Use 1. Is to persuade us to employ our several talents for God, be they more or less ; none are to be idle : 2 Tim. ii. (3, ' Stir up the gift that is in thee.'
1. If we have but one talent, God expects the improvement of it : Adam in innocency had his work appointed him by God.
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434 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SER. XII.
2. Those that have the greatest gifts should not contemn those that have few or less ; and those that have few not envy others that have more, but be mutually helpful one to another, acknowledging the wis- dom and goodness of God in all that we have. It is a base spirit that would shine alone, or set up one gift to the prejudice of another: 'Let no man glory, for all things are yours,' 1 Cor. iii. 21. He that laid the world in hills and valleys would not have all champaign and smooth ground, Prov. xvii. 15.
Use. 2. Give yourselves and all that is yours to God. Nothing is more reasonable than that every one should have his own ; therefore let us consent to God's propriety, and absolutely resign ourselves to the will, dispose, and use of our creator ; but first ourselves, and then what is ours.
SERMON XII.
Then he that had received the Jive talents went and traded with the same, and made them other Jive talents. Likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. — Mat. XXV. 16-18.
This is the second part of the parable. We have heard of the master's distribution, now we shall hear of the servants' negotiations, how they employed the talents received. There was a disparity and inequality in the distribution, so in the negotiation. Two of the servants used their talents well ; the third traded not at all, but ' went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.' Among them that used their talents well there was a difference, but still with proportion to what they had received : ' He that had received five talents made them other five : and he also that had received two gained other two.'
Doct. 1. That those that have received talents must trade with them for God's glory and the salvation of their own souls and the good of others.
Doct. 2. In trading, our returns must carry proportion with our receipts.
Doct. 3. Among those that have received talents all are not faithful ; for one hid his lord's money.
For the first point —
Doct. 1. That those that have received talents must trade with them for God's glory and the salvation of their own souls and the good of others, I shall first explain the point, and then prove it.
First, For the explication or illustration, I will inquire —
1. What things are to be accounted talents ?
2. What it is to trade with them ?
3. To whom the gain and increase redoundeth ?
First, What are these talents ? In the general, all the things God hath intrusted us with, or anything that may help to promote the glory of God; reason, health, strength, time, parts, interests, power,
Vers. 16-18.1 sermons upon matthew xxv. 435
authority, wealth, the mercies of his providence, afflictions, ordinances, means of grace ; 3rea, grace itself. All these are vouchsafed to us freely by God, and may be improved for his glory. There is none of us but have had many advantages and opportunities put into our hands of glorifying God and promoting our own and others' salvation. Of all it may' be said, Prov. xvii. 16, ' Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to use it?' Reason and parts are a price put into your hands, so is time and strength, so are riches and power, so are ordinances and providences, and indeed all the blessings of this life. God must be gainer, and also yourselves. In a spiritual sense he must have a share in your time, "strength, wealth, and power ; and you must gain by every ordinance and every providence something whereby you may be more fitted to glorify his name, and to do good in your generation. But more par- ticularly talents may be referred to two heads — dona sanctijicantia et administrantia : graces, helps, and saving gifts.
1. Bona sanctijicantia, sanctifying gifts, or the graces of the Spirit ; these are highest, and are called the ' true riches ;' Luke xvi. 11, 'If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall commit to your trust the true riches?' To be trusted with an estate is not so great a trust as to be trusted with grace : this is a gift more precious, and should not lie idle. God trusts ordinary men with common gifts before he trusts them with grace. When we suspect that a vessel is leaky, we try it first with water before we fill it with wine. God expecteth more honour from new creatures than he doth from all the world besides, that they should do more good in their places ; partly because they have new obligations by redemption : 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' You are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your bodies and souls, which are God's.' You are twice bound, and a double obligation will infer a double condemnation, if we answer it not. And partly because by regeneration they have new dispositions, they are more fitted to glorify God and do good to others ; Eph. i. 12, ' That we should be to the praise of his glory.' Their to ehai, their new being, fitteth them to honour God. They serve mainly for this very use, and therefore this duty of trading for God lieth first and most upon them. Wherefore hath God created them anew in Christ Jesus but to glorify his name, and admire his grace, and live answer- able to his love, and to bring him into request among all about them ? Mat. v. 16, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.' They that are eminent for the profession of godliness, and are set as lights in the world, or a city upon a hill, these should bring much honour to God, and provoke others to do so ; as the stars, which are the shin- ing part of heaven, draw eyes after them ; if they should be eclipsed they set the world a-wondering : so should they shine as lights in the ' midst of a crooked generation,' Phil. ii. 15 ; or as the star that shined at Christ's birth conducted the wise men to him, so should they by their profession and practice lead others to Christ.