The Elbert County tribune., 1912-07-26

GOLDEN TExT-"Gather up frst the,
tares. and bind them In bundles to burn
barn." Matt 1920.
The thirteenth chapter of Mat
thew's gospel is the great kingdom
chapter of the Bible. Seven parallels.
In, this chapter give us each OF seven,
aspects or applications OF the princi-
pies Of the kingdom. In this lesson,
we are taught the mixed character OF
separation of two classes OF which 1T
Is composed. "A man." v. "a. goes
out to SOW good seed In his field. This
man we are told in v. 81. is the Son,
of Man. and elsewhere that the field
Is the world. the hearts of men Then
followed the propagating stage, that
period over which man has no con-
troll. During this period while mem
ate and slept awaiting the time for
cultivation and OF harvest, the enemy
Of mems souls came and sowed tares,
the common darnel which so closely
resembles wheat In It's earliest stages
After this propagating period hadi
passed the man and his servants went
out one day to find in their field evil
derce that another had also sowni
seed. Tho test of every life is the
truit produced. During these earlier
stages the tares had looked 30 nearly
ike the wheat as not to be readily
distinguished, but now that the har-
rest time approaches the difference is
all too evident 1t Is significant from
this parable that no blame is laid
lpon the servants that they should
nave allowed the two to grow up dur
ng this first stage. Surprise, anger
md disappointment stirred tho hearts,
Of the servants when they discovered
he mixed character of the approach
ing harvest. The master, however.
clears them of all blame, for. said he.
Our enemy hath done this" Not an
snemy, as the King James version has
It. Satan is ubiquitous, but the Son
Of God is greater than he, see l. Peter,
1922.
PARALLELS He Taught.
II the servants had sought to up-S
root the tares they would In all likely
hood have done more damage than
good, though this does not imply any
conflict with Jesus words as found in
Matthew 5:29, 30. The seed had the
same environment and in Gods good
lime the separation should take place.
so 'let both grow together" until both,
90 fully developed. Then he will say
20 the reapers, gather first the taresi
and burn them, but gather the wheat
INTO my barn. Notice the tares did
not evolve into wheat. Like begets
like. Gather into bundles is the
command. If we sin together, we must
expect to suffer together. The wheat
was ripe for full salvation, blessing
and a further usefulness, while the
tares were ripe only for destruction.
After teaching these parallels. OF
which this is but one, Jesus sent the
multitude away and more fully and
completely taught his disciples the
inner meaning OF this parable The.
Held is the world. and II we ask We
shall have the heathen for our Inherit
ance and the uttermost part Of ths
world as possession Cps 2:S). The
good seed are the sons Of the king
dom. but the tares are the sons (chil.
dren) Of the evil one. Both the sons
Of the good and the sons OF the bad
grow from, and develop out OF seed
the sons of the kingdom from the
good seed
We must remember the three les
sons we have been studying. The
hrst concerned the nature OF the seed
and the soIl the second deals with
the mystery of the growth and devel
opment Of the kingdom. whereas thii.
4
World the Field.
As the Psalmist puts 1t G:5), Thu
ungodly shall not stand in the judg.
ment g. g., has no standing, nor sin
ners (abide) in the congregation OF
the righteous" It is not our place
TO gather the tares into bundles. God
will send forth reapers ". 30) and his-
reapers are the angels ". 39). The
fact is we are here warned against
useless or profltless activity. Ours Ia
to SOW the right seed and then stand
back and let God work. We are not
even responsible for any process OF
separation, for God will take care OF
his own and in his own time will
send forth his reapers who Will do
what we would make sorry work
OF attempting to do. How often
we see men zealously attempting tho
separation process during the propa-
eating and developing period. only to
uproot the wheat with the darnel-
Evil, we are clearly shown, will not
gradually disappear from the world
but on the contrary 1t will grow, de-
velop and bear along beside the wheat
until "the harvest" After the harvest
1t will be all too clear which is good
and which is bad. The language OF
Jesus fs graphic-sscast and fInD', ex