the devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered, and burned in the fire; fo fhall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man fhall fend forth his angels; and they fhall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity: and shall caft them into a furnace of fire: there fhall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous fhine forth as the fun in the kingdom of their Father.

In the parable, connected with this fure explanation, we meet with various leffons, which it highly behoves us to lay to heart.

I. The Son of God defcended from heaven and took upon himself the nature of man, that he might fow, by himself and his Apostles, the good feed of the Gospel throughout the world. But fcarcely had the crop fprung up, when it was found to be mixed with fuch a profusion of tares, of useless and noxious weeds, as threatened to overwhelm it. The prevalence of evil in the Church of Chrift has proved a ftumbling-block to many. They see multitudes of Chriftians, even whole nations, fwallowed

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swallowed up in the groffeft corruptions of doctrine; rendering worship to angels, to departed men, to images of wood and ftone, to pictures, to reliques; and fatisfied that the pardon of fin may be bestowed upon them by men like themselves, or may be purchased by fenseless ceremonies and fuperftitious obfervances. Even in thofe countries where Christianity is preached in its original purity, they behold various herefies and errors; much feeret unbelief; a very general lukewarmness as to religion; and a numerous host, even thousands and tens of thousands, among profeffed Christians resembling heathens in pride, worldly-mindedness, and fenfuality. When they see these things, they are ready to exclaim ; "If the Son of God has cul"tivated and planted this field: "thus overspread with tares ?” aftonishment advances to infidelity. distinguishing between Christianity and the corruptions blended with it, they turn with difguft from both and conclude that a religion which produces fuch fruit must be falfe. Now fo far is the predominance of evil in the Christian church from rendering the truth of Christianity doubtful, that it bears teftimony to its confirmation: for it

how is it In fome,

Not

is the accomplishment of the prophetic declarations of our Lord in this parable and in other parts of Scripture, that his Church fhould thus become infected and overspread with wickednefs.

been introduced?

But how has this evil

Did Chrift himself in

troduce it? No. He fowed good feed only. Did he approve the introduction of tares among his wheat? No. When he beheld them, he faid; An enemy hath done this. As it was his purpose that the members of his Church fhould be put to the proof, and receive the gift of falvation through his blood after a courfe of willing obedience; he did not bar the entrance against temptation, he did not preclude the existence and ravages of evil. But the author of evil in his Church he stigmatised as an enemy. And who was this enemy? Our Lord has difclofed him. The enemy that fowed the tares is the devil. The au

thor of the evil by which the world, antecedently to the promulgation of the Gospel, was overwhelmed had not remained unknown. Since the hour when judgement was pronounced in Paradise on the original tranfgreffors, he had been declared. Since the hour when the third chapter of the book of Genefis was penned, he had stood recorded.

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recorded. From the fame fountain all the waters of bitterness have flowed.

He who

has scattered evil throughout the Christian world is that adversary of God and man, who, in the beginning, brought evil upon earth. From the beginning he was a father of lies and a murderer. By inducing Adam and Eve firft to doubt the revealed will of God, and then to disobey his pofitive commandment; Satan became their mafter. Their pofterity he viewed as his flaves; the world as his empire. When the avenger of man, the divine Redeemer, came to set the flaves of Satan free, to transform the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God; the author of evil fought against him, perfecuted him, bruifed his beel, ef fected his death. When the grave had given back its conqueror, when the good feed which Chrift had fown began to flourifh; the devil renewed all his wiles to fmother the rising harvest. He came, while men flept, and fowed tares among the wheat. He exerted every effort of fubtlety to draw back into bondage those who were rescued from his power. He darkened the understandings, and took poffeffion of the hearts, of men who watched not against him, liftened to his artifices,

and

The

The

and obeyed not the grace of God. He filled them with the love of falfe doctrines and of evil deeds. And those whom he had ensnared into captivity he employed as inftruments for taking others captive. Hence heretical teachers are termed by St. Paul ministers and apostles of Satan. Hence alfo St. John affirms that every one who committeth fin is of the devil. tares are the children of the wicked one. feed which Satan fows and the crop which it produces; evil fuggestions, and the perfons who are governed by them, equally belong to Satan, are equally tares of his planting. To this hour he continues his enmity against the followers of Chrift. By inward temptation, by the allurements of finful example, by blinding men to the true meaning of the Scriptures; by diffusing ignorance, and lukewarmness, and fanaticifm, and pride, and every abominable work of the flesh, he brings multitudes of profeffed Christians into his fetters. It is through his persevering enmity that, when you look abroad into the field of the Chriftian church, you behold the good feed reduced to struggle, as it were, for life against

the tares which on every fide cling around it, and labour to overtop it.

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II. Though