truths thou didst bring down with thee from heaven, that pure from earthly dross, they may have power to give life to my fainting soul. Hear me, my God, for the sake of thy Son, my Saviour. Amen.

Furthermore, our Lord said unto his disciples, in answer to these questions, why He taught in parables?

MATTHEW xiii. 13. "Therefore (for this reason) speak I to them in parables; because they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand.”

It is the curse of sin, and its punishment, that it prevents those who persist in it from understanding the truths that might save them. The enemies of the Lord Jesus were so full of self-will, and of hatred to him and his doctrines, that they would not, and therefore could not, see the holy meaning of his teaching. He reminded all who wished to learn of him, that this had always been the temper of some of their countrymen, and that the effect had always been the same. In the days of the prophet Isaiah it had been so; and this temper of theirs had caused Isaiah to say to them then, nearly the same words Jesus spake of them now. stupifying of the mind, and hardening of the heart, foretold by Isaiah, as the effect of wilful sin, was more fully brought to pass in the enemies of Christ.

Indeed, that

MATTHEW Xiii. 14, 15, "In them (said the Lord Jesus) is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall

see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

It was for this reason then, that the all-merciful Saviour spoke to them in parables! It was because their unwillingness to hear made them unable to understand! This may perhaps, seem to us a strange reason why our Lord, always so full of kindness, should teach them in a way that required so much attention; but was it not the way most likely to fix their attention; to move them to think well what the parables might mean? And it is clear, from the words of our Lord, that if at any time they would hear with willing minds, so that they might understand and be converted, their sins should be forgiven them. If any of them at this time heard what our Lord said to those of his followers who came to him to know his reasons, nothing could be more likely than this answer of his to stir them up, and, as it were, to provoke them to attend ; especially when he added, speaking to those who wished to learn,—

MATTHEW Xiii. 16, 17. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

In this last sentence of our Lord, we see how true it is that the New Testament is to the Old Testament what the noonday is to the early dawn, that tells the morning is coming, and that the sun will soon arise. In the one God gave the promise, in the other He fulfilled it. The prophets and righteous men, who lived in the days of the Old Testament, were like men

coming out of the darkness of night, who see the clouds breaking, and long for the sun to rise; and Christ was the Sun of righteousness for whom they longed. They saw the promise of His coming in the signs of the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Jewish Law; they heard foretold, his names, his character, and even the place of his birth, and his manner of life; his gentle words, his loving-kindness, and the willingness with which He would bear the weight that should be laid upon him, even the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah liii.) But with these signs and promises, there was so much that darkened their meaning, that, like things seen in the early dawn, they were not clearly understood; and the prophets who spoke, and the righteous men who listened to the promises of the Messiah, earnestly longed to see more clearly-to understand more plainly. To them it was not given; they lived, they died in faith, not having received the promises, (Hebrews xi.) but knowing assuredly that they were true, and that when God's time was come, the Messiah should appear.

God's time came at last, the clouds cleared away, the bright morning sun arose, and, rejoicing in His light, the disciples stood around the Messiah, seeing and hearing the things the prophets and righteous men of old had longed to see and hear. Oh was it not sad that many turned from the light of His truth, and closed their eyes, and shut their ears, lest they should see, and hear, and understand with their hearts and be converted, and so God should heal them? (Matt. xiii. 15.) Let us take heed to ourselves, for to us, even more clearly than to them, is the truth revealed. To those believers who lived in the days of Christ, mistake and ignorance and prejudice, like the shadows of the night, passed away before the brightness of His presence; but it was only as the events of His life and death took place, fulfilling the Scriptures, that they were fully understood. To us all is clear, for we look back upon the things that have happened. Like men standing upon a hill, we can at once see the

whole, and, if we will, understand how He, who at one time was called the mighty God, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Prince of peace, who should lead forth His armies to victory; * in whose name the Gentiles should trust, should yet be the same who was led as a lamb to the slaughter. We know how " He made his grave with the wicked," and yet how "the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." The sacrifice of Christ is past, and we know that He ever liveth to make intercession for us, in this we are even more blessed than the disciples who pressed to the edge of the sea of Galilee, that they might hear the words of life as they were spoken from the fishers' boat. Do we long to hear and understand? Then blessed are our eyes, as well as theirs, for they shall see; and blessed are our ears, as well as theirs, for we shall hear. Not one who cares to hear and to understand, need tremble at the words of the Lord Jesus, when He gave as his reason for speaking to the wilfully blind in parables, "that seeing, they may see, and not perceive; and hearing, they may hear, and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them." The one difference between them and the blessed hearers of Christ, was just this, they had no desire to learn. Not one who desires to know need fear, but rather should rejoice in Christ's blessing.

Prayer.

We bless thee, O our God, that we are born in a time when the Gospel shines all around us as the clear noon-day. We see and hear those things that holy men of old desired to see and hear, but saw and heard them not. Their faith is a witness against us, if in the clearer light of Christian days, we wilfully close our eyes, and our ears, and harden our hearts against thy saving truths. Nothing but the love of sin can produce such madness; O save us from its power; compel us, if need be, to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset

* Isa. ix. 6.

Ibid liii. 9, 10.

Mark iv. 12.

us," that we may "run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith," that we may in the end "receive a kingdom which cannot be moved," and may "have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." (Heb. xii.) For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

XXXV.

MATT. XIII. 18.

MARK IV.

LUKE VIII. 11.

Having heard our Lord's reason for

speaking to the people own explanation of the

in parables, let us now attend to his Parable of the "Sower who went forth to sow his seed." It seems that this explanation was not given till late in the evening of that day when the Lord Jesus, with his disciples, was returned into the house, for St. Mark says:—

MARK iv. 10. "And when He was alone, they that were about him with the twelve (Apostles) asked of him the parable."

His answer given by St. Luke, seems to tell us, that the manner in which this parable is to be understood, is the manner in which all his parables should be understood; therefore the explanation which our Lord gives of it, may be looked upon as the key to the explanation of all parables. His words were these as given by St. Mark.

Verses 13-15. "And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables ? The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts."