“AN enemy hath done this.” So said the householder to his servants when they told him that his field, once so well sown, was yielding tares as well as wheat. “Sir,” said they, “didst thou not sow good seed in thy field: whence then hath it tares?” And what should be done with the field? The servants were for weeding out the false, but the householder would not have this done lest the true might perchance suffer. For tares and wheat are not so unlike that a mistake might not be made. “Let both grow together,” said the householder, “until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
How came about this evil in the field? The seed had been placed there or it would not have come into life. Neither tares nor wheat spring up out of nothing. An enemy of the householder, and of the good seed he had sown in his field, had wrought the evil. The enemy entered upon the field while those who should have protected it were asleep.
This parable of the Lord is for every young reader of our words. The enemy is sowing, or is trying to sow, evil seed in our hearts. This work goes on in the school, and in the day’s intercourse with companions, and the seed sown is springing up and showing its real character in the lives of old and young.
If you were to sow some thistle seed in your garden nothing that you could do would cause that seed to spring up as mignonette. Every seed brings forth its own character in its matured life. It does not develop into another kind of life.
The Lord tells us what He means by the good seed; it is the Word of God, and the bad seed is the word of untruth, untruth which comes from the enemy.
The first great principle for us is not to allow the bad seed a place in the field. People very often sow doubts as to the truth of the Word of God in the hearts and minds of boys and girls in their schools. Such seed causes tares to grow up instead of wheat, for thereby instead of Christian men and women in our land we have infidels. Yet, at the beginning, they look so very much like the true, that only He who searches the heart can tell which is the wheat and which is the tare. But at the harvest the difference will be shown, for then there will be a great sorting out, and it will be seen that merely to be like a Christian, while not to be one in heart and soul, is only to be fitted for destruction. Then the angels will sort out first the tares and will bind them in bundles to burn them, while the wheat will be gathered together for the Master’s barn.
A little while ago a Christian lad in one of our colleges for youths had to hear some infidel remarks made. He was impelled to say before the other young men, he could not hear his Lord and Saviour thus spoken against. As he was of a retiring disposition, this was no light thing for him to do, and he went back to his room in great anxiety. For over a week he had to bear jeer upon jeer, but he did so as a Christian―never answering again. At the end of the week the young man who made the infidel statement came to our young friend, and said he had watched him under his persecution, and was convinced of the truth that was in him. Having handsomely expressed his regret, he declared he would never again say one word against our young friend’s Lord and Saviour.
This is the kind of testing we must needs expect in our present day. The tares are not wheat, though all in the school may be called Christians, as was the case in the college to which we have referred. Indeed, to be a true Christian is now very often to be the subject of ridicule. However, as time goes on, the reality of the Christian life will certainly show itself. Tares do not bear fruit to life eternal. At their best they merely have a resemblance to the true, and every year they become more and more evidently what they really are.
Young people must show courage as to the truth they believe. Courage produces respect, and every act of courage gives greater firmness to faith. There is a great deal of tare-seed sown in our schools, which, while not infidel, is cast abroad with the view of making boys and girls Romanists. We have heard several sad stories of these efforts lately. A picture is offered for admiration, and then by and by it is suggested how much easier it is to worship God while looking at the picture. If this false seed be allowed a place in the heart, it will grow up, and idolatry will sooner or later take place in our nation.
Remember, young friends, that in a few years’ time you will be men and women, and your lives will be what you believe. Your characters will be formed by what you believe. The seed growing up in your hearts will express its character in your lives. If you take in infidel ideas, you will become in some degree infidel; if you take in idolatrous ideas, you will in like manner become more or less idolatrous. May you love and abide in the Word of God, and thus grow up His brave servants, and in the great harvest day have your honored place in His treasure house.
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MANIFESTING LOVE.
IT is of small practical use talking of God’s love to you, if you forget the working of God’s love in you. The outcome of your daily life must witness to the fact of your being loved by God.