nt out to sow his seed," said Jesus, "and as he sowed, some
fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it.

"And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up it withered
away, because it lacked moisture.

"And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and
choked it.

"And other fell on good ground, and sprang up and bore fruit an hundred
fold."

And then He said, "He that hath ears to hear let him hear," for He knew
that some could understand with the heart that He was talking of the
Word of God, but there were many who could not.

[Illustration: Jesus teaching by the sea]

His disciples asked Him to make the story plain to all, and so He said,

"The seed is the Word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear;
then cometh the devil and taketh away the Word out of their hearts lest
they should believe and be saved.

"They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the Word with
joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of
temptation fall away.

"And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard,
go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this
life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

"But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good
heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with
patience."

He also told them a story called "The Wheat and the Tares," of a man
who sowed good seed in a field, but when it sprung up and bore grain
there were weeds growing among it called tares, for an enemy had sowed
the seed at night and it had grown up with the wheat. The man's
servants wished to pull out the tares, but the master of the field said
both should grow together until the harvest, that the wheat might not
be uprooted with the tares. At the end of the harvest the tares would
be burned and the wheat gathered into the barn. In this way he taught
them why good and evil are allowed to grow together in this world.

He also taught them in the story of "The Mustard Seed," that the growth
of the Lord's Kingdom in the heart is like a mustard seed sowed in a
field--which is the least of seeds--but which becomes a great plant, so
large that birds light on its branches. He told them other stories
also that were to show them that the Kingdom of Heaven was life, and
not a written law, and that it grows in the hearts of people as a seed
grows in a fi