DISCOURSE VIII. PART I. ****** MATTHEW xiii. 29. But he faid, Nay; left, while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up also the Wheat with them. T O understand the Text we must look back as far as the twentyfourth Verse of this Chapter, where our Saviour puts forth a Parable, comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a Man who owed good Seed in his Field; but while Men flept, his Enemy came and fowed Tares among the Wheat. When they both fprung up and appeared in the Field, the Servants, under a Surprize at the Disappointment, report it to their Master; Sir, Sir, didft not thou fow good Seed in thy Field? from whence then hath it Tares? He said unto them, An Enemy hath done this. The Servants reply, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? In Anfwer to which follow the Words of the Text, But he faid, Nay; left, while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up alfo the Wheat with them. Take away the Drefs of Parable, and what our Saviour here delivers amounts to this: There will always be a Mixture in the World of good and bad Men, which no Care or Diligence can prevent; and though Men may and will judge, that the Wicked ought immediately to be cut off by the Hand of God, yet God judges otherwise, and delays his Vengeance for wife and just Reasons ; fparing the Wicked at present for the fake of the Righteous, referving all to that great Day in which the divine Justice shall be fully difplayed, and every Man fhall receive according to his own Works. The View of this Parable has, in fome Parts of it, I think, been mifapprehended. It is intended to reprefent the neceffary Condition of Mankind, fome being good, fome bad; a Mixture which, from the very Nature of Mankind, is always to be expected; and and to justify God in delaying the Punishment of those Sins, which all the World think are ripe for Vengeance. This being the View of the Parable, it is going out of the Way to confider the particular Causes to which the Sins of Men may be afcribed; for the Question is not, from whence the Sins of Men arife, but why, from whatever Cause they spring, they are not punished? In the Parable therefore our Lord affigns only a general Reason of the Wickedness of the World, An Enemy hath done this. But there are, who think they fee another Reason affigned in the Parable, namely, the Carelessness of the public Governors and Rulers, intimated in thofe Words, But while Men flept, his Enemy came and fowed Tares among the Wheat: And this Text always finds a Place in fuch Complaints. And there is indeed no Doubt, but that the Negligence of Governors and Magistrates, Civil and Ecclefiaftical, may be often one Cause of the Ignorance and Wickedness of the People: But that it is affigned as a Cause in the Parable cannot be proved; for thefe Words, while Men flept, instead of charging the Servants with Negligence, plainly shew, that no Care or Diligence of theirs could prevent the 03 Enemy. Enemy. Whilft they were awake, their Care was awake also, and the Enemy had no Accefs: But fleep they muft, Nature requires it; and then it was the Enemy did the Mifchief. Had it been faid, while Men played, or were careless, or riotous, that would have been a Charge upon them; but to say, while Men flept, is so far from proving that their Negligence caufed it, that it plainly proves their Diligence could not prevent it. For, what will you fay? Should Husbandmen never fleep? It is a Condition upon which they cannot live, and therefore their fleeping cannot be charged as their Crime. This Circumftance therefore in the Parable is to fhew, not the Fault of the Husbandmen, but the Zeal and Industry of the Enemy to do Mischief. Watch him as narrowly as you will, yet ftill he will break through all your Care and Diligence. If you do but step afide, compelled by the Call of Nature, to eat, to drink, or to fleep, he is ready to take the Opportunity to fow his Tares; and the Ground, which will not answer the Hufbandman's Hope without his Toil, and Labour, and Coft, will produce the ill Seed of its own accord, and yield but too plentiful Crop. Farther, the Character of the Huf bandmen |