1841 William Miller Evidence from Scripture & History - A2Z.org

LECTURE XVI.
, MATT. uv. I.
l'hen shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virginr
which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
PARABLES are always given to illuetrate some doctrine
or subject which the speaker wishes to communicate,
and is an easy or familiar manner of making his
hearera or readers underatand the subject, and receive
a lasting impression. Nothing has so good an effect on
the mind as to teach by parables moral precepts or
spiritual truths. In this way we are taught by visible
things, or familiar objects, to realize, in some measure,
the truths and sub'ects presented. Thii was the manner
~hrist taught his disciples and followera, that their
memories might the more easily retain, and be oRen
refreshed, when they beheld any scene like the representation
of the parable; and in this way, they might
alway~ keep in view the important truth that is likened
to the parable. A parable, rightly applied and clearly
understood, gives good instruction, and is a lasting
iiiustration of the troth But if we apply the parable
wrong, if we put on a false construction, it will serve
to lead us into an error, and blind us, instead of producing
light, -as Christ said of the Pharisees, he spakc
to them in parables, that, "seeing, they might see and
not perceive, and hearing, they might hear and not understand."
Men often explain parables by fancy, to
suit their own notions, without any evidence but their
own ingenuity ; and by thii means there will be aa many
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