The happiness of heaven will be altogether the gift of God for Christ's sake* Nevertheless God of his infinite goodness will reward us in proportion to our laboury—] To every one will be given "whatsoever is right," and equitable If none shall have room to boast, so none shall have reason to repine The lowest degrees of happiness shall infinitely exceed any thing we could claim Every vessel too shall be full; though all have not the same dimensions The word of God is pledged that not the smallest service shall be unrewarded We may rest assured therefore that we shall find his promise true-] ADDRESS 1. To loiterers [What readiness would you not shew if a great earthly recompence were tendered you! And will you draw back when all the glory, of heaven is offered you? Would the devils and damned spirits regard the overtures of mercy as you have done? O think, how soon "the night is coming in which no man can work!" Think, how awful will be the doom of the wicked and slothful servant! And instantly begin the Lord's work, that you may at last receive his wages-] 2. To labourers [Ye serve the best of masters, and have the most honourable of all employments Doubtless ye see but too much reason to lament your unprofitableness But God is not extreme to mark what is omitted or done amiss If ye really make it "your meat to do his will," be of good cheer The evening, when your labours will end, is fast approaching Then shall Master you be called into the presence of your Lord and * Rom. vi. 23. z 1 Cor. xv. 58. Matt. x. 42. * 1 Cor. iii.-8. Prov. xi. 18. Not the least or most unworthy of you all shall be overlooked by him Be not weary then of well doing, for you shall all reap in due seasonb To every one of you shall those delightful words be addressed-] Luke xix. 12, 13.—A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. MANKIND are prone to amuse themselves with prospects of earthly grandeur And to neglect the most important ends and purposes of life The Jews were expecting their Messiah to erect a temporal kingdom The disciples themselves also were led away by this fond conceit At our Lord's last ascent to Jerusalem, this expectation prevailed amongst all orders and ranks of men To rectify their notions and turn their attention to their proper concerns he delivered to them this parable. Christ is the person here intended by the noblemanHe has committed to every man something which is to be improved for him And he is shortly coming at the day of judgment to reckon with us These points are so clear that we need insist on them only in a way of application 1 a Ver. 11. b The parable states, that a nobleman, after having been invested with royal dignity, reckoned with his servants to whom he had committed money, and punished the citizens who had refused submission to his authority. These being perfectly distinct, we shall treat them separately, and confine our attention at present to the former. VOL. III. А а I. Has not Christ given us something to improve for him? [We are ready enough to fix an high value on what we possess, when we think it will reflect honour on ourselves— But we are apt to think lightly of it, when we are reminded of the responsibility connected with it Few indeed have great talents or extensive influence- Have we not also enjoyed many sabbaths and ordinances?- liness We should therefore have studied them with all humility and diligence Have we not experienced many convictions of conscience, and gracious operations of God's spirit?— These are inestimable, and may be made subservient to our eternal welfare Have we not received many calls and warnings from God in his Providence? These, if duly attended to, might have been occasions of much good to our souls And all these things are mercies, of which we must hereafter give an account-] II. What improvement have we made of his favours? [The injunction given to all, is, “Occupy, that is, Trade, till I come" And all these things are given us to be improved for Godd What use then have we made of the pound committed to us? Have we employed our reason in search of divine truth?— Have we spent our sabbaths in meditation and prayer?— Have we profited by the ordinances as we might have done? Have we taken the scriptures as a guide to our feet and lantern to our path?— Have we obeyed the dictates of conscience, and the motions of God's spirit? Have we laid to heart the various dispensations of Providence, which we observed in our own concerns, and in the world around us? The value of the mina is not ascertained. Some think it was equal to about three guineas; others, that it was rather more than five. d 1 Cor. xii. 7. Have we, in short, laboured to improve our time, our money, our influence for him who has entrusted them to our care?— Have we laboured earnestly to fulfil that apostolic injunction? III. What excuse have we for neglecting to improve them? [The slothful servant cast the blame upon his Lord— Nor are there wanting amongst ourselves those who resemble him We say, God requires more than he will enable us to perform But can this be affirmed with even a shadow of truth?— May not every one adopt the words of the apostle Paul?__ Even if this assertion were true, it would not justify our supineness The more “ austere" our Lord were, the more we should fear to provoke him We should endeavour at least to approve ourselves to him as well as we could— If we could not do all, it is no reason that we should do nothing If we could not improve his money by trading, we should "put it into the bank”— Our excuses then will only turn to our own confusionGod will justly say to us, “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee”—] IV. What recompence have we reason to expect? [Our Lord will reward every man according to his works— Are we ready then to give up our account to him?— Can we say, “Lord, thy pound hath gained ten, or five pounds?"— Can we say upon good grounds that it hath gained even two? Happy for us, if we have the testimony of our conscience respecting this We shall gladly, like the good servants, ascribe the honour to our Lords— We shall adopt the language of the apostle, and of David1— e 1 Pet. iv. 10. f Phil. iv. 13. They do not say I have gained, but, “ Thy pound” hath gained: they knew and acknowledged that they had nothing of their own to trade with. h1 Cor. xv. 10. i] Chron. xxix. 14. Nor will our Lord be backward to reward our faithful exertions He will recompense every one in proportion to his labour And to every one he will give what infinitely exceeds the value of his services But, alas! are there not many who have hid their money in a napkin? What recompense then must such slothful servants receive? Christ will shortly deprive them of the means of grace they possess And make them monuments of his everlasting displeasureNor will this be the reward of those only who dissipate his money It will be the certain recompence of unprofitablenessLet not any one therefore hope to be approved while he continues idle Let not any one be satisfied with a mere negative holinessLet our exertions in our Master's service be unweariedLet us, like the saints of old, look to the recompence of rewardm And let us stand ready to give up our account with joySo shall we have confidence before him, and not be ashamed at his coming"] k1 Cor. iii. 8. 1 The government of five or ten cities is a rich compensation indeed for the improvement of one pound. m Heb. xi. 26. n 1 John ii. 28. CCLXVII. THE REBELLIOUS CITIZENS. Luke xix. 12, 14. A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return-But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. THERE is scarce any one to be found who does not think he loves God Men form an erroneous notion of his perfections, and then approve of him— But, if they heard his character fully stated, they would turn away with disgust Thus the Jews thought they should heartily welcome their Messiah- |