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SERMON CXXIV.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

SERM.
CXXIV.

MATT. xiii. 18.

Hear ye therefore the Parable of the Sower.

AMONG the great blessings which this kingdom enjoys above most others, there is none greater than that the pure Word of God is so constantly read and preached in it, and that by officers authorised and appointed by Christ Himself, and therefore assisted by His Holy Spirit in the doing of it. By which means, one would think, that the whole nation in general, and all particular persons in it, should be wise, and holy, and just, and good, every way such as God would have them, seeing they have His will so fully revealed to them, by His Word sounding continually in their ears, and set before their eyes too, in as clear a light as ever shone upon earth, since the "Sun of Righteousness" Himself was here. And yet, to our great astonishment and admiration, as well as to our grief and sorrow, we may observe, that a great part of this nation, if not the far greatest, are as ignorant of God, as negligent of their duty to Him, as envious and malicious against one another, as proud, as factious, as intemperate, as lascivious, as unjust, as uncharitable, every way as vicious in their lives and actions, as if they had never heard one tittle of God's Word in all their lives.

This I have often thought of: and have as often wondered what should be the reason of it. Many have offered themselves as concurring towards it: but I could never be fully satisfied about it, but from this parable of the sower; wherein

Christ Himself hath given us the best and clearest account of it that ever was or can be given: for indeed none else could ever truly do it, but He Who knows men's hearts, and sees how His Word is received therein, what impediments it meets with at its entrance, what entertainment it hath when gotten in, and how it comes to pass that it is sometimes kept, and sometimes cast out again. Men can only guess at these things, but Christ knows them perfectly; and therefore hath been pleased to give us a perfect account of the whole matter in this parable, beginning ver. 3.

3. "

Behold, saith He, a sower went forth to sow; 4." And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them

up:

5. "Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

6." And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7." And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up and choked them.

8." But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirtyfold."

This is the parable itself, which when our Lord had uttered, and had resolved the disciples' question, why He spoke to the people in parables, He explains to them the full meaning of it; and that they might take the more notice of it, He begins with these words, "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower:" as if He had said, "Ye that are My Disciples and Apostles, and so must both learn My mind yourselves, and teach it to others, do ye hearken diligently to this parable, for it will be of great use to you in both respects."

And so verily it is, both to the ministers that preach, and to the people that hear the Word of God. It is of great use to us, because it shews us the reason why our ministry is not always so successful as we could wish it was. For ye may easily imagine that it is a great trouble and discouragement to us, to preach the Word of God time after time, for many years togther, and yet see little or no effect of it upon

CXXIV.

SERM. those who hear us: but after we have done and said all we can, most part of them are not one jot the wiser or the better for what we have said or done. Though we tell you what Almighty God would have you to believe, yet you will not believe it; though we tell you what He would have you do, yet ye will not do it. I am sorry I can speak this upon mine own experience. I could instance in several particulars, wherein I have often told you, as plainly as I could, what duties you ought to perform to God, but I see, as plainly, that ye do not perform them. And this is the case of most ministers I wish I could not say of all. All that we say, is like water spilt upon the ground: or, as the Apostle ex[1 Cor. 9. presseth it, it is but "beating the air;" men give us the 6.] hearing, and that is all. Which we cannot but all be troubled at: for it makes us sometimes suspect that the fault is in ourselves, that we do not do our duty as we ought; that we do not preach often enough, or not plain enough, or not pressing enough, or some way or other fail in the discharge of the office which God hath committed to us, notwithstanding that we take all the care that we can in it. The thoughts of which would be enough to dishearten us from going on, lest we should enhance our own reckoning at the last day, but that our great Master Himself hath shewn us, in this parable, that the fault is chiefly in the people: that although we do our duty never so well, yet we must not always expect that success which we desire of it; for there is still something or other in the people that hinders it. Though the seed we sow be never so good, and though we sow it with all the care and prudence that we can, yet, after all, the most part of it will be lost, because the ground we sow it in is bad; so bad, that it is much, and we have great cause to bless God, if any of it comes to perfection.

And as we who preach, so ye that hear the Word of God, may be much edified by this parable. I say, may, not will be: for I fear that my preaching upon it will have no more effect than what is intimated in the parable itself, such as other sermons use to have, that is, very little, if any at all. But if ye be not wanting to yourselves in hearkening to it, I am sure ye may receive great instruction and edification from it for ye cannot but be sensible of your great unpro

fitableness under the means of Grace, having heard many hundreds, perhaps several thousands of sermons in your life, and yet are no way the better for it, if not much worse; and ye cannot but wonder what should be the reason of it. But here ye have the reason of it plainly set down before your eyes; you may see where the fault lies, and, by consequence, if ye have any regard for your souls, mend it for the future. Which that ye may, I would desire you to apply what is said all along, every one to himself, and consider which part of the parable toucheth him, or cometh the nearest to his case for there is not one person in the congregation, but what is particularly concerned in something or other that is said in it, as ye will all find, by the time that we have gone quite through it.

But before we descend to the parts of it, there are several things worthy to be observed in the whole. For here we may first observe in general, that the seed that was sown was all of the same sort, and of the same goodness: there was not one sort of seed sown in bad ground, and another in good, but the same in both; and therefore the reason why It grew better in one place than another, could not be from the seed itself. And so the reason why the Word preached profits some more than others, cannot be from the Word itself, for that is the same in all.

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Secondly. We may observe, that as the seed was the same, so was the Sower. "Behold," saith Christ, a sower went forth to sow." One sower: the seed was all sown by the same hand; with the same art and care: and therefore the fault could not be in the sower, no more than in the seed, why any of it perished. So here, although the same preacher preacheth the same Word of God, yet it hath not the same effect upon all; but some are profited by it, others not: which therefore cannot be imputed to the preacher.

Thirdly. We may likewise observe, that as the same sower sowed the same seed, so he did it at the same time; for he went forth but once: he did not sow some seed at one time of the year, and some at another; then the season or the weather might have made great alteration; but he sowed it altogether and therefore neither can the seasonableness nor unseasonableness of the time be pleaded, why some

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CXXIV.

SERM. should grow better than other. And so it is in preaching, although the same person preacheth the same Word of God at the same time, yet it shall not have the same effect upon all; but some are edified by it, others not: and it cannot be said that it was in season to those, and out of season to these; for the season was one and the same to both.

In the next place, we may observe, that although the seed, the sower, and the time, were all one and the same, yet the event was different four several ways: some was picked up by the birds, some withered away, some was choked with thorns, and some brought forth fruit. And there are as many differences in hearing God's Word: some do not mind it; some mind it, but do not retain it; some retain, but do not practise it; and some mind, retain, and practise it

too.

Lastly. We may observe, that of these four events of the seed sown, three were bad, and but only one good: for three parts were lost, to one that came to perfection: and it would be well if the difference was no greater in the Word preached, if but one in three could be wrought upon effectually by it. But we have just cause to fear, that this is the least; especially in our age, wherein it is rare to find one in ten, or perhaps in twenty that set themselves in good earnest to avoid what they hear to be forbidden, and to do what they hear to be commanded by God. But whatsoever the event be, the Word must be preached, the seed must be sown; and therefore I shall scatter it among you, and do ye take care to improve it, every one to his own advantage, that ye may not be in the number of any of the three first, but of the last sort of hearers mentioned in this parable, such as profit by what they hear, so as to bring forth fruit meet for repentance.

For which purpose, we shall now consider the several parts of the parable; and that ye may understand them all the better, I shall set them down as they lie in order, each part distinctly by itself, and then explain the meaning which Christ Himself hath given us of it, and commanded us to take special notice of it, saying, "Hear ye therefore the parable of the Sower."

First, therefore," Behold," saith our Lord, "a sower went

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