The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 196

is not found collectively e.nd in all its component parts, fragments of it may exist in the she.pa of single books, or chapters, or verses. And wherever it is thus met with even In dispersed portions, there is seed, there is the germ of life, and, by the blessing of God and the operation of bis Spirit, there will in due time be the full development of life and fruitfulness. While it is a blessed privilege to possess the whole of God's Word and sufficient means of understanding it, and abundant material for its enforcement;' still persons not so privileged, but having in possession some small portion of God's Word, are not ·without the means of safety and salvation. Paragraphs of the Bible, verses of the Dible, sentiments of the Bible, are often blended with the religious compositions of human authors ; yet still they retain their vitality, and only want the Spirit of God to quicken them into living power. IV. THE WAYSIDE HEARERS. 1. Nature of the wayside. By this we may under- stand a highway, or byway, or bridle-way, or ordinary footpath; but whether the way be broad or narrow, whether it be a well-constructed road or merely a beaten pad whether it be a public road or pathway, two notions attach to it. We connect with it' first, the idea of a passage, along which people walk, or ride, or drive, or along which traffic is conveyed. But a second idea attached to it, and one which is the conse- quence of the first, is that of hardness, because of the constant resort along it. Doth ideas characterize the hearts of wayside hearers. Just as the highway is that along which people travel on foot, or horseback, or in vehicles of whatever kind, and that too along which their goods are conveyed and their commerce carried on-along which, in fact, their merchandise is transported; so the heart of the wayside hearer is a highway for the passage of worldly thoughts. Such thoughts are constantly passing to and fro along it. Temporal things make it their thoroughfare; unchecked, unhindered, unim- peded, and uninterrupted, they pass and repass. Earthly, or sensual e.nd sinful, objects are constantly found on the highway of that carnal heart. Passion and pride, avarice and ambition, luxury and lust are ever traversing that highway or the byways that diverge from it. Memories of the past, anticipations of the future, present reflections on worldly things, earthly joys or sorrows, worldly cares and anxieties, schemes of wealth and thoughts of indulgence, or hopes of worldly aggrandizement,-all find free passage along the wayside hearer's heart. No foot, however unhallowed, is forbidden to enter there. Now, these hearers come to the house of God and seem to hear his Word: •• They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them.... And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that bath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not." With this free and con- stant passage of thousands of earthly, temporal, worldly, and sinful thoughts along the open thoroughfare of the wayside hearer's heart there is small space for thoughts of God. They come" to hear of heaven and learn the way," but their heart is preoccupied, and their thoughts engaged with other objects. Besides, from this constant traflio along it, the heart becomes hard as the wayside, and like the common highway. When thoughts of what is good or gracious do enter, they pass over it, going out as they came in. They never settle on it or sink into it. Any good impressions or gracious influences are merely transient. 2. TM wayside hearers understand it not, They hear the Word, but they understand it not. How could they? Understanding requires attention, but worldly thoughts engross the attention that should be given to thoughts of God. Not only so, the heart has become so hard by the constant traffic upon it that such thoughts, when they do enter, cannot penetrate the surface so as to find lodgment in the understanding. What with the crowding together and crushing along of worldly thoughts, and the consequent hardneBS of heart, the understanding remains untouched. Instead of minds enlightened by the Spirit of God, such hearers come with hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and like a common highway; and so any serious notions that do force an entrance are lost amid the host of other thoughts, and lie on the hard surface. Any truths or facts not duly attended to cannot be properly understood; when only partially, or imperfectly, or perhaps not at all understood, they cannot be retained in the memory. So the wayside hearer neither takes heed to the Word nor keeps hold of it, and therefore gets no benefit from it. But another circum- stance incree.sea the culpability of the hearer and claims our notice. 3. It ia trodden down, Many a precioUB seed of gospel truth has been thns treated. Many a time have the on. 1v. 1-.U.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 193