Though in the outward church below <br />The wheat and tares together grow; <br />Jesus ere long will weed the crop, <br />And pluck the tares, in anger, up. <br /> <br />Will it relieve their horrors there, <br />To recollect their stations here? <br />How much they heard, how much they knew, <br />How long amongst the wheat they grew! <br /> <br />O! this will aggravate their case! <br />They perished under means of grace; <br />To them the word of life and faith, <br />Became an instrument of death. <br /> <br />We seem alike when thus we meet, <br />Strangers might think we all are wheat; <br />But to the Lord's all-searching eyes, <br />Each heart appears without disguise. <br /> <br />The tares are spared for various ends, <br />Some, for the sake of praying friends; <br />Others, the Lord, against their will, <br />Employs his counsels to fulfill. <br /> <br />But though they grow so tall and strong, <br />His plan will not require them long; <br />In harvest, when he saves his own, <br />The tares shall into hell be thrown.<br /><br />John Newton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-wheat-and-tares/
