The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 197

truths of God's Word been trodden down. Many an assurance of Christ's ability and rcndiness "to save to the uttermost" has been trodden down. Many an offer of grace and salvntion has been trodden down. Many an" exceeding great and precious promise" by which the hearer might be made partaker of a Divine nature bas been trodden down. Man,v a Scripture pkturing the joys of heaven, inviting ~nd even urging us to make those Joys our own, has been trodden down. Many a faithful warning of the sinner to forsake his ways and flee from present wrath and eternal ruin has been trodden down. Thus the Word of God has been despised and despite done to the Spirit of grace. The pure precepts of that \Vord as well as its precious promises, its earnest entreaties as well as its solemn exhortations, its faithful reproofs as well as its friendly remonstrances, its gracious invitations as well as its many warnings, have all been trodden down, and so treated with carelessness, indifference, and even con- tempt. 4. Satan snatches it away. "The fowls of the air came and devoured it up.'' Here again we should notice the verisimilitude of our Lord's representation. "In tlie countless birds of all kinds-aquatic fowls by the lake-side, partridges and pigeor::-i hovering, as on the Nile-bank, over the rich plain of Gennesaret, we may still see," says Stanley, "the 'birds of the air' which 'came and devoured the seed by the way- side,' or which toos: refuge in the spreading branches of the mustard tree." Again he observes, "The flocks of birds in the neighbourhood of Gennesaret have been already observed. Their number, their beauty, their contrast with the busy stir of sowing and reaping and putting into barns visible in the plains below (whether of Ilattin or Gen- nesaret), must have always courted observation." Never did a bird of the air rush with greater swiftness on its prey than Satan rushes to take away the Word of God as it lies unheeded and despised-trodden down, in fact, on the sinner's heart. Never did the birds that in such multitudes frequent the lake and plain of Gennesaret, whether pigeons, or partridges, or aquatic fowls, hasten with greater eagerness to pick up the seeds let fall by the sower on the pathway running through the corn-land in the plain of Gennesaret, than Satan hurries to take away the seed of truth out of the wayside hearer's heart. The wayside was not meant for cultivation nor intended to be sown; so there are hearers who come to hear the Word from custom, or fashion, or from con- formity to a respectable observance, or for sake of appearance, or perhaps from a slight twitching of conscience, but not out of a sense of duty, or feeling of privilege, or any earnest desire to get good from it or prolit by it. When they do come, their minds detach themselves, as it were, from their bodies and wander miles away; their thoughts wander on the mountains of vanity, or are absorbed in their worldly plans, or prospects, or purposes. Thus the seed lies on the beaten pathway, and is trudden down. Satan is "the prince of the power of the air,'' and multiplies himself in bis emissaries, here represented by fowls, or winged creatures (,.. •.,..,~a), of the air. He t;urns away their thoughts from the truth that is being proclaimed and engrosses them with some worldly object; he amuses them, it may be, with some peculiarity of the preacher, or engages their attention with some article of a neighbour's dress; he prejudices their minds against the truth, or preoccupies them with thoughts widely different from those that should be suggested by the subject in hand; he moy rob them of the seed by an after-sermon critic, or by the sarcasm of some worthless witting, or the sneer of a sceptically inclined friend. He has thousands of little birds of the air to carry awny any thoughts of God, of the soul, of sin, of salvation, of heaven, of hell, of death, of judgment,of eternity, that might lie as seeds of truth on the heart. 5. Tlie immediate- ness of his arrival. St. Mark draws attention to this point by the word .~e•.,,, which occurs so often in his Gospel; but much the same thing is implied by the word which St. Matthew employs to represent Satan's method of taking away the seed. It is not afpEI, equivalent to "taketh it away," used by both the other evangelists who record the parable; but a.p,r&CEI, equivalent to" snatcheth it away" in hot haste, and in the eager- ness of his desire to prevent any possibility, however remote, of its growth. T~is is a. very remarkable feature in the narrative. \Vas•it not enough that, from the contmuous stream of other thoughts passing through the mind, and the myria~ multitude of_ such, the seed had been neglected? Was it not enough that it was let he on the surface of a heart that had contracted a sort of highway hardness? Was it not enough at least that it was trodden underfoot, trampled on, and despised? Stran_ge that all this was not sufficient for Satan',s purpose! But Sa.tan knows too well the lmng ener)!y of tha ~MIBL 0  194 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [oB. 1v. 1-41.