CONVERSATIONS ON The Parables OF THE NEW TESTAMENT; FOR THE USE OF CHILDREN. "And with many such parables spake He the word unto them, "And without a parable spake He not unto them: And when LONDON: JAMES NISBET, 21, BERNERS STREET. MDCCCXXVII. PREFACE DEDICATORY. To MRS. My dear ——, IN dedicating my little work to you, I feel that I secure one indulgent, and (you tell me I may add) one approving Reader. I am aware of the difficulty of the task which I have undertaken: I am conscious how impossible it is to unfold the full beauties, and the hidden meanings of the Parables of the a New Testament: and how doubly hopeless is the task, to bring those beauties and those meanings into language suited for the comprehension of children. It is, therefore, probable, that in many instances, while in my endeavour to simplify, I have failed in doing justice to my subject, I have, at the same time, fallen into the opposite fault, of being above the understanding of my youthful readers. To mothers, like yourself, I must trust to supply my deficiencies in these respects: but I could not resist the temptation of entering upon a field, which seemed to me, strange as it may appear, hitherto untrodden; of explaining, in a familiar way, these most attractive portions of the Sacred Writings; and for this purpose, the form of conversation, which I have adopted, struck me as the most convenient. It enables the writer |