choke the Word, and it brings no fruit
to perfection.

Last, but not least, comes the good-ground hearer. I have reason to
believe that most of you know him from your own experience; therefore
I will not describe him here. But before I conclude I desire to direct
your attention to a few points more in the line of my thought.

Who is to blame or to incur the responsibility for the failures of
fruit in the three classes of hearers given in the parable? Some say
the devil is to blame, because he throws every obstacle and impediment
that lies in his power in the way of the growth of the seed. Others
say the Lord is to blame for not having made the ground better by
nature. Others again say--and these say what is true--that the hearers
are to blame. The Word came with just as much power to these
unfruitful classes as it did to the good-ground hearer. "But it was
not mixed with faith in them that heard." Whose fault was it that they
did not believe? Manifestly their own.

I fully believe that man's will is free. And I do also believe in my
very soul that it would be the pleasure of the Lord _to save_ every
human being born into existence. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn
from his way and live. Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why
will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33:11 and 18:31.

But man's will cannot be forced. The Lord cannot compel any one to
love him, any more than one of us can force a man to be our friend who
inwardly hates us. The Lord is every day seeking to turn the hearts of
men to himself through the life-giving, holy, healing power of the
Word of gospel grace. He does this through the faithful ministers who
preach it. In this way he causes the sun of truth and love to rise and
shine upon even the very worst of sinners, and sends the rain of his
grace to fall upon them. Without the sun and the rain the seed would
forever lie dead in the ground; but what is very wonderful in the
gospel seed is the fact that it carries along with itself, as it falls
upon the ground, all the light, and heat, and moisture it needs. Our
blessed Lord says: "My words are spirit, and they are life."

In illustration of this let us notice the power of his words in
several instances recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. Let me
refer to Jairus's daughter. _She was dead._ Every one could know this
that saw her. Jesus said to this dead girl: "Maide