the leaven, and the one error will throw light upon the origin and
nature of the other. Observing that the Lord in another place represents
the doctrines of the Pharisees and the Sadducees as a leaven, some have
concluded that the leaven in the parable also must point to the spread
of error, and have expounded it accordingly. All judicious critics,
however, clearly see and distinctly explain in that case, that the
leaven which was in other instances employed to represent the diffusion
of evil, was in the parable employed to represent the prevalence of
good. Although leaven in one of the Lord's discourses pointed to
hypocrisy and unbelief, they teach, and teach correctly, that leaven in
another of his discourses points to the progress of saving truth.
The same discrimination should be exercised here. It is quite true that
the Lord at one time, and in one discourse, compared the ministry of
apostles in winning souls to the labour of fishers in the ordinary
exercise of their craft; but that does not prevent him from employing at
another time the universal sweep of the draw-net to represent the
silent, slow, and sure encompassing of human kind, which draws them,
good and bad alike, by instruments and agencies which they do not see
and cannot resist, from this troubled sea of time toward the shore of
the unknown eternity. Because the conception of capturing fishes in the
Sea is at one time in the Lord's discourses employed to indicate the
benevolent labour of the Gospel ministry, it does not follow that you
are compelled to construe that conception in the same way wherever it
occurs, although the circumstances manifestly render the application
incongruous and contradictory.
Let it be observed, moreover, that when the apostles in respect of their
work are called fishers of men, not one feature in the process of
fishing is specified in detail. Nothing is introduced but the general
conception of a fisherman catching fishes in the sea. This conception in
the abstract contains nothing incongruous with the labour of the
apostles. As long as you abide by the bare general term "fisher," the
analogy, as applied to "apostle," is obvious and the meaning easily
recognised; but the moment you descend into the details of a net, and
the mixture of good and evil, you plunge into inextricable confusion, if
you persist in maintaining an analogy between the detailed process of
fishing and the labour of apostles for the kingdom of Christ.
The general conception of fishing, as it appeared to the mind of speaker
and hearers on the margin of the Lake of Galilee, diverged into two
dissimilar branches as soon as it descended into practical detail. The
fishermen prosecuted their avocation sometimes with line and baited
hooks, sometimes with boat and nets. Fishing with line and hook, a
process of watching, selecting, discriminating, whereby the fishes are
one by one enticed and taken, readily spontaneously leaps up before the
imagination as a line parallel with the work of an evangelist, bent on
winning souls; but fishing by the draw-net absolutely refuses to be
fashioned into an analogue of the evangelistic work. The Lord in his
teaching said that fishers were like apostles; but he never said that
the process of fishing by the draw-net resembles the efforts of his
ministers for the conversion of the world. Of the two methods of fishing
which were familiar to the parties, one is in some of its main features
analogous to the new employment into which Jesus called the twelve, and
the other is totally dissimilar. When I read, therefore, that an apostle
is a fisher of men, I shall think of the selecting, discriminating
method of casting a hook into the water; and when I learn from this
parable that the separation between the good and bad of the net's
contents upon the shore represents the separation between good and bad
men by the ministry of angels in the unseen world, I am not compelled--I
am not permitted to believe, contrary to all analogy, that the Church
encloses all, like the net, without an effort, a hope, a desire to
discriminate, and that the ministers of the Church, like the fishermen,
drag their brothers unwilling out of the world to the judgment-seat.
2. But has not the Lord said in this parable, as in all the rest of the
group, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the
sea? He has; yet the fact does not prove that he meant to represent the
Church by the net, and the labour of apostles by the spreading and
drawing of the net. The formula, "The kingdom of heaven is like,"
relates to the parable as a whole, and not specifically to that feature
of the parable which lies next to it in the record. For the evidence of
this proposition it is not necessary to go further than the two
immediately preceding parables. In one, "the kingdom of heaven is like
unto treasure;" in the other, it "is like unto a merchant-man." If,
instead of looking to the picture as a whole, you insist on finding the
analogue of the kingdom or the Church specifically in the net, you must,
in like manner, in the parable of the pearl, find that the Church is
specifically compared to a man, whereas in the preceding example it was
compared to a treasure. In these examples it is demonstrated that the
analogy instituted refers to the picture as a whole, and not to the
single feature that first occurs in the narrative.[28]
[28] The argument on this point is well stated by Limburg Brouwer.
His conclusion is: "Accedit quod [Greek: promythion] illud, ([Greek:
hômoiôthê hê Basileia, k.t.l.]) saepe ita comparatum est, ut proprie
non conferendum sit cum solo illo subjecto, quocum ab auctore
connectatur, sed potius cum universa re narrata."--_De Parabolis
Jesu Christi_, 153.
The Lord intimates in the introductory formula that he intends by this
parable to give yet another lesson regarding the kingdom of heaven; and
it must be determined otherwise than by the mere juxtaposition of the
clauses, on what aspect or period of the kingdom he will by this
similitude throw light. Six consecutive lessons on the subject have
already been given. He has taught already what hinders the kingdom in
the deceitfulness of human hearts, and the machinations of the wicked
one; what its inherent power is, and what its contagious all-pervading
influence; what is its value in the estimate of those who know it, and
how much they willingly part with in order to obtain the treasure. What
new and additional characteristic of the kingdom does the Master teach
his disciples in the seventh and last parable of the group--the parable
of the draw-net? The closing lesson about the kingdom relates to the
closing scene of the kingdom--the separation of the wicked from the good
on the great day. From the order of the subjects in the series you might
expect this; from the picture actually presented you are logically led
to infer this; but, especially, you know this from the spontaneous
explanation then and there given by the Lord. Although, according to his
usual method, he completed the parabolic picture, filling up the fore
and back grounds with the objects that naturally lay there, yet when he
comes to the interpretation, he passes in silence all these preparatory
features, and tells the meaning of the last only--the separation of the
wicked from the just through the ministry of angels at the end of the
world. Yes, as the Lord said, this parable sheds light on the kingdom,
but the portion of the kingdom on which the light falls is the close. It
brings out in strong relief the final separation between those who
remain distant and those who are brought nigh.
In view of the decisive fact that the Lord gives an interpretation, and
does not interpret the casting and drawing of the net to mean the
visible Church and its operations--does not interpret the casting and
drawing of the net at all, I cannot assent to the demand that the
general formula of introduction common to all the seven parables should
be held to determine what specific portion of the extended picture, or
whether any, represents the Church in relation to the character of its
members and the duty of its ministers.
When God in his work of creation determined to give this globe a "lesser
light," to mitigate the necessary darkness of its night in the absence
of the sun, he provided an orb which serves that purpose, and more.
Although only one of its sides is turned towards the earth, the moon has
another side formed in full. For light to the earth the Creator needed
only a disc; but in order to provide it he made a sphere. In a similar
manner the Lord has acted in the parable, when he desired to give his
disciples a lesson upon the separation which takes place at the close of
the dispensation; He made the orb full, although he illumined only one
side of it by his own interpretation.
If any one is disposed to hold me to the letter of this similitude, and
say that the uninterpreted portion of the parable is left, like the
further hemisphere of the moon, deep in the shade, and beyond our view,
I frankly consent to be so held. I agree that those portions of the
parable should be considered to us of uncertain significance. We may
lawfully and profitably examine them, and test every proposed
explanation, and profit by every good lesson that may be obtained; but
we ought absolutely to abandon all attempts to find there an authority
for any doctrine or any duty. I think when the Lord has explained a
part of one of his own parables, the portion of it which he has left
unexplained is in a different position from a parable which he has not
explained at all. When he gives any interpretation, his silence has a
meaning as well as his words. If he had meant to determine by a
particular feature of this parable any important doctrine or duty, we
may rest assured, when he did undertake to give an explanation, he would
not have left that part altogether unexplained. On the whole, I think
the earlier portion of the parable is debatable ground; it is left in
the shade; there is room for difference of opinion in regard to it. In
some aspects it may suggest useful reflections as a picture of the good
and evil mingled in the Church; in other aspects it may suggest solemn
thoughts as a picture of successive generations being gradually drawn
from life's moving sea to eternity's stable unknown shore. I believe
that profitable lessons may be obtained from it in both of these, and
perhaps in other aspects; I believe that the disciples do not sin, and
the Master is not displeased, when to one inquirer it suggests this
lesson, and to another it suggests that, as long as all is done in
charity, and according to the analogy of the faith. I have suggested a
line of thought, which I believe to be relevant and profitable; but I
would not dare to plant my foot on this exposition as the ground of any
doctrine or any duty. It is because others, both in ancient and modern
times, have pretended to find on the unillumined side of this parable a
light to guide Christians authoritatively in points that vitally affect
the kingdom of Christ, that I have entered at so great length into the
inquiry.
I confess frankly that I count it a good and necessary work to wrench
this scripture from the hands of those who, whether in ignorance or
conscious partiality, use it as an instrument practically to blot out
the line which the Lord has elsewhere drawn between the Church and the
world.
It is not necessary now to refute formally the fond, feeble notion, that
this parable proves the sinfulness of dissenting from the Church of
England, established by the State and prelatic in its government. Even
although we should concede that the visible Church and the character of
its constituents are the subjects with which the parable deals, it would
be childish trifling on the part of a Churchman to quote it as of
authority against Nonconformists. In the same Bible stands the precept,
"Come out from among them and be ye separate;" and the Nonconformist has
as good a right, that is, no right at all, to quote it as of authority
by itself against a Churchman. The matter cannot be settled, on either
side, by general announcements like these, although they are selected
from the Scriptures. Every case must be judged upon its own merits. The
question whether a dissenter has separated from a corrupt community in
order to obey his Lord, or has rent the Church to gratify his own pride,
must be determined in each case by an appeal to the facts: no solution
satisfactory to intelligent Christians, or to grown men, can be reached
by superciliously throwing a text in your neighbour's face. This remark
is made upon the supposition that the parable bears upon the point,
which I think is more than doubtful. Those who gravely counsel the
fishes to abide peacefully within the net, and not to leap out
pharisaically and schismatically because foul fish abound within the
same enclosure, certainly show themselves incapable of appreciating the
analogies of nature, whatever may be their familiarity with
ecclesiastical affairs.
We subjoin two practical lessons; the first, though in itself
self-evidently true, depending for its suggestion here on the special
view of the net which we have submitted; the second founded directly on
the word and enforced by the authority of the Lord.
1. We of this generation, a miscellaneous multitude of old and young,
good and evil, move about at liberty in the wide expanse of life, as
fishes move about in the deep broad sea; but certain mysterious,
invisible lines, have been let down into the water, and are silently,
slowly creeping near, and winding round us. The net at first has a vast
compass: a fish within its circle has as much room as it needs, and
cares not for distant danger. Even when the cords begin to come near, he
moves out of their way, and for his own comfort embraces warmly the
opinion that these cords do not constitute a net. They are some loose
things,--certain species of sea-weed, such as he has often seen before.
He has gone round them or through them often and easily: he will do so
again. But these approach persistently, and still from the same side:
they lie between him and the open sea: to avoid them he must move
in-shore. Getting now a nearer view, he descries some new features of
the danger. These lines are crossed and knitted in a manner all unlike
the sea-weed threads that streamed so long and straight and loose in the
tide-way. A secret foreboding of some unknown doom arises: the alarmed
captive, having now no further room to retire, darts wildly sea-ward,
and is caught in the inevitable meshes of the encircling net. After a
moment of violent but feeble struggle, he is laid still and dumb on the
shore.
It is a picture touchingly, terribly exact of our own state. The net has
been spread around us: the sharp knitted lines gradually approach and
touch us. Shrinking from the clammy contact as we would from living
snakes, we retire before them, and still find room. But the lines appear
again, always on the same side. Our space grows narrower as we recede,
from year to year, from week to week, from day to day, until at length
we graze the ground and strike upon the eternal world.
That net cannot be removed or evaded; but it may be changed, so that you
would not fear its approach. When we become new creatures in Christ,
death approaching us becomes a new creature too, as the image in a
mirror changes with the object that stands before it. This dreaded net
becomes like a warm, soft, encircling arm, pressing a frightened infant
closer to a mother's breast.
2. Good and bad alike are drawn in company toward the shore, but the
good and bad are separated when they reach it.
No lesson can be addressed to men more touching, more piercing than
this. Nor is its penetrating power diminished by any deficiency of
authority in the word that presses it home. It is the word of the Lord;
not spoken in parables, but expressly given as the meaning of the
parable that had been spoken. Its force is not weakened by any quiver of
doubt in the Christian brotherhood as to the Master's mind. All
Christians hear this word and understand it alike: the whole assembly,
when they hear it, bow the head and worship. On the authority of our
Redeemer, and in terms so transparent that they afford no room for
doubt, we learn that on the shore to which we are silently, surely
moving, a separation infallibly exact and irrevocably final will be made
between the evil and the good. As to the positive punishment into which
the impenitent will be cast, while I simply receive all the words of the
Lord, I shall take care not to obtrude many of my own. He spoke of
matters beyond the cognizance of sense, and beyond even the range of
imagination, and therefore in the nature of the case we cannot fully
understand his words. But He who utters this solemn warning knows what
we understand by "a furnace of fire," and by "wailing and gnashing of
teeth:" he intends to convey to us, regarding sufferings that are not
only unknown, but in our present condition to us unknowable, as clear
and deep and awe-inspiring an impression as our minds are capable of
receiving. He leads our minds in that direction as far as they can
follow; and, for the rest, darkness will cover it until "that day." In
the direction downward unto death, as well as upward unto life, the word
holds good, "What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter."
Either line, when it crosses the border of this life, "passeth all
understanding." I suppose it is as completely impossible for a human
heart to conceive what God hath prepared for them that hate him, as to
conceive what he hath prepared for them that love him.
It is eminently noteworthy here, that the clearest, most articulate, and
most emphatic announcements regarding the positive punishment of the
wicked in a future world which the Scriptures contain, were spoken, and
spoken repeatedly, by the lips of the Lord Jesus. Wherefore? Did the
love of the Redeemer sometimes wax cold? Did even he, through the
provocations that he met in his ministry, sometimes forget to be
gracious? No; never at any time did his heart melt more with tenderness
for men than when he proclaimed that the wicked shall be cast into outer
darkness. He not only intimated, as in this parable, that such sentence
would be pronounced, but declared that himself would pronounce it: "When
the Son of man shall come in his glory ... then shall he say unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. xxv. 31-41). He who
uttered these words pitied and loved sinners; he loved them while he
spoke these words; he loved them although he spoke these
words;--_because_ he loved them, he spoke these words. The thing which
these words declare is true: Christ did not change the eternal law of
God that evil shall not dwell in his presence: since this law remains
beyond the line of the present world to meet every man as he enters
eternity, it was kind to give us warning. It would have been unkind, and
therefore unlike the Lord, to conceal the dreadful fact, and leave
unwarned sinners to learn it first by feeling it. It was love,
overflowing love in the heart of our Brother, that drew these warnings
repeatedly from his lips. The reason why he tells us that the wicked
shall be cast away, is that we may never be cast away. The good Shepherd
would compel the sheep to flee to the fold by sending out his terrors,
when they refused to be more gently led.
There is a machine in the Bank of England which receives sovereigns, as
a mill receives grain, for the purpose of determining wholesale whether
all are of full weight. As they pass through, the machinery, by unerring
laws, throws all that are light to one side, and all that are of full
weight to another. That process is a silent but solemn parable for me.
Founded as it is upon the laws of nature, it affords the most vivid
similitude of the certainty which characterizes the judgment of the
great day. There are no mistakes or partialities to which the light may
trust: the only hope lies in being of standard weight before they go in.
I gratefully recognise tender, overflowing love, in the faithful
testimony of Christ regarding the punishment of the wicked: it is meant
to compel sinners now to take refuge in his righteousness.[29]
[29] Arndt closes his exposition of this parable with a hymn, which
I subjoin, not only for the sake of the doctrinal statement
regarding the ground of a sinner's hope contained in the first
verse, but also, and still more, for the union of simplicity and
solemnity in the conception of future punishment contained in the
second:--
Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit,
Das ist mein Schmuck und Ehrenkleid;
Damit will ich vor Gott besteh'n
Und zu der Himmelsfreud' eingeh'n.
Hilf, Gott, dass yeder kommen mag,
Wo tausend Yahr' ist wie ein Tag:
Vor dem Ort uns, O Gott, bewahr',
Wo ein Tag ist wie tausend Yahr'!
Christ's blood and righteousness
Shall be the marriage-dress,
In which I'll stand
At God's right hand
Forgiven,
And enter rest
Among the blest
In heaven.
Help, Lord, that we may come
To thy saints' happy home,
Where a thousand years
As one day appears,
Nor go,
Where one day appears
As a thousand years
For woe.
VIII.
THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT.
"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,
Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord
of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and
forgave him the debt. But 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, Pay me that thou
owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought
him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he
would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the
debt. So 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, O 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? And his lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses."--MATT. xviii. 23-35.
This parable, and that of the Good Samaritan, as has been justly
suggested by Fred. Arndt, although historically separate, are logically
related, like two branches that spring from one stem: together they
express a Christian's duty to his brother in respect of injuries. When a
brother inflicts an injury on you, forgive him; when a brother suffers
an injury from another, help him. Forgiving love is taught in this
parable; helpful love in the parable of the Good Samaritan.