d his church.

We must carefully distinguish between _true allegory_ and the
_allegorical_ or _mystical application_ of real history. In the former
case it is not the literal meaning, but the higher sense represented by
it, which constitutes the historic truth. God, for example, never
transferred a vine from Egypt to Palestine, but he did the covenant
people. The story of Sarai and Hagar, on the contrary (Gen., chap. 16),
is true history. The apostle Paul makes an allegorical application of it
to the two covenants, that on Sinai and that in Christ, which is very
beautiful and appropriate; yet the story itself is not allegory, but
plain history. See further, in Chap. 37, No. 4.

(3.) A _parable_ is the _narrative_ of a supposed event for the purpose
of illustrating a _spiritual truth_ or principle. The office of the
narrative is to embody the principle. It should, therefore, be natural
and probable; but its literal truth is of no consequence. In our Lord's
parable of the unjust steward, for example (Luke 16:1-9), the incidents
of the narrative may or may not have been historically true; but either
way the great principle which it illustrates (ver. 10) remains the same.

Allegories and parables pass into each other by insensible degrees. Some
of our Lord's so-called parables are rather allegories; as that of the
vineyard let out to husbandmen (Matt. 21:33-41), which is founded on the
beautiful allegory of Isaiah (chap. 5:1-7); so also that of the good
shepherd (John 10:1-18). In their pure form, however, the allegory and
the parable are easily distinguished from each other. In the allegory,
the figure represents directly the higher transaction. Hence the
incidents introduced in the figure--at least all the _main_
incidents--must have something corresponding to them in the spiritual
transaction which the figure represents. The case of the parable is
different. Here the spiritual truth is not directly described in terms
of the figure, but simply _illustrated_ from it. The incidents and
characters of the story are separable from the general principle which
it inculcates, and are sometimes formally separated by the speaker
himself; as when our Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven _is likened_ unto
a man which sowed good seed in his field," etc. Matt. 13:24. For this
reason they may belong more or less to the mere drapery of the parable,
so that to press them in its interpretation would lead to error instead
of truth. See furth