Septuagesima Sunday.
The Laborers in the Vineyard.
"Man goeth forth unto his labor until the evening, and then cometh the night when no man worketh." — Psalm ciii. 23; John ix. 4.
SYNOPSIS.
Ex. : I. Necessity of labor. II. Our choice. III. Our reward
I. Parable : 1. Rich youth and Peter's query. 2. Five special calls. 3. The recusant.
II. Choice: 1. Two masters. 2. Vineyard and race-course. 3. Worldling and sluggard.
III. Reward: 1. Coin is heaven. 2. Justice to all. 3. First, last; last, first.
Per. : Newman's picture of ideal Christian.
SERMON.
Brethren, for six days the Creator wrought, and rested on the seventh; not till the darkened sun cast night on Calvary did the Redeemer desist from His labors; and the Holy Ghost, we are told, the Sanctifier and Saviour, will continue His beneficent mission even to the night of time — the consummation of the world. Ceaseless activity, then, being a characteristic of God, what wonder that toil is the common lot of man, for the Creator is the creatures' archetype. Man, even before his fall, was bidden dress and keep the earthly paradise, but after his sin his toil became for him a curse. The convict in his solitary cell anon realizes that work is a necessity of our being. " Labor," says Shakespeare, " physics pain; 'tis in itself a blessing and cursed only in its products, the.
