NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, CRIPTURALLY ILLUSTRATED AND ARGUMENTATIVELY DEFENDED. BY HOSEA BALLOU, Bom 171-died 1862 Third Edition HALLOWELL W. F. LAINE 1822. .......... Frinted by John Dorr, Wiscasser 375 B3 1892 COP.2 District of Maine, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on this fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand tight hundred and twenty-two, and the forty-sixth year of the Independence of the United States of America, W. F. LAINE, of the District of Maine, Mai has deposited in this Office, the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, viz: "Notes on the Parables of the New Testament, " scripturally illustrated and argumentatively defended. By Hosea Ballou, author of "Treatise on Atonement," " Candid Review," &c. " &c. Third Edition. Hallowell: W. F. Laine. 1822."-In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also, to an act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." JOHN MUSSEY, JUN. Clerk of the District Court of Maine. JOHN MUSSEY, JUN. Clerk D. C. M, A true copy as of Record -Attest, An Epistle to the Reader. CHRISTIAN READER, To mention all the motives which induced me to publish the following Notes, would extend this epistle beyond its proper limits; yet, it may be satisfactory to note some of the most important, It has appeared to me for some time, that something of this nature was as much needed, among christian people, as any thing that could be offered from the scriptures; and that on account of the very dif. ferent manner in which public teachers have treated the Parables of the New Testament, and the disagreeable consequences arising there from. Perhaps it may be said, without encroaching on the feelings of the reader, that most of the ideas imbibed by people in general, in divinity, are received from the pulpit. And while one congregation is at tending to explanations of the Parables in one way, another is entertained with different ideas on the same passages. When those ideas are received, they form quite a difference in the opinions of christians; this dissimilarity of sentiment engenders twice as much disaffection in the heart, where nothing contrary to charity ought to be found; this disaffection is like a hot bed to the seeds of contention, and roots of bitterness. And although I do not expect so favorable a consequence to result from my little Pamphlet, as a general agreement among christians, in respect to the Parables; yet, I entertain an humble hope, that it may make, at least, an approximation towards so favorable an object; perhaps by inducing some more able writer, who possesses more leisure for writing, to favor the public with a treatise on so worthy a subject, |