At the beginning of his ministry, our Saviour did not make much use of parables.  But, after he had been preaching for some time, he made a change in his way of teaching, in this respect.  He began to use parables very freely.  His disciples were surprised at this.  On one occasion, after he had used the parable of the Sower, they came to their Master and asked him why he always spake to the people now in parables?  We have our Saviour’s answer to this question in St. Matt, xiii:  11-18.  And it is a remarkable answer.  The meaning of it is that he used parables for two reasons:  one was to help those who really wished to learn from him to understand what he was teaching.  The other was that those who were not willing to be taught might listen to him without understanding what he was saying.  These people had heard him when he was teaching without parables.  But, instead of thanking him for coming to teach them, and of being willing to do what he wanted them to do, they found fault with his teaching, and would not mind what he said.

Now, there is a great difference between the way in which we are to learn what the Bible teaches us about God and heaven; and the way in which we learn other things.  If we want to learn what the Bible teaches us we must be careful that we are having right feelings in our hearts; but if we want to learn other things it does not matter so much what our feelings are.  For instance, suppose you have a lesson to learn in geography; no matter how you are feeling, whether you are proud, or humble; whether you are cross, or gentle; yet if you only study hard enough, and long enough, you can learn that lesson.  But, if you want to learn one of the lessons that Jesus teaches, no matter how hard, or how long you study it, yet while you are giving way to proud, or angry feelings in your heart, you can never learn that lesson.  And the reason is that we cannot learn these lessons unless we have the special help of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.  But this help can never be had while we give way to wrong feelings in our hearts.  In learning geography, and other such lessons, we do not need the special help of God.  We can learn them ourselves, if we only try.  But we cannot learn the lessons that Jesus teaches in this way.  This is what the Psalmist means when he says:—­“The meek will he teach his way.”  Ps. xxv:  9.  And this was what our Saviour meant when he said:  “If any man will do his will, he shall know.”  St. John vii:  17.  We must be willing to be taught;—­and willing to obey; if we wish to understand what Jesus, “The Great Teacher,” has to tell us.

Some one has well said that truth, taught by a parable, is like the kernel hid away in a nut.  The parable, like the shell of the nut, covers up the kernel.  Those who really want the kernel will crack the shell, and get it:  but those who are not willing to crack the shell will never get the kernel.  The shell of the nut keeps the kernel safe for one of these persons, and safe from the others.