rise, and which, if suffered to remain, will materially impede the growth of every good plant. But is there not reason to fear that the greater part of us have shewn ourselves " slothful, and void of understanding? Have we not been shamefully remiss in our attention to these great concerns ? Have not the fruits produced by us, been " grapes of Sodom, and clusters of Gomorrha?" Have not unbelief and impenitence, pride and anger, envy and malice, covetousness and impurity, with ten thousand other noxious weeds, been suffered to spring up and grow within us, till they have even " covered the face of the ground?" Alas! the proofs of spiritual sloth are but too evident in us all.]
2. Unprotected —
[Whatever care a man should take of his vineyard, he would lose his labour, if he should forget to fence it in ; " the wild beast of the field would soon root it up and devour it." What then can be expected to spring up in our souls, when they are left at the mercy of every enemy that chooses to tread them down ? We should long since have fortified them with holy jmrposes and resolutions. These, it is true, can avail nothing, if made in our own strength ; but, if made in reliance upon God, they will be no slight barrier against the invading foe. Joshua^, David % Nehemiah'^, Paul% found them useful and effectual for their preservation. We should also have had our souls strengthened by the grace of Christ. That would have proved " sufficient for us:" it would have been even as a wall, yea, " as a wall of fire, round about us." Above all, we should have taken care to have them encompassed by God's holy covenant, " which is ordered in all things and sure." Inclosed by that, we might defy all the assaults of earth and hell.
But have we been careful thus to protect our souls ? Have we not rather left them open to the incursion of our enemies, the sport of every temptation, the prey of every lust ?]
Such a melancholy sight should make us doubly attentive to,
II. His reflections upon it —
Solomon was more desirous to benefit himself, than to criminate others, even though their conduct was justly reprehensible. His reflections therefore on the sight which he beheld, were of a general na- ture respecting the evil and danger of sloth. The state of our souls may well lead us to similar reflec- tions, and convince us that sloth is,
^ Josh. xxiv. 15. (^ Ps. cxix. 106.
d Neh. vi. 11. « Acts xxi. 1,3.
808.1 THE sluggard's vineyard. 237
1. Deceitful —
[The slotliful man does not intend to involve himself in ruin : he only pleads for a little more indulgence of his indo- lent habits : but, alas! His " little slumber" insensibly becomes a great deal : his time passes away, and his work is left undone. The rest which he takes, instead of refreshing him, enfeebles all his powers, and indisposes him for action ; so that, though he never intends to plunge himself into difficulties, he does it most effectually. And how lamentably does an indisposition to spi- ritual labour deceive us ! No man intends to destroy his own soul : he only pleads for a little more delay, a little more slumber : he thinks he shall awake time enough to do all that is necessary. Thus, while he sleeps, the thorns and nettles grow, and seed, and multiply, and take such deep root, that they can scarcely ever be eradicated : in the mean time, every good desire that may at any time have sprung up within him, is choked ; and the decaying wall that should protect him falls to the ground. Ah ! how many thousands have perished, like Felix, while they were waiting for "a more convenient season!" There has always been some " lion in the way V' whenever the time came for labour and exertion ; and thus they have lost the only season which the great Husbandman had allotted for the performance of their work.]