SERMON LIV.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

Matt, xiii. 18. Hear ye therefore the parable of the Sower.

HE preaching of the Gospel is an ordinance of God; it is a sacred appointment of heaven, for the most important purposes; it is the mean generally employed for the salvation of men: for "it pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

But all are not saved who hear the Gospel; it has very different effects on different persons: and it is the design of this parable to point out those different effects. Our Lord here compares the minister of the Gospel to a husbandman, the world to a field, and the word of God to seed-corn. He supposes some of the seed to fall upon a hard beaten path; some of it into a shallow soil with a rocky bottom; some of it near the hedge among weeds; and a part of it into good ground, where it remains, springs up, and comes to maturity. By these different circumstances, he describes, with wonderful beauty and propriety, the various hearers of the Gospel, some of them are careless and inattentive; others make a showy but short fession; others lose all the benefit of the word by their worldly mindedness; but others, by the special grace of God, receive and retain his truth, and bring forth abundance of fruit to his glory, and their own salvation.

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Let us then address ourselves to the serious consideration of this excellent parable, which we may do with the greater pleasure, as we are sure not to mistake its meaning; for our Lord was pleased to give an interpretation of it to his disciples; and this shall be our guide.

1. Let us first consider the careless hearer.

In a field, especially in a common field, it often happens that there is a road or foot-path lying across it; and in scattering the seed, it is likely that some of it may fall on this path, which being hard and beaten, is not fit for the reception of the seed; it lies uncovered, and is soon trodden down by the foot of the passenger, or picked up by

the numerous birds which generally hover about a field when it is sown.

This is a natural and perfect picture of a very numerous class, probably of far the greater part of hearers. Their hearts are totally unprepared for the word; not at all ploughed up by godly sorrow for sin; but hard and impenitent, so that the Gospel makes no impression upon them. They come to the house of God without having prayed at home for his blessing; without any spiritual desire to be profited; without a humble, teachable disposition; without a wish to know and to do the will of God. Such persons are usually inattentive; they sit like others who diligently listen to the word; but they do not listen ; their thoughts are otherwise employed. Their eyes are surveying the congregation; observing who they are, and how they are dressed; for many go to church either to see or be seen; and take so much notice of the apparel of their neighbours, especially if it be new or peculiar, that it becomes a fruitful topic of discourse at home or in com

pany.

The preacher is sometimes the object of attention, but not his message. They notice his person, his voice, his attitude; and perhaps make some critical remarks on his sermon; or notice a sentence or two which happened to catch their attention during the train of vain thoughts which occupied their minds.

It is astonishing to think how commonly the imagination is suffered to carry away the hearer from his proper business. Instead of serious regard to the divine and interesting truths which the minister delivers, the careless hearer indulges his mind in the contemplation of schemes of worldly business; or he is pursuing some plan of future pleasure and amusements; or, what is still worse, allowing some speculative abomination to defile his heart, even in the presence of God. On these accounts it may be feared that, in the piercing view of the omniscient Searcher of hearts, a place of worship is sometimes a scene of greater wickedness than any other upon earth, and more provoking to his pure and holy eyes; for; "he is not deceived, and will not be mocked." O how many may adopt the confession of the wanton person in the Proverbs (v. 12.)

"How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation!"

On these accounts it is that many persons present at a sermon can hardly be said to hear. What our Lord says of the Jews (ver. 15.) is awfully true of many of us, "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." Some are willingly and wilfully ignorant; they shut their ears against the call of God; and though they attend upon sermons, yet never hear them. A person of my congregation, who attended my ministry all her life, confessed to me on her dying bed, "that she never HEARD but ONE sermon," and that was the last before her illness; it was charitably hoped that she then heard it to purpose, and died in the faith and hope of the Gospel. But throughout all her former days, such was the vanity of her mind, that though she was present under many hundred sermons, she never so attended as properly to hear one of them; and doubtless this is exactly the case of a great number among us.

It is said of this sort of people (ver. 19.) that they do not understand the word, and that this is one cause of its unfruitfulness. It cannot be expected that persons who are so inattentive should understand it. The truths of the

Gospel, though sufficiently plain and easy to the serious Christian, yet require the exercise of our rational powers; and if persons are too idle to bestow this, they must remain in darkness and the shadow of death.

Another cause assigned by our Lord for the failure of the seed in the way-side hearer is, that Satan cometh immediately, and catcheth away that which was sown; just as the birds pick up the grains of corn which lie uncovered on the beaten path; and this he does, lest they should believe and be saved. (Luke viii. 12.)

Satan, who is justly called "the wicked one," as being himself wicked, and the promoter of wickedness in others, is well aware of the great importance of hearing the word

aright he knows, that if it be seriously regarded, understood, remembered, and mixed with faith, it becomes 66 the power of God to salvation :" it is therefore a great point with him to prevent its efficacy and the surest way of doing this is to divert the mind from it immediately. This great enemy of our souls has certainly access to our minds; and though he cannot force us to sin, can present temptations to it. We e are so ignorant of the nature and operation of spirit that we cannot say in what manner he does this; but we are sure, from the word of Christ himself, that so it is. He certainly exerts his powers to keep people from hearing it; or, to excite their prejudices against it; or, to prevent a due recollection of it afterwards; and in either of these ways he succeeds.

It is truly affecting to think how entirely the most precious truths of God are lost upon many persons; there is not a single trace of them left on their memory: they take no pains to remember what they have heard; or if the text for form sake, be recollected, this is all; a story or a tale, however idle, is not so soon forgotten; but that word, which is able to save our souls," is lost in total oblivion. One cause of this is, that such hearers are strangers to retirement on the Lord's day; instead of entering into. their closets and praying for a blessing on the sermon, they take a walk for amusement, where every new object diverts the mind from what they haye heard. Visiting on Sundays has the same pernicious tendency, for the conversation is generally on trifling subjects; and if it be merely compliment or censure on the preacher, it answers no good purpose. It is thus that Satan steals the word from our hearts; it is thus that thousands of good sermons are lost; yea, it is thus that thousands of immortal souls are lost-for ever lost.

2. But we must proceed in the second place to consider the character of the temporary hearer; or, as some have termed it, the enthusiastic hearer; that is, the person who hears the good news of pardon, life, and glory with a transport of joy; feels his natural passions elevated; but, having no root of humble conviction and genuine love to holiness, endures but for a time; "for when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, he is immediately offend

ed, and falleth away." This sort of hearer is figuratively described by that portion of the seed which fell on strong soil, or on a rock covered with a very shallow bed of earth; here, though it might spring up, and quickly too, yet, having little or no root, and no depth of soil to supply it with sufficient moisture, it was scorched with the burning sun, and withered entirely away.

This sort of hearer differs much from the first. He is not inattentive; he is not indifferent'; he hears what is said, and hears it with pleasure; he is forward to hear; he has warm and lively passions, which are suddenly affected with the novelty and grandeur of Gospel truths, especially if delivered with zeal and pathos; he is mightily struck and charmed with his new religion, and becomes a warm, perhaps a violent advocate for it.

The facts and truths reported by the Gospel are indeed great and glorious beyond expression. The divine perfections-the immortality of the soul-the miserable condition of a sinner-the love of God-the sufferings of Christ-the pardon of iniquity-the felicity of the heavenly world, are all subjects of a very striking and affecting nature. If these are preached in an animating and powerful manner, and perhaps in the midst of attentive thousands, the hearer who is divested of prejudice, and who possesses a warm and lively imagination, is immediately struck and moved; the preacher is unto him "as the lovely song of one who hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on a musical instrument:" he is charmed and delighted, just in the same manner as he would be at a well performed play, and with just as much religion. His conscience accords with the great truths he hears; and, prompted by self-love, he flatters himself that he is become, all at once, a very good christian, and has an interest in all the blessings which he hears described.

But this shallow professor has no root; in other words, he has no true understanding of the doctrines of the Gospel, especially as they relate to his fallen condition as a sinner; he has no humbling views of himself, as a guilty helpless creature, exposed to divine wrath, and utterly unable to help himself. He receives some crude notions of the Gospel hastily and without examination, taking all he hears