w
it better than he, thou short-sighted being, thou dust of yesterday,
thou child of error and ignorance? He says it, and therefore it is
eternal truth. 'But is it not intended to be taken figuratively?' Well,
suppose it were meant figuratively, we can only comprehend the figures
of actually existing things, and the figurative representation of the
devil would imply his real being: but here in the text the speech is not
figurative; the expression stands not among pictures and parables, but
in the interpretation of a picture and a parable."[16] Whence hath it
tares? inquired the servants. Already in those days they had begun to
probe the question around which the conflict of ages has been waged--the
origin of evil. One thing in the answer of the Lord is fitted to pour a
flood of comfort into our hearts when they are agitated by the
difficulties of this tremendous problem,--"an enemy hath done this."
Evil does not belong originally to the constitution of man, nor has God,
his maker, introduced it. Our case is sad, indeed; for we learn that an
enemy whom we cannot overcome is ever lying in wait seeking how he may
devour us. But what would our case have been, if evil, instead of being
injected by an enemy from without, had been of the essence of the
creature, or the act of the Creator? Our condition would have been one
of absolute and irremediable despair. What a strong one, who is our
enemy, has brought in, a stronger, who is our friend, can cast out--will
cast out. Be of good cheer; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved.

[16] _Die Gleichniss-reden Jesu Christi_, von Fried. Arndt.

How grand is the view which this picture discloses, when in the
interpretation of it we closely follow the Master's steps! It is,
indeed, a parable concerning the kingdom of heaven. The whole world
belongs to the King; he has placed his children in it, and commanded
them to multiply till they people all its borders. The enemy has
introduced among them evil persons, and within them evil thoughts. It is
not a part of the omniscient Ruler's plan to remove, by the ministry of
either angels or men, all the wicked at once from his world. For his own
purposes, which are only in part discernible by us, he permits the good
and the evil to mingle and contend with each other until the fulness of
time, as he left the Canaanites in the land to chastise and exercise his
chosen people. When the tares prosper, the wheat languishes: when