The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 65

I. THE HARVEST REVEALS THE RESULTS OF lllAN18 LABOUB. "Whatsoever a man soweLh, that shall be also reap." "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." Both in kind and in quantity, every harvest is proportioned to our sowing. 1. We see this in social life. 'l'he nation which allows its children to grow up in hovels where decency is impossible, and under conditions in which knowledge and virtue are out of reach, will have to reap as it has sown-in jails and penitentiaries, ill abject misery and festering vice. 2. In owr inullectual life, as every man in due time discovers for himself; e.g. the indolence and the studiousness of school-days have their certain results. 3. In the occupations we follow we sow as we reap. Wealth or fame depends upon our choice.and persistence. 4. In the moral, and religious sphere the same law holds good, so that the worldly need not complain if they are hopeless of heaven, and the religious need not be indignant if the wealth of this world is not theirs. Yet we must remember the injunction, "Judge nothing before the time." God's Word points us on to a future in which alone we shall be able accurately to estimate the full issues of our present life. We look for a distant day when he shall say to his angels," Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." II. THE H.AllVEBT l'ROOLADIS TIIE SUPREMACY OF DIVINE LAW. 1. Science has demon- atrated the corn;tancy and re,gutarity of the laws of nature. Amongst them is this : " Seed-time and harvest . . . shall not cease." If it had not been for the fidelity of our God in fulfilling this promise, husbandry would have been discouraged, many of the race would have perished, and the world would only be peopled,by a wandering race of starving fishermen and hun.ters. It is the stability of law which preserves humanity. If, then, we trust God in nature, ought we not to trust him in the higher sphere where he reigns as certainly ? W? are confident that he will _be tr~e to himself i~ all the physical laws he has ordained, so that we dare not trifle with them, knowmg that retribution is certain. Then let us not forget his words, "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." 2. The thought that 01//1" God rules in every sphere 6h0'11ld give sanctity to all QUr empwyrnents, and to all the relationships which they necessitate. The Christian who does a menial service, and is treated with indifference or with unkindnt111s, may be encoura<>ed by the reflection that he can "therein abide with God." On the other hand. e~ployers will feel their responsibilities, and, even at the riak of their interference being resented, will give counsel and warning and encouragement (as well as wage) to the weak and unwary. 3. Most of all, in the broad, fiel.ds of Uhriatian BerVice, we BlwuU work as tlwse who are u,nder the eye of " the Lord of the harvut." He will give us the seed of truth to sow; he will prepare the soil of human hearts; he will water what we have sown, and let it appear " firHt as the blade, then as the ear, and afterward as the full corn in the ear." III. THE HARVEST WITNE88EB TO THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF Goo's PURPOSE. 1. He has a purpose about everything, but with him there is no /taste. In proportion as we CIJ. III, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOEL. 63