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Hie Sunday School
THE WHEAT AND THE TARES.
July 28, 1912. Matt. 13:24-80, 36-13.
( olden Text: "Gather ye together
first the tares, and bind them in bundles
to burn them; but gather the wheat into
my barn."?Matt. 13:30.
HOME DAILY HIBLE READINGS.
M.?Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.
T.?Gal. 3:1-14.
W.?John 8:31-44.
Th.?Gal. 4:1-10.
P.?John 15:1-10.
S.?Matt. 25:41-46.
S.?Matt. 25:31-40.
TOPICAL OUTLINE.
Evil Mixed With Good in the World?..
Like tares among the wheat, vs. 24-30.
Where sin comes from, vs. 36-39.
17Mr?e*1 oAnai?o45/*? J *
^ .iiui oc(/aiauuu Cilia ICWttlTI, VB.
39-43.
SHORTER CATECHISM.
Q. 8. How doth God execute His decrees?
A. God executeth His decrees in the
works of creation and providence.
IjESSON comments.
Tinie and I'laice: The same as in the
last lesson, the autumn of A. D. 28, and
at the seaside, except that the story of
the lesson was finished in a house in
Capernaum.
Connection: The lesson is a continuation
of "the parables of the kingdom,"
seven of which are given by Matthew's
Gospel, four at the seaside and three
after the Master went into the house.
The Kingdom of Heaven: It is to be
noted that the Master does not tell
anything or what the kingdom of
heaven is. He tells solely what it is
like. The mind of mhn oould not
comprehend it if the former course were
taken.
Parables of the Seed: There were
three of these. One dealt with the
differences of soil. The next showed
the growth of the Kingdom, silent,
effective, not known in its process,
small, but becoming great, and permeating
the world. The third sets forth the
differences of seed, as shown in the
wheat and tares resulting.
An Explained Parable: The parable
of the wheat and the tares, like that of
the sower, is one of the very few which
our "Lord himself explains. Here, as in
the former parable, We should be guided
solely by what he tells us of its
meaning, and should abide by his interpretation.
We cannot improve upon
it. To attempt to do so would be both
folly and insult.
For the Farmers: Jesus must have
una mem in special view, me tillers
of the soil outnumber all the other
croups of mankind. There is something
very striking, therefore, in the Lord's
drawing so many of his finest lessons
from object# and pictures with which
they were most familiar. It shows the
happy adaptation of the Word and of
the redemption which it offers. It
shaws, too, the intelligent sympathy of
Christ with the great body of those
whom he came to save.
Persons Instead of Truths: The
teaching of our Lord In the other seed
parables was concerning the seed as
representing truths. Here it is the
different kinds of seeds as representing
persons: the children of the kingdom,
the children of the wicked one. One
sower is the Son of Man; the other is
the devil. The harveBt is the end of the
world. The reapers are the angels.
This personal turn brings home not only
this lesson, but the lessons of the other
1 parables.
i Enemy Hath Hone This: It may
THE PRESBYTERI;
be that man needs an enemy, to make
iim do his best Socrates said that
every man needs a faithful friend and
a bitter enemy. "Lead me in a plain
path, because of mine enemies." If -we
know that there is a personal devil,
activly engaged in a struggle for our
souls, we shall be more likely to be on
our guard and to Tesist and to fight
him. A fruitful cause of low Christian
life to-day is lack of thorough convict-on
of sin and too little appreciation
the fact that there is a personal
devil. .
"bile Men Slept: Here is a lesson*
which we may well take to heart. The
enemy's great work against our souls
is when we are ofT our guard. Satisflnrl
with nnrctvlrnc nnnfont
attainment, unconcerned about the con~t-nt
activity of our enemy, we are as
those "who sleep. Sleeping is not wrong
Itself. IK is needful and right,
""aried nature demands it It is a
healthful, recuperative act. But men
^annot afford to sleep when danger is
near. If they sleep then advantage is
*aken of it, and the damage is done.
Satan is adroit. He knows his opportunity.
If we give it to him we may
be sure he will take it. Great evil
stalks in the dark while men sleep.
The Origin of Evil: This has been the
groat problem of the ages. Men have
never yet solved it. The Master declares
verv plainly, whether we can
understand tfie matter or not. that God
is not responsible for it. "An enemy
hath done this." "The enemy that
ed them is the devil." Why the
enemy is allowed thus to sow the evil,
not revealed to us. Very likely we
would not understand if told. It may
I'p a part of the process of developing
the good. We must leave the question
with God. He knows. And his omniscience,
omnipotence, and righteousness,
of which he is careful guardian and not
we. are not to be impugned because of
our ignorance or inability.
Is Laxity of Discipline Tanght: Many
so apply this parable. But Jesus did
not so teach. It Is not right to press
upon a parable more than the one thins
It teaches, and In this Instance the
Master plainly showed that one thins.
In addition, he proclaims the certainty
of the final separation. He is much
more concerned for the good than for
the had. for the wheat than for the tares.
An unreasoning and unreasonable striving
to dig up the tares might spoil
much good grain. "We cannot change
conditions. Tt is sometimes very severe
dipcinllne to keep stil] and patient and
to endure conditions which we cannot
remedy at the time.
Lessons: The universality and thoroughness
of the Txjrd's teaching are as
marked as their clearness and simplicltv.
!In their early stages good and
evil often appear much alike. The fact
that evil is going to be sowed alongside
the pood should not deter one from
so wine the pood. After awhile the difference
will be clearly seen. We should
be careful how we pronounce any case
pr hopeless, and lest our pood be evil
spoken of. The enemy is active, and he
Is never far behind the pood soweT.
.Tesus may not explain some of the
problems of the ape, but this Is because
of our inability not his. He certainly
does not try to explain away imnortant
facts. God is not the author of
evil, and evil Is not eternal. The wherefores
of many facts are not revealed.
God is so intent on the Rood that he will
snare the evil foT a little while, hut not
forever. A final separation is certain.
The righteous shall shine at last, and
be Justified, and the evil be burned.
Many of the evils in the world are
otranpely like the Rood things. They
are like the latter in the seed stave and
need care to keep them out, and all
will not be discerned and kept out.
A. N OF THE SOUTH
Young People's Sodetics
MISSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.
Topic for Sunday, July 28: Missionary
Progress In North America. Acts
2:1-21.
DART READINGS.
Monday: Groat revivals. Acts 14:818.
Tuesday: Steady growth. Acts 9:2331.
Wednesday: Christian unity. Acts
4:23, 33.
Thnrsday: Love's crucible. Gala
uans iiizt-ty.
Fridays Great consecration. Luke
19:1-10.
Saturday: Increasing liberality. 2
Corinthians 8:1-7.
Missions in. North America? What
need in that enlightened part of the
world?
The best section on earth is not wholly
Christ's. Until it is completely evangelized
there is work to be done and
missionary effort to be made.
The negroes in the South, the Mexicans
in Mexico, Texas and California,
the Alaskans and Esquimaux in the far
North, the hordes of immigrants in the
cities, surely make a great mission
field.
'i?Ie ten millions of negroes furnish
a problem yet unsolved. The difficulties
of that problem will come nearer to
yielding to the Christian religion than
to any other means that may be applied.
The negroes are almost universally
professors of the Christian faith, but it
is a profession, strictly, In the vast majority
of cases. They need to be
brought to an intelligent apprehension
of Christ and the way of life, and to a
practical application of the gospel in
their life.
The many plans that have been suggested
and methods that have been
pursued to adjust that numerous race
to the conditions which are about it in
this land, have not produced the results
desired. The Gospel has done this
in other lands and under even more
difficult conditions. It will do tbe same
here If It "be faithfully applied.
On our southwestern border hundreds
of thousands of uneducated', superstitious
people, Sdol worshippers, the
prey of money-loving, soul-deceiving
priests, are flocking. They readily respond
to the offer of an open Bible, a
simple Gospel, a free faith. These are
quickening their life and lifting them
up to higher thoughts and a noble manhood
and womanhood. Our own church
is conducting this work on a fine scale
in Texas.
Tar away to the north, the work
which our own faithful h. W. C.urrie began.
among the native Alaskans, when
their country was first opened, and the
work of a Grenfell, Young and others in
the Hudson Bay country and Labrador,
have developed successfully. The populations
whose evangelization is sought
sTe not large, but they are interesting
and important. The story of the work
makes one of the most interesting chapters
in modern missionary history.
The Indians in onr own land are now
so merged with the general population,
except in very little spots, that no great
missions are conducted amongst them.
Our own church recognized its duty at
the very beginning of its career* and
even amid the throes of war sent the
gospel to the Indains on its western
border. In that part of the new State
of Oklahoma which was formerly the
Indian Territory, and chiefly among the
Choctaw Indians, we have an entire
Presbytery, congregations and ministe"?.
composed of that people.
[July 17, 1912
The Prayer Meeting
SPIRITUAL LIFE.
John 17:3. Week of July 21.
There are two great realms of life ia
both of which God's people live and
act?the natural and the spiritual. Both
are to be cherished and regarded as
6acred and believers are endowed with
both that they may glorify God and
may enjoy him forever. The natural life
Is possessed in common with all humanity.
We do not classify it with that
of the beasts, because an Immortal intelligence
is involved In and in part
ikni 1 A.. ?
Luiioiibuico mux inc. v/ur wuteru HOW
is with the higher life that we call
spiritual. It is the life that is created
in regeneration. ''If any man be in
Christ he is a new creature. We are
"created in Christ Jesus." "That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is bom of the Spirit is spirit."
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again."
The Diety is the author of both natural
and spiritual life. The language
of Scripture usually indicates that the
(Holy Spirit is the personal author of
spiritual life. "Except one be born of
water and the Spirit he cannot enter I
into the kingdom of God." Yet we are
said to he "horn of God," and Christ
said, "I give unto them eternal life."
We may say in general that God gives
us spiritual life in our regeneration.
The Diety is the primal source of life
and gives it to whom he will. "As the
Father hath life in himself bo hath he
given to the Son to have life himself.
Christ had power to lay down his life,
as he did in the crucifixion, and power
to take it again as he did in the resurrection.
We are impressed witl\ the tenderness
of our Lord in restoring natural
life during his ministry on earth. When
he met the sorrowing widow following
her only son to the tomb, he had compassion
and revived the lifeless body
and gave back to the mother her living
son. Lazarus was raised from the
tomb under similar conditions and so
was the daughter of Jairus. Such acts
suggest to us his valuation of this
natural life. Why should Lazarus be
recalled from the BDlritual world to the
natural trials and infirmities of this
one. By that act he recognized the
sacredness and value of earthly relationships
and duties.
Yet he places the emphasis on spiritual
life. "I came that they may have
life and may have it abundantly." "The
water that I shall give him shall become
in him a well of water springing
up unto eternal life." There is no other
source of spiritual life to a spiritually
dead world. No amount of learning
or moral discipline or social reform or
appeal to self-interest can kindle the
faintest gleam, or stir the feeblest impulse
of life in the natural mind. 'Tf
there had been a law given which cou'd
have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law."
Much emphasis is being placed by our
civilization on relieving the ills of our
natural life and lifting humanity to a
higher plane by merely human methods.
The need of humanity is spiritual re
generation ana tne peril or the times
is relaxed emphasis upon 'he truth that
omnipotence alone can save society
from irretrievable decay and the race
from moral putrefaction. Men fancy
that the light of science and culture
and brotherhood will regenerate the
world. Our Bibles tell us of our Lord
that "in him was life and the life was
the light of men. He is the saving
power of the world today." Neither is
there salvation in any other for there is
none other name under heaven among
men whereby we must be saved."