spoken of as persons; thus in Mark, "These are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they had heard the word," &c.; "and these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it." The seed in the man is the distinguishing thing in him, and he is therefore identified with it, in all its history; and so, in God's estimate, every man, whilst the seed remains in him, is either an unfruitful seed or a fruitful seed-either an unfulfilled hope or a fulfilled hope. The seed is the seed of God, and whilst it is in man, however dormant, it puts him in the place of a son, and so the prodigal was a son although in the far country, and man must continue so until it is said, "take from him the talent;" and as this seed is also the election, being the spirit of the elect one, every man in some sense has the election in him, and has it in his power to make his election sure, whether he uses that power or not.

The parable of the tares of the field, (Matt. xiii. 24,) is intimately connected with the parable of the sower, and proceeds on from it, taking for known all that is contained in it. In the parable of the sower, our Lord warns us of the danger of losing, through

negligence, the benefit of the good seed which is sown in our hearts. In the parable of the tares He warns us of a farther danger there is another sower, a sower of tares, an evil sower, who sows evil seed as widely as the good seed is sown; evil seed which bears the fruit of eternal death, even as the good seed bears the fruit of eternal life. So that we have not only to watch, that we may not, by negligence and inattention to the inward seed of God, lose eternal life; but we have also to watch that we may not, by yielding to the various movings and suggestions of the evil seed, nourish it up in us to the maturity of spiritual death.

In order to understand the interpretation given of this parable by our Lord, that peculiarity I remarked in the interpretation of the former parable must be borne in mind, along with the addition which belongs to its own special object. The persons are identified with the seeds; and as the spirit of the parable carries us forward to the final judgment, each person is represented in it by that seed, whether good or bad, which had gained the ascendency over him during his life, and which will then distinctly stamp his character. He who had yielded himself to the

good seed is called wheat, and he who had yielded himself to the evil seed is called a tare. And it is not only that they are so called, but they become so indeed. This is the consummation of that retributive judg ment which we have before adverted to. We are continually in contact both with the Spirit of Christ, and the spirit of the devil; these are the two seeds in us, the one leading us to God, the other leading us from God— and every act of our being, inward as well as outward, according as it is done under the influence of the one or the other of these spirits, gives strength and predominance in us to that spirit; and thus the work of assimilation is continually going forward; one or the other is continually gaining ground, and when the process is concluded, we shall be found to be wheat or tares, children of the kingdom, or children of the wicked one.

I feel assured that the reader will acknowledge that this interpretation is more at one with the spirit of our Lord's discourse, than an interpretation which would divide the human race into two unalterable classes, the one of which originally consisted of the seed of God, which must be saved, and the other of the seed of the devil, which must perish.

And as he will acknowledge that it is more in agreement with the context, so I am persuaded he will acknowledge that it is no forced interpretation, but one to which we are naturally led, by the observation of that peculiarity which we have remarked in the foregoing interpretation of the sower, according to which the person in whom the seed is, is identified with the seed. That there is a responsibility attached to the condition of man described in the parable, and that this condition belongs to the whole race, is implied in the solemn application with which it is concluded, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,”—and it is manifest that, unless the interpretation here given be the true one, no responsibility could exist.

The field is the world; that is, the parable applies to every human being in the world; and in that large field there are many smaller ones, for, indeed, each individual is a little world—a field in which that process described in the parable, is continually going on, the contest between the two seeds, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between the wheat and the tare. And here let the reader observe, in confirmation of what was said above, as to what the good

seed really is, that as the tare is surely not a mere outward temptation, or outward teaching of the devil, but the spirit of the devil, working inwardly in the heart, and fitting and disposing the heart to take hold of any outward temptation; so the wheat-the good seed of the kingdom, is not an outward teaching, or an outward book only, but the Spirit of Jesus striving with men, fitting and disposing them to take hold of the truth and will of God in any outward manifestation. By these two spiritual seeds in their various manifestations, the little field of man's heart is occupied, and this is the garden which is intrusted to him, to dress it and to keep it, that is, to cherish the good plants, and to keep down and eradicate the evil. This charge is committed to himself, and he must be continually receiving strength from God, through the good seed, to do it, for God will not do it by an extraneous exertion of power, separate from man's own will; He will not allow the reapers, the representatives of external power, to interfere till harvest, lest in pulling up the tares they root out the wheat also lest in taking away the necessity of fighting the good fight, they should also