his brother, and while it accompanies it, is by no means inferior in importance to it.

The name of the parable of the ten pieces of money, or as it is also called, of the pounds, is so much the more objectionable, by how much the more unquestionable it is of this parable, in particular, that besides the history of the pounds, that is of the scheme and economy of probation involved in the commission of sums of money, denoted by pounds, to a certain description of persons-another history is combined in the same narrative, which affects a very different person from those who are concerned in the history of the pounds; to which too, the scheme of probation, exemplified in the commission and trust of the pounds, is entirely subservient, and has no use nor meaning of its own, except in reference to it.

It appears from the above review of the parables in general, that the historians of these parts of our Saviour's discourses in almost every instance are one or more of the three first of the evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. Does no parable, then, nor any thing which properly resembles one, occur in the Gospel of St. John?

If by this question, it is meant, whether any such parables as occur in the other evangelists, are to be met with in St. John; parables, of which the most general and indiscriminate idea would be, that they are histories of facts, or narratives of some kind or other the answer must be in the negative. Not one such narrative occurs in the Gospel of St. John. The very word which we render by parable, so common in the other evangelists, is not to be found in St. John and instead of that, he employs a term,

:

which is equally unknown to the rest; that, which we translate by proverb.

If, however, we are to understand by the name of parable, any figurative or allegorical discourse, whether it contains a history of facts or not; then we may reply in the affirmative, that not only does much parabolic matter occur in St. John, but also what may be considered almost tantamount to a regular parable-a figurative description of the character, properties, and relations, of the great Christian Shepherd of the sheep, so exact and definite as justly to place it among the series of parables, which we proposed in our list for future explanation. What particular difference there may be, between the use and purpose of the proverb of St. John, and the parable of the other evangelists, we shall find an opportunity of pointing out elsewhere.

It appears, moreover, that of the twenty-seven parables, some are recorded by each of the evangelists, but all by no one of them; St. Matthew in particular has given us thirteen; St. Mark, four; and St. Luke, fourteen: it appears also that each of the evangelists has one or more parables, peculiar to his narrative, St. Matthew ten, St. Mark one, and St. Luke twelve; but that all of them relate only two parables in common, the parable of the sower, and the parable of the wicked husbandmen.

It appears, likewise, that the first occasion when our Saviour delivered a parable, was not earlier than the second feast of tabernacles; a period, remarkable as being the middle point in the duration of his personal ministry: and the last occasion was as late as the Wednesday in Passion week, two days before he suffered; a day, which is further remark

able as the last of his public ministry,-on which he closed that ministry itself. Each of these instances is observable as one when he taught in parables deliberately, and of his own accord; not, as upon other occasions, on the spur of the moment, or in consequence of something which had just occurred when he taught in parables ex cathedra, that is in lieu of his usual method of teaching: and lastly, when he taught the multitude or people in general, and not his disciples in particular. Each of them accordingly is specified by the three evangelists as something remarkable in itself; and what was then said, and in that way, was considered worthy to be related more or less in common by them all.

There can be no doubt that the former of these occasions was the first, in the course of our Saviour's ministry, upon which he was known as yet to have taught in parables. There is not a hint nor a vestige of a parable properly so called, in the record of his discourses up to that time; and the question which was expressly put by the apostles, in consequence of his teaching in parables then, and which was expressly answered to them, to explain the grounds of what he was doing, must satisfy any reasonable mind, that what Jesus had just been doing, was something which he had never done before; that the method of teaching which he had just been using was, until then, singular, novel, and unprecedented; and therefore, no unreasonable ground of surprise to his hearers. There is still less room for doubting that the latter occasion was the last, on which he could have taught officially either in parables, or in any other manner. After quitting

the temple in the evening of that day, and closing its proceedings with the discourse upon mount Olivet, we do not know that he was even seen in public again, until the morning of his trial and crucifixion.

With regard to intermediate instances of the same kind of teaching, (if any such there were,) between the first employment of parables, in the middle of our Saviour's ministry, and the arrival of the third feast of tabernacles, a full year afterwards; we have no evidence in any of the Gospels that he again resorted to that method of teaching, or added a single parable to the eight first which were consecutively delivered, and are left consecutively on record. No such additional parable can be produced from any of the evangelists, up to the time when we meet with the ninth in our list, the parable of the unmerciful creditor, or of the king that took account of his debtors.

To suppose that in the mean time, our Lord was altogether silent in the use of parables, would imply that the account of his parables, which we actually possess, is an account of all that he actually delivered; a supposition, the truth of which may justly be considered doubtful. Yet it is some ground of presumption in favour of its probability, that the next parable on record, though not met with until the distance of a year's interval from the first, was, as we shall see hereafter, a new species of parable, like unto which though more came to be afterwards delivered, none, that we know of, had been pronounced before. To admit, too, the fact of our Lord's silence in the use of parables, from the middle of his ministry up to its last six months; a probable reason not only for the resumption of the same mode

of teaching in general, but with a new class and description of the instances of its application in particular, seems to be hinted at in the parable of the fig-tree planted in the vineyard; the consideration of which will come in its proper place hereafter. It is certain, at least, that from the time of resuming the use of parables, at the period in question, if we except the eight which had been delivered a year before, all the parables on record in each of the Gospels (nineteen out of the twenty-seven) were at different periods delivered; seventeen of them in the last three months of our Saviour's ministry, and probably nearer to the end than to the beginning of that time of which number too, as comprehended between these extremes, twelve are peculiar to the narrative of St. Luke.

With respect indeed to the question, to which we alluded above, whether the parables actually recorded may be considered, on probable grounds, to be all which our Saviour actually delivered-it may be said, that the question itself is more curious than useful; since nothing of practical importance to the understanding of the parables actually recorded, depends on their being considered all that were actually delivered, or not: or that, however necessary and useful in that point of view, it is still a question which we can never decide in either way, with certainty. As matter of opinion, however, I am inclined to believe that in the account of the parables on record, from the time when parables began to be delivered, we have an account of all, or nearly all, which the history of our Saviour's discourses could furnish.

It is true that St. Mark closed his account of the