Mark 4

M. 1 THE same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side, and began again to 2 teach. And great multitudes were gathered together, and were come unto him out of every city, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake unto them, and taught them many things by parables; and said unto Mk. 3 them in his doctrine, Hearken; behold, a sower went out to sow his seed. And it came 4 to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls 5 of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not 6 much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. But as soon as it was sprung up, when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no 7 root and lacked moisture, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the 8 thorns grew up with it, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. But other fell into good ground, and sprang up, and increased; and brought forth fruit, some thirty, and some 9 sixty, and some an hundred-fold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that 10 hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone they that were about him, with the twelve disciples, came and asked him saying, What might this parable be? M. 11 Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but unto them that 12 are without it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that 13 he hath. Therefore speak I to others in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand; lest at any time they should be con- 14 verted, and their sins should be forgiven them. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing 15 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, 16 and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they 17 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.

WHAT was true of the instructions of that single day is true of the whole body of disclosures made to us in the Bible. There are things simple and things obscure. We must compass the simple first, if we would fathom the obscure. We must receive into honest hearts and make good use of the plainest declarations of the divine Word, if we would have that lamp kindled within us, by the light of which the more recondite of its sayings can alone be understood. It is in an inner sanctuary that the true Shechinah, the light of God’s gracious presence, still shineth, to be approached with a humble tractable spirit, the prayer upon our lips and in our heart, “What I know not, Lord, teach thou me; I beseech thee show me thy glory.” It is not in the intellect, it is in the conscience, in the heart, that the finest, most powerful organs of spiritual vision lie. There are seals that cover up many passages and pages of the Bible, which no light or fire of genius can dissolve; there are hidden riches here that no labor of mere learned research can get at and spread forth. But those seals melt like the snow-wreath beneath the warm breathings of desire and prayer, and those riches drop spontaneously into the bosom of the humble and the contrite, the poor and the needy. H.

MORE than half of the term allotted to his ministry in Galilee had now expired. Here beside him was a small band of followers—ignorant, yet willing to be taught; weak in faith, but strong in personal attachment. There against him was a powerful and numerous band, socially, politically, religiously the leaders of the people. Between the two lay the bulk of the common people—greatly excited by his miracles, listening with wonder and half approval to his words, siding with him rather than against him in his conflict with the Pharisees. Behind all the show of outward attachment he saw that there was but little discernment of his true character, but little capacity to understand the more secret things of his spiritual kingdom. And as he had altered his conduct toward his secret enemies by openly denouncing them, so now he alters his conduct toward his professed friends by clothing his higher instructions to them in a new and peculiar garb. H.

M. 2. He sat in the sea. The Rob Roy approached, and we had a pleasant talk. It was very remarkable how distinctly every word was heard, though our voices were not raised, even at three hundred yards off; and it was very easy to comprehend how, in this clear air, a preacher sitting in a boat could address a vast multitude standing upon the shore. J. M.

3. Many things by parables.** We have not anywhere else in the gospels so rich a group of parables together, so many and so costly pearls strung upon a single thread. The only passage that will bear comparison is chapters 15 and 16 of Luke. The seven that are here recorded divide themselves into two groups—the first four being spoken to the multitude while he taught them out of the boat—the last three, as it would seem, on the same day, in the narrower circle of his disciples at his own home. T.—These short and lively apologues were admirably adapted to suggest the first rudiments of truths which it was not expedient openly to announce. Though some of the parables have a purely moral purport, the greater part delivered at this period bear a relation to the character and growth of the new religion; a subject which, avowed without disguise, would have revolted the popular mind, and clashed directly with their inveterate nationality. H. M.—In these parables the whole idea, progress, and destiny of the kingdom of heaven are unfolded: its beginnings among men, in the parable of the sower; its counterfeits, and their treatment by us and by God, in that of the tares; its vast outward extent, from the smallest beginning, in that of the mustard-seed; its inward purifying and transforming power, in that of the leaven; the two ways in which men find it, one by chance, in a field which he gives up all he has to buy, another by search, also giving up all to acquire it when found; and finally, the ultimate destiny of the good and bad in it, in the parable of the draw-net. A.

Mk. 3-9. Present appearance of the Plain of Gennesaret. There was the undulating corn-field descending to the water’s edge. There was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here and there on either side of it, or upon it; itself hard with constant tramp of horse, mule, and human feet. There was the “good” rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighborhood from the bare hills, elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground of the hill-side protruding here and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn—the “nabk,” that kind of which tradition says that the crown of thorns was woven—springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat. A P. S.—The imagery was derived, as usual, from the objects immediately before his eyes—the sown fields of Gennesaret; the springing corn in them; the hard-trodden paths which ran through them, on which no corn could grow; the innumerable birds which fluttered over them ready to feed upon the grain; the weak and withering struggle for life on the stony places; the tangling growth of luxuriant thistles in neglected corners; the deep loam of the general soil, on which already the golden ears stood thick and strong, giving promise of a sixty and hundred-fold return as they rippled under the balmy wind. To us, who from infancy have read the parable side by side with Christ’s own interpretation of it, the meaning is singularly clear and plain, and we see in it the liveliest images of the danger incurred by the cold and indifferent, by the impulsive and shallow, by the worldly and ambitious, by the preoccupied and the luxurious, as they listen to the Word of God. But it was not so easy to those who heard it. Even the disciples failed to catch its full significance. F.

3. Went forth.** The expression implies that the sower, in the days of our Saviour, lived in a hamlet or village, as all these farmers now do; that he did not sow near his own house, or in a garden fenced or walled. He must go forth into the open country, as these have done, where there are no fences, where the path passes through the cultivated land, where thorns grow in clumps all around, where the rocks peep out in places through the sandy soil, and where, also, hard by, are patches extremely fertile. W. M. T.

4. Some fell on the hard footpath, or road, where the glebe was not broken, and so it could not sink down in the earth, but lay exposed on the surface to the feet of passers by, till at length it became an easy prey to the birds. 5. Stony ground. What is meant is ground where a thin superficial coating of mould covered the surface of a rock, which stretched below it. 7. Ground where the roots of these thorns had not been carefully extirpated, ground which had not been thoroughly cleansed. The good seed grew dwarfed and stunted, for the best of the soil did not feed them—forming indeed a blade, but unable to form a full corn in the ear. It is not here, as in the first case, that there was no soil, or none deserving the name—nor, as in the second case, that there was a poor or shallow soil. Here was no lack of soil, it might be good soil; but what was deficient was a careful husbandry, a diligent eradication of the mischievous growths, which would strangle whatever sprung up side by side with them. T.—8. An hundred-fold. An extraordinary number of stalks do actually spring from a single root. Here, on this plain of Sidon, I have seen more than a hundred, and each with a head bowing gracefully beneath the load of well-formed grains. The yield was more than a thousand-fold. W. M. T.

A PARABLE is a serious narration, within the limits of probability, of a course of action pointing to some moral or spiritual truth. The parable is especially adapted to various classes of hearers at once; it is understood by each according to his measure of understanding. A.—The original Greek word signifies, literally, placing side by side—hence a comparison. The parable always teaches by comparing a spiritual truth with some type or symbol, in nature or human experience. It differs from the proverb in being a narrative, from the fable in being true to nature, from the myth in being undeceptive, from the allegory in that it veils the spiritual truth. L. A.

As the truth which he uttered was deeper, so the aphorism in which it was embodied was the more weighty. The use of parables was not something absolutely new. It had examples in the Old Testament and among the rabbis. The immediate motive for the employment of this means of conveying knowledge was the advantage afforded by it for a lucid and vivid exhibition of the truth. In these narratives, as in pictures, the abstract reality was made to stand forth in a concrete form. Doctrine, precept, and argument were all incorporated in them in a way that could hardly be gainsaid. On the ear of those who were destitute of sympathy with the Teacher and his doctrine, and therefore lacked both curiosity and insight, they produced no effect, they awakened no desire to get at the truth that was wrapped up in them. On the contrary, those who felt the attraction of the Teacher, and wished to see clearly that of which they had gained a partial glimpse, could tarry and receive the enlightenment which they craved. That others besides the twelve took this way of gaining light, the Evangelists explicitly inform us. G. P. F.

The parable is his favorite method in speech, and the miracle in action, which, as he performs it, is a parable put into a living shape. In both of these a man sees little or much, according to the spirit he brings, and what he sees is always growing into something deeper and higher, as he ponders it. Our Lord desired that truth should not be thrust upon a man from without, but grow up within, as from a seed, night and day, he knows not how. “Seeing, he sees and does not perceive; hearing, he hears and does not understand;” but, if he will only be patient and thoughtful, a new world grows up in him as plants and leaves grow in spring. It is this manner of Christ’s teaching, by parable and miracle, which makes it suited to all the years of human life, as it is suited to every age of the world. The youngest child can understand something of it, and the most mature Christian feels that he has not reached the end of it. Ker.

Our Lord’s general teaching, in regard to form, is cast in the mould of parable or proverb. It is to be noticed, not only in the large amount of professed parables, but in the general habit of proverbial sayings, that is, sayings which glance by us as condensed and momentary parables, suggesting much that it would take long to tell, or sayings which have more or less the shape and air of proverbs, complete in themselves, terse and pointed, fashioned for common memory and common use, meaning more than they say, and, by strong antithesis, or seeming paradox, fitted to arouse reflection and fix on the mind some principle of thought or conduct. It is of the essence of proverbial speech that it detaches itself from particular occasions, that it has a capacity for various applications, and a fitness for permanent use, and embraces large meaning within narrow limits. It therefore fitted well the lips which were to utter the great principles of Christian thought, and to leave them among men for all times and occasions. T. D. B.

Every type is a real parable. The whole Levitical constitution, with its outer court, its holy, its holiest of all, its high-priest, its sacrifices, and all its ordinances, is such, and is declared to be such in the Epistle to the Hebrews. T.—The symbols and the sacrifices were divine parables, where the learners had to take part with their hands, and were made their own instructors. The daily acts were impressing upon them the great lessons of sin, atonement, and purity, and, step by step, they saw a deeper meaning as their minds were ready for it. There is nothing more beautiful than to trace how their views of these three things, guilt, pardon, and holiness, kept equal pace, growing in clearness till Christ came and satisfied all their longings. Ker.—The wanderings of the children of Israel have ever been regarded as a parable of the spiritual life. In like manner we have parabolic persons, who are to teach us not merely by what simply in their own characters they did, but as they represented one higher and greater. How often has God chosen that his prophets should teach by an acted parable rather than by any other means, and this because there was no other that would make so deep and so lasting an impression! In the New Testament we have a great example of the same teaching in Peter’s vision (Acts 10: 9-16), and throughout all the visions of the Apocalypse. Nay, we might venture to affirm that so it was with the highest and greatest truth of all, the manifestation of God in the flesh. This, inasmuch as it was a making intelligible of the otherwise unintelligible; a making visible the invisible; a teaching not by doctrine, but by the embodied doctrine of a divine life, was the highest and most glorious of all parables.

The parables may not be made first sources of doctrine. Doctrines otherwise and already grounded may be illustrated or indeed further confirmed by them; but it is not allowable to constitute doctrine first by their aid. For from the literal to the figurative, from the clearer to the more obscure, has been ever recognized as the law of Scripture interpretation. T.

M. 11. The mystery is something hidden from men of worldly minds; incomprehensible to them and to all who are excluded, by their spirit and disposition, from the kingdom of God. And this is the case with all truths that relate to that kingdom, however simple and clear they may seem to those whose inner life has made them at home in it. N.—12. In this saying is summed up the double force—the revealing and concealing properties of the parable. By it, he who hath, he who not only hears with the ear, but understands with the heart, has more given to him; and it is for this main purpose undoubtedly that the Lord spoke parables: to be to his Church revelations of the truth and mysteries of his kingdom (every kingdom has its secrets and inner councils which strangers must not know). But his present purpose in speaking them was the quality possessed by them of hiding their meaning from the hard-hearted and sensual. By them he who hath not, in whom there is no spark of spiritual desire nor meekness to receive the engrafted word, has taken from him even that which he hath ("seemeth to have"); even the poor confused notions of heavenly doctrine which a sensual and careless life allow him are further bewildered and darkened by this simple teaching. A.—He came to be a light to men, and to reveal the truth, not to hide it; but men must have willing ears, and take heed to what they hear, pondering over it in their hearts. In natures wilfully indifferent, hardness only grows the worse the more they hear. To such, the very word of life becomes a word of death. Rejecting the light, they are given up by God to the darkness they have chosen, and lose ere long even the superficial interest in higher things they may have had. G.—It is among the simplest and most obtrusive facts of life, that here where we are, now in the day in which we live, the vast mass of men have no quick perceptions of spiritual truths, no vivid realizations of them. They move all encompassed by them, and yet they penetrate not to the seat of their life to quicken and draw it into their own higher sphere. The inner ear is dull—their eye have they closed—they are in the broad blaze of the gospel, and yet in darkness. J. D.

Section 55.—Explains the Parable of the Sower.

Capernaum.

Mk. 13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. The parable is this: The seed 14, 15 is the word of God. The sower soweth the word. And those by the way side where the word is sown are they that hear the word of the kingdom and understand it not; but when they have heard Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that 16 was sown, out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. And these are they likewise which have received the seed into stony places, who, when they have 17 heard the word, immediately receive it with joy; yet these have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: which for a while believe; afterward, in time of temptation, when tribulation or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are 18 offended, and fall away. And these are they which received seed among thorns: such 19 as hear the word, who when they have heard go forth; and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and pleasures of this life, and the lusts of other things enter- 20 ing in, choke the word, and they bring no fruit to perfection. But these are they that received seed into the good ground; such as hear the word, and understand and receive it in an honest and good heart, and keep it; which also bear fruit with patience, and bring forth, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some an hundred. 21 And he said unto them, No man when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bushel, or under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that 22 they which enter in may see the light. For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested: neither was anything kept secret, that shall not be known, and come 23, 24 abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed therefore what and how ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured 25 to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.

THE number, diversity, and incumbrance of the affairs of the world; the continual motion and hurry in which worldly men are; that chain of employments, which to appearance are neither good nor bad, and of new designs which succeed one another; and that circle of pleasures, amusements, and vanities—these are the things wherein that art and policy consists which the devil uses, in order to render the word, good thoughts, and good desires fruitless, and to take away God’s seed out of their hearts and minds. Q.

While there is such a thing as laying waste the very soil in which the seed of life should have taken root—while every act of sin is a treading of the ground into more hardness so that the seed shall not sink in it, or a wasting of the soil so that the seed shall find no nutriment there, or a fitting it to nourish thorns and briars; yet on the other hand a recovery is still, through the grace of God, possible: the hard soil may again become soft—the shallow soil may become rich and deep—and the soil beset with thorns open and clear. As the earthly seed finds its soil, so it must use it, for it cannot alter its nature. But the heavenly seed, if it be acted upon by the soil where it is cast, also reacts more mightily upon it, softening it where it is hard, deepening it where it is shallow, extirpating the roots of evil, and transforming each of these inferior soils, till the heart has become good ground, fit to afford nourishment to the divine Word, that seed of eternal life. T.

14-19. All spiritual life depends on a divine seed sown in the heart by the divine Sower. The life of the seed depends on, first, receiving it; second, rooting it; third, cultivating it. The unfruitful hearers described are of three classes: The first hear, but heed nothing; the second heed, but resolve nothing; the third resolve, but persist not. The first hear, but without really apprehending the truth; the second apprehend, but only for a transient emotional enjoyment—the truth gets no hold, and produces no real moral convictions or changed life; the third hear, apprehend, and begin a new life, but suffer it to be choked by the world. The first danger described is that of careless hearing; its cause is a heart made hard by worldliness, and inattentive by wandering thoughts; to guard against it, keep the heart tender and the attention fixed. The second danger is that of mistaking emotion for principle—glad reception of the truth for resolute practice of it; its cause is an underlying selfishness of life; to guard against it, count the cost of following Christ. The third danger is worldliness, whether cares and anxieties, or pleasures and luxuries; its cause is a divided heart and a divided service; to guard against it, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and watch and pray against the first appearance of worldly-mindedness. L. A.

15. The way-side hearers. The seed, which does not penetrate the earth at all, and is trodden or devoured by birds, corresponds to the relation of the divine word to the wholly worldly, who, utterly unsusceptible, reject the truth without ever comprehending it at all. N.—The man does not recognize himself as standing in any relation to the word which he hears, or to the kingdom of grace which that word proclaims. All that speaks of man’s connection with a higher, invisible world, all that speaks of sin, of redemption, of holiness, is unintelligible to him, and wholly without significance. He has brought himself to it; he has exposed his heart as a common road to every evil influence of the world, till it has become hard as a pavement. T.

16, 17. The stony-ground hearers. Under the figure of the stony ground, in which the seed shoots up quickly but withers as soon for want of earth and moisture, he depicts that lively but shallow susceptibility of spirit which grasps the truth eagerly, but receives no deep impressions; and yields as quickly to the reaction of worldly temptations as it had yielded to the divine word. Faith must prove itself in strife against the world without, as well as within; but the mind just described never appropriates the truth in such a way as to obtain power to resist. N.—The hearer described has not counted the cost; whatever was fair and beautiful in Christianity as it first presents itself, had attracted him—its sweet and comfortable promises, the moral loveliness of its doctrines; but not its answer to the deepest needs of the human heart; as neither, when he received the word with gladness, had he contemplated the having to endure hardness in his warfare with sin and Satan and the world. As the heat scorches the blade which has no deepness of earth, so the troubles and afflictions, which would have strengthened a new faith, cause a faith which was merely temporary to fail. The image has a peculiar fitness and beauty; for as the roots of a tree are out of sight, yet from them it derives its firmness and stability, so upon the hidden life of the Christian his firmness and stability depend. T.

18, 19. The word choked among thorns. The seed which takes root but is stifled by the thorns that shoot up with it, figures the mind in which the elements of worldly desire develop themselves along with the higher life, and at last become strong enough to crush it, so that the received truth is utterly lost. N.—It is not here, as in the first case, that the word of God is totally ineffectual; nor yet, as in the second case, that after a temporary obedience to the truth, there is an evident falling away from it, such as the withering of the stalk indicates: the profession of a spiritual life is retained, the name to live still remains—but the life and power of religion is by degrees eaten out and has departed. And to what disastrous influences are these sad effects attributed? To two things, the cares of this world, and its pleasures; these are the thorns and briers that strangle the life of the soul. T.

The evil here is neither a hard nor a shallow soil—there is softness enough, and depth enough; but it is the existence in it of what draws all the moisture and richness of the soil away to itself, and so staves the plant. What are these “thorns?” “The cares of this world”—anxious, unrelaxing attention to the business of this present life; “the deceitfulness of riches”—the fruit of this worldly “care;” “the pleasures of this life,” or “the lusts of other things entering in”—the enjoyments, in themselves it may be innocent, which worldly prosperity enables one to indulge. These “choke” or “smoother” the word; drawing off so much of one’s attention, absorbing so much of one’s interest, and using up so much of one’s time, that only the dregs of these remain for spiritual things, and a fagged, hurried, and heartless formalism is at length all the religion of such persons. B.—Our Saviour here places riches in the midst, between cares and pleasures; for cares generally precede the gaining of riches, and, when gained, they draw men into pleasures and indulgences. Dodd.—Marvel not at his calling luxury thorns. For it pricks sharper than any thorn, and wastes the soul worse than care, and causes more grievous pain both to body and soul. Chrys.

20. The fruitful word.** When seed is sown into good ground, it is variously productive according to the fertility of the soil. So the fruitfulness of divine truth, when once appropriated, depends upon the degree in which it penetrates the whole interior life and all the powers of the spirit, stamping itself upon the truth-inspired course of life. N.—The fourth class must not be understood as a decided, well-marked company, excluding all the rest. For the soil is not good by nature. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; but every disposition to receive them is of God. A.—We must keep ever in mind that the good soil comes as much from God as the seed which is to find there its home. God’s secret and preventing grace runs before the preaching of the word of the kingdom; and thus when that word comes, it finds some with greater readiness for receiving it, as a word of eternal life, than others. T.

We here see that a principal qualification for hearing the word of God, and for rendering it capable of bearing fruit in us, is an honest and a good heart, a heart clear from prejudice, pride, and self-conceit, sincerely disposed, and earnestly desirous to find the truth, and firmly resolved to embrace it when found; ready to acknowledge its own ignorance, and weakness, and corruption, and “to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save the soul.” P.—It is always the fault of men themselves if it be not living seed in their hearts. Worldly indifference may have made the soil impenetrable as the trodden path, or have left only a skin of sentiment over hidden callousness; or worldly cares or pleasures may be let spring up, and choke the better growth; in all cases it is the man, not the seed or the sower, on whom the result turns. G.—Believers should fix the truths of religion on their minds by serious application of thought, and frequent reflection. They should bear in mind that this word ought to influence all the powers of their souls, and bring them forth into action; that it is therefore called the seed, because it is the first and common principle whence all our virtue springs; that the end of it, therefore, is never answered, but by bringing forth fruit, and that fruit is no other than a holy conversation. Stanhope.

L. 16. After unfolding its import, he taught them that the truth then veiled in parables was to become a light for all mankind; that they were to train themselves to be his organs in diffusing it; but that, in order to this, they must ever grow in the knowledge of his truth by a faithful employment of the means that he had given them. N.—

Mk. 22. For there is nothing hid. He means, that the things which he now tells them privately ought to manifest themselves publicly in their life and doctrine; and though it was necessary at present to conceal some things from the multitude, because of their prejudices, yet the time was coming when all these things must be published openly and plainly before all the world. S. C.—25. And he concludes with the general law, “Whosoever has—in reality has—whosoever has made to himself a living possession of the truths which he has heard, to him shall more be ever given. But he that has received it only as something dead and outward, shall lose even that which he seems to have, but really has not.” His knowledge, unspiritual and dead, will turn out to be worthless—the shell without the kernel. N.

Section 56.—The Tares, and the Interpretation.

24. ANOTHER parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened 25 unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came 26 and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung 27 up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the house- 28 holder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from 29 whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The ser- 30 vants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came

37 unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered 38 and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of 39 the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the 40 world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned 41 in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them 42 which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing 43 and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

WE behold Satan here, not as he works in deceiving the world, but in his deeper skill and malignity, as he mimics and counterworks the work of Christ: in the words of Chrysostom, “after the prophets, the false prophets; after the apostles, the false apostles; after Christ, Antichrist.” With what distinct- ness the doctrine concerning Satan and his agency, his active hostility to the blessedness of man, of which there is so little in the Old Testament, comes out in our Lord’s teaching in the New! As the lights be- come brighter, the shadows become deeper; but till the mightier power of good was revealed, we were not suffered to know how mighty was the power of evil. It was not till the Son of man actually ap- peared on the stage of the world, that Satan came distinctly forward upon it also; but the instant that Christ opens his ministry for the setting up of the kingdom of God, at the same instant Satan starts for- ward as the hinderer and adversary of it, the tempter of him who is the head and prince of this kingdom. It is observable, too, that Satan is spoken of as his enemy, the enemy of the Son of man; for here, as in so many other places, the great conflict is spoken of as rather between Satan and the Son of man, than between Satan and God. It was part of the great scheme of redemption, that the victory over evil should be a moral triumph, not obtained by mere putting forth of superior strength. T.

24. The parable of the tares accounts for the existence of evil in this world, and declares that it is not from God; at the same time it assures us of God’s perfect goodness, and of his desire and de- sign (short of compulsion) that the whole world should be saved; for as our Lord declares, “the field is the world”—that is, in his will and design the Church is coextensive with the world. The parable assures us also of the continuance of the Church visible unto the end; of the future full and final victory of good over evil; and of the everlast- ing reward of virtue and the eternal punishment of sin. W.—The disciples must have been so little prepared to expect a mixture of good and bad in the Church, that it was needful to warn them before- hand, that they might not be offended and think the promises of God had failed, when the evil should appear. T.

25. Sowed tares. The tares and wheat both belong to the special group of wheat-like grasses. Their structure, mode, and conditions of growth are almost the same; and it is only when the fruit is formed that the impostor is detected by its smaller and darker ear. The darnel, or tare, is the only species of grass that is possessed of deleterious properties. If its seeds are mixed with wheat, the bread thus produced causes nausea, giddiness, pa- ralysis, and in extreme cases even death. Macmil- lan.—The tare abounds all over the East, and is a great nuisance to the farmer. It resembles the American cheat, but the head does not droop like cheat, nor does it branch out like oats. The grain, also, is smaller, and is arranged along the upper part of the stalk, which stands perfectly erect. It is a strong soporific poison, and must be carefully winnowed, and picked out of the wheat, grain by grain, before grinding, or the flour is not healthy. Of course the farmers are very anxious to extermi- nate it, but this is nearly impossible. W. M. T.

28. In the householder’s reply the mischief is traced up to its origin: An enemy hath done this. It is attributed not to the imperfection, ignorance, weakness, which cling to everything human, but to the distinct counterworking of the great spiritual enemy. 29. It makes much for the beauty of the parable and is full of instruction, that wheat and tares are not seeds of different kinds, but that the last is a degenerate wheat. They are only distinguishable when the ear is formed; thus fulfilling literally the Lord’s words, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” T.—Until the grain has headed out the closest scrutiny will fail to detect the tares. Even the farmers, who in this country generally seed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other. They would not only mistake good grain for them, but very commonly the roots of the two are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them without plucking up both. Both, therefore, must be left to grow together until the time of harvest. W. M. T.

Lest ye root up the wheat. This plainly teaches the difficulty of distinguishing the two classes, and so the impropriety of sitting in judgment on men’s state before God. 30. Let both grow together—i. e., in the visible Church. This, however, must not be stretched so far as to justify retaining scandalous persons in the communion of the Church, in the teeth of apostolic injunctions (1 Cor. 5). B.—When Christ asserts that it is his purpose to make a complete separation at the end, he implicitly forbids, not the exercise of a godly discipline, not, where necessary, absolute exclusion from church-fellowship—but any attempts to anticipate the final irrevocable separation, of which he has reserved the execution to himself. Both are to grow, evil and good, till they come to a head, till they are ripe, one for destruction, and the other for full salvation. And they are to grow together; the visible Church is to have its intermixture of good and bad until the end of time. T.—Bind in bundles. Grain-fields covered the whole surface; but the crops were very unequal; part thick, shrunk, and almost dry; part full, and stately. Men, women, and children were busy in many of the fields pulling out the weeds, which they gathered in heaps and bound into bundles, to burn them. Furrer.

38. Good seed.** “The children of the kingdom;” the same seed of “the word” as in the former parable, but now received into the heart and converting him that receives it into a new creature, a “child of the kingdom.” “The children of the wicked one,” resembling, in religious profession, “the children of the kingdom, and produced by the same process” (“sowing”). B.

39. Satan is a created, finite spirit. He cannot create anything new; he can only mar and destroy what has been created. He cannot create angels of darkness; he can only seduce angels of light into devils. He cannot originate evil men; he can only tempt and spoil creatures made in the image of God. The fulness of Satan’s dominion was most clearly manifested in the world, when the fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in Christ bodily was displayed to the eyes of men. But now that Christ is concealed by the cloud, so is Satan. In harmony with the viewless operations of the Holy Spirit are the subtle and impalpable agencies which Satan now wields. He has withdrawn his sorceries, his outward signs, and tempts with covetousness and worldliness. And so thoroughly has he carried out this system of invisible temptation, that he has succeeded in persuading many that he has no existence as a personal spirit of evil, and that evil is only an immature stage in the progress of the world’s ripening. Macmillan.

41. Son of man.** He claimed the title (which was already given him in the Old Testament, Dan. 8 : 13), inasmuch as it was he who alone realized the idea of man, the second Adam, who, unlike the first, should maintain his position as the head and representative of the race—the one perfect flower which had ever unfolded itself out of the root and stalk of humanity. 42, 43. As fire was the element of the cruel kingdom of hell, so is light of the pure heavenly kingdom. Then, when the hindering element is removed, shall this element of light which was before obstructed by it, come forth in its full brightness. T.

Section 57.—The Seed growing secretly. The Mustard-seed. The Leaven. Hid Treasure. The Pearl. The Net.

Capernaum.

Mk. 26 AND he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he 28 knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then 29 the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. 30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison

M. 31 shall we compare it? Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; 32 which indeed is the least of all seeds that be in the earth. But when it is sown, it groweth up, and when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, and shooteth out great branches; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the 33 branches thereof, under the shadow of it. Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a 35 parable spake he not unto them. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. And when they were alone, he expound- 36 ed all things to his disciples. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him. [After explaining the parable of the tares (verses 37-43) he continues:] 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and 45 buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking 46 goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and 48 gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and 49 gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the 50 world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, 52 Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out 53 of his treasure things new and old. And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

THE kingdom of God begins in any man in the solemn and central purpose of his soul to become like God, to honor and to serve him; the personal commitment of himself to the Father, through the mediation of the Son, and under the quickening influence of the Spirit. And yet this purpose is but the commencement of a course whose end is still distant. One temptation after another must be met and overcome. One desire after another, which has grown inordinate through long indulgence, must be brought into harmony with the law of holiness. The principles of action, though now pure and high, require to be confirmed by the discipline of effort; the thoughts of divine truth to be made more clear, comprehensive, controlling; above all, the affections demand to be developed, cherished, matured, until they shall answer as they ought to God’s character; until they shall spring spontaneously toward Christ, on his cross or his throne; until they shall purely control and impel our whole moral action, making duty a delight, privation a pleasure if borne for God, and death a sure and immeasurable gain!

It is not till after long seasons of effort that this magnificent consummation is reached; that the world seems nothing, and God all in all; that the cross becomes the summit-fact, in personal experience as in the world’s history; and that heaven opens bright and near its gates of pearl! It is not till sorrows and prosperities both have brought their ministry from God to the soul; not till life has been experienced, in its successes and its changes; not till sermons and treatises, works and worships, self-denials and charities, homes and teachers, have done their office; and the communion with friends, the communion of the Church, contemplation, study, prayer, self-scrutiny—all have taught and disciplined the soul, and brought it in a measure to the likeness of Christ’s. This harvest comes after long summer; first a purpose; then a principle; then a habit; then a life, pervading, renewing, glorifying the soul; then the heavenly nature and peace! R. S. S.

THE seven parables of Matthew have a certain unity, succeeding one another in natural order, and having a completeness in themselves. In the Sower are set forth the causes of the failures and successes of the gospel, when it is preached in the world. In the Tares, the obstacles to the internal development of Christ’s kingdom are traced up to their true author, with a warning against the manner in which men might be tempted to remove those obstacles. The Mustard-seed and the Leaven declare the victorious might—the first the outward and the second the inward might of that kingdom; and therefore implicitly prophesy of its development in spite of these obstacles, and its triumph over them. The two which follow (the Treasure and the Pearl) declare the relation of the kingdom to every man, its supreme worth, and how those who have discovered that worth will be willing to renounce all things for its sake. The last (the Draw-net) is the declaration that entire separation from evil shall yet come to pass, looking forward to which, each is to strive that he may so use present privileges that he may be found among those that shall be the Lord’s when he shall set a difference between them who serve him and them who serve him not.

Mk. 26-29. The seed growing secretly. This is the only parable peculiar to Mark. Like that of the Leaven, of which it seems to occupy the place, it declares the invisible energy of the divine word, and that this word of the kingdom has that in it which will allow it safely to be left to itself. T.—Christ obviously intended by this parable to impress upon the disciples that their duty was to preach the word [not to make it fruitful]; that where the truth was once implanted in the heart, its growth was independent of human agency; unfolding itself by its own inherent divine power, it would gradually accomplish the transformation of human nature into that perfection for which God designed it [the full corn in the ear]. N.—Those who under Christ are teachers are here implicitly bidden to have faith in the word which they sow, for it is the seed of God; when it has found place in a heart they are to have confidence in its indwelling power, not supposing that they are to keep it alive; for maintaining its life is God’s part, and he undertakes to fulfil it. Of course they are to follow up the work which has been through their instrumentality commenced. T.

M. 31-33. The parables which treat of the progress of his kingdom, and the effects of his truth upon human nature, viz., the parables of the Mustard-seed and of the Leaven, were designed to illustrate a development which was to commence with small beginnings, and to propagate itself by a mighty power working outwardly from within. All these parables presuppose the renewal of human nature by a new and pervading principle of spiritual life; and imply that the kingdom of God cannot be visibly realized among men until they become subjects of this renewal. N.—In the parable of the Sower, the disciples had heard that three parts of the seed sown perished, and only a fourth part prospered; again, they had heard in that of the Tares of the hinderances which beset even this part that remained: lest then they should be tempted to lose heart and despair, the Lord spake these two parables (the Mustard-seed and the Leaven) for their encouragement. My kingdom, he would say, will survive these losses, and surmount these hinderances, until, small as its first beginnings may appear, it will, like a mighty tree, fill the earth with its branches—like potent leaven, will diffuse its influence through all the world. T.—The point in which the two parables agree is, the designating of the power with which the kingdom of God develops itself outwardly from within; the greatest results proceeding from the most insignificant beginnings. The point in which they differ is, that the development illustrated in the parable of the Mustard-seed is more extensive, in that of the Leaven more intensive; in the former is shown the power with which the Church, so feeble in its beginning, spreads over all the earth; in the latter, the principle of divine life in Christianity renews human nature, in all its parts and powers, after its own image, to become its own organ; thus illustrating the growth of religion not only in the race, but also in individual men. N.

31. Small as a grain of mustard-seed, was a proverbial expression among the Jews for something exceedingly minute. The Lord, in his popular teaching, adhered to the popular language. Maldonatus relates that even in Spain he has seen great ovens heated with its branches; he mentions as well that birds are exceedingly partial to the seed, so that when it is advancing to ripeness he has often seen them lighting in great numbers on its boughs, which were strong enough to sustain the weight.

33. By the leaven we are to understand the word of the kingdom, which word in its highest sense Christ himself was. As the mustard-seed, out of which a mighty tree was to grow, was the least of all seeds, so the leaven is also something apparently of slight account, and yet mighty in operation. Till the whole is leavened. A prophecy of the final complete triumph of Christianity; that it will diffuse itself through all nations, and purify and ennoble all life. We may also fairly see in these words a promise and an assurance that the word of life, received into any single heart, shall not there cease its effectual working till it has brought the whole man in obedience to it, so that he shall be a new creature in Christ Jesus. T.—The unleavened mass, untouched by any particle with the true leaven in it, will remain unchanged. The whole secret of the spread of Christianity over the world is in this figure of the leaven. It is fire that kindles fire; love that kindles love; Christianity manifested that spreads Christianity. Talent, learning, conviction from argument, are well in their places, but avail little. Belief is needed, but it must be in the form of trust. It must be belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. There must be in it the acceptance of him for all that for which he offers himself to us, and sympathy with him in all that he proposes to do. In such a belief there is life; and in life there is power. M. H.

In the process of leavening it is not the substance but the character of the meal that is changed. Even so with the effect of grace. It did not give John his warm affections; but it fixed them on his beloved Master, sanctifying his love. It did not give Paul his genius, his resistless logic, and noble oratory; but it consecrated them to the cause of Christ. It did not give David a poet’s fire and a poet’s lyre; but it strung his harp with chords from heaven, and tuned all its strings to the high praises of God. So grace ever works. It does not change the metal, but stamps it with the divine image, and assimilates all who have received Christ to the nature of Christ. Guthrie.

44.46. The kingdom of God is not merely a tree overshadowing the earth, leaven leavening the world, but each man must have it for himself, and make it his own by a distinct act of his own will. He may come under the shadow of this great tree, and partake of many blessings of its shelter. He may dwell in a Christendom which has been leavened, and so in a manner himself share in the universal leavening. But more than this is needed, even a personal appropriation of the benefit. We have the history of this in the two parables which follow. They were spoken not to the multitude, not to those “without,” but within the house (verse 36), and to the more immediate disciples. These are addressed as having found the hid treasure—the pearl of price, and are now warned of the surpassing worth of these, and that, for their sakes, all things are to be joyfully renounced. T.

44. Owing to the insecurity of property in the East, from war and oppression, joined to the necessity of keeping valuable property in hand for want of secure banks of deposit, the practice of hiding precious utensils and ornaments, money and jewels, has always been common in the East. Often it is built up into the walls of the owner’s house, often buried in fields and gardens. The owner often dies and takes his secret with him. K.—Many such transactions are still negotiated. It is extremely difficult, and even dangerous, to remove treasure thus discovered in another person’s field; but, having purchased it, you can wait in safety, work in secret, and the coveted treasure is yours. This country has always been subject to revolutions, invasions, and calamities of various kinds, and hence a feeling of insecurity hovers over the land like a dismal spectre. Then there are, and always have been, intestine commotions and wars. At such times multitudes bury their gold and jewels, and in many cases the owners are killed, and no one knows where the treasure was concealed. W. M. T.

Buyết field. Whenever any man renounces the thing that is closest to him, rather than that should be a hinderance to his embracing and making his own all the blessings of the gospel—when the lover of money renounces his covetousness—and the indolent man, his ease—and the lover of pleasure, his pleasure—and the wise man, his confidence in the wisdom of this world—then each is selling what he has that he may buy the field which contains the treasure. T.

45. Seeking pearls.** The occupation of a travelling jeweller is still common in the East. He deals in precious stones and pearls, and travels widely in search of advantageous purchases or exchanges. K.—Those persons who feel that there must be some absolute good for man in which he shall find the satisfaction of all his longings, and who are therefore seeking everywhere for this good, are likened to the merchant that has distinctly set before himself the purpose of seeking goodly pearls. These are the fewest in number, but at the same time, perhaps, the noblest converts to the truth.

46. The pearl is the kingdom of God within a man—or God revealing himself in the soul—or the knowledge of Christ—or Christ himself—all different ways of expressing the same thing. It is God alone in whom any intelligent creature can find its centre and true repose; in Augustine’s beautiful and often-quoted words, “Lord, thou hast made us for thee, and our heart is disquieted till it reacheth to thee.” T.

Those who find Christ without seeking him have usually the liveliest joy, while those who find him after long and anxious search have usually the deepest apprehension of his value. It will be observed that the joy of discovery is only in the former parable, as if to express not the value set upon the treasure, but the unexpectedness of it. Yet not less profound is the sense of Christ’s preciousness when found after long and anxious search has deepened the craving of the soul after him. B.

47. He had to teach his disciples that not all who joined him were fitted to be genuine followers, and that the spurious and the true should be intermixed in his visible kingdom, until that final process of decision which God had reserved to himself. To convey this truth, he compares the kingdom of

God, in the process of its development on earth (which corresponds to the visible Church as distinguished from the invisible), to a net cast into the sea, in which fish of all kinds, good and worthless, are caught, and which are only assorted after the net has been drawn to the shore. N.—A net. A drag-net. It was leaded and buoyed, and then drawn in a circle, so as to inclose a multitude of fishes. H. B. T.—The word in the original is a hauling-net, as distinguished from the casting-net—a net of the largest size, suffering nothing to escape from it. And this, its all-embracing nature, contains a prophecy of the wide reach and potent operation of the gospel. The kingdom of heaven should henceforward be a net, not cast into a single stream as hitherto, but into the broad sea of the whole world, and gathering or drawing together some out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. T.—52. Things new and old. He teaches his apostles and ministers to avail themselves of what is old in teaching what is new, and by teaching what is new to confirm what is old; to show that the gospel is not contrary to the law, and that both are from one and the same source. W.—As they hearkened to the Lord from heaven these Galilean peasants and fishermen found something that was new, and something that was old. Duties were declared, principles were announced, springs of human feeling and action were touched, which their religious education and the light of their consciences had made as familiar to them as the slopes of the hills about the lake, the curves of the shore, or the trees along the street, under the common sunshine, where they plied their daily calling. This was “old,” but this was not all. As the heavenly words came from the lips of this “Son of man,” knowing not only all that is in man but the secrets in the bosom of God, they caught glimpses of something “new,” and as grand as it was new. Very faint and inadequate these glimpses were at first. But the patient Master knew the work he had to do, and led their dull intellects along through this simple path of parable, giving them what they were able to bear—tempered beams for their weak eyes. What he was seeking to unfold to them was nothing less than the nature of that everlasting and universal kingdom of God, which embraces all other truth, transcends all mortal understanding, and provides redemption for all the nations of our race, and yet sets up its true throne in the unlettered heart of a regenerated child or a penitent slave. Holding fast all that was good in the “old” religion of conscience and law, he was bringing forth to them the “newness” of his gospel. F. D. H.

Section 58.—Answers to Unready Disciples. Stilling of the Tempest.

Near and on the Lake.