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I. THE INEVITABLE WORK OF HUMAN LIFE. What is the work? It is that of moral agriculture-sowing and reaping. Every man in every act of life is doing this. Every volition, whether it takes the form of a thought, a word, or a muscular act, is a seed. There is a germ of imperishable life in it. What seeds men sow every day. What bushels they deposit in the moral soil of their being. But they reap as well as sow every day. What was sown yesterday they reap to-day. "Men are living in the fruits of their doings." The law of causation is inviolate and ever operative within them.

II. THE RETRIBUTIVE LAW OF HUMAN LIFE. What you sow you'll reap.

1. What you sow in kind you reap. "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity." Job says, "They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same " (Job 4:8). Paul (Galatians 6:7, 8). God will not reverse the law.

2. What you sow in measure you shall reap. Not a grain will be lost. Sometimes the seed which the husbandman commits to the soil rots. But not a grain in the harvest of life is lost. He will reap the richest harvest of blessedness who is most active in deeds of love and godliness. The words present —

III. THE TERRIBLE MISTAKE OF HUMAN LIFE. What is the mistake? "Sowing iniquity."

1. This is a general mistake.

2. This is a mistake which men are slow to learn.

3. This is a mistake whose ultimate consequences will be terrific.And the rod of his anger shall fail; or, as in the margin, "With the rod of his anger shall he be consumed." Perhaps this expression refers to the tyrannic power exercised by wealthy men, as referred to in the preceding verse. Death shall wrest the rod from his hands. God shall break it to pieces; and his tyranny and iniquity shall leave him nothing but shame, remorse, and the fruits of Divine vengeance.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

WEB: He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.