heep or cattle were turned out to graze, they had to be watched by
men or boys called shepherds. I have been thus particular in my
description of this land to enable you the better to understand the
parable itself, and its higher or spiritual meaning. But farming has
ever been but poorly done in that country, and patches of briars and
other filth were suffered to grow. These were sown with the rest of
the field, and instead of being dug out were plowed and harrowed over.
No concern was felt about the seed likely to be wasted. The sower
opened his hand as freely in crossing the highway or the patch of
briery ground as anywhere else. Even those sections of the field which
showed no depth of soil on account of underlying rock were treated
like the rest. What a site for a parable! But what is a parable?

A parable is a statement of some fact literally or possibly true in
the natural world, and used to represent some spiritual truth. It is
the correspondence of the external or natural meaning with some
internal or spiritual meaning that makes any parable to be what it is.
The parable before us in its external or natural sense teaches nothing
beyond what we may learn by the sight of our eyes every year. If it
possessed no hidden meaning, no secret of life, it would be no holier
than a similar statement in an agricultural paper. This is just what
our Lord meant by these words: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The
flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you are spirit,
and are life."

I think you are now prepared to derive some benefit from the internal
sense of the parable before us. It has ever been a great question as
to what man is required _to do_ to be saved. If we were to go by what
is generally preached at what are called _revivals of religion_, we
would only need to say we believe in Jesus Christ, then manifest some
joy in the new experience, get up, perhaps, and tell how we feel, and
we are ready to be counted in the list of new converts in full
possession of eternal life. This experience corresponds with the
explanation given of the rocky places: "This is he that heareth the
word, and straightway with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in
himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth."

But here the query very naturally arises: "Are such to be lost? Is
there no hope for these rocky-ground, thorny-ground and wayside
he