Are we inclined to look for the conversion of the whole world by the labors of missionaries and ministers ? Let us place this parable before us, and beware of such an idea. We shall never see all the inhabitants of earth the wheat of Grod, in the present order of things. The tares and wheat will " grow together till the harvest.'" The kingdoms of this world will never become the king- dom of Christ, and the millennium begin, until the King Himself returns.
Are we ever tried by the scoffing argument of the infidelj that Christianity can not be a true religion, when there are so many false Christians ? Let us call to mind this parable, and remain unmoved. Let us tell the infidel, that the state of things he scoffs at does not sur- prise us at all. Our Master prepared us for it 1800 years ago. He foresaw and foretold, that His Church would be a field, containing not only wheat, but tares.
Are we ever tempted to leave one Protestant Church for another, because we see many of its members uncon- verted ? Let us remember this parable, and take heed what we do. We shall never find a perfect Church. We may spend our lives in migrating from communion to communion, and pass our days in perpetual disappoint- ment. Gro where we will, and worship where we may, we shall always find tares.
In the second place the parable teaches us, that there is to he a day of separation hetioeen the godly and un- godly members of the visible Church , at the end of the loorld.
The present mixed state of things is not to be for ever. The wheat and the tares are to be divided at last. The Lord Jesus shall " send forth his angels" in the day of
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His second advent, and gather all professing Christians into two great companies. Those mighty reapers shall make no mistake. They shall discern with unerring judgment between the righteous and the wicked, and place every one in his own lot. The saints and faithful servants of Christ shall receive glory, honor, and eternal life. The worldly, the ungodly, the careless, and the unconverted shall be " cast into a furnace of fire," and receive shame and everlasting contempt.
There is something peculiarly solemn in this part of the ^^arable. The meaning of it admits of no mistake. Our Lord Himself explains it in words of singular clear- ness, as if He would impress it deeply on our minds. Well may He say at the conclusion, " Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Let the ungodly man tremble when he reads this parable. Let him see in its fearful language his own certain doom, unless he repents and is converted. Let him know that he is sowing misery for himself, if he goes on still in his neglect of Grod. Let him reflect that his end will be to be gathered among the " bundles" of tares, and be burned. Surely such a prosj)ect ought to make a man think. As Baxter truly says, " We must not mis- interpret God's patience with the ungodly."
Let the believer in Christ take comfort when he reads this ]Darable. Let him see that there is happiness and safety prepared for him in the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God will proclaim no terror for him. They will summon him to join what he has long desired to see, a perfect Church and a perfect communion of saints. How beauti-
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