Here it may be safely said that he never requires any talents of them which he has not given them. Christ uses the term talents in the parable in its most strict and proper sense, to signify a piece of money. The Jews reckoned a talent of silver at four hundred and fifty pounds sterling, and a talent of gold at seven thousand two hundred pounds sterling.* But as the parable itself is to be understood figuratively, so the term talents is to be understood figuratively, to signify all intellectual powers and faculties, and all external privileges and opportunities of getting and of doing good. These natural talents God bestows upon sinners in larger or smaller measures as he sees best. He gives greater talents to some than to others, and more talents to some than to others. To one he gives ten talents, to another two, and to another one. To some he gives great powers of mind, and great opportunities of cultivating, enlarging and strengthening their mental powers. And to some he gives great corporeal strength and activity, and peculiar opportunities of exerting these faculties to valuable and important purposes. But he never requires men to have more or better natural talents than he has given them. He never requires the man, to whom he has given but one talent, to have two; nor the man, to whom he has given but two talents, to have ten. He never requires a blind man to see, nor a deaf man to hear, nor a man that has no feet to walk, nor a sick man to be well, nor a weak man to be strong, nor a short man to be tall. He never requires any man to have a better understanding, or a better memory, or any better intellectual faculties, than he has given him. And he never requires any man to do any action which he has not given him knowledge, strength, time and opportunity for doing. In a word, he never requires either saints or sinners to have any natural talents which he has not given them, nor to exercise any natural talents which they do not possess. I now proceed to show,

II. What God does require of sinners which he does not give them. The slothful servant tells his lord that he reaps where he has not sown, and gathers where he has not strewed; by which he means to say that he required that of him which he had not given him. And sinners at this day generally say the same with respect to God. They say that he requires that of them which he has not given them. Though sinners, like the slothful servant, have a bad meaning in saying this, yet their assertion must be allowed to be true; for God does most expressly require that of them which he has not given them. Though he does not require them to have faculties which he has not given them, yet he does require them to have a heart to

See Cruden's Concordance.

improve in his service the talents he has given them, which he has not given them a heart to do. He requires every sinner to love him with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, though he has not given him such a heart. When he gave the law at Mount Sinai to all the congregation of Israel, he required them to love him supremely, though he knew and implicitly said that he had not generally given them a heart to love him. He now commands all sinners every where under the gospel to repent. He now commands all sinners every where under the gospel cordially to believe and embrace it. And he now commands sinners every where, whether they eat, or drink, or whatever they do, to do all to his glory. Or in fewer words, he commands them to have a heart to improve all the talents he has given them in his service and to his glory, though he has not given them such a heart. He requires them to exercise the same holy love, holy joy, holy hope, holy patience, holy submission and holy obedience, which he requires saints to exercise, though he has never given them such holy exercises of heart. It appears from the whole current of scripture, that God does reap where he has not sown, and gather where he has not strewed; that he does require sinners to have a heart to improve all the talents he has given them, in his service; and that he does require them to have the same holy heart which he has given to others, but has not given to them. I use this phraseology because it is scriptural, and because it is the very phraseology which sinners themselves use upon the subject, and upon which, like the slothful servant, they found their complaint. But though I admit the propriety of their saying that God does require of them that which he has not given them, yet I will endeavor to make it appear that their complaint, even in their own terms, is entirely groundless. Accordingly, I now proceed as proposed,

III. To show that they have no reason to complain of God for his requiring that of them which he has not given them. The idle servant complained of his master, because he required that of him which he had not given him. "Then he which had received the one talent came, and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed." By this language of the idle servant, Christ meant to represent the language and feelings of sinners in respect to God. They all complain that he is hard, severe, and even unjust, in requiring that of them which he has not given them. But that they have no reason at all to complain of God, for his requiring that of them which he has not given them, will clearly appear, if we seriously, candidly and attentively consider the following things.

1. What God has given sinners, is a good reason why he should require what he has not given them. He has given them talents by which they are capable of having what he has not given, and which he requires them to have; that is, a heart to improve them in his service. He has given them all the rational and moral powers which are necessary to constitute them moral agents. And these rational and moral powers, which are natural talents, are the proper and only proper foundation of moral obligation. The bare knowledge of right and wrong, or of moral good and evil, lays sinners under moral obligation to do what is right and avoid what is wrong. The bare knowledge of duty, in all cases, lays men under moral obligation to do it. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." The natural talents, which form the natural capacity of sinners, lay them under moral obligation to love and serve their Creator. It is impossible that any creature of God should know his character and perfections, and not be bound to love him; which is precisely the same thing as being bound to have a good heart, which essentially consists in love. The natural talents, or the rational and moral powers, which God has given to sinners, lay them under moral obligation to have what he has not given them; namely, a good heart. They are under the same obligation to have a good heart before they have it, as afterwards. For their obligation to have a good heart is entirely founded in their rational powers, and not in their actually having a good heart. As God has given them the same rational powers that he has given saints, so they are under the same obligations to have a good heart that saints are. Their not having a good heart does not destroy their obligation to have one. Though God does not, and cannot, consistently require sinners to have talents which he has not given them, yet he does, and can, consistently require them to have a heart which he has not given them. There is an essential difference between natural talents and moral exercises. Though it be not right that God should require sinners to have talents which he has not given them, yet it is perfectly right that he should require them to have a heart which consists in holy exercises, that he has not given them. And every sinner is capable of seeing and feeling that the very talents God has given him, lay him under moral obligation to have a heart to improve them, which he has not given him. And it is upon this very ground that the master of the unfaithful and slothful servant judges and condemns him out of his own mouth, for complaining of his injustice and severity. "And he said unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow; wherefore then gavest

not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?" Or, as it is in a parallel place, "Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then, at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury." This was as much as to say, " You knew that I gave you a talent, and commanded you to occupy and improve it for my profit. You knew that I was very strict with my servants, and would require of them all my due. You ought, therefore, to have had a heart to improve my talent to the best advantage; and had you had a heart to improve it to the best advantage, I should have received mine own with interest; or, as you say, I should have reaped where I had not sown, and received from you more than I gave you; which is perfectly reasonable, because you are, and acknowledge you are, my servant.' Now sinners have no more reason to complain that God is unjust and severe in requiring them to have that which he has not given them, than the slothful servant had to complain that his master was unjust and severe in requiring that of him which he had not given him. The reason, in both cases, is perfectly plain and obvious. The master required nothing of his servant but what the talent he gave him enabled and bound him to give him. And God requires nothing of sinners but what the talents he has given them enable and bind them to give him. The talents which God has given to sinners both enable, and bind them to have a good heart; that is, to have an heart to improve all the talents he has given them to his glory. If they presume, therefore, to justify themselves in not having a heart to improve the talents which God has given them, their own mouths condemn them.

2. Sinners have no reason to complain of God for his requiring them to have a good heart which he has not given them, for this is the only thing that he has a right to require of them. They know that he has no right to require them to have any natural talents, or any intellectual and moral powers, which he has not given them. They know that he has no right to require them to have a selfish or wicked heart. They know, therefore, that he has no right to require any thing of them except a holy or benevolent heart. And to deny that he has a right to require this of them, is virtually to deny that he has a right to require any thing of them; and, of consequence, that they ever did, or ever can commit any sin. For if God has no right to require any thing of them, they cannot be guilty of disobeying him, or committing any sin at all. If God has no right to require them to have a good heart, which he has not given them, then he has no right to require them to do any thing which they are not willing to do; which must render them completely innocent. He has

no right to require them to love him with all the heart, unless they choose to love him supremely. He has no right to require them to love their fellow men as themselves, unless they choose to exercise disinterested benevolence towards them. He has no right to require them to repent, to believe, to speak the truth, to do, or to refrain from doing whatever they please. For any precept, or prohibition of his, necessarily implies that he requires such love, such faith, such repentance, or some such affection, as he has not given them; which, they say, is reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strewed; or, in other words, requiring that of them which he has not given them. Now can there be any thing more unreasonable and absurd than this complaint of God, for requiring a good heart which he has not given them? It implies that God has no right to command them in a single instance, and that they are under no obligation to obey him in a single instance. The complaint of the slothful servant implied that his master had no right to require any obedience or service of him; which was absolutely criminal and extremely displeasing to his master, who said unto him, "Thou wicked and slothful servant: thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed." This you have unreasonably and presumptuously complained of. Therefore his master commands, "Take the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents; — and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Thus God views, and will treat sinners, who complain of his injustice and severity in requiring them to have a good heart which he has not given them, or for requiring them to do any thing which they are unwilling to do.

3. One person has no reason to complain of another, who has authority over him, for requiring him to do what he is able to do but has no heart to do. A child has no reason to complain of a parent for requiring him to do what he is able to do, though he has no heart to do it. A servant has no reason to complain of a master for requiring him to do what he is able to do, though he has no heart to do it. And a subject has no reason to complain of a ruler for requiring him to do what he is able to do, though he has no heart to do it. All human authority supposes a right to require that of men which they are able to do, but have no heart to do. No subject of human authority, therefore, has reason to complain of being required to do any thing which is right in itself, and which he is able to do, if he were willing. The reason why the Israelites in Egypt had a right to complain of their task masters was, because they required more than they were able to perform, though ever so