The Parables of the Saviour / The Good Child's Library, Tenth Book
PREFACE
The object of the "GOOD CHILD'S LIBRARY," is to encourage a taste for Scripture reading, by presenting some of the most interesting portions of the New Testament narrative, in the attractive form of verse. While the children read these verses, they will not only become acquainted with the principal events in the lives of our Blessed Saviour and His Apostles—their travels, their sufferings and their death,—but they will see that the Bible is a readable book, and a book that may be read every day, without any fear of becoming the unhappy being that some persons suppose; and besides this, the tone which is given to the affections, the minds, and the morals of children by such reading, is of almost infinite value.
In order to combine things pleasing and things useful, to the greatest possible extent, the publishers have gotten up at a great expense, especially for this work, some of the most beautiful Scripture designs that have ever been published. These pictures are printed in Oil Colours—an expensive, but a finished and highly artistical process, of which the publishers are the originators in this country. Each history is illustrated handsomely with them.
There is in all twelve books; each book being complete in itself, and containing a full history.
The "GOOD CHILD'S LIBRARY" is composed of the following books:
Scenes in the Life of the Saviour.
Scenes in the Life of St. Peter.
Scenes in the Life of St. John.
Scenes in the Life of St. Paul.
Scenes in the Lives of St. Matthew,
St. Jude, and St. Simon.
Scenes in the Lives of St. Stephen,
Timothy, St. Mark, and St. Luke.
Scenes in the Lives of St. Philip, St.
Bartholomew, and St. Thomas.
Scenes in the Lives of St. Andrew,
St. James, and St. James the Less.
The Sermon on the Mount.
The Parables of the Saviour.
The Miracles of the Saviour.
Texts for Children.
The Publishers have in preparation another series, embracing Scenes in the Lives of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Kings, illustrative of the Old Testament Scriptures, to be gotten up in the same style as the present series.
I.
OF THE SOWER
Behold a sower going forth
To scatter o'er his field,
The seed that in the harvest time
A rich return will yield.
And as he sow'd some precious seeds,
Were by the way-side thrown;
The fowls of heaven descried them there,
And soon the seed were gone.
And other seeds fell from his hand
On stony places round,
And forthwith they sprung up, because
They had no depth of ground.
But when the sun came up, and warm
Sent forth his beaming ray,
Because they had no root in earth,
They wither'd all away.
Among the thorns some others fell,
Of these there was no hope;
The seeds were choked, they droop'd and died,
Soon as the thorns came up.
But others fell into good ground,
And yielded, as we're told,
Some of them thirty, sixty some,
And some an hundred fold.
The seed that by the wayside fell,
Is wisdom in the heart
Of him who heareth words of truth,
But understandeth not.
And he who is the stony place,
Is one who hears the word,
Anon with joy receiveth it,
And follows after good.
But tribulation soon assails,
And persecutions rise,
He then forgets the word of truth,
And all his goodness dies.
The thorny place is one who hears,
And does the truth receive;
But finds that cares of life and wealth,
His mind and heart deceive.
The good and fertile ground is he
Who hears and understands;
And shows his, life obedient to
All that the truth commands.
II.
THE TARES AND THE WHEAT
My kingdom I will liken to,
A man who in his field
Sow'd good seed, and expected soon
A harvest it would yield.
But while his servants slept, there came
A wicked enemy,
And sow'd his tares among the wheat,
And then went on his way.
And when the good seed did appear
The tares began to show;
The servants wonder'd much, and said,
"Why, master, thou didst sow
"The best of seed all o'er the field,
From whence then come these tares?"
"An enemy," he said, "hath come
Upon us unawares,
"And scattered forth his evil seed;"
The servants said to him,
"Wilt thou then, that into the field
We go and gather them?"
The master answer'd them and said,
"Let both together grow,
Until the time of harvest, lest
Ye pluck the wheat also.
"And when the time of harvest comes,
The wheat shall in my barn
Be gather'd; but the tares I'll bind
And in the fire burn."
The children of the kingdom are
The good seed that is sown,
The tares that came up with the wheat
Are of the evil one.
The enemy who sow'd the tares,
Is he who fell afar;
The harvest, when the world shall end;
The angels reapers are.
The righteous shall be gather'd home
Forever with the Lord;
And as the tares are burn'd, so shall
The wicked be destroy'd.