does not prove that he meant to represent the
Church by the net, and the labour of apostles by the spreading and
drawing of the net. The formula, "The kingdom of heaven is like,"
relates to the parable as a whole, and not specifically to that feature
of the parable which lies next to it in the record. For the evidence of
this proposition it is not necessary to go further than the two
immediately preceding parables. In one, "the kingdom of heaven is like
unto treasure;" in the other, it "is like unto a merchant-man." If,
instead of looking to the picture as a whole, you insist on finding the
analogue of the kingdom or the Church specifically in the net, you must,
in like manner, in the parable of the pearl, find that the Church is
specifically compared to a man, whereas in the preceding example it was
compared to a treasure. In these examples it is demonstrated that the
analogy instituted refers to the picture as a whole, and not to the
single feature that first occurs in the narrative.[28]

[28] The argument on this point is well stated by Limburg Brouwer.
His conclusion is: "Accedit quod [Greek: promythion] illud, ([Greek:
homoiothe he Basileia, k.t.l.]) saepe ita comparatum est, ut proprie
non conferendum sit cum solo illo subjecto, quocum ab auctore
connectatur, sed potius cum universa re narrata."--_De Parabolis
Jesu Christi_, 153.

The Lord intimates in the introductory formula that he intends by this
parable to give yet another lesson regarding the kingdom of heaven; and
it must be determined otherwise than by the mere juxtaposition of the
clauses, on what aspect or period of the kingdom he will by this
similitude throw light. Six consecutive lessons on the subject have
already been given. He has taught already what hinders the kingdom in
the deceitfulness of human hearts, and the machinations of the wicked
one; what its inherent power is, and what its contagious all-pervading
influence; what is its value in the estimate of those who know it, and
how much they willingly part with in order to obtain the treasure. What
new and additional characteristic of the kingdom does the Master teach
his disciples in the seventh and last parable of the group--the parable
of the draw-net? The closing lesson about the kingdom relates to the
closing scene of the kingdom--the separation of the wicked from the good
on the great day. From the order of the subjects in the series you might
expect this; from the picture ac