]- and that it is an evil thing, and a bitter,
to
19;
xvii.
5,6.)
In the
spiritual
man's outward
him
to
in their fulness,
may may
and
remain
while yet
he
may have
its
run through
sits
all,
may
This famine
down, an unIn.
way
may
be famishing, yea,
ready
to
When we
tacy of the heathen world from the knowledge and worship of the true
this
want
:
:"
the famine
reached even
to
him.
The Vulgate
Et ipse
ccepit egere.
(See Winer's
in
Luc,
:
1.
7, c.
215)
Etenim qui
esurit,
sittit:
quia non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo Dei
qui recedit i thesauro, eget
dissolvitur.
X
qui recedit
a.
virtute,
Thus, when a great English poet, with everything that fortune, and rank, and
pleasure and not and who had laid out his whole yet before he had reached half the allotted period of man, already exclaimed.
life
for
for
My
leaf,
;
The flowers, the fruits, of love are gone The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone what
who having
spent
all,
want 1
fire
Or
that
The
Is lone as
preys.
isle
;
No
torch
is
lighted at
blaze,
A funeral pile
We
infer, that
are not in this early part of the parable expressly told, but from ver. 30
we
he consumed " with harlots" the living which he had gotten from his father.
This too
suits well,
when we
God,
in
the standing
image of
they are, in fact, ever spoken of as one and the same sin, considered
now
its fleshly,
now in
its spiritual,
aspect.
(Jer.
iii.
Ezek.
xvi. xvii.)
And
as much, indeed,
310
be exactly that which
THE PRODIGAL
St.
SON.
i.
ing part of the chapter will exactly answer to the prodigal's joining himself to the citizen of the far country,
and seeking
to
fill
swines' husks.
when
above
the
The great famine of that heathen world was at its height Son of God came in the flesh in this consisted a part, though,
:
appearing.
The
They were
circle, but
it
The Greek
its
possi-
ble
"What
in
is
truth?"
was
the question
asked,
some, indeed,
all
mockery, some
in
despair,
some
an answer.
When
to
" began
this,
to
him
to
return home.
his
But as yet
his
confiidence in
own
The
first
judgments of God do not always tame, but the stricken sinner says, like Ephraim, " The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn
stone
;
dars."
10;
Jer. v.
3;
Isai.
was,
we may
to
himself*
"
change them into ce10; Amos iv. 6-10.) It as this that, "he went and joined
will
Ivii.
we
Hammond
expresses
it,
hoping
broken
for.
is
implied in the
^ajv dcrwruf,
aaj^w, as
one
who
come
who
it
is far
from salvation,
^n Swajuvoi
Passow
heillos,
2, 8),
and uses
main
lusts
of the flesh
and
it
aiV;^paij,
Hesychius,) which
it
may
be
See Suicer,
s. v.,
and Dey-
Sac,
v. 3, p.
435.)
So Unger:
to
cKoWiiOrj
contemtim, se obtrusit
is
as
in
who clings
word,
and
whom
16.
see Suicer,
v. KoXAdo/im.
But there
itself,
:
is
in the
it is
lies
in proof
compare Rom.
xii. 9,
with
Cor.
vi.
THE PRODIGAL
tunes by his help,*
SON.
is
3^1
to
And
here, no doubt,
meant
;
be
set forth to
us a
fall
within a
fall,
more
the
entire and
who
in that
they sin with an irremediable obstinacy, and have passed into a permanent disposition of malice and wickedness, are no longer guests and
strangers, but citizens and abiders, in the
land of sin."
Yet rather
is
to
whom
^^
He
with
all his
citizen," but
land.
He
The
far
other was well to do the famine had not touched him ; herein how more miserable indeed, though he know it not, than he who " began
want.''
to be in
For there
is
hope
citizen
left
be-
we understand his joining himself to the citizen of that far country ? The sinner sells himself to the world, he entangles himself more deeply in it. Our Lord gives us a hint here of that awful mystery in the downward progress of souls, by which he who begins by
shall
But how
to
be a servant to minister
to
its
slave.
He becomes
cheap
which he has
it
forfeited all.
it
offered
him
at the first,
is
offers
now
which
worse.
It
that the
whom
sinner,
young man found from the new master on man finds no mercy from his fellowis
its
the
(Cf.
doom of each
Ezek.
37
heavenly bridegroom.
xxiii.
if
22-25.)
he had him or no
to
and
who
so crouches
him
for a
sight,
meanest and
vilest
"
He
We might
* Theophylact t
TTpOKOXpa; rj KOKia,
De
Divers., Serm. 8.
So
also Cajetan
312
indeed
this
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
we know, how exceedingly vile and degrading, and even accursed, employment was esteemed in the eyes of a Jew ;* so that misery And now " he would seem to have come upon him to the uttermost.
would fain have Jilled his belly with the husks -f that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him." Shall we understand that he Avas reduced
so low as to look with a longing eye upon these swine's husks, but that
himself?
a share even of these which he distributed to them, was withholden from " no man gave unto him " of these ; so the passage is gene-
rally taken.:}:
in his
power,
it
seems
bler sustenance.
With
is
the expression
chosen of design
;^
them truly
viii.
30
Herodotus
2, c.
who were
fruit
t These Kepana are not the husks or pods of of the carob tree,
s.
some other
is
fruit,
but themselves
the.
((ftpartoyia.,)
of which there
WOrterbuch,
rives
v.
Johannis Brodtbaum.
This name of St
its fruit in
have
seen and tasted them in Calabria, where they are very abundant, and being sold at a
very low price are sometimes eaten by the poorer people, but are mainly used for the
feeding domestic animals.
They
are also
common
in
Spain, and
still
more so on
thence called
They
a bean-pod, though larger, and curved more into the form of a sickle
KcpiiTiovjOT little horn,
and the
tree
They have
it
dull
sweet
is
The
;
shell or
pod alone
in
:
ancient times
and
cast aside.
the Kcpdrtov, and see Pole's Synopsis, (in loc.) and Rosenmuller's Alte
und Neue
8)
Morgenland,
t
v. 5, p. 198,
;
Thus Luther
Und niemand
gab
sie
ihm.
c.
Meri-
to siliquas 'esuriit, et
satiari.
non accepit, qui porcos pascere maluit, quim paternis epulis fame non amplius cogitasse veteres
delicias, sed
Calvin
Significat pras
avide
. .
vorasse siliquas: neque enim cilm porcis ipse daret hoc cibi genus, carere potuit,
Additur
ratio, quia
nemo
illi
dahat,
nam
meo judicio,
resolvi debet.
II
Or
maybe
new and
was none
that
showed any
pity
upon
him.
V
vant
;
Tc))iaai
Tfjv
KotXiav.
Stella
Hominem non
1.
satiant, sed
. . .
7, c.
217): Cibus
siliquis,
Pascebatur de
non
satiabatur.
THE PRODIGAL
satisfy his
SON.
3I3
hunger,
of man.
but
Thus
a deepest moral
God can satisfy the longing of an immortal soul, that as the heart was made for him, so he only can fill it. The whole description is wonderful, and for nothing more than the " He who evident relation in which his punishment stands to his sin.
would
not, as
that
none
is
compelled
to
be
ruled by God,
is
compelled
to
is
not
hinds,
would not dwell among brethren and princes, is obliged to be the servant and companion of brutes, he who would not feed on the bread (ft angels,
petitions in his
and pleasures,"
divine
is
in
fruitless attempt to
what a
picture,
still
"he enlarges
and
is
to quench a fire by adding fuel to it, as to slake desire by gratifying it.f (Ezek. xvi. 28, 29.) And the further misery is that the power of sinful gratifications to stay that hunger even for the moment, the pleasure which is even hoped for from them is ever diminishing,
still
growing
still
fainter,
to
sure,
becoming
that
bondage
we read of
Roman
world's Pagan epoch, stand there like the last despairing effort of
to
fill
man
his
The
* Corn, a Lapide.
t Jerome
satiat
and Bernard, though elsewhere he has affirmed the on its ethical side (De Convers., c. 14)
Sic fatui
filii
Neque enim
nim.
I
illi
parit
Adam,
porcorum vorando
Cajetan
non
Sola nimirum hoc edulio inedia vestra nutritur, sola fames alitur cibo innaturali.
:
satietatem appetit&s,
V. 3, p.
(Exp. of the
586.)
is
The
this.
The-
husks he explains
Seculares doctrinje
steriles, vanitate
21
314
carried out under
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
power,
for, in
all the most favourable circumstances of wealth and Solomon's words, " what can the man do that cometh after
In
this
light
we may
behold
the incredibly
sumptuous
the
all the
pomp and
pride of
life
and
ture,
these the
experi-
made
louder heard.
The
to
be more
proved the more plainly that of the food of beasts there could
the nourishment of men.
said, that the picture
not be
It
made
drawn
in the para-
the deepest
sunk
in depra-
vity, is
an exaggeration both of the misery and also of the wickedness even of those who have turned their backs upon God ; that, in the most corrupted times, not all, and in more moral epochs only a few even of
these, fall so
guilt.
This
is
might
thus
sin,
fall.
By
all this
misery, and
;
all this
all
are
its
legitimate results
there
is
nothing
to
hinder them from following, except the mercy and restraining grace
of God,
who
bear
which
done "
hell
;
it
In the pre-
sent case,
suffered to bear
and the parable would be incomplete without this, it would not be a parable for all sinners, since it would fail to show, that there is no
extent of departure from God, which renders a return to
ble.
him
impossi-
Hitherto
is
we have
Another task
beginnings of
remains
from the
first
repentance to his
son.
reinvestment in
his
all
him no not even in that far land ; for the misery which has fallen upon him there is indeed an expression of God's anger against sin, but at the same time of his love to the sinner. He hedges up his way with thorns, that he may not find his paths ; (Hos. ii. 6 ;) he makes his sin bitter to In this way God pursues his fugitives, sumhim, that he may leave it.
own Manichaean
:
figments.
13),
ta
dogmata philosophorum.
* See, for instance, Suetonius, Caligula, c. 19, 37.
THE PRODIGAL
moning them back
stand.*
in that
SON.
33^5
now they
will under-
He
make
its
bondage hard
to
them, that
they
between his service, and the service of the kings of the countries, (2 Chron. xii. 8,) that those whom he is about to deliver may cry to him by reason of the bitter bondage, and in that
cry give him something that he
2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-13.)
may know
may
take hold
of.
(Deut.
iv.
29-31
whom
to
this
severe
is
not wasted.f
himself."%
How
full
" Ae came
himself
^^
so that
how deeply significant are these words, to come to one's self and to come to God,
being the true ground of our
;
He
beino-,
when we find ourselves we find him or rather, because we have found him, we find ourselves also. It is not then the man living in union with God who is raised above the true condition of humanity, but the man not so living, who has fallen out of and fallen below that condition.
When
of my
to himself,
he said,
to spare,
;
How many
hired servants
father'' s
is
This too
for there is
innermost being, as
neath him.
He
sees the
unable
at rest,
to stain
he beholds
all
and
fulfilling in
law and
which
it
was
ordained.
while
To be Amid
He
sees also
many of
his fellow-men,
lofty
concerning living
tions
to the
glory of God,
without
views
any very
lively affec-
work rather
vants than of sons, rather looking to their hire than out of the free im-
It is true,
they
may
not have the highest joy of his salvation, or consolations of his grace,
but,
on the other hand, they are far from the misery and destitution into
t Augustine
t
How
Quare
vitia
sua
nemo
confitetur
illis
est.
Somnium
c. 2.
316
which he has sunk.
while he
is
THE PRODIGAL
They
at
SON.
to spare:
least
now ? They
Comparing his state with theirs, what does the prodigal determine How many, even at this point, do not determine as he does. betake them to some other citizen of that far country, who prolittle
mises them a
Or
it
may man
be they learn
food,
and they then deny that they are the fodder of swine.
to
Or
glorying in their shame, and wallowing in the same sty with the beasts
they feed, they proclaim that there was never intended
be any
differ-
ence between the food of men and of swine. But it is otherwise with him. " I will arise. We may picture him to ourselves as having sat long
upon the ground, revolving the extreme misery of his condition for the (Job ii. 8, 13.) earth becomes the natural throne of the utterly desolate. But now he gathers up anew his prostrate energies, as a better hope
wakens in his bosom " Why sit I here among the swine ? I will These words the Pelagians of old adarise and go to my father."
;
man
could turn
-to
God
in
his
own
strength,
:{:
was
sin-
own
Unitarians of
modern
times find
in the
to
reconcile
him with
his
God,
22
guarded against by innumerable clearest declarations, the by such as John vi. 44 ; the second by such passages as Heb. x. 19nor are we to expect that every passage in Scripture is to contain
the whole circle of Christian doctrine, but the different portions of truths
being gathered by the Church out of the different parts of Scripture, are
by her presented
completeness.
to
Returning
to that father,
for as
is
See Je-
1.
7, c. 220,)
and Bernard
{De Divers. Serm. 8) Quis enim peccati consuetudine obligatus, non se felicem repudatum esset ei esse tanquam unum ex his, quos in seculo tepidos videt, viventes sine crimine, minimi tamen quaerentes quae sursum sunt, sed quae super terram ? In proof that this distinction between the filial and the servile work was clearly recogtaret, si
nized
among
t Augustine: Surgam,
t
sederat enim.
:
Quam
cogitationem
bonam quando
1
Cf.
Enarr.
THE PRODIGAL
that relation
SON.
3^7
And what
is it
now
God he
The
Christ Jesus at his baptism, and his faith that the gifts and calling of
God are on
sword the
of his baptism
For the recollection him as a menacing angel, keeping with a fiery gates of that Paradise which he has forfeited, and to which he
his part without repentance or recall.
is
not to
now
strength
he
too,
may yet
take that
dearest
name
of Father on his
and that
him
still
how-
ever he
long.
may have
chosen
to
remain
in guilty
" I have sinned against heaven and hefore thee :" he recognizes
his offence to
to
in that
second table.
we may wrong
God
;
we can
and
is
of the essence of
all
broadly from
many
come
may
When we
ments, " I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,'' merge into one, " I have sinned against thee, my Father in heaven." Not here alone,
but throughout
all
is
ever noted as
hum-
duracy.
xxviii.
(2
Sam.
ii.
xii.
13; Job
xvi.
ix.
27; Prov.
13; Jer.
35;
He
10; Hos. xiv. 2; 1 John i. 9, 10.) In shows himself worthy, in that he confesses
*
5.
And
again
tuus
De
PaeniteiUid
10), has
many
connexion with
Tantum
tibi, in
relevat
consilium
tibi
est, dissimulatio,
contumaciae.
In
tantum
The whole
from that
318
With
this
THE PRODIGAL
which once was
is
SON.
has justly
forfeited all
"
I am no more worthy
this
to
he
This
well,
belongs to
Make
me as
one of thy hired servants," are these the words of returning spirit-
we
should desire
meet them
in
ance, or not
We
scholar 21,) and shall then have something more to say about them. of St. Bernard's here exclaims: " Keep, happy sinner, keep watch-
fully
and carefully
this
by which thou mayest ever esteem the same of thyself in humility, of the Lord in goodness. Than it there is nothing greater in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nothing more precious in the treasures of God, nothing more
[all]
holy
among
Keep,
sayest,
all
I
graces, nothing
say,
if
sacraments.
thou
wilt
the
to
thou
confessest
to
'
Father,
is
am
all.
no more worthy
be callit
it
ed thy son.'
does not
For humility
itself to
it
of
all
know
But
be a grace at
From
it
they begin, by
it
it is
spirit
of this parable,
when he
This
still
to persist in
resume the
find so
position of a son.
humility of which
mightily extolled, in
much, and w^hich often is so monkery, but of which we find nothing in this pato go.
Tt
we
It is true humility when bidwas true humility in Peter to suflfer the Lord to wash his feet, as it would have been false humility, as well as disobedience, to resist longer than he did it was true humility of the
den
to
go up higher,
prodigal,
when
is
his father
would have
it
so,
to
of a son.
There
he does
j
no tarrying now
to
to do, at
once
being about
prove
how much
De
Pudicitid,
written
and yet
is
most use-
as showing us
how
far
more
it
serious
is
outward
grandia
self-denials
:
and humiliations.
petere redintegrationem in statum
filii,
* Cajetan
;
Non audebo
in pristina
dona
sed petam dona incipientium, qui amore aeterna: mercedis serviunt Deo.
986
Humilitas siquidem
;
omnium
se esse nesciat
ab
ipsa,
incipiunt, per
ipsam proficiunt,
consummantur, per
ipsam conservantur.
THE PRODIGAL
which are
arose,
laid
SON.
he had dared
to
319
hope
;
up with
to
"
He
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran andfell on his neck, (Gen. Job xi. 9,) and kissed hitn." The evidences of the xlvi. 29 xlv. 14
and came
but
;
;
Ms father ;
minuteness
all
till
;
he has come
the
meet him
at first
severity, only after a season to be relaxed or laid aside, but at once wel-
kiss,
which
is
(Gen. xxxiii. 4
Ps.
12.)
It is
thus the Lord draws nigh unto them that draw nigh unto
him,* (Jam.
It
iv, 8,) he sees them "while they are "yet a great way off." was he who put within them even the first weak motions toward good ; and as his grace prevented them, so also it meets them he listens to the first faint sighings of their hearts after him, for it was he that first awoke those sighings there. (Ps. x. 17.) And though they may be "yet a great way off," though there may be very much of ignorance in them still, far too slight a view of the evil of their sin, or of the holiness
;
of the
to deal, yet
Neither
makes he them
at a distance
love,
first
moment
strong
consolations,
perhaps
when they
are settled in
this
And
them
he does,
at this
moment,
to assure
that notwith-
standing their moral loathsomeness and defilement and misery, they are
it
is
so hard
which
it
is
realize, that
God has
put
away
their sin,
and
is
son,
him
at all,
makes
the con-
fession
in his heart,
this
when
;
turning was
forgive,
it is
conceived.
And
was
fitting
for
though God
fail to
may
man
;
Nor should we
note that
after,
this confession
finds place
God,
* Thus there is an Eastern proverb, If man draws near to God an inch, God will draw near to him an ell or as Von Hammer (Fundg. d. Orients, v. 4, p. 91) gives it Wer sich mir eine Spanne weit naht, dem eile ich eine Elle lang entgegen,
;
entgegen komtt,
dem
eile ich in
Spriingen zu.
320
the
love.
It is
under
the genial rays of this kindly love, that the heart, which
was before
bound up as by a deadly frost, begins to thaw and to melt and loosen, and the waters of repentance to flow freely forth. The knowledge of God's love in Christ is the cruse of salt which alone can turn the bitter
and barren-making streams of remorse
ance.
into the healing waters of repent-
And
thus the truest and best repentance follows, and does not
;
life
as a
it.
new
reason
why we
against
there
is
It is
a mistake to affirm
new insight into that forgiving mourn that we ever sinned that men, those I mean in whom
a real spiritual work going forward, will lay aside their repent-
ance, so soon as they are convinced of the forgiveness of their sins, and
that therefore,
since
mortifying repentance,
it is,
the longer
men
can be kept
this
in
way
This
is
surely
which repentance and forgiveness stand and their true relation is rather opened to us in such to each other passages as Ezek. xxxvi. 31, where the Lord says, " Then,'" (and for what that then means, see ver. 24-30 then, after I have cleansed you,
a
;
:
after I
after
have heaped
all
my
rich-
upon you, then under the sense of these) "shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
est blessings
own sight for your iniquities and your abomCompare Ezek. xvi. 60-63, where the Lord declares he has
Judah
for
mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, lohen I am pacified toward thee for all that
tliou
.
hast done."
is
The
pacified toward
(shame.
not say,
He does not indeed say all that he had once intended, "Make me as one of thy hired servants:" for this was
which would
he does
the one
restore to
and
in his
him by
such
is
evidence that the grace which he has already received he has not
received in vain.
short,
Bengel thinks
it
him
and so took these words out of his mouth, but has also suggested
Bengel
filialis
(iJucia
omnem
ser-
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
321
a place and a
And now the father declared plainly in act, that he meant to give him name in his house once more for he " said to his servants,
;
best robe
feet,""
all,
and put
all
it
these
and his
lost privileges.
Or
if
we cannot suppose
up of a slave
to
the
Roman
cus-
lifting
a freeman's rank, to
giving of the robe and ring were ever accounted, in the East,
highest tokens of favour and honour; (Gen.
so that, in fact, these words
chiefest favours in store for
xli.
among
vi.
the
would
still
testify
42;
Mace.
had
forfeited his
claim
to the least
Few
able,
is
interpreters,
meaning
to the
to resist the
and there
cir-
manner
in
which these
cumstances shall be explained. There is a question, however, whether " the first robe " is to be understood as the first in worth, as our translation has
it,
"fAe
best robe,"
was
laid
up
in the
house,
or "
the former
robe,'' that
ed a son in his father's house, and which has been kept for him, and was
now
robe
to
be restoi*ed.
The
difference
is
nor whether
1.
2, qu. 33)
mensaque
honoratur.
Grotius
AuktvXiov apud
Romanos
ingenuitatis,
(Jac.
ii.
dignitatis eximia;
2.)
He might
;
have added
signifi-
Gen.
t
xli.
42.
Cf.
Elsner,
906
and
for the
Rings, p. 824.
The Vulgate
:
Stolam primam.
a.p')(a.iav,
Tertullian
rather,
The;
ojjhylact
T^^
oroX^i' r^v
TijtioiTaTriv.
but
;
as
Eutliymius: rhv
Cf.
Gen.
often
xxvii. 15.
Trpcorot is
LXX. Thv
There
der
need no quotations
to
prove
how
The
most excellent
(see 1
Chron. xxvii. 33
vornehmste, angesehenste.
oroXij is the
classes.
(Mark
xxii. 38.)
Tertullian
Indumentum
Spiritiis
Sancti.
:
Jerome
Stolam quae in
alia
bola,
indumentum
dicitur nuptiale.
Augustine
quam
322
THE PRODIGAL
If
SON.
we
see in
it
his reintegration in
implied.
They who
bring
and
first
to
him, as they would naturally have done, the tattered garments, the poor
swineherd's rags which were hanging about him, Zech.
suggest
there,
to
iii.
then
us an interesting parallel.
to the
Those who
Lord
would answer
removing
servants here,
Joshua
there,
his filthy
the servants do here for the son, with the difference only that instead of the mitre, the appropriate adornment there of the high priest, the ring
in
each
ex-
pressly declares
thee."
" Behold,
same
signification
I
what
that
is,
the
Lord there
to pass
from
I think,
ting
it
These words, brought to bear on the passage before us, make it, more probable that by this bringing out of the best robe, and putupon him, is especially signified that act of God, which, considernegative side,
is
ed on
its
on
its
we have
the gift or restoration of the Spirit indicated in the ring with which the
returning wanderer
is
also adorned.
It
is
ny's* denial
is
was
i.
10,
12; Jer.
is
xxii. 24,)
i.
which naturally
13, 14
;
2 Cor.
spoken
of,
whereby they
that
have
it
day
coming
them, and which witnesses with their spirits that they are the
iv.
Rom.
viii.
23
2 Cor.
v. 5.)
The
ring, too,
didit
Adam
and
in
Theophylact
To
Guemcus
Sanctlficationem
Spiritfts,
et pcenitens reinduitur.
H. N.,
1.
33,
c. 6.
Non
signat Oriens
q^jit
litteris
solis.
The
later discoveries
1.
have shown
this as
2, c. 38.
ed., p.
1017)
Qdav^
and
presently after,
interesting in
a-i!oa(^payiofta i6^r,i.
many
respects
The fragment whence these words are taken, is and among others in this, that the author, whether
that he
kuXuv.
THE PRODIGAL
may
ever be the pledge of betrothal
:
SON.
will betroth thee unto
323
:*
"And
me
for
yea,
me
in righteousness,
I
and in judgment,
and
in loving-kindness,
will
me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord." (Hos. ii. 19, The shoes also are given him, to which answers the promise, "
strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and
will
down
in his
name." (Zech.
ence,:}:
x. 12.)
The
feet
peace." (Ephes.
xxxiii. 25.)
it," fice
it
15.)
it is
No
"Bring hither the failed calf^ and kill would create a confusion of images, again to go back to the sacriof Christ, which was implicitly contained in the first image, that of
added,
is
When
Nor
should
more generally
ing which
is in
heaven
and no
less in the
Church
(ver.
on earth, and
in his
own
heart also.**
As
*
in the
2, c. 3):
quod
est fidei
The whole
an-
ver.
C-13 there
to
13-19 here
and
ver.
14-23
to
20-24.
evangelizandum praeparatur.
15, adds,
Nimirum
see
poeniten-
Deus concedit,
li.
And
Clemens Alex.
on these
latter being
much
that
is
beautiful
is fanciful
shoes,
though the
vKoSfinara
The word is used interchangably with cavSiXta, by the LXX., though there is a distinction. (See Tittmann's Synonyms, and ihe Diet, of Gr. and Eom. Antt., s. v. Sandalium, p. 839.) Much luxury was often displayed among
the wealthy in this article of dress, (see Judith xvi. 9
that
to
;
Ezek.
xvi.
10
Cant.
vii. 1,)
;
so
we can
easily understand
why
not
Tdv (rirevuv.
for
(LXX.)
Tertullian
Vitulum praeopi-
mum,
II
that set
by
some
Tunc enim
credit occisum.
IT
De Pudic,
c. 9.
1.
2, c. 8)
Jes.
324
6,)
THE PRODIGAL
woman
that
it
SON.
and the
For
this is the
very nature
of true joy
it
how much more of the yet holier And summoning them to rejoice, he declares to them
to share.
In an earthly household,
part of the household
we might To
made
was needful
beggar as
" This
my
son," he says
is alive
and
again'^
"was
dead, and
then,
Ephes.
ii.
1)
" he was
(1
John
iii.
14;
Tim.
ii.
v.
6;
lost,
and
is found,"
compare
1 Pet.
25
"
Ye
were
now
the dead
Here
our Lord
at ver. 11
two preceding, might have ended. But saying " two sons," had promised something more;
part within
itself,
and complete as
contrast which
is this first
yet
is it
to
derive
the
man.
this contrast
is
who
named
to us,
and no more,
now
He, while the house is ringing with the festal rejoicing, returns from " the field " where, no doubt, he had been, as
usual, laboriously occupied
;
so
much
is
it
is
For thus we other had been wasting time and means and
given us.
his
whole
portion of goods,
in
idle
and
sinful
pleasures
of useful industry.
This
is
is
a tacit explaentitled to
make.
It
As he
the house, he
would be alien
manners and
Origen {Horn. 23 in Lev.) on the words " 3Iy feasts," which there occurs, asks
dies festossuos?
Habet.
Est enim ei
magna
festivitas
humana
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
325
but be listeners aijd spectators, the singers and dancers being hired for such occasions. Surprised at these unaccustomed sounds, " he called one
of
the servants and asked what these things meant J^ Let us note here with what delicate touches the Uiigenial character of the man is indicated
already.
father
He
does not go in
feast,
for
granted that
when
his
makes a
there
is
to
And
had received
his heart,
and soundj"* with the thought of his instead of stirring up any gladness in
move him rather to displeasure ; " he was angry, ^^ and in place of rushing to that brother's arms, " would not go in."
him
as to
entreat him, would he lay aside his displeasure, but loudly complained
the bounty which was beof the unfairness with which he was treated " Lo ! these many years do I
:
me a
kid, that
at any time thy commandment, and yet I might make merry with my friends. "-\
And
he says
not,
my brother,
it
was his own " with harlots," very probably, yet only a presumption upon his part " as soon as he toas
liv-
who had now at length resumed his own place, but speaks of him as a stranger upon the first moment of his arrival, and after years, not of duty, but disobedience
come," he says not, ivas returned,^ as of one
" thou hast killed for him," not a kid merely, but the choicest calf in the
stall.
said, if
he had known
all,
the observance of
all
father, in the midst of all his natural affection, is yet full of the
moral significance of
that
when he
is
now
alive,
once
lost to
him and
to
God,
but
now
to the
more external
him "
safe
and sound."
Even
if
into the matter, yet with a suitable discretion he confines himself to that plainly under his
which
falls
+ Jerome
my
Potest esse
convivium
X
Cf.
This
is
326
THE PRODIGAL
all his
SON.
other adornments,
when
this
it is
all
?
his infor-
an occasion
the tone
which he might
and temper of
it,
remonstrance.
There
answering with aught of severity, he expostulates with the malcontent, would have him see the unreasonableness of his complaint nor does he fail to warn him that he is now, in fact, falling into the very sin of his
brother,
when he
said, "
Give me
the portion
of goods thatfalleth
to
me."
He
is
his father,
as though he
must separate and divide something off from it truly his own. The father's
answer
the
is
a warning against this evil, which lay at the root of the elder
it had spoken out more plainly in the younger's, same which spoke out most plainly of all in the words of the wicked husbandmen, " This is the heir let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours." " S071, thou art ever with me, andall that I have is thine ;" and then he makes him see the unloving spirit out of which his discon" It was meet that we should make merry and he glad ; for tent proceeded
this thy
brother," (not
merely "
it, but " thy brother," kinned to thee, and to whom therefore kindness due) he " was dead, and is alive again ;* was lost, and is found."
What
fact,
success
shall
the
father's
expostulations met,
to
we
Whether we
assume them
in
we
give to this
in the
younger
brother the Gentile, and therefore in the elder the Jew,f certainly find
this portion of
it
than those
who deny
877.
:
Thus Augustine (QucBSt. Evang., 1. 2, qu. 33) The elder brother was in the returning he heard music and that is, the Jew was occupied labore servilis operis
:
dancing,
scil. spiritu
He
inquires of
:
the prophets,
tell
what mean
is
they
but he
is
displeased,
A
may
time however
come
the
in,
when
;
come
all
Israel
be saved
for
by
this
coming out of
Jews
for
however we
may
accept the elder brother as a portrait of the Jews as they were in the days of Christ's
earthly
itself in
life,
them,
conversion,
we cannot imagine his contumacy and self-righteousness manifesting when the Lord hereafter shall be successfully dealing with them for their and when " they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for
yet
is in
him
as one that
THE PRODIGAL
that
its
SON.
and
327
their relaI
tions to
in the interpretation
which
have
pri-
mary
at least,
it
which are indeed the same which beset us in They resolve themthe Vineyard.
Is Iheir righteousness,
whom
ther
his
If real,
how can
this
be reconciled with
brother ?*
contumacy towards his father, and his unloving spirit towards his For does the true believer accuse God of unrighteousness
men
of
when
may
brought
home
which
most
to the
fold
God
How
righteousness
is
was
real,
part,
it
was
is
side, if
not real,
how
is
this
story, according to
concerning his
own
Each determination
that certainly with
is
of the question
is
embarrassed with
difficulties
and
own
come
to
by
"
that
his
the father
now
e con-
cesso
;:}:
Be
to
obedience
allowing your hand have been without interruption, your works always to have
so, that is
in
been well-pleasing
in
my
sight, yet
to
welcomed home."
referred to,
Damasus {Ep.
21),
how
:
parable, were
Church
question which
rit
Nunquid personae
coaptari?
And
Theophylact
^rJTrjua.
non quales
Theophylact
t
calls
them,
Jerome:
Non
dixerat
filius,
sed irascentem
alia, rati
one compescuit.
328
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
But there seems a possible middle course, which shall escape the embarrassments which undoubtedly perplex this as well as the opposite
scheme of
is
interpretation
that
we
whom
he rep-
one
he has been
So,
He
the
:
many
of the Pharisees
many
of them sincerely,
(Rom.
a righteousness indeed of
a low
sort,j' in
any deep self-acquaintance, any such knowown hearts as should render them mild and merciful to others, any such insight into the breadth of that law which they professed to keep, as should thoroughly abase them before God.
nal, they did not attain to
Such may have been some of the murmurers here persons not utterly to be rejected, nor the good in them to be utterly denied, but who had need rather to be shown what was faulty, deficient, narrow, and loveless
in their religion
spirit,
;
to
filial
and
And
in this sense
we must
then understand the father's invitation to the elder son to come in. Hitherto he had been labouring " in thejield,"^ but now he is invited to a
festival.
for
God had hitherto been servile, the hard now to enter into the joy of the Lord,
kingdom
to
much
earlier part of
had been
The
elder son's
He
is
looking for certain definite rewards for his obedience, to the get-
* I cannot,
(ver.
does,
Confessio
servitutls.
There
no confession of a servile
;
mind, no abnegation of a state of filial adoption, at Acts xx. 19 1 Thess. i. 9, nor in many passages where ^ovXrfco is used, any more than when Paul calls himself a ser-
vant
(JoCXof)
of Jesus Christ.
Ambrose
But
Augustine (Enarr. inPs. cxxxviii.) rather more favourably: Significat sanctos in lege
facientcs opera et praecepta legis.
Augustine
Ad perfruitonem
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
329
In-
stead of feeling
it
some other
re-
ward. |
have
is
In the father's reply, " Son, thou art ever with me, and all thai
thine "
I
is
we must
be careful
that
we
we
meaning.
It
"Son
but
me,"
as
between him and the younger son who had so long not been with
ther
;
we
should read rather, " Son, thou art ever with me," setting
"
What
all,
need
to talk
of other friends
with myself.
is thine."
Why
shouldest
the
when
all that
I have
To make
things,"
is
an
not
Rather
in the first
;
words
"
lies
same time
is
Am
;
to
thee
;
more than
"
all
besides ?" in
warning
can
I
What
is
mine
what
do for thee,
if
thy fellowship in
my
:
things fails to
make
thee feel
how wonderfully do
but
all is
possessed by each.
The
fountain of
not as a
little
thirsty travellers
need
to strive
away,
lest those
come
to
may
stand, and of
which
lest if others
enough remain
is thine
if
for themselves.
To each
any then
is
is
he
his
is
straitened, as
Augustine:
t
Non
dicit pater,
Omnia
possides, sed,
:
Omnia mea
tua sunt.
He
should have
felt,
in Bernard's
words
ipso.
Sic
enim
perfectis et purgatis ac
jam immor:
tailibus fiiiis
ut eninii
22
330
THE PRODIGAL
SON.
yet be
told,
even as
it
won
to
much
as the publi-
The Lord
to the
last to
enter
in,
or
tliat
contumacy, intimated
kingdom of God
and
was
them
3,)
and
to enter
kingdom of Christ
to be
present at that
1-11.)
was
fearfully fulfilled
and
take
on
when
the
Jews
in the apostolic
times refused
to
part in the great festival of reconciliation, with which the Gentile world's
;all
kingdom was being celebrated. How may we read xiii. 45 xiv. 19 ; xvii. 5, 13 xviii. He would not go in, because his 12, a commentary on this statement, If he had ^brother was received so freely with music and with dancing.
incoming
into the
teen submitted first to a painful apprenticeship of the law, if he too had (Acts ^been sent to work in the field, it might have been another thing. he should be thus made free of the kingdom of God, But that :xv. 1.) he brouf^ht into the festival at once this was more than they could bear.
J^umbers stayed openly and sullenly without. Others, as the Ebioniles, only pretended to go in, or went in under a mistaken supposition that
it
should be as
in
their
their
error, presently
we
Gentiles must not forget that the whole matter will be reversed at
we
shall be in
danger then
of playing the part of the elder brother, and shall do so, if we grudge at the largeness of the grace bestowed upon the Jew, who is now the
prodigal feeding
upon husks
far
away from
Irascitur frater
major
baptismum salutarem.
is
am
has brought
forward.
He
speaks
first
unto
God
and dancing,
for
33^
PARABLE XXV.
This parable, whereof no one, who has seriously considered it, can undifficulties which multiply rather than disapwhich Cajetan found so pear the closer the parable is searched into,
has been
interpretations.
game," and
that
I
may
in a
manner
against
itself,
and
for
God.
shall
him
all
an
in the
ways of
the Lord.
The
joy of the latter has indeed been infinitely greater than this
it
so
that
may
be tempted for a
moment
is,
why
to
him
why
for
him
But
:
the
answer
with his father, because his father's possessions are, and have been always,
joy therefore
but the
to
His
given
soberer and
and what
is
is
him
just because
he
is
a beginner.
And
Adverte
hie,
prudens
lector,
Deum
fir-
afficere
mentur
in vi&,
Dei
haec
quaedam seu
This view
was a very favourite one with the Mystics, who observed ho\v in the festivals the first and eighth days, that is, their beginnings and their glorious consummations, were commonly the days of chieftest gladness, and they compare these joys to sugared dainties,
with which those who are as
Christ's school.
it
were children
first
allured into
Volmar (De
image
eam
incitentur,
quemadmodum
ed
fortiis insistant.
Before
among
the
works of
Bernard, but
is
by his Benedictine
332
the interpretations to
which
it
those
its
interpreters,
who have
the
key-words, and
to
render up,
weak and
unsatisfactory points
which
shall reject.
The
Lord, having finished the parable of the Prodigal Son, did not
it is
he allowed that his Avords might sink down into the hearts of his hearers,
^-resumed, addressing
sayers and opposers,
gladly and willingly,
told.
his
to
the gain-
we
By
Luke
we must understand
(see
a certain
degree
same time hanging loosely upon him, following him from place to place but with minds not as yet made up to join themselves without reserve rather the whole body of those who to him as to their master and lord had attached themselves to be taught of him, whom his word had found
:
who having
left
his people.
To
them, to the
for
meant, since
it is
them
that the
Lord was speaking to them, but at the Pharisees. These, last it is true, were a/so hearers of the Lord's words, (ver. 14,) but the very mention of them as such excludes them from being the persons to whom it was The Lord may have intended, it would seem primarily addressed.
most likely did intend,
yet
it
some of
that they
while
was
it
not at
them
We
shall pre-
which are
above
will be
whom
was meant. " There was a certain rich man, which had a steward," not a landbailifff merely, but a ruler over all his goods, such as was Eliezer in
the parable
Schreiter, in a
work
improlv
all
but
much
as-
And
a cashier.
The
6,)
inaccuracy of the
expression
is
who
at the
same time
333
the house of Abraham, (Gen. xxiv. 2-12,) and Joseph in the house of (Gen. xxxix. 4.) It was one of the main duties of such a Potiphar.
steward
of food
to the different
members of the
household, (Luke
42,) to
This of the
lord's
the
ill
to his ears
through a third
:
yet
it
finds its
Gen.
There
is
posing, as
was
falsely
and calum-
same is used Dan. iii. 8, where it is said that certain Chaldfeans came near and accused the Jews ; yet it was not falsely that they accused them of having refused to wornor had Daniel been calumniously accused of ship the golden image having knelt and prayed, and given thanks before his God ; malignantly
niously accused.
not in the word, for the
;
it
might
be,
much
lies in the
falsely.f
No
who would
ard.:};
in a greater or less
Indeed his
own words
ard's duties
Villjcus propria
villas
gubernator
est,
OIkovo^os
autem
too
omnium
quae
dominus
possidet, dispensator.
See
Ad
c.
mo-
nasteries
and
for
much
V. 4, p. 3,
37-
tion.
1, p. 109.)
amount of the harvest, before it is stored in the granaries (Hengstenberg's Backer Moses, und jEgypten, p. 23 ;) which is something to the point here, as the same person would naturally have the oversight of the outgoings as well. * There does not seem any reason why we should have shared the error of the
when
it
is
plain from
the
present (^f
6ta<jKnpTTi^o}i')
of the
to his trust
with
which he
is
charged.
same word
{Stj/3,i\\oj) is
Luke
Cf
right
all,
2 Mace.
iii.
11.
He was
As
for instance
Schleiermacher,
if
who
says: "
The
view of
has
this parable is to
be sure very
much
perverted,
the steward
who,
after
on his
own
account, nor
will not
it, is
notwithstanding to
oiKov6iios
be termed oUof.
r. doiKias,
and we and
make up
:
with-
ivrivnatv
Wi-
185]
if
the master
who
so very arbi-
way, and discharges him, without inquiry, upon a secret information, and who
334
ment of
his guilt
:
make any
allow
might have
been
brought against him by some enemy and from malicious motives, yet
The
accusation was,
that he administered
turning them
to private ends,
last,
and not
This This
when
his steward
is
it
were brought
this
to his ears,
Mm, How
that
I hear
of
thee
had trusted so
to
whom
had committed so
may est
much
They who,
fruits
like
Anslem, see
of repentance, lay
this
much
stress
pai'able the rise and growth and upon these words, " How is it that
is for
I hear
of thee
This remonstrance
speaking
to the sinner,
sin,
and
like
manner a bring-
ing
home
to
removed from
and have
to
render an account.
He
feels that
when once he
will be
he cannot
;
and he
ashamed
to
beg
refused.
human
dence,
if this
character
is
all
But
it is
very
diffi-
cult to see
"
The Lord
to
the
same
i.
Lord praised
the unjust
(Luke
(Jam.
25),
is
he will scarcely persuade that the ordinary and natural collocation of the words
to
be abandoned, even to help out his marvellous interpretation of the parable, according to
which the
rich householder
;
is
the
it
Romans,
the lesson
Romans
lost all
received.
may
somewhat
do
for those
Mirantis
de
te
quem procuratorem
constitui.
335
the
first
who now
to
seeks,
is
committed
him, to
lay out the things in his power not with merely selfish aims, but in acts
to scatter
for
heap up
in
God rather than for himself, to The dishonesty of the act they
it
get over, either by giving this lowering of the bills altogether a mystical
to
contemplate
way
of which
we
shall presently
have
to take notice.
He
is still
called,
they say, the " unjust'" steward, (ver. 8,) not because he remains such,
but because of his former unrighteousness
;
he bears that
name
for the
encouragement of penitents. It is as much as to say. Though he had been this unrighteous ungodly man beforetime, he yet obtained now
praise and
commendation from
his lord.
He
retained the
after
title,
as did
Matthew
that of
x. 3,)
even
he had become
the
in perpetual
remembrance of
grace of God which had found him in that mean employment, and out of
to so great a dignity
iii.
as in like
Zenas
13
;)
Rahab
is
the harlot,
(Heb,
;)
But there
himself that marks the least change of mind, the slightest repentance,
no recognition of
selfish anxiety
guilt,
expressed henceforward
quite unsat-
isfactory.
and
first
his expression of
life
any where
:
has unfit-
ted
him
for
labour
Yet
this helplessness
He knows what
to
he will do
make
edit,
of St. Bernard,
(v. 2,
p. 714,)'
who
12,)
sum
of the parable
Multa laude
Deo
and Anselm,
(//bwi.
in the
very
he
whom a dispensation has been committed, which he has been abusing;. Laudari a Domino meruit; et nos ergo laudemus eum, . nee eum in aliquo, priusquam correctus est, audeamus reprehendere, ut htec putemus in his quae
man
to
says:
fecisse,
eum
in
his lucra
336
destitution
now
rate
so near at hand.
;
If his determination
is
not
honest,
it is
any
promptly taken
and
this
is
part,
no doubt, of
that he
was
what
to do, that
way of escape from his distresses. ivhen I am put out of the stewardship *
one from
trust
to
they
me
whom
find
may
hospitable entertainment
Hereupon follows
They owed,
it
seems, to
the householder, at least the two whose cases are instanced, and
who
are
many
more,
^just
as but
(Lukexix. 13,) to whom pounds had been intrusted, the one an hundred measures of oil, and the other an hundred measures of wheat. It is not likely that they were tenants
ten,
of his,
who
the
Again, the enormous amount f of the oil and wheat, both of them costly articles, (see Prov. xxi. 17,) which is due, makes it equally unlikely that these " debtors " were poorer neighbours
or dependents,
whom
means of
not
loan, taking
be repaid,
when they
man,
to
had
ability.
that he,
large incomings from the fruits of the earth, had sold, through his steward, a portion of
factors,
to these debtors,
merchants, or other
They had
to
given,
however, their
him.
amount which
stand in-
he now returns
them,
in the steward's
keeping,
bill":}:
"Take
back thy
* In the Vulgate
Amotus
ii
ab
actu summotus.
t
The word
fails
"
meaxure"
in
quantity,
oil," (the
to
intimate
this.
or
it,
a large
" tuns of
on a gigantic
scale, as
size,
we
are
hatl
told
wheat which he
by the
302.)
Vlll-
xe.ipoyfM'lio]/
14)
337
bidding them to alter them, or substitute or others in their room, in which to have received much smaller amounts of oil
and wheat than was actually the case, and consequently to be so much To one debtor he reless in the rich man's debt than they truly were.
mits half, to another the
fifth
of his debt
is
teaching
us,
hibited without
who
*
are
its
and discretion
to others.
that the
hand
is to
be opened
bills,
to
Vitringa f finds the key of the parable, and proposes the following interpretation, which deserves to be recorded, The rich man is if for nothing else, yet for its exceeding ingenuity.
In this lowering of the
God, the steward the Pharisees, or rather all the ecclesiastical leaders of the people, to whom was committed the administration of the kingdom But they were accused by of God, who were stewards of its mysteries.
the prophets, (see for instance Ezek. xxxiv. 2
;
Mai.
ii.
8,)
and lastly by
power
self-
committed
to
for
purposes of
honour
They
of this ac-
cusation, and that they are not in the grace of their Lord, and only out-
wardly belong
to his
kingdom.
to
make them-
men, and
still
of his kingdom.
is,
And
the
way by which
they seek
to
make
these friends
by lowering
the standard
convenient glosses for the evading of the strictness of God's law, allowing men to say, " It is a gift," (Matt. xv. 5,) suffering them to put away their wives on any slight excuse, (Luke xvi. 18,) and by various devices
making slack
the law of
God
(Matt, xxiii.
for
themselves favour and an interest with men, and so enabling themselves, although God's grace was withdrawn from them, still to keep their hold on men, and to retain their advantages, their honours, and their peculiar
privileges.
it
gives a distinct
meaning to the lowering of the bills," Write fifty,'' " Write fourscore ;" The moral will then be no other than is which very few others do. commonly and rightly drawn from the parable Be prudent as they, as
these children of the present world, but provide for yourselves not temgate happily translated, cautio.
s.
v. Interest
of money,
*
p.
524.
the Great,
Thus Gregory
d.
who
iv.
Si recte offeras, et
non
t Erklar.
This seems
to
Sac,
v. 5, p.
335.
338
how
earthly
may
Connected with
in a
for
view
is
He conceives the parable was meant modern German Review. f only that he makes it to contain counsel the scribes and Pharisees
them,
for
the
unjust stewai'd
it
is
set
forth
for
them
to
copy
while
Vitringa
made
to
to contain
a condemnation
in
its
of them.
the stewards
and
;
administrators
a dispensation
coming
set up,
a close
their
and when in
then
much abused
from them.
that in the
The
little
ment and actual execution of this purpose of God's, they should cultivate that spirit which alone would give them an entrance " into everlasting habitations,^^ into the kingdom not to be moved, the spirit, that is, which
they so
much
all
men,
This
spirit
it
would prompt,
ij:
set forth
With
made
Codex Apo-
884, seq.
How much
with the very question which the steward here puts to the owest thou unto my lord ?" and with the bidding " Write fifty"
It is
is
The
in the
same
line.
He
says, Villicus iniquitatis Diabolus intelligendus est, qui in seculo re?] ejus villici
lictus est, ut
pliciter
immunitatem [immanitatem
curramus.
Domini sumus.
volutos non solum aperto praelio persequi, sed sub obtentu fallacis benevolentiae, blandd,
eum
.
in
domos suas
falsa,
cum
. . .
se falso pro-
dum
vel in
fide
Minaciter quidem,
:
providenter au-
tem,
dum
t Zyro, in the
He had
been however,
know
it,
231)
Quia
.
ut deficerent
hortatur
Dominus
ut dent
cum lege et sacerdotio in promptu erant, operam.ne auster6 cum peccatoribus prothough
it
cedant,
t
were a
that
was wanted
339 God
that primarily
to-
and
ward
tempts
those, debts
is
due
to another, since
it is
against
every sin
all
committed.
Such a
spirit as this,
which
all
reat-
prompt them
them
also for
an
entrance into the everlasting habitations, the coming kingdom,, which, unlike that dispensation
now ready
to
But how
parable ?*
them, but
to the scribes
and Pharisees.
But
to return
with
these
new
the present world filled up the short interval between his threatened and
his actual destitution of his office.
It
is
he attempted
to
was making, or that he whether it was that he trusted called his lord's debtors together secretly that they would keep counsel, being held together by a common interest
conceal the fraudulent arrangement which he
iniquity,
God nor man, careless whether the transaction were blown abroad or not, as being now a desperate man, who had no character to lose, and who was determined to brave the matter, confident that there would be no redress for his lord, when the written documents
testified against
him.
This
latter
seems
to
me
supposition
in the face
of day,f and
the
giveness of sins,
represented.
He
agreement with
of unrighteousness" and the words in Italics he therefore includes in brackets, being " convinced that
ver. to yourselves friends of the
9," Make
!" is
mammon
c.
Fuga
in
PerseCr
Facite autem vobis amicos de quomodo intelligendum sit parabola praemissa doceat, ad populum Judaicum dicta, qui commissam sibi rationem Domini cilm male administrasset, deberet de mammonae hominibus, quod nos eramus, amicos sibi potius prospicere quam inimicos, et relevare nos a debitis peccatorum, quibus Deo detinebamur, si nobis de dominici
ple,
mammona,
ratione conferrent, ut ciim ccepisset ab hujus deficere gratia,, ad nostram fidem refugi-
eMs
down
to
may
appear to some
man who
wished
so
and Maldo-
natus
Quod
dicit citd,
340
that the
Were
meant
to
which
means
it
to his
ends.
Least of
praise, if
though the
reap the
full
benefits
it
was
and
is
it, it is,
any attempt
hopeless.f
ne
is
to
It
mitigate, or explain
away
may
in scelere
deprehendalur, ne quis
dum
adulterantur
litterse,
superveniat.
feels that
But there
another
fair
man who
what
is
to
means
to help
morrow they
will
The transaction was evidently not with unknown to each other, as is slightly but suffiwhich the steward begins
his ad-
("
And
thou,") with
* Jensen, however,
. Krit., 1829,
p.
who
is
it,
nor stand
to his rights,
how he seems
reto
me
judgment with
since, after
to
can-
demand
strict
reckoning in the
much
ability
by Schulz in
to
an instructive
is
little treatise,
(Ub.
d.
redeem
The
ancient
to
whom we
moment
title
of steward
Wd
con-
sum
not
was no more dishonest, ^laii it would be dishonest on the part of the minister of a kingdom, who had hitherto been oppressing the people under him, and administering
34J
They must
fail
somewhere, and
this
is
the
weak
side of
it
the earthly relation between a steward and his lord, which renders
God,
Hammond's words,
" the
may
reward
in heaven,
which, though
were an
injustice
and falseness in a
and command of
who
is
by the
will
God we
the rich
man
holds under
;
God
and
it
is
commended
to
us
in this parable
which
is
so far
this
him an unjust
or unrighteous
denominates
not."
is
be,
such absolute
own
interests,
would
at the
same time
all
lord's.
But our
interests as servants of
is,
so that
when we
him, then
we
when
for ourselves,
him.
"And
wisely.^'
the lord
commended the unjust steivard, because he had done Every one who is able to judge of the construction of the ori-
once acknowledge that it is the lord of the steward, he who has twice before in the parable been called by this name, (ver. 3, 5,) that
ginal, will at
is
who
his
own person
till
ver. 9
the
The
attempt to
so,
substitute
"cunningly"
by
commendation given,
diffi-
kingdom
for his
own
interests
to
to
by remitting or lowering the heavy dues and taxes with which before he had
burdened them.
* So Augustine (Enarr. in Ps.
pare
liii.
2)
Luke
xii.
42
xiv. 23,
where in
like
Com-
tion, is
342
original.
may
word
that could
have been
implied in
selected,
and certainly
is not,
since
wisdom
if
is
But
more commendation
clearly the
it
word
that should
But concerning the praise itself, which cannot be explained away as though it were mere admiration of the man's cunning, it is true that none but a mere malignant, such as the apostate
our subsequent versions.
Julian, would-
make here
commend an
model
unfor
it,
in its unrighteousness, as a
Yet
at the
will
deny
that the
perplexing in
it
unguarded as
ver. 11,
its
appears, though
The
it
it is
explanation
is
clearly
this
may
be contemplated,
one,
most blameworthy,
if
it
prudence,
its
foresight,
upon which,
be not
one which should be abundantly, but only weakly ground of an exhorta make and rebuke any of the deeds of bold bad men have
is
too
to
it
the
just as
who put
to
to
shame the
saints of
life,"f"
may
Ilaira
SiKaioaivrig Kal
riyj
dperfji,
navovpyia
ao<pia (paivcrai.
Rather
(ppovijjiwi is
action to which
it is
means
to the
end
affirming nothing
it
way
means
find
worth
If the ^pdi-i/joj
find
it
but
we do
(Matt.
24, 26
xxv. 2.)
ffo</jta
The
(/.pdi/Tjiris
stands in the
same
(understanding) as the
t Bernard
:
Martyres Diaboli
is
alacriCis
currunt ad
vitam.
There
in
matter
hand.
Chancing
to see
a dancing
at
girl,
he was
moved
Being asked
men
cation
and we
God.
Compare an
Ada
Sanctorum, y.
5, p. 226.
343
We
may
and
may
:
condemn
the other.
Even
so our
Lord
in the present case disentangles the steward's dishonesty from his pru-
dence
the other
may
at
far
The next
meaning
;
verse fully bears out and confirms this view of the Lord's
" For the children of this icorld are in their generation tciser
Of course there is the same objeclion to the than the children of light." " wiser" here that there was to the ''wisely" of the verse preceding.
As we saw that ought to have been " prudently," so this ought to have been " more prudent." f " The children of this world " are evidently
the earthly-minded, the
men of the earth, those whose portion is here, who have adopted the world's maxims, being The phrase occurs but of this world, and not of God.
once else in Scripture, and then in our Evangelist, (xx, 34) though the term " children of light" is common also to St. John (xii. 36,) and St.
Paul (1 Thess. v. 5 ; Ephes. v. 8). There is good reason why the faithful should be here called by that rather than by any other name, for so
their doings,
light,
are con-
which
are wrought by the children of this world, and of which this child of the
present world,
who plays
The
the words that are wanting to complete the sentence have been differently
supplied.
Some complete
in those
it
thus
" The
wiser in their generation" namely, in worldly things, " than the children
of
light
" are
same worldly
things, that
is.
;
Earthly
men
;
are
spiritual
men
;
in earthly things
at
home
in
them
they
give more thought, they bestow more labour, on these matters, and there*Clarius: Laudat ingenium, damnat factum.
Augustine's explanation (Qucest.
istae
Erang.,
1.
contrario dicuntur
similitudines, ut in-
telligamus
laudari potuit
ille
Domino Deo,
Ep. 121, qu.
qui
6.
secundum
Jerome Ad Algas.,
+ It would seem that exactly thus one of the old Latin versions had astutiores.
(Au-
liii.
2.)
344
fore succeed in
though
dark.*
it
is
only as owls
in the
But
it is
hard
to see
how
a gen-
in earthly things
him prudence
in
heavenly.
Others, then, are nearer the truth
who complete
this
in
heavenly mat-
the children of light being thus rebuked that they are not at half
this
world are
to
win earth
by
his.
that they are less provident in heavenly things than those are in earthly
is
is
better served
it is
servants than
God
is
This
the meaning, as
;
rightly,
many
for
it is
when we
"unto,"
or
"towards
* So Cajetan
t Ei;
Filii
filiis
lucis prudentiores,
in
ycvcav
Triv
LavTuv,
h tu
/Jiu tovto)
it is
-.
but then he
has
first
changed
ci;
ytccS,
and as
if it
were
so,
translated in the
Vulgate, in generatione
52)
how
Mr. Greswell has well shown {Exp. of the Far. v. 4, p. is, which indeed, could never have
been so much as entertained, except on the principle which, in the interpreting of Scripture,
in particular, but
may
made
to
seems convenient
for the
it
moment
that they
should mean.
It
because
seemed
to give
some
same
plain,
meaning
to the
disappears,
when we once
is
men
of the
and
and
this
while there
force applied to
the
their full
:
rights.
meaning of
this verse
Rebus
inhiantes
(ol
viol
r,
aiwv
r.),
4) prudentia. erga
suam familiam
vloi r.
(h?
r. yev. t. Iovt.),
hoc
est,
aUw.
tovt.
lucis ac beatitatis
sempitemze
(v.
familiam suam
hoc
cum
perventuros
ipsumque
communem
v. 2,
familia;
Dominum
(Matt. xxv. 40), beneficiis sibi devincire, ut igitur tanto magis fuerit
tt'j
r.
yev
t.
iavr. rightly,
Im Verkehr
theory that
tli
and
Iv
392, seq.
345
in the stew-
ard's fraud,
showed themselves
all
be
men
of the
same generation
j
as
he
was,
they were
and the
Lord's declaration
is,
men
of this world
obtain
make
it,
their intercourse
more from
manage
it
bet-
their
For what
opportunities, he
to
would imply,
last,
whom
a share of the
what opportunities of laying up treasure the time come by showing love of making them or generally of doing of kindness poor the household of the men of the same generation as themselves, whom
mammon
is
intrusted,
heaven
to
to the
saints,
to
offices
to
faith
yet they
make
example of him who bound to himself by benemen of his generation, so should they in like manner, by benefits, bind those who were like themselves children of light, and make friends, of them J* " And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. This mammon of unrighteousness," some explain
opportunities, but by the
fits
the
'^
^^
;)
by fraud and by violence, " treasures of wickbut plainly the first recommendation to the posto restore
it
would be
to its rightful
owners, as Zacchseus,
summing up
humaniter et
fuerit,
Yet
at the
Summa
hujus parabolae
est,
benigne
cum
quum ad Dei
tribunal
ventum
ad nos redeat.
Who
does not
must be someThis
thing more in
is at
it
the
sively,
same time the point which the early Church writers mainly, often exclumake, that the parable is an earnest exhortation to liberal almsgiving. So
1.
4, c. 30),
Augustine
(Z)e
Civ. Dei,
1.
21,
c.
27), Athanasius,
Theophylact
who
says, " It is a
and
men
t The words so interpreted would be easily open to abuse, as though a man might compound with his conscience and with God, and by giving some small portion
of alms out of unjustly acquired wealth,
him.
Plutarch
dn-o
kpoavKiai
dcoaiffovi/Tcs,
(Ser7n. 113, c. 2)
intelligendo rapi-
mammona
maximfe egentibus
iste
hoc
est facere
amicos de
mammona
iniquitatis.
est..
23
346
(Luke
"he
ridicu-
; and seexxxv. 12,) and out of such there could never be offered accepted alms to that God who has said, " I hate rob-
bery
for
burnt offering."
Only when
this
restoration is impossible,*
which of course must continually be the case, could it be lawfully beOthers again say that it is not exactly wealth stowed upon the poor. which the present possessor has unjustly acquired, but that wealth which
from the very nature of the world and the world's business can scarcely
ever have been gotten together without sin somewhere,
thing of the defilement of the world from which
to
it
without some-
it
Thus
the
et
difficilis.
t In this sense
iniqui hiEres, as
and Cajetan
says,
it is
called
mammon
of unrighteousness,
E6
quod
We
might quote
Evang.,
"
As
a nail sticketh
fast
of the stones, so doth sin stick close between buying and selling."
1.
2, qu. 34)
iniquis, qui
beatitudinis suae.
Cf.
;
jSerm. 50, c. 4.
TertuUian's explanation
Marc,
of
money
et
is
is the root
all evil
;
Injustitiae
enim, auctorem,
dominatorem
numpar-
mum
scimus omnes
Melancthon,
it:
because
Vocat
mammonam
injustfe
solent.
(See Eccles.
mammon,
(which
believe
would
name of a Syrian god, who was worshipped as presiding over wealth, in the same way as Plutus is the god of riches in the Greek mythology for so the antithesis in the words, " Ve cannot serve God and mammon" would come out more strongly, Ye cannot serve the true God and an idol or
was
the
false
god at once.
But there
is
It
is
repeated
by Schleusner, who makes, as usual, references which he has evidently never verified, one to Tertullian,[Ji Syris rehgios^ colebetur, teste Tertulliano] who says nothing of
the kind,
^rft).
il/arc,
1.
4, c.
2,)
nor Jerome
All that
{Ad
who
Augus-
Serm. 113,
Quod
Punici dicunt
mammon,
Latinfe lu-
crum vocatur quod Hebraei dicunt mammona, Latinfe divitiae vocantur, and Jerome no more. The erroneous notion belongs to the middle ages. Thus Pet. Lombard (1. 2, Nomine daemonis divitiae vocantur, scilicet Mammona. Est enim Mammon dist. 6)
:
nomen
Syram linguam.
See a good
347
and so inheriting
the
make good
wrongs com-
it
together.
But
where
"unrighteous
mammon,"
is
unrighteousness,"
a phrase of course equivalent to ^'mammon of set against " true riches" these true being evident-
fail,
makes
it
far
more probable
unstable
row
which
manunon of unrighteousness " is the uncertain, which is one man's to-day, and another's to-morin,
he
is
sure
to
And "mammon
called, since
it
it he will have trusted in a lie.* of unrighteousness " it may in a deeper sense be justly is certain that in all wealth a principle of evil is implied^
of society
all
in
a realized kingdom of
was
for
things
common jf and this existence of property has ever been so strongly felt as a witness for the selfishness of man, that in all ideas of a perfect
commonwealth,
well as a State
if perfect,
commufairly
its
made
a necessary condition.
who
transmitted
to
him,
may have
acquired
it,
yet
it is
mammon,
witnessing in
and
for the absence of that highest love, which fall and selfishness of man, would have made each man feel that whatever was his, was also every one's beside, and rendered it impossible that a mine and thine should ever
The
use of aiiKui for " false" runs through the whole Septuagint.
liSiKog,
Tlius, Deut.
a false witness
and
he hath witnessed
See Prov. vi. 19; xii. 17; Jer. v. 31, "The prophets prophesy falsely," and many more examples might be adduced. So here the " unrighteous"
is
mammon
it,
the false
mammon,
that
which
which
is
placed on
Thus
iarpol a&iKoi,
;
(Job
and Paul
dSriXorrjTi.
(1
Tim.
vi.
17) bids
Timothy
to
So our Lord speaks of the d-narn tov tt\ovtov warn the rich that they trust not Iki n\ovTov
t Augustine
In
animam unam
:
et cor
unum
quorum nemo
righteousness :"
he explains " mam7non of unFortasse ea ipsa est iniquitas quia tu habes et alter non habet, tu
abundus
et alter eget
same
spirit
Res
i.
alienee possidentur,
e.
cum
superfluBB possidentur.
Thus Aquinas
Divitise iniquitatis,
inaequalitatis
of
little.
348
have existed.
we must
tempt prematurely
to realize this or
any other
fragment or corner
The
refer the
words,
^'
that
when ye
when ye fail,"* are of course an euphemistic way die." Many, however, have been unwilling to
words
to the friends
;
which
be made by help of
to
the unrighteous
mammon
such an applica-
them
to attribute too
much to men and to their intercesparts who had received the benefits, to
and
it
so to be
which
is
God's alone.
Thus
has been
ryin<T
sometimes said "they" are the angels, as we find angels (ver. 22) carLazarus into Abraham's bosom ; or others understand that it is
Christ
God and
phrase
is
who
it is
meant
will receive
impersonal, even as
it is
(xii. 11,
to,
20;
would be equivalent
as
"You may
But
if
we
look
containing an
standino- in close
preceded
it,
and of which
we
how
this
its
justification.
There
that
is
* It
fails,"
i.
may
tffXiV^, ("
when
it
e.y the
mammon,)
be not to be preferred.
It is
Par. V. Verwalter, p. 81), though he allows that as regards number of MSS. it is supported by inferior authority. Many however of the oldest versions bear witness for that reading which Lachniann has also admitted into his text yet not the Vulgate, which has,
;
cum
defecerilis,
1.
4,
c.
49,)
quando fugati
fitly
fueritis.
iK^eiTTCtv
We
certainly have
the
same
family, to
it
:
show how
ckI^utttov ,
viii.
(Luke
xii.
33,)
avSK'Ki-nhi
it
OrjcriivpiU,
vii. 14,)
nXoiro; di'EvXcr^J,
is
(Wisd.
16.)
may
the failing of
Benef.,
1.
6, c. 3)
M. Antonius
apud Uabirium poetam, cum fortunam suam transeuntem alio videbat et sibi nihil requantum habere potuit, ei exclamare Hoc habeo, quodcumque dedi. lictum Hae sunt divitiae ccrtae, in quiicunque sortis humanae levitate, uno loco pervoluisset
.
.
mansurffi
tuo parcis
Procurator es
tuis et
Qua;ris
et
minorem habebunt invidiam. Quid tanquam quomodo ilia tua facias 1 donando. Consule
inexpugnabilem possessionem para
;
ergo rebus
ores
illas
certam
tibi
earum
honesti-
tutiorcs facturus.
349
made
;
they, being
friends,
were
to
phrase
is
in regard to
him and
upon
that,
and
at
its
most important
all
idle to press
and against
analogy of
to
assert,
on the
strength of this single phrase, that with any except God, that even with
his glorified saints, there will reside
to
idle too,
to affirm, that
may
can refer
any
which
The
no one, unless
alarmed by the consequences which others might draw from the words,
could possibly for an instant call in question.*
true parallel
to,
and
at
of,
The heavenly
ing"] are thus tacitly contrasted with the temporary shelter which was
all that the
with
also,
all
it
his plotting
may
man
exer-
f* Cocceius:
tulat ut referatur
Acfcoj/rai
ad amicos.
filiis
Deo
27.
ac Spiritu
Deo
recipiantur
Voluntas jusCf.
torum
et
beatorum
tov
-KvcijiaTOi,
Rom.
viii.
Au3)
2, qu.
38
loc.
27,
c. 8,
vita,
tum testimonio ac
trKnvri,
These
aidjvioi,
those npoaKi'ipoi.
The term
the tent
at
40-43) erected
;
on the contrary,
it
is
Heb.
xi. 9,
10,
where
it
is
said that
Abraham dwelt
dations.
he looked
is is
for a city
And
the
life
aKrivn
the briefness of
"
Mine age
is
removed from
But these
me
as a shepherd's tent."
See
.Tob
xxvii.
18; 2 Cor.
a
Thus
i.
Son of God on
the earth
a/oji'oOi',
(John
14
they are ^omi, (John xiv. 2), being pitched by God, " a tabernacle that shall not be taken down," {cKrivai al oi it!) cretaOdJatv, LXX.), " not one of the
are
aiwi/iot,
stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken."
(Isai. xxxiii.
20.)
It is
v. 1
which
St.
is plainly not the abiding heavenly mansions, but the with " our earthly house of this tabernacle," or our pres-
ent body, TO
Wisd.
ix.
15.
350
cises on earth, from
fails
and
is
removed
he should
how important
make
it
therefore, the
word
will
imply,
'that
In the verses which follow (10-13), and which stand in vital cohe-
it
is
especially com-
mended
so to put far
the unfaithfulness of the steward there could have found anything but the strongest reprobation from Christ; just as in another place, (Matt. X. 16,) when he said, " Be wise as serpents," lest this wisdom should
degenerate into cunning, he immediately guarded the precept, adding, " and harmless as doves." The things earthly whereof men have a dispensation, and wherein they
may show
their faithfulness
and their
fit-
ness
to
'Hhat which
least,''
as
spiritual gifts
and graces
which are '^much;" they are termed ^^unrighteous,'' or deceitful, "mammon," as set against the heavenly riches of faith and love, which are ^' true " and durable "riches ;" they are called "that lohich is another
man's,"-\
possessed are our own, not something merely without us, but which
our truest
life.
Thus
Lord
at
while yet at the same time he magnifies the importance of a right administration of
them
since
in
the
dispensing of
these,
which
he
to
man
show what is in him, and whether intrusted with that which has a true and enduring value, he be fit to be And in ver. 13 he further with a ministration in the kingdom of God.:{:
may
states
what the
fidelity
is,
which
it
is
a choosing of
God
instead of
mammon
our lord.
For
in this
world
we
whom
So according
home." non
to
KoraXtxTti?,
Diodoru3 Siculus the Egyptians called the houses of the living Compare Eccles. xii. 5, " Man goeth to oiVouf.
his long
LXX.)
Augustine terms them.
t Divitiae
t
The Jews have various sayings and parables concerning the manner in which God proves men in little things, to try whether they are worthy to be intrusted with great. Thus they say of David, that God tried him first with " those few sheep in the wilderness," which because he faithfully and boldly kept, (I Sam. xvii. .34-36,) therefore God
" took him from the sheepfolds to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance."
(Ps. Ixxviii. 70, 71.)
v. 1, p.
300.
35X
is this
one
is
unrighteous
be our servant,
to
be wielded by us in
slight,
and
in itself to
be considered by us as something
transient,
and another's
but which
into a lord,
which
if
we
yield,
we
can be no longer
to be
We
to
shall no longer
he indeed
gave us
own, and
speak
us in accents of
command.
We
must speedily
arise
have
to
God,
command
a scattering,
;
when mammon
upon our own
different,
will
urge
to a further
God
will
when mammon,
it
4)
one must be
is
is
held to
to
" Ye cannot serve f God and mammon." Such appears to me to be the connexion between ver. 13 and the preceding verses, and between the
whole of these verses and the parable of which they surely are intended
to give the moral.
Dominus
ejus
sit.
Caeterum
si
alter
relicto,
Dominum
AoiiXrfcii/, to
which word
its full
force
is to
when
after noting
SeC'
Among
the
many
recorded by Jerome
qu. 6),
who
quotes
According
to this, the
un-
who was forcibly thrust out by God of his Judaism, and reception in many hearts, through the declaring the Gospel of'"
sins;
of the remission of
{Be
in his time
and
for
this
had
praise, that he
had welii
Law
to the
But
see
that elsewhere
Script. Eccles.)
Commentaries extant
only outdone
affirms the
p. 85),
who
352
PARABLE XXVI.
19-31.
must be acknowledged
all
another, and of
say, as
Hammond
St.
for
or
be here introduced
verses 15-18
all,
sight,
may
appear, there
a thread of
there
is
They had
God and
be also
;
the world,
and they
serve at once
it
may
openly
in
who were covetous, heard all these Whereupon he turned and addressed
to the disciples,
things,
to
and
them the
first
and rebuked,
that
is,
love
Lord
to
It
to
mention
this, that
given by
Hartmann {Conun.
1830), of which
will suffice to
mean
this
Make
his interpretation of
'EK
T. iiofi T. (ifli/f.,)
that
get
low
in the world,
you
may
;be sure
may
be found, which
would be
little
worth
*
t
'Ei^CfiVKTrtpi^ov avr6u.
The
is
to be
is
rHi/ KaKuiv, (1
Tim.
10,) the
dependence
apon and
trust in the
353
things,
they sought
is
eousness before
men; but he
then announced to them (ver. 16) how which they were the stewards and administrators,
"
an end, and a larger dispensation, in which they shall no more have " the key of knowledge " to admit or to ex" The kingdom of God is preached, and every man clude, is begun
coming
itself
it
was
it
to
gave
which when
to
was
so,
how
its
it
great
was
be zealous for
honour, the
in
guardians of
its
purity,
some of
and relaxing
obligations
But
once presents
They
of money, but prodigal excess in living, like that of the rich man,
no-
to
them.
On
life,
the con-
we
manner of
is
many
of
them
rigid ascetics
and among
all
nowhere
laid
charge.
spiritual,
sins they
spirituality,
which covetousness
is
is,
not.
Mosheim
feels
the difficulty so
strongly, that he supposes the parable to have been directed against the
Sadducees,'!' of
whose
selfish
ed contempt
for
wrought
at least
into their
an evidence
we
^hall then
But the parable cannot be for them, there is nothing to make it probable that Sadducees were present, neither can there be any change between ver. 18 and 19 in the persons addressed this will appear yet
;
is
Td
and
austeri-
De
So
also Wetstein,
who says
of the Pharisees,
xviii. 12,)
could
354
more evident
particle
and
to give the force of which, the parable ought to begin not simply, " There was," but, ''Now there was a certain rich man."
The
While it is was the sin of the Pharisees, and not prodiwhile it was rather an undue gathering, than an
the
undue spending, yet hoarding and squandering so entirely grow out of same evil root, are so equally the consequences of unbelief in God and in God's word of trust in the creature rather than in the Creator,
mammon
may
was
which
the love of the world and trust in the world rather than in the liv-
ing God, there was nothing to hinder his taking his example from a sin
opposite in appearance to theirs
which
yet
exactly the
same
evil condition
of heart,
by which
For it ought never to be left out of sight or forgotten, that it is not the primary purpose of the parable to teach the fearful consequences which
will follow on the abuse of wealth
the poor,
belief,
this
only subordinately,
but the
is
fearful
consequences of un-
of having the heart set on this world, and refusing to give creto the invisible
dence
world which
here
known only
Dives in
its
to
faith, until
by
The
;
sin of
root
is
unbelief:
self,
are
takes
is
within, these
which witness
inward plague.
He who
ual joy, must of necessity place his hope in the things which he sees,
which^e can
and
to look to
will
come
to trust in
them,
:
them
he knows of no other
it
is
delighting in
may
place more
money
have more
to
lusts.
wicked world
and
this too
ggg
that he
only to
itself
made the discovery of the existence of that truer state of things His unbelief shows his own unutterable and irremediable loss.
to
again in his supposing that his brethren would give heed to a ghost,
give heed to the sure word of God,
to
it
Moses and
gives that
For
it is
credence
Caligula,
to portents
who mocked
it
most important
we conceive of
it
its
primary purpose as
warn
of riches,
it is
which
distin-
found, nor will the parable itself possess that unity of purpose, that
all
its
tending of
which so remarkably
will
it
seem
two
parts,
but a double
matter, and contemplate unbelief as the essence of the rich man's sin,
which
it
showed
itself,
we
vital
shall then at
and the
connexion of
Abraham
sumptuous
it is
"purple and fine linen," of the earlier. But before proceeding to examine the parable
literal
it,
in its details,
wor-
an
allegorical interpretation of
which, though
itself heard,
According
to this the
parable,
many
by
St.
Luke,
Dives
He
fares sumptuously,
that
is,
the
God, but
to
full
of their
own
righteous-
impart their
own
blessings to the
* Suetonius, Caligula,
t
51.
One of
we
Evang. Gesch.,
v. 2, p. 168,)
this
very
356
Gentiles
gate
rather
is,
to the
session of the
that
to
by comparison in their exclusive posknowledge and favour of God. To them is announced the Pharisees, who might be considered as the representatives
glorified themselves
all that
was
evil in the
Jewish
spirit
was con-
that
an end
is
dy
be utterly abolished.
Lazarus
is to
bosom
in
But Dives is to be cast into the privileges which they abused, and
abiding upon them
hell,
the
Jews are
to forfeit all
most
miserable condition, exiles from the presence of God, and with his wrath
to the uttermost, so that
woful estate.
If the present had been expressly named a parable, it would tend somewhat to confirm this or some similar interpretation ;* for according to that commonly received, it is certainly no parable, the very essence of
that order of composition being, that one set of persons
and things
;
is
named, another
is
signified
they are
set
but
* Teelman, in an elaborate essay (Com. in Luc. xvi.), has wrought out an expla-
this,
of sores, that
(Isai.
liii.
it is
mentioned by Augustine
. . .
Lazarum Dominum
significare accipiamus
jacen-
tem ad januam
tate dejecit.
nis,
divitis,
(2 Cor.
viii. 9.)
quam
...
be found also in
Ambrose
(Exp. in Luc,
daeis,
1.
8, c. 15)
Exp. of the N.
Schleiermacher's supposition
is
Herod Antipas,
is
mous
pointed at in Dives
sufficiently
curious,
Yet
this interpretac.
tion, in its
germ
at least, is to
34).
He
is
too sees in ver. 18 an allusion to Herod's marriage, and observes that the connexion
closer than at
first
sight appears,
Nam
et illud [scil.
est,
argumentum
quantum ad
Scripturae
superficicm, subit6
propositum
malfe tractati, et sugillatui Herodis malfe maritati, utriusque exitum deformans, Herodis
tormenta
et
Joannis refrigeria.
357
a rich man, and the poor man a poor would mean purple and fine linen, and so on.
Thus,
first,
it
namely, whether
this
be a parable, or an
the
manner
if that
in
which
it is
it is
able
is.*
Nor
will
it,
say
those
lose
who
any of
will
still,
as before, be a
warn-
flesh will be
It
more
spiritual selfishness.
to
will not,
rable
living
world
rable
doom
is
may
be used as
to the
more usual
all
interpretation,
it,
the
all who are unmindful, in woe around them, of the distresses of their fellow-men, the same may be drawn from it still. Only, in addition to this warning to the world, it
who have faith in nothing beyond it, for their own abundance, of the infinite want and
will yield
it
do not glorify
and exalt
that
it
multitude of
its
own
of
all
who know
it
seek earnestly
remove them. Of
;
it is
plainly not
commonly received
interpretation, to
which
it
is
now
time
to return.
" There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine
linen,
habitually
clothed, for so
* For a
CER's TheS.,
list
S.
of the interpreters,
who have
this,
v. Aa^apos.
is
t Parkhurst
original (eixppatvSfiefOi
"fared sumptuously," which he thinks There is someAa/iirpws). should show the exultation and merriment
man
lived.
He
proposes, "
who
Teelman {Comm.
in
Luc.
xvi.,
320, seq.) makes the same objection to the Vulgate, " epulabatur
lautfe,"
and enters
seems to
The
old Italic
was nearer
it
358
much
parel
;
word implies
it
^^
that he thus
sumptuous
which
was
his
The extreme
royal colour
gift.
;
dye of antiquity
;
well
known
:*
it
the purple
;
(Esth. xviii. 15
it
Mace.
x.
20
xi.
58
xiv.
43.)
With
too idols
(Jer. x. 9.)
use.
And
the
was hardly
was
and
rarest.
Yet while
like those
this
was
so, it
not accused of
men
in
St.
James
(v. 1-6), of
he
he
a false accuser,
he
widows
nothing of these.
persecutor of
cer-
'
There was a
have had (Ir^neus, Con. Hcbt., 1. 3,c. 41) jucundabatur nitidfe. So Luther, who translates, " Und lebte herrlich und in Freuden." But the immediate mention which follows, of
the crumbs falling from the table,
ings,
makes
it
most probable
that
;
some sumptuous
and both
in this.
feast-
some Eximid,
\afnrp6;
and
ei(ppaivoiiat, if
enough
Hesychius
interprets
cv(0')(^ridcvTa is,
as =zti<ppav(livTa, and
we
* That
thus
one, in Lucian's
Namgium,
c.
22,
who
is
like that
of Dives, and in imagination heaping on himself every thing of the costliest, says,
laQiii iiTi
true
work
of the sea],
-oi 6
/Sios
olos
d/?p(5raro{.
(Pun., H. N.,
it
).
9, c. 60.)
All
modern
what
shell-fish
s.
exactly
was which
yielded
v.
Purpur.)
for its
weight
in gold
it
not probable, as
we have an
iv iCu. ivoXv
in
Though
//.
sometimes receive
Rev. xix. 8, 14, "
was
;"
rather in
its
dazzling whiteness
thu3
fine linen,
and Pliny,
eis
N.,
1.
19, c. 2, speaking
;
Nee
ulla sunt
The
byssus here was the inner vest, the purple the outer
The
huch,
15.
Byssus, p. 169
d.
Winer's Real
WOrter;
Baumwolle
Mas.
338
v. 2,
p. 72.)
359
f
his
crime
some-
times called, for instance in the heading of the chapter in our Bibles, "a glutton." To call him such, " a Sir Epicure Mammom," serves
only
to
is
nothing
make us
one of
Augus-
whom
all
things pleasurable.
:f
man's only
"
Seems he
have been reading from that book where he found the name of the poor man written, but found not the name of the rich ; for that book "Jesus," says Cajetan, " of a purpose named the is the book of life ?"
"
to
man
he designated merely as
'
a certain man,' so
to
In
names of the
if
rich are
known, and when they are talked but the names of the poor are
;
either not
known, or
known
noted. "
At
earth,
man, whose name though well known on in heaven, the beggar Lazarus was flung
last
brought
may
;
be thither, by the
who
and who now released themselves gladly of their charge, counting they had done enough when they had cast him under
upon the
pity, of
to help
them.
The
it
might
be, or
c. 3.)
this parable, in
There
make
it,
Who
has
God
make Aa^apoj
dom,
d/?o^0ijroj.
v. Adi^apos.)
It is
has
has, losing
altogether
the rich
signification as a proper
;
name.
to
Euthymius mentions
that
some
called
man, Nimeusis
show, perhaps
:
constructae lapidibus, magnifico et eleganti opere, altis muris licet ruinosis conspicuae.
t
Serm. 41.
So Bengel
caelo
dives
ullo.
360
to one,*
no reason
why
the rich
man
should
to
crime seems
have
no wise be pleaded.
itself
And
even
if the rich
it
man
was
?
his task to
;
was
As
the rich
in a
few
and
strokes, so in a
forth to us the
full
utter misery
destitution of Lazarus.
of sores"
no
man gave
to
hungry, and
from
i.
7)
even
fed
at least not in
with
them.-f*
pity,
he found sympathy
dumb animals
probably the animals without a master that wander through the streets
of an Eastern city.
after him,
have seen in
away
:
the dogs,
which approached
virtue
and thus
to
hardly what
meant
for
medicinal
was
dog
;:]:
rather
mentioned
set
to
them
in
enhance the cruelty and neglect of the rich man, and to man neglected his fellow- man, beheld the strongest light;
v. 1, p.
among
A. L. Konigsmann, which is entitled, Be Divite Epulone d, Christo immisericordice non accusato. 1708. But Grotius rightly remarks that Lazarus was cast, in ipso and see Neander's Leben divitis aspectu ut ignorantiam caussari nullo modo posset
;
He
who under-
nemo
illi
dabat, do not
belong here, and are evidently transferred from ch. xv. 16.
t
(See also
Seal WOrterbuch,
Speichel.)
is
When
Winer, him
261
it
misery which even the beasts had pity on, so that what
they did
to alleviate his sufferings.
they could
We
have
in fact in the
two descrip;
Dives
is
Lazarus
is
The one fares sumptuously, the The one, although this is left to
to wait
our imagination
to
fill
up, has
numerous attendants
on his least
There
Lazarus
is
God.
Yet
Abraham's bosom.
We may certain-
assume
that he suffered after a godly sort, that he did not " call the
his heart in vain, but pa-
But for this, his sufferings would have profited him nothing, would have
In
all
homiletic use
out of sight.
and great,
is
to the
to the poor, and exhorts mere outward poverty were of itself sufficient to bring them into a conformity with Lazarus, and intoHe tells them that the possession of the good things which he inherited. poverty of spirit must go along with that external poverty, which last is
warning which
them
help
to
it
even
it
as wealth
is to
a great temptation,
lest<
to trust in
those uncertain.'
note,,
God
how
the very
whose bosom Lazarus was had been on earth rich in flocks, and in herds, and
into
Abraham
in all possessions.*
c.
sum
illi
Laza-
ro
Nostrum genus
illi
purpura, et
bysso, et
sanctum ulcerosum
te esse
quod
dicis.
Esto-
Nam
si
de
ipsa.
qui ante
domum
divitis
pauper
fuit et aliud
non
attendis.
Nunquid vere
ille
ille
pau-
per merito
illius inopiae
autem
peccato divitiarum.
In
illo
paupere humilitas
24
362
But
end
:
they are the passing shows of things, not the abiding realities. "
to
!
came
he
is
died,
change
whom
but a
moment
**
for, is
tended of angels,
into
man served, whom none but by them carried into the blessAbraham's bosom." This last phrase
before no
has been sometimes explained as though he was brought into the chiefest place of honour and felicity, such as the sons of Zebedee asked for themselves, (Matt. XX. 23,) that he
Abraham
all
in the
was admitted not merely to sit down with kingdom of heaven, at the heavenly festival, whereunto
of which one only could partake, as John the beloved disciple leaned
at the
paschal supper.
the
ham's bosom"
is
all.
But this explanation starts image underlying ''AbraHades is not the place of the
viii.
is
11
Luke
is to
is
xiii.
This
is
find
18,
declared
to
illo
divite superbia
damnata.
Certe
iile
illo
divite cruciabatur.
est.
De
ipso
Abra-
ham
fuit in terra.
ad tormenta
ablatum
in
praecesserat pauperem, ut
in divitiis pauper humilis,
11.
9:
Quid
tibi
prodest,
si
This
full
last
passage
is
worth
xix.
which
ne
it
meaning of Matt.
23-26.
* Luther
:
En
qui
dum
vivebat,
was current
;
among
the
Jews
v.
into paradise
there are
Thii.o's
Cod.
Apocryphu&,
25, 45,
777.)
signed to Mercury,
So Horace
Tu
mas
reponis Sedibus.
:
(uti
quam
potius
ii
puerulis qui parentibus sunt carissimi, quos parentes in sinu sive gremio fovent, in quo
And Gerhard
c. 8,
3)
Vocatur sinus melaphora, ducta. k parentibus, qui puerulos suos diurnS discursitatione
fessos; vel ex peregrinatione
latii
domum
causa
in
sinum suum
Theophylact assumes
363
going
to
borrowed, spoke of
Abraham, as being received into his bosom. To be in Abraham's bosom was equivalent with them to the being " in the garden of Eden," or " under the throne of glory," the being gathered into the general receptacle of
souls.*
(See Wisd.
iii.
1-3.)
The
expression alrea-
dy existing among them received here the sanction and seal of Christ, and has come thus to be accepted by the Church, f which has understood
by it in like manner the state of painless expectation, of blissful repose, which should intervene between the death of the faithful in Christ Jesus, and their perfect consummation and bliss at his coming in his glorious
kingdom.
but not
It is
Luke
as
of the souls
blessedness,
9;)
it
is,
some distinguish
was
safely borne.
But "
sequently
the rich
to
man
also died
it
mercy of God was manifest in the order of their deaths Lazarus was more early exempted from the miseries o^ his earthly lot Dives was allowed a longer time and space for repentance. But at last his day of grace came to an end ;
Lazarus, so
that, as
it is
Lazarus under
his
his final
trial
his neglect of
him the
drop that made the cup of God's longEntertaining him, he might have unawares enlast
He had led slip, however, this latest opportunity, and tertained angels. on the death of Lazarus follows hard, as would seem, his own. He '^ also died and was hurled." There is a sublime irony, a stain upon
the
image
to be rather
that of
faithful
cast anchor
and are in
and
tribulations of
This escapes us
KoXiroi.
might be suggested equally by the Latin sinus as the Greek * See Lightfoot's Hor. Heb., in
t
Ice.
For ample quotations from the Greek Fathers, see Suicer's Thes., s. v. K6\nos. is worth referring to, and Tertullian {De Anima,c. 58). Aquinas {Sum. Theol., pars 3, qu. 52, art. 2) gives the view of the middle ages Cajetan, of
;
the
for
good reasons of
:
as
much
tum
omni
Limborch {Theol.
Christ.,
6, c. 10, 8)
slelj], he compares the intermediate state of the good to a sweet and joyful dream, while the wicked are as men
afflicted
waken on
who
calls that
His pennis
ille
pauper in
sinum Abrahae
364
all
is
with
what
immediately
to follow.
all
No
doubt
we
are
meant
to infer that
he
pomp
this splendid
carrying
to the
grave
is
for
it is
his equivalent,
him but little where now he is.f him an awakening from his flattering dream of ease and pleasure and delight upon the stern and terrible realities of
For
his death is for
the
life to
come.
He
life,
and has
lost
it.
The
man
is
was
stripped bare of
all
all that
remains
he has played
it
who
:
allotted
to sustain.:}:
* Seculariter fucata
Augustine.
+ See for a noble passage on the rich man's buria! Augustine {Enarr. in Fs. xlviii.
18)
Spiritus torquetur
apnd
inferos, quid
linteis
1
illi
Tanquam
in exili-
m,
Ille in exilio
eget, et
fame
invenit nbi
somnnm
nam
ornata est
whole exposition of the Psalm is full of interesting niaUer in regard of this parable. Cf. According to Jewish notions, it was this very burial which Enarr. in Ps xxxiii. 22.
book Sobar
it is
said
Anima
quae
non esl
est,
gehennam.
X
Both these images, that of awaking from a dream of in a play, are used by Chrysostom lo
delight,
and bringing
"
to
an
man after
his death.
{Ad
T/teod. Laps.,
1.
when
per-
chance they
in
many
in delights
and
in ail rich
are
to their
dreams
man,
as in a
dream be-
life,
punishment."
And
suming
diers,
the
and
sol-
As
then,
when thou
below,
who
but
knowing him
one of the
common
mask and
many
or
rich.
For as he,
sells
figs
who on
who
all.
man
is
l^o, if
thou
355
our experience
his
unknown world
of
spirits,
eye
whom
He
appears as
much
at
home
there as here
he moves in
He
still
indeed continues
to
guage of men, as the only language by which he could make himself intelligible to men. Yet is it not easy now to separate between what is merely figure, vehicle for truth, and what is to be held fast as itself
essential
truth.*
We may
figu-
in the
same way
It is
and longing
after
again
and through
as
in
Abraham's bosom,
conveyed
to
strip
his conscience,
parts,
thou
wik
and
him
to be indeed the
most abject
of men.
And
as in the theatre,
when evening
is
come and
aside
masks and
their
(dresses,
then they
;
who
before
showed
appear
now
all
as they
truly are
so now,
the audience
is
dismissed,
laying
aside the
their
masks of wealth and of poverty depart from hence, and being judged only by and some glorious, but works, appear some indeed truly rich, but some poor
;
Cf. Augustine,
to set forth the fortasse
Serm. 345.
Christ.,
1.
1, c.
20) has a
fine
comparison
:
parable, he says
ut
illi
Quos homines
quasi
same truth. Of such as the rich man in our non male camelis et rauliscomparaveris nam
;
per rupes
montiumque
dorso vehentes,
trahunt
;
agmen
quoddam famulorum
illis
cu.=todiae et securitatis
causa secum
jamque
:
lassi et
Ita qui in
hoc
mundo
auro et se-
rico nituerunt.obitiis
impressas.
For
like
* There were some in Augustine's time that took all this to the letter, but he has more doubts and misgivings {De Gen. ad Lit.,\. 8, c. 6) Sed quomodo intelligenda sit ilia flamma inferni, ille sinus Abrahae, ilia lingua divitis, ille digitus pauperis, ilia sitis tormenti, illastilla refrigerii,vix fortasse a, mansuetfe, quaerentibus, ii contentiose autem
:
certantibus
iiteraliy.
nunquam,
invenitur.
Tertullian (Z)e
Animd,c.
7)
it ail
356
aororavated
making
hell,''
of their
But
or " in
it
is
now "in
Hades"
rather
heaven, though
to issue in
it,
will issue in
heaven, so neither
Hades
''hell,'^
though
fire,
when
proper
which
is
the
It is
where
the souls of the wicked are reserved to the judgment of the great day
it is
" the deep" whither the devils prayed that they might not be sent
to be
viii.
31,)
is
its
all
wherein his
become a
garment of
fire ;f
as he himself describes
he
is
it
all for
a while
some fearful dream. But when at length he had convinced himself that it was not indeed this dream, but an awaking, and would take the measure of his actual condition, then, and that he might so do, " he lifted up his eyes, and seeth Abraham afar
may
have seemed
to
him only
as
off,
and Lazarus
said, Father
in his hosom."
(Isai. Ixv.
13, 14.)
^'
And
he cried
and
Abraham,"
still
would plead
this
that he has
Abraham
to his father,
which made
is
though
now
That
he, a son of
Abraham, the man of that liberal hand and princely heart, the man in whom, as the head of their great family, every Jew was reminded of his
kinship with every other, of the one blood in their veins, of the one hope
in
then*
all
from the
should
was meant
of torment.
to
teach him,
it
was
this
which the name "son of Abraham" which had brought him to that place
the relationship, for he addresses
Nor
does
Abraham deny
him
not as a stranger but a son, yet thus, in the very allowance of the
relationship, coupled with the refusal of the request, rings the knell of
Poor and
infinitely slight
was the
best alleviation
which
^vXaKh
(1 Pet.
iii.
viii.
31.)
:
eft.
tunici arJebat,
3Q7
!
a drop of water on
is
his fiery
tongue
So shrunken
far
he has
fall.
fallen,
man we have
He
can speak
is
another
Prodigal
faith
whom
:
had found.
the prophet
For he
as far as heaven
from
hell,
from the
of
Abraham be
igno-
And
We
which he denied, issue in Here is one who has not obeyed the admonition of the preceding parable,
mercy." him again. The crumbs the drop of water which is denied to him.f
merciful, for they shall obtain
it is
measured
to
who has
not
made
friends of the
mammon
him
of unrighteousness, and
into everlasting habita-
now
yet
none
to receive
tions.
it
That Abraham's reply contains a refusal of his petition is clear; is not so certain what exact meaning we shall attribute to his
in thy life-time receivedst thy
two explanations;
good things,"
thee,
the
to signify,
good things." There are and the commonest one would make "thy temporal felicities these, which were goods to
first
;
best
know
this
:
" Son, thou hadst thy choice, the things eternal or the things tem;
when
that is
run through,
it is
also."
to
which he received
words of Bishop
Sanderson.:}:
The answer
of
in
Abraham was
thee,
"If
remember thou
punishment of thine ungodliness there in hell but as for Lazarus he hath had the chastisement of his infirmities [his ' evil things'] on earth already,
*
Augustine
inferni.
t Augustine
micam
Evang.)
Oh
And
maxime
pecca.rat.
368
and now remaineth
here in heaven."
men
yet in his justice he reserveth eternal danmation, as the due wages, by that justice, of their graceless impenitency, so he punishetb
those remnants of sin that are in godly n>en with these temporal
tions, for
afflic-
whom
mercy he reserveth eternal salvation, as the due wages, yet by that mercy only, of their faith and repentance and holy obedience." This was Chrysostom's view of the passage,* and
yet in his
whom
in general follows
this meaning of the which has certainly something to commend it. But whether there be in the words such a meaning or not, this is in
strongly maintains
them, as in so
many
other passages of Scripture, namely, that the reits evil, the course of ever a sign and augury of ultimate reproba-
an unbroken prosperity,
tion.
is
{Ps. xvii.
;
4; Luke
vi. 24,
25.)
Nor
is
to perceive
for there
being in every
man
who
dross which has need to be purged out, and which can only be purged
out by the
left
fire
of pain and
affliction,
he
is
with
all his
be no partaker of that holiness without which no ntan shall see God. Thus Dives, to his endless loss, had in this life received good things
without any share of
evil.
|[
But now
all is
re-
De
Laz., Cone.
3.
He
xv.
27
xviii.
30
xxiii. 41,)
quite bear
him out
O mundi
explanation
X
was
his.
:
Horn. 40 in Evaiig.
Dum
dicitur, Recepisti
bona
in vita,
tudjndicatur
et
iste
malum
:
aliquod,
quod purgaretur.
et repulit.
afflixit et tersit,
Cf. Moral.,
5, c. 1.
In like
manner
Quemad-
modum
premium cujuscunque levissimi boni opens, a saying which Gfrorer {Urchristenthum, v. 2, p. 171), applies here.
petrarunt, ita in seculo hoc rependitur impiis
^ Augustine
II
Quid
infelicius felicitate
peccantium
Thus
in the .Jewish
affliction
day
in
extreme
to laugh,
while
all
for this,
saw
he
master
in
lest
'was receiving
world
but
now
359
things,
is
is
torment-
ed
for
to the flesh,
things has
in
commenced
in
which the
flesh
the soul.
retaliation,
which requires
is
that the
to the
brought home
the rich
evil,
man,
is
and
elements which
gathered
world are
mingled and
*'
in confusion, begins.
Like
to like,
good by na-
and
this separation is
permanent.
a great gulffixed" not a mere handbreadth Jews fabled, but " a great gulf,'" and not merely there, but only, as the an eternal separation, a yawning chasm, too deep to fixed "* there,
is
^^
be
filled
is
no passing from
cannot,
one side
other
from hence to you us that would come from thence." Now, intelligible, for we can quite understand
the lat-
the lost
desiring to pass out of their state of pain to the place of rest and blessedness, but
it
is
"
they
who
but
you cannot."
The
for a season,
to
any
however
they,
they
may
full
Can
being
Nay,
is
not such a
Abraham?
And
if
they do thus
and yet
it
may
felicity 1
solution
it.
for
all
the answers
A question vvhich must wait for which commonly are given do not
he has yet a request
to that to
reach
for himself,
urge for
at least
world of woe,
"
I pray
my
lest
I have five
brethren,
that he
may
testify
unto them,
ment."
He and
might be Pharisees
(\Ieuschen's N. T.
still
to
come.
Hiatus
non
solilm est,
verum etiam
fir-
matus
est.
370
in
'
unseen world
which now he was finding so fearful a reality would now desire by Lazarus to warn them.
"testify," to speak, that
his brethren's good,
is,
and that
was such, he
Lazarus
will be able to
he, who hitherto had been merely selfish, exsome have found the evidence of a better mind beginning, and the proof that suffering was already doing its work in him, was awakening in him the slumbering germ of good.:}: With this view, were it the
which
presses,
right one,
his
own
ultimate restoration,
eter-
and the whole doctrine of future suffering not being vindicative and
nal, but corrective
:
favour with
all
those
no
especially when, as
by a personal
interest,
by a lurking
own
standing in Christ
is
insecure or none.
But the
rich
root.
There
lies in
it
What
a bitter re:
is
here involved
" If
had been
sufficiently
me
sufficient-
though
life
eternal and
to
an
Moses was
hear of
more
at length
he showed. (Matt.
xxii. 31,
32.)
ther
Abraham,
from
the
Non
dubito quia
cum
cum
1
fratribus suis,
.
.
mortem
tus est
?
quis inde
1.
10,
c.
13), he
is
to
return
doom
of sinners.
has a discussion to
which
qui
occasion
Utruin daninati
damnatos,
He
37J
true of the faithful that their works do follow Ihem, and that their
is
temper here
their
temper
in
Word
men
something else
in hell that
to lead
them
repentance.
We have
here re-appearing
"Show
us a sign that
on the
lips
we may believe," which was so often They believe, or at least think and portents, but will not believe God's Word.
!
vain expectation
for in the
words of Abraham,
" If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
considered.
will not
These words demand to be accurately though one rose from the dead." Dives had said, " they will repent; " Abraham replies, they
the
from
even " be persuaded." Dives had said, " if one loent unto them dead ;" Abraham, with a prophetic glance at the world's unbe-
if
one rose
from
the
dead."
He
in fact is
saying
him, "
you de-
mand would
men would
I tell
you supyou
gives us
they would not even be persuaded by the rising of one from the dead.""}"
is
most weighty,
it
it is
for
where there
is
a determined
which
more than transitory. Nor will there fail always to be a loophole someand this is well, or we where or other, by which unbelief can escape should have in the Church the faith of devils, who believe and tremble. AVhen the historical Lazarus was raised from the dead, the Pharisees
;:j:
were not by
(John
xi.
this
of Christ, and yet they did not deny the reality of the miracle
47
xii.
10.)
* Bengel
t
relicto luxu,
secum
intulit in inferno.
It is
a pityjhat
we have
Uv rn
we have
in the re;
rightly
TropevBrj
Abraham
dnd
vf/tpJi/
in the request
Ik vcKpCii/
When
for instance
to
become a
Christian,
if
historical Lazarus,
he
knew
very well that in his sense of the word convince, and with
it
was impossible
mand.
372
the World of spirits
titudes
who acknowledge
at all
as setting a seal
to all his
claims to be heard and obeyed, yet are not brought by this ac-
knowledgment
nearer
to
faith.
And
sal to
it is
of Abraham's refu-
He
showed
himself, not to the Pharisees, not to his enemies, " not to all the
own
disciples alone.
It
was
x.
41,) to his
that no sign
it
should be given them but the sign of the prophet Jonah, yet
was a
mercy
had
also, for
risen
At
the
same time
it
is
was a
man's
when he
remains only
to
who
alle-
maintain
gorical
;
leave
it
to
allow
it
and the
the
kingdom
cxlvii. 14)
Domine,
gratias misericordise
tuae
mod,
surrexit ab inferis.
370, note,)
there
is
mind of man,
satisfaction
is
that he
who
gives
assurance of the reality of the things after death should have himself returned from the
world of
spirits,
its
in
the resurrection
of Christ.
The same
plainly but
an imitation of
De
sera
Numinis
vin-
dictd.
1.
2, qu. 38)
justitiatn, et
suam
volentes constituere
Epulatio spiendida,
eft.,
pompam
relalionis abutentes
qu^m
Compare Gregory
40 in Evang.:
iste
and Moral.,
1.
25,
c.
13) and
II.
Dives
Judai-
cum populum
iX'^"
'"'"'
est ad nitorem,
non ad
utilitatem.
Theophylact:
icpo)aufni>.
He
373
They
were amply furnished with all spiritual blessings " enriched," as Theophylact describes it, "with all knowledge and wisdom, and with the precious oracles of God." They were the vineyard which the Lord had
planted, and of
to
my
to
vineyard, that
which he could say, " What could have been done more I have not done in it ?" (Isai. v. 2, 4.) They were
the high places of the earth,
the glory, and the covenants,
the people
and
whom he had made to ride on whom pertained " the adoption, and
these things
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises."
But
all
that they
who were
ledge of God, but that they might spread around them the true faith and knowledge of God. Yet they did not so ; " Behold," said St. Paul, " thou
art called a
Jew, and
his will,
and knowest
being instructed out of the law, and ait confident that thou thyself art a
in
dark-
for
;
and
this talent
true God, these privileges, and this election, they had turned into a selfish thing.
that
God had
blessed
;
them aZone of
all
people, instead
blessing, of
as
was
which they should have been the channel, and through them he was pi'esented the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles to the Gentiles under a false character and in an unworthy light.f
at their
at the
and without
it,
were "
common-
:"fuU
sores of
infinite.
These
Rom.
In
modem
times Lomeier has wrought out this view at length, Ohss. Analytico-Didact.
ad Luc.
for
is in this
See
Von Meyer's
v. 6, p.
88,
It
an exposition not
* Baai\etov
historically the
of this one.
Exod.
xix. 6
compare
1 Pet.
ii.
9.
t H. de Sto Victore
Non ad
And
X
crumbs
Gentiles ad cognitionera
non admittebant.
TLevrn dd<i}v 'xapiTiav Kai
<jo<pias.
Theophylact
374
consequent on those
But these
i.
(Isai.
6,)
were neither
came and
is
Here,
as
must so
is
added only
to
complete the
Are there
its
indicated
ments of
the
wretched medicine
which the heathen world derived from its poets and philosophers and legislators, as Lomeier proposes ? or is it meant that even in this depth
of man's misery, nature spake to him, in faint and feeble accents, of
mercy and
17,)
sympathy
be fed from
crumbs
that
fell
It
cannot, indeed, be
said that the Gentiles directly desired the satisfaction of their spiritual
for
we know
this,
a very great degree the case; though indeed the spread of Juit,
is
more than
emperors.*
Roman
first
But the yearning of their souls after something better and truer than aught which they possessed, was, in fact, a yearning after that which the Jew did possess, and which, had he been faithful to his privileges and his position, he would certainly have imparted. Christ was " the
Desire of
acre
every yearning after deliverance from the bondso that implicitly and un-
consciously the heathen was desiring to be fed from the Jews' table, desiring from thence an alleviation of his wants, but desiring
it
in vain.
The dying
find their
tile
answer
the
Gen-
immunities and
consolations of the
kingdom of God
now
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
10; Ephes. ii. 11-13.) But Dives dies also, the Jewish economy and now Dives is in torments, " in heU?^' surely also comes to an end, not too strong a phrase to describe the misery and despair, the madness
and blindness and astonishment of heart, which are the portion of a people, that having once known God, fall from that knowledge, of an
apostate and God-abandoned people.
The fundamental
idea of hell
is
v. 1, p.
375
was the
his-
God
and
his
whom
wrath came
uttermost.
Who
latter
some of
its
minutest
when
fire
that nation
seemed
its'
to
and fixing
sting in
own
hell
was already
there
Nay, and
fall
torments?"
foretells their
which
for instance, to
Lev.
or call to
which speak of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, which shall be their portion, when they see the despised Gentiles coming from the east and the west, from the north and from the south, and sitting down in the kingdom
of God, while they themselves are thrust out.*
(Luke
xiii.
28-30.)
some consolation from Lazarus, whom before he despised, so the Jew is looking for the assuagement of his miseries through some bettering of his outward estate, some relaxation of severBut
as Dives looked for
ities
imposed
upon him,
some
improvement of
his
civil
condition,
for
He
The
knows
God does
is
misery
and so long as
alleviation
unremoved, he
is
which he craves
not given,
were
in vain to give
it
the
one true alleviation would be that he should be himself received into the
kingdom of God,
to
whom
him
but without
this,
everything else
is
is
fiery tongue.
That there
no allusion
in the parable to
when
blessings shall be filled up, makes nothing against this interpretation since exactly the same argument might be applied, and we know incorrectly, to call in question the ordinary explanation of the parable of the
Wicked Husbandmen
stored to
its first
nothing
is
cultivators,
By
scheme
who
same abuse of their spiritual privileges. The Gentile Church is in one sense Lazarus brought into Abraham's bosom ; but when it sins as the Jewish Church did before it, glorying in its gifts, but
are tempted to the
* Theophylact: 'E/tj
<^Xoyi KaraKoiovTai Tov (^QSvov,
376
not using
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
them
for the calling out of the spiritual life of
men, contented
to see in its
its
thens to
whom
it
has
little
and of
his salvation,
then
is
far as
it
thus sins,
it
is
the five brethren of Dives, who*<are in danger of coming with him, and
for sins similar to his, to this place of torment.
that, before
Nor
are
we
to
imagine
its
judgment
it
high calling,
summonses,
dream of security by any startling any novel signs and wonders, any new revelation, any
will be roused
from
its
Lazarus
remind
it
it
and bidding
its
it
to repent.
It
of
its
duty,
has enough to
it
has
its
deposit of truth,
its
talent
wherewith
part of
was bidden
to trade
till
Lord's return.
So
of those awful words which St. Paul addressed to the Gentile converts at Rome " Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them
:
which
fell
;
continue in his
xi. 22.)
goodness
(Rom.
PARABLE
XXYII.
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
Luke
xvii.
7-10.
Some
interpreters find
dis-
course which precedes it, while others affirm that no such can be traced, that the parable must be explained without any reference to the sayTheophylact suping concerning faith which goes immediately before.
poses this to be the link between the parable and the preceding verse
the Lord had there declared the great things which a living faith would
remove mountains
dif.
* So Cajetan
quod
et eis col-
latum
intelligitur.
insidiatur ut pereant,
eorum
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
377
must be content
to refer to,* as
it
would take
up considerable space to do it justice. Olshausen gives this explanation The apostles by that account which went before of the hindrances
:
in their
to
work, (ver.
1, 2,)
4,)
had
The Lord
;
there-
would
set before
them
him
difficult or
not,
welcome
but
or otherwise,
must be done
him.
to
were
for
if not, still it
was
be done.
toil
Neither were
at
strenuously
yet not
labouring
the less
also.
ploughing or feeding
to
cattle,''^
resume
house
Such
his explanation,
in the
traces
it,
there
is
this
seem
there
is
no appearance as
who made
to
it
ward.
ion
that
in
which
it
is
found, affirming
all we can we must retain all
how God
this,
is
do
the
is
our work
acknowledgment of
;
vainglory
God
out of the
to
;
were bound
of that
all ?
we must be deeply humbled before thought that, did we do all, we should only do what we and how then must it be, when we fall so infinitely short
how
rather
different
if
I
But altogether
formally proposed,
is
that first
:}:
Venema
illustra-
The
is
not
meant
to
represent at
all
the stand-
new
Jew under
preceding.
it
grew
had.
manner out of
the discourse
The
disciples
* Quast. Evang.,
1.
2, c. 39.
Maldonatus,
who
is
any connexion,,
Diss. Sac
p.
262, seq.
25
378
asked
for increase
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
of
faith.
The Lord
in
necessity and transcendent value of that gift for which they were asking,
would magnify
its
value, showing
them how
all
outward works
done without
that in those
owed no thanks
the servants
who
did
and of no account
in his sight.
The arguments of Grotius and Venema are mainly these. They object to the common interpretation, that it sets forth in a wrong aspect the relations which exist between Christ and his people. They ask. Is it likely that the gracious Lord who in another place said, *' Henceforth
I
call
but
wish
merely
he,
and
for
would
recognition of their
filial
of bondage
but of adoption, here throw them back so strongly on their servile relation ?
^'
It
was
not,
spirit that
whom
the lord
when he cometh
watching
"them
xiisit
verily,
to
make
(Luke
down
2X-)
On
the other hand the parable does, they affirm, exactly set
least of the
God.
They were
hired
to
they received
But going no
of
faith,
further than this bare fulfilling of the things expressly enjoined* them, and
fulfilling
them without
filial spirit
* Exactly the same stress which they would here lay on ra fiiara^xdivTa is laid by Origen {In Rom^, L 3), although his purpose, as will be seen, is different Donee quis hoc facit tantum quod debet, t. e.,ea qujE praecepla sunt, inutilis servusest. (Luc. xvii. 10.) Si autem addas aliquid pracceptis, tunc non jam inutilis servus eris, sed dicetur ad te:
:
Euge
serve bone et
fidelis.
St.
c.
2,) without
indeed making Origen's dangerous use of the passage, and lowering the
it
has implicitly
same explanation of
and
delight,
mentioned
in the text.
Expounding Cant,
2, he has occaeion to
epeak of a service, rendered indeed, but without joy and alacin Evangelio qui
rity
Mandata
Ut
igitur
forsan
utcumque adimpleo
sed
anima
mea
holocaustum
meum
pingue
fiat,
osculetur
oris sui.
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
contented
to stop short
379
just done so
much
as
would enathe
whom
work Lord
fa-
who could
is
marks of
vour
at his
hands.*
It is
something attractive
;
in this expoit
sition, f
or that
it is
but yet
might
it.
way
to the
arguments of those
to,
that uphold
The
should be considered
clarations.
as supplying the
This
is is
the
the
way God 7nighi deal for we may observe, it is way he will deal, since rather that other is the
bear himself towards his faithful serto the scrictness of justo the
is
manner
vants
;
in
which he
will actually
that
which according
is
tice he
that
to
which according
riches of
to
his
We,
that footing he
this
him,
same time
loc.)
is
we
put
upon
Grotius (in
the parable.
From Maimonides
:
Jew and
ol Si TTvcvuariKol
tovto SriXovai
KOi
vTTcp0aii>civ
rii
ETrirdy/iura.
We
5'Aep-
might compare, especially with that Jewish proverb, one of the Similitudes in the
Acrrfof Hernias,
(1.
3, sim. 5,)
which
is
briefly
this:
An
left
and no more
yard,
if also
would
profit the
vineit
he were
weed
it
and dig
it,
which he did
in
had
to give
him
and
to
make him
own
son.
It is true that
Hermas makes an
1.
is
in itself remarkable.
3, c.
An
bene-
domino servus
possit
which he answers
in
the affirmative:
Quamdiu
quod k servis exigi solet [rh Siara^Oivra] ministerium est,ubi plus qutim quod
:
servilis officii
et
He
has
much more on
qui,
the
same
subject.
Wetstein's also
:
Sunt nimirum
hoc
alii
serviunt liberaliter, ut
Domino
placitura credunt.
lUos Christus hie perstringit et vituperat eo fine ut discipulos ad altiorem gradum perducat.
380
that footing, he
fiivours
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
will not
;
for so long,
we
are capable of
It 'is
receiving his
only
to the
humble,
to
the self-abased before God, that he can give grace, for wliere this humility
is not, it is
so the gifts of
God
wickednesses, more dangerous and more deadly than the natural corruptions of man's heart.
And
is set
forth here
than
is
New
how needful
to
that in hours
when we
are tempted
feel that
draw back,
is
to
shun and
necessity
laid
upon
that
us,
we
do them willingly,
we
must be done,
will,
we
are servants
for
who
that
but
to
do
it.
Good
us
it
is
we
kept in the
way
:
of duty,
till
the time of a
more
but
is
;]"
its
for
such
dience,
These indeed, must ever be the chief and prominent motive to obe(Rom. xii. 1,) and so long as they prove sufficient, the others will
;
not appear
but
it is
themselves
needed.
felt,
summonses to duty, ready to come forward and make when our evil and our corruption causes them to be
it,
Well
Lord
is
pleased gracious-
ly to accept our
it is
work and
to
reward
we
lation to
this footing.
it
For there
is
also another
upon which
not, yet
yea,
we must evermore
it
so far at
At
the
same
it
makes
'"
need, while
has rendered
yci
x'''P"'
^-
wear even a severer aspect tlian is " Doth he thank that servant ?" thus
servant's work.
It
all
of the
would be
it,
better,
" Doth he count himself especially beholden to that servant 1" as Weisse gives
er
Weiss
So Heb.
xii.
28,
c'x'^t'cv x'tp'",
which should be
See Tittman's
Si/non'i;7ns, s. v. dxpctoi.
:
iste
quern
amor castum
facit,
;
gaudium
non
non
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.
least as
iS
381
every
A
temptation to bring in
it
God
which, inconceivable as
the matter,
is
yet what
men
it
more
real difficulty in
parable, as
it
appears
to
me,
is this,
that of the
first
part of
commend
pa-
that
we do
the time from our labours, or snatch too early at the reward
but rather
who only
when
no further need of
(xi.
that, in the
words
20)
we
learn to
wax
we
Such appears the lesson of the first part of the after we have made some exertion, smaller or
have a claim
to be
that
we do
not,
we
but on the
contrary, ever, as
hill
of labour, perceive a
new one
also.
rising above
in the
for the
is
surmounting of that
this patient con-
But
10)
it
no longer
is
we
God
we can do
value.
is
of merest duty,
to
poor and of
little
that impatience
of our work
that
it
while he
who
is little,
is all
gives him a
claim henceforward
some new
field
of labour where he
may
God
as his debtor.
root,
states of
mind, spring-
same remedy, by
is,
God
that
it is
one
all
of servants
to a
when we
to,
doing of
of our condition
we
are bound
which
not to do
but
which
*
to
do
is
no merit.
Ambrose {Exp.
in
Luc,
te
1.
defceneratum.
Non
te piaeferas,
filius
Dei diceris
noranda natura.
Neque
jactes
bene
.
servisti,
quod facere
Obsequitur
sol,
prcEripiamus judicium Dei etpraeveniamus sententiam judicis: sed suo tempori, suo judici reservemus.
382
With regard
remark.
cinct
is
not
much
to
All are aware that the waiting at table with the dress suc-
flerful the
was a mark of servitude,* which to keep in mind makes more woncondescension of the Son of God in his saying, Luke xii. 37, and in his doing, John xiii. 4. With regard to the confession which he puts into the mouthsof his disciples,^ " When ye shall have done all those commanded
you, say,
If.
We
we may
truly observe, as
many have observed before, if this have done all, how much more, and with how
when
their consciences bear
to
they are to
far deeper
them witness, as
done all that was commanded, they have in innumerable things grievously failed and come short of their duty, of what they might and ought
to
have done.
PARABLE
XXVIII.
1-8.
This parable
is
ly before, with the description of the sufferings and distress of the last
when even
Then
will be,,ac-
Venema
quotes from Philo (De Vita Contempl.) a passage, concerning the Egyp6i nal KaOcjjivoi toSj
iirrtpcTrjcrui'TCi, it'CKa
tov
ftttSlv
rd cvjtT^6aiov.
Augustine
Bengel
Miser
tusqui se ipse.
Cajetan
turi assent
:
Quod
:
igitur dicitur,
si
Quum
feceritis
omnia
sed quod
quum
ut
Ji
merita habuerint
fortiori se
recogno-
quam
Our Church
trine of
works of supererogation.
Of.
91.
383
among the Jews, and new creation,* and the
distresses of that time are the motive here set forth for prayer,
distress.
felt,
felt
more intensely
to
than ever.
pray,'' that
"
He
men must
If
not so
much
Nor
is this
all
that
it
(with
is
Ephes.
thing
vi.
18
Thess.
v.
17,) there
not be fulfilled,
when we understand of
;
having indeed
its
life
of the
faithful
prayer,
is to salt
expresses
it,
salt
which
is
ac-
KTiaig
t
* 'ApY'; cvv 0)
Matt. xxiv.
8.
Compare John
xvi. 21,
and Rom.
viii.
22, izaaa
fi
V e
I.
turn a
good deal on
and contain many remarkable things on the extreme needmedicine expelling spiritual sicknesses
fulness of prayer
he
calls it the
the
foundation
that
to the soul
fish
;
to the
life
body.
He
likens
man
to a city
without
walls,
and exposed
to all assaults
him
that
is
starts back, as
soldier's bed.
midnight robbers
start
Benedictine editors
But
if
it is
to be consid-
ered an error,
is quite
who
the
could write
the
it is.
But
it
names of
(Ezra
three great Eastern monarchies were of old continually confounded, and this where
Thus Darius
is called,
;
vi..
xiii. 6,)
king of Babylon
the explanation:
different, but(
{Bihl'.
empires, as
we
call
v.
D'Herbelot
East
II
faut
que
les
des
an
:"
Non
384
customed
at sun-rising,
conceives a sense of
God upon every occasion, that as a flower God in every beam of his, and spreads
in a thankfulness, in
and dilates
itself
towards him,
her,
.
that he sheds
upon
does not
know
prays."*
Many
Thus,
to
matter,
drawn
in
as they are from the depths of his own Christian life. one place, " It was not for nothing that the apostle said, Pray
'
without ceasing.'
the body, or
lift
Can we,
bow
up
ing
is
Thei'e
is
Whatever
else thou
thou longest after that Sabbath of God, thou dost not intermit to pray.
If thou wishest not to intermit to pray, see that thou do not intermit to
desire
if
thy continual
is
desire
is
Thou
it is
wilt be silent,
to love, for
whom
written,
'
Be-
many
shall
wax
cold.'
The
is
cold-
the cry
But he who knew how easily we are put off from prayer, and under vvhat continual temptations to grow slack in it, especially if we find not at once the answer we expect, warns us against this very thing, bidding us to pray always, and '^ not to faint,"j^ not to grow weaof the heart. "f
ry, since in
if
we
faint not
and
in proof of this
whom
tlie
fee-
widow
they
at length extorted
to
he was deter-
mined
deny.
but the Son of
It
None
to
use this
in
comparison.
of any other.
For as
we were
God
Sermon XI.
On
the Purificniion.
:
cst.tt
si
continuum
clamor cordis
;
est
:
and elsewhere
Tota
sanctum desideCf.
rium
330,
t
est
and again
vita tua
semper laudet.
elsewhere
Ep.
c. 8.
'EKKaKcTn
in the
New
Testament only
Ibis
ter
"fainting
lat hostis;
elsi differt,
dormis
tu.
in oratione
quod concessurus
non
aufert.
385
an imrighieous judge.
at
Yet we must not seek therefore to extenuate as great pains to do, and by many forced constructions
his
we
conceive
more does
prayer becomes.
If a bad
hates,
which he
man will yield to the mere how much more certainly will
is
a righteous
God
The
judge
is
an unrighteous one,
set forth,
is
and
rid of, if
it
rather
a circumstance deliberately and voluntarily chosen for the mightier setIn two strokes
is
"He
that
6-9; Lev.
xix.
15; Deut.
in
i.
16, "17;
7;) nor
him
God
poor and miserable substitute, the respect for the opinion of the
world,
to either. And what was worse avow this contempt to himself. The case, therefore, of any suppliant was the more hopeless, especially of one weak and poor weak, so that she could not compel him to do her justice and poor, so that she could not supply him with any motive, why for her sake
he should brave,
it
might
the
be, the
Such, no doubt,
is
widow of
widow
in-
Many
widowhood
is to
get rid of
it is
not,
and mentioned
in
SuicER, TAes
s. V. -f)(T;j.
It
Ewe Lamb,
c.
Sam.
xii. 1,)
given by Ambrose.
(Apolog.
5.)
1):
modo
Haec
exaudit qui ut rogemns, hortatur? and Tertullian, on the holy violence of prayer:
vis
Deo
est grata.
Clemens
Xui'pci b Gioj
to.
roiavra
TiTTU^eDOg.
386
wrongs
J*
Deut. xxiv.
iii.
5,
and
many
more.)
How
which
in
is
fitly
widow represent
which she draws her breath. Nor need it be only the Church at large which we see represented in her, but also any single soul in conflict with the powers of darkness and the world. The adversary then,
(" your adversary, the Devil," of this world, the head of
all
God
whole world
it ;
the spiritual
Herod
elect,
heavenly
child.
But the
of the Spirit,
groan within themselves, waiting their perfect redemption, are here represented as in conflict with those adverse powers, as suffering oppression from them ; till under the sense of that oppression, and of their helplessness to effect their
own
deliverance, a cry
is
wrung
aid,
man
in
his glory,
even
fall
the cry
Oh
the
when
and not
when
Church
shall be at rest,
from
all
Psalms and
in
them
and transient outward afflictions or persecutions which the Church or any of its members are enduring. The world is always, whether consciously or unconsciously, whether by flattery or by hostile violence,
to
of the
life
of
God
and prayer
is
For instance,
Ward
ita
in his Illustrations
Tiius, too,
Terence
Non,
Quae
in
Omnis anima
.
omni
hoc seculo
illi
;
si
suam
2. qu.
45
curam
287
enemy should
when they
feel the
danger
be urgent
lest the
And
the words in
which
me of mine
;
which we stand
to the evil
of which
we
working within us
that
it
is
holding us in bondage,
I," as St.
Paul (Rom.
vii.) is
so
careful to assert, for then redemption would be impossible, but sin which,
having introduced
itself,
evil
now seeking to keep us in bondage. It is to make us feel this distinctness bewhich is in us. The new creation is in this like
yet,
of man,
not indeed, as
to that
him who
is
may
act as
an op-
posing power
darkness.
the evil in
him are no
his comfort, he
him
he knows that
power which
it
him
is
an usurpation, and
God
;
to cast out
that
and knowing
he
is
able to
widow men go
"
Do
me
me
of,
this is the
same
petition that
we make
daily,
when we say
from
him who
the
For a time the judge was deaf to the widow's petition " He would When it was said above that the strength of the pa;
rable lay in the unlikeness between the righteous Judge of the world,
and
this
it
was
not
meant
to
be denied,
nay,
to
that
God
often seems to
man
be
acting as this unjust judge, to be turning a deaf ear to the prayer of his
people.
affliction
* Schleusner,
s. v. IkSiksoi
Assere
me
The
iii.
Vulgate
t
Vindica
me
de adversario meo.
xiii.
The analogy
19,
39
Eph.
vi.
16
2 Thess.
3,
;
would
and
all
Trovrjpov
show
that
was
so interpreted in the
Greek Church.
3S8
God
to
is
always willing
to
vouch-
them
They
cry, and
to
when they
receive no
left,
as
it
appears
at least
afflicted
to
we
perish ?"
Now
the parable
in fact
intended, as
we
shall
suffering long
are exposed.
We have
what he spoke
in
own
God
:-j-
He
yet be-
cause
this
will avenge
her,
lest
hy her continual
He was
any
own
but lest
he may be rid of her, that she may not plague nor vex him any more, as it was the same molive, though of course in a much milder form, which moved the disciples to ask for the woman of Canaan,
right, that so
t Bernard
t
Audit Deus
in corde cogitantis,
quod nee
ii;raj7r(d^i),
He
from
Wahl
incoTni^oi, sugillo, ut
same word
(1 Cor. ix.
which he submitted
v-Tovii^t,),
his body.
another reading,
in-oTrid^o)
or
its
favour.
It is
easy, however, to see how, in the present instance, that reading arose, the
tran-
an expression
till
for
for
how
his face
But the
;
man
described.
Bengel
Hyper-
et impatientis personae
conveniens
it is
own
;
ment
same
like
usage of words
thus
to
in
the
is
means
;
rightly, to put to
death by hanging
to
plague,
properly, to lash
easily be multiplied.
in this
:
Beza's translation,
thus Terence,
obtundat,
is
happy,
Ne me
obtundas
5,) that
it
ha,c
de re sa;pius.
pity
assertion
was
which
length
made by Chrysostom, De Laz., Cone. 3, cmoved the judge, is totally without foundation,
and opposed
389
alto-
Indeed
this parable
(Compare
and
Between the parable and its application, 6, it is likely that the Lord paused for a
that
is,
between vor, 5
sumed
"
Hear what
the unjust
first
judge sailh
and
nhall not
God avenge
own
elect .?"
In the
name, God;
if
?
elect
And
;
the antithesis
is to
be caris
the sentence
the righteous
God
not
only opposed
God,
our
;
to the
and the days and nights during which those prayers are made,
The
however, on their mighty and assiduous f crying as its ultimate ground, but on their election of God, which is, therefore, here brought especially
into notice,
ij:
this
name
might
at first sight
^just
same cause ; " At that time," that is, at the time of extremest distress, " thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be
traced up to the
written in the book."
found
*
The endeavour
force of importunity,
to extort
is
expected
East.
Thus
it
is
mentioned in
refer-
when
their crops
have
failed,
imposed on
their villages, or
when
(Job
they would
appeal against some tyrannical governor, will assemble before the gates of theSchah's
air,
ii.
12
Acta
till
cause, and thus given them at least an opportunity of stating their griefs
or some-
times they would beset him in the same manner, as he passed through the streets of
the city, and thus seek to gain,
and
382.
nivTOTt of ver. 1.
is
weak
it
translation of the
original poSv.
iv.
Tertullian translates
iii.
better
by mugire
is
is
10
Jon.
8,
LXX.
Jam.
v.
4) which
here attributed to
Bengel
(ore
vis
390
is
mostly used
God
to the sins
of men,
it
tience in giving
for repentance,
his pa-
would avoid
perplexity if here another phrase were used, as for instance, "though he bear them long in hand ?" or " though he delay with them long ?"*
that
is,
long, as
people as "
men count length. He may be slack in avenging his men count slackness," as compared with their impatience,
;
and with their desire to be at once delivered from affliction but, indeed, " he li'ill avenge them speedily,^' not leaving them a moment longer in
the fire of affliction than
that patience has
is
needful, delivering
them from
there
is,
it
the instant
is
had
its
perfect
work
so that
and there
meant
to be,
is
no real one,
to
it
The
relief
which
;
arrives speedily
according
to the far-seeing
* The words
aiiTois to
xal jiaKpoOvudv in
avTois
have created
is
much
difficuhy.
Some
refer
the oppressors,
;
on
whom
the vengeance
taken, and
iiaKpoOvjioiv is
then used
in its
commonest sense
God avenge his elect, though he bear long with Wolf says truly, Impiorum, de quibus ullio sit susee Heb.
vi.
Christus.
15
Jam.
v. 7,
Job
vii.
16
and
he says
Est
significatio,
vim
patitur.
who has
given rightly
the
meaning of
proverb
the Lord's
words (quamvis
lentfe
(8. V. jiaKpoOvfiiw)
The
may
Heft 3, pp. 117-125,) wherein he finds fault with this explanation, which he denies to
lie
in the words,
and makes
koX fiaKpoOvjioJi/
tir'
airoTs
fretful irritation
him
in his
own elect, when also he is patient toward them ?" shall he much the more while their reiterated prayers do not vex or
vexed and wearied the judge
weary him,
excite no impatience
Our Lord is then giving an additional motive why they should not faint in prayer. There may be a question, whether it is not the intention of the Vulgate to give this meaning, when it translates, Et patientiam habebit in illis 1 and of Luther: Und sollte Geduld darOber haben ? but dariiber is ambiguous. At all events this interpretation has no claim to be a new light thrown upon
but only pity in his heart.
the passage, as the writer supposes.
Homberg, (Parergn,
to
fall
p.
posed
it,
in loc.) is inclined
in
with
who sums up
the
meaning thus
refertur
exemplum
391
words
in
We may
Bethany (John
the
xi.) in
aid
milder example,
last, that
it
was not
till
fourth
he came to aid
his disciples
The words
" Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth .?" are perplexing, for they appear at first sight to call in question
the success of his whole mediatorial work.f
grounds
Church
will, at that
is
duced
to
a very
little
band
then few faithful or none, but that the faith even of the faithful will be
almost failing
at the tion
moment when
to fail
Son of man
shall
come
and deliverance, that even the hearts of his elect people will have
begun
them
for fear.
The
Jerusalem
shall
when
the
enemy shall be within its walls, spoiling and desoLord shall come forth, his feet standing on the Mount
against
its
of Olives,
to fight
enemies.
at his
have
Son of man
coming
or rather that faith, the faith which does not faint in prayer, with allusion
to ver. 1,
the faith
light will
he
to,
will
The
fail,
verse
stands parallel
and
may
Lord's
" For the elect's sake," lest their faith also should
and so
p.
136)
Opponuntur
sibi jiaKpoQvjiuiv
atque
iv Taxt^,
fortasse ad
hominum opinionem
ad sapi-
remarks on the impatience of men, contrasted with the seeming tardiness of God.
+
We
were used by
the Church,
when
2.)
answered, (applying
to their
own day
this
this
that the
find faith
t
fewness of the
how he
should hardly
faith, as the
iricru vpoffev:
TrioTis.
And
Augustlne
quis
enim
orat quod
non
credit
392
no
flesh should
xxiv. 22.)
PARABLE XXIX.
9-14.
The
for
last
;
parable was
this that
it
to
severing
must
humble. f
Some have
set
supposed,
as,
rejection of the Jew and the acceptance of the Gentile ; the Pharisee being the representative of that whole nation, which would have taken
is
curious-
his
own, and
likely to
remain
so.
The
Roman
pressors.
widow
be delivered from
op-
The
to persecute,
this is
persecute
Yet
stranger than
the
view of
1.
5, c. 25,)
c.
and of
37.
Hijipolytas, or
is
whoever
Be
Antichristo,
The widow
the earthly
flesh,
is
Antichrist, for he
(ver. 2,)
for aid
against
him
whom
They
v.
see an
and
to the
43
Dan.
t Augustine
finds a
Quia
fides
non
est
superborum sed
Erklar.
d.
Parab.,
p.
974.
iS)
thinks this
application
may
be made, though
Hoc
latius accipi-
Judaeorum
ille.
Gentium
Gentium
isaeus,
Phar-
Judaicum populum
significat, qui
merita sua,
et
superbiendo recedit.
qui long6
a Deo
et
exaltatur.
Schleier-
macher
here
it
mean a
term parable
is
New
Testament.
393
the
whom
commonly
classed;
the one glorying in his merits, proudly extolling himself above the sin-
ners of the Gentiles, but through this very pride and self-righteousness
failing to
meekly acknowledging his vileness, and repenting of his sins, is justified freely by his grace. But the words with which the parable is introduced (ver. 9), and which must give the law to its interpretation, are It was spoken " unto certain which trusiedin themopposed to this view.
selves that they were righteous,
and despised
in
olhers ; the
aim of
that
it
was
to
cure a
him.
fault
some of those
surrounded
He
had seen
some of
is
of
self-exaltation,
accompanied, as they always will be, with the jaonno hint given
in
tempt of others.
There
now
before him
he
is
some of
I
his
own
followers;
say, in
some of
It
his
own
followers,
because
he
is
to
no
profit to
Pharisee praying, as
it
this
one prays
There
in
would have been for them no conviction of for one who had advanced much further in
danger of
deformity.
repent.
falling
to
spiritual insight,
though
back
be plainly shown
He would
"
we
1,)
wliich
is
in
it
and
his sect
or
ever they were, by laying them bare, and exposing them openly and nakedly before
himself?
to irritate
to reform or
parties in
for
it
the question
proper or not.
26
394
to say,
Deliver
me
who
know
that they
have an adversary
much and
grievously transgressed,
are
now
mourning them,
sins,
who
who
shall deliver
and from the curse of God's broken law. The parable would make U3 feel how much nearer is such an one to the kingdom of God than the
self-complacent Pharisee, or than any
that he indeed
who share in the spirit and temmay be within it, while the other is
Christian customs,
of his
Even
stood also.
viii.
But
to
pray standing
vi.
was
vi.
the
;
manner
xi.
of the Jews
(1 Kin.
22
2 Chron.
12
Matt.
Mark
25
;)
though
in
liation or
one of kneeling
or prostration.
xxi. 5.)
(Dan.
vi.
10; 2 Chron.
13; Acts
ix.
The term
;
Church
it
was
so called, as
Ambrose explains
it,
up and
set
upon their
words somewhat
"
I
differently,
Some have combined the rendered the passage in this way and
feet.ij:
The Pharisee stood hy himself,^ and prayed." There would be certainly something morally striking in this construction of the passage,
* Gregory the Great {Moral.,
21) wittily likens this Pharisee, and
1.
19,
c.
all
who, because of
who
:
was
himself crushed by
its falling
body
(1
Mace.
vi.
46)
Deum
ad judicium
provocans
so also Theophylact.
He stoodJoTNvardjrominently
his devotions, (see Matt. vi. 5,)
so that
men might
see
him
was engaged
in
fioKpoOev ianm-,
and
init.
and Ambrose, De
X
Off.
Minist.,
1.
lavTuv.
So Cameron and
J.
who make
npdi lavruv
Kad'
395
would
also in
outward
act,
desired
;
unclean worshippers
it is
to.
His prayer
its
at first
seems
to
promise well
;
thee,'^
yet
to
veil
and he cannot
for the
thank God
He
it
and use
to
this
allotting, as
they do,
;
themselves the
God
the second
or so recognizing
common
own
sins require.":}:
Thus
little
it
how infinitely short we are of true we have been to that grace, what we ought to, and might, have been, having had such help at com-
mand
much
for
our needs,
for the
sense of need which he has awakened within us, as for the supplies of
But
this
Pharisee thanks
God
that he is
men/' as the
rest of
into
his
to
such
a pitch as this
as
he in one class,
all
And
them
they do not merely come a little short of his excellencies, but ; And then, his eye alighting they are " extortioners, unjust, adulterers."
Hesychius
^apKrator
aipupiajiivoi,
:
fitjicpiajiivo;,
Kadapus.
St.
Bernard observes
how
non
c. 3,)
Quid
?
gratias
t
There
is
an interesting anecdote
told o( the
ness on his
way
to
At Rostock, where he was overtaken by a mortal illSweden, he was attended on his death-bed by a Lutheran clergythis last
man, named Quistorp. When man, on the one side, of all his
merits and reputation which
Jesus, as of the one
fidelity
due
to a
dying
sins
filled
way
am
that
of Grotiiw.
396
PUBLICAIV.
nothing, but that he
to
on the publican,* of
was
supply the
dark back-ground on which the bright colours of his own virtues shall
and
it
may
oT
in confirmation
to cast
for this.
So perfect
is
he in regard to the
first
is
;
commands
he
is
He
twice
now
returns to the
in that also
without blame.
Ifast
in the
week."
to
He
According
was ap-
29; Num. xxix. 7,) but the more religious Jews, both those who were so and those who would seem so, and especially the Pharisees, kept two fasts weekly,:|; on
day of
atonement,-f- (Lev.
xvi.
fifth
days
in the
week.
Thus
the law
does he
nor
is this
all
commanded only to tithe Deut. fruit of the field and produce of the cattle, (Num. xviir. 21 the Lev. xxvii. 30,) but he tithed mint and cummrn, (Matt, xxiii. xiv. 22 23,) all that came into his possession, down to the trifles on which there was question, even in the Jewish schools, whether it was needful to tithe
I give
tithes
of
all that
I possess ;"
them or
claim
to
not.
(Hos.
sii.
8.)
He would
;
he would
bring in
fasiing
in
to
God
as his debtor
and paying of tithes, which were given to men, the first to wakeg them the sense of inward poverty and need, the second to bring then) feel that whatever they had, they were debtors for it to God and
his,
stewards of
turning even
Acknow-
sin, there is
none
in his prayer, if
2.)
and by Philo,
are led astray by the too aa/S/^uTov here, (in the Vufgate, in
vpon
the Sabbath,
though
difficult to
aitSiSara,
its title
hand
the Sabbath was called iffiojiai. 'Oaa KTd^ai, which should be rather, All that I acquire, or. All It is only the perfect xcKTi^jiai which means, I possess, mihi redeunt).
I
in other
words,
have earned.
error.
All the English translations, with the Vulgate (quse possideo), share in a
common
397
is
without these.*
sins,
"
Had he
then no
sins to confess
who
,
But
let
God cover
;
for
if,
to
cover them,
Let him cover and cure them for under the covering of the physician the wound is healed, under the covit
is
only concealed
whom
from him
It
things are known, "f aggravates our sense of the moral outrage which
to
all
whom
is
involved in the
we keep
in
mind
we
I
this
in the fulness of a
first
make, as
think evidently
meant, the
whom
How
horrible a
when we
think of
it,
Te Deums
of angels,
which
at this very
moment
that repented.
For "
Augus-
from God,
for the
Lord
is
heaven,"
that
unto lift up so much as Ids eyes Holy One, for he felt as (he prodigal, he had sinned against heaven, (Luke xv. 18,) as Ezra when he exto
claimed, "
thee,
am ashamed,
and blush
to
lift
up
my
face to
trespass
is
grown up unto
the heavens."
(Ezra
ix. 6.)
He stood "
o/ar
c.
6)
Rogare veneras, an
te
laudare? totum
]
te
habere
nihil
tanquam egens
est,
petisti.
Quomodo
And
Serm. 115,
Parum
non
Deum
2'-
t Augustine, {Enarr.
is
who has
same
place
much more
Pharisaeus
that
c. 1
Non enim
ille
tam
qukm morborum alienorum comparatione gaudebat. Utilius autem illi erat.quoniam ad medicum venerat.ea de quibus aegrotabat confitendo monstrare,quain dissimulare k vulneribus suis, et de cicairicibus alienis audere gloriari. Non ergo mirum, si publicanus magis curatus abscessit, quem non puduit ostendere quod dolebat. Cf. Chrysostom, De Pmnit Horn. 2, 4. " Not so much as his eyes" far less then his hands and his countenance, which I
sua sanitate,
,
lifted
up
in prayer
(1
Tim.
ii.
Kin.
his.
viii.
lifted
up in
down
ground
is
is
^uoy.
Stabant conscientia.
flagitii
398
ap-
was
Jew
presuming
to press
knew something of
the holiness of God, and (which always exactly keeps pace with that
knowledge) of his own sinfulness and defilement he felt that his sins had set set him at a distance from God, and until he had received the atonement, the propitiation which he asks for, he could not presume to
;
draw
near.
of inward grief or self-accusation,* (Luke xxiii. 48,) as one judging himself, that he might not be judged of the Lord, and who would ac-
knowledge how much heavier strokes might justly come upon him, at the same time " saying, God he mercifvl-f to me a sinner, "X or " to me,
the sinful one ;" for as the other had singled himself out as the most
eminent of
have met
first
a characteristic trait
for
who
at that
can be equal
to his
own And he
',
like
smoke
into his
own eyes
for "
God
this
re-
went down
you
c. I)
Tundere
for as
homo
pcenitens, nisi
homo
sibi irascens
Bengel
is
Ubi dolor,
:
manus.
t 'WaaOnrt.
The
selection of this
word
very observable
see Passow,
who
witf>-
how
:
IXdaKoiiai
some
gift,
toriam propitiationis,
dat et indicet.
t
Earn vocis
iXdadrtre
vim
esse, ul
causam meri-
Christi passionem et
Qui
cum Deo
ipse
facit.
si
et lu accusas,
conjun-
homo
fecit.
et
peccator.
Quod
homo
Dele quod
in te
fecisti, ut
Deus
salvet
quod
c.
fecit.
;
in te
opus tuum,
ct
ames
ille
opus Dei.
Cf Serm. 36,
ille
11
and
Enarr. in Ps.
cebat ut
ille
Ixvi. 5.
Of
this publican
parceret, se agnoscebat ut
ieStKaioyidfos
5)
liberaret.
The
reading
I
was an unauthorized emendation in the Elzevir edition, which has since held its place in the text. The quesyup inctvof, which has far the greater amount of outtion lies between the readings
Testaments, has,
for
it
which
is
Greek
whatever.
ward
authorit
and
nof' iKcii/ov,
399
down
deed
for
is
in-
The
other
mean-
while went down from the temple, his prayer being finished, with the
same mean
cold,
that
are
no degrees
was con-
templated of
God as a righteous man, and the other was not;* so that here the words found their fulfilment, " He hath filled the hungry with
be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth
good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away ;" " Though the Lord
(Ps. cxxxviii. 6
fitly
afar off."
Isai.
Ivii.
15
Pet. v. 5, 6.)t
And
the
al-
whole parable
ready formed part of another of the Lord's discourses, (xiv. 11,) and
which, indeed, from the all-important truth which
it
words which
to the
it
seems
to
me
probable that
been written
to
TAP,
the
the insertion of 5)
and
the
make
commentators
is to
of the
Roman
Church, though in
teach.
Thus Maldonatus: Non significatur aut publicanum verfe justificatum fuisse, aut verfe damnatum Pharisaeum, quanquam ita Euthymius intelligit. He might have added many more who so understand it Tertullian, for instance, {Adv. Marc.,\. 4, c. 36,)
;
and Augustine
Nam
Dei
damnata descendit,
in the parable
two
(Enarr. in Ps.
. .
xciii.
12)
Ille
super-
bus erat
Placuit
any
close examination.
is
There may
malis
he,
and was
mala
there
no humilitas
it
in
factis, since in
of which
itself
and
again, there
no
possibility of
Augustine
;
magnum,
altus est
Deus
te
and of
;
this Pharisee
400
THE POUNDS.
PARABLE XXX.
THE POUNDS
Luke
xix.
11-27.
The
chiefest part of
what might
else
this parable,
The
Not
the
to
speak of the
many and
O'f
same discourse
its
the
one, of
is
But on
this
matter
it
will
be
needless to repeat, save exceedingly briefly, vvhat has been already said.
We
are
first
and spake a parable, because he was nigh thought that the kingdom of God should
for Christ,
Jerusalem,,
ivimediately
that,
:
such was
its
to
other hearers on this his last journey to Jerusalem, such as had not in-
to
These, though
now having
his
presence, to a considerable
to all the
degree under his influence, yet not the less were exposed
influences of their age, and liable to be
evil
drawn presently
into the
fast
mighty
against
him
and
this
especially, wjien
his death
in
his
own
had seemed
to belie
tensu
we may confidently assume that in Evang he would have soupht to bring them into harmony.
,
work, De Con-
THE POUNDS.
For them
citizens
is
401
14-27) concerning the
meant
who
him
Rome, and afterunmade kings, such a circumstance as that which serves for the groundwork of Thus Herod this parable can have been of no unfrequent occurrence. the Great was at first no more than a subordinate officer in Judaea,* and flying to Rome before Antigonus, was there declared by the senate, through the influence of Antony, king of the Jews. In like manner his son Archelaus had personally to wait upon Augustus in Rome, before
In the great
its
Roman
wards
History furnishes
many
it
was
and
felt
bees, "
whom they [the Romans] would help to a kingdom, those reign, whom again they would, they displace." (1 Mace. viii. 13.) That
is
he who should thus seek and obtain a kingdom was one well-born, a "moileman,''
only what
we
it
would be
little
likely that
his
would ren-
Nor is who was of such noble birth as he, who, even according to the flesh, came of earth's first blood was the Son of Abraham, the Son of David who was besides the eternal and only-begotten Son of God ? The kingdom which this nobleman goes to receive, can scarcely be,
der
it
would
install
him
there.
this
circumstance without
deeper significance,
for
as some understand
it,
kingdom,
and
illustrious citizens,
its
which
after a
it is
king.
Either sup-
position,
true,
would
whom
7,
this
nobleman represents
he went
over
it.
to
all
as the
it
Son of man
(Heb.
ii.
;)
But
receive solemn
which he had purchased with his return and claim as his own, sitting
the circumstances of the narra-
on the throne of
David
and
;
It
* First Procurator
afterwards,
crrpari/yJj.
402
was
THE POUNDS.
not over strangers, but over his fellovv-citizens, that the nobleman
to solicit a
departed
dominion
else
in their
message, "
We
man
go
will yield
him no obedience,
ance
to
at other
rule,
is
nor
own
allegi-
or whether, as
more probable,
to the
it
a message, or an
embassage
exaltation
rather,
would be
It
him
there, to declare
*'
We
our king."*
him
there,
and
if possible to
So again
his fellow-
we
find
him on
among
citizens
over
five cities,
and over
ten
having
power of life and death, and executing extreme judgment on those that had refused to admit his authority. There can hardly then be a question but that the kingdom which he goes to receive, is not any other,
but that very same of which he was himself originally a citizen.
" and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them,
Occupy \
till
come.''
The sum
is
very
much
at
once explained,
apostles,
if
we keep
this is
in
mind how
that parable
was spoken
to the
who
spoken
How
remarkable
is
of him in the third person, " this man," (tovtov,) seems a strong
npeaffcia is
(See
this, it
to
immense households
lies, (see
of antiquity, which, as Seneca says, were nations rather than fami1, p. lOG,) this
Becker's Gallvs,\.
to
be
him.
npny/iartiiiTiKTOt,
Employ in trading. " Occupy," is here a Latinism. Thus, occumoney in business, or put out to interest, does not lie idle, is in employed. So in Nortu's Plutarch, p. 629, Phocion refusing Alex-
ander's
gift
it
sum
of
it
not,
it
is
as
much
as
had
(j
not."
talent
and Rom.
Antt.,9. v.
THE POUNDS.
be engaged, and that too while a rebellion was going on.
403
these occupations of peace in which the servants of the future king should
caviller
to
Why
weapons
his
when he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, as all have felt, who have sought to fight the world with its own weapons, and by the wrath of man to work the righteousness of God. Such identifying of
the
Men
that
it
was immediately
tliat
to
it
appear, (ver. 11,) and that they, and not Christ himself, were to bring
instead of seeing
to
their part
and
silent
ments of
that
kingdom, and so
for its
outbreaking,
come
King
of the
Jewish polity
and
until his
and
all
the
part,
We
man
to
they
said,
how twice this once when to Pilate, " We have no king but Caesar;" and again, when " Write not. The King of the Jews." When we give this pawell observes,
lips,
And Theophylact
all
which
it
day of judgment,
and
tion,
it
is
but
all
and subjection
throw
from
the unfaithful servant, for he allows the relation, and does not openly
off the subjection,
glosses of his
own
heart,)
its full
and
final
which
6
shall be
even as
Dan.
vii.
25,)
not merely disobedience, but defiance, even such as shall not be content
404
THE POUNDS.
to the
with resisting his decrees, but shall anticipate and challenge him
conflict: "
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
The
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." On the following verses (15-23) there is little to say which has not been said in another place. At his return, the nobleman distributes
praise and rewards to
them
away,
punishments, more or
he imparts
cities :f
which he is now invested ; he sets them over while the rewards imparted were quite different in the other parable (Matt. XXV. 14-30) for there the mftster being but a private man
the royal dignity, with
would have no such power of setting his servants in high places of authority. This is worthy of notice, as an example of the manner in which each parable is in perfect keeping and harmony with itself through all its minor details, which is another reason for believing them
originally distinct from one
another.
The rewards
set
too,
as they are
:
he
whose pound had made five pounds was pound had made ten was set over ten.
over
five cities,
he whose
We hear nothing of the other seven servants, but need not therefore conclude that they had wholly
* This, of course,
is
life,
and
is
what
in
often
We
may compare
many
62,seq.)
in the East.
lib.
Dan.,
87)
tells
of a slave,
who
giving
proofs of his prudence and dexterity in business, his master, the Sultan Zangi, exclaimed,
"
It is fit to
give such a
man
as this,
command
made him
in these
thither.
Have thou
Greswell does,
when
they supply him wiih a convincing argument in favour of the millennial views, {Exp.
of the Par.,
ed
literally ?
v. 4, p. .501,) for
why
in a parable,
must
it
exchange
which underlies
it?
That
truth certainly
to
that he
to
is little
compared
what
is
coming,)
this,
or what that
much
will be, is in
Mag-
na rerum amplitude ac varietas in regno Dei, quamvis nondum nobis cognita. We only know, in Calvin's words: Nunc tanquam absentia negotia la'.*orios6 curamus
tunc ver6 ampla et multiplex honorum copia
ei
ad
manum
exomet.
THE POUNDS.
lost or
405
wasted the money intrusted to them ;* rather that the three who come forward are adduced as specimens of classes, and the rest, while all that we are to learn is learned from the three, for hrevity's sake are omitted. Those who stand by, and who are bidden to take his pound from the slothful servanf,f and give it to him that had shown himself the faithfulest. or, at least, the ablest of all, are clearly the angels, who
never
fail to
in all
scenes descriptive of
When
the
penalties, to thsoe
who
stand in the
more immediate
relations of ser-
own
to
household,
household of God,
on
he
for the
Church
is
the
proceeds
all
belonged
house
at all.
At
his
command
was
they are
greater,
as their guilt
more
terrible than
In the Marriage of the King's Son (Matt. xxii. 1) the vengeance on the
in
Luc,
1.
8, c. 95)
De
aliis siletur,
bitores,
idle servant
its
proper use, (" in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread," Gen.
19,)
That he had
it
disen-
to be
was
itself a
Dschelaleddin,
modern
poem
same idea as
faculties, as a
sent parable,
namely,
God.
that of
life
with
all its
powers and
sum
of
money
As
it is
the
2, p. 451.)
Nor knowest how thy coming here was planned From the Schah's palace to life's city, thou On his affairs wert sent, at his command. Thee thy Lord gave, thy faithfulness to prove. The sum of life, a capital in hand.
Hast thou forgotten thine entrusted pound
1
Buy precious
stones,
for sand.
Thou at the hour of thy return wilt see Thy Monarch set, with open book in hand.
What thou from him receivedst, he will bring To strict account, and reckoning will demand And a large blessing, or a curse from him, Thy faithfulness or sloth will then command.
406
here
is
it
it
THE POUNDS.
follows after.
his presence,
away, as though
belonged merely to the outer shell of the parable, and was only added
because such things were done in Eastern courts, (1 Sam. x. 27 ; xi. 12; Jer. lii. 10,) and to add an air of truthfulness to the narrative.
Rather
it
words
any way
in wliich
The we need
shrink from applying them to the Lord Jesus, his unmitigated wrath
against his enemies,
of
all rigliteousness,
his
shall
when grace
shall
have come
to
an end, and judgment without mercy will have beAll this found
its
gun.*
(Rev. xiv.
and followed
;
it
that
was, without
doubt, a
coming of Christ
to
judgment
but
it
head receive
his armies.
its final
doom,
and
* Augustine often uses this and the parallel passage Matt. xxii. 13, (as Con. Adv.
Leg.
et
Proph.,
1.
l,c. 16
Con. Faust.
1.
22,
c.
14, 19) in
chaeans,
who, contrasting the severity of the God of the Old Testament with
of the
of the
God
that they
one
and
the same.
no such contrast.
As
there
is
Testament, so there
fear, in the
New
and he
doom
in proof.
32,
c. 7,) for
part of the
thine ene-
i.
13, "
till
make
mies
Ih
If
footstool,"
24,
is,
that lies
under
these words.
INDEX.
Doctrine not to be grounded op Para'AKpoyiiitnain?,
168
n.
bles, 37.
Avu('jia,259 n.
AvartXAfd', 59 n.
328
239.
n.
Angels
rejoicing, SO'i.
feet,
230.
Ecclesiastes
;
E.
a
commentary on
the Par-
holiness of
n.
the Catholic
229
n.
Church, 113.
B.
'Ex'Xii/iTrtii',
85
"Etoii^iJ yifjov,
182
n.
Envy
126
n.,
n.
Bengel, 178
B105,
325
n.
'Eratpoi,
147 n.
307
n.
EvXa/?(a,219 n.
Byssus, 358 n.
F.
C.
Fables, two in the Old Testament, 10 n.
Faith the
:
240
n.
its
nature, 371.
Christ as the
in the
Good Shepherd
all
a symbol
coming, 200.
386.
Galilteans,
Liinov
G.
Church
in conflict here,
lost,
270
n.
n.
of,
seeking her
301.
St.
iTotcti'f ]
73
Luke,
Genesareth, lake
55.
306
n.
Covetousness, 263.
Harmony between
D.
AstTTvov,
seen, 18-21.
281
n.
Denarius, 139 n.
Au^oSos, 179
AiVaio;, 125.
n.
The Marriage
of the
41.
the Jews, 140 n.
Hours of
and
others, 38,
&c.
Hymn
of Prudentius,
294
n.
408 Two
INDEX.
Interpretation of
Parables by our
Uaiihv, 259
Parable
:
n.
it
Lord, 34.
J.
wherein
(ii.)
differs
from
(i.)
The
(iii.)
fable, 10.
The
14.
proverb,
12.
allegory,
Judaea
its
K.
Ka\uv and
l^arapyeXv,
'Kaiixctii),
kXiTo-ij
of
other
invitation,
than
n.
out
Lord's,
(i.)
280
n.
(ii.)
Christian,
276
n.
n.
50-55.
acted, 28.
the
144
Kepiirioc,
312
n.
Seven of
St.
Matthew
xiii.
l^epaXaiow, 161 n.
54
L.
Jewish
"
Virgins" and
King's Son,"
and Mahometan
ble,
143
n.
Lamp,
small,
204
n.
n.
Lazarus, 359
Leaven, 92
n.
pared, 170,287.
YlapaiTcladai,
283
Ilapad
Arivoi,
Ai<TO(,.
158
n.
why applied
217
n.
Caperna-
AiKjiav, 1G9
um, 55
n.
n.
n.apaTt6i/ni,
69 n.
liifieats,
M.
Maldonatus, 254 n. Mammon, 346 n.
YldpccTis
and
Tlapoijiia, 13.
Hctpi^civ,
$i//o{>i',
242
n.
n.
Man
Men
of Sin, 186.
185
Marcion, 175 n.
<I>p(iy/io?
156 n.
compared
63 n.
to trees,
274.
M^pi'/^i'a,
MtjsiuTiij,
262
n.
and fjcrat/oia, 153 n. Metayer system of letting Estates, 160 n. Midnight, Christ's second coming at,
Mtro/jfAtio
387
n.
Prayer, 383.
202.
Millennium, 194.
Miracles, in
what
Purgatory, 129.
Mustard-tree, 88 n.
UiwY
158
n.
N.
Naboih's death a type of Christ's, 165
National
life,
n.
R.
165.
Matt,
28, 124 n.
152 168
n. n.
and 153.
332
n.
INDEX.
Luke
xvi. 9,
409
of,
xviii. 14,
348 n. 398
Supererogation, works
n. n.
205, 383.
Swedenborg, 39
n.
Reward',
A^j'
meaning, 149
T.
Talent
:
Righteousness not
o/
S.
the
Law, 250.
use of the
word in
English, 214.
'Tc\e(T(popciv,
63 n.
n.
Tc^civrj;,
288
TertuUian, 304.
Qrjiravpo;,
To/ci5f,
98 n.
n.
221
u.
112
n.
Types
= Parables,
28.
Siloam, 272 n.
Sin and Suffering: their connexion,271 n.
Sins
:
U.
'YiroSiiiiara,
'YTTU}Tna.^e.iv,
323 388
n. n.
whether
if
return, 127.
HiKoivSaXoi',
E/ii')!/)),
V.
Vintage and harvest
distinction,
:
84
n.
n.
Bishop Horsley's
349
84
n.
I.K\np6i,
219
n.
W.
Name,
70.
Son of Man
force of the
the
word
in
Church, 394.
Story illustrative of "
Servant," 131 n.
TiVyKvpia,
Scripture, 293.
The Unmerciful
Works, spoken of in
the
NewTestament,
245
Toii
n.
aiuvos,
TtvvziXaa
84
n.
Zi^di/iov,
76
n.
THE END.
27
.-..'i
WM
r-s^it
BS2418.T793
Notes on the parables of Our Lord
Princeton Theological
Semmary-Speer
Library
ii
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