business or pleasure. Thus, though they hear the word, they scarcely give it any attention, or attend merely to the style of composition and manner of delivery. No wonder then that they obtain no solid views of divine truth,]
They lose it without regret — [" Satan" is more concerned with them than they are at all aware of. Like " the fowls of the air," he hovers round them to " catch away the seed." The word is no sooner uttered, than he turns their attention from it ; nor is it difficult for him, by suggesting other thoughts, to accomplish his pur- pose. He well knows that, if they truly " believe the word, they will be saved" by it ; and that, if they hear it with atten- tion and candour, they cannot but believe it. Hence he labours incessantly to divert their minds from it. If, after all, some scattered truths remain upon the mind, they are speedily " trodden down" by the incidental occurrences of the day.]
These, it is to be feared, are by far the most numerous class of hearers. But there are some to whom the word seems not to come in vain :
II. The stony-ground hearers —
These, though equaUij hard as to their hearts, differ widely from the former —
They ^' embrace the word gladly" — [Their affections, like a thin coat of earth upon a rock, *' receive the word." The novelty of it, and their hope of an interest in it, delights their mind. They are moved at the sufferings of Christ, or the promises of the Gospel, as they would be at any good news, or pathetic story. " Immediately" they begin to make a profession of religion, and seem to sur- pass many who have been longer instructed in the way.]
But they "renounce it again speedily" —
[They never were deeply convinced of sin, nor felt their need of Christ. They embraced the Gospel, without ever seriously counting the cost. Ere long, they find that they have to endure "persecution for the word's sake:" this, like "the sun" in its brightness, penetrates through the surface of their affections, and burns up the seed, which was " never rooted" in their understanding and will; then they renounce their profession as speedily as they had taken it up, and either " secretly decline" from the society to which they were attached, or " openly proclaim the disgust," with which their late pre- tensions have inspired them.]
Nor are these the only persons who disappoint the
hopes of the sower :