A

THE ENEMY SOWING TARES.

CERTAIN man sowed good seed in his field, but in the night, whilst men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. When the wheat-blade had sprung up and showed the ear, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came to him and said, "Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? Whence then come these tares?"

He said unto them, "An enemy hath done this." Then the servants asked, "Shall we go, then, and gather them up?" But he said, "Nay, lest whilst you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in that time I will say to the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'

Jesus' disciples asked Him to explain this parable to them, and He said: “The field represents the world, and He that sowed the good seed is Christ Himself. The good seed is the Word He preached; the wheat plants are the good people who believe in Christ and do as He teaches. The enemy who sows the bad seed is Satan, and the tares that spring from them are wicked people who follow the promptings of the evil one in their hearts. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels of God. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world with wicked people. Christ shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend and them that do evil, 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." Give His angels charge at last

"For the Lord our God shall come,

And shall take His harvest home;

In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful grain to store
In His garner evermore."

FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND.

NE day Jesus went on board a ship and sailed to another part of the coast, where He and His disciples might have rest. For the people in the cities crowded them so closely that they did not even have time to eat. They landed, and went into a desert place ; but the people had seen them depart, and marked which way the ship sailed. Then they all flocked out of the cities and came on foot to the place where Jesus was. When Jesus saw what a great number of people had come, He had compassion for them, and spoke to them, and healed their sick. But in the evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, "This is a desert place, and the day has gone; send the people away, that they may go into the villages and buy food."

Jesus was too kind to send them away hungry like that. He said, "They need not depart; give ye them food to eat." But they said to Him, "We have here but five loaves and two fishes, which we have just purchased of a lad." He said, "Bring them to me." And He told the people to sit down on the grass; then He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and, looking up to heaven, blessed them and broke them into pieces. The disciples carried the bread and fish to the people and they all ate and had plenty, although there were about five thousand men, besides women and children. And yet, when they took up the fragments that were left they filled twelve baskets.

THE ARK.

T came to pass that the people of

this world had They no longer sought to please God or obey Him. Then God was angry with them, and said He would destroy them by a great flood which should cover the earth, even the highest mountains. But there was one good and just man who found favour with God. His name was Noah. And God called to Noah and told him that He was about to destroy the earth by water, and commanded him to make a great boat, or ark with roof and window and door.

I grown very wicked in all things.

And Noah began to build the boat, which took very many years to finish, and all this time he kept on preaching to the people about their sins, and advising them to turn to God whilst yet there was time. But they would not listen to him, and at last the ark was finished. Then Noah took two of every living creature into the ark, and he and his wife and their sons and sons' wives went in after them, and shut the window and the door. It rained for forty days and forty nights, and the waters covered the tops of the highest mountains. Every living substance that was on the earth was destroyed, except those that were within the ark. And the waters covered the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But at last they dropped, and the ark rested upon Mount Ararat. Then Noah opened his window and sent forth a raven, which flew to and fro until the waters had dried up. Then he sent a dove, but it could find no resting-place and it returned. Seven days later he sent out the dove again, and in the evening it returned with an olive branch in its mouth. In another week he sent the dove once more, but it never returned, and then Noah knew the waters were dried up. And God told Noah that now he could leave the ark with all his people and the animals that went in with them.