334. Jerusalem and its Environs. (Nelson) 1s. 6d.
Language rather difficult, but numerous excellent illustrations.
ALLEGORIES AND ALLEGORICAL TALES.
Too many allegories are not desirable, nor should they even be pressed upon those who do not accept them readily. To the imaginative, who are perhaps two-thirds of the people we deal with, they are an excellent and persuasive mode of teaching and influencing. The remaining third at first take them for fact, as people did in mediæval times by the stories of St. Christopher or St. Margaret, and when the delusion is dispelled feel resentment, as if deceived; or else they look on the allegory either as a tale meant to cheat them into being instructed or as an irreverent riddle. Any way, when forced on them, it gives a sense of unreality which is, above all, what they dislike, and which may damage even their feeling for the truths thus represented.
Too many allegories, even for the most receptive readers, are undesirable, and among those here mentioned, it may be wiser to make a choice.
335. The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. (Macmillan) 4s. (Nelson) 1s., 2s., and 5s. (R.T.S.) 1s., 1s. 6d., 2s. 6d. (Nisbet) 1s., 1s. 6d., 2s., 2s. 6d., 3s. 6d.
In spite of all its peculiarities, the king of allegories must be admitted. It is not likely that Bunyan’s doctrines will do any harm, though for these purposes we do regret that Dr. Neale’s edition, arranged for Church people, is out of print.