[Circumstances occur in this world to interrupt the na- tural operation of causes and effects: but in general, where any man's subsistence depends upon his labour, the consequences of sloth or activity will be such as might be expected. In spiritual things the rule is absolute and invariable. Every man's progress will be according to his labour. Some indeed may enjoy more of comfort than others, from other causes than their own diligence : but every person's real proficiency in grace will be proportioned to the improvement he makes of the talents committed to him : without detracting at all from the grace of God, we may safely affirm, that the difference between one Christian and another in respect of victory over sin, and happiness in the divine life, must be traced in a very great measure to their different degrees of watchfulness in secret duties.]
This truth however will not appear in its full extent till the day of judgment —
[At the time of harvest the care or negligence of the hus- bandman will very clearly appear ; and, if we should suppose a man to have wholly neglected the cultivation of his fields, he would find himself destitute, while others were satiated with abundance ; nor, if he were reduced to beggary, would he find any one to pity his forlorn condition. But his situation, deplorable as it would be, is not to be compared with that of a negligent Chi'istian in the day of judgment. He will see others reaping a glorious harvest, while he is not permitted even to glean an ear : he will behold others " crowned with glory and honour and immortality," while nothing remains for him but " indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish." The foolish virgins, who slept while they should have been procuring oil for their lamps, came and pleaded in vain for admittance, when the door was once shut against them : none but the wise virgins were suffered to participate the nuptial feast. In the same manner, the Rich Man, who lived only to the flesh, sought in vain for one drop of water to mitigate his anguish, while Lazarus, who had lived to nobler purposes, had a fulness of joy in Abra- ham's bosom. Thus also will it be with all, when the great harvest shall arrive : they, who had improved their season of grace, ^vill be partakers of glory ; while they, who had wasted it in sloth and self-indulgence, will reap the fruits of their folly, in deserved shame, in perpetual want, in unalleviated, unpitied, everlasting misery.]
Application —
1 . Let us, in the view of this subject, take shame to ourselves —
[How long has our season of grace been protracted ; and