21. His lord said unto

gained besides them five talents more.

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him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: I will promote thee to a much greater trust. In the mean time, enter thou into the joy of thy lord: share with me in the pleasures of my palace, and, by sitting down at the entertainment which I have prepared, rejoice with me on account of my safe return. Matt. xxv. 22. He also that had received two talents, came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold I have gained two other talents besides them. 23. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 24. Then he which had received the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew the that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not scrn, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; lo, there thou hast that is thine: I knew thee to be a man of a sordid griping disposition, and for that reason I was afraid to risk thy money in trade, lest by some accident or other it might have been lost. This dishonourable notion which the slave entertained of his lord, being a great aggravation of his crime, 26. His lord was very angry with him, and answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. The lord's answer, as it stands in our translation, looks as if it was an acknowledgment of his slave's calumny. But in the original, both here, and Luke xix. 22. it has a quite different aspect It is an argument drawn from the slave's own words, and therefore ought to have been translated interrogatively, "Thou wicked and slothful servant didst thou know that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed ?" 27. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury (ovy toxw, with interest.) If thou wast not willing to undergo the trouble and danger of carrying on trade with my money, yet believing me to be of the disposi tion which thou hast described, thou oughtest by all means to have lent out my money, that I might have received interest at least for it. He mentioned this instance of good management, because it was the lowest that could be, and was attended with the least trouble, to intimate, that though the slave had not pursued with his lord's money that particular sort of trade which, according to the manner of the times, he had been bred to, yet, if he had been at any pains at all to improve the stock committed to him, though it had been ever so little, his lord would have been contented. Matt. xxv. 28. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents; see on Luke

xix. 24. § 109. 29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hith; see on Matt. xiii. 12. § 49. 30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; see on Matt. viii. 11. § 28. This his punishment was greatly imbittered to him by the happier lot of his fellow-servants, who were highly applauded for their diligence, and gladdened with the prospect of their reward.

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Thus Jesus described the judgment of his own servants, his apostles, ministers, and all who are in eminent stations of life, shewing, that though they are not blessed indeed with equal advantages, yet that all the gifts, whether of nature or of grace, which they enjoy, are bestowed on them for their Master's service, to whom they properly belong; and that they should be employed in promoting his interests, the interests of truth and righteousness, which he came down to establish on earth; and that he esteems the most useful life to be the most praise-worthy, and will reward it accordingly. The behaviour of a good man in an eminent station of life, is fitly enough compared to a course of merchandize; for as merchants, by laying out their money trade, receive it again with profit, so the servants of God, by occupying the abilities and, opportunities which he has put into their hands, improve, strengthen, and increase them; and whatever success they have in this spiritual merchandize, their Master is pleased to consider it as his own, and to think himself enriched thereby, rejoicing ininitely in the happiness of his creatures. The excuse which the slothful slave made for himself, truly expresses the thoughts of wicked men. They look on Christ as a hard tyrannical master, who rigorously exacts what he has no title to, and who punishes with unreasonable severity, things that are no faults at all, or but small ones; and they regard his laws as so many infringements of their liberty, by which they are secluded from much innocent pleasure. But the answer which the judge is said to have returned, demonstrates that all the excuses which wicked men can make for themselves, shali stand for nothing at the great day. And truly it is not to be imagined how any man will produce a sufficient reason before God, justifying his having neglected to do good. The crime and punishment of this idle servant ought to be attentively considered by all, but especially by persons addicted to pleasure, who imagine that there is no harm in giving themselves up to sensual gratifications, provided thereby they do no injury to others. For the Judge of the world here solemnly declares, that one's doing no harm will not bring him off when tried at his bar; that a life spent merely in amusements will be severely punished; that it is highly criminal to let the Divine grace lie buried in idleness; and that all God's

servants

servants must be actively good, exerting themselves to the utmost in promoting his interest, which is no other than the happiness of his creatures. By this indeed they acquire no merit, yet it is by this that they are qualified for the enjoyment of heaven, the gates of which Christ has set open by his death. To conclude, if the slave who hid his talent in a napkin, was reckoned unfaithful to his trust, and punished accordingly, notwithstanding he delivered it up to his lord entire, what may they expect who destroy the noble faculties bestowed on them, or use those temporal blessings as occasions of sin, which God intended as means for the exercise and improvement of grace? This parable was delivered formerly in the house of Zaccheus, but with different circumstances, 109.

The third parable is as follows: Matt. xxv. 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, (see on Matt. xvi. 27. § 71.) and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. By this perhaps is meant some shining cloud, like that on which he ascended into heaven, Acts i. 9. For the angels at his ascension declared that he shall come to judgment riding on a cloud, Acts i. 11. See Exod. xvi. 10. 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. This is agreeable to the language of the Old Testament, in which good men are compared to sheep on account of their innocence and usefulness, (Psal. xxiii. 1. c. 3.) and wicked men to goats, for the exorbitancy of their lusts, Ezek. xxxiv. 17. The allusion however is dropt almost at the entrance of the parable, the greatest part of this representation being expressed in terms perfectly simple, so that though the sense be profound, it is obvious. Here the judgment of all nations, Gentiles as well as Christians, is described and the points on which their trials are to proceed, are shewed. They shall be acquitted or condemned, according as it shall then appear that they have performed or neglected works of charity, the duties which in Christians necessarily spring from the great principles of faith and piety, and which the heathens themselves were invited to perform by the light of nature, the dispensation they were under. But then we are not to understand this, as if such works were meritorious in either; for all who are acquitted at that day, whether heathens or Christians, shall be acquitted solely on account of the righteousness of Christ, as the meritorious cause. The sentence passed upon the righteous, affords a noble motive to patience in welldoing. 34. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand: In the beginning of the parable, (ver. 31.) he had called himself the Son of man only; but he now changes the appellation, taking the title of king with great propriety, when he is speak

ing of himself as exercising the highest act of kingly power, in passing final sentence upon all men as his subjects, whereby their state shall be unalterably fixed for ever. But while, in this grand representation, Jesus asserts his proper dignity as Lord over all; he acknowledges his subordination in the kingdom to his Father, by addressing the righteous in the sentence he passes upon them, with the compellation of persons blessed of his Father: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The present state of good men is at best but a melancholy banishment from their native country. Moreover, they are oftentimes exposed to manifold temptations, to persecutions, to poverty, to reproach, and to innumerable other evils. But that they may bear all with indefatigable patience, and overcome through the strength of an invincible courage, they are made to know by this sentence that they are beloved and blessed of God as his own children; that there is no less than an eternal kingdom prepared for them, even from the foundation of the world; and that they are the undoubted heirs of this eternal kingdom. Well may such bear with the violence of their oppressors, knowing what an exceeding and eternal weight of glory awaits them. They may look on the most flourishing prosperity of the wicked without envy, when they descry the neverfading crown, the fragrancy of the blossoms of which, though it is so distant as heaven, gladdens and refreshes the senses of men on earth. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. How astonishing is it to hear the great Judge declaring, that all the good offices which men have ever performed, were done to him! Matt. xxv. 35. * For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat;

1 I was

Matt. 3. I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.] It may seem strange that in this representation of the judgment, the enquiry should be said to turn not upon the commission of crimes, but upon the performance of duties. The reason may be, that, generally speaking, men look upon the neglect of duties as a trivial affair, but dread the commission of crimes. And hence it comes to pass, that while they keep themselves clear of the latter, they are apt to find many excuses for the former. Wherefore, as there is not a more pernicious error respecting religion and morality than this, it was highly becoming the wisdom of Jesus to give such an account of the judgment, as should be the most solemn caution possible against

it.

But since the enquiry is said to turn wholly upon the performance of duties, it may seem more strange still, that the offices of charity only are mentioned, and not a word spoken of any search made into mens conduct with regard to the duties of piety: notwithstanding the Judge himself, upon another occasion, declared such to be of greater importance than the duties of charity, that are so highly applauded in the parable. See $119. Nevertheless, to justify this part of the representation, let it be considered that piety and charity never can subsist separately; piety, and its root, faith, always producing charity; and charity, wherever it subsists, necessa

I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; 36. Naked, and ye clothed me, I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. In the whole of

rily pre-supposing picty. The connection between piety and charity will clearly appear, provided this dictate of reason and experience is attended to, namely, that no man can be truly benevolent and merciful, without loving those dispositions. If so, he must love benevolence in God, that is, must love God himself. I speak of those who believe there is a God; for piety, or the love of God, is nothing else but the regard we cherish towards God on account of his perfections. Piety and charity being thus essentially connected together, to examine mens conduct with respect to either of these graces was sufficient. In the parable, the inquiry is represented as turning upon the duties of charity, perhaps because in this branch of goodness there is less room for self deceit than in the other. Hypo crites, by shewin; much zeal in the externals of religion, oftentimes make specious pretensions to extraordinary piety, and uncommon heights of the love of God, white in the mean time they are altogether defective in cha rity; are covetous, unjust, rapacious and proud, consequently reaily void of the love of God. The case is otherwise with the love of man. None can assume the appearance of this grace, but by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, relieving the distressed, and performing the other friendly offices of love. Charity therefore does not easily admit of self-deceit. It is true, works of charity may, in some particular cases, proceed from other principles than the holy root of a pious benevolent disposition; such as from vanity, or even from views of interest. But then it must be remcmbered, that an ordinary hypocrisy will hardly engage men to undertake them. They are by far too weighty duties to be sustained by those hollow false principles which support bad men, and by that means are sel dom counterfeited. For which cause, wherever a genuine, extensive, and permanent charity is found, we may safely conclude that there the love of God reigns in perfection.

This parable therefore teaches us in the plainest manner, that pretensions to piety, however loud, will avail a man nothing at the bar of God, if he be deficient in works of charity. At the same time, taken in its true light, it gives no man reason to hope well either of himself or others, if they be wanting in their duty to God, and that although they should not only be charitable, but grateful also, and just, and temperate, and out. wardly blameless in all their dealings with men. The reason is this, the duty we owe to God is no other than what is due to men in the like circumstances, and which if we neglected we should be unjust to them. it consists of dispositions and actions the same in kind, but different in de gree, proportionable to the perfection of the object. He who loves and admires holiness, justice, goodness and truth in men, cannot but love these perfections in God, that is. must love God. So likewise he that is truly grateful to an earthly benefactor, cannot be ungrateful to one, from whose bounty all the good things he enjoys do flow. And since ingratitude in men cons steth in this, that the pe son obliged forgetteth the benefit he has received, never thinks of hos benefactor, and is at no pains to make suita ble retus; how can he acquit himself from the charge of ingratitude to God, who never thinks of God, nor of the favours that he hath received from him, hath no sense of the obligations he lieth under to him, and is not at the pains so much as to return him thanks, that is to say, wholly ne glects the external and internal exercises of devotion. Since therefore the duty we owe to Ged is the same in kind with that which men claim from us in like circumstatices; it is unquestionable, that true morality never

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