Vers. 6-8.-Spiritual husbandry ar,d growth. A man, looking upon the world, sees accoruing to his power of vision; i.e. not simply according to what he finds in it~ but to what he brings to it. 'fo the eye of the Apostle Paul, the world was a wilderness which might be made a garden. There was, he saw, rude, worthless growth to be extirpated, rich soil to be tilled, plants of worth and renown to replace the weeds. His prophetic eye beheld the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. And to his mind Christians were plants, and Christian ministers were gardeners and husbandmen. I. SPIRITUAL CULTIVATTON NEEDS HUMAN INDUSTRY. There is need, in order to the- progress and perfection of the work of God, of: 1. Intelligent and willing labourers. Men are employed by Divine wisdom to labour among their fellow-men. Saved, renewed, and consecrated labourers have ever been blessed in the work of securing a spiritual harvest. The olive-yard, and the vineyard cannot flourish and prosper with- out unstinted toil, vigilance, skill, and care; so is it with the garden of the Lord. 2. Divinely commissioned labourers. They work best for Jesus who have hearrl his voice saying, "Go, work to-day in my vineyard;" whom the authoritative Lord has adclressed in his own commanding language, "Unto men I now send thee." !I. SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION DEMANDS A VARlETY OF CHARACTER AND ABILITY IN THF, TOILERS. 1. One class of labourers are especially adapted to the work of planting. There are Christian missionaries anu evangelists who have the gift of awakening attention, arousing concern, eliciting inquiry, calling forth repentance, foun,ling. Churches even among the ignorant and degraded heathen. 2. Another class possess the grace of watering the plants already placed in the spiritual soil. These, as pastor& and bishops, impart instruction, administer consolation, exercise guidance and control. Catechists and teachers carry on the work which missionaries have begun. 3. AH classes co-operate towards the one great end in view. All true labourers are one ill, motive and in aim, in spirit, in mutual confidence and love. None may say to the other, "I have no need of thee." Each has his service, and none is more indispensable than another, 4. All arc individually noticed, appreciated, and rewarded. "Then shall every one have praise of God;" "I will give unto every one of you according to your works;" "My reward is with rue, to give every man according as his work shall be." Ill. Sl'lllITUAL CULTl'l"ATION DEPENDS FOR ITS EFFICIENCY AND SUCCESS ENTIREL'> UPON THE BLESSING OF THE LORD. 1. From God comes the vitality of the spiritual plant; his is the gospel and his the Spirit, by whose co-operation the result is brought about. 2. From God comes the preparation of the labourer; whose intellectual gift,, whose emotional sympathy, and whose spiritual power are all alike of heavenly origin_ 3. From God comes tho living energy to which is owing the progress and increase of that which man plants and waters. Thus the excellency of the power is seen to be of God, and not of us.-T.
Ver. 9.-" God's fellow-workers." God is ever working. Let this thought shame those foolish, worthless persons who deem it derogatory to labour. Not only when htil fashioned this world and made it fit for our dwelling-place, not only when he created man, but always and everywhere is God working. 'l'he laws of nature ure the opera- tions of the Almighty, and he is working as well in the spiritual sphere as in the physical. I. TRUE CHRISTIANS ARE SPIRITUAL LABOURERS. Christian evangelists and pastors, teachers and bishops, are all working in prominent positions iu the harvest-field of spiritual toil. But spiritual labour is the natural outcome of the spiritual life. Every !OG THE FIRST 1'PISTLE TO THE COlUNTilIANS. [cH. m. 1-23.
sincere follower of Christ is seeking an end outside of himself-tho promotion of the kingdom of righteousness and the glory of the Divine Master. Our hearts may rest in the Lord, but onr hands work for him. H. CHRISTIAKS ARE ~-ELLOW-LABOURERS ONE WITH ANOTHER. I. There is difforence ~n natural po\\·crs, !!l spiritual gifts, in ecclesiastical position, in length of service. 2. But there is u11ity in aim, in hope, in the relation all sustain to him by .whoso authority and for whose glory they toil. 3. And there is sympat.hy, mutual o-ood will, and helpfulness. If there is dc!'ect here, it is a discredit to the common profession, a hindrance to the general usefulness, a grief to the one Loni. III. CHRIS'l'IA!\S ARE FELLOW-LADOURERS WITH Goo AS THEm MASTER. 1. All are alike called by him who sends forth labourers into his harvest. He is independent of us, and it is to his grace we owe it that we arc permitted to labour for him. 2. All are alike directed to labour for the one great end-the universal and immortal rei"u of truth and righteousness, holiness and love. 3. All are alike instructed by him as to the special means by which the one end is to be secured. He gives to every one the :1ppropriate implement for his toil, the weapon adapted to his warfare. 4. All alike receive the needed strength and guidance from him, the spiritual impulse and power which gives efficrtcy to their service. 5. All rejoice that, whether they plant or water the same Lord "gives the increase." ' IV. CHRISTIA:!S"S ARE LAJIOURERS WITH Goo AS THEIR FELLOW-WORKER. This inter- pretation, whether justifiable or not grammatically, does 11ot seem liable to a charO'e of i1Tel'erence. I. In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme Exe~plar -of spiritual labour. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Jesus calls us to do what he himself is doing. \Vhat power there is in his appeal, " Work, not only for me, but with me!" 2. 'l'he agency of the Divine Spirit is never withheld. The husband- man can only work effectually when God works with him by the agencies of nature; the mechanist, only when physical forces can be employed under his control; the physician, only whell, his treatment is in harmony with physiological laws. So the Christian labourer is successful, not through independence, but just because he avails himself of the co-operatiou of the Lord and Giver of life; because, in all devotion and <liligeuce and humility, he endeavours to live and to toil as a fellow-worker with God!-T.