Intellectual Conception not Spiritual Reglization
T. Hammond. Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. There are many whose creed is accurate enough, who subscribe intellectually to all the essentials of the Christian faith, but to whom, after all, they are no more than words — mere words. As a person may sit down before a piano, possessing a capital knowledge of the technicalities of music, and able to touch skilfully, and yet never enter into the spirit of the piece he is playing, so you may sit down before the Word of God, sweep your fingers over its glorious keys, and yet never bring forth one strain of its sweet Divine harmony. Ignorance and familiarity are two things, seemingly very unlike each other, and yet they are often yoked together. It is not uncommon to find a man who has filled up stores of information in his memory. History, science, biography, have been laboriously studied through fen; toilsome years. But his knowledge is not digested; it lies in his mind. like pieces of rock ill water, undissolved. Ask him the date of a battle, and he will tell you. But ask him to expound, unfold in a living manner, any event of history, and be cannot. He is not a learned man — simply a stuffed one. What he carries, with him is nothing better than a collection of fossilized lore. And the gospel may be known in such a way that it does not vitalize and respire)-on. It may lie outside of you, be no more to you than light to a blind man. or sweet sounds to a deaf man, or poetry to an unpoetic man. (T. Hammond.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. WEB: Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing, they don't hear, neither do they understand.