(c) If some one in authority should tell some one to do something and he should refuse but afterward comply, and should tell another to do something and he should say that he would without doing so, which of these really would perform the will of the one who gave the command?
(d) A certain man had some children. One day he told one of them to go and do some work that he wanted him to do. But the child said that he wouldn't, etc.
(e) Compare with these the same thought clothed in the concrete and picturesque words of our Lord himself:
"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.
"He answered and said, I will not: but afterwards he repented, and went.
"And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
"Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"
It would be equally possible to take the same clear-cut, dramatic picture and load it down—smother it—with words. But this kind of picture-work it is unnecessary to illustrate.
Expression. Read each of the parables of Jesus, picturing in your mind everything that can be seen, heard, or felt. "Put yourself in his place" regarding every one spoken of. When you have thus pictured the story, and while you are picturing it, read aloud, or tell the story. The expression will take care of itself—if only you see and hear. In this simple principle is contained the whole art of expression, i.e., of giving forth something which is within.
Environment. What kind of country was Palestine? If Palestine were taken up from the shore of the Mediterranean and planted on your state, where would Dan and Beersheba lie respectively? Wherein did its divisions differ, in respect of people, surface, products, occupations?