But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Ver. 29. Lest while ye gather up the tares] Those that are now tares, hypocrites, may become good corn, good Christians. Jethro, an Ishmaelite by nation, may prove an Israelite by religion. Simon Magus may perhaps have the thoughts of his heart forgiven him, Acts 8:22. In the year 1553, a priest at Canterbury said mass on one day: and the next day after he came into the pulpit, and desired all the people to forgive him; for he said he had betrayed Christ, yet not as Judas did, but as Peter; and so made a long sermon against the mass. Bucer, of a Dominican, became a famous Protestant, being converted by Luther's sermon before the emperor at Worms.