The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. ST. MATTHEW xiii. 24-30. The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. THE Parable of the Tares, which has just been read to us, forms the Gospel for this, the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. Let us seek to derive from it three lessons,-the first, to be supplied by the appearance of the Field: the second, by the inquiry of the Servants: the third, by the reply of the Householder. : 1. The appearance which the Field presented was very different from what an English reader would suppose. Our 'tares' are so unlike 'wheat' that the one can be distinguished from the other in a moment but it is not so in Palestine, where our LORD lived, and where the Gospel was written. In that country there grows in the corn-fields a plant so very like wheat in appearance that a careless eye would hardly detect the difference. On closer inspection, however, it is discovered that the weed has no corn in the ear,-is a mere barren, bearded husk. This is the plant which is intended by the Tares' in the Gospel. We have to picture to ourselves a field of wheat overgrown with this mischievous weed, in order to have an exact notion of the sight which distressed the servants, and grieved the heart of the Householder in the parable. Happily for us, there is no room for doubt as to what is taught hereby. The field is the World: the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.' Thus, while the good and the wicked are set before us in type, it is declared concerning these last, that the enemy that sowed them is the Devil.' It appears therefore that our LORD was here delivering a prophecy of how the Church would appear in these latter days. And have not His words come true? Are not good and bad everywhere mixed together? do they not grow up side by side, sharing the same rain, and wind, and sunshine? Nay, cast your eyes over those assembled in Church on Sunday, and is there any way of distinguishing the wheat from the tares outwardly? GoD alone knoweth who are His. : The lesson supplied by the field is therefore this:-that the Church now presents the very appearance which Almighty GOD foresaw and foretold that the author of all the sin in the world is the Devil, who seeks to spoil the good work of GOD by sowing the seeds of vice everywhere that the righteous and the sinful are not two different kinds of beings; but, as tares are only a spurious kind of wheat, so the wicked are only depraved persons,-persons whom GOD willed to be holy. Lastly, that the great distinction between the good and the evil,-the wheat and the tares-is that the one are fruitful, while the other are barren. The wheat bears fruit: the 'tares have no corn in the ear. Let none therefore deceive themselves. 2. It will be remembered that the Servants came and asked the Householder how it happened that his field produced tares, since he had been careful to sow none but good seed in his field. What then may be gathered from this inquiry of the servants ? It teaches that GOD foresaw the surprise which men would feel at the sight of evil in the world. Holy Job felt it, when he asked, 'Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of GOD upon them.' He had seen wicked men prosper, and enjoy all worldly happiness, and could not understand the reason of it.-In like manner, the Psalmist says, 'I was envious when I saw the prosperity of the wicked; for they are not in trouble as other men are, neither are they plagued like other men. . . . . They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain!' And he adds,-' When I thought to know this it was too painful for me.'-The words of the Prophet Jeremiah are even more striking, Righteous art Thou, O LORD, when I plead with Thee, yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy, that deal very treacherously?' Thus, then, Job, David, and Jeremiah ask of GOD the same question which the Servants in the parable come and ask the Householder. They are perplexed at the sight of evil.-We also partake of the same perplexity, though we express ourselves in different ways. Some are heard to declare that Sin cannot be so very displeasing to the ALMIGHTY, or He would not suffer people to go on so long in sin. This is one way of expressing perplexity at the sight of Evil in the world,—at Tares growing among the Wheat.-Another way, is to wonder why GoD does not cut up the wicked root and branch, and to expect every day that He will do so; almost to lose patience because He does not.-Some there are who, from being perplexed, proceed to take the matter into their own hands. They say,-We will never be persuaded that the Church can contain so many wicked people. We must weed them out. We must belong to a Church, and frequent a place of worship, of our own; where none shall be seen but those who are in a state of grace. If we cannot gather up these tares, we must at least gather ourselves out from among them. But they who thus speak quite forget the |