" 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" (Matt. 13 :24, 25)."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 age; and the reapers are the angels" (vers. 37-39).

Christians generally do not realize that behind all the down-grade teaching of these days, with its tremendous and persistent energy, is the enemy of Christ as well as of His people. Note it is " His (that is, Christ's) enemy came and sowed tares." He who is the enemy, the foe of our Lord Jesus Christ, must be the foe of His people. For His people represent Him now in this world, out of which He has been cast, and their place in it is set by their identification with Him as rejected. We have plenty of warning as to this in the word of God, and the conflict would be too much for us were it not that we have the Holy Spirit given to us, who turns our eyes to Christ through the Word, so that by dependence on Him we should be overcomers. But if Satan fails in one way, he quickly tries another. If as a roaring lion he cannot overcome the people of God, he can become an angel of light. " For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

" While men slept! " Who are the men ? Are they not the responsible people of God, whom He has placed here to care for His interests; to watch, and wait, and serve His will? And how many still sleep in the midst of the dead world of human beings, already under the judgment of God (John 3:18), and going on to the hour of the execution of that judgment!

At the last meeting of the Pan-Presbyterian Council at Liverpool, Dr. John Watson (" Ian McLaren") was moderator, A reporter says he "appeared on the platform robed and gowned and 'banned,' and proceeded with the services. . . . The leading thought running through his whole discourse was that the final test of everything must be its reasonableness. 'Reason,' he said, 'traveling through the Scriptures, and through history, must be allowed to leave the chaff and keep the wheat.'"

This address was delivered before three thousand people, and among them delegates from all quarters of the earth, representing (the secretary said) twenty-five millions of people.

Here is the root of the " new " gospel. Human reason is above the word of God. This is rationalism. It is what has been always advocated by pronounced infidels; and when maintained by the elected popular leader of a great church system, before the delegates of that church from every part of the earth, what does it mean ? It means that at last the enemy, as an angel of light, has gotten a strong foothold in professors' chairs and pulpits, and his ministers, as professed ministers of righteousness, are doing his work. What awful progress has been made by this down-grade school in all the church systems in the last fifteen years!-since C. H. Spurgeon broke with the Baptist Union because of it. It is now enthroned, and bold, and energetic.

But " let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober.""We are fighting for our all," cried Athanasius long ago ; and let us remember that " all" is in question to-day. The living Word and the written Word stand and fall together, and this is what is in question when its complete verbal inspiration is denied. The Lord stir up His dear people in these last days! W. B.