and to the wants of the parties particularly addressed by it. So far as these were concerned, the concealment was total and permanent. It is not reasonable to suppose that Jesus would afterwards concede the knowledge of such and such truths, to the same persons, from whom he had originally withheld it; and there is no proof that he ever did. If he explained a parable at one time which he had delivered without explanation at another, it was not to the persons who had first heard it, and to whom it was properly addressed. We cannot but conclude, therefore, that it is equally incorrect to say, all our Lord's parables were designed for concealment, as that all were designed to be understood; to deny that there were many which he always intended to be understood, as that there were still more, which he always designed to be incapable of being understood: and we are bound to infer from these two facts, that as he cannot be supposed to have wished to leave the former without explanation, even for a moment, so neither is it likely that he meant to explain the latter, at least to the persons to whom they were first addressed, however so long afterwards.

I may leave it to the judgment of any sensible person, to decide whether, as often as he meets in the Gospel narrative with one of those parables, which we have called moral examples, he is at a loss to discover its drift and application. These parables in particular reflect a light and clearness on the proper subject of discourse, the reverse of darkness or obscurity. However simple and intelligible the point in discussion may be, they make it still plainer and simpler than before. Be

yond their obvious scope and meaning, they possess no utility, and contribute to no purpose, whatever; and if these are not to be discovered, they are rendered nugatory and superfluous; they fail of the end of their being. Strange indeed it is to maintain, that in his moral discourses our Lord was purposely studious to be unintelligible; and that while he was professing to be teaching his hearers some of the most important points of Christian duty, he was teaching them in such a manner that they could not possibly understand him. On the contrary, it is a remarkable proof of his condescension to the infirmities of human nature, of his earnest desire to produce conviction-to make his discourses as edifying and persuasive as possible, and the knowledge of duty as clear and perspicuous, as the simplest understandings could desire-that not satisfied to rest the obligation of his decisions on the weight of his own authority, he subjoins easy and familiar illustrations of the principles on which they are founded-not content to sum up the rules of duty in the most compendious form, and the clearest and most impressive language, he enters into apposite and beautiful explanations of his moral axioms, and assists the natural grossness of the conceptions of his audience by historical pictures of his meaning, which represent the moral truths in question in as lively and distinct a manner to the understanding, as figure and colour, light and shade, in the hands of the painter, portray the proper subjects of his pencil to the senses.

But with regard to the allegorical parables the case is widely different. With respect to theseboth from the nature of such parables themselves;

from the circumstances of their place in the context; from the nature of their peculiar subject matter; and from the assurance of our Lord himself, we have just grounds to conclude that they could answer no purpose, and could be designed for none but mystery and concealment.

For first, if every such parable is an allegory, it partakes of the nature of the enigma; and the final end of the enigma, as no one will doubt, is to puzzle. Aristotle's definition of the enigma", that it affirms what really holds good, by terms and associations of ideas which involve an impossibility, would almost equally well apply to an allegorical history, which seems to be one thing, and really is another; in which the obvious, prima facie meaning of the narrative is nugatory or false, the concealed and secondary sense alone is consistent and true. Enigmas indeed admit of being solved, and so do allegorical narratives of being interpreted; but this does not prove that neither of them was intended at first sight to obscure the discovery of its meaning in general, only that they are not so wrapt up in mystery, but that their meaning may possibly be found out. An allegorical history, then, may be admirably suited for temporary concealment; though to suppose it intended for perpetual, would be almost to suppose it was destitute of meaning altogether. If it has a meaning, that meaning may sometime transpire, however long it may continue

2 Καίτοι παντί που δῆλον ἂν εἴη δήπουθεν, ὡς παραβολὴ καὶ αἴνιγμα πραγμάτων ἂν εἶεν ἐμφάσεις ἑτέρων μᾶλλον, ἢ ὅπερ ἂν εἶναι δοκοῖεν avrá. Cyrillus contra Julian. ix. 299. D.

ὁ Αἰνίγματος γὰρ ἰδέα αὕτη ἐστὶ, τὸ, λέγοντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ἀδύνατα σvváva. Aristot. Poetica, 37.

concealed; the discovery at least of such a meaning, which has always a real existence, is at any time a possible case.

It is no objection to the assumption on which this argument proceeds, that the allegorical parables, for ought which appears on the face of them, are natural and probable narratives of some kind or other. This may be very true, and yet they may still be allegories. If they were actually allegorical, and designed for concealment, it was not to be expected that they would betray their own secret, or give an intimation of their intrinsic nature, by their outward form and character. The very simplicity of their external texture renders them fitter for the purpose of disguise, because so much the safer from detection. Where the contrast is greatest between the secret import and the outward sense of the same discourse, we may rest assured there will be the least predisposition in the hearers to suspect the meaning which lurks under the letter of the text; there will be little reason to imagine, with any appearance of probability, that profound and mysterious truths are peradventure concealed under so plain and simple an exterior.

Again, the peculiar position of each of these parables in the context of which it forms a part, leads to the same conclusion respecting their use and purpose. Standing, as they are found to stand, isolated and bare; independent of all that precedes, and of all that follows; without moral or application of any kind; integral, separate, and detached portions of the Gospel narrative; they must be final and complete in themselves, and independent upon every

thing else: leaning on no support, and deriving no light or explanation from without, they must require no support, and derive no light, except from within. If that be the case, they are doubtless allegories: a mere moral history would be incapable of standing in so remarkable a manner alone, and yet serving a proper use and purpose: and if they are allegories, yet are not provided with any clue to their meaning, with any key or direction to get at, and unlock their secret import-they must be intended for concealment.

Thirdly, with respect to the subject matter of these parables-we have supposed that it consists of a series of prophecies; and it will be seen, hereafter, that it actually does so. Every one is aware that the record, if I may so say, of the future, which is prophecy, is not like the record of the past, which constitutes history; but that, from the very nature of a reference to the future, and the difficulty which a finite understanding necessarily labours under, in comprehending the course and circumstances of futurity until they are sensibly explained by the event, prophetical history delivered in the simplest language, without disguise or obscurity of any kind, would be hard to be understood; would still embody more or less of mystery and indistinctness c. How much more prophecy, purposely shrouded in allegory! a form of attire, under which the shadowy, unsubstantial lineaments of the thing conveyed, are still more obscured and confused

• Πᾶσα γὰρ προφητεία πρὸ τῆς ἐκβάσεως αἴνιγμά ἐστι καὶ ἀντιλογία τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ καιρὸς, καὶ ἀποβῇ τὸ προφητευθὲν, τότε τῆς ἀκριβεστάτης ἐπέτυχεν ἐξηγήσεως. Irenæus. Adv. Hær. iv. 43. 342. 32. 343. 2.