The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 28

power, the enemy of Christ e.nd of mankind, ie busy sowing evil. 3. The fruit o/ -these evil influences is seen in the lives qf bad peopl,e. It is not in fa.18e doctrine but in n-icked living Lhat the gre:itest mischief is manifested. The aim of Satan is to grow a crop of noxious characters. III. THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST ARE FORBIDDEN TO UBE FOROIDLE MEANS iron THlll EXTINCTION OF EVIL LIVES. This parable has often been abused by being applied to Church discipline, a subject with which it bas nothing to do, seeing that "the field is the world "-not the Church. What it excludes is the violent uprooting of bad men from the world. If it is to be pressed to a literal application, it may be thought to forbid capital punishment. But as it deals with religious relations it is rather aimed at -persecution; e.g. it is absolutely opposed to such action as that of the Spanish Inquisi- ·tion. The violation of its precepts has vindicated our Lord's warning. 'l.'he wheat has been rooted up with the tares. Too often persecution selected the very sons of the kingdom for its victims. This may be done honestly, by a horrible blunder; we cannot ·well distinguish between the blades of wheat and those of the plant that simulates it. At present it is premature to judge men finally, for characters are not yet developed. IV. THERE WILL BE A FINAL JUDGMENT AND DOOM OF THE WICKED. 1. This will :/iappen at the end of all, when characters have fully ripened, when the harvest is come. Even now the harvest is anticipated by the reaper Death, and after death there is the -great judgment. The liberty of the present is no guarantee against the great doom of the future. Evil cannot flourish for ever. 2. This will be in the hands qf God. It is not for man to 11se violent measures against his fellow-man; but God and bis angels will search into all characters, and the issue must be fearful for those who have permitted themselves to become as the rank growth of Satan.-W. F. A. • Vers. 31-33.-The mustard seed and the leaven. These parables illustrate the world- wide growth and influence of the kingdom of heaven. It might not be wonderful that .a peasant living in remote Syrian highlands should have dared to predict such a vast future for his work if he were only speaking in the enthusiasm of hope; but it is the wonder of the ages that the Galiliean predictions have been verified by history, whicn has proved that the Speaker uttered true words and was able to realize what be fore- told. Let us consider the prophecy in the light of its fulfilment. The two parables set forth two different phases of the extension of the kingdom. L THE VISIBLE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM ITSELF. 1. It appears in a small beginning. Christ gathered about him a little group of fishermeu; there was the kingdom, but as yet a minute seed. How many of the best movements spring from small beginnings- the river from the brook, the man from the child, ihe city from the hamlet, the empire -from the city! History forbids us to despise the day of small things. It is better to begin obscurely and grow, than to co=ence with a flourish of trumpets, raising expectations ,vhich we may not be able to fulfil. 2. It contains a centre <if life. The pebble will not grow. Multitudes of small ventures are destined to remain small or to fade away altogether. It is only the vital seed that grows. There is a life-principle in Christianity. Christ himself is in it. 3. It has a great development. The mustard seed becomes a tree. The little group of disciples becomes a world-wide Church. Christ has large aims, and he accomplishes them. He has not yet seen the full growth of the seed he sowed. Chri,;tia.nity is still spreading-spreading in heathen land~ as in no previous age; it has in it vitality enough to fill the whole world. 4. lts growth i, l,eneficial to the world. The kingdom of heaven is not a deadly Upas tree; it does not destroy all other lives in fostering its own life. 'l.'he mustard tree furnishes night shelter for the birds; the kingdom of heaven is a great refuge for helpless, benighted souls. II. THE INVISIBLE INFLUENCE OF THE KINGDOM. It works like leaven in a mass of ,meal. 1. It spreads through the world. The gospel Las a marvellous penetrating influence. Early Christianity extended it~elf without any organized method of propaga. •tion, reaching all classes of society and touching remotest regions. There is a happy infection in Christian ';ruth. A saintly example is healthily contagious. 2. It injluencu the worltl. T.Je whole mass of meal is leavened. Christ gives us a leaven ,,f sociely, not merely a uew life to be in society and to spread itself, growing and multiplyi.ug, but a tranl!for::ning und uplifting influence. Left to itself the wol'ld is CH, xm. 1-58.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 29·