Page:The Bible- Its True Character and Spiritual Meaning.djvu/16

6 in the ratio of man's growing wisdom; and meanwhile the picture itself is vivified by the principle personified or the truth embodied. Thus it is that the parable speaks at once to the child and the philosopher; and as the individual ascends the steps of maturer wisdom its meaning opens to his expanding consciousness. The divine parable of the Prodigal is to the child, who hears it first at his mother's knee, a simple story, presenting a vivid picture of personal history; the youth learns to regard it as history teaching by example; the man perceives that the historical form is only an investiture assumed for the purpose of illustration; and yet, throughout this process, the spiritual interest of the story is developing in clearness, till finally the image of the fatherhood, forgiveness and providence of Divine love, which was not wholly absent from the child's first impressions, becomes supreme to the man's thought.

Now, let us reflect whether it would make any difference in the value or intention of that parable if we were to find it recorded among the chronicles of the Jewish kings, or the histories of the Israelitish people. Transfer it to the book of Samuel, give names to the father and sons, think of it as a historical occurrence