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.

It

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?"1 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 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

Luke xii. 48.

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."1 But we may rest assured 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 that our future state of happiness will be in

1 Luke xvii. 10.

proportion, not to our means here, but to the use we make of them. The parable related by St. Luke 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? To both he says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant : but to the first he gives "authority over ten cities;" to the second "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," in agreement with that truth, confirmed by many passages of Scripture, 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” 2 God; and all the doubts and uncertainties which we must feel here will there be re21 Cor. xiii. 12.

1 John xiv. 2.

to

moved 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 suffer them to be overcome by evil, consider what was the case of the "wicked and slothful servant." Once more, remember, the money was entrusted, for the especial purpose of trading he had the commands of his master so to employ it; instead of which, he buried it in the earth, and when his master returned, endeavoured to excuse himself by pretending that fear of misusing it had induced him to bury it in the ground where it had lain idle for many years.

Henry. Well, Mamma, but he paid it back again, just as he received it.

Mrs. B. Were those the orders of his

1 Matt. xi. 30.

master?

Does not our Master say to us, I give you faculties, and dispositions, and opportunities of doing good: I order you to cultivate them, and make the most of them? Would it, do you think, be an answer, were we to say to our Lord, "Lord, I possessed till my death all the faculties Thou gavest me; but I never exercised them; I was afraid of doing wrong, and I did no good: I let all my good dispositions lie idle, all my opportunities pass away." And would not God justly say "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked and slothful servant? While others have gained ten-fold, thirtyfold, a hundred-fold of what I entrusted to them, thou, with the same opportunities, hast wasted and misused thy talents?" And now follows what appeared to Henry to be injustice. "Because thou hast so wasted them, they shall be thine no longer. I take from thee that of which thou madest no good use, and I give yet more and more to him who has proved himself a good and faithful servant: he has been faithful over a little,