The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 204

thoughts and feelings and affections that are claimed, and justly claimed, by the lessons of God's Word. .Things present take the place of things everlasting; anxieties about our worldly affairs crush out altogether, or leave little room for, spiritual concerns. 'l'he thorns of this parable are represented as encroaching on the good seed, end usurping the place which of right belongs to the useful plant; so these cares of the present world, if allowed, are sure to usurp the place that belongs to the world to come. The thorns took away from the seed-root, and drew to themselves the nourishment of the 1ich soil; so the concernments of a passing and perishing world take away our thoughts from God and heaven and eternity. 'l'he things that are seen and temporal withdraw our attention from things unseen and eternal. The body and its wants take the place of the soul and its necessities. Exertions and energies that should be devoted to higher and spiritual objects are squandered on the trifles of earth and sense. Under such conditions and in such circumstances the seed of the Word sown in the heart necessarily becomes unfruitful The soil may be excellent, the seed may be carefully sown, the Word faithfully ministered, it may, moreover, take root and grow• Lut the thorns deprive it of its proper nourishment, its growth is obstructed, th~ plant becomes weak and sickly; without strength or vigour it can yield no fruit. It may have stem, and leaf, and bud, and blossom, and growth to a certain extent. but it brings no fruit to perfection or maturity (ob 1'•11.•1T4'opoii1T1), In such hearers of the Word there is no fruit of the Spirit, no Christian grace, no works of faith, or deeds of charity, or labour of love in any direction;" it becometh unfruitful." 6. Another class of these mental thorns. With the cares of this world our Lord classes riches, as another division of the thorns of this parable. There is nothing sinful in riches when honestly acquired or justly inherited, and when at the same time they are rightly used. We read of the father of the faithful himself that he was "rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." Two circumstances make the possession of riches to be perilous. The circumstances referred to are the love of riches and the abuse of riches. "'l'he love of money,'' we read, "is the root of all evil : which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows;" or, according to the Revised Version," The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with ma.ny sorrows;" and hence it is that they occupy the thoughts and engross the affections to the exclusion of the lessons of inspired truth- the precepts of the Law and the promises of the gospel They pierce and pain, moreover, like the pricking of thorns. What sorrow as well as solicitude they occasion I Men set their minds to work, and perplex themselves with plans to obtain them, and minds thus preoccupied have no room left for better objects and holier pur- suits; men torture themselves most unwarrantably in order to increase them and augment their store ; men are distressed with restless B'chemes in order to retain secure possession of them ; men. again. are so in love with them that they cannot bear to part with them, or share them with others for the noblest purposes-religious, educational, or charitable, nor even for the means of profiting their own souls. When the love of riches thus dominates the heart, and when such plans and projects regulate its thoughts and rule its affections, no wonder that such bushy and prickly thorns choke out (cirE'rJ1lE=), or crushing together suffocate (1T11µrJ1!-youu1) and stifle the seeds or plants in their growth. 7. "The deuitfvlnes, of riches." Both St. Matthew and St. Mark mention this characteristic of riches. How often does it occur that men rise up early, sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness with the hope of becoming rich; but the wealth they are in quest of, like some phantom form, eludes their grasp. Wealth, just as the meteor of the marsh, leads them till it leaves them in the quagmire, deluded, deceived, disappointed. They die neither rich in worldly goods, nor rich toward God. Again, men struggle long and hard for many years, and at length succeed in amassing wealth ( rAoii'l'os, from the root d.E entering into the verb" to fill," the noun" multitude," and the word "wealth," in Greek), and in scraping together much of this world's goods; but scarce has their object been attained, their hopes realized, when, lo I through some untoward event, such as a conflagration, the breaking of a bank, or a robbery, their riches "make to themselves wings and fly away;" and thus they are deceived by a fluctuating, vanish- ing possession, for the attainment of which they have strained every power of mind and body, to the entire neglect of the soul and spiritual thini::s. Once more, we can well OH, 1v, 1-41.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 201