Mark 4:1

The foregoing chapter acquainted us with the blasphemous slander which the scribes and Pharisees cast upon our blessed Saviour, accusing him of casting out devils by the help of the devil. This they did, no doubt, to discredit his person, and hinder his ministry; yet for all this the people follow him in great multitudes, more than ever, to hear him and be instructed by him.

Thence learn, 1. That all the power and malice of Satan and wicked men shall not be able to suppress the gospel, or hinder the free course of it; yea, the more it is opposed, the more it shall prevail: the more the scribes and Pharisees disgraced our Saviour, and vilified his doctrine, the more the people followed him in troops, to be partakers of his ministry.

Observe, 2. The place where our Lord now preached; in. ship. Not that he declined the temple, or the synagogue, when he had the opportunity; but in the want of them Christ thought an house,. mountain,. ship, no unmeet place to preach in. It is not the place that sanctifies the ordinance, but the ordinance that sanctifies the place.

Observe, 3. Our Saviour's gestures in preaching; he sat, it being the custom of the Jewish church so to do, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' chair, Matthew 23:2

Learn thence, That in indifferent rites and orders, touching the outward worship of God, we are to conform ourselves to the laudable custom and practice of the church in which we live, and whereof we are members. This did our Saviour, and so ought we.

Observe, 4. The manner of our Lord's preaching, it was by parables and similitudes, which was an ancient way of instructing among the Jews, and. very convincing way; working upon men's minds, memories, and affections, all at once, making the mind attentive, the memory retentive, and the auditors inquisitive after the interpretation of the parable. Some are of opinion our Saviour's parables were suited to his hearers' employments: and accordingly many of his hearers being husbandmen, he resembles his doctrine to seed sown in the field. For thus he speaks: See Mark 4:3