"“The world acknowledges as teachers some whom God cannot endorse as safe instructors. By these the Bible is discarded, and the productions of infidel authors are recommended as if they contained those sentiments which should be woven into the character. What can you expect from the sowing of this kind of seed? In the study of these objectionable books the minds of teachers as well as of students become corrupted, and the enemy sows his tares. It cannot be otherwise. By drinking of an impure fountain, poison is introduced into the system. Inexperienced youth taken over this line of study receive impressions which lead their thoughts into channels that are fatal to piety. Youth who have been sent to our schools have learned from books which were thought to be safe because they were used and encouraged in the schools of the world. But from the worldly schools thus followed many students have gone forth infidels because of the study of these very books. 6T 164.1"
"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way."
The EGW passage uses the imagery of sowing seeds of corruption and the enemy sowing tares, which is a clear parallel to the parable of the tares in Matthew 13:25. Both passages warn against the influence of evil and its corrupting effects.