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In every age the sluggard and the fool have had their place, as well as the labourer and the wise man.

I. THE SCENE SHOWS US THAT IF WE WILL NOT HAVE FLOWERS AND FRUITS WE SHALL CERTAINLY HAVE THORNS AND NETTLES. We cannot set aside the laws of nature. There is a law of growth in the very ground. It is the same with the character of man. We cannot simply do nothing. Life has its laws. We may pay them no heed, but they will assert themselves notwithstanding.

1. A man may resolve not to cultivate his mind. What then? The weeds of false notions, the thorns and nettles of prejudice, will prove his intellectual indolence.

2. A man may neglect to cultivate his moral nature. He will have nothing to do with religion. What then? Look at his false ideas, his superstition, his narrowness, his want of veneration, his superficial judgments, the weeds that have grown up.

II. THE SLUGGARD AND THE FOOL CANNOT HIDE THE RESULTS OF THEIR NEGLECT.

1. We cannot confine the results of a wasted life within our own bounds.

2. This being the case, we have not a right to do with what we call our own as we please. There is nothing which we can strictly call our own. Society will not allow us to do what we please with our own.

III. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE RIGHT IN SOME PARTICULARS AND TO BE GRIEVOUSLY WRONG IN OTHERS. The legal right of the slothful man to the possession of the field might be undisputed. The vineyard might have fallen into the hands of the fool by strict lawful descent. So far so good. The case is on this side perfectly sound. Yet possession was not followed by cultivation. It is not enough to possess; we must increase. You ought not to allow even a house to fall into decay. There is no right of abuse. You have not a right to be dirty, to be ignorant, to be careless of life; on that line no rights have ever been established.

IV. THE SCENE SHOWS THAT EVEN THE WORST ABUSES MAY BE TURNED TO GOOD ACCOUNT. The good man is an example; the bad man is a warning.

1. You will see that the finest possessions may be wasted; property, talent, influence, opportunity.

2. You will see that wickedness always moves in the direction of destruction. It must do so. All indolence must go down. All sin forces itself in the direction of perdition. How did the wise man know that the man was void of understanding? By the state of his vineyard. Know a man by his surroundings, know him by his habits; there is character in everything.

(J. Parker, D.D.)

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KJV: I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

WEB: I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;