claration, such as required no
interpretation, many among His hearers would have come under
condemnation, inasmuch as they were too weak in faith and unprepared in
heart to break the bonds of traditionalism and the prejudice engendered
by sin, so as to accept and obey the saving word. Their inability to
comprehend the requirements of the gospel would in righteous measure
give Mercy some claim upon them, while had they rejected the truth with
full understanding, stern Justice would surely demand their
condemnation.[649]

That the lesson of the parables was comprehensible through study, prayer
and search was intimated in the Teacher's admonishment: "Who hath ears
to hear, let him hear."[650] To the more studious inquirers, the Master
added: "Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that
hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be
taken even that which he hath."[651] Two men may hear the same words;
one of them listens in indolence and indifference, the other with active
mind intent on learning all that the words can possibly convey; and,
having heard, the diligent man goes straightway to do the things
commended to him, while the careless one neglects and forgets. The one
is wise, the other foolish; the one has heard to his eternal profit, the
other to his everlasting condemnation.[652]

Another example of the merciful adaptation of the word of truth to the
varied capacities of the people who heard the parables is found in the
psychological fact, that the incidents of an impressive though simple
story will live, even in minds which for the time being are incapable of
comprehending any meaning beyond that of the common-place story itself.
Many a peasant who had heard the little incident of the sower and the
four kinds of soil, of the tares sown by an enemy at night, of the seed
that grew though the planter had temporarily forgotten it, would be
reminded by the recurring circumstances of his daily work; the gardener
would recollect the story of the mustard seed whenever he planted
afresh, or when he looked upon the umbrageous plant with birds nesting
in its branches; the housewife would be impressed anew by the story of
the leaven as she mixed and kneaded and baked; the fisherman at his nets
would think again of the good fish and the bad and compare the sorting
of his catch with the judgment to come. And then,