3. Negligent unfruitfulness is a breach of trust, to which we are bound by covenant, and so a disappointment of God's expectation. To fortify this consideration, I need not repeat that all God's gifts to us imply a trust ; the very scope of this parable showeth it, aud it may
Vers. 26, 27.J sermons upon matthew xxv. 473
be further confirmed by Isa. xliii. 21-24, ' This people I have formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. But thou hast not called upon me, 0 Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, 0 Israel : thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings, neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense ; thou hast bought me no sweet-cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities.' That where God hath given a people advantages, he expecteth answerable service and improvement ; and that we are bound to this by the covenant of grace, wherein we give up ourselves to the Lord for his use and service ; and that God reckoneth upon this : Gen. xviii. 19, 'I know my servant Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him ;' and Luke xiii. 7, ' Then said he to the dresser of the vineyard, Behold, these three years have I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree ; ' and Isa. Ixiii. 8, ' For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie.' Only now I press that unfruitfulness and breach of trust is a great crime, and a disappointing the righteous expectation of God, a very provoking thing ; and therefore the slothful servant, that doth not answer the ends of his trust, nor fulfil his covenant vow, must needs be highly culpable, though he should not break out into acts of gross excess, and apparent enmity against God.
4. He that ceaseth to do good, evil must needs ensue ; and the un- profitable servant hath his blots and blemishes, which render him odious unto God. Homines nihil agendo, male agere discunt, saith Cato. Standing pools are apt to putrify ; and the Psalmist saith, Ps. xiv. 2, ' They are all become filthy and abominable, for there is none that seeketh God.' When the gardener holdeth his hand, the ground is soon overgrown with weeds. Sins of omission will make way for sins of commission ; and those that neglect improvement lose all reve- rence and awe of God every day more and more, and so are given up to a hatred of his people, and many brutish lusts. As a carcase not embalmed is more noisome every day : Job xv. 4, ' Thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
Use 1. Let us all be ashamed of our sloth. There is more evil in it than we are aware of.
1. Consider the necessity of diligence. There is nothing in religion can be gotten, kept, increased, or maintained, without great diligence. No comfort without it: 2 Peter i. 10, ' Wherefore the rather, brethren, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure;' 2 Peter iii. 14, ' Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace.' No grace without it : 2 Peter i. 5, ' And besides this, give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge.' No hope of coming to heaven without it : Heb. vi. 11, ' And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end.' I Hi falsi sunt, saith Sallust, qui diversissimas res expectant, ignavice voluptatem, et prcemia virtutis. It is in vain to think that a loitering profession will ever "bring any glory to God, comfort, or increase of grace to our- selves., or breed in us any comfortable hope and expectation of blessed-
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ness to come. All excellent things are hard to come by ; it is true in earthly matters, it is much more true in spiritual.
2. Consider the evil of sloth. A slothful man and a profane man differ very little : Prow xviii. 9, ' He that is slothful in work is brother to him that is a great waster.' The one getteth nothing, and the other spendeth all. Thou wilt say, thou art no drunkard, no whore- monger. But thou art idle and negligent, so that you and they are brothers ; all the difference is as between a consumption and an apo- plexy ; the one destroyeth in an instant, the other consumeth by degrees ; the one is like splitting a ship, that goes down to the bottom presently, the other like a leaky ship that sinkelh by degrees. Though you do not run into the same excess of riot with others, yet you are idle in the Lord's work : it cometh much to the same effect ; the heart groweth poorer and poorer, till at length it ends in final hardness. Nay, in some sense negligence is worse than gross profaneness. Many from great sinners have turned great saints, but few from a lukewarm careless profession have come to anything. Therefore these are ' spewed out of God's mouth/ Rev. iii. 1G. There is more hope of a sinner than of a lukewarm careless person, for he doth not think himself evil, and so is more liable to security. God may give grace to the one, but taketh away the talent from the other.