XXXIX.

SEED SOWN ON GOOD GROUND.

MARK iv. 20.

And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

THE former part of the parable to which these words belong, had spoken of hearts which are hard, like the way side, and give no admission to the seed, or word of God. Other hearts are light and shallow, so that the seed will not take root in them; and some are overgrown with cares, so that they bear no produce. The ears are like the years of famine in Pharoah's dream, "withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind."1 Still the promise is fulfilled; the word of the Lord does "not return unto him void, but accomplishes that whereunto he sends it." 2 There are hearts which the grace of God opens, that the word enters them, and lodges in them, and makes head against tares and briars, and so becomes fruitful. There are "honest and good hearts," such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

1 Gen. xli. 23.

2 Isa. vi. 11.

3 Luke viii. 15.

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These, when they hear the word, receive it. St. Matthew says, "understand it." St. Luke, "keep it." The receiving, the understanding, the keeping it, all represent the same thing: all describe the same sort of character, the same state of mind, a simple, teachable state: such as our Lord intends, when he says, "Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." The scribes and Pharisees, and the Jewish people in general, when they heard the word, did not "understand it:" refused to "receive or keep it." When Jesus declared to them, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death; the Jews said unto him, Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?" 6 When he said to some who followed him, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free: " others retorted and said, "We be Abraham's children, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? "7 When he said, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind: some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?" 8 They refused to understand that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and that "eternal life" is to be sought, not as the reward of man's deservings, but as "the gift of God through Jesus Christ." They did not

4 Matt. xiii. 23; Luke viii. 15. 6 John viii. 51-53.

5 Luke xviii. 17.

7 Ib. viii. 31-33.

8 John ix. 39, 40.

so receive the word, as to confess that "in ourselves," i. e., in our flesh, "dwelleth no good thing: " that, tried by the holiness and purity of the Divine law, "no man living shall be justified." This was the great stumbling-block of the Jews; who, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God."9 The same doctrine gives offence to many still, who plead a weak and frail nature; who plead the strength of temptation, and the example of an evil world ;-who in some way or other elude the acknowledgment, that all are alike "concluded under sin," "being justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 1

Others dispute the nature of the ransom; in the same spirit as the Jews, when they "strove amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" For Jesus had declared, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." "Many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? And from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." 2

Meanwhile there was "the honest and good heart," in one who had been cured of blindness, and affirmed of him who opened his eyes, "He is a prophet.” 3 When the Pharisees reviled him, and said, "Give

9 Rom. x. 3.

2 John vi. 51-60.

1 Gal. iii. 22; Rom. iii. 24.

3 John ix. 17.

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God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner; he boldly replied, "We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.""

There was much in the appearance of Jesus which prejudiced the Jews, and indisposed them to receive his word. They looked for greatness: he came in weakness. They looked for majesty: he was meek in character, and lowly in condition. They expected a royal throne, to which all nations should come and bow the knee: he went through the villages teaching, and had not always "where to lay his head." So likewise in the gospel, wherever it is made known, there is much which men may dispute and cavil at. The gospel addresses them as what they are naturally unwilling to own themselves; it addresses them as sinners requiring pardon; nay, not pardon only, but atonement; the satisfaction furnished by another, which they could not offer from themselves. Those are happy who receive this truth, "the eyes of their understandings being opened." But all do not receive it. Like the Pharisees of old they are offended at it; and complain, Are we to be condemned, who are not publicans and sinners; not extortioners, unjust, adulterers; who "fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all we possess?" 6 So still the cross of Christ, the propitiation for the sins of the world, is to some "a stumbling-block," and to others "foolishness; " whilst they ask, How can the obedience of one make up for the disobedience of another? How by 4 John ix. 24-33. 5 John ix. 40; Luke xi. 45. 6 Luke xviii. 12.

the transgression of one can many be made sinners, or by the obedience of one can many be made righteous?? Yet still, to as many as receive it, this doctrine "is the power of God unto salvation." 8 It shows them at once the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of sin and it gives them a foundation to rest on, which they could never find in themselves; never find in their own repentance or obedience. And so being justified by the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of their sins, they "have peace with God;" and going forth " in his fear, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," they bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

And this was the purpose of the husbandman who sowed the seed; that the result should be FRUIT : "the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 9 The word is, that Christ "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." And when this word is sown in good ground, it brings forth fruit: all who receive it bring forth fruit, though not all in equal proportion or abundance.

i

This agrees with our experience in life. As there is a great difference in the natural powers of different men, so is there also in their spiritual attainments. Unto one five talents are given, to another two, to another one; "to every man according to his several ability." The apostles themselves varied in the degree of their fruitfulness. St. Paul says concerning 8 1 Cor. i. 18. 9 Gal. v. 22, 23. 2 Matt. xxv. 15.

7 See Rom. v. 12-21.

1 Tit. ii. 14.