2. He will give it to them all, without exception —
[There is no want of power in him to give it to whom- soever he will. Nor will he be constrained to work a miracle to supply any number that call upon him. " In his Father's house there is bread enough, and to spare." Nor will he shew any partiality to one above another. Every labourer, whether old or young, rich or poor, shall receive his proper recompence, every one in exact proportion to his own labour0. There will not be with him a different standard whereby to estimate the labours of men ; the time and zeal of one being regarded as nothing, in comparison with the exertions of others. "He will judge righteous judgment." It may be that some do not begin to labour till they are incapable, according to human appre- hension, of doing any thing to good effect : but though they " come into the vineyard at the eleventh hour," they shall have a portion dealt out to them with a liberal hand. One thing only must be observed by all: whatever they receive, they must receive it as a gift, " a reward, not of debt, but of grace p." This is indispensably necessary for them all. Not one is to look upon the meat as earned by him ; because there is no proportion whatever between the work and the reward, so far as merit is concerned. The labour of ten thousand years would not merit the smallest portion in heaven : the best of men are but "unprofitable servants:" but, if men will labour, " they shall never labour in vain, or run in vainV]
This subject affords just occasion for,
1. Reproof to the indolent —
[Truly, when we see how anxiously and industriously men exert themselves for the things of time and sense, the very best amongst us may well be ashamed and confounded on account of his own listlessness and inactivity in the ways of God. Look at the worldling : see him " rising early, and late taking rest, and eating the bread of carefulness," for weeks, and months, and years : see the satisfaction which he feels in prospects of success, and his pain in the apprehensions of failure : see how alive he is to every thing which may help him forward in his favourite pursuit, and how every thing is made to bear upon that. When shall ive engage with such ardour as that in the pursuit of heaven ? When shall we use the means of grace with the same zest and constancy as they do the means of temporal advancement? When will every thing be swallowed up, as it were, in the concerns of the soul ? Alas ! it must be confessed that we fall exceeding short in all these exertions, and that " the men of this world are in their
° 1 Cor. iii. 8. P Rom. iv. 4. i 1 Cor. xv. 58.