us had both in succession repaired
personally to Rome to obtain their authority. Precisely similar
scenes are enacted between the British government and the protected
potentates of India; the agents for rival princes contend for regal
rights in London, where the government of India is in the last
resort controlled.

Before setting out on his journey "he called his ten servants," &c.
These men were his servants or slaves. In different countries, and at
different times, the bond of servitude has been indefinitely varied both
in stringency and duration. In all probability these servants were the
bondsmen of the nobleman, although law and practice might not accord to
the owner a power so absolute as that with which we are too familiar in
modern slavery. But the more nearly that the master's rights approached
the point of absolute ownership of property, the more suitable becomes
the picture to represent the relation that subsists between the
redeeming Lord and his ransomed people.[103]

[103] It is altogether a mistake to conclude from the allusions made
here and elsewhere in the Scriptures to the actually existing
servitude of the times and places, that any modern system of slavery
may claim the sanction of divine approval. It was the custom of
Jesus to seize existing facts on the right and on the left as they
lay around, and employ them as vehicles for conveying his meaning.
Sometimes he so employed a good thing, and sometimes a bad thing,
but by the mere fact of using a human act or habit as a metaphor, he
pronounced no judgment regarding its moral character. It was enough
for him that the thing was well known, and that it served as a
letter with which he might indicate his mind. Printers make their
types of any material that may be most suitable for the purpose, and
most readily obtained; and with these types they multiply the
Scriptures. They use a cheap mixture of lead and tin; and this base
alloy serves their purpose better than more precious metals. Their
only question in determining the choice of material is, Will it
print our meaning clearly? Thus the Lord Jesus dealt with the habits
which he found in society, and the events that were passing at the
time. He selected and employed them with a regard not to their own
intrinsic moral worth but to their fitness for expressing the idea
which he meant to convey. No matter whether it be lead or gold; what
he wanted w