seed in his field, but in the night, whilst
men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went
his way. When the wheat-blade had sprung up and showed the ear, then
appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came to
him and said, "Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? Whence
then come these tares?"

He said unto them, "An enemy hath done this." Then the servants asked,
"Shall we go, then, and gather them up?" But he said, "Nay, lest
whilst you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat with them. Let
both grow together until the harvest, and in that time I will say to
the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them into
bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Jesus' disciples asked Him to explain this parable to them, and He
said: "The field represents the world, and He that sowed the good seed
is Christ Himself. The good seed is the Word He preached; the wheat
plants are the good people who believe in Christ and do as He teaches.
The enemy who sows the bad seed is Satan, and the tares that spring
from them are wicked people who follow the promptings of the evil one
in their hearts. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers
are the angels of God. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned
in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world with wicked
people. Christ shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out
of His Kingdom all things that offend and them that do evil, and shall
cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father."

"For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day
All offences purge away;

"Give His angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful grain to store
In His garner evermore."

[Illustration: THE ENEMY SOWING TARES.]

THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN.

Christ said that the kingdom of heaven could be likened unto leaven
(or yeast), which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour,
till the whole was leavened.

Now, this leaven, or yeast, is composed of tiny little plants, each
one so small that it cannot possibly be seen by the sharpest eye
except through a very powerful microscope. So small are they that it
would require three thousand of them, placed close togeth