worldly prudence of the unjust steward, but introduces Luk. xvi. 8. his master as commending it; and that, in the similar &c. parables of the great supper and of the marriage-feast, there is a striking difference arising from our Lord's different situation: earlier in his ministry, all with one Luk.xiv.16, consent began to make excuse to a certain man who made a great supper; and the parable concludes thus: " I say unto you, that none of those men who were bidden shall taste of my supper:" but when the iniquity of the Jews was more aggravated, and our Lord's death Mat. xxii. 2, at hand, “a certain king made a marriage feast for his son;" and when the king heard that his invitation was scorned, and his servants contumeliously treated and slain, "he was angry, and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city." &c. Ver. 12. It is also a striking observation made by bishop Pearcek, after Chrysostom1 and Tillotson", that "in the parable of the marriage-feast, though the fact was plain respecting him who had not on a wedding-garment, yet the king addressed him with the mild appellation of friend, in the sense of one to whom goodwill and civility were due: and that Abraham called the rich man, even when in the place of torment, by Luk.xvi.25. the name of son: Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things. What an useful lesson have we here of gentleness and mildness towards one another!" k Sermons, vol. iii. p. 104, 105. 1 Hom. 2. in Lazarum, vol. v. p. 241. ed. Eton. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Απάνθρωπε καὶ ὠμὲ καὶ παμπόνηρε, τοσαῦτα [κακὰ] διαθεὶς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, φιλανθρωπίας μέμνησαι νῦν καὶ ἐλέου καὶ συγγνώμης ; οὐκ ἐρυθριᾶς, οὐδὲ αἰσχύνῃ; ἀλλὰ τί ; τέκνον κ. τ. λ. "He did not say, Inhuman and cruel and profligate, after having acted thus towards Lazarus, dost thou now make mention of humanity and pity and pardon? dost thou not blush? art thou not ashamed? But what? Son, &c." m On Luke xvi. 19, 20. vol. i. P. 535. fol. Our Lord has explained two parables", and he has given the moral of four others. After that of the covetous rich man he adds, "So is he that layeth up Luk.xii. 21. treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." To that of the merciless servant he subjoins, "So likewise Mat. xviii. shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their tres passes. And two parables being capable of miscon 35. 13. struction, he carefully guards against a perversion of their design. He is very large in applying that of the Luk. xvi.9unjust steward; deducing an inference that "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light;" and exhorting his hearers to make themselves friends of riches by a faithful use of them. And he thus applies the parable of the unjust judge overcome by the importunity of a widow, “And Luk. xviii. shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, and will he be long-suffering with respect to them°? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily," by bringing the Roman armies upon the Jews their persecutors. The subject-matter of our Lord's parables, recommending pious resignation in a state of poverty, humility, forgiveness, humanity, fruitfulness in good works, prayer, watchfulness, a prudent and beneficent use of wealth, a due improvement of religious advantages, and such like worthy actions and dispositions, shows the excellence of our Lord's doctrines and the amiableness of his character: their beauty, decorum, variety, and pertinency, on occasions which did not admit of premeditation, furnish a strong presumption of his more 7,8. than human wisdom; and the completion of the prophecies which they contain directly proves his divine mission. So that on the whole they constitute no mean part of the internal evidence of Christianity. SECT. XI.-That our Lord sometimes instructed by actions. SPEAKING, as it were, to the eye by sensible representations is a very ancient kind of language. Types may be called prophecies by action. Thus the manner of our Lord's death, and the benefits of it to mankind, Num. xxi.8, were presignified by the brazen serpent raised on a pole; the sight of which restored those who had been bitten by serpents. 9; Jo. iii. 14, 15. The Hebrew prophets sometimes borrowed illustrations from casual objects; sometimes they seem to supply the action themselves; and sometimes God expressly commanded them to supply it. To give a single 1 Sam. xv. instance of each: "As Samuel turned about to go away from Saul, the king laid prophet's mantle, and rent it. him, The Lord hath rent the thee this day." When Joash, king of Israel, visited Elisha in the sickness whereof the prophet died, Elisha 27, 28. 18. hold on the skirt of the And Samuel said unto kingdom of Israel from 2 Kin. xiii. said, "Take arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed." This was to denote that Joash should thrice vanquish the Syrians. In this and similar instances there is no doubt but that the mode of prophecy was suggested by the Spirit, though the divine agency is not recorded. Again: in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign God commanded PJeremiah to put bonds and yokes on his neck, and send them to certain kings; thus denoting the bondage of Jeru P Jer. xxvii. 2, 3, &c. See Cler. on Jer. xix. 10. salem, and of some particular kingdoms, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon". Examples of significant signs occur also in the New Testament. Pilate seems to have adopted a ceremony 6. Mat. in the Jewish law, when he took water and washed his Deut. xxi. hands before the multitude; intending to declare by xxvii. 24. this action, as he did in express words, that he was innocent of the blood which he was compelled to shed. When our Lord expired, "the veil of the temple was Mat. xxvii. rent in twain from the top to the bottom;" to signify ix. 8. that the way into the true holy of holies was made manifest by the death of Christ. 51. Heb. I allow this interpretation: but yet I am unwilling to allow "that the darkness which was spread over the land,” while our Lord was on the cross, "showed the spiritual blindness of the Jews: and that the earthquakes at the death and resurrection of Christ showed the great revolutions which should come to pass in the establishment of the gospel and in the fall of Judaism and paganism "." I infer the reason of rending the veil Heb. vi. 19. from the reason of erecting it: but my mind is satisfied with contemplating the other events as wonders designed to excite awe and attention at the periods when they happened. ix. 8. But to return. The cloven tongues, like as of fire, Act. ii. 3. which sat on each of the apostles on the day of Pentecost, denoted that they received the wonderful gift of speaking with divers tongues. Peter was instructed in that great mystery, the admission of the Gentiles into the Christian church, by a symbolic vision: he saw in a trance a number of unclean beasts, fowls, and insects Act.x.9,&c. let down from heaven; and was commanded not to call those things common which God had cleansed. At ¶ See more instances in Sir I. Newton on Daniel, p. 148. r Jortin: Eccl. Hist. i. 274. 5, 6. Act. xviii. Corinth "Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ: and when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment," thus importing his detachment from them, "and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean." And while this apostle was at Cæsarea Act. xxi.10, in his way to Jerusalem, "there came down from Judæa a certain prophet, named Agabus ;" who "took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle." I shall add one instance from the Apocalypse. A mighty angel is introduced as "taking up a stone, like a great millstone, and casting it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." And this mode of expressing ideas by visible signs is not uncommon in ancient history. I shall allege a few proofs from among many. It is well known that Tarquin the Proud advised his son to destroy the chief citizens of Gabii, by taking the Gabinian messenger into his garden, and striking off with his staff the heads of his tallest poppies. And, about a century before this, Thrasibulus the Milesian" conveyed like counsel to Periander, tyrant of Corinth, by breaking off the highest ears of corn. Sending land and water to the Persians was considered as a formal acknowledgment of their sovereignty. When Trajan was in Egypt, he consulted the oracle at Heliopolis whether he should successfully finish the Parthian war, and return to Rome. He received for answer a vine-twigy wrapped s Or interpret the text according to Neh. v. 13. t Liv. i. 54. u Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. p. 245. ed. Huds. x Herod. iv. 126. y Macrob. i. c. xxiii. calls it vitis centurialis, or that with |