out of the world (slaying the heretics)," &c.

The conclusion of the whole matter is, that whatever separation the
parable forbids, it forbids entirely: if it speaks of discipline, it
says there shall be none; so that they are wholly out of their reckoning
who lean on it for the condemnation of what they consider excessive
strictness while they would retain the power of excluding the worst from
communion. But, in truth, the parable has nothing to say on the subject.

When we have made our way through the discussions that have accumulated
round it, we return to the text in its simplicity, and grasp its plain
positive truth, "The field is the world." It was all empty; nothing good
grew there, until the seed was brought from heaven and sown. The nation,
the family, the soul that has not Christ, is poor, and wretched, and
miserable, and blind, and naked.

"The good seed are the children of the kingdom." They are bought with a
price and born of the Spirit; they are new creatures in Christ and heirs
of eternal life. Expressly it is written in reference to Christ's
disciples, "All things are for your sakes" (2 Cor. iv. 15). For their
sakes the world is preserved now, and for their sakes it will be
destroyed when the set time has come. The darnel is permitted to grow in
summer, and in harvest is cast into the fire,--both for the sake of the
wheat. Because Christ loves his own he permits the wicked to run their
course in time; but because Christ loves his own he will separate the
wicked from the good at last.

The tares are the children of the wicked, and "the enemy that sowed them
is the devil." Some people doubt, and some positively deny, the
existence of the devil; but one thing is clear, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of the Father, has no doubt on that point. He believes
in that doctrine and teaches it: he teaches it to the multitude on the
margin of the lake, and to the select circle of his followers in a
private dwelling.

Lively and energetic are the remarks of Fred. Arndt on this subject:
"Yes, Jesus says, in dry, clear words, 'The enemy that soweth them is
the devil.' But surely there is not any devil? Who says that? The Son of
God, the mouth of eternal truth, who knows the realm of spirits even as
he knows this visible world,--who is the highest reason and the deepest
wisdom, yea, even Omniscience itself,--he believes it. He holds it
reasonable to believe in it. He teaches what he believes. Dost thou kno