Or else, the way is a mind which is a path for bad thoughts, preventing the seed of the word from growing in it. And therefore whatsoever good seed comes in contact with such a way, perishes, and is carried off by devils.
Wherefore there follows, “And the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.”
And well are the devils called fowls of the air, either because they are of a heavenly and spiritual origin, or because they dwell in the air.
Or else, those who are about the way are negligent and slothful men.
It goes on: “And some fell on stony ground.”
He calls stone, the hardness of a wanton mind; He calls ground, the inconstancy of a soul in its obedience; and sun, the heat of a raging persecution.
Therefore the depth of earth, which ought to have received the seed of God, is the honesty of a mind trained in heavenly discipline, and regularly brought up in obedience to the Divine words. But the stony places, which have no strength for fixing the root firmly, are those breasts which are delighted only with the sweetness of the word which they hear, and for a time with the heavenly promises, but in a season of temptation fall away, for there is too little of healthful desire in them to conceive the seed of life.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).