The last parable but restates the truth that the mixture of the good and
the evil is to continue to the end of the age.

The highest ambition of the great missionary, Paul, was to be all things
to all men that he might save _some_, not _all_. He found that his
preaching was a savor of "death unto death" as well as of "life unto
life" (II Cor. 2:15, 16), and he clearly states in II Tim. 3:13, "And
evil men shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
Christ also predicted that the end of this age should be marked by such
sin as provoked the judgment of the flood: "But as the days of Noe were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that
were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not
until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37-39).

This truth is often rejected as being pessimistic and disloyal to the
progress of the world: yet has not the history of the age verified the
teaching? And is not the coming glory nearer and more certain when
depending upon His promised return in resistless power and splendor,
than when depending upon any human progress the world has ever known?
One is the majestic movement of the Divine program in fulfillment of
every covenant: while the other is the vain dream of the world in its
ignorance and disregard of the testimony of God.

Because of the presence of these two classes in the world in this age,
there are two very distinct lines of Scripture descriptive of them. One
body of Scripture directly applies to and governs the "wheat" or
heavenly people, and one applies to the "tares," the "children of the
evil one." The marvelous revelation of the believer's relation to Christ
and the heavenlies, and his deliverance from any actual identification
with this age, though in it, will be the subject of another chapter.
Only the relation of the unregenerate to this world and to Satan will be
continued here.

As it has pleased Satan to hide himself and all his projects from the
unbelieving world, that which God has revealed in all faithfulness will
be received only by those who have unquestioning confidence in His Word.

According to Scripture, the relation of the unbelieving to Satan is far
more vital than a mere pleasure-seeking allegiance. On two occasions
Jesus spoke of the unsaved as the "children o