o them in sympathy and tenderness.
And He had another reason for teaching in parables. Among the
multitudes that gathered about Him, there were priests and rabbis,
scribes and elders, Herodians and rulers, world-loving, bigoted,
ambitious men, who desired above all things to find some accusation
against Him. Their spies followed His steps day after day, to catch
from His lips something that would cause His condemnation, and
forever silence the One who seemed to draw the world after Him.
The Saviour understood the character of these men, and He presented
truth in such a way that they could find nothing by which to bring His
case before the Sanhedrim. In parables He rebuked the hypocrisy and
wicked works of those who occupied high positions, and in figurative
language clothed truth of so cutting a character that had it been spoken
in direct denunciation, they would not have listened to His words,
and would speedily have put an end to His ministry. But while He
evaded the spies, He made truth so clear that error was manifested,
and the honest in heart were profited by His lessons. Divine wisdom,
infinite grace, were made plain by the things of God’s creation.
Through nature and the experiences of life, men were taught of God.
“The invisible things of Him since the creation of the world,” were
“perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting
power and divinity.” Romans 1:20, R. V.
In the Saviour’s parable teaching is an indication of what
constitutes the true “higher education.” Christ might have opened to
men the deepest truths of science. He might have unlocked mysteries
which have required many centuries of toil and study to penetrate. He
might have made suggestions in scientific lines that would have
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afforded food for thought and stimulus for invention to the close of
time. But He did not do this. He said nothing to gratify curiosity, or
to satisfy man’s ambition by opening doors to worldly greatness. In
all His teaching, Christ brought the mind of man in contact with the
Infinite Mind. He did not direct the people to study men’s theories
about God, His word, or His works. He taught them to behold Him as
manifested in His works, in His word, and by His providences.
Christ did not deal in abstract theories, but in that which is
essential to the development of character, that which will enlarge
man’s capacity for knowing God, and increase his efficiency to do
good. He spoke to men of those truths that relate to the conduct of
life, and that take hold upon eternity.
It was Christ who directed the education of Israel. Concerning
the commandments and ordinances of the Lord He said, “Thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest
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down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign
upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy
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gates.” Deuteronomy 6:7-9. In His own teaching, Jesus showed
how this command is to be fulfilled—how the laws and principles
of God’s kingdom can be so presented as to reveal their beauty and
preciousness. When the Lord was training Israel to be the special
representatives of Himself, He gave them homes among the hills
and valleys. In their home life and their religious service they were
brought in constant contact with nature and with the word of God. So
Christ taught His disciples by the lake, on the mountainside, in the
fields and groves, where they could look upon the things of nature by
which He illustrated His teachings. And as the