Excerpt from The Parables of Jesus The mode of teaching by parables is one of great antiquity. It was, as we have already seen, practiced under the Old Testament dispensation, and appears to have been very generally afterward adopted by the rabbis even down to the time of Christ. Its advantages are obvious. Experience has demonstrated that this sort of composition is better calculated to command attention, to captivate the imagination, to affect the heart, and to make deep and lasting impressions on the memory, than the most ingenious and most elegant discourses. Besides, the very obscurity in which para bles are sometimes involved has the effect of exciting a greater degree of curiosity and interest, and of urging the mind to a more vigorous exertion of its powers, than any other mode of instruction. There is some thing for the understanding to work upon, and when the concealed meaning is at length elicited, we are apt to value ourselves on the discovery, as the effect of our own penetration and discernment, and for that very rea son to pay more regard to the moral it conveys. 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.