SERMON XIV.

THE DANGER OF INACTIVITY IN SPIRITUAL PURSUITS.

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MATT. CHAP. XX. VER. 6.

Why stand ye here all the day idle?"

THE object of the parable, of which these words form a part, is to show, under the similitude of a householder hiring labourers to cultivate his vineyard, that the Gentiles, who were willing to embrace the Gospel dispensation, should not only be preferred to those Jews who had rejected it, but placed upon an equal footing with those who had received it. At the close of the nineteenth chapter, our Lord had said, with reference to the Jews and Gentiles, "but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." By which He signifies that the Jews, then pre-eminently distinguished above all other nations, in spiritual privileges, being the chosen people of God and members of a church specially constituted by him, and

the first people so distinguished, shall, by rejecting the Gospel generally, become inferior to the Gentiles in those very privileges hitherto exclusively enjoyed by the seed of Abraham ; as those Gentiles shall be advanced before them in Divine estimation: the last thus becoming first in God's favour, and the first last. How fully this prediction has been accomplished, the present state of the Jewish and Christian churches sufficiently testifies; the one, like the barren fig-tree, a mere cumberer of the ground; the other, like the prolific mustard seed, grown to full maturity, beneath the protecting branches of which, the birds of the air, of every clime and feather, find shelter and repose.

The parable of the householder hiring labourers into his vineyard, presents a beautiful picture of Omnipotent Mercy, in its dealings with a sinful race, whom, as He has most signally proved, He is willing to "save to the uttermost." Christ, the householder, is represented as actively employed in the work of salvation. He is no idler. He loves His labour and pursues it earnestly. He rises early in the morning, as soon as the dawn begins to diffuse its tender light, for this the Jews understood by the term

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early in the morning," and proceeds in search of labourers. He seeks them, you will mark. He finds them in the market-place. He then hires them. Having induced them to enter into His service, He stipulates to give them a reward for their labours. He does not force

them into His vineyard, like slaves, and compel them to drudge in unwilling obedience to the severe mandates of an unpitying tyrant, but places them there as free men, though hired servants, to work for a stipulated compensation, under the most kind and compassionate of masters. They have the choice of occupation or of idleness, but the like reward is not attached to each. All who enter the vineyard, at whatever hour, and do their duty faithfully, receive a like recompense. Their services are requited, not in proportion to their duration, but to their earnestness. This is a great consolation to the willing, who are ready to embrace favourable opportunities of doing good, and employ their best efforts in so sacred a cause, when such opportunities present themselves.

The words of the text, you will remember, were addressed to those labourers who were standing idle in the market-place, whilst their companions were at work in the vineyard. They readily consented to be hired, still they merited the reproof of the husbandman-" Why stand ye here all the day idle?" since they evidently did not solicit employment, though they accepted it when offered, upon conditions not previously stipulated.

Let us now proceed to apply the words before us, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" You perceive, or, if you do not, I trust you will before we separate, that every word is emphatic. WHY? The question implies at once an offer

and a reproach. There is a strong expostulation conveyed in the little interrogative commencing it. WHY do you stand idle here, when I am willing to engage you in my service, and to recompense your labours? Are you justified in spending your time thus unprofitably?

May not the same expostulation be addressed to Christians now? No doubt, and with as just a force of application. WHY are the Christian family so divided? What is the reason of such indifference among them, for it exists to a sad extent; of idleness in the pursuit of holiness; of remissness in spiritual exertions; of their avoiding the labours which religion demandslabours of love, issuing in salvation? WHY are so many lukewarm, careless, idle? The reply is obvious. They to whom the question will apply-and they form a numerous body-are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." WHY? Because those pleasures gratify their selfish hearts more fully than the love of God occupies them, and in selfishness all their dearest gratifications meet as in a focal point. There is

in truth but too much room for reproach towards those carnal professors of Christianity, who would willingly eat of the fruit of the vineyard, without affording the least assistance in its cultivation. But why should they not work for their own profit? They have no other reason but that they prefer standing "all the day idle," and would rather enjoy at the expense of labour to others than to themselves.