On Seeds Scattered in Rocky Soil

 

There is a great difference between a mystery of God

 that no man understands,

 and a mystery of God laid hold of,

 let it be but by one single man. 

The latter is already a revelation; and,

 passing through that man's mind,

 will be so presented,

 it may be so _feebly_ presented,

 that it will not hurt his fellows.

 Let God conceal as he will:

 (although I believe he is ever destroying concealment,

 ever giving all that he can,

 all that men can receive at his hands,

 that he does not want to conceal anything,

 but to reveal everything,)

the light which any man has received 

is not to be put under a bushel;

it is for him and his fellows.

 In sowing the seed he will not withhold his hand

 because there are thorns and stony places and waysides.

 He will think that in some cases

 even a bird of the air may carry the matter,

 that the good seed may be too much for the thorns,

 that that which withers away upon the stony place

 may yet leave there,

 by its own decay,

 a deeper soil for the next seed to root itself in.

 Besides,

 they only can receive the doctrine who have ears to hear.

 If the selfish man could believe it,

 he would misinterpret it;

 but he cannot believe it.

 It is not possible that he should

. But the loving soul,

 oppressed by wrong teaching,

 or partial truth claiming to be the whole,

 will hear,

 understand, rejoice.

 (George Macdonald, Unspoken Sermons)