Mrs. B.-Very well, indeed; it is a pleasure to me to teach, when I find you attentive and endeavouring to profit by my instructions. And if we do so exercise our good dispositions, and cultivate our capacities for good, we are assured by the parable that the dispositions and capacities will themselves be perpetually increased. Besides our first five we shall have gained five other talents. But observe, that we are not only to "trade," or endeavour to increase our store of good till we have gained a certain point, but we are to “ cupy OC till our Master cometh." What does this mean, Henry? Henry.-Does it not mean, Mamma, that we are always to try to do better and better till our death? Mrs. B.-Yes, my dear boy, the day of our death will be to each of us the time when our accounts shall be closed, and when our faithful service, however poor and humble, if it have been faithful and zealous, will be accepted by a master, who is a God of mercy. But supposing the servant to whom five talents had been given had begun by being very industrious, and after a little time had gained two more; suppose he had then rested satisfied, do you think he would then have been entitled to hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ?" Henry. No, Mamma, I do not suppose he would and yet the other servant only gained two talents more than he had at first, and he had the same thing said to him. Mrs. B.-Do you remember what we read yesterday, "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more ?”* It is not the extent of our acquirements which God will consider, so much as the proportion which they bear to our original advantages. I will explain this to you at once by the parable. It is very true, as *Luke xii. 48. you say, that one servant gained five talents, and the other only two, and yet their master was equally satisfied with them but to the one he had originally given five, and the servant, by his industry, had gained one for each of the five: to the other he gave two, and he also had gained one for each of the two. To the third he gave one, and had he also gained one, he would also have met with his master's approbation-he would have done equally well, because his means of improvement were smaller. Had the first servant only gained two talents, having received five, he would not have been as industrious in proportion to his power, and would not have deserved his master's approbation. Henry.-Thank you, Mamma; I see now that I was mistaken, and that it was all quite fair. But then, Mamma, you do not mean that whether we are more or less good, if we are as good as we can be, we shall be rewarded the same in heaven? Mrs. B.-My love, for our own actions we can hope for no reward; for even the best of us, "when we have done all," may say, with truth, that we are only 'unprofitable servants."* But there can be no doubt that all who faithfully serve God here, whether their capacities on earth have been great or small, will have their services accepted of their Master: and, on the other hand, we are told expressly, that our future state of happiness will be in proportion, not to our means here, but to the use we make of them. St. Luke in this point relates the parable rather differently, and supposes each of the servants to have received the same sum. The first gains by trading, ten pounds, the second five. In this case, as you see, each having the same advantages, the gain of one is much greater than the other. What then is the answer of their Lord? Το both he says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant:" but to the first he gives "authority over ten cities;" to the se *Luke xvii. 10. cond, "authority over five cities." To each he gives a reward, but a reward in proportion to the respective gains of each. And our Saviour says himself, in another place, "in my Father's house are many mansions"*—plainly intimating that there will be different degrees of reward and enjoyment in heaven, proportioned to our capacities for receiving them. There "shall we know even as we are known"t to God; and all the doubts and uncertainties which we must feel here will there be removed for ever. Meanwhile we may rest assured of this, that we have no hard master to serve; that "His yoke is easy, and His burden light." He views with equal eyes the high and low, rich and poor, great and small; and holiness and goodness are the only means whereby we may hope to see Him. But if we neglect the "talents" entrusted to our care, if we refuse to cherish and foster our good dispositions, and * John xiv. 2. † 1 Cor. xiii. 12. |