546 A SIIORT VIEW OF SCRIPTURE nISTORY. and invited all men to come to him and trust in him that they might he saved ; Luke iv. 18, 21, 22. and xi. 9-13. Mat. v. 3-12. and vii. 7, &c. and xi. 28. John v. and vi. '7. and viii. 7. He revealed the things of the future and invisible world, the resurrection and the day of judgment, heaven and hell, be- yond what the world had ever known before ; 2 Tim. i. 10. Mat. v. 8, 12. and xiii. and xxv. &c. 8. He often foretold that the Jews would reject him and his gospel, and should be terribly punished for it ; and he declared that the Gentiles would receive his gospel, and said many things to prepare the way of the Gentiles into the church or kingdom of the Messiah, because the Jews had such violent prejudices against their admission into it ; Mat. viii. 12. and xx. and xxi. Luke xv. Mat. xx. 40, 41. and xxiii. 38. 9. He several times foretold his own death, and his resur- rection, and his future glory, and his coming to raise the dead, and to judge the world ; Mat. xxi. and xxiv. and xxv. John T. 27-29. and xii. 23-34. Mat. xii. 40. 26. Q. Did Jesus Christ foretel all these things plainly and openly ? A. What he spake by way of prophecy in private to his disciples, he spake plainly; but what he spake of this kind inpublic to the multitudes, was often, though not always de- livered in parables and similitudes ; Mark iv. 11, 32, 34. Mat. xx. 18-28. 27. Q. But did not Christ teach the great and glorious doc- trine of his own death, as a sacrifice or ransom for sinful men, in the courseof his public ministry ? A. He taught this privately to his disciples, to whom he spoke more freely of his death and resurrection toward the end of his life; Mat. xvi. 16-22. But, as for wise reasons, he did not preach publicly and plainly to the people his own death or his resurrection, so he scarce ever preached in public and in plain language, those great doctrines of Christianity, that depend upon his death or his resurrection: These things werewisely reserved for the ministry of his apos- tles after he was actually dead and risen, and ascended to hea- ven, and had poured out on them the promised Spirit ; Mat. x. 27. Luke xxiv. 45-49. 28. Q. What were some of the most remarkable among the parables of Jesus Christ ? A. The parable of the sower and the seed, of the tares in the field, of the merciless servant, of the good Samaritan, of the labourers in thevineyard, of the Wicked husbandmen, of the ten virgins, of the improvement of talents, of the prodigal son, of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. 29. Q. What is the parable of the sower and the seed ? A. As the seed that is sown, falling on different sorts of ground, brings forth more or less fruit, or no fruit at all ; so when mi-
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