Vers. 26-29.-Man wed and then dispensed 'With. I. WHAT GoD DOES BY AND THROUGH RIB SERVANTS. The mere sowing of the seed. 1. Receiving the seed for one's self. 2. Imparting it vitally to other minds. II. WHAT GoD DOES WITHOUT HIS SERVANTS. The pre-existence and independent growth of the seed a great mystery. Its hidden processes provocative of spiritual discipline to the sower. In God's hand and the womb of time (Ps, lxv.). Committing it thereto, and leaving it there, a proof and exercise of faith. fil RESULTANT BEBPONSIDILITIES. 1. The harvest a living growth, not a dead, mechanical effect; manifold in its producing, modifying, and enriching causes, one in result. 2. Judgment on sower and sown alike. H is in the final product that the evideuce as to faithfulness, obedience, and diligence is found.-M.
Vera. 30, 31.-" Whereunto aha/1, we liken it P" An invitation to mutual effort of 1piritual thought and imagination. AD instance of sympathetic condescension. L THERE .A.BE JU.NY SIMILITUDES OF THE KIN<JDOH OF Goo. IL SoME ABB BETTEB THAll' OTHERS. Either absolutely or relatively to present circumstances. III. WE .ABE NOT TO BE ONLY PASSIVE RECIPmNTB 01' CHRIST'S TEACHING, IV. SAINTS ENJOY FELLOWSIDP WITH CHRIST m THE DISOOVEBY OJI' TRUTII AND IN BPIBlTUAL B.EALIZ.ATION,-M, OH, IV, 1-41.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 81.. MARK. 173
Ver. 34.-" Without a parable spake he not u;nto them." To be understood of Christ's general habit or manner of teaching. It was specially characte1 istic of him after it became evident that the Pharisees were seeking an occasion for Lie destruction, Thie practice proved- I. THE VABTNEBB OF IllB SPIRITUAL BEBOURCES. 1. When prevented fr= using direct statements, he adopted an indirect mode of expreuion. The truth was not stifled, it only assumed another form. There was not the least sign of labour or effort in making this transition. He played upon the varying moods and appearances of nature as a skilled musician upon his instrument, so as not only to discourse sweet soundl!, but to suggest Divine ideas and principles. His supplies of spiritual truth must have been as inexhaustible as nature itself. He must have had many modes and degrees of expres- sion in which to clothe the same truth. Restriction of speech in one direction only developed e. larger liberty in another. 2. In order to this his perception of truth must have been of a very deep and vital nature. His parables were not only facile, they were felicitous. In them truth lived and breathed. It is not as more or less distant ana- logies one reads them, but as one might look at the naked truth itself. How instinc- tively must he have discerned the Divine side of things I And there is in hie figurative teaching an unassuming originality, e. vigour and vividness that could spring from nothing less than inward understanding of spiritual principles-a practical, sympathetic familiarity with them in their root and essence. The author of such similitude& cannot be conceived of as standing apart from Divine truth, but as one with it; therefore the conclusion, " I am the Truth," is inevitable. II. His DIDACTIO SKILL. The parables are beautiful, but it is not as creations of artistic genius that they chiefly impress us. Jesus was not the slave of his imagination. A careful adaptation of means to ends is perceptible in all his utterances. You feel that he did not want to paint a beautiful picture, but simply to tell the truth. The latter was thus rendered: (1) self-demonstrative; (2)familiar andforci'ble; and (3) memorable. III. Hrs PRACTICAL MORAL PURPOSE. By his parables our Lord : 1. Demonstrated the unity of creation. 'l'he words and works of God were one in their meaning and mes- sage. A multitude of phenomena so varied and different, yet so mutually suggestive and harmoniously concurrent in testimony, could not be a soulless medley or a resultant of blind forces; it must be a system throughout, informed and controlled by one governing mind, and moving onward to a worthy if e.t present inadequately appre- hended end. 2. Redeemed nature and human life from base associations. "In every- thing there was discernible the idea;" the humblest thing was suggestive, if rightly interrogated, of the Divine. Henceforth nothing was to be considered" common or unclean." 3. Rendered human experience a Divine discipline. Every-day events and circumstances were charged with spiritual lessons, and revealed e.s " working together for good to them that love God."-M.