conception of the master, is the utter idleness of the servant. Tell a
criminal in chains that by his own hands he must remove yonder mountain
into the sea in the space of one year, on pain of death when the year
is done, and the certain result will be that the wretched man will
permit the appointed time to expire without removing a single atom of
its mass; but on the other hand, let it be gently intimated to some
emancipated slaves that their service in removing earth from that
mountain to the sea will please their deliverer, and forthwith they will
carry with all their might, their burden meanwhile being their delight,
because they have thereby an opportunity of serving the Lord that bought
them. Thus the idleness of one servant is explained, and the activity of
others.
2. As to its nature, the disobedience was not active but passive; he did
not positively injure his master's property; he simply failed to turn it
to profitable account. The terror of this servant was too lively to
admit of his enjoying a debauch purchased by the treasure which had been
placed under his charge. Fear is a powerful motive in certain directions
and for certain effects; it makes itself felt in the heart, and leaves
its mark on the life of a man. Like frost it has power to arrest the
stream of energy, and fix it cold, stiff, motionless; only love can,
like the sun of summer, break the chains and set the prisoner free to
run his race rejoicing.
The passive character of the servant's fault greatly extends the sphere
of the lesson, and increases the weight of its rebuke. If only positive
activity in evil had been condemned, a multitude of the unfaithful would
have escaped, or at least would have thought themselves exempted from
the indictment. The bearers of poisonous fruit constitute a
comparatively small class in the vegetable creation; the plants that
bear no good fruit are much more numerous. Unfruitfulness includes both
those that bear bad fruit and those that bear no fruit. The idleness of
the servant who knew his master only as a hard man, reproves all except
those who obey the Lord whom they love, and love the Lord whom they
obey.
3. The reward of unfaithfulness is, "Take the talent from him and cast
him out." In both parts the sentence of condemnation corresponds to
its opposite in the reception of those who had been faithful to their
trust. These retain their employed gifts; from him the unused talent is
taken away. These are received into their master's favour; he is cast
out of his master's sight.
It is worthy of remark that the execution of the sentence begins in
time, and in its first stages lies within the reach of our observation.
The portion of the sentence, moreover, which is inflicted in our sight,
comes through the regular operation of law. The disuse of any personal
faculty, surely, though gradually, takes the faculty away. Those who
explain away the positive doctrines and facts of the Gospel, delight in
representing that God does everything by the instrumentality of law. It
is superstition, they say, to suppose that he will put forth his hand to
arrest the mighty machinery of nature, with a view either to punish your
guilt or reward your obedience. Here at least we can meet them on their
own ground, and accept their rule. Let any member of the body, or any
faculty of the mind lie dormant for a time, and by the very fact, its
power is diminished or destroyed. It is a law of life that a talent
becomes feeble in proportion as it has been left in idleness. It is not
only true in point of fact that when we do not diligently lay out our
gifts, the Giver recalls them; it is further true, that he recalls them
in our sight by the silent operation of an inexorable law.
To waste life in the hope of getting all made right by an energetic
repentance at the close, is a very foolish and mischievous species of
superstition; it is the exercise of a very strong faith, without any
promise from God on which it may lean. You seem to expect that God will
arrest the operation of his own laws in order to afford you every
facility for living in sin. In the Scriptures we read of an interference
with the natural laws--the sun standing still--in order that the enemies
of the Lord and his people might be destroyed; but you expect a greater
miracle;--you expect the Omnipotent to arrest the operation of his own
laws, in order that his enemies may prosper now and escape at last. You
expect that Jesus will work a miracle not to cast out the unclean
spirit, but to maintain him in possession of a human heart. The disuse
of the talent takes the talent away; this is the law of the kingdom; and
it will not be changed in order to encourage the sinner in his sin.
"For unto every one that hath shall be given," &c. Obviously from the
whole circumstances of the case, "to have" in this connection, means to
possess and use aright. He who received only one talent was
distinguished from him who received five, not by not having, but by not
using. The law announced here is that they who employ well what they
have, shall retain it all and receive more in addition; whereas they who
do not rightly employ what they have, will be deprived of that which
they possess but do not use.
Fearing lest I should darken counsel by words without knowledge, I leave
the positive penal infliction, which takes effect beyond the precincts
of this life, without one word of comment, in the short and solemn words
of the Scripture, "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The sentence "Take it from him," goes before the sentence, "Cast him
out." A sinner is given over to himself, before he is given up to
judgment. The first prepares the way for the second death; the process
is now going on by which the destiny is decided. Now is the accepted
time; now either salvation or condemnation is wrought out.
See the process and the path of death; the steps are few and well
marked. I knew thee hard, and I hid thy talent; take it from him, and
cast him out. The corresponding steps on the other side are, I tasted
thy tender mercy, and lovingly laid thy talent out; give the faithful
servant more, and lead him into the joy of his Lord.
The stumbling-block at the outset that turned the unfaithful servant
aside was his conception of the Lord as a hard master: it is the
experience of the master's love that impels the servant forward in the
path of duty. When we know God in Christ, we know him reconciled to
ourselves. Christ, therefore, is the way; by him we go _in_ to the
Father for acceptance, and by him we go _out_ for needful work upon the
world. Without me ye can get nothing from God; "Without me ye can do
nothing" for God.
XV.
THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY.
"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed
into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the
seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear,
after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is
come."--MARK iv. 26-29.
This is the only parable that is peculiar to Mark. The subjects
contained in the fourth chapter of Mark are obviously the same, in the
main, as those which occupy the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. The
parable of the sower occurs in both at the beginning; and at several
other parts they coincide. The parable of the seed growing secretly
holds in Mark the place that the parable of the leaven holds in Matthew.
We might, therefore, expect a close analogy between these two parables:
and accordingly we find in point of fact that they exhibit the same
characteristics of the kingdom, and convey the same lessons to its
subjects.
When a man has cast the seed into prepared ground at the proper season,
he thenceforth leaves it to itself. He sleeps by night, and attends to
other affairs by day, often looking to it indeed, and oftener thinking
of it, but never touching it till harvest. By its own vitality it grows
secretly, gradually until it arrives at maturity. Man interferes only at
the beginning and at the end; in spring he sows, and in autumn he reaps,
but throughout the interval between these extremes he lets it alone.
The point on which the parable concentrates our regard is, that the
growth of the plant, from the time of sowing to the time of reaping,
proceeds according to its own laws, and in virtue of its own inherent
power, neither visible to the owner's eye nor dependent on his hand.
In the interpretation of the parable certain great leading points must
first be determined, and then all the rest will be safe and easy.
There are two such points, one at the beginning and one at the end,
which are in themselves uncertain; and one in the middle which, being
itself determined by circumstances, serves to determine the other two.
The question at the beginning is, Who is the sower? And the question at
the end, What is the reaping? The point in the centre already fixed, on
which the two extremities depend, is the growth of the seed without the
aid, and even beyond the cognisance, of the sower.
Look first to the question which meets an inquirer at the outset, Who is
the sower? Obviously it has two sides and two only; the sower represents
either the Lord himself, or the human ministry that he employs from age
to age. Both representations are in themselves true and scriptural; it
is by means of other features less ambiguous that we shall be able to
determine whether of the two is adopted in this parable. Try first the
supposition that the sower is the Lord himself; of him, in that case, it
is immediately said that he sleeps, and rises night and day, and that
the seed meanwhile springs up, he knows not how. This representation is
palpably incongruous with the attributes and character of the Lord. The
things that are hidden from us, both in the natural and spiritual
growth, are open in his sight. Expressly it is said of Jesus, "he knew
what was in man;" and we learn, from many circumstances in the evangelic
history, that he knew the thoughts alike of plotting enemies and of
fainting friends. The suggestion made by some that this part of the
parable may be understood to represent the Lord's ascension into heaven,
after having sown the word in his own ministry, does not satisfy the
demands of the case. We cannot, without doing extreme violence to the
analogy, find a sense in which the divine Redeemer does not help and
does not know the growth of his own grace in believing hearts. The
germination and increase of vegetation without the intervention of the
sower and beyond his ken, represent a helplessness and an ignorance so
definite and complete, that we cannot, on any rule of sober
interpretation, apply it to the omniscient and omnipotent Redeemer.
The impossibility of accepting the first suggestion throws us
necessarily back on the only other supposition that remains;--the sower
in the parable must represent the earthen vessel to which the ministry
of the Gospel has been entrusted,--the human agent employed in the work
of the Lord. This will, of course, accord perfectly with the
representation in the heart of the parable that he who sows the seed
neither helps the growth nor understands its secrets; but does it accord
also with the representation, in the end of the parable, that he who in
spring sowed the seed, thrusts in his sickle and reaps the ripened
harvest? Some, assuming that the reaping means the closing of all
accounts in the great day,[55] conclude that to represent the sowing as
the ministry of men is incongruous with the reaping, which must, as
they suppose, be the work of the Lord at his second coming. In this way
they become involved between two impossibilities. If the Lord himself is
represented as the sower the representation is inconsistent with the
middle of the parable, in which it is declared that he neither aids nor
understands the growth of the grain; if, on the other hand, men are
represented as the sowers, the representation is inconsistent with the
end of the parable, in which it is declared that they thrust in the
sickle at the close of the dispensation and reap the harvest of the
world.
[55] Dr. Trench takes for granted, without a word of proof, or any
evidence that he has even considered the question, that the reaping
is the consummation of all things, the exclusive prerogative of the
Lord.
Now in order to escape from this double difficulty it is not necessary
to put to the rack either the words or the thoughts of the parable. The
path out of the difficulty is broad and straight; it is the path into it
that is crooked and narrow.
The question which demands solution here, and which, when solved, will
solve all the rest, is, What is meant by thrusting in the sickle and
reaping the ripened grain when the harvest has come? Apart from this
parable two distinct significations may be attributed to the analogy,
both alike true in fact, and both alike adopted in the Scriptures. In
some cases the harvest and the reaping point to the end of the world and
the awards of the judgment; expressly in the Lord's own interpretation
of the parable of the tares, it is said, "The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels" (Matt. xiii. 39). But in other
cases the reaping of the ripened grain is employed to represent that
success in the winning of souls which human ministers of the word may
obtain and enjoy. Such is its meaning in Ps. cxxvi. 6, "He that goeth
forth and reapeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." In the same sense it is
employed by the Lord (John iv. 35, 36), "Say not ye, There are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? behold I say unto you, Lift up your
eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already unto harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice
together." The same idea is expressed in terms, if possible, still more
articulate, in Matt. ix. 37, 38. "The harvest truly is plenteous, but
the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that
he will send forth labourers unto his harvest."[56]
[56] Bengel's suggestion is ingenious and interesting, but
contributes nothing towards the solution. "Sermo concisus. Mittet
falce preditos, nam [Greek: apostellesthai] est viventis cujuspiam."
He would understand the phrase "he putteth in the sickle" as a curt
form of expression, intended to intimate that he sends out reapers
with sickles to reap the grain; fortifying his opinion by the remark
that the term "putteth in," ([Greek: apostellei], "sends out,")
refers to a living person, and not an inanimate instrument.
Countenance for this view might be found in Matt. ix. 37 where
[Greek: ekbalein] equivalent to [Greek: apostellesthai] is employed
to indicate the sending forth of reapers. On the other hand,
however, the passage, Rev. xiv. 15, 16, goes decidedly against it;
for there both [Greek: pemmtein] and [Greek: ballein], "thrust in"
(the sickle) are certainly applied to the instrument itself, and not
to the men who wield it.
But while the symbol taken from the reaping of ripened grain represents
alternately in Scripture, these two distinct though analogous
conceptions, it is the latter and not the former which this parable
adopts and employs. The reapers are the human ministers of the word, and
the reaping is their successful ingathering in conversion here, not the
admission of the redeemed into glory at the end of the world.
No other conclusion is compatible, either with the scope of the lesson
or the facts of the case. The sower in this story neither helps the seed
to grow nor understands how the growth proceeds. The parable is spoken
in order to show that, while men are employed at first to preach the
word and at last to gather the fruits in the conversion of their
brethren, they can neither perform the converting work nor trace the
footsteps of the quickening Spirit in the secrets of a human heart. By
this similitude the Lord represents the extent and the limits of human
agency in the progress of his kingdom.
Having made our way through the difficulties of the parable, and found
the key-note of its interpretation, we turn again to its terms for the
sake of observing and applying the practical lessons which it contains.
The sower sows the seed; the seed is the word; the hearts of those who
hear it are the field. Parents make known the Gospel in their families,
ministers in the congregations, teachers in the schools. These sowers
lose sight of the seed from the moment that it drops into the ground. It
sinks and disappears; they must go away and leave it. They sleep by
night,[57] and attend to other matters by day; they cannot see how it
fares with the Gospel in a neighbour's soul. They cannot put their hand
to the work at this stage to help it: the seed must be left to itself in
the soil.
[57] Here, as in the case of the tares, the sleep of the husbandman
implies no culpable negligence either in the natural or spiritual
sphere. "Sind wir am Tage recht wach; dann, mögen wir Nachts ruhig
schlafen."--_Dräseke, vom Reich G._
At this point the likeness between the natural and the spiritual is
exact and obvious. When you have made the Gospel of Christ known to some
in whom you are interested, you are precisely in the position of the
agriculturist who has committed his seed to the ground. If you think of
the matter when you lie down, or when you awake, you discover, perhaps
with pain, that you do not know whether the seed is swelling and
springing or not: and that though you knew its condition you could not
reach it, to stimulate the process. It is out of your hands, and out of
your sight. It is not, however, out of mind, when it is out of sight;
and your own helplessness may draw forth a more eager prayer to the
Almighty Helper. In this way it is when we are weak that we become
strong; it is when we are made most keenly sensible of our own weakness
that we cast our care most fully on the Lord. The law that shuts the
sown seed out from us, shuts it in with God. One door closes; but the
closing that hides the seed in its seed-bed from our eyes and separates
it from our hands, leaves it open to His sight, and pliant to his power.
The moment that the seed is sown, he takes it out of our sight, but then
and thereby he brings it into his own. It is away from us, and with
God.[58]
[58] Like the seed, is the Word himself. He became flesh and dwelt
among us; but he has ascended out of our sight. At the beginning he
came into the world; and at the close he will return;--a spring and
a harvest, but all the space between, he is out of sight.
The parable shows, with great perspicuity and certainty, both the extent
and the limits of this withdrawal from human cognizance and help. In the
main concern the exclusion is complete; but in some subordinate and
incidental matters, it is only partial. As to the power of germination,
and the knowledge of it, the sower is entirely shut out from the seed,
both in the natural and spiritual departments. But as he may continue
his care in nature, with much profit to the seed; so he may, in a
subordinate capacity and in an indirect manner, do much to promote the
growth of grace in the heart, after the Word has been addressed to the
understanding. The exclusion of a minister, a teacher, a parent, from
knowing and helping the growth of grace after the Gospel has been
published, is like the exclusion of the farmer from his seed after it
has been committed to the ground. He can help it, and does help it much
by his care. He keeps the fences up, that the field may not be trampled
by stray cattle: he keeps the drains open and the furrows clear, that
water may not stand on the field, but run off as soon as it falls: he
gathers off the stones, that they may not crush the seed, and pulls out
the weeds that they may not choke it.
In a similar way and with similar profit, ministers and teachers of the
word may remove obstructions which would prevent its growth. Not only
have we permission to do this: we are bound positively to do it. The
parable excludes us indeed from further knowledge or power, after the
word is made known, but it excludes as the farmer is excluded from his
sown seed. We know the nature and extent of that exclusion. While the
lesson relieves us from the responsibility of that which is beyond our
power, it lays upon us the responsibility of that which is within our
power.
You may have seen a sown field in spring immediately after a great
rain-fall; and you may have observed that a large portion of it, on its
lower side, was smooth, and run together and caked, bearing all the
marks of having been for some days under water. On the higher portions
the wheat was springing, but on this portion, sown at the same time, the
ground was bare. You examine the matter more minutely and discover that
the drains that had been made for carrying off the surplus moisture, had
been choked in the operations of the seed-time, and not cleared out
again; and that consequently when rain fell heavily, it accumulated on
the lower ground; and having soaked and soured it for several days, had
killed the germinating seed beneath the ground. You go to the farmer and
ask why he had allowed a large portion of his crop to be lost. Suppose
he should say, My work was done, as soon as the seed fell from my hand
into the soil; I can neither make it grow, nor understand how it grows;
it was not in my province that the failure took place, and therefore the
failure could not be my fault. No such specimen of hypocrisy is found in
the kingdom of nature: no man could hold up his face before his fellow
and cover his indolence by such an impudent plea.
We must see to it, that we be not guilty of the same inconsistency in
matters of greater moment. A parent or minister or teacher has committed
the good seed of the word to the hearts of his young people, with all
due solemnity and care; and thereafter permits them to be steeped in a
flood of folly, which he could easily have drained away. The good seed
is drowned in that deluge; but it is the sower's fault. It is true he
cannot make it grow by his care; but he can make it not grow by his
carelessness. We cannot do the saving; but we can do the destroying.
Many pains and many prayers are competent to the sower, although he
cannot directly control the growth of the seed. When it grows, it grows
independently of him; but when it fails, the failure may in part be due
to his unfaithfulness.
Further, when it is said that the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself,
the influences of heaven are not excluded, any more than the collateral
care of the husbandman. We know how and in what sense the earth brings
forth spontaneously, after it has received the seed into its bosom: if
the sun were kept from shining, or the rain from falling on it, the
earth would produce nothing. It is thus also with grace in the heart:
the Spirit ministering the things of Christ is as necessary in the
kingdom of grace, as rain and sunshine are in the kingdom of nature.
Surrounding circumstances, moreover, tend powerfully to help
or to hinder the growth of the new life. The seed grows indeed by its
own vitality: the most favourable circumstances that are possible on
earth could not produce a harvest of grace without the seed of the Word;
but these circumstances go far instrumentally to help or to hinder the
growth and ripening of the seed. The family of which you are a member,
either as child or servant,--the Church with which you worship,--the
companions with whom you associate,--the tone of the society in which
your social life moves on,--the business that occupies your day,--and
the amusements that refresh you when you are wearied;--these and many
others affect for good or evil the growth of grace in Christians, as wet
or dry, cold or warm seasons, affect the growth of the seed after it has
been committed to the ground. Watch and pray; one of these small points
may be the turning-point of your destiny.
The seed grows gradually from stage to stage. Three stages are
specified; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.
This does not determine the time occupied in the spiritual process. In
this respect there is not uniformity: the spiritual growth from spring
to maturity sometimes requires more than one natural season, and
sometimes is accomplished in less.