We will now turn our attention to what the apostles declare against this absurd belief. Paul calls the elements several times, only bread and wine, 1 Cor. xi. 28. But how, say the Roman Catholics, can a man be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, if he does not eat and drink the real body and blood of Christ? For an answer to this question, I refer to Hebrews vi. 6; "Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." The one passage, surely, explains the other. Peter says in the Acts. of the Apostles, chap. iii. 20, 21, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things." Paul says in Hebrews ix. 24, 28, and the saying is quite conclusive, "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands-but into heaven itself." Jesus is in heaven, not in the wafer, every time the popish priests say, "This is my body." And again, in the 10th chapter of the same book, Paul says, "This man (Jesus) for ever sat down on the right hand of God."

But allowing this doctrine which the church of Rome holds to be correct, they disobey the commandment of Christ in not giving the wine to the laity. Paul says, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup," 1 Cor. xi. 28. The popish priests give the wafer to their communicants whole, while Christ broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples, and the cup he gave also.

I may just add, in conclusion, of this part of the subject, there is a great analogy between the ancient heathens and the Roman Catholics: Isa. xliv. 17: "And the residue he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god." Now, the Roman Catholics do the very same thing to their wafer; they fall down before it, and cry to it, "O thou Lamb of God, give us peace."

THE WHEAT AND THE TARES.

R. S. F..

WHEN the writer was pursuing the ordinary course of his ministerial duty one day, in visiting the cottages of the poor, his walk was extended to a solitary cottage. On entering this abode of peace and industry, for such indeed it was, the husband was found to be absent at his usual labour; but the wife and two or three of her children were discovered to be busily engaged at a large table, or probably some boards laid together to form something resembling it, to serve the same purpose, and before them was spread a quantity of corn, with which they appeared to be all very busily employed. Also

some sacks, which seemed to be full of the same kind of article, were seen standing by the cottage wall. Their eyes were all closely directed towards their work, and their nimble fingers were gathering up portions of the corn, and putting the grains they gathered into separate places. After the usual friendly salutations and mutual inquiries, as between a minister and one of his flock, the question was very naturally suggested by the kind of employment in which the party was engaged

"And what are you all so busily employed about to-day?" "Picking the tares out of the wheat, sir."

"Indeed! how comes that to be needful? It is not a usual thing for tares and wheat to grow together in this country?"

"No, sir, nor more did these, but they were laid near together, and by some accident the boards which separated them, got shifted, and so they got mixed together."

"And now you are separating them?"

"Yes, sir; master could do nothing with them as they were, without great loss."

"Most likely, as the wheat must be worth much more than the tares."

"Oh yes, sir! and besides, it would have been a pity to have used such nice wheat only as the tares would be used, so master sets us to work to pick them out."

"It is rather a tedious job for you."

"Yes, sir; but we shall get through it all in time, with patience."

"You do not find much difficulty, as the grain is sufficiently different for you to distinguish it very clearly?"

"Yes, sir, and the children's little fingers can get hold of the tares pretty well."

"Well, I am glad to see you usefully employed, but I do not remember ever to have seen any one so employed before; we have not often to separate tares from wheat; but it is certainly an employment from which you may learn a very useful lesson of instruction-one which I should think could not possibly escape from your thoughts as you go on with your work.

"You know the New Testament informs us, that there will be a separation of wheat from tares, of far more consequence than this, and one in which you and I, in our own persons, and all these dear children too, will most certainly be concerned. You will, no doubt, well recollect our Saviour relating a parable on this subject, in which he speaks of these things being found together, and of their having to be separated with the greatest exactness, and for very solemn purposes; and it was a parable too, which so much engaged the attention of his disciples, that when they had left the multitudes to whom he had been speaking, and he was come into a house with them, they asked him to explain it to them, saying to him, 'Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.' Now, whether the article which our Lord called tares, in this parable, was exactly the same as that which you are now all SO busy picking out of the wheat, is not very material to us, perhaps it might not be: it has been supposed by some, to have been much more like the wheat, at least in its general appearance during its growth; but the instruction to be derived from the application of the parable, as to the separation of the one from the other, will be the same. And as our Lord was graciously pleased to comply with the wishes of his disciples, we can be at no loss as to how we are to understand it, and have no difficulty in the application of it, as to ourselves or others. It is also true, that the tares and the wheat, which you are separating with so much care, were not sown together in the same field, nor were they intentionally mixed together, as those are represented to have been in our Lord's parable: yours was an accident, that was through the evil design of an enemy. But suppose we look at the parable itself, Matt. xiii. 24.

""The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.'

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"Now let us look at our Lord's own explanation of this parable. He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.'

"Such was the explanation which our Lord Jesus Christ himself gave of his own parable, and from which it is very clear that he intended to apply it to the state of our souls here, and to their final state in eternity; and this is not the only instance in which he does so, when he takes his examples from the usual labours of the husbandman.

"Observe, he first declares himself to be the sower: he was so in his own person, while he was on the earth, and now he carries on his work by his servants, his ministers, who are directed by him to be diligent in their work as labourers together with him, 1 Cor. iii. 6-9; thus provision is made for cultivating his inheritance.

"The field is the whole world, though only a small part of it is at present brought into cultivation. We have much reason to be thankful that in this our day, God is sending forth his servants to sow the good seed in many parts of his field, where it never had been sown before.

"Now observe, our Lord speaks of the seed which he sows, whether by himself or his servants, as good, very good, true wheat, such as will be sure to bring forth its own proper fruit. This good seed is the pure and holy doctrines of God's truth, as they are found in his own holy word. We find some of it scattered up and down throughout the whole of this blessed book: for instance, when we read that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' John iii. 16; or, that 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' 1 Tim. i. 15; or 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,' Rom. v. 1; and other such like portions, we find that good seed, which being sown, and watered by the grace of God, and the influence of the Holy Spirit, like the rain and the sun which causes the earth to be fruitful, springs forth and bears fruit unto righteousness, and the end thereof is everlasting life.

"This good seed sown in the heart, springs up and produces, as our Lord said on another occasion, First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear,' Mark iv. 28. Thus the holy seed produces the children of the kingdom. of our Lord Jesus Christ, a blessed company of faithful people, who walk before God in this world, in love to him, in faith in the merits of his dear Son, and in earnest desire to promote his glory. Now observe this very particularly, for it is of very great importance that you should take all possible pains to know, whether you all are really the true

wheat, the true children of Christ's kingdom. This ought to be made a matter of clear certainty, so that God's ministers might have no more difficulty in knowing that you are so, than you and your young folks, have in picking out the grains of wheat from the tares. You do not find any grains half one and half another.

"As to the tares-who sows them? Not the owner of the field; no, your master would never have told your husband when he went to sow a field with wheat to put some tares in with it. So the Lord Jesus Christ did not sow the evil which we see in the world. An enemy hath done this, and that enemy is the devil, who has a sore hatred against our Saviour, and all his spiritual seed; and therefore he began to do his evil work as soon as there was any ground to sow it upon. Now, this seed of evil is intended to spoil the work of God, and make it of no value; and so it consists of all that is bad in its qualities. It is the seed of error, to lead the soul away from truth; of deception, to keep it in false security; of wickedness, to expose it to the fire of God's wrath. This enemy takes care to sow his seed most abundantly, so that there may be enough of it spring up to answer his purpose. Moreover, he is so well acquainted with the nature of the soil into which he casts his seed, that he makes sure that much of it will grow. He is quite aware that the heart of man is very much like the earth in this respect. The earth will bring forth weeds naturally enough, and so will the heart of man bring forth evil; but the earth must be diligently cultivated before it will produce good fruit, and so must man's heart.

"The wicked one will have his children, the genuine fruit of the evil seed he sows in the field: thus we see very many around us in all directions, living in all sorts of sin and folly, as if there were no God, or as if they had no souls to appear before him. And some are labouring and toiling for the things of this world, as if there were no world to come; and many neglecting and despising God's salvation, as though it were of no use to them. And some, by putting on the form of godliness, appear as if they might be wheat; but, because they know nothing of the power thereof, must be reckoned, like the others, only as the tares in God's sight.

"But now let us look on to the end. Not one of the children of the wicked one shall escape the burning flame; nor shall one of the children of the kingdom be cast in there "What an awful scene that will be! What a terrible day for the tares, but what a glorious day for the wheat! What a day of wretchedness and misery for the careless and ungodly! What a day of triumph and glory for the true and devoted children of God! Oh, happy will those be who are found to be of that number! When this solemn harvest,