---

We have —

I. A BENEFICENT OPERATION — "Sowed good seed."

1. The man that sowed was Jesus. This was His special work during His public life on earth.

2. The good seed are the righteous. In the former parable the good seed is the Word of God.

3. The field is the world. Whether this is to be understood in its general and most comprehensive sense, or whether it signifies the Church in the world, it is not easy to determine.

II. A MALICIOUS DEED "While men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." Notice:

1. The agent.

2. The season — "while men slept." It is said of the ungodly that "they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." There is nothing they hate so much as the light, for there is nothing so contrary to their nature and so unfavourable to their designs. As John Bunyan says: "My Lord Understanding's house was too light for the Prince of Darkness, and therefore he built a high wall to darken all the windows."

3. The result.

III. A NATURAL REQUEST. From attempting such a work we are debarred on account of —

1. Its difficulty. It seems that the apostles and early Christians were endowed with a peculiar gift called the "discerning of spirits," so that for them to separate the precious from the vile might have been an easy matter. We do not know what degree of imitation is compatible with a total absence of true piety.

2. Its danger "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."

IV. AN IMPORTANT DECISION — "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." But concerning this separation, notice —

1. The period when it will take place. It will be at "the time of harvest;" which harvest, we are told, is the end of the world.

2. The instruments to whom the work will be committed — "The reapers are the angels:" who are free from the manifold infirmities by which we are now encompassed — ignorance, selfishness, prejudice, impatience, partiality, animosity.

3. The manner in which it will be accomplished.

4. The final results which will follow — "to burn them:" "My barn."

(Expository Outlines.)

---

---

KJV: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

WEB: He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,