have a great work to do; "oh! stand not here all the day idle!" If you neither plough nor sow, you cannot reap; and when your Lord comes you will have no fruit to shew! Be warned-be awakened; arise, call upon your God, strive, pray, read, hear-or your soul will be destroyed! 2. Let all diligent husbandmen dread the first appearance of sloth and self-indulgence. It is a little sloth that is to be most feared a little delay a little falling off! “Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain." Spiritual decay and desolation generally commence with small beginnings: be jealous of yourselves with godly jealousy, "that you may grow in grace," &c. 3. Are any here whose souls resemble the sluggard's garden? Well may this awaken most humbling, painful, and distressing feelings in your mind; deeply should you deplore your state, and mourn before God in bitterness of soulbut do not despair! There is hope if you "awake out of sleep, and arise from the dead; Christ will give you light" and life. Fly to him-confess your wanderings-spread them before him-wash in his atoning blood-seek the purifying, comforting, healing Spirit, and you shall yet build up the wall which is broken down, and restore the waste places (see Canticles viii. 9.) "The wilderness shall again blossom as the rose.' May we all feel our own weakness and insufficiency, and commit our souls to His keeping, who has promised to "water them every moment." (Isaiah xxvii. 3.) May his Spirit "blow over his garden, and make the spices flow out," (Canticles iv. 16): so shall we be fruitful in every good word and work! L XXXIV. THE SLOTHFUL PASTOR. Proverbs xxiv. 30-34. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone-wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. IN a country like that in which the Scriptures were written, no class of metaphors would be of more general interest than those drawn from husbandry, fields and vineyards, flocks and herds; and none would be more intelligible, nor more agreeable to the readers or hearers. Accordingly, we find figures of this kind abounding both in the Old and New Testament; and they generally possess this advantage, viz. that they are capable of a variety of applications. For instance, the beautiful picture of a desolate field and vineyard in the text, with the wise man's comments on it, are of easy and natural application, as well to the common business of life as to things spiritual. Nor are they instructive in this point of view alone: similar images are often used in the sacred writings with special reference to the work of the ministry; and it is to this object that I would now apply the passage before us, believing that occasionally to dwell upon the duties of the Christian Ministry is profitable alike for preachers and hearers. May the Great Husbandman (John xv. 1) and Vinedresser of his Church vouchsafe his blessing upon our meditations so shall they be edifying and comforting to our souls! I. TO EVERY MINISTER OF GOD THERE IS ENTRUSTED A FIELD AND A VINEYARD. This may be of greater or less extent, and its character may vary exceedingly; but all have a farm to cultivate for God! This is nothing less than the souls of men! What a solemn trust! what a difficult and onerous responsibility! When he reflects on the state of those hearts which he has to cultivate, how arduous is the task assigned him! By na ture hard, worldly-minded, carnal, insensible to all his bene- II. BUT GOD SUPPLIES HIS FEEBLE LABOURER WITH VA RIOUS IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY:— -He gives him good seed-his own sincere word—his blessed Scriptures. These the labourer is to scatter abroad -to sow carefully-to put the Book of God into every house and hand in his parish-to expound and apply it individually from door to door, imbuing the minds of the young of his flock with its truths-toiling continually— knowing that "the Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation." He has also authority to "preach the word:" he is entrusted with the mysterious power before which idolatry, superstition, and infidelity have ever fled—“ the preaching of the cross of Christ," (1 Cor. i. 17, &c.); the proclamation of mercy and love from God to sinners, (2 Cor. v. 20.) By this Gospel stony hearts are melted, and stubborn wills subdued. "It is the power of God unto salvation." (Rom. i. 16.) He has, too, holy sacraments entrusted to his ministration, for the nurture and edification of the people. Holy Sabbaths, and seasons of peculiar devotion, commemorative of the love of Christ, are means to be used by him for the awakening of sinners, and the comforting of Providential opportunities also, seasons of sickness, sorrow, and affliction among his flock, when the heart is soft and tender, then he will till the ground, and drop in the seed. Thus, "in season, and out of season," will the man of God labour for the spiritual cultivation of the portion of the vineyard entrusted to him. But still would he despair, but for III. THE SPECIAL PROMISES OF GOD TO EVERY DEVOTED HUSBANDMAN: -The work is peculiar, and so are its encouragements: he 99 66 thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that." (Eccles. xi. 6.) St. Paul himself testifies: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God [alone] gave the increase." (1 Cor. iii. 6-9.) He who plants, and he who waters, is nothing; "but God that giveth the increase; we are labourers together with God; ye are God's husbandry; our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord." "God's word cannot return unto him void; it will accomplish His purpose.' (Isaiah lv. 11.) "For it is not we that speak, but the Father that speaketh by us." "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Hence the faithful husbandman casts his burthen upon God in prayer. When he has toiled, and sown the seed, perhaps in tears, he cannot make it grow: it grows "he knoweth not how," (Mark iv. 27); but he watches and waits in prayer for the dews of heavenly grace, and the showers of the Spirit; and his vineyard shall be visited and blessed of God, and believers shall spring up "as willows by their water courses." (Isaiah xliv. 4.) IV. WHAT A BLESSED SIGHT IS THE FIELD AND VINEYARD OF SUCH A LABOURER ! No rich and verdant meadow, nor highly cultivated garden, no golden harvests waving in the summer breeze, are half so fragrant and lovely as this spiritual field which the Lord hath blessed! See the house of God thronged with devout and joyful worshippers; the Sabbath reverenced; the holy communion received by a goodly company of penitent believers; Sabbath and daily schools in active operation; the pastor's face familiar in cottage and hovel, whither he goes to bless the people; open profaneness is abashed and driven backward; piety, holiness, and godliness, are evidently on the advance; "works of faith and labours of love" abound among the people; and then the aged saint is borne with faith to the grave, and the young are comforted and cheered, and all are edified! Oh that God would be pleased to multiply such pastors and such flocks among us! How should our country become a people of the Lord, honoured among the nations! V. BUT NOW CONSIDER THE DIFFERENT PICTURE DRAWN IN THE TEXT: -Here is a vineyard deserted and waste; a field whose fence is broken down all is spiritual desolation! Let us consider it, and receive instruction! 1. What is so affecting as the contemplation of a neglected parish? Here is a church, but where are the people? Few attend this sanctuary; the services are hurried over; the sermon is short, powerless, and unedifying; Christ is rarely named in it; the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper is seldom administered, and when it is, few receive it; there may be a school, but, destitute of energy and discipline, it is but a handful of disorderly children; and why? because the pastor is seldom seen there! The cottages of the poor are rarely visited by this professed labourer, who is occupied in his farm, or in the sports of the field, or in literary pursuits, and pleasures of taste; or perhaps in the more questionable follies of the ball-room and the card-table! Meanwhile, the flock is scattered his spiritual field runs to waste; briers and thorns choke it; it is trodden down; the fence is torn away; and all is ruin and desolation! 2. And how is this to be accounted for? "This is the field of the slothful, and the vineyard of the man void of understanding!" Ah! selfish, self-indulgent, pleasure-loving man! What ruin art thou bringing upon thine own soul, and the souls of those whom God hath given to thy charge! But how did this happen? "It was a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep!" At first, and perhaps as a young man, he was zealous and active, and his church and his schools were prospering, and the people loved to welcome his pastoral visits; but by little and little he became less diligent: he was entangled with the world with society-with family cares; and he gradually relaxed his diligence in family devotion, in private prayer, in pastoral visits; till at length little more than the dull form and necessary ecclesiastical duties are observed! Oh! most grievous departure, most perilous condition! Bad for the people-worse for the priest-that slothful husbandman! 66 3. The miserable end to be dreaded !—" Poverty will come as one that travelleth, and want as an armed man!"— -Not temporal want and poverty: he may be well filled with the fat things of this world; but spiritual, final, hopeless desolation and ruin! What if, in the midst of this neglect, he be called to his account? The progress of his religious declension may have been gradual-step by step; but its termination may be sudden-hopeless! Death, as an armed man, may burst in upon him, seize and bind him, and drag him before the Great Shepherd and Bishop of the Flock; and then what will he have to say in his defence? He is the slothful servant: "Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness," &c. (Matt. xxii. 13.) The awful destiny of the shepherds who feed themselves instead |