INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n
BY<\/p>\n
LYMAN ABBOTT<\/p>\n
Jesus at the preaching of his first sermon at Nazareth was assailed by a mob from which he escaped with his life only by that supreme dignity before which the passions of men were calmed and the curiosity of men was awed. It was the only time he was threatened with mob violence in Galilee, where in his subsequent ministry he appears to have been very popular. Great crowds, we are told, followed him wherever he went. To understand this mob is to get the key to his use of parables; for this purpose it is necessary to know something of the Jewish history and the Jewish expectation.
\nThe Jews called themselves a \u201cpeculiar people.\u201d One of their peculiarities was that they looked forward not backward for their golden age. Their prophets told them that the time was coming when they would be succoured from their humiliation and come into a period of great wealth and dignity: Gentiles should come to their light and kings to the brightness of their rising; wealth should no longer be accumulated in the hands of a few, every man should sit under his own vine and fig tree; violence and wasting should be no more known, no one should molest or make afraid; war should cease, the implements of war should be turned into implements of agriculture, and the garments rolled in the blood of the warrior should be but fuel for the fire; education and religion should be universal, all men should know Jehovah to be God, and law should be based upon the principles of the Hebraic moral code. Out of these prophecies popular prejudice had evolved an expectation which, however incredible it may seem to us now, was universally entertained by the Jews in the First Century of the Christian era. They believed that the succession of world Empires\u2014Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, Roman\u2014would be succeeded by a Hebrew world Empire; that Jerusalem would become the world\u2019s capital, and the Jewish Nation the dominant world power. This revolution they believed would be accomplished by a King divinely appointed and divinely sustained and reinforced\u2014an Anointed of Jehovah.
\nJesus had cast the corrupt traders out of the Temple. The fame of his exploit had preceded him to his country home. The simple-hearted peasantry were proud of their rural Rabbi and his courage in defying the ecclesiastical ring at the metropolis. The leaders of the Synagogue invited him to speak. The people were all eager to listen. \u201cThe eyes of all that were in the Synagogue were fastened on him\u201d and they all wondered at the ease and grace of this untutored son of the carpenter whom they had known so long and yet comprehended so little. But when he attacked, though with great skill, their orthodox doctrine of the Kingdom of God, all their Jewish prejudices were aroused against him. He recalled their own history to them. He reminded them that Jehovah had selected a Syrian leper to be healed and to a Sidonian woman had given back her son. Their own history showed that He was not the God of the Hebrews only but the God of the Gentiles also; and the Kingdom which their prophets foretold was not a Hebrew Kingdom only but a world Kingdom. \u201cAnd all they in the Synagogue\u201d says the sacred historian, \u201cwhen they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong, but he passing through the midst of them went his way.\u201d Ever after Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God in parables that \u201cseeing they might see and not perceive.\u201d He veiled the truth which unveiled had been rejected with such wrath, and he did so that they might listen to him without perceiving the truth to which they would refuse to listen if they did perceive it, and that so he might conduct them to his predetermined destination while they did not even know that they were on the journey. More than one striking illustration of this his use of parables is afforded by incidents in his ministry. Thus, when a theologian wishing to justify himself, asked Who is my neighbour? Jesus did not directly reply. If he had said, The Samaritan who lives just across the border, this catholic doctrine would have been contemptuously rejected. Instead, he told the story of a man who fell among thieves and was wounded and left half dead by the roadside; and a priest and a Levite came by and left him uncared for, but a Samaritan coming by went to the wounded traveller\u2019s succour, and bound up his wounds and set him on his own beast and took him to an inn, and took care of him. Then he asked the theologian which was neighbour to the robbed traveller\u2014the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan. There was but one answer possible and it was given; and ever since wherever the story of the Gospel has been told the Samaritan has been known in literature as \u201cThe Good Samaritan.\u201d
\nThere is nothing more difficult in teaching than to change the point of view of a people. Argument may sometimes convince of a special error or carry conviction of a special truth. But to induce one who all his life has been accustomed to one aspect of a custom or an institution to look at another aspect is always extremely difficult. For this purpose fiction is admirably adapted. For by fiction the reader or hearer is insensibly put in possession of the new point of view; he sees it, so to speak, without looking at it and without at all looking for it. Thousands of readers who would never have read a serious argument against war, or have gone to a peace meeting to listen to one, have read Zola\u2019s \u201cLe D\u00e9b\u00e2cle\u201d or Tolstoy\u2019s \u201cPeace and War\u201d and have seen shame and cruelty where before they only saw glory and heroism.
\nThe object of the parables then was to change the Jewish point of view concerning the Kingdom of God. And yet, though the disciples of Jesus have been reading the parables for over eighteen centuries, it is extraordinary how slow even his own followers have been to get the point of view which he sought to give to them. In spite of all that he could say we are told that his disciples believed that the Kingdom of God would immediately appear. When he went up to Jerusalem for the last time they anticipated his coronation as King of the new Kingdom; hailed him with Hosannas as the Coming One; quarrelled among themselves as to who should have the higher offices; and two of them, stealing a march upon the rest, came with their mother to ask for a seat, one on his right hand and the other on his left. When he died they gave up their hope that he was the Messiah; when he rose from the dead their hopes rose, too; but their hope was that he would come presently in clouds and power and great glory with his holy angels to establish a world kingdom and place his disciples at its head. When this coming was delayed some gave up their faith: Where, they said, is the promise of his coming? All things continue as they were. Others retained their expectation but changed their conception of the new Kingdom, hoping for its realization in the conversion of Rome from a pagan to a Christian power; others believed that the Church was the Kingdom and the domination of the world by the Church would bring in the anticipated millennium; others abandoned all hope of a Kingdom of God on the earth, substituted for it a celestial Kingdom beyond the skies, and regarded this life as only a school to prepare for the life to come or a probation to determine who were fitted for that life.
\nYet all the time the Kingdom of God was growing up in the world gradually, secretly, intermixed with other and evil growths as the Master had prophesied it would. Slavery was abolished; autocracy was first mitigated, then overthrown; sensuality and self-indulgence were brought under control; the horrors of war were alleviated, private war abolished, and gradual preparations made for peaceful arbitrament; schools were multiplied and education made general if not universal; the pagan conception of marriage as a purely commercial contract gave place to a conception of it as a divinely appointed order; the burdens of poverty were lightened by charity and the problem how to abolish it altogether was seriously taken up; the sick, the lame, the halt, the blind, the insane were taken care of; the Church became not merely an instrument to prepare men for heaven but also a school to teach men how to live upon the earth. At length we are coming gradually to believe as we pray that the Kingdom of God is to come and the will of God is to be done on the earth as in heaven; our religion is becoming more sociological and less theological, more a rational preparation to live nobly here, less a magical preparation for an unknown life hereafter, more practical, less mystical, more a realisation of brotherhood, less an anticipation of sainthood. The parables are largely a prophetic forecast of this growth of nineteen centuries, this moral and spiritual development under the teachings and influence of Jesus Christ. For the Kingdom of God of the parables is nothing other than Christendom, and the history of Christendom affords the true interpretation of the parables.
\nThe Kingdom of God is at hand; it is here; it is a realised fact; it is, says Paul, \u201crighteousness, and peace and joy in a holy spirit,\u201d that is, in a spirit consecrated to and in companionship with God. Wherever any one is conforming or endeavouring to conform his life to a divine standard, is living or is endeavouring to live in peace and goodwill with his neighbour, and has in himself and in his fellowship with the Father the fountain of gladness, there is the Kingdom of God. It is in the spirit of righteousness which abolished slavery, of peace which established the Hague Tribunal, of joy which makes Christmas a gladsome festival. It is the \u201csquare deal\u201d in politics and business, goodwill in hospital and asylum, joy in home and church. It is doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. It is seen wherever service and piety are seen walking and working together.
\nThe children of this kingdom are seeds. They propagate the kingdom by spiritually reproducing themselves in the lives of others. Some seeds are planted by hand in prepared beds; but more by the winds in unexpected places. Some minister to life by deliberate labours in Church and Sunday School; others not less effectually by simply living righteously, peacefully, joyfully. The child of the kingdom is a lamp; he need not flash; he need only let his light shine. The children of the kingdom of evil are also seeds; and they also propagate. For every one is by his unconscious influence reproducing in the lives of others courage or cowardice, candour or deceit, justice or oppression, service or self-seeking, piety or irreverence. We cannot separate ourselves from evil influences; we cannot keep our children from evil influences. The tares must grow with the wheat, the evil with the good, the children of light with the children of darkness. It always has been so, and it always will be so. Is the world growing better or worse? Both better and worse. Delirium tremens comes in with the invention of distilled liquors; forgery with penmanship; defalcation with a credit system; the demagogue with democracy; the corrupt ecclesiastic with the growth in power of the Church.
\nThis kingdom does not grow up spontaneously. Neither is it brought to the earth by the King coming in clouds and power and great glory to establish it. It is like a vineyard, the fruitfulness of which depends on those who cultivate it; like an estate whose wellbeing depends on those who administer it. The call to follow Christ is a call to go to work in his vineyard, to administer faithfully his affairs. To do this requires labour, often self-sacrificing labour. Many a hearer looking forward in anticipation to a Kingdom of Heaven beyond the clouds says, \u201cBlessed are they that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God\u201d; but when they learn that the Kingdom of God means meekness and courage and peaceableness and pureness of heart here on the earth, they excuse themselves. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hid in a field or a pearl of great price. Yes! we would like it very much; but not if we must sell all that we have to possess it. The price that John Howard paid, immuring himself in the prisons of Europe, that David Livingston paid exiling himself in the wilds of Africa, that Dr. Grenfell pays practising among the ice fields of Labrador, seems too great a price to many. Not all men are called on to pay this price, for not all men are called to this service. But all men are called to some service, and none can do the service well and joyously who are not willing to pay whatever price the appointed service requires.
\nThere is not in this service any question of wages. It is not and cannot be rendered for wages. The only possible service in the Kingdom of God is service for love. And he who enters late and serves but the last hour or two may get the same seeming wage as he who has borne the heat and burden of the day. Wages? In the Kingdom of God the wages may be poverty not wealth, disgrace not glory. Wages? Tennyson has described the wages paid in the Kingdom of God in contrast with those paid in the kingdoms of the earth:<\/p>\n
Glory of warrior, glory of orator, glory of song,
\nPaid with a voice flying by to be lost on an endless sea\u2014
\nGlory of Virtue, to fight, to struggle, to right the wrong\u2014
\nNay, but she aimed not at glory, no lover of glory she:
\nGive her the glory of going on, and still to be.<\/p>\n
What is the nature of the service to be rendered? What great achievement summons the child of the kingdom? What mystic experience is demanded of him? No great achievement, no mystic experience. To be a child of the Kingdom is to do with our life what the Master did with his. It is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned, comfort the sorrowing, teach the ignorant, do battle to the oppressor and corrupter of men, and to lift up those that have fallen into temptation, inspire them with hope, and set them on their way again. It is to be a Good Samaritan, to be a faithful steward. No greatness of wealth or position exempts; no scantiness of wealth or capacity excuses. If one has ten talents they are all to be used in service; if one has but a single talent it is not to be wrapped in a napkin. Pure religion and undefiled is not merely to keep oneself unspotted from the world; it is to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. It is to use wealth in service, things for men. The shrewd but unscrupulous servant uses his lord\u2019s money to make friends of his lord\u2019s tenants: it is shrewd for the scrupulous servant so to use it, since that money has been intrusted to him by his Lord for that very purpose. One cannot serve God and mammon; but, as has been well said, he can serve God with mammon. He who having more than he knows what to do with simply lays it up as in a granary, may be rich but he is a rich fool.
\nBut man\u2019s material needs are not his only needs; they are not his chief needs. His chief need is God. To go seeking to save that which is lost, to bring the mislaid soul back to its true place, to bring the wanderer back to his true fellowship in the fold of God, to welcome the son returning at the same time to himself and to his Father, this is to serve God, this is to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth. Whoever has come into the kingdom which is righteousness and peace and joy is by that very fact appointed to go out and bring others in. \u201cWhoever entereth in by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.\u201d To every such an one some heart and life are open; and he can influence some whom no other person can influence so well. To this every follower of Christ is commanded by the Master: \u201cAs the Father has sent me even so send I you.\u201d For this he is equipped: not once for all in one life endowment, but by daily life with and in the Father. He must have daily grace for daily needs; eat day by day the Bread that cometh down from heaven; have not merely oil in his lamp, when he sets out to meet the Bridegroom, but continual supply for a light which is continually calling for supply.
\nWho is in this Kingdom? The little children, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven; the son who goes when summoned to his Father\u2019s work; the publican who, looking on a wicked life cries, \u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner\u201d! the harlot who, scorned of men but pitied of God, finds in Christ\u2019s words a new hope born within her and goes out to sin no more. But not the proud professor of religion who thanks God that he is not as other men are, and thinks he needs neither mercy for the past nor newness of life for the future, because he is not an extortioner, nor unjust, nor an adulterer, and fulfils all his church obligations. For men are measured not by what they have not done but by what they have done, and the useless man like the fruitless tree is fit only to be cast away. But men are also measured by their aspiration not by their achievement; and he who desires righteousness and peace and joy in God, and is willing to give all he possesses to secure for himself and to give to others this bestowment, is in the Kingdom of God, however little he may have to give.
\nI have no wish to substitute my words for the words of the Master. My object in this Introduction is to give the thoughtful reader a clew which he may use in interpreting for himself the parables which are in this volume reproduced. The history of Christendom is their best interpreter. In the light of that interpretation each of them takes on a large significance. The Sower is no longer a single Apostle to the Gentiles going forth into the pagan world with but a single companion, despised by the Jews and distrusted by the Christian Church at home. The Sower to-day is a great army of apostles teaching in every land, and sowing everywhere the seeds of a Christian civilization\u2014just laws, emancipated labour, organised charity, popular education, an ethical religion, faith in a God of infinite compassion, love which counts all men brethren, and hope expecting in every day a better to-morrow and the best of all in the golden days beyond the grave. The leaven hidden in three measures of meal is no longer represented by a single agitator haled before the courts because his preaching has interfered with the sale of silver shrines for a heathen god. It is represented by the long process of agitation which has destroyed slavery and set labour free, has overthrown the autocracies inherited by Western Europe from pagan Rome, and is substituting therefor government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The Good Samaritan is no longer a single lover of his kind stopping to render a brief service to his unfortunate fellow-man. He is represented in innumerable asylums, hospitals and dispensaries, in unpaid medical service rendered without stint, in organised charity for the lame, the halt, the blind of body, of mind, and of moral nature. I hear the clang of the ambulance bell in the street: it is the Good Samaritan summoned by telephone and hurrying to succour some wounded one, and every carriage, motor or electric car, stops or turns aside to let him pass. There are still a great many rich fools in America who lose their poor lives in an endeavour to gain the whole world; but never before were there so many faithful stewards who are exercising the same thought power on the problem, How to distribute their wealth which they exercised upon the problem, How to accumulate it. Nor do we need to wait for a future judgment day to see all nations gathered before the great Throne, and separated one from another as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. The separation is taking place before our eyes. We can see it if we will. And this separation is made not by acceptance or rejection of creeds, not by use or disuse of liturgies, not by regard or disregard for ecclesiastical orders and organisations, but by the question, Who of us is following Him who said of Himself that He had come to preach Glad Tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Those, and only those, who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, are hospitable to the stranger, or visit the sick and the imprisoned are in the Kingdom of God and are doing the work of the King.<\/p>\n
THE SOWER<\/p>\n
MATT. 13:3\u20139<\/p>\n
Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way-side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome fell upon stony places \u2026 and some fell among thorns \u2026 but others fell into good ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.<\/p>\n
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<\/p>\n
MATT. 13:24\u201330<\/p>\n
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the household came and said unto him:
\n\u201cSir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?\u201d
\nHe said unto them:
\n\u201cAn enemy hath done this.\u201d
\nThe servants said unto him:
\n\u201cWilt thou then that we go and gather them up?\u201d
\nBut he said:
\n\u201cNay; lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers: \u2018Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
THE LORD AND THE SERVANTS<\/p>\n
MATT. 18:23\u201335<\/p>\n
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying:
\n\u201cLord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.\u201d
\nThen the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
\nBut the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying:
\n\u201cPay me that thou owest.\u201d
\nAnd his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying:
\n\u201cHave patience with me, and I will pay thee all.\u201d
\nAnd he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
\nSo when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him:
\n\u201cO thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?\u201d
\nAnd his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
\nSo likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.<\/p>\n
THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD<\/p>\n
MATT. 20:1\u201316<\/p>\n
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And said unto them:
\n\u201cGo ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.\u201d
\nAnd they went their way.
\nAgain he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them:
\n\u201cWhy stand ye here all the day idle?\u201d
\nThey say unto him:
\n\u201cBecause no man hath hired us.\u201d
\nHe saith unto them:
\n\u201cGo ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.\u201d
\nSo when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward:
\n\u201cCall the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.\u201d
\nAnd when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying:
\n\u201cThese last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.\u201d
\nBut he answered one of them, and said:
\n\u201cFriend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE WEDDING GUESTS<\/p>\n
MATT. 22:2\u201314<\/p>\n
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
\nAgain, he sent forth other servants, saying:
\n\u201cTell them which are bidden, \u2018Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.\u2019 \u201d
\nBut they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
\nBut when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants:
\n\u201cThe wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, ways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.\u201d
\nSo those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
\nAnd when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him:
\n\u201cFriend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?\u201d
\nAnd he was speechless.
\nThen said the king to the servants:
\n\u201cBind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH VIRGINS<\/p>\n
MATT. 25:1\u201312<\/p>\n
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: \u201cBehold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive of them were wise and five were foolish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise:
\n\u201cGive us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.\u201d
\nBut the wise answered, saying: \u201cNot so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.\u201d
\nAnd while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
\nAfterward came also the other virgins, saying:
\n\u201cLord, Lord, open to us.
\nBut he answered and said:
\n\u201cVerily I say unto you, I know you not.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE TALENTS<\/p>\n
MATT. 25:14\u201330<\/p>\n
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
\nThen he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord\u2019s money.
\nAfter a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
\nAnd so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying:
\n\u201cLord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained besides them five talents more.\u201d
\nHis lord said unto him:
\n\u201cWell done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.\u201d
\nHe also that had received two talents came and said:
\n\u201cLord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold I have gained two other talents besides them.\u201d
\nHis lord said unto him:
\n\u201cWell done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.\u201d
\nThen he which had received the one talent came and said:
\n\u201cLord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine.\u201d
\nHis lord answered and said unto him:
\n\u201cThou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE GOOD SAMARITAN<\/p>\n
LUKE 10:30\u201335<\/p>\n
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
\nBut a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him:
\n\u201cTake care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE PRODIGAL SON<\/p>\n
LUKE 15:11\u201332<\/p>\n
A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father:
\n\u201cFather, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.\u201d
\nAnd he divided unto them his living.
\nAnd not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
\nAnd when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
\nAnd when he came to himself, he said:
\n\u201cHow many hired servants of my father\u2019s have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, \u2018Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018I will arise and go to my father.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
\nAnd the son said unto him:
\n\u201cFather, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
\nBut the father said to his servants:
\n\u201cBring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.\u201d
\nAnd they began to be merry.
\nNow his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
\nAnd he said unto him:
\n\u201cThy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.\u201d
\nAnd he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.
\nAnd he answering said to his father:
\n\u201cLo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.\u201d
\nAnd he said unto him:
\n\u201cSon, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.\u201d<\/p>\n
DIVES AND LAZARUS<\/p>\n
LUKE 16:19\u201331<\/p>\n
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
\nAnd there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man\u2019s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
\nAnd it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham\u2019s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said:
\n\u201cFather Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.\u201d
\nBut Abraham said:
\n\u201cSon, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.\u201d
\nThen he said:
\n\u201cI pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father\u2019s house, for I have five brethren: that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.\u201d
\nAbraham said unto him:
\n\u201cThey have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.\u201d
\nAnd he said:
\n\u201cNay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.\u201d
\nAnd he said unto him:
\n\u201cIf they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN<\/p>\n
LUKE 18:10\u201314<\/p>\n
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
\nThe Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself:
\n\u201cGod, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.\u201d
\nAnd the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying:<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018I thank thee that I am not as other men are.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d
\nI tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.<\/p>\n
THE HOUSE UPON THE SANDS<\/p>\n
MATT. 7:24\u201327<\/p>\n
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
\nAnd every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE HUSBANDMEN AND THE VINEYARD<\/p>\n
MARK 12:1\u20138<\/p>\n
A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winevat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
\nAnd at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
\nAnd they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
\nAnd again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
\nAnd again he sent another: and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
\nHaving yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying:
\n\u201cThey will reverence my son.\u201d
\nBut those husbandmen said among themselves:
\n\u201cThis is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.\u201d
\nAnd they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.<\/p>\n
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS<\/p>\n
MATT. 25:31\u201346<\/p>\n
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
\nThen shall the King say unto them on his right hand:
\n\u201cCome, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.\u201d
\nThen shall the righteous answer him, saying:
\n\u201cLord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?\u201d
\nAnd the King shall answer and say unto them:
\n\u201cVerily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.\u201d
\nThen shall he say also unto them on the left hand:
\n\u201cDepart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Then shall they also answer him, saying:
\n\u201cLord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?\u201d
\nThen shall he answer them, saying:
\n\u201cVerily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.\u201d
\nAnd these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.<\/p>\n
THE SEED AND THE HARVEST<\/p>\n
MARK 4:26\u201329<\/p>\n
So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground. And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
\nFor the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.<\/p>\n
THE FOOL AND HIS GOODS<\/p>\n
LUKE 12:16\u201321<\/p>\n
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying:
\n\u201cWhat shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?\u201d
\nAnd he said:
\n\u201cThis will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul: \u2018Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.\u2019 \u201d
\nBut God said unto him:
\n\u201cThou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?\u201d
\nSo is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.<\/p>\n
WHEN THE LORD COMETH<\/p>\n
LUKE 12:35\u201342<\/p>\n
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
\nAnd this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.<\/p>\n
THE FAITHFUL STEWARD<\/p>\n
LUKE 12:42\u201348<\/p>\n
Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart: \u201cMy lord delayeth his coming;\u201d and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
\nAnd that servant, which knew his lord\u2019s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.<\/p>\n
THE UNWILLING GUESTS<\/p>\n
LUKE 14:16\u201324<\/p>\n
A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden:
\n\u201cCome; for all things are now ready.\u201d
\nAnd they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him:
\n\u201cI have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.\u201d
\nAnd another said:
\n\u201cI have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.\u201d
\nAnd another said:
\n\u201cI have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.\u201d
\nSo that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant:
\n\u201cGo out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.\u201d
\nAnd the servant said:
\n\u201cLord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.\u201d
\nAnd the lord said unto the servant:
\n\u201cGo out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE UNJUST STEWARD<\/p>\n
LUKE 16:1\u20138<\/p>\n
There was a certain rich man which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him:
\n\u201cHow is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.\u201d
\nThen the steward said within himself:
\n\u201cWhat shall I do? For my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do; that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.\u201d
\nSo he called every one of the lord\u2019s debtors unto him, and said unto the first:
\n\u201cHow much owest thou unto my lord?\u201d
\nAnd he said:
\n\u201cAn hundred measures of oil.\u201d
\nAnd he said unto him:
\n\u201cTake thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.\u201d
\nThen said he to another:
\n\u201cAnd how much owest thou?\u201d
\nAnd he said:
\n\u201cAn hundred measures of wheat.\u201d
\nAnd he said unto him:
\n\u201cTake thy bill, and write fourscore.\u201d
\nAnd the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.<\/p>\n
THE UNJUST JUDGE<\/p>\n
LUKE 18:2\u20138<\/p>\n
There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying:
\n\u201cAvenge me of mine adversary.\u201d
\nAnd he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself:
\n\u201cThough I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continued coming she weary me.\u201d
\nAnd the Lord said: \u201cHear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?\u201d<\/p>\n
THE GOOD SHEPHERD<\/p>\n
JOHN 10:27\u201330<\/p>\n
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father\u2019s hand. I and my Father are one.<\/p>\n
THE LOST SHEEP<\/p>\n
LUKE 15:4\u20136<\/p>\n
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
\nAnd when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them:<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018I have found my sheep which was lost.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD<\/p>\n
MATT. 5:14, 5:15<\/p>\n
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.<\/p>\n
THE FIG TREE<\/p>\n
LUKE 21:29\u201331<\/p>\n
Behold the fig tree and all the trees. When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.<\/p>\n
title The Parables<\/p>\n
publisher D. Appleton and Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INTRODUCTION BY LYMAN ABBOTT Jesus at the preaching of his first sermon at Nazareth was assailed by a mob from which he escaped with his life only by that supreme dignity before which the passions of men were calmed and the curiosity of men was awed. It was the only time he was threatened with … <\/p>\n