QUESTIONS.

What parable have you now been read

ing?

The parable of the tares of the field. What is meant in this parable by the kingdom of heaven?

Christ's religion.

What is it likened or compared to? To a man who sowed good seed in his field.

What happened while men slept?

His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.

What do you think the tares would do?

Grow up with the wheat and injure it. When the servants saw the tares, and told their master, what did he say?

"An enemy hath done this."

Would the householder allow his servants

to gather up the tares ?

No, lest they should at the same time root up the wheat also.

What did he say he would tell the reapers to do at the harvest?

To bind up the tares first to be burned, but to gather the wheat into his barn.

Who did our Lord tell his disciples was meant by the man who sowed good seed?

The Son of man, meaning himself.
What is the field?

The world.

Who are the good seed?

God's people.

Who are the tares?

Wicked people.

Who is the enemy that sowed the

tares?

The devil.

What is the harvest?

The end of the world.

Who are the reapers ?

The angels.

What will they do at the end of the

world?

Separate the good from the bad.

What fire will the wicked be cast into?

Hell fire.

What will the righteous do then?

Shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

What is the kingdom of their Father?
Heaven.

This parable of the tares is explained by our Saviour himself. Christ sows the good seed, or religion and goodness, and the devil sows tares, or wickedness. We should, therefore, be constantly on our guard against the great enemy of our souls, the devil, and pray to God to deliver us from him. We must be always on the watch, for it was "whilst men slept," that the enemy sowed the tares; which teaches us, that when we are careless, idle, and thoughtless about doing right, then it is that the devil tempts us to sin; we must watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation. There are

many who give themselves up to sin, and slothfulness, and the love of this world, and so become the children of the devil; these wicked people often distress those who are holy; but we learn from this parable that there is another world, where the wicked shall be separated from the righteous; the former will go to a place of endless torment, while the latter shall receive a glorious reward in heaven, for the sake of their blessed Saviour Jesus Christ.

Though in the outward church below,
The wheat and tares together grow;
Jesus ere long will weed the crop,
And pluck the tares in anger up.

Will it relieve their horrors there
To recollect their stations here?
How much they heard, how much they knew,
How long amongst the wheat they grew.

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Oh! this will aggravate their case,
They perished under means of grace,
To them the word of life and faith
Became an instrument of death.

We seem alike when thus we meet, Strangers might think we all are wheat; But to the Lord's all-searching eyes, Each heart appears without disguise.

The tares are spared for various ends,
Some for the sake of praying friends,
Others the Lord against their will
Employs his counsels to fulfil.

But though they grow so tall and strong,
His plan will not require them long,
In harvest, when he saves his own,
The tares shall into hell be thrown.