1 And lie began again to teach by the sea side : and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea ; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
3 Hearken ; Behold, there went out a sower to sow :
4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth ; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth :
6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched ; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased ; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
■ ',i And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery bf the kingdom of God : but unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables :
12 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.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable ? and how then will ye know all parables ?
14 'The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and takcth away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground ; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness ;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time : after- ward, when affliction or persecution ariscth for the word's sake, immedi- ately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns ; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh un- fruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground ; such as hear the word, and received, and bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
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These verses contain the parable of the sower. Of all the parables spoken by our Lord, none is probably so well-known as this. There is none which is so easily understood by all, from the gracious familiarity of the figures which it contains.''' There is none which is of such universal and perpetual application. So long as there is a Church of Christ and a congregation of Chris- tians, so long there will be employment for this parable.
The language of the parable requires no explanation. To use the words of an ancient writer, " it needs appli- cation, not exposition." Let us now see what it teaches.
We are taught, in the first place, that there are some hearers of the Gospel, whose hearts are like the way-side in a field.
These are they who hear sermons, but pay no atten- tion to them. They go to a place of worship, for form or fashion, or to appear respectable before men. But they take no interest whatever in the preaching. It seems to them a mere matter of words and names, and
* " Our Saviour borroweth his comparisons from easy and familiar things, such as the sower, the seed, the ground, the growth, the with- ering, the answering or failing of the sower's expectations, all of them things well-known, and by all these would teach us some spiritual in- struction. For there is no earthly thing which is not fitted to put us in mind of some heavenly. Christ cannot look upon the sun, the wind, the fire, water, a hen, a little grain of mustard seed — nor upon ordinary occasions, as the penny given for the day's work, the wed- ding garment and ceremonies of the Jews about it, nor the waiting of servants at their master's table, or children asking bread and fish at their father's table, but he applies all to some special use of edifi- cation in grace.
" Earthly things must remind us of heavenly. We must translate the book of nature into the book of grace." — Tlwmas Taylor on the Pa rable of th e So wer. 1 634.