402

Reflections on the Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Sect. 164. duct, and remain deftitute of that Principle of real Piety, which ought to give Luftre and Vigour to it.

Mat. XXV. 13.

See to it therefore, that you maintain a conftant Watch, not prefuming on Preparations to be made hereafter; for your Removal may be much more fudden than you are aware, and ye know neither the Day nor the Hour, in which the Son of Man cometh, to receive his prepared People to himfelf, and for ever to exclude the Hypocrite and the Sinner from the Entertainments of his Heavenly Kingdom.

13 Watch therefore, for

ye know neither the Day Son of Man cometh.

nor the Hour, wherein the

Mat. xxv. 1.

L

IMPROVEMENT.

ET us apply our Hearts to the obvious Inftructions, which this well known Parable fo naturally fuggefts. We are under a religious Profeffion: Our Lamps are in our Hands; and we go forth as thofe, that expect to meet Chrift; as those, that defire and hope to be admitted to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. But, alas, how few are there, that are truly prepared for fuch a Bleffednefs! Would to GOD there were Reafon to hope, that the Chriftian Church were fo equally divided, that Ver. 2, 3, 4. Five of Ten in it had the Oil of Divine Grace in their Hearts, to render them burning and fhining Lights!

Ver. 5.

Ver. 6.

Ver. 8, 9.

Let even fuch as have it, be upon their Guard; for our Lord intimates, that the Wife, as well as the Foolish Virgins, are too apt to flumber and fleep, and carelessly to intermit that Watch, which they ought conftantly to maintain. There may be, at an unexpected Time, a Midnight Cry. Happy the Souls, that can hear it with Pleasure; being not only habitually, but actually ready to obey the Summons; having their Loins girded, and their Lamps burning. (Luke xii. 35.)

The Foolish Virgins faw their Error too late: They applied to the Wife; but their Application was vain. And as vain will the Hope of thofe be, who truft to the Interceffion of departed Saints, or any fuppofed Redundancy of Merit in them, while they are themselves Strangers to a Ver. 10,-12. holy Temper and Life. In vain will they cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. The Door of Mercy will be fout for ever, and the Workers of Iniquity utterly difowned. The Day of Grace has its Limits; and for thofe that have trifled it away, there remaineth nothing but the Blackness of Darknefs for ever. (Jude, ver. 13.)

SECT.

CHRIST delivers the Parable of the Talents.

SECT. CLXV. ·

CHRIST repeats the Parable of the Talents, in a Form Something different from that in which he had before delivered it. Mat. XXV. 14,----30.

J

MAT. XXV. 14.

14.

403

ESUS, having delivered the preceding Para- Sect. 165.
ble of the Virgins, went on farther to illuftrate
the Subject, by the Repetition of a Parable which Mat. XXV.
he had ufed fome Time before; (Luke xix.
12,27. Sect. 144. pag. 278, & feq.) and
faid, Let me again remind you of the great Im-
portance of preparing for my Coming by a dili-
gent Improvement of your Gifts; for the Time
when [the Son of Man] fhall come, and the grand
Administration of Judgment attending it, [will
be] as the Proceedings of a Man, [who] going a
long Journey called his Servants together, and de-
livered his Effects to them. And to one of them 15
he gave Five Talents (a), and to another Two,
and to another One; to every Man according to
his refpective Capacity to manage the Sum, and
to the Profpect there might reasonably be of his
improving it: And immediately he went away, and
fet forward on his Journey.

And he who had received the Five Talents, went, 16
and engaged in Bufinefs, and traded with them in
fo diligent a Manner during the Abfence of his
Mafter, that he doubled the Sum, and produced
Five Talents more.
And in like manner he who
[had received] the Two, was fo industrious in
improving them, that he also gained Two more.

But

(a) To one he gave Five Talents.] According to Dr. Prideaux's Calculation, if these were Talents of Gold, the Value of the Five muft have been 36,000 Pounds Sterling, and if Silver, 2250 Pounds. (See the Preface to his Connection, pag. 20.) And perhaps this great Sum was chofen, to intimate the Value and Importance of thofe Capacities and Opportunities, committed to every reafonable Creature, and efpecially to every profeffing Chriftian. But I do not lay any very great Strefs on this Remark, because it is plain, that as Homer ufes the Word Taλavlov for a Sum, or perhaps a fmall Wedge of Gold, of confiderable lefs Value than the Price of Two fat Oxen, (Iliad. 4. ver. 750, 151.) fo the Signification of it among much later Writers is very indeterminate. Eee 2

(b) Well

17

Mat XXV.

18.

404
Sect. 165.But he who had received but One Talent, being
displeased that he had been intrusted with no
more, was feized with fullen Indolence and fer-
vile Fear, and went away directly, and attempted
no Improvement of it, but privately digged [a
Hole] in the Earth, and hid his Master's Money in
it, till he should return Home.

The faithful Servants are rewarded for improving them:

19

20

Thus the Matter paffed off for a while; but after fome confiderable Time, the Mafter of thofe Servants comes Home, and makes up his Accounts with them, demanding from each the Sum with which he had been intrusted, and the Interest he had gained by it.

And he who had received the Five Talents came near, and brought other Five Talents with them, faying, Sir, thou mayeft remember, that thou didst deliver to me Five Talents, when fetting out on thy Journey, and behold, I have gained to them Five 21 Talents more. And his Mafter faid unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful Servant (b), thou hast been faithful in a few Things; and having proved thee to be fo in this lower Truft, 1 will prefer thee to a higher, and fet thee over many more valuable Things than thefe: In the mean Time, enter thou into the Joy of thy Mafter, and share with me in the Banquet prepared for myself and Friends, on this happy Occafion of my Return.

22

23

18 But he that had received One, went and dig

ged in the Earth, and hid his Lord's Money.

22 He alfo that had re

ceived Two Talents, came and faid, Lord, thou deliveredft unto me Two Talents: behold, I have gained Two other Talents befides

them.

He alfo who had received the Two Talents came forwards, and faid, Sir, as thou didst deliver to me only Two Talents, I have endeavoured to use them as carefully as I could; and behold, by trafficking with them I have gained Two other Talents to them. And his Mafter faid unto 23 His Lord said unto him, juft as he had done to the former, Well him, Well done, good and done, thou good and faithful Servant, thy Care faithful Servant; thou haft and Diligence is as agreeable to me, as if thy Truft had been greater; thou hast been evidently

faith

been

(b) Well done, thou good and faithful Servant.] The original Word eu has a peculiar Force, far beyond what I can exactly exprefs in English. It was ufed by Auditors or Specta tors in any publick Exercife, to exprefs the highest Applaufe, when any Part had been excellently performed. Bravely done! comes fomething near it, but is not equally elegant or forcible.

But the flothful is condemned for his Negligence.

405 faithful in a few Things, and I will in like man- Sect. 165. ner prefer thee to a higher Truft, and fet thee over many more valuable Things than these: In the mean Time, come on with thy Companion, and enter thou with him into the Joy of thy Mafter.

Mat. XXV.

23.

But he alfo who had received the One Talent (c) 24
came and faid, with a fullen and gloomy Coun-
tenance, Sir, I knew thee, that thou art a fevere
Man, and that it is a very difficult Thing to please
thee, fince thou art fo exact with thy Servants,
as even to think of reaping where thou didst not
fow, and of gathering whence thou hadst not feat-
tered any Thing that could be taken up; requir-
ing more in many Inftances than it is poffible for
them to do, be they ever fo careful:
And be- 25
ing terrified with this Thought, I concluded, that
if by any Accident thy Money should miscarry
under my Management, thou wouldst fhew me
no Mercy; and therefore I went away, as foon as
I had received it, and hid thy Talent in the Earth,
in a Place where it has been very fecure; fo that
I have now taken it up, and behold, [there] thou
haft thine own again, and wilt find it to be the
full Sum I received.

And his Mafter answering said unto him with 26
a just Indignation, Thou wicked and flothful Ser-
vant, what a falfe and fcandalous Excufe is this,
and how eafily may it be retorted upon thee!
For if it were indeed, as thou maliciously fayeft,
and thou knewest that I was fuch a tyrannical
and unreasonable Man as thou haft defcribed,
even that I reap where I did not fow, and ex-
pect to gather fomething up from whence I had
not fcattered it; thou mighteft certainly depend
upon it, that I fhould expect to reap where I
had fowed, and to gather where I had scattered
that, which, in this Inftance as well as the others,

might

(c) He who bad received the One Talent.] This may intimate, that we are accountable for the fmalleft Advantages with which we are intrufted; but it cannot imply, that they who have received much, will ordinarily pass their Account beft; for it is too plain in Fact, that most of those, whofe Dignity, Wealth, and Genius give them the greatest Opportu nities of Service, feem to forget, they have either any Mafter in Heaven to ferve, or any future Reckoning to expect; and many of them render themselves much more criminal, than this wicked and flothful Servant, who hid his Talent in the Earth.

27.

406

fore to have put my Money at my Coming I fhould have received mine own with Ufury.

to the Exchangers, and then

28 Take therefore the

it unto him which hath Ten Talents.

29 For unto every one that hath fhall be given, and

he fhall have abundance:

but

from him that hath not

fhall be taken away, even that which he hath.

To him that improves what he hath, more shall be given. Sect. 165. might have been an increafing Seed. And 27 Thou oughteft theretherefore, if thou hadft been afraid to employ it Mat. XXV. in Trade, as thefe my faithful Servants have done, thou should have put my Money to the Bankers upon fufficient Security; and thus when I came, I might at least have received mine own with the 28 common Intereft. And then, turning to the Attendants, he faid, Take ye therefore the Talent Talent from him, and give which he has thus abufed from him, and give it to him that has Ten Talents, as a farther Token 29 of my Acceptance and Favour. For I would have all my Servants obferve, that I fhall conftantly make this a Maxim in my Behaviour, that to every one that hath, and diligently improves what he hath, more shall be given, and he shall have Abundance; but from him that hath not improved it to any valuable Purpofe, even that which valuable-Purpose, he bath fhall be taken away: (Compare Mat. xiii. 12. Mark iv. 25. Luke viii. 18. xix. 26.) Such unfaithful Creatures must expect to be stripped of all, and not imagine that I will perpetually fuffer my Trufts to be abused, and my Bufinefs to be neglected. And to deter others from fuch an idle or unfaithful Conduct, caft ye the unprofitable Servant, who has fo wickedly abufed my Goodness, into the dreadful Darkness which is without; and there, instead of the Delight and Joy to which my faithful Servants shall be introduced, there shall be nothing but weeping and gnashing of the Teeth. Now this horrible Darkness, to which my Parable refers, is no other than the Dungeon of Hell; to which every unfaithful Servant must expect to be condemned, in that approaching Day of general Account: Fail not therefore to obferve and report what I now fay, that it may give the Alarm to all that need it.

30

Mat. xxv.

15.

W

30 And caft ye the un

profitable Servant into outer weeping and gnashing of Teeth.

Darkness: there shall be

IMPROVEMENT.

HAT can excite us to a becoming Care and Activity in the Duties of Life, if we are deaf to thofe various and important Motives, which this excellent Parable fuggefts? We have each of us received our Talents, whether Five, or Two, or One; and if we be faithful, it matters not much, under which of thefe Claffes we fall. Our

Accept