Excerpt from Notes on the Parables of Our Lord The two fables of the Old Testament, that of the trees which would choose a king (j udg. Ix. 8 and of the thistle and the cedar (2 Kin. Xiv. May seem to impeach the universality of this rule, but do not so in fact. For in neither is it God who speaks, nor yet messengers of his, delivering his counsel; but men, and from an earthly standing-point, not a heavenly. Jotham will teach the men of Shechem their folly, not their sin, in making Abimelech king over them; the fable never lifting itself to the rebuke of sin, as it is sin - this lesson lies outside of its sphere - but only in so far as it is also folly. And Jehoash, in the same way, would make Amaziah see his presumption and pride, in challenging a mightier to the con ict; not thereby teaching him any moral lesson, but Only giving evidence in the fable which he uttered, that his own pride was ofiended by the challenge of the Jewish king. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."