Vere. 3-9; 18-23.-Tlie parabk of the sower. As exhibiting the kingdom oC God.- I. IN 1TB BEGINNINGS, II. I TB PRO0EBSEB. III. ITB BEBULTB.-M. Vere. 3, 9.-0hrist's claim upon the attention of=· "Hearken I" " Who hath ears to hear, let him hear!" A frequent peculiarity in Christ's speech. It is well to note when he uses it. It is the whisper of Christ. John seems to have caught and repre- sented this manner of the Master most closely. I. THE VALUE OF THE STATEMENTS OF THE GOSPEL. 1. ."1.ffeding the personal interest of every one, Happiness or misery, life or death. 2. Determining the charader of every one. 3. The condeseension and compassion of infinite love. II. Tnm DIFFI0ULTY OF GIVING THEM THE ATTENTION AND CONSIDERATION THEY DESERVE. 1. They appeal to the least-developed side of human nature. 2. They have little or no immediate earthly interest to commend them. 3. They have commoner and . more latent meanings, and the latter may not be apprehended. 4. They have many counterfeits. " Lo here I Lo there I " 6. The earthly life of men is full of dis- tractions. III. THE BESPONBIBILITY ATTACHING TO THEM. This remains with the hearer, and he cannot free himself. The language of Scripture and the deepest experiences of human nature alike assure us of this. 1. God has given all men p<YWe:r to understand and receive his gospel. That is, of course, provided they have not lost their reason. 2. Personal moral effort is required with respect to them. (1) To cease delaying. (2) To use what faculty and opportunity we have. (3) To suppress prejudice, aversion, sin, etc.-M. Ver.11.-The reward of discipleship. The sense of the word" mystery." Eleusinian and other heathen mysteries. Something previously hidden, but revealed in the gospel ; or rather, something hidden from certain conditions of the moral nature of man, but revealed to other conditions. I. IT AGREES WITH THE MANIFEST END OF DISOIPLESHIP. The learner seeks for know- ledge. The disciple of any master desires to receive his special doctrine or discovery. It is the highest, the esoteric, teaching that is here promised. There are to be no secrets or reserves between the Master and his disciples. Revelation not the mere anticipation of experience, but its determining influence and its consummation. II. IT IS BEYOND THE 0OMPASS OF UNAIDED HUllAN FACULTY. Christ ea.id," To you ii is given." They were not to discover it of themselves. 1. The noblest saints who had preceded them wer11 not able to understand (1 Pet. i. 10-12). 2. The wisdom of man could not discover them. "Eye hath not seen," etc, (1 Cor. ii. 8-10; cf. Eph. i. 15-23; Col. i. 9, seq.). III. IT IS A DIVINE GRAOE FOR HORAL PURPOSES. Thill appears from the negatives of ver. 12. To produce: 1. Repentance and faith. 2. Sympathy with Christ in his aims, worlcs, and sufferings. 3. Triumphant superiority to the evil circumstance of IM toorld.-M. •
Ver. 13.-From one kam all. L Tms 11' A PRINCIPLE NOT TO BE UNIVERSALLY ACTED UPON IN EARTHLY THINGS, Because of: 1. Limitation of human p<YWers. 2. Obscurity, wmplexity, and occasional discontinuity and non-'11,niformity of nature and human life. • • II. To THOSE WHO ARE Il.LUMINATED IT IS ABSOLUTELY VALID IN DIVINE THINGS. 1. Not because the fo1·ms and successive ,tages of the truth are mere repetitions of one another. 2. But they are all centred and int&rpreted in one Person. 8. They all reguire the exercise of the same spiritualfacu.lty.-M.
Vere. 21, 22,-Revelation and not concealment theji,nal purpose of the truth. L Tms APPEARS FBOH: 1. Its tJery nature, That which reveals (e.g. light) is not to be itaelf hidden. Its whole tendency is and has been towards greater manifestation. Each revelation of God has been grander than that which preceded. 2. Its central signifi- 172 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. (0H.1v, 1-•U.
cance in the Divine economy. It has evidently a practical relation to tho whole, just as "the lamp" bad to the peasant's room, as the general means of illumination. Every. thing in the world, in human lives, and in the constitution of the human soul answers to its interpreting light, which iB the only true light by which they can bo understood, 3. TM ~tence in man of afaCtilty for its discernment. This may have been overlaid or perverted; but it really exists, and will answer to the believing effort to exercise it. It is Satan, not God, who bas blinded the minds of those who are lost. II. How STRONG MUST HA VE BEEN THE REASONS FOB TEMPORARY CONCEALMENT I 1. Thefmrful wi,ckedness of the ccntemporaries of Juus. A last time with reference to many preceding stages of darkening spiritual consciousness. 2. The revelation of that ~kedness in convicting it of ignorance of Divine things. 3. The preservation of the PerWTUJI, Truth in hv.manform until his manifutation should bi, complete.-M. Vers. 24, 25.-" Measure for measu,·e;" or, the law of equity in its relation to Divine knowledge. A wider law (Matt. vii. 2) with special application to spiritual learning. One of the phases of the exactitude of relation between God and man, which yet admits of grace and blessing. I. THE WORD OF GoD MUST BE RIGHTLY ATTENDED TO IN ORDER TO ITS BEING UNDER• STOOD. There is no process of mere mechanical transfer of truth into the nature of man. Experience and progress in truth are subject to the conditions of all intellectual inquiry, and also to special moral ones. II. Acco~DING TO THE PROPORTION OF BEARING Wil.L BE TIIE SPIRITUAL BENEFIT. I. It is to the use offaculties, and not to their mere possession, the reward attaches. 2. The communication of truth is therefore a spiritual discipline. "Quicquid reci• pitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis." Obedience is the gateway of knowledge. "Holdiug the truth in unrighteousness," we shall sooner or later lose it; holding it "in a pure conscience" and a willing spirit, we shall advance to the fulness of truth.-M.
Vers. 26-29.-The seed cast upon the earth; or, the self-development of truth in the heart of man. L THERE IB A PRE-ESTABLISHED HARMONY BETWEEN THE 'l'BUTH AND HUMAN NATURE. 'l'he seed left in the soil germinates because of the mutual adapta- tion ; so the Word of God. IL THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM HAS .AN INNATE POWER OF DEVELOPMENT. Under the appointed conditions it is bound to grow. Ill. GoD DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH IT OR REMOVE IT UNTIL IT HAS PRODUCED 1TB FBUIT. 1. It is left to the law of gradualness, First " the blade,' etc. 2. It is taken aCC011,nt of and ,judged in its final result.-M.