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religious principles; but no sooner do they go forth, and leave those persons from whom they receive them, than they are overwhelmed with business; they are devoted to amusement; they are immersed in sensuality; they are idolaters of wealth, of power, of glory, of fame and if any accidental thought of religion happens to cross their way, they instantly dismiss the unbidden, unwelcome guest, with the answer of Felix to Paul, "Go thy way for this time: when we have a convenient season, we will send for thee."

Lastly: in contemplating the seed which fell on good ground, we see that the principal qualification for hearing the word of God, is an honest and good heart: that is, a heart clear from prejudice, from pride, and self-conceit; a heart sincerely desirous to find the truth, and to acknowledge its own ignorance, weakness, and corruption; a heart such as the little children possessed whose approach was encouraged by our blessed Lord, as the emblems of humility and docility.

We are reminded in this part of the parable, that the good ground brings forth fruit with patience. The Christian husbandman does not hold seed and sickle at the same time. Godliness is not a weed, which springs up after one shower it is a delicate plant, which requires care in cultivation. Good resolutions precede virtuous efforts; and many efforts are necessary to form one habit.

Again we are assured that God accepteth according to what a man hath. Our deeds are estimated not by the greatness of our performance, but by the sincerity of the effort. If we cannot bring forth a hundred-fold, God will accept of sixty: if we cannot bring forth sixty, God will accept of thirty. But this merciful allowance is intended to quicken our endeavours, so that if we have hitherto brought forth thirty, we may strive to attain to sixty, and to a hundred: thus forgetting what is behind, we may press forward to the high prize of our calling in Christ Jesus.

The concluding words of our Lord, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, should awaken within us a salutary alarm. In the parable, of those to whom the Gospel was offered, three rejected it; one only accepted it. This fearful disparity is the stronger reason for praying, that the Lord of the harvest would

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give us grace to hear meekly his word, to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. [PORTEUS, chiefly.]

Parable of the Tares. MATTHEW, xiii. 24-30.

24. The kingdom of heaven [the Gospel-dispensation] may be compared to the circumstance of a man's sowing good seed in his ground. But in the silence of night while men are sleeping, an enemy of his came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way without detection. 26. But when the blade was sprung up, and began to ear, then the tares also appeared. 27. And the servants of the Master came and said to him, 'Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares?' 28. And he said to them, 'An enemy hath done this.' And the servants said to him, 'Wilt thou then that we go and collect them?' 29. But he said, 'No: lest while ye collect the tares, ye should root up some of the wheat with them: 30, let both grow together till the harvest; and at harvest-time, I will say to the reapers, 'Collect first the tares, and bind them in bundles, in order to burn them as fuel: but gather ye the wheat into my granary.'

The Greek word translated by tares, denotes a sort of degenerate wheat, which originally was a right seed: but in process of time, neither large in ear, nor valuable in corn: A. CLARKE.

By the mixture of wheat and tares, we are to understand a mixture of good and bad men, not only in the world, but also in the Christian world. By the kingdom of heaven, is here meant the state of the Gospel, and the Church of Christ. The man who sows good seed in his field, is Christ who preaches the Gospel to the world. The good seed are they who embrace his doctrine, and conform their lives to it. Amongst the good seed spring up tares; that is, wicked persons join themselves to his servants; and both thus united, constitute, or seem to constitute, one and the same society.

Again: This parable intimates that, in the Church, persons

should arise, whose blind zeal would be hurtful to the common cause. No sooner do the tares appear, than the officious servants of the Householder desire to root them up. We are told in the Parable, that grievous inconveniences would follow such rigorous methods.

I. 1. It cannot be supposed that God hath empowered his servants to destroy all those, who should teach false doctrines or lead irreligious lives; because the most virtuous would often be the greatest sufferers. Christians being unhappily divided into many sects, and warm men of every sect thinking themselves the only orthodox believers, if they should all imagine that they had a commission to cut off the bad, destruction and persecution would never cease; and the best persons would fall a sacrifice to ignorant and outrageous zeal.

2. No one can be qualified for such an office, unless God should give him a power of knowing the hearts of men. Hypocrisy can conceal itself sometimes from every eye, except that from which nothing is concealed. Judas, in all probability, was like most other sinners in this, that he became not very wicked on a sudden; yet he seems to have escaped suspicion; so that when Christ declared to his disciples, that one of them should betray him, they were surprised, and could not tell of whom he spake.

3. If God should take sudden vengeance of all bad men, we should be deprived of that freedom from compulsion which attends a reasonable service. The motives to obedience are now more suited to our nature. A great and a distant reward is set before us; great, to excite our desires; distant and unseen, to exercise our faith. A punishment is threatened, sufficient to alarm our fears, because it is dreadful; but it is not immediately inflicted; and therefore it forceth not; it only dissuades.

4. The good and the bad are so closely united by worldly dependencies, that the ruin of the one would be the ruin of both. There are many persons in Christian countries, who, if their opinions and actions were tried by the rules of the Gospel, must of necessity be deemed very bad Christians; and yet have skill in arts and sciences, in commerce, in war, and in politics. Such persons may so far conduce to the temporal prosperity of the nation to which they belong, that, without a miracle, it

could not subsist, if they were all cut off. For the sake of the righteous, therefore, God may permit such persons to pass their days with them; and with them, to enjoy the common blessings of providence.

II. We may observe further, that from the mixture of good and bad men many advantages arise to both.

1. The oppressions and persecutions which the righteous sometimes endure from the wicked, cannot be denied to be no small inconveniencies; and yet these very inconveniencies must be acknowledged proper trials of virtue, which appears to the best advantage, when it struggles with difficulties. A good man, thus proved, is often of singular service to mankind; his reputation and its influence, through following ages, allure many to imitate those excellent qualities which they cannot but admire.

2. There are other trials, less violent indeed, but perhaps not less dangerous, to which the good are exposed by dwelling amongst the bad. Irreligious persons endeavour to corrupt the minds of those with whom they converse, and upon all occasions discourage and ridicule piety. These trials give good men an opportunity of testifying their sincerity and their constancy; which could not show themselves to the same advantage, if impiety and immorality were accounted infamous, and obliged to conceal themselves from public view.

3. The good, by their intercourse with the bad, may often be the occasion of reclaiming them. Good example allures to imitation. There are also many blessings, which by the divine providence, attend upright behaviour. They who have not departed from righteousness so far as to fall into the extremes of vice, have opportunities of seeing this; and by seeing it, they sometimes become sensible of their error, and seriously wish that they were also in the favour of God. These honest desires may be to them the beginning of wisdom, and the forerunners of amendment.

4. What an unspeakable advantage is this, both to those who are rescued from eternal destruction, and to those who are the blessed instruments of saving their souls! What an honour is it to be an useful servant, and a good steward in God's family, and even a fellow-labourer with Jesus Christ!

5. The good, by dwelling amongst the wicked, have an opportunity of observing the unhappy situation of those notorious sinners, who have a body worn out with intemperance; an understanding sunk beneath a brute; a mind tormented with furious passions, the seat of desires which cannot be satisfied, and of fears which are well grounded. The person who carries about with him this wretched mixture of sin and misery, is a living argument against iniquity; and an unwilling preacher of righteousness.

6. The advantages which the bad may find from passing their days with the good, are manifest. The patience of God affords them all imaginable motives to amendment. God invites them to return to him by their own consciences, by his revealed will, and by the admonition of his servants. They may see persons of the same rank with themselves, of the same occupation, of the same age, exposed to the same temptations, preferring virtue to vice, and happy in their choice. These are favours which God daily extends to the most unworthy, with no other design than to save them from perdition. But these favours, if insolently abused, will add to their guilt and increase their punishment; and the remembrance of them will be a cause of continual remorse at their departure hence, and in their future state.

Thus it appears that God mercifully and wisely permits this mixture of the good and the bad, for the improvement of the one, and for the amendment of the other. Thus shall it be till the end of the world. Then the state of probation ceases, and the state of retribution begins. There is no longer any reason that persons of such different tempers should inhabit the same place. The wicked will then be banished from the presence of God, and sent to dwell with creatures of the same perverse disposi. tions; which alone would be a terrible punishment. The fear even of this should be sufficient to warn us so to behave ourselves here, that hereafter we be not doomed to such cursed society; but may live with God, and with beings who love and imitate him. (ARCHDEACON JORTIN.),

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