________________
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
247 wisdom and learning to be able to strengthen his argument by the use of parables. If any one doubt this, let him just try and see how many parables he can manufacture or cite himself. Jesus must bave had a goodly stock of such anecdotes and fables, in order to be able to keep up an intelligent and well-jointed system of what may be described as parabolic teaching. His dialogues had nothing of pedantry in them; he talked in short simple sentences which, however, are remarkably crisp on account of their inherent emphasis and rhetoric. Neither his eloquence, nor his speech, nor his repartee had anything of the vulgar about them ; on the contrary, there is a pronounced fragrance of refined wit and intelligence emanating from them.
We thus find ourselves utterly unable to endorse the statement of some of his biographers that he was more of a simple ignorant villager than anything else. A man who could not only hold his own against the learned controversialists of his day, but could also give them points on their own ground, who could see through the subtle traps and logical snares which the best brains of the time were constantly laying out to catch him in, and who could meet them with answers that shut up opposition as well as evaded the snare, and strengthened, or illustrated his own doctrine, could not, in reason, be said to be a young rustic who saw the world through the prism of his simplicity. Jesus well understood the difference between a doctrine and the commandments of men. He burst into righteous indignation whenever he was asked to observe the traditions of men in preference to the fundamental doctrines of faith. We feel bound
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org