ill set fire to a stackyard, or hamstring the
horses, or shoot the overseer from behind a hedge in our own day, and,
alas! in some parts of our own land. As in the highest good, so in the
deepest evil, there are diversities of operation by the same spirit.
When we take into account the changes of fashion which occur both in
clothing and in crime, we have no reason to be sceptical as to the
ancient fact, and no difficulty in obtaining a modern specimen.

From the results already gained, it appears obvious that the translation
"tares" in our English version is unfortunate: it not only fails to
represent clearly the state of the fact, but leads the reader's mind
away in a wrong direction. To an English reader the term suggests a
species of legume, which bears no resemblance to wheat at any stage of
its progress. By the use of this word the characteristic feature of the
picture is greatly obscured. Had the plant which sprung from the envious
neighbour's seed been a legume, its presence would have been detected at
the first, and it could have been separated at any stage. The darnel, on
the contrary, cannot be distinguished from wheat until both are nearly
ripe, and the process of separation, whether in the field or on the
threshing-floor, is much more difficult.

* * * * *

Again the Lord becomes his own interpreter: at the request of the
disciples he explained to them in private the meaning of his allegory.
The points are great, few, and clearly defined. In this journey the
Master has kindly gone before us; reverently, trustfully, we shall
follow his steps. "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the
field is the world." It is in connection with the "field" that the
greatest difficulty has occurred, the greatest mistakes have been made,
and the deepest injury has been done. Few words of Scripture are more
plain; and yet few have been more grievously misunderstood and wrested.
At the entrance of the inspired explanation, the expositor, bent on the
defence of his own foregone conclusion, takes his stand, like a
pointsman on a railway, and by one jerk turns the whole train into the
wrong line. "The field is the world," said the Lord: "The field is the
Church," say the interpreters. It is wearisome to read the reasonings by
which they endeavour to fortify their assumption. Having determined that
the field is the Church, they are compelled immediately to address
themselves to the great p