28 KT. HON. SIi; R. TKMPLK, BART., ON THH UNITY OF TRUTH. 



Then there is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Kecol- 

 leot it all depends on violent robbery with wounding-. Is 

 there any road of that kind ? It is almost certain that the 

 parable was delivered dnring our Lord's last march up to 

 Jerusalem within about a week of His Passion and Cruci- 

 fixion. He was marching- from Jericho towards Jerusalem 

 — the most solemn of all the marches that He took on earth, 

 and it is almost certain that in that part of the road this 

 parable was delivered. Up what road would our Lord have 

 to march ? Why, by this very road. It was then called 

 "the Bloody way," and it has been a bloody way up to 

 recent times, until we had British Consuls and officials of 

 that kind at Jerusalem. Robberies used to be frequent, and 

 it had a bad name, but I believe now those robberies have 

 ceased. Of course the robberies supplied material for the 

 parable. Then look at that which gives the point to the 

 parable. This man was robbed and wounded and left in a 

 miserable condition on his back in the road. We know the 

 road in such a place Avas very rough. The point of the 

 parable is this : — the man was left on the pathway in a 

 miserable plight, and two persons came along. The first one 

 does not quite like the look of this wounded, half-dead body, 

 so he passes by on the other side. Then the priest comes 

 and he likes the look still less, and passes by on the other 

 side also, and then comes the good Samaritan. What do 

 you mean by the " other side " ? If it is a narrow pathway, 

 just enough for one person to walk at a time, then the words 

 of Scripture would not apply. He could not walk on the 

 other side. He must pass close to the body. But the real 

 locality is not so. There is a trickling stream running down 

 in the middle of a deep ravine, and it has a pathway on one 

 side and a pathway on the other side, and if any one is so 

 minded he may easily step across the stream if he wants to 

 go to the other side, and this is exactly what they did, and I 

 never realised how accurate the Scriptural Avords are until 

 I understood these features. I appeal again to educated 

 people — are not these wonderful instances of the verbal 

 accvu'acy of the Avords of Scripture ? 



NoAv some object that a great many things bearing on 

 the deliverance of the Jews from captiA'ity are couched in 

 highly romantic and poetic language, ca'cu in the record in 

 the Psalms of the Avonders A-ouchsafed by God to the Jcavs. 

 Patriotic hynnis of that kind might be and iuu-e been sung 

 by people in England for mercies vouchsafed to them on 



