MATTHEW xiii. 19. "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received the seed by the way-side." Christ himself was the sower, and all who by him are appointed to teach are likewise sowers. The word of God is the seed; the hearts of men the soil. We read in the parable that some of the seed fell by the way-side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. (Luke viii. 5.) Our Lord has just told us that this, the way-side, means those who, not understanding the word, cannot keep it, so as to do them any good, but presently lose it, through the evil influence of our great enemy, Satan. Now as this parable is spoken unto us, as well as into those who first heard it, it concerns us much to understand its meaning fully, and first of all to think well what is that state of mind which is pictured to us as the wayside. We slall best do this by calling to mind a real way-side, or hard footpath. The ground in it has not been broken up, the seed cannot sink into it, it lies upon the face of it, and we cannot expect that it will grow. Of course it will be trodden down by the eet of the passers-by, or carried off by the birds. There is nothng wrong with the seed, but it has fallen upon a place in which it cannot grow. And some men, and some

women have heir minds in such a state that the word of God is of no use to them. How do they come into this state? They bring themselves to it when they keep their hearts open to all this world's evl, till they become hard as a pavement. It was of no use for the Pharisees, while in this state, to listen to the words of Chris, and it is of no use for any one of us to hear the best preacher that ever explained God's word with a heart given up to woldly things. While the mind is as a footpath, through which vorldly plans, worldly desires, or worldly pas

He will tell you there If the ground is broken, and it will soon be fit to the hard heart that bas

sions, are always passing to and fro, the word cannot take root in it. That man (or woman) cannot be brought to understand and to believe all that God's word speaks to him of the sin of his heart, of the need of a Redeemer, of the holiness God requires of him. He hears these things indeed, but he needs them not, and what renders his state more hopeless is, that the evil one, Satan, the enemy of God and man, is ever on the watch to take advantage of the sin and folly of men; and lest by any means they should hear and be saved, he takes care to send evil thoughts, and sinful lusts; so that by their help, he "immediately taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." But need any one remain in this hopeless state? Ask the labourers in the fields if nothing can be done to change a trodden path into good soil, in which the corn will grow just as well as in the rest of the field? needs nothing but to plough it up. the rain and the dews will soften it, receive the good seed.' Now how can been trodden down by the world be broken up? how can it be softened so as to receive to advantage the good seed of the word? God has appointed the means. Would any one be roused out of his state of ignorant contentment vith himself, which makes him careless of the things of religion? Let him bring to bear upon his heart and life the strictness of God's holy law. Like a ploughshare that will break up his false hopes; that will shew him how hard his heart is for he will find his very nature resist the strictness of the holy law of God. But if he is in earnest to have the hardnes of his heart taken away, he will not spare himself. He wil give himself no rest till he knows and feels that he is a sinner. is the ploughing-up of the way-side; and tlen, when the heart is at last broken by the sense of sin, the influences of God's Holy Spirit, like the gentle, softering dews, will come down and make ready that heart to receive the good

This

seed of the Gospel of Christ. So shall the man become a penitent. So shall he pass out of that most hopeless state in which he listened to all that could be said of Christ and of his religion-agreed to it that it all was true, and then turned away and thought of it no more. There is one thing that remains to be said. How can the way-side hearer know his state? How can the hard heart feel its hardness so as to have even a wish to become softened? This knowledge, this feeling cannot come from the man, it must be of God; but I do not believe that the man or woman ever lived to whom the fear has not come at times, that all was not right. That whisper, that secret fear was sent of God, and if used aright may be the beginning of the breaking up of the way-side, of the bringing it into the fruitful field.*

The Lord Jesus having explained who were the way-side hearers, passes on to another sort, to whom the word of God was also useless. It will be best for us to repeat the words of the parable itself, and then the words of his explanation. "And some fell upon stony ground; where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth; but when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.'

Our Lord in explanation saith :

MARK iv. 16, 17. "And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; (on the rock), who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended." (In the

* This number, being too long for reading aloud, is divided according to the subjects of the parable, and the prayer at the end is in like manner divided into several parts, to suit the reading.

words of St. Luke, viii. 13.) These have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.”

This sort is quite different from the way-side hearers, but the end is the same, neither can bring forth fruit. Now what was it these on the rock wanted? They wanted depth of soil, and therefore they wanted a root through which they could receive moisture and nourishment, which would enable them to bear up under the heat of the mid-day sun. We know from our Lord himself, that such plants, which were beautiful for a time, and so soon withered away, were meant by him as pictures of those persons who should begin to follow him, and when trials came should fall away. What is meant by the soil of which there was no depth? and what is meant by the root for want of which they withered away? The soil is that deep earnestness of belief which shall make men count the loss of all things but as gain, so that they "may win Christ and be found in him." The root, always out of sight, is the hidden life of the Christian, that life which is out of the sight of other men, on which the firmness and steadiness of his Christian character depends.* As it is through the hidden roots of the plant that the nourishment is drawn up through the stem and branches, even so in the Christian's hidden life, that life which is hid with Christ in God, lie the sources of his Spirit's strength and growth in holiness. Unless there is a deep soil of earnest faith from which, as by a secret root, the soul is always drawing in strength of purpose, no man, no woman, can in all seasons, and under all trials, live a religious life. It is this, and not the place in which our lot lies, that makes the difference. Many of the best vineyards hang upon the rocky sides of a mountain, for soil has been brought, in which to plant the vines, and the place, instead of an evil, has become a good, for it lies warm in the heat of the In the parable we read that it was not the rock, it was * Trench on the Parables. p. 70.

sun.

not the heat of the mid-day sun that withered the plant, but it was because there was no deepness of earth that it had no root, and so it lacked moisture and withered away. Neither is it the place in which we dwell, nor the trials we meet with; whether they be trials of sunshine or of storm; that is, whether we are over-praised and much made of, or neglected and despised, or even persecuted; whether we are rich and happy, or poor and miserable; it is not these things that make the difference, it is this, Do we believe with a true belief that God in Christ is the only real good? If we thus believe, we shall secretly and constantly seek his help, and being rooted in this good and deep soil, we shall bring forth the fruits of a holy life.

The crowds who heard the Lord Jesus speak on the shores of the sea of Galilee, might have seen this part of the parable well explained if they looked up to the cliffs above them. There, in the breaks of the rocks, were dry and withered leaves, that shortly before had been as wreaths of lovely flowers, but having "no depth of earth they were scorched, and because they had no root, they had withered away." And there also were olive-gardens, and vineyards crowning the rocky hills, for man had taken pains with the soil, and the plants grew and flourished because they had depth of earth for their roots.*

Of the seed which the sower cast into the ground, the Lord Jesus said, that "some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it." (Luke viii. 7.) Here was no fault in the soil, the hindrance lay in the thorns which grew together with the seed in the soil. Of this state our Lord gives this striking explanation.

• These olive-gardens and vineyards have long since disappeared, and for the reason here given, no man now cares for the soil, and the olives and the vines cannot grow. Neither can our souls prosper, if we neglect the hidden life of religion. I believe that every falling off in religion, springs first from the neglect of secret prayer, the hidden root through which comes that which is the life of our souls.