Matt. XXV. 22, 23. He also that had received two talents, came, and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents : behold, I have gained, two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many thifigs : enter thou itito the joy of thy Lord.
THE solemnities of the day of judgment were a frequent subject of our Lord's discourse. This was a topic well calculated to fix the attention of his hearers. The nearer he drew towards the close of his ministry, the more he insisted on it : nor can we too often dwell upon it in our minds. The parable before us leads us to the contemplation of this awful subject : it very nearly resembles the parable of T/ie Poioids''. Yet are there some important points of difference between them'\
These points will furnish occasion for two impor- tant observations :
I. God bestows gifts on every man according to his own sovereign will —
God is the source and author of every blessing we enjoy—
[To him we owe it that we were brought into the world of Christian, rather than of heathen, parents. From him we have received all our bodily and intellectual powers. We possess nothing good, which we have not derived from him*^.]
He dispenses extremely various gifts to various persons —
= Luke xix. 12 — 26. In both the parables a rich man gomg to a distant country committed a sum of money to his servants to improve for him, and on his return dealt with them according to the use they had made of it, rewarding the faithful and punishing the negligent.
^ In that of the pounds all the servants had an equal sum com- mitted to them : but they made a different improvement of them, and were therefore differently rewarded. In the parable before us, the sums committed to the servants were different ; but their improvement of them was equal (each having doubled his deposit) and therefore their reward was equal also.
c Jam. i. 17.