The parable of the wheat-field had fully shown, what must have been an unexpected blow to the thoughts of the disciples, that the dispensation just opening would turn out as complete a failure, as regards man's maintaining the glory of God, as the past one. Israel had dishonored God; they had wrought, not deliverance, but shame and confusion in the earth; they had failed under law, and would reject grace so thoroughly that the King would be obliged to send His armies to destroy those murderers, and burn up their city. But it might not have been so clearly understood, that if there was to be a new work which was to take the form of gathering disciples to the name of Jesus by the word preached to them, it was by no means so clear that this new work would be spoiled in the hands of man. As far as the salvation of souls is concerned, it is independent of the creature at any time. But its trial by God turns out now, as ever, a complete failure. Man came short of the glory of God in Paradise, and outside he corrupted his way and filled the earth with violence. Afterward God chose a people to put them to the test, and they broke down. And now came the new trial. What would become of the disciples who professed the name of Christ? The answer has been given: “While men slept, the enemy sowed tares.” And a solemn announcement declares that no zeal on their part could remedy the evil. They might be faithful and earnest themselves; but the evil that has been done by the introduction of the tares—false professors of Christ's name—will never be eradicated. The Lord evidently speaks of the vast field of Christian profession, and of the sad fact that evil was to be introduced from the very beginning; and, once brought in, it would never be turned out till the Lord Himself returns to judgment, and by His angels gathers the tares in bundles to burn them, while the wheat is gathered into the barn. Thus we saw tares from a very early period were to be mingled with the wheat—not necessarily with the Church, for the field is not the Church, but the world; and the meaning is, that there might be those bearing the name of Christ who were clearly wicked persons. We know that such people have managed to get and even to keep a footing within a great deal that bears the name of the Lord; but the field—mark it well—is not the assembly, but the scene of outward adhesion to Christ. If we are thinking about the Church in reading Matt. 13, we shall never understand the chapter. “The field is the world,” the sphere where the name of the Lord is professed, and extending much beyond what could be called the Church. There might be, there are, many persons, neither Heathens, nor Jews, nor Mahometans, who would call themselves Christians, and yet show by their ways that there was no real faith in them. These are called “tares.” It is not necessary that they should be conscious hypocrites. They might or might not be; but they are unregenerated professors of the “one Lord,” and “one faith;” baptized persons who have no appreciation of Christ, no care for His glory—destitute, consequently, of life—not born of water and the Spirit, but withal bearing the name of Christ, and zealous, it may be, for the faith after an outward sort. These are now found everywhere in the western world, as once in the east. There are many, whom nobody believes to be born of God, who, nevertheless, would be shocked if they were regarded as infidels. They acknowledge Christ is the Savior of the world, and as the true Messiah, but it is as entirely inoperative upon their souls, as theirs was who, in Jerusalem, believed in Christ when they saw the miracles which He did. (John 2) Jesus does not commit Himself to such now any more than He did then.
The next parable intimates that the evil would not be merely the intermingling of a false profession, but something quite different would surely follow. It might be connected with the tares, and grow out of them; but another parable was required in order to set it forth. Beginning with the smallest possible nucleus, most humble as regards this world, there was to be that which would assume vast proportions in the earth, which would strike its roots deeply among the institutions of men, and rise up into a system of vast power and earthly influence. This is the mustard-seed springing into a great tree, into whose branches the birds of the air come and lodge. These last the Lord had already explained as the wicked one or his emissaries. (Compare ver. 4 and 19.) We must never depart from the meaning of a symbol in a chapter, unless there be some fresh and express reason for it, which in this case does not appear. Thus we have the smallest of all seeds that grows into anything like a tree; and from this exceedingly petty beginning, there comes a stem, with boughs sufficiently capacious to yield a shelter and a home to the birds of the air. What a change for the Christian profession! The destroyer now housed in its bosom!
Then follows the third parable, and again of a different nature. It is not a seed, good or bad. It is not the small now becoming lofty and large, a protective power in the earth, and for what? But here we find that there would be the spread of doctrine within, assimilating to itself whatever came in its way. “Leaven” is used in the Gospel of Matthew, as well as occasionally elsewhere, for doctrine. For instance, we have “the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees,” which is called “leaven.” No doubt, there it is speaking of hypocritical doctrine. The thought here is not to characterize the doctrine, whether good or evil, but rather, it would appear, as symbolic of that which spreads and permeates what is exposed to itself. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” The three measures of meal are not legitimately assumed to mean the whole world; they are, I suppose, a certain defined space that was devoted to the action of the leavening doctrine, throughout which the doctrine spreads effectively. Whether the result is a good or a bad state when the whole is indoctrinated, we must judge by the word of God in general, and not merely by a particular figure or expression. It is not usual to find the truth make such way. We know what the heart is, and we may infer that the doctrine which is so thoroughly spread under the name of Christ must be very far departed from its original purity when it becomes welcome to any considerable “masses” of men. We have, moreover, seen the tares, which do not imply anything good, mingled with the wheat. We have had the mustard-seed grown into a tree, and strangely harboring the birds. of the air, which erst preyed on the seed that Christ sowed. Again, whenever “leaven” occurs symbolically in the word of God, it is never employed save to characterize corruption which tends to work actively and spread. So that the point here must not be assumed to be the extension of the Gospel. The meaning, I doubt not, is a system of doctrine which fills and gives its tone to a certain given mass of men. What sort of doctrine it is must be decided by other considerations, but leaven assuredly would be an unwonted symbol of good. On the other hand, the Gospel is the seed—the incorruptible seed—of life, as being God's testimony to Christ and His work. It may be taken away, or trodden down; but wherever the Gospel is lodged in the heart, there it issues, through grace, in a new nature. Leaven has nowhere and nothing to do with Christ or giving life, but expressly the contrary. Hence there is not the smallest analogy between the action of leaven and the reception of life in Christ through the Gospel. I believe that the leaven here sets forth the propagandism of dogmas and decrees, after that Christendom became a great thing in the earth (answering to the tree, which was the case, historically, in the time of Constantine the Great). We know that the result of this was an awful departure from the truth. When Christianity grew into respectability in the world, instead of being persecuted and a reproach, crowds of men were brought in. A whole army was baptized at the word of command. Now the sword was used to defend or enforce Christianity; more frequently earthly reward and imperial favor might quicken the downfall of heathenism. All this was, no doubt, that which prepared the way for the spreading of the leaven; but not for the sound truth of God nor for His grace.
Observe, too, that this interpretation flows on harmoniously. We have parables devoted to distinct things, which may have a certain measure of analogy one to another, and yet set forth distinct truths in an order which cannot but commend itself to a spiritual, unprejudiced mind. Much depends on a due understanding of that which is meant by the “kingdom of heaven.” Let us not forget that it is simply the authority of the Lord in heaven, acknowledged upon the earth. Whoever may own it, whether born of God or not, they are in the kingdom of heaven. Some are really renewed, while others have merely adopted Christianity as a good creed and a sound moral code. When it becomes a thing the world takes cognizance of, as a civilizing power in the earth, weighed in the scales of man's wisdom, it is no longer the mere field sown with good seed, which the enemy may spoil with bad, but the towering tree, and the wide and deeply working leaven; and such is the very unexpected disclosure which our Lord makes—what the multitude might admire, but the wise would understand. If the disciples looked for everything going on according to the mind of Christ, they were quite mistaken. They were informed that there was to be a state of things wholly different from what they expected according to the prophets, who discoursed in glowing strains of a time when there would be universal peace, blessing, and glory on the earth. Here they find that, although the Messiah was come, He was going away; that, while He should be in the heavens, the kingdom would be introduced in patience, not power—mysteriously, and not yet to sight; and that therein, consequently, the devil would be allowed to work just as before, only taking his usual advantage of the fresh truth revealed of God.
So far, then, these parables show the gradual growth of evil. First, there is the mingling of a little evil with a great deal of good, as in the case of the wheat field. Then the rising up of that which is high and mighty, and influential, from the lowly origin of early Christianity. Instead of having in the world tribulation, the Christian body becomes a patron, a benefactor, in its exercise of authority, and hence the place to which the most aspiring of the world betake themselves for what they want. After that a great propagation of doctrine follows, when the folly of Paganism and the narrowness of Judaism became so much the more apparent to men, as their interests carried them there also.
Mark a change now. The Lord ceases to address Himself to the multitude. Who could fail to see that the Lord was Himself sowing the wheat? Who could not perceive the growing up of the mustard tree, and the spread of the leaven, when once the facts were and the application made? But the Lord now turns aside from the multitude, who had been in view thus far. As it is said, “All these things spake Jesus to the multitude: and without a parable spake he not unto them.” But now Jesus sends the multitude away, and goes into the house. I would call your attention to that, because it divides the parables, and inaugurates a distinct set. The parables which follow were not such as man could see or enter into. Any one might take in the others. It is the world's wisdom, that Christianity is an institution to be proud of, but in creed, like another, involving no moral responsibility—a leaven, in fact, that assimilates to itself, either from birth, habits, colonization, &c. But although these parables represent different aspects and states, the preaching of the word of the kingdom might be going on all the time. This has a place to itself; just as, among the Jews, there are many feasts, but the Sabbath was a constantly recurring one, repeated week after week. Here we come to a great distinction, and there is a like analogy in those feasts, for they, too, are divided. After the passover, and the unleavened bread, with the feast of weeks, following one another, you have an interruption, after which come the feast of trumpets, of atonement, and, finally, of tabernacles. Also, as the apostle teaches, Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed for us; so that we have to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread inseparably connected with it. Nor is this all. We read in Acts 2, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come.” There you have the feasts that are accomplished in us Christians. The feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles, it would be absurd to apply to the Church; their application (save what we enjoy in the way of earnest by the Spirit) is to the Jews. Thus, as in the middle of Lev. 23, the break indicates a new order of subjects, so, in this chapter, there is another just as marked; and while the first parables apply to the outward profession of Christ's name, the final ones pertain especially and intimately to what concerns real Christians. The multitude could not enter into them. They were the secrets of the family, and, therefore, the Lord calls the disciples within, and there He unfolds all to them.
But before He enters upon the new ground, He gives us further information touching the old. The disciples ask Him, “Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.” Ignorant as they might be, still they had confidence in their Lord, and that what He had spoken He was willing to explain. “He answered and said unto them, 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 Son of man and the wicked one, it has been well remarked, are opposed to each other. As in the Trinity, we know there is a suited part which each blessed Person bears in their work of blessing, so the sad contrast appears in evil outside. As the Father brings out specially His love, and separates from the world through the revelation of it in Christ; as you have the Holy Ghost, in contrariety of the flesh, the great agent of all the Father's ways, counsels, and grace; so Scripture holds forth the devil, always acting as the grand personal antagonist of the Son. The Son of God is come that He might destroy the works of the devil. The devil makes use of the world to entangle people, to excite the flesh, stirring up the natural liking of our heart for present honor and ease. In opposition to all this, the Son of God presents the glory of the Father, as the object for which He was working by the Holy Ghost.
Discrimination runs strongly through the Lord's explanation to the disciples in the house. In the first of the parables, the good is thoroughly separate from the evil, but in the last of the three all is merged in an undistinguished lump. At first, however, all was plain. On the one hand, there is the Son of man, and He sows the good seed, and the result is the children of the kingdom. On the other hand, there is the enemy, and he is sowing his bad seed—false doctrines, heresies, &c.; and the result of this is the children of the wicked one. The presence of Christianity in the world has given the devil an opportunity for making men a great deal worse than if there never had been any fresh and heavenly revelation. The infidel historian has put the result in an awful light— “the annals of Christianity are the annals of hell.” We know that this arises from his confounding the nominal system, which is Babylon, with the true Church. In God's sight, that which bears the name of Christ is a more wicked thing than any other in the world. There never, elsewhere, has been so much righteous blood shed as at the hand of religion so-called. Is not this solemn? What we have had in Popery is merely the full carrying out of earthly religion. Every religious system of the world tends to persecute whatever falls not in with it. This is seen even now, where there is a measure of faithfulness to Christ. The bitterness and opposition towards those who are seeking to follow the Lord in our day, is the same kind of thing that broke out into the horrors of the dark ages, and lingers still in the holy office of the inquisition, when and wherever it holds up its head.
To continue, however. “The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.” The “world,” in verse 38, must not be confounded with “the world,” in verse 39. They are totally distinct words and things. “The world,” in verse 39, means the age. It is a course of time, and not a geographical sphere. In verse 38 the sphere is intended, wherein the gospel goes forth; in verse 39 it is the space of time in which the gospel is either advancing or hindered by the enemy's power. The harvest is the consummation of the age, that is, of the present dispensation, i.e., the time while the Lord is absent, and the gospel is being proclaimed over the earth. It is grace that is going forth now. The only means which God now employs to act upon souls are moral or spiritual means. The angels introduce a sort of judgment, and deal with wicked people to destroy them, while the Gospel lays hold of poor sinners to save them, The Lord intimates here that an end will be put to the present sending out of the word of the kingdom, and a day when the effects of Satan's working would be fully developed and judged. “The reapers are the angels.” We have nothing to do with the judicial part, only with the spread of the good; the angels, with the judgment of the wicked. “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.” The same word is used for “world” in verse 40 as in verse 39. Unfortunately our version gives only the same English word in all.
Many scriptures show a state of things to come at a future time upon the world, totally different from what the gospel contemplates. I will refer to one or two in the prophets. Take Isa. 11, which speaks first of our Lord under the figure of a branch out of the roots of Jesse. It is plain that this is true of Christ, whether at His first or second advent. He was born an Israelite, and of the family of David. And again, as to the Holy Ghost resting upon Him, we know now that was true of Him when He was a man here below; but in verse 4 we find another thing “With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” If you argue that this applies now, because in the kingdom of heaven the Lord acts upon the souls of the meek, &c., I ask you to read a few words more: “And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” Is the Lord doing this now? Clearly not. Is He not sending a word of mercy throughout the earth? and instead of slaying the wicked with the breath of His lips, is He not converting the wicked by the word of His grace ?—all in entire contrast with what is described here. The breath of His mouth is sometimes applied to the gospel; but let us see how this suits Isa. 30:3333For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. (Isaiah 30:33). “For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; and the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” I find there a most valuable help to the understanding of chap. xi. What is He said to do with the breath of His mouth there? He slays the wicked one. “The breath of the Lord,” as interpreted by the Holy Ghost, forces us to the conviction that it means the execution of the Lord's judgment on the wicked. The Lord Jesus came to save; but the time is at hand when He shall come to destroy. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” The Revelation also gives us the key, where He is seen with a sword proceeding out of His mouth. It represents righteous judgment executed by the bare word of the Lord. As He spoke the world into being, He will speak the wicked into perdition. Taking this as the indubitable meaning of the verse, what follows? A state of things quite unlike what we have now under the gospel: “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
All this is not contemplated now; for whether we look at the gospels or at the epistles, when the Holy Ghost is speaking about the preaching that goes on now, the effect we have to anticipate is this—some believing, but the great majority rejecting. Besides, it is added, that in the latter days perilous times should come; and that which is most prevalent in the last time is not the truth of Christ, but the lie of Antichrist (1 John), not the triumph of the good, but of the bad, till the Lord puts to His own hand; and this is what is reserved for His appearing and kingdom. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” As the consequence, we see all those blessed effects. The Lord is not smiting the earth now. He has opened heaven—by and by He will take the earth. In the Revelation you have the vision of the mighty angel, with his right foot upon the sea, and the left on the earth. It is the Lord taking the whole universe under His own immediate government. Now the mystery of iniquity is left unjudged. Evil is allowed to go on rampant in the world. But this will not be forever. The mystery of God is to be finished. Then will begin this amazing change, “the regeneration,” as our Lord styles it, when the Spirit of God shall be poured out, and the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. But till these times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord, Scripture calls the intervening space the evil age. So in Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4), not the material world is meant, but the moral course of things, that is, “this present evil age.” The new age, on the contrary, will be a glorious, holy, blessed one.
In the very next verse of Isa. 11 we have the restoration of God's ancient people foretold, the gathering in of all Israel, as well as of Judah. At the return from the Babylonish captivity such was not the case. A very inconsiderable fraction of Judah and Benjamin came back, and none beyond a few individuals of Israel. The ten tribes are universally called the lost tribes; whereas, “it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nation, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Mom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea” —a thing that has never been done, nor anything like it. The Egyptian sea exists just as it was; whereas, there would be outward marks of the accomplishment of this prophecy, both spiritually and physically, had it ever taken place. “And with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Both in the Egyptian sea and in the Nile there will be this great work of God, outstripping what He did when He brought the people out the first time by Moses and Aaron. This will be the age to come; but as to the present age, the tares and the wheat are to grow together till the harvest, which is the consummation of this age; and when that arrives, the Lord sends forth His angels, “and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.” The severing then takes place: the tares are gathered and cast into a furnace of fire, and “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Mark the accuracy of the expression, “then shall they shine forth;” not “then shall they be caught up.” I believe they will have been caught up before this epoch. “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” So that the meaning is as plain as possible. It will be a new age, in which is no mingling of the good and bad; but the gathering out of the wicked for judgment closes this age, in order that the good may be blessed in the next. The righteous, here spoken of, shine forth as the sun, and are in a higher sphere; but the heavens and earth will then be a united system, though there be no confusion of its several parts. There will be the heavenly and the earthly glories. There will be those who shine above and others destined to rich blessing below. It will be all one kingdom, but there will be the heavenly and the earthly things, as the Lord distinguishes in John 3 “If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?”
So here, we have the upper region called the kingdom of the Father, and the lower the kingdom of the Son of man. “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.” These are not even allowed to be on the earth, but are cast into a furnace of fire. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Both are “the kingdom of God.” What a glorious prospect! Is it not a sweet thought that even this present scene of ruin and confusion is to be delivered that God is to have the joy of His heart, not only in filling the heavens with His glory, but in the Son of man, honored in the very place where He was rejected?
But let us now look at the next parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field, the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and “buyeth that field.” This is the first of the new parables within the house. The Lord is there showing, not the state of things found under the public profession of the name of Christ, but the hidden things, or those which require discernment. It is a treasure hid in a field, which a man finds and hides, and for joy thereof sells all that he hath and buys the field. I am aware that it is the habit of persons to apply this to a soul finding Christ. But what does the man in the parable do? He sells all that he has to buy the field. Is that the way for a man to be saved? If so, salvation is to him that worketh. It becomes, then, a question not of faith, but of a man giving up everything to gain Christ, which would be the law carried to the greatest excess. When a man has Christ, he would doubtless give up everything for Him. But those are not the terms on which a man first receives Christ for his soul's need. But this is not all. He buyeth the whole field; what do you make of that? “The field is the world.” Am I to buy the world in order to obtain Christ? This only shows the difficulties into which we fall, whenever we depart from the simplicity of Scripture. But where we really search, and try the Scripture by Scripture, the meaning is made plain. The Lord Himself confutes such an interpretation. He shows that there is one man, and one only, who saw this treasure in the midst of the confusion. Who? It is the Lord; the Lord who gave up all His rights in order that He might have sinners washed in His blood and redeemed to God; and He bought the world in order to acquire the treasure He valued. The two things are distinctly presented in John 17:22As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2), “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” There is the treasure— “as many as thou hast given him.” But “all flesh” is no treasure at all. It is the outside thing that goes along with the bargain, if I may speak thus familiarly; but it is not the thing that is in His heart. He buys the whole, the outside world, in order to possess this hidden treasure.
But, moreover, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Ver. 45, 46.) The parable of the hid treasure did not sufficiently convey what the saints are to Christ. For the treasure might consist of a hundred thousand pieces of gold and silver. And how would that show the blessedness and beauty of the Church? The merchantman finds “one pearl of great price.” The Lord does not see merely the preciousness of the saints, but the unity and heavenly beauty of the assembly. Every saint is precious to Christ: but “he loved the Church, and gave himself for it.” That is what I see here— “One pearl of great price.” I do not in the least doubt that its spirit may be applied to every Christian. But I believe it is intended to set forth the loveliness of the Church in the eyes of Christ. It could not be fully said of a man awaking to believe the Gospel. If we consider a sinner before he has received Christ, is he seeking goodly pearls? Is he not rather feeding on husks with the swine? Here it is one who seeks “goodly pearls,” which no unconverted man ever really sought. There is no possibility of applying these parables except to the Lord Himself, or to the working of His Spirit in His own people. How blessed it is, that in the midst of all the confusion which the devil has wrought, Christ sees the treasure of His saints, and the beauty of His Church, spite of all infirmities and failure!
Then we have all wound up by the parable of the net, which is thrown into the sea. (Ver. 47-50.) It is a figure used to remind us that our energies and desires must be directed after those who are floating about in the sea of the world. The net is cast into the sea, and gathers of every kind, “which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. Who are “they?” Never do we find angels gathering the good, but always severing the wicked for judgment. The fishers were men, like the servants in the first parable. But it is not only the Gospel that we have here. The net gathers in of every kind; but is not the putting the good into vessels, more? Is it not gathering saints according to God? It is shown us that out of every class, before the Lord returns in judgment, there was to be a mighty operation of the Spirit through the fishers of men, gathering saints together in a way quite unexampled. May not the spirit of this be going on now? The Gospel is going out with remarkable power over all lands. But there is another action—the gathering the good together, and putting them into vessels. This is not what takes place in heaven. The bad are cast away; but that is not the end of them. Another thing is reserved for them—the furnace of fire. But we have this additional information in the next verse, “The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.” The angels' business is always with the wicked; the servants' with the good. The severing of the wicked from among the just is not the fishermen's work at all; and their casting of the bad away is not the same thing as the furnace of fire.