That is our Lord's own application of them, twice out of the five
times in which the saying appears in the three Gospels: in the
parable of the talents and in the parallel portion of the parable of
the pounds. I do not venture into the regions of speculation about
that future, but from the words before us there come clearly enough
two aspects of it. The man with the ten talents received more; the
man that had hid the talent or the pound in the ground was deprived
of that which he had not used.
Now, with regard to the former there is no difficulty in translating
the representations of the parables, sustained as they are by
distinct statements of other portions of Scripture. They come to
this, that, for the life beyond, indefinite progress in all that is
noble and blessed and Godlike in heart and character, in intellect
and power, are certain; that faith, hope, love, here cultivated but
putting forth few blossoms and small fruitage, there, in that higher
house where these be planted, will flourish in the courts of the
Lord, and will bear fruit abundantly; that here the few things
faithfully administered will be succeeded yonder by the many things
royally ruled over; that here one small coin, as it were, is put
into our palm--namely the present blessedness and peace and strength
and purity of a Christian life; and that yonder we possess the
inheritance of which what we have here is but the earnest. It used
to be the custom when a servant was hired for the next term-day to
give him one of the smallest coins of the realm as what was called
'arles'--wages in advance, to seal the bargain. Similarly, in buying
an estate a bit of turf was passed over to the purchaser. We get the
earnest here of the broad acres of the inheritance above. 'To him
that hath shall be given.'
And the other side of the same principle works in some terrible ways
that we cannot speak about. 'From him that hath not shall be taken
away even that which he hath.' I have spoken of the terrible analogy
to this solemn prospect which is presented us by the imperfect
experiences of earth. And when we see in others, or discover in
ourselves, how it is possible for unused faculties to die entirely
out, I think we shall feel that there is a solemn background of very
awful truth, in the representation of what befell the unfaithful
servant. Hopes unnourished are gone; opportunities unimproved are
gone, capacities undeveloped are gone; fold after fold, as it were,
is peeled off the soul, until there is nothing left but the naked
self, pauperised and empty-handed for evermore. 'Take it from him';
he never was the better for it; he never used it; he shall have it
no longer.
Brethren, cultivate the highest part of yourselves, and see to it that,
by faith and obedience, you truly have the Saviour, whom you have by
the hearing of the ear and by outward profession. And then death will
come to you, as a nurse might to a child that came in from the fields
with its hands full of worthless weeds and grasses, to empty them in
order to fill them with the flowers that never fade. You can choose
whether Death--and Life too, for that matter--shall be the porter
that will open to you the door of the treasure-house of God, or the
robber that will strip you of misused opportunities and unused talents.