lieve with their hearts unto salvation:" and although perhaps in the wide waste of a trifling, insignificant life, a few worthy actions or a few solitary virtues appear, yet their affections are not set on things above, their hopes are not centered there, their views do not tend there; their treasure is on earth, and there is their heart also. These two characters, the hardened unbeliever, and the mere nominal Christian, constitute the first class described by our Saviour in the parable of the sower. These are they which receive the seed by the way-side, where it lies neglected upon the surface, till "the fowls of the air devour it, or the wicked one catcheth it out of their hearts;" and there is an end at once of all their hopes of salvation, perhaps for ever. Secondly, There is another sort of soil mentioned in the parable, which gives the seed at first a more favourable reception. When it falls on stony ground, it finds no great difficulty in gaining admission into a little loose earth scattered upon a rock; it springs up with amazing rapidity; but no sooner "does the sun rise upon it with its scorching heat, than it withers away for want of depth of earth, root, and moisture." What a lively representation is this of weak and unstable Christians! They receive Christianity at first with gladness; they are extremely ready to be made eternally happy, and suppose that they have nothing else to do but to repeat their creed, and take possession of heaven. But when they find that there are certain conditions to be performed on their parts also; that they must give up their favourite interests and restrain their strongest passions, must sometimes even pluck out a right eye or tear off a right arm; that they must take up their cross and follow a crucified Saviour through many difficulties, distresses, and persecutions; their ardour and alacrity are instantly extinguished. They want strength of mind, soundness of principle, and sincerity of faith to support them. No wonder, then, that they fall away and depart from their allegiance to their divine Master and Redeemer. This is the second sort of hearers described in the parable, "that receive the word at first with joy; but having no root in themselves, when tribulation and persecution arise because of the word, by-and-by they are offended." This refers more immediately to the first disciples and first preachers of the Gospel, who were over, exposed, in the discharge of their high office, to the severest trials, and the cruellest persecutions from their numerous and powerful enemies. Some of them, undoubtedly, who had not sufficient root in themselves, gave way to the storms that assailed them, and made shipwreck of their faith, as our Lord here foretels that they would. But others, we know, stood firm and unmoved, amidst the most tremendous dangers, and underwent, with unparalleled fortitude, the most excruciating torments. The description, which the writer to the Hebrews gives of the saints and prophets of old, may, with the strictest truth, be applied to the apostles and their successors in the first ages of the Gospel, under the various persecutions to which they were exposed. "They had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yea, moreof bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, were destitute, afflicted, tormented*." All these barbarities they endured with unshaken patience and firmness, and thereby bore the strongest possible testimony, not only to their own sincerity, but to the divine and miraculous influence of the religion which they taught. For it is justly and forcibly observed by the excellent Mr Addison, that the astonishing and unexampled fortitude, which was shown by innumerable multitudes of martyrs, in those slow and painful torments that were inflicted on them, is nothing less than a standing miracle during the three first centuries. "I cannot," says he, "conceive a man placed in the burning iron chair of Lyons, amidst the insults and mockeries of a crowded amphitheatre, and still keeping his seat; or stretched upon a grate of iron over an intense fire, and breathing out his soul amidst the exquisite sufferings of such a tedious execution, rather than renounce his religion, or blaspheme his Saviour, without supposing something supernatural. Such trials seem to me above the strength of human nature, and able to overbear duty, reason, faith, conviction, nay, and the most absolute certainty of a future state. We can easily imagine that a few persons in so good a cause might have laid down their lives at the gibbet, the stake, or the block: but that multitudes of each sex, of every age, of different countries and conditions, should, for nearly * Heb. xi, 36, 37. three hundred years together, expire leisurely amidst the most exquisite tortures, rather than apostatize from the truth, has something in it so far beyond the natural strength and force of mortals, that one cannot but conclude there was some miraculous power to support the sufferers; and if so, here is at once a proof, from history and from fact, of the divine origin of our religion*." There is a third portion of the seed, that falls among thorns. This wants neither root nor depth of earth. It grows up; but the misfortune is, that the thorns grow up with it. The fault of the soil is not that of bearing nothing, but of bearing too much; of bearing what it ought not, of exhausting its strength and nutrition on vile and worthless productions, which choke the good seed, and prevent it from coming to perfection.."These are they," says our Saviour, in the parallel place of St. Luke, "which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with the cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." In their youth perhaps they receive religious instruction, they imbibe right principles, and listen to good advice: but no sooner do they go forth, no sooner do they leave those persons and those places from whom they receive them, than they take the road either of business or of pleasure, pursue their interests, their amusements, or their guilty indulgences, with unbounded eagerness, and have neither time nor inclination to cultivate the seeds of religion that have been sown in their hearts, and to eradicate the weeds that have been mingled with them. The consequence is, that the weeds prevail, and the seeds are choked and lost. Can there possibly be a more faithful picture of a large proportion of the Christian world? Let us look around us, and observe how the greater part of those we meet with are employed. In what is it that their thoughts are busied, their views, their hopes, and their fears centered, their attention occupied, their hearts, and souls, and affections engaged? Is it in searching the Scripture, in meditating on its doctrines, its precepts, its exhortations, its promises, and its threats? Is it in communing with their own hearts, in probing them to the very bottom, in looking carefully whether there be any way of wickedness in them, in plucking out every noxious weed, and leaving * Addison's Evidences, s. vii. room for the good seed to grow, and swell, and expand itself, and bring forth fruit to perfection? Is it in cultivating purity of manners, a spirit of charity towards the whole human race, and the most exalted sentiments of piety, gratitude, and love towards their, Maker and Redeemer? These, I fear, are far from being the general and principal occupations of mankind. Too many of them are, God knows, very differently employed. They are overwhelmed with business, they are devoted to amusement, they are immersed in sensuality, they are mad with ambition, they are idolaters of wealth, of power, of glory, of fame. On these things all their affections are fixed. These are the great objects of their pursuit; and if any accidental thought of religion happens to cross their way, they instantly dismiss the unbidden, unwelcome guest, with the answer of Felix to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when we have a convenient season, we will send for thee." But how then, it is said, are we to conduct ourselves? If Providence has blessed us with riches, with honour, with power, with reputation, are we to reject these gifts of our Heavenly Father; or ought we not rather to accept them with thankfulness, and enjoy with gratitude the advantages and the comforts which his bounty has bestowed upon us? Most assuredly we ought. But then they are to be enjoyed, also, with innocence, with temperance, and with moderation. They must not be allowed to usurp the first place in our hearts. They must not be permitted to supplant God in our affection, or to dispute that pre-eminence and priority which he claims over every propensity of our nature. This, and this only, can prevent the good seed from being choked with the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of the present life. We now come, in the last place, to the seed which fell on good ground, which our Lord tells us, in St. Luke, denotes those that in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. We here see, that the first and principal qualification for hearing the word of God, for keeping it, for rendering it capable of bringing forth fruit, is an honest and a good heart;" that is, a heart free from all those evil dispositions and corrupt passions which blind the eyes, distort the understanding, and obstruct the admission of divine truth; a heart perfectly clear from prejudice, from pride, from vanity, from self-sufficiency, and self-conceit; a heart sincerely disposed and earnestly desirous to find out the truth, and firmly resolved to embrace it when found; ready to acknowledge its own ignorance, weakness, and corruption, and "to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save the soul." This is that innocence, and simplicity, and singleness of mind, which we find so frequently recommended and so highly applauded by our blessed Lord, and which is so beautifully and feelingly described when young children were brought to him that he should touch them, and were checked by his disciples. "Suffer the little children to come unto me," says he, "and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God;" and then he adds, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Here, in a few words, and by a most significant and affecting emblem, is expressed that temper and disposition of mind which is the most essential qualification for the kingdom of heaven. Unless we come to the Gospel with that meekness, gentleness, docility, and guileless simplicity, which constitute the character of a child, and render him so lovely and captivating, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; we cannot either assent to the evidence, believe the doctrines, or obey the precepts of the Christian religion. Hence we see the true reason why so many men of distinguished talents have rejected the religion of Christ. It is not because its evidences are defective, or its doctrines repugnant to reason; it is because their dispositions were the very reverse of what the Gospel requires; because (as their writings evidently show) they were high spirited, violent, proud, conceited, vain, disdainful, and sometimes profligate too; because, in short, they wanted that honest and good heart, which not only receives the good seed, but keeps it, and nourishes it with unceasing patience, till it bring forth fruit to perfection. They could not enter into the marriage feast, because they had not on the wedding garment, because they were not "clothed with humilityt." For, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Them that are meek, shall he guide in judgment; and such as are gentle, them shall he learn his way‡." + 2 Pet. v, 5. * Mark x, 14, 15. |