The document summarizes Archbishop R.C. Trench's notes on the Parable of the Talents from the Bible. It provides context for the parable, explaining that it describes Jesus' servants working for him during his absence, warning against indolence. It analyzes various elements of the parable, including how Jesus distributed talents/gifts to his servants unequally according to their abilities. It describes how two servants doubled their talents through trading, while one buried his talent out of laziness. At Jesus' return, the faithful servants are rewarded while the lazy one is punished.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 9 dealing with Jesus healing the paralytic, and his calling of Matthew. Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners, and was harshly criticized by the Pharisees. He was also questioned about fasting. As Jesus went to heal a dead girl, a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years touched his cloak and was healed. Jesus went on to raise the dead girl and heal the blind and the dumb. When Jesus saw the masses of needs among the people he asked his disciples to pray for more workers to deal with all the sheep who were without a shepherd.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 22 dealing with the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, paying taxes to Caesar, marriage in the resurrection, the greatest commandment, and whose son is the Christ.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 26 dealing with the plot against Jesus. Jesus is anointed with expensive oil by a woman, and Jesus has to defend her, Judas agrees to betray Jesus. Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, and predicts that Peter will deny Him. Jesus goes through the agony of Gethsemane as the disciples sleep, Jesus is arrested and is taken before the Sanhedrin for trial while Peter is out in the courtyard denying that he knows Jesus.
This document provides a warning about the abominations that will be seen in the end times before Jesus returns. It discusses how God's people must stand against false teachings and worldly influences in order to receive God's seal of protection during the time of trouble. It emphasizes living a holy, obedient life and preparing spiritually for what is coming upon the earth through greater conformity to Christ.
1. MANIFESTO OF THE KINGDOM (Matt. v. 2) . i
By W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.
2. INTRODUCTION TO THE BEATITUDES (Matt. v. 2) 15
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
3. POOR BUT RICH (Matt. v. 3) . 3 1
By E. GKIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
4. SORROWFUL YET GLAD (Matt. v. 4) . 49
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
5. MEEK BUT MIGHTY (Matt. v. 5) 65
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
6. HUNGRY BUT FULL (Matt. v. 6) .81
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
7. MERCIFUL, THEREFORE FORGIVEN (Matt. v. 7) 95
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
8. PURITY, AND THE BEATIFIC VISION (Matt. v. 8) 1 1 1
By E, GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
9. PEACEMAKERS, AND SONS OF GOD (Matt. v. 9) 127
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
This document provides commentary and analysis on Numbers 19 from multiple scholars and commentators. It discusses the symbolic meaning and purpose of the ceremony involving the burning of a red heifer whose ashes were used to purify people from uncleanness. Key points include:
- The burning of the red heifer symbolized the death and sufferings of Christ which purified and reconciled people to God.
- The increased deaths in the camp required a special provision for purification beyond normal ceremonies. The red heifer ceremony was inexpensive and could purify many people.
- While similar purification rites existed in other cultures, the red heifer ceremony had unique aspects and symbolism pointing to Christ as the ultimate purification for sin.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 9 dealing with Jesus healing the paralytic, and his calling of Matthew. Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners, and was harshly criticized by the Pharisees. He was also questioned about fasting. As Jesus went to heal a dead girl, a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years touched his cloak and was healed. Jesus went on to raise the dead girl and heal the blind and the dumb. When Jesus saw the masses of needs among the people he asked his disciples to pray for more workers to deal with all the sheep who were without a shepherd.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 22 dealing with the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, paying taxes to Caesar, marriage in the resurrection, the greatest commandment, and whose son is the Christ.
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 26 dealing with the plot against Jesus. Jesus is anointed with expensive oil by a woman, and Jesus has to defend her, Judas agrees to betray Jesus. Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, and predicts that Peter will deny Him. Jesus goes through the agony of Gethsemane as the disciples sleep, Jesus is arrested and is taken before the Sanhedrin for trial while Peter is out in the courtyard denying that he knows Jesus.
This document provides a warning about the abominations that will be seen in the end times before Jesus returns. It discusses how God's people must stand against false teachings and worldly influences in order to receive God's seal of protection during the time of trouble. It emphasizes living a holy, obedient life and preparing spiritually for what is coming upon the earth through greater conformity to Christ.
1. MANIFESTO OF THE KINGDOM (Matt. v. 2) . i
By W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.
2. INTRODUCTION TO THE BEATITUDES (Matt. v. 2) 15
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
3. POOR BUT RICH (Matt. v. 3) . 3 1
By E. GKIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
4. SORROWFUL YET GLAD (Matt. v. 4) . 49
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
5. MEEK BUT MIGHTY (Matt. v. 5) 65
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
6. HUNGRY BUT FULL (Matt. v. 6) .81
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
7. MERCIFUL, THEREFORE FORGIVEN (Matt. v. 7) 95
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
8. PURITY, AND THE BEATIFIC VISION (Matt. v. 8) 1 1 1
By E, GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
9. PEACEMAKERS, AND SONS OF GOD (Matt. v. 9) 127
By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.
This document provides commentary and analysis on Numbers 19 from multiple scholars and commentators. It discusses the symbolic meaning and purpose of the ceremony involving the burning of a red heifer whose ashes were used to purify people from uncleanness. Key points include:
- The burning of the red heifer symbolized the death and sufferings of Christ which purified and reconciled people to God.
- The increased deaths in the camp required a special provision for purification beyond normal ceremonies. The red heifer ceremony was inexpensive and could purify many people.
- While similar purification rites existed in other cultures, the red heifer ceremony had unique aspects and symbolism pointing to Christ as the ultimate purification for sin.
*'In quietness and in confidence shall be
your strength," that was the motto which
Keble chose for the Christian year, a motto
which every Christian, day by day, may con-
sider his own. ' ' He shall not strive nor cry. ' '
The evangelist who saw the fulfilment of those
words in his Master had also seen the quiet-
ness and confidence of Christ as they stood
out in clearest contrast to the contentions of
the rabbis and the wrangling of the scribes.
The unjust (worldly smart) Steward (Luke 16:1-8); A role model that Christian...C J Yang
Jesus tells his followers to use wealth from unrighteous sources, such as money collected through ungodly means like taxation, to help the poor. This will allow believers to prepare for their eternal home in heaven. The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16:1-8 is separate and refers to using worldly wisdom to prepare for life on earth, which believers should not emulate. Instead, Jesus instructs his followers in Luke 16:9-13 to faithfully use resources not from God to aid those in need, which will please God and gain them entrance to paradise.
The document discusses the biblical concept of the "abomination of desolation" mentioned in the books of Daniel and Matthew. It provides definitions of "abomination" and "desolation" and examines the four mentions of the phrase in the book of Daniel. The document suggests that the abomination of desolation referred to in Daniel was fulfilled by the Roman armies destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD. It argues that both pagan Rome and papal Rome acted as the abomination that desolated God's sanctuary through their idolatrous practices and persecution of Christians.
This is a study of Jesus being motivated. He became poor when He was rich and He did it for our sake. Love moved Him to do what He did for our salvation.
The True Interpretation of the Revelation of John and the Biblerevelationofjohn
This chapter discusses interpreting biblical prophecy correctly, as some prophecies in the Bible have been misinterpreted. It introduces Ioannis G. Arnellos, who in 1896 provided new insights into prophecies from the Old and New Testaments. Arnellos possessed a great mind and restored truth, being the Elias who was foretold. The book will reveal prophecies correctly interpreted about an coming Golden Era on Earth with global peace and justice. It will also reveal errors in current science and answer fundamental questions about the universe and life.
The plain mans_pathway_to_heaven_wherein_every_man_may_clearly_see_1000208540Katuri Susmitha
John Bunyan was inspired by this book bought by his wife after marraige.Bz of this He changed & wrote The Piligrims Progress.This Book base is to make sure here on earth itself whether u r saved or damned.
The document is a letter from the Huldah Ministry addressing brothers and sisters in Christ. It discusses the superiority of Christ over angels as presented in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. The letter examines arguments for who authored Hebrews, concluding that evidence strongly supports Paul as the author. Key points include that Hebrews uses the same concluding salutation as Paul's letters and that 2 Peter refers to a letter by Paul that can only be Hebrews.
Jesus christ, the same yesterday, today and foreverGLENN PEASE
*' Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to-day, and
forever."— Heb13: 8.
Among such passages our text may well be
assigned a high place. It has long enjoyed
great popularity. It has all the charm of epi-
gram. It possesses the sustained strength of
spiritual significance. It trips lightly upon
the lips of the superficial and imaginative, and
dwells fruitfully in the mind of the scholar.
It is full of satisfaction to the tenderly pious,
and rich in suggestion to the devoutly specu-
lative. It speaks primarily only of the per-
manence of character of Jesus Christ, but the
context forces upon us at once a broader out-
look. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews
had in mind a much greater theme than the
unity, perfection and permanence of the char-
acter of the man Christ Jesus. His purpose
was nothing less than to prove to the Hebrews
in Judea and to the farthest limits of their
world-wide dispersion that Jesus Christ was
the Messiah; and being the Messiah, was the
hope of Israel and the Savior of mankind.
This document provides an exegetical analysis of Luke 16:19-31. It begins with an overview of the passage's context and structure, identifying it as a narrative parable with four main characters. The passage is situated within Luke's broader narrative as Jesus travels towards Jerusalem amid escalating tensions with the Pharisees. The document then analyzes how Luke 16:19-31 fits into a proposed chiastic structure with the surrounding passages in chapters 16-17. It concludes by discussing how correct eschatology, understanding Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, should lead to correct ethics.
SPURGEO TREASURY OF DAVID, "TITLE. MICHTAM OF DAVID. This is usually understood to mean THE GOLDE PSALM, and such a title is most appropriate, for the matter is as the most fine gold. Ainsworth calls it "David's jewel, or notable song." Dr. Hawker, who is always alive to passages full of savour,devoutly cries, "Some have rendered it precious, others golden, and others, precious
jewel; and as the Holy Ghost, by the apostles Peter and Paul, hath shown us that it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, what is here said of him is precious, is golden, is a
jewel indeed!"
He said of his father and mother,
‘I have no regard for them.’
He did not recognize his brothers
or acknowledge his own children,
but he watched over your word
and guarded your covenant.
This document provides commentary on Jesus' Parable of the Lost Son from Luke 15:11-32 from multiple scholars and experts. The parable illustrates God's joy at the repentance of sinners. It represents God as a loving father with two sons - the younger son represents sinners who repent and return to God, while the elder son represents self-righteous people who criticize God's forgiveness of sinners. The parable teaches that God graciously receives all who repent, regardless of their sins, and shows his love for lost and repentant souls.
Paul wrote a letter to Philemon regarding Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul had converted while in prison. In the letter, Paul refers to Onesimus as his "child" that he had "begotten" while in chains, and asks Philemon to accept Onesimus back not as a slave but as a brother. Paul pleads his case by reference to his role as a spiritual father and authority over Onesimus, noting the transformation in Onesimus from being useless to being useful, and promising to repay any debts Onesimus owed.
Paul writes to the saints in Rome expressing his desire to visit them to impart spiritual gifts and strengthen their faith. He gives thanks for their faith and prays for opportunity to encourage them. His goal is for believers to be unified in glorifying God with one mind and one mouth through agreeing with the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. Paul feels obligated to preach the gospel to all people, whether Greeks, Barbarians, wise or unwise. He is committed to spreading the gospel message as much as possible.
The document discusses biblical passages about the mustard seed and leaven as parables about the growth of God's kingdom and the spread of corruption or false teachings. It argues that the parables prophesy an end-times apostasy where a satanic movement grows abnormally within the church and false doctrine spreads from the Roman Catholic church to influence all of Christianity. The document provides analysis to support interpreting the "woman" and "three measures of meal" in the parables as references to religious systems and groups that will be corrupted.
Revelation 11 describes two witnesses, which some have suggested are Israel and the Church, Michael and Gabriel, Enoch and Elijah, and a few have determined they are Satan’s witnesses. Who do you believe are the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11? Why? And, how does their death testify to their prophetic message?
How do these two witness in Revelation 11 relate to the witness of the Church now? In Acts 1:8 Jesus declared to His disciples “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” To what event are Christians witnesses of (Acts 1:22, 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:32; 10:39)? In what way are you a witness of this event? What does our Lord promise His disciples in Acts 1:8 they will receive, enabling them to be witnesses? How is the Christian's power the same of that of the two witnesses?
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 18 dealing with who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom.. Jesus teaches the parable of the lost sheep, and how to deal with a brother who sins against you. Jesus end this chapter by teaching the parable of the unmerciful servant.
The Birth of the Lord of Giory on earth had its
corresponding sign in the heavens. The natural Units
of an essay which should undertake to treat of that
sign, and of the events most intimately linked with
its appearing, are those, as will easily be perceived, of
the second chapter of St. Matthew; all the incidents of
which hang in closest connexion on the coming of the
Magi, and accomplish themselves, (with the inclusion,
indeed, according to one arrangement, of the presenta-
tion in the temple, Luke ii. 22 — 38,) in a perfect and
independent cycle. The chapter is thus singularly com-
plete in itself, finding the infant Saviour at Bethlehem,
and leaving him at Nazareth, and constituting, if we
may reverently apply the word, an episode in the life of
our blessed Lord.
Illustrations of prophecy visions of daniel-and-the-apocalyptical-visions-of-...SergeyTeleguin
- The document is an excerpt from an 1840 book by David Campbell titled "Illustrations of Prophecy" that aims to provide simple illustrations to help readers understand prophecies in the Bible.
- It begins with an introductory preface where Campbell explains that he seeks to make the study of prophecies more accessible by including pictorial representations of natural symbols used by prophets and adhering strictly to the chronological order and locations of predicted events.
- The excerpt then provides introductory remarks on reasons for studying prophecies, such as expanding the mind, avoiding misinterpretations, confirming faith in the Bible, and gaining perspective on God's attributes - while also addressing common reasons for the historical neglect of
This document provides context and summarizes a passage from the Bible about the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. It describes how a servant who was forgiven a huge debt by his master then refused to forgive a fellow servant a much smaller debt. The summary is:
1) A servant was brought before the king and owed an enormous debt he could not repay. The king forgave the debt out of compassion.
2) The servant then encountered a fellow servant who owed him a tiny fraction of what he had owed. However, he refused to forgive this small debt and had the fellow servant imprisoned.
3) This parable teaches that those who have been forgiven much by God should be merciful
*'In quietness and in confidence shall be
your strength," that was the motto which
Keble chose for the Christian year, a motto
which every Christian, day by day, may con-
sider his own. ' ' He shall not strive nor cry. ' '
The evangelist who saw the fulfilment of those
words in his Master had also seen the quiet-
ness and confidence of Christ as they stood
out in clearest contrast to the contentions of
the rabbis and the wrangling of the scribes.
The unjust (worldly smart) Steward (Luke 16:1-8); A role model that Christian...C J Yang
Jesus tells his followers to use wealth from unrighteous sources, such as money collected through ungodly means like taxation, to help the poor. This will allow believers to prepare for their eternal home in heaven. The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16:1-8 is separate and refers to using worldly wisdom to prepare for life on earth, which believers should not emulate. Instead, Jesus instructs his followers in Luke 16:9-13 to faithfully use resources not from God to aid those in need, which will please God and gain them entrance to paradise.
The document discusses the biblical concept of the "abomination of desolation" mentioned in the books of Daniel and Matthew. It provides definitions of "abomination" and "desolation" and examines the four mentions of the phrase in the book of Daniel. The document suggests that the abomination of desolation referred to in Daniel was fulfilled by the Roman armies destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD. It argues that both pagan Rome and papal Rome acted as the abomination that desolated God's sanctuary through their idolatrous practices and persecution of Christians.
This is a study of Jesus being motivated. He became poor when He was rich and He did it for our sake. Love moved Him to do what He did for our salvation.
The True Interpretation of the Revelation of John and the Biblerevelationofjohn
This chapter discusses interpreting biblical prophecy correctly, as some prophecies in the Bible have been misinterpreted. It introduces Ioannis G. Arnellos, who in 1896 provided new insights into prophecies from the Old and New Testaments. Arnellos possessed a great mind and restored truth, being the Elias who was foretold. The book will reveal prophecies correctly interpreted about an coming Golden Era on Earth with global peace and justice. It will also reveal errors in current science and answer fundamental questions about the universe and life.
The plain mans_pathway_to_heaven_wherein_every_man_may_clearly_see_1000208540Katuri Susmitha
John Bunyan was inspired by this book bought by his wife after marraige.Bz of this He changed & wrote The Piligrims Progress.This Book base is to make sure here on earth itself whether u r saved or damned.
The document is a letter from the Huldah Ministry addressing brothers and sisters in Christ. It discusses the superiority of Christ over angels as presented in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. The letter examines arguments for who authored Hebrews, concluding that evidence strongly supports Paul as the author. Key points include that Hebrews uses the same concluding salutation as Paul's letters and that 2 Peter refers to a letter by Paul that can only be Hebrews.
Jesus christ, the same yesterday, today and foreverGLENN PEASE
*' Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to-day, and
forever."— Heb13: 8.
Among such passages our text may well be
assigned a high place. It has long enjoyed
great popularity. It has all the charm of epi-
gram. It possesses the sustained strength of
spiritual significance. It trips lightly upon
the lips of the superficial and imaginative, and
dwells fruitfully in the mind of the scholar.
It is full of satisfaction to the tenderly pious,
and rich in suggestion to the devoutly specu-
lative. It speaks primarily only of the per-
manence of character of Jesus Christ, but the
context forces upon us at once a broader out-
look. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews
had in mind a much greater theme than the
unity, perfection and permanence of the char-
acter of the man Christ Jesus. His purpose
was nothing less than to prove to the Hebrews
in Judea and to the farthest limits of their
world-wide dispersion that Jesus Christ was
the Messiah; and being the Messiah, was the
hope of Israel and the Savior of mankind.
This document provides an exegetical analysis of Luke 16:19-31. It begins with an overview of the passage's context and structure, identifying it as a narrative parable with four main characters. The passage is situated within Luke's broader narrative as Jesus travels towards Jerusalem amid escalating tensions with the Pharisees. The document then analyzes how Luke 16:19-31 fits into a proposed chiastic structure with the surrounding passages in chapters 16-17. It concludes by discussing how correct eschatology, understanding Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, should lead to correct ethics.
SPURGEO TREASURY OF DAVID, "TITLE. MICHTAM OF DAVID. This is usually understood to mean THE GOLDE PSALM, and such a title is most appropriate, for the matter is as the most fine gold. Ainsworth calls it "David's jewel, or notable song." Dr. Hawker, who is always alive to passages full of savour,devoutly cries, "Some have rendered it precious, others golden, and others, precious
jewel; and as the Holy Ghost, by the apostles Peter and Paul, hath shown us that it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, what is here said of him is precious, is golden, is a
jewel indeed!"
He said of his father and mother,
‘I have no regard for them.’
He did not recognize his brothers
or acknowledge his own children,
but he watched over your word
and guarded your covenant.
This document provides commentary on Jesus' Parable of the Lost Son from Luke 15:11-32 from multiple scholars and experts. The parable illustrates God's joy at the repentance of sinners. It represents God as a loving father with two sons - the younger son represents sinners who repent and return to God, while the elder son represents self-righteous people who criticize God's forgiveness of sinners. The parable teaches that God graciously receives all who repent, regardless of their sins, and shows his love for lost and repentant souls.
Paul wrote a letter to Philemon regarding Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul had converted while in prison. In the letter, Paul refers to Onesimus as his "child" that he had "begotten" while in chains, and asks Philemon to accept Onesimus back not as a slave but as a brother. Paul pleads his case by reference to his role as a spiritual father and authority over Onesimus, noting the transformation in Onesimus from being useless to being useful, and promising to repay any debts Onesimus owed.
Paul writes to the saints in Rome expressing his desire to visit them to impart spiritual gifts and strengthen their faith. He gives thanks for their faith and prays for opportunity to encourage them. His goal is for believers to be unified in glorifying God with one mind and one mouth through agreeing with the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. Paul feels obligated to preach the gospel to all people, whether Greeks, Barbarians, wise or unwise. He is committed to spreading the gospel message as much as possible.
The document discusses biblical passages about the mustard seed and leaven as parables about the growth of God's kingdom and the spread of corruption or false teachings. It argues that the parables prophesy an end-times apostasy where a satanic movement grows abnormally within the church and false doctrine spreads from the Roman Catholic church to influence all of Christianity. The document provides analysis to support interpreting the "woman" and "three measures of meal" in the parables as references to religious systems and groups that will be corrupted.
Revelation 11 describes two witnesses, which some have suggested are Israel and the Church, Michael and Gabriel, Enoch and Elijah, and a few have determined they are Satan’s witnesses. Who do you believe are the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11? Why? And, how does their death testify to their prophetic message?
How do these two witness in Revelation 11 relate to the witness of the Church now? In Acts 1:8 Jesus declared to His disciples “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” To what event are Christians witnesses of (Acts 1:22, 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:32; 10:39)? In what way are you a witness of this event? What does our Lord promise His disciples in Acts 1:8 they will receive, enabling them to be witnesses? How is the Christian's power the same of that of the two witnesses?
A verse by verse commentary on Matthew chapter 18 dealing with who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom.. Jesus teaches the parable of the lost sheep, and how to deal with a brother who sins against you. Jesus end this chapter by teaching the parable of the unmerciful servant.
The Birth of the Lord of Giory on earth had its
corresponding sign in the heavens. The natural Units
of an essay which should undertake to treat of that
sign, and of the events most intimately linked with
its appearing, are those, as will easily be perceived, of
the second chapter of St. Matthew; all the incidents of
which hang in closest connexion on the coming of the
Magi, and accomplish themselves, (with the inclusion,
indeed, according to one arrangement, of the presenta-
tion in the temple, Luke ii. 22 — 38,) in a perfect and
independent cycle. The chapter is thus singularly com-
plete in itself, finding the infant Saviour at Bethlehem,
and leaving him at Nazareth, and constituting, if we
may reverently apply the word, an episode in the life of
our blessed Lord.
Illustrations of prophecy visions of daniel-and-the-apocalyptical-visions-of-...SergeyTeleguin
- The document is an excerpt from an 1840 book by David Campbell titled "Illustrations of Prophecy" that aims to provide simple illustrations to help readers understand prophecies in the Bible.
- It begins with an introductory preface where Campbell explains that he seeks to make the study of prophecies more accessible by including pictorial representations of natural symbols used by prophets and adhering strictly to the chronological order and locations of predicted events.
- The excerpt then provides introductory remarks on reasons for studying prophecies, such as expanding the mind, avoiding misinterpretations, confirming faith in the Bible, and gaining perspective on God's attributes - while also addressing common reasons for the historical neglect of
This document provides context and summarizes a passage from the Bible about the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. It describes how a servant who was forgiven a huge debt by his master then refused to forgive a fellow servant a much smaller debt. The summary is:
1) A servant was brought before the king and owed an enormous debt he could not repay. The king forgave the debt out of compassion.
2) The servant then encountered a fellow servant who owed him a tiny fraction of what he had owed. However, he refused to forgive this small debt and had the fellow servant imprisoned.
3) This parable teaches that those who have been forgiven much by God should be merciful
This document provides an in-depth analysis and summary of the biblical parable of the lost sheep from the book "Notes on the Parables" by Archbishop R.C. Trench. The summary is as follows:
1) The parable was told by Jesus in response to murmurings from scribes and Pharisees about his association with sinners. It illustrates God's joy when even one sinner repents, more than the ninety-nine righteous who need no repentance.
2) The lost sheep represents ignorant or straying sinners. The shepherd risks leaving the others to find the lost one, showing God's care for each individual.
3) Bringing the sheep
This document provides context and commentary on Jesus' Parable of the Tares from the Bible. It discusses how this parable was a point of controversy between the Church and the Donatists over whether the Church should tolerate sinners in its midst. The author argues that Augustine correctly interpreted the parable to mean that the Church on earth contains both good and bad people until the final judgment, based on Jesus' explanation that the field represents the world and tares will grow among the wheat until the harvest. The document also analyzes other elements of the parable, such as how Satan sows the tares to counterfeit God's work.
The Birth of the Lord of Giory on earth had its
corresponding sign in the heavens. The natural Units
of an essay which should undertake to treat of that
sign, and of the events most intimately linked with
its appearing, are those, as will easily be perceived, of
the second chapter of St. Matthew; all the incidents of
which hang in closest connexion on the coming of the
Magi, and accomplish themselves, (with the inclusion,
indeed, according to one arrangement, of the presenta-
tion in the temple, Luke ii. 22 — 38,) in a perfect and
independent cycle.
Prophecy Lost And Found - Prophecy In The News Magazine - March 2007miscott57
The document discusses how and why premillennial dispensationalism, the belief that Christ will return before establishing his kingdom on Earth, fell out of favor after the 1st century. It states that in the 2nd-3rd centuries church leaders began applying Old Testament prophecies about Israel to the church instead, thinking Israel no longer had a future. This view became dominant for over 17 centuries until John Nelson Darby revived premillennialism in the 19th century by concluding the early church fathers were wrong to spiritualize prophecies about Israel.
This is a study of Jesus scaring His disciples by telling them to listen carefully to what He said, and then they could not figure out what He was saying and were afraid to ask.
This document provides context and analysis for the parable of the sower told by Jesus in the Bible. It describes the setting by the Sea of Galilee where Jesus told this and other parables. It then analyzes each part of the parable, beginning with Jesus as the sower sowing the word of God, and the different types of people who hear it - those where the word does not take root, those who receive it briefly but fall away, and those where the word takes deep root and bears fruit. The document aims to help the reader understand the spiritual meanings and lessons within this parable of Jesus.
This is a study of Jesus as a bearer of bad news. Things will never be like they once were and the old days will be missed, but better things are coming.
This is a study of the gospel Jesus preached, and you may be surprised when you discover what His message was, for it was before the cross and resurrection.
The document summarizes the parable of the lost coin told by Jesus in Luke 15:8-10. It provides context about the author and publication of notes on the parables. The summary explores interpretations of the parable, including that the woman represents the Church seeking lost souls. It examines similarities and differences between this parable and the previous one of the lost sheep. The woman's finding of the coin and calling others to rejoice represents the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
This document provides commentary on the parable of the ten virgins from the Bible. It discusses various interpretations of the parable and analyzes what the lamps and oil represent. Specifically:
1) It examines different views on whether the virgins went to meet the bridegroom before or after he fetched the bride. It argues they went to meet both based on Jewish wedding customs.
2) It analyzes debates on whether the "oil" represents living faith or good works. Reformers saw it as living faith while Catholics saw it as good works.
3) It concludes the two sides differ only in their definitions of "faith" - Catholics saw it as outward profession while Reformers saw it
This document introduces a volume that aims to show that God's plan for salvation has definite times and seasons appointed for its fulfillment based on scripture. It acknowledges mistakes in past interpretations but encourages further scriptural study of prophecy regarding the end times. The following chapters will examine prophecies about the harvest period we are currently in and major events centered in it, such as the time of trouble and Christ's second coming.
The document is an introduction to a book by John Bunyan titled "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved." It provides context on Bunyan's work and intentions in writing it. The introduction summarizes:
1) The volume collects Bunyan's works aimed at inviting awakened sinners to come to Christ for salvation. It includes his favorite sermon "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved" and pieces on Christ's completeness as a savior and the new birth.
2) "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved" directly encourages the worst sinners to come to Christ, using Bunyan's own experience of finding mercy as a vile sinner.
3) Bunyan hoped to magnify God's truth and have some
EVERY EYE-SHALL-SEE-HIM-a-study-in-the-promissed-second-coming-of-christ-Clif...Francis Batt
This document provides an overview of the Early Christian belief in Jesus' promised Second Coming. It discusses how this belief was based on Jesus' own teachings and prophecies in the gospels. It also examines how the Early Church interpreted these teachings and prophecies in a highly literal way, expecting Jesus to return imminently. However, as time passed without a literal fulfillment, various non-literal interpretations were proposed. The document aims to show that Jesus' teachings about the Second Coming have actually been fulfilled, and that it is an accomplished fact, not something still awaited in the future.
God has a prophetic purpose for praise and worship in the church. Amos prophesied that God would restore the tabernacle of David, which was a place of praise and worship before the ark of the covenant. With every move of God, He has restored different elements of worship and raised up songwriters to bring forth new songs embodying the truths of that movement. Today, God is raising up prophetic songwriters to bring forth "war songs of Zion" to transform the church into the fighting army He has called it to be.
Walking in the realm of the miraculous kenneth copelandKaturi Susmitha
This document provides a prophecy from Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin about an upcoming mighty move of God's Spirit and the emergence of a "new breed" of believers who will rise up strong in faith and do exploits. It also shares a message from Kenneth Copeland about the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit and two key areas of revelation - prosperity and God's love. Copeland feels revealing God's love through every available medium is crucial and received a commission from God to establish a place overwhelmed by love that will bring revival everywhere through radio, television, and resolving conflicts.
This document discusses oppression and how it is a demonic spirit that attempts to trap victims through circumstances like poverty. Oppression leads to dependency on others and can develop from childhood experiences. It causes heaviness in both body and mind. Depression often accompanies oppression, making the victim gloomy and destroying their mind. The document warns that oppression can affect anyone and lists six warning signs of depression, including sleep disturbances, loss of interest in activities, changes in appetite, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, and feelings of worthlessness. It emphasizes that oppression must be overcome through faith in God.
Jonas Clark introduces the topic of spiritual witchcraft and its weapons. He asserts that confusion, emotional manipulation, inattentiveness, and probing the soul are common weapons used by witchcraft to control believers. Clark explains that Jesus has freed us from bondage to witchcraft through his work on the cross. However, many Christians remain ignorant of their rights and freedoms in Christ and remain vulnerable to witchcraft's influence. The key is understanding witchcraft's weapons so one can recognize and defeat its attacks. Chaos, a change in spiritual climate, and a lack of peace are signs that witchcraft may be at work.
Here are the key points about divination from the passage:
- Divination involves fortune-telling through various means like tarot cards, tea leaves, crystal balls, horoscopes, palm reading, etc.
- Both the Old and New Testaments warn against divination and say it leads people away from God by attempting to control future events through spells and evil spirits.
- Divination defiles and separates people from God. The Israelites were warned not to get involved with those who practiced divination.
- In Acts, Paul encounters a slave girl who tells fortunes and is being used by a spirit of divination to earn money for her owners. Paul casts the spirit out of her.
- Paul also encounters a sorcer
- The document is a chapter from a book that argues Christians should trust their spiritual leaders, including with financial matters, rather than believing the idea that "all preachers want is your money."
- It provides examples to show how that idea is a deception promoted by Satan to prevent Christians from receiving God's blessings, including financial prosperity, which the Bible says comes from believing and supporting spiritual leaders.
- It encourages evaluating leaders based on their character and calling rather than blanket assumptions, and trusting God's promises about generosity and sowing and reaping more than worldly doubts.
This document provides information about the book "The Mind of Christ" by David Alsobrook. It discusses how Adam had a perfect memory and unlimited imagination before the Fall, as evidenced by his ability to name all the animals. It argues that Christians can have the same powerful mind that Jesus and Adam possessed through receiving the mind of Christ. The document examines how forgetfulness came as a result of the curse, and encourages readers to consider the provisions made available to restore people's minds and ability to remember scripture.
This document is the introduction to a book titled "Stolen Property Returned" by John Avanzini. It provides information about the book, including that it has been revised from its original 1984 edition. The introduction gives an overview of the book, stating that it will show Christians how to overcome Satan and make him pay back everything he has stolen through deceptive tactics. It notes that Satan has robbed every person and that Christians often don't realize the full magnitude of what has been stolen from them by the devil. The introduction prepares the reader to learn about how to take back what Satan has stolen using the spiritual application of God's Law of Retribution from the Old Testament.
This document is an excerpt from the book "Fruits of Righteousness" by Jerry Savelle. In this excerpt, Savelle discusses the concept of righteousness and how believers can walk in righteousness based on their new identity in Christ. He explains that through Jesus' sacrifice, believers have received the free gift of righteousness and are no longer defined by their past sins but are made righteous. Savelle encourages developing a consciousness of one's righteous standing before God based on faith in God's word rather than feelings or outward appearance. The goal is for believers to produce the same fruits of righteousness that Jesus demonstrated through abiding in him.
This document is an excerpt from a book titled "We Can Take This City!" by Jerry Savelle. It encourages Christians to catch the vision that God wants them to reach entire cities and nations with the gospel. It discusses how Jesus saw people with compassion and wants believers to see people the same way. It urges readers to leave their comfort zones and use their faith to impact cities, as Jesus did. The overall message is that with unity and by focusing their efforts, prayers, and faith, Christians can bring entire communities to righteousness quickly as Jesus' assignment must be done urgently before his return.
This document is a chapter from the book "Take Charge of Your Financial Destiny" by Jerry Savelle. The chapter discusses protecting your seed, which refers to money or resources intended for sowing or investing. It describes how Satan tries to consume people's seed through unexpected expenses or convincing them they can't afford to give. It explains that seed is meant for sowing, not consuming, and provides the example of Abram driving away birds that tried to eat his sacrifice before he could present it to God. The chapter emphasizes that sowing seed, such as tithing, links a person to God's blessings and prevents the devil from stopping their prosperity.
This document is a chapter from the book "Prosperity of the Soul" by Jerry Savelle. The chapter discusses how Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid the price not just for salvation from sin but also for healing, prosperity, and blessing in every area of life. It argues that God desires believers to prosper physically, financially, and materially just as much as He desires them to be saved spiritually. The chapter aims to show that prosperity is God's will according to scriptures like 3 John 2, and that Jesus' atoning work provides for prosperity in all aspects of life, not just salvation from hell.
This document is an excerpt from the book "How to Overcome Financial Famine" by Jerry Savelle. It discusses how God wants to bless his people financially but they must be obedient to his word. It provides examples from the Bible of people like Abraham who were blessed because they followed God, and others like Lot and Jacob who experienced bondage due to disobedience. The document encourages reading God's word as the final authority, and trusting that God can supernaturally intervene to deliver people from financial hardship through the power of his spoken word.
This document discusses religious lies about prosperity and God's blessing. It asserts that living a life of obedience to God will result in prosperity, as promised in the Bible. However, it warns that prosperity alone does not equate to blessing - one must continue seeking God (the Blesser) and not just the blessings. The story of King Uzziah is discussed, showing that his prosperity did not destroy him, but rather his own arrogance when he stopped seeking God. The document encourages continuing to prioritize one's relationship with God above all blessings.
This document is a summary of Jerry Savelle's book "Don't Let Go of Your Dreams". The book encourages the reader to hold onto the dreams and purposes that God has placed within them, and to pursue them aggressively through spending time with God and being fueled by His word. It warns against letting go of dreams due to obstacles, time, or discouragement from others. The book contains 6 chapters that each explore a theme of maintaining hope and vision in pursuing one's God-given dreams and destiny.
This document is the introduction to a book written by Jerry Savelle about living a blessed life. It summarizes Jerry Savelle's childhood experiences growing up in a family affected by the Great Depression and his transformation to developing a "blessing mindset" after learning in 1969 that God wants believers to live debt-free and blessed lives every day. It describes how Savelle now teaches his grandchildren the principle of blessing others when they sneeze and the importance of cultivating an expectancy that every day can be a blessing day, especially in challenging times. The introduction sets up the aim of the book to teach readers about appropriating God's blessing in their own lives through understanding its biblical principles.
This document introduces a prophecy given to the author in 1998 that extraordinary things would become the norm in their life beginning in 1999. The prophecy is meant to encourage believers to expect the extraordinary and uncommon in every area of their lives. The author defines what biblical prophecy is, emphasizes the importance of taking prophecy seriously and acting upon it, and discusses some principles for receiving prophecy, including standing in faith and believing for the fulfillment of prophecies even when circumstances appear contrary. The rest of the book will explore what it means to expect the extraordinary and how readers can position themselves to receive the extraordinary blessings and works of God in their own lives.
This document is a summary of chapter 1 from Jerry Savelle's book "Walking in Divine Favor". It discusses how we are all somebody special to God, having been crowned with glory and honor. It aims to build self-esteem by revealing our high value and favor in God's sight, despite any past failures or mistakes. We are loved objects of God's affection, and with this revelation, we can expect to walk in continual victory.
This document discusses living in divine prosperity through commitment to God over the world. It argues that many Christians try to live by both God's and the world's systems, but this does not work as you cannot serve two masters. The world is suffering financially but God has a higher way for his people above the struggles of the world. To receive God's blessings of prosperity, one must fully commit to God and his word over listening to the ways of the world. God wants his people to be free from financial bondage and hardship.
This document is a chapter from a book titled "Increase God's Way" by Jerry Savelle. The chapter discusses how the author was originally lied to by well-meaning Christians who told him things like God causes sickness and loves poverty. However, after studying the Bible himself, he discovered God's original intent was for people to live blessed lives with health, increase, and success. The chapter argues that financial increase should be expected by Christians as a covenant right, and encourages readers to declare war on any lack or poverty in their lives by standing on their rights in God.
The Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings, of the Hebrew Bible. In most Christian canons it is treated as one of the historical books and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel.
The Hope of Salvation - Jude 1:24-25 - MessageCole Hartman
Jude gives us hope at the end of a dark letter. In a dark world like today, we need the light of Christ to shine brighter and brighter. Jude shows us where to fix our focus so we can be filled with God's goodness and glory. Join us to explore this incredible passage.
Heartfulness Magazine - June 2024 (Volume 9, Issue 6)heartfulness
Dear readers,
This month we continue with more inspiring talks from the Global Spirituality Mahotsav that was held from March 14 to 17, 2024, at Kanha Shanti Vanam.
We hear from Daaji on lifestyle and yoga in honor of International Day of Yoga, June 21, 2024. We also hear from Professor Bhavani Rao, Dean at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, on spirituality in action, the Venerable BhikkuSanghasena on how to be an ambassador for compassion, Dr. Tony Nader on the Maharishi Effect, Swami Mukundananda on the crossroads of modernization, Tejinder Kaur Basra on the purpose of work, the Venerable GesheDorjiDamdul on the psychology of peace, the Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland, KC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, on how we are all related, and world-renowned violinist KumareshRajagopalan on the uplifting mysteries of music.
Dr. Prasad Veluthanar shares an Ayurvedic perspective on treating autism, Dr. IchakAdizes helps us navigate disagreements at work, Sravan Banda celebrates World Environment Day by sharing some tips on land restoration, and Sara Bubber tells our children another inspiring story and challenges them with some fun facts and riddles.
Happy reading,
The editors
The forces involved in this witchcraft spell will re-establish the loving bond between you and help to build a strong, loving relationship from which to start anew. Despite any previous hardships or problems, the spell work will re-establish the strong bonds of friendship and love upon which the marriage and relationship originated. Have faith, these stop divorce and stop separation spells are extremely powerful and will reconnect you and your partner in a strong and harmonious relationship.
My ritual will not only stop separation and divorce, but rebuild a strong bond between you and your partner that is based on truth, honesty, and unconditional love. For an even stronger effect, you may want to consider using the Eternal Love Bond spell to ensure your relationship and love will last through all tests of time. If you have not yet determined if your partner is considering separation or divorce, but are aware of rifts in the relationship, try the Love Spells to remove problems in a relationship or marriage. Keep in mind that all my love spells are 100% customized and that you'll only need 1 spell to address all problems/wishes.
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A Free eBook ~ Valuable LIFE Lessons to Learn ( 5 Sets of Presentations)...OH TEIK BIN
A free eBook comprising 5 sets of PowerPoint presentations of meaningful stories /Inspirational pieces that teach important Dhamma/Life lessons. For reflection and practice to develop the mind to grow in love, compassion and wisdom. The texts are in English and Chinese.
My other free eBooks can be obtained from the following Links:
https://www.slideshare.net/ohteikbin/presentations
https://www.slideshare.net/ohteikbin/documents
A375 Example Taste the taste of the Lord, the taste of the Lord The taste of...franktsao4
It seems that current missionary work requires spending a lot of money, preparing a lot of materials, and traveling to far away places, so that it feels like missionary work. But what was the result they brought back? It's just a lot of photos of activities, fun eating, drinking and some playing games. And then we have to do the same thing next year, never ending. The church once mentioned that a certain missionary would go to the field where she used to work before the end of his life. It seemed that if she had not gone, no one would be willing to go. The reason why these missionary work is so difficult is that no one obeys God’s words, and the Bible is not the main content during missionary work, because in the eyes of those who do not obey God’s words, the Bible is just words and cannot be connected with life, so Reading out God's words is boring because it doesn't have any life experience, so it cannot be connected with human life. I will give a few examples in the hope that this situation can be changed. A375
Sanatan Vastu | Experience Great Living | Vastu ExpertSanatan Vastu
Santan Vastu Provides Vedic astrology courses & Vastu remedies, If you are searching Vastu for home, Vastu for kitchen, Vastu for house, Vastu for Office & Factory. Best Vastu in Bahadurgarh. Best Vastu in Delhi NCR
The Book of Samuel is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books that constitute a theological history of the Israelites and that aim to explain God's law for Israel under the guidance of the prophets.
The Enchantment and Shadows_ Unveiling the Mysteries of Magic and Black Magic...Phoenix O
This manual will guide you through basic skills and tasks to help you get started with various aspects of Magic. Each section is designed to be easy to follow, with step-by-step instructions.
Protector & Destroyer: Agni Dev (The Hindu God of Fire)Exotic India
So let us turn the pages of ancient Indian literature and get to know more about Agni, the mighty purifier of all things, worshipped in Indian culture as a God since the Vedic time.
Trusting God's Providence | Verse: Romans 8: 28-31JL de Belen
Trusting God's Providence.
Providence - God’s active preservation and care over His creation. God is both the Creator and the Sustainer of all things Heb. 1:2-3; Col. 1:17
-God keep His promises.
-God’s general providence is toward all creation
- All things were made through Him
God’s special providence is toward His children.
We may suffer now, but joy can and will come
God can see what we cannot see
1. 1
THE TALENTS
R. C. Trench
Notes on the Parables
by
Archbishop R. C. Trench D.D.
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.(1902AD.)
THE present popular edition of the PARABLES, with a translation of the
notes, carries out an intention which had long been in the Author’s
mind, but which want of leisure—and, when leisure at last was
granted, failing health prevented him from accomplishing.
The text has received the Author’s latest emendations, as made by
him in his own copy during the last years of his life.
The notes are translated so as to bring them within the reach of
general readers. In the few cases in which there existed any recog-
nized versions of the original works quoted, these have been followed,
so far as was compatible with correctness; but more often, no such
version existing, a new translation has been made. The whole of the
work, which has been valued by the Church and by scholars for nearly
fifty years, is now brought in its entirety within the reach of all, and
takes for the first time its final form. The Author never allowed his
books to be stereotyped, in order that he might constantly improve
them, and permanence has only become possible when his diligent
hand can touch the work no more.
PARABLE XIV.
THE TALENTS.
MATTHEW xxv. 14-30.
WHILE the virgins were represented as waiting for their Lord, we have
here the servants working for Him. There the inward spiritual life of the
faithful was described, here their external activity. There, by the fate of
the foolish virgins, we were warned against negligences and decays in
the inner life; here, by the doom of the slothful servant, against indo-
lence in our outward vocation and work. That parable enforced the
need of keeping the heart with all diligence; this of putting all diligence
also into our outward service, if we would give our account at the last
with joy and not with sorrow. Very fitly, therefore, that precedes, and
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2. 2
this follows, since the maintenance of the life of God in the heart is the
sole condition of a profitable outward activity for the kingdom of God.1
There is another light in which we may consider severally the virgins
and the servants, and the distinction between them; namely, that
those represent the more contemplative, these the more active labour-
ing members of the Church. It is true that every member should par-
take of both, of contemplation and action; so that even when thus re-
garded, both parables will retain their application to all, but at the
same time one element of the Christian life may predominate in one
member, the other in another. Each must endeavour in his own case to
adjust these, to give larger development to the one or to the other,
according to the gifts which he finds in himself, and the needs which
he beholds in others around him.
St. Mark has a briefer recension of this parable (xiii. 34-36), but with
important variations, and reminiscences of the Ten Virgins (‘lest com-
ing suddenly He find you sleeping,’ ver. 36); and blending into one the
two parables which with a stricter accuracy St. Matthew keeps apart.
St. Luke too has preserved for us a parable, that of the Pounds (xix.
12), having many points of contact with this, yet assuredly not identical
with it, as Maldonatus and others would fain have us to believe.2
That
was spoken when Jesus was now drawing near to Jerusalem, but had
not yet made his triumphal entry,—this, while He was seated on the
Mount of Olives, the third day after his entry into the city. That was
addressed to the multitude as well as to his disciples; this to the in-
nermost circle of trusted followers who should carry forward the work
which He had commenced on the earth. The scope of that, which is
the more complex parable, is twofold, and may be thus defined. The
multitude, and perhaps many that were following the Lord with true
hearts, supposed that He was now about to take his kingdom and to
reign (John vi. 15; Acts i. 6). He would make them to understand that
any open assumption of his kingdom was yet far distant; that He must
go away, and only after a long period return; and that not till then
should opposition to his kingdom cease. Meanwhile (and here the two
parables run parallel with one another), those who owned allegiance to
Him were not indolently to wait the time of his return, but earnestly to
set forward his kingdom, each according to the ability given him, confi-
dent that He would reward every man’s work. In St. Luke’s parable this
further circumstance appearing, that He at his return would utterly de-
stroy those who had sent after Him messages of hate and defiance.
The scope of his parable then is twofold. It is addressed, in part, to
that giddy, lightminded multitude, who were now following Jesus, ex-
pecting that He would suffer Himself to be made such a king as they
desired; and who, when He refused the royalty which they would have
forced upon Him, might, perhaps, turn against Him, and join in the cry,
‘Crucify Him.’ These are warned that they be not offended though the
manifestation of the King and the kingdom should be deferred for long;
warned, above all, that they should not be found in the ranks of his
foes, whose dreadful doom might tarry long, but would arrive at last.
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3. 3
To the disciples also that parable conveys a warning, namely, that the
long interval between his going away and his coming again in glory
must be no period of sluggish inactivity, but one for the showing of all
good fidelity to an absent Lord, which fidelity would by Him be abun-
dantly rewarded, even as sloth and a neglect of his interests would
meet also their due recompense of reward.
A modern assailant3
of the historical accuracy of the record, which in
the four Gospels we have of our Lord’s words and works, believes that
he detects in that parable of St. Luke, just as in St. Matthew’s record of
the Marriage of the King’s Son (Matt. xxii. 1), a blending together,
through loose and floating oral tradition, of heterogeneous materials;—
that in fact we have there what should have been two parables, but
these joined in one; and this so awkwardly, that the points of juncture
are plainly discernible. He urges that ‘servants’ (ver. 13) and ‘citizens’
(ver. 14) stand in no relation to one another, that with slightest
alterations, verses 12, 14, 15, 27 would form a complete whole, and
might be entitled the parable of the Rebellious Citizens; the remaining
verses constituting the parable of the Pounds, which would then be
free from all admixture of foreign elements.4
But let it only be kept in
mind, that there were two groups of hearers in different moral
conditions and needing different admonishments to whom the Lord
addressed the parable of St. Luke, and it will at once be perceived how
He divided to all, to his own disciples and to the multitude, according
to their several necessities. In St. Luke the parable is more complex, as
having a more complex purpose to fulfil. In St. Matthew it is simpler;
being addressed to the disciples alone; the parts intended for the
multitude would have been superfluous here, and are accordingly not
introduced.I reserve then the parable of the Pounds to be dealt with by itself
and in its own place; for the present we have to do with this of the
Talents alone; though gladly profiting by those cross lights which this
and that mutually throw one upon the other. ‘The kingdom of heaven
is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants,
and delivered unto them his goods.’ It will be well to keep in mind here
the relation of masters and slaves in antiquity, and not to confound
this with that between masters and servants, as now existing among
us. The master of a household going from home does not leave with
his servants,—it would be foreign to all the relations between them,—
moneys wherewith to trade in his absence; nor, if he did, could he
punish them on his return for neglect of his interests, as the slothful
servant is punished here. But slaves in antiquity were often artisans, as
was lately the case with serfs in Russia and slaves in America; and
paying some fixed yearly tax to their master or money was committed
to them wherewith to trade on his account, or with which to enlarge
their business, bringing in to him a share of their profits.5
Some such
arrangement as this we may here assume. The ‘man travelling into a
far country’ is the Lord Jesus Himself; who, as He had come from the
Father, was about to return to the Father;6
and who, that his servants
might be furnished in his absence, was about to entrust them, and all
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4. 4
their successors whose representatives they were, with many excellent
gifts. The day of Pentecost was the time when the ‘goods,’ that is,
spiritual powers and capacities, were by Him most manifestly and most
largely communicated to his servants, that they might profit withal
(John xvi. 7-10; Ephes. iv. 8-12). Yet not for the first time then. Much
the Lord had imparted during his sojourn with them upon earth (John
xv. 3), much before his Ascension (John xx. 22); and from that day
forth He has been evermore delivering his goods to each successive
generation of his servants (1 Cor. xii. 4-11). This being so, the parable
is good for all times and for all persons. As primarily addressed to the
Apostles, the ‘goods’ are those spiritual gifts which they needed; yet
since all are called in their measure to edify one another, and are en-
trusted with gifts, more or few, for which they must render an account,
the application of the parable stops not with them, but is rather of uni-
versal application. Nor, because it relates first to spiritual gifts, has it
therefore no relation to other means and opportunities of serving God,
as wealth, reputation, abilities, learning; which, though not in them-
selves spiritual, are yet given to men that they may be turned to spiri-
tual ends,—are capable of being consecrated to his service, for the use
or abuse of which the possessors will have therefore to render an ac-
count. Our wide use of the word talent in English, growing as it does
altogether out of this parable, is a remarkable evidence of the extent
to which this conviction has wrought itself into the thoughts and lan-
guage of men.7
But different men receive these gifts in very different proportions:
‘Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one.’8
Not that the talents, as Theophylact explains it, were to each ‘accord-
ing to the measure of his faith and purity,’ for the faith which purifies is
itself one of the chiefest of these gifts; but he gave ‘to every man ac-
cording to his several ability,’ inasmuch as the natural is the ground
upon which the spiritual is superinduced, and grace does not dissolve
the groundwork of the individual character, nor abolish all its peculiari-
ties, nor bring all that are subject to it to a common standard (see 1
Cor. xii. 4-31; Ephes. iv. 16). The natural gifts are as the vessel, which
may be large or may be small, and which receives according to its ca-
pacity (Rom. xii. 6);9
but which in each case is, or may be, filled. We
should not therefore think of him who had received the two talents as
incompletely furnished by comparison with him who had received five,
any more than a small circle is imperfect as compared with a large. Un-
fitted he might be for so wide a sphere of labour, but altogether as
perfectly equipped for that to which he was destined; for ‘there are di-
versities of gifts, but the same Spirit:’ and as the body is not all eye,
nor all ear, nor are all in an army captains or commanders,10
so neither
in the Church are all furnished to be leaders and governors. Yet while
we speak of natural capacity being as the vessel for receiving the wine
of the Spirit, we must not leave out of account that comparative un-
faithfulness, stopping very short of that which would cause the gift to
be quite withdrawn, will narrow the vessel, even as fidelity has the
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5. 5
tendency to dilate it. So that one with far inferior natural gifts will often
bring in a more abundant return than another with superior powers,
who yet does bring in something. Certain broad cases are mentioned in
the parable; but they do not exclude other combinations of the talents
committed and the talents gained. There may be cases where he of
the two, or even of the one talent, as that of James Davies, the Welsh
schoolmaster, will have gained five; there will be other where he of the
five will have added to them but two.
Having thus committed the talents to his servants, and divided sev-
erally unto each according to his powers, the lord ‘straightway took his
journey.’ In the things earthly the householder’s distribution of the gifts
naturally and of necessity precedes his departure; in the heavenly it is
not altogether so; the Ascension, or departure, goes before Pentecost,
the chief day of the distribution of gifts; yet the ‘straightway’ still
remains in force; the interval between them was the smallest, one
following hard upon the other, however the order was reversed.
We are next told what the servants did with the talents thus com-
mitted to them; how they spent that time, so full of temptations to
sloth and indolence, during which their lord was away. ‘Then he that
had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and
made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two,
he also gained other two.’ There is this variation between the present
parable and St. Luke’s, that here the faithful servants multiply their un-
equal sums in the same proportions; while there they multiply their
equal sums in different proportions; all had alike received a pound, but
one gained with that pound ten pounds and another five (Luke xix. 16,
18). Two most important truths are thus brought out, as could scarcely
have been done if only one parable had been spoken; first by St.
Matthew this, that according as we have received will it be required
from us and then by St. Luke this other, that as men differ in fidelity,
in zeal, in labour, so will they differ in the amount of their spiritual
gains.—But while two are thus faithful in the things entrusted to them,
it is otherwise with the third: ‘He that had received one went and
digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.’ How apt an image this,
for the failing to use divinely imparted gifts, since ‘wisdom that is hid,
and treasure that is hoarded up, what profit is in them both? Better is
he that hideth his folly than a man that hideth his wisdom’11
(Ecclus.
xx. 30, 31). In St. Luke he hides his pound in a napkin; ‘but that would
have been scarcely possible with so large a sum as a talent, which is
therefore more fitly said to have been concealed ‘in the earth.’12
‘And after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and recko-
neth with them’ (compare Matt. xviii. 23). In this ‘after a long time’
Christ gave another hint (see ver. 5) that his return might not follow so
soon on his departure as his disciples were disposed to take for
granted. When, however, He does come, it shall be to take account of
every man’s work. This reckoning is not identical with that of the rich
man with the unjust steward (Luke xvi. 2), nor yet of the king with the
unmerciful servant (Matt. xviii. 23, 24), for both of those are in this
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6. 6
present life, while this is at the close of all. ‘And so he that had re-
ceived five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord,
thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside
them five talents more.’ In the joyful coming forward of the two faith-
ful servants, we have an example of ‘boldness in the day of judgment.’
They had something to show, as Paul was confident he should have,
when to his beloved Thessalonian converts he said, ‘What is our hope,
or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?’ (1 Thess. ii. 19; 2 Cor. i. 14; Phil. iv.
1). The faithful servant says here, ‘Behold, I have gained;’ in St. Luke,
‘Thy pound hath gained;’ thus between them they make up the speech
of St. Paul, ‘I—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.’ And
even this, ‘I have gained,’ is introduced by that other word, ‘thou deliv-
eredst unto me;’—it is his lord’s money which has so multiplied in his
hands.13
In this parable, as has been observed, the gain is according to
the talents, five for five, and two for two. Consistently with this, the
commendation of the servants is expressed in exactly the same lan-
guage, even as the reward to each is precisely the same. Each hears
the same ‘Well done;’ to each it is said, ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy
lord;’14
each, that is, is invited to a fellowship in his lord’s joy. The im-
age on which this language rests is that of a festival, with which the
master celebrates his return, in the joy of which each of the servants,
so soon as he has rendered his account, and shown that he has been
true to his master’s interests in his absence, is bidden freely to share.
Under certain circumstances a master’s invitation of his slave to sit
down with him at table did itself constitute the act of manumission;
henceforth he was free.15
Perhaps there may be here allusion to some-
thing of the kind—the incorporation in an act of what once He had
spoken in words, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants, . . . . but I have
called you friends’ (John xv. 15; Luke xli. 37; Rev. iii. 20). It need
hardly be observed that since all, when they have done all, are to say
of themselves ‘We are unprofitable servants’ (Luke xvii. 10), in this
‘Well done’ there utters itself the indulgence, the επιεικεια, of the Gos-
pel, and not the rigour of the Law.
‘Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I
knew thee that thou art an hard16
man, reaping where thou hast not
sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid,
and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is
thine.’ We can well understand why he should linger to the last, his
heart secretly misgiving him, whatever face he may attempt to put on
the matter. It is true that he had not wasted his master’s goods like
the unjust steward (Luke xvi. 1), nor spent all his portion in riotous liv-
ing like the prodigal (Luke xv. 13), nor was he ten thousand talents in
debt like the unmerciful servant (Matt. xviii. 24); and it is an entire
mistake to confound his guilt with theirs, from which it should be kept
wholly distinct; for so the very persons whose consciences the parable
was meant to reach escape its force. When we weave the meshes of
the spiritual net so large, all but the biggest offenders contrive to slip
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7. 7
through; and the parable is not for gross sinners, who by their whole
lives evidently deny that they count Christ to be their Lord and master
at all; who squander their talent, or refuse to acknowledge that they
have ever received one. The law and their own hearts tell them plainly
enough of their sin and danger. But the warning here is for those who
hide their talent, who, being equipped of God for a sphere of activity in
his kingdom, do yet choose, in Lord Bacon’s words, ‘a goodness soli-
tary and particular, rather than generative and seminal.’ Such might
only too easily deceive themselves, the temptations being so many to a
shrinking from the pains involved in a diligent laying out of this talent.
There is a show of humility in the excuses which would palliate this
sloth: as for instance, ‘The care of my own soul is sufficient to occupy
me wholly. The responsibilities of any spiritual work are so awful that I
dare not undertake them; while I am employed about the souls of oth-
ers, I may perhaps be losing my own.’ How often we read in the early
Church of some who on pleas like these declined charges to which they
were called; and, when they should have been the salt of the earth,
thought rather to keep their own saltness by withdrawing from all
those active ministries in which they might have served their brethren
in love.17
Very instructive also is the fact that it is the recipient of the one
talent who proves the defaulter here. Nothing in the scheme of the
parable hindered the attribution of this guilt to him of the five talents,
or to him of the ten; for there are only too many of those whom God
has gifted the most richly, who altogether fail to turn to his glory the
marvellous powers with which He has endowed them. Yet no, it is
neither of these; but the servant of the one talent; that so
henceforward none may excuse his sloth on a plea like this, ‘So little is
committed to my charge, that it cannot matter how I administer that
little. It is so little that I can do for God, what signifies that little
whether it be done or left undone?’18
Christ will teach us here that it is
not the more or the less which has been entrusted, but the fidelity with
which this has been administered, which differences now in character,
and will difference at the last in doom, one servant from another.
What the root was out of which the sin of this servant grew he him-
self declares: ‘Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man;’—for this is
no excuse framed for the occasion; but a true expression of the aspect
in which this servant did really contemplate his lord. The churl ac-
counted him churlish, esteemed him such a one as himself. He did not
believe in his lord’s forgiving love, and in his gracious acceptance of
that work, with all its shortcomings, which was done for him out of a
true heart, and with a sincere desire to please him. This was his wilful
and guilty ignorance concerning the true character of the master whom
he was called to serve. But to know the name or, in other words, the
true character of God is to trust in Him; and this knowledge will save
from any pusillanimous or slothful shrinking from work for Him. They,
indeed, who undertake this are only too well aware that they shall
commit manifold mistakes in their service, which they might have
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8. 8
avoided, if they had declined that service altogether; that they will be
guilty of many shortcomings, fall into many faults in the handling of
holy things, which they might escape if they held aloof from these al-
together. But shall those competently furnished and evidently called be
therefore justified or excused in so doing? would they not, so acting,
come under the condemnation of this servant? testify that they
deemed of God, as he deemed of his master, that He was a hard Lord,
extreme to mark what was amiss,—making no allowances, never ac-
cepting the will for the deed, but ever on the watch to take advantage
of the least failure or mistake on the part of his servants?
But this is not all. Proceeding still upon the plan of turning the tables
on his lord, and anticipating the accusation which shall be made
against himself, by first accusing him in a speech half cowering and
half defiant, a wonderful picture of the sinner’s bearing towards God,
he scruples not to ascribe to him the character of a harsh and
unreasonable despot, who requires the bricks, but refuses the straw
(Exod. v. 7), who would reap what others have sown, and gather with
the rake, where others have winnowed with the fan,19
thus unright-
eously entering on the fruits of other men’s toil. He declares himself
thus as much mistaken in the nature of the work, as in the character of
the master for whom that work should have been done.20
In the
darkness of his heart he regards the work as something outward, to be
done for God, not to be wrought in Him, or rather, which He would
work in and through his servants; as though God called to a labour,
and gave no ability for the labour, imposed a task, and put no joy nor
consolation into the hearts of them that fulfilled it. No wonder, there-
fore, that he should go on to say, ‘I was afraid and went and hid thy
talent in the earth;’21
justifying the caution and timidity which he had
shown, explaining why he would attempt nothing, and venture upon
nothing. He feared to trade on that talent, lest in the necessary risks of
business, seeking to gain other he might lose that one, and so enrage
his master against himself; even as men might profess to fear to lay
themselves out for the winning of other souls, lest, so doing, they
might endanger their own.—‘Lo, there thou hast that is thine.22
As it is
not denied that he does give back the talent to his lord, how, it may be
asked, could this be? how, that is, can God’s gifts be hidden, and yet
restored to him entire; since the suffering them to lie idle is in fact one
form of wasting them? In reality, they could not be so restored. It is
only that men imagine they can be thus given back, when they take for
granted that keeping the negative precepts is all that God requires,
that this done they will restore to Him his own.23
The lord of the parable is at no pains to dispute or deny the charac-
ter which this recreant servant has drawn of him, but answers him on
his own grounds, making his own mouth to condemn him (Job xv. 6; 2
Sam. i. 16): ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant;’—‘wicked,’ in that he
defended himself by calumniating his lord, and ‘slothful,’ as all which
he had left undone declared;—‘thou knewest that I reap where I
sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest there-
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9. 9
fore to have put my money to the exchangers’ (or ‘to the bankers,’ as
in the Revised Version), ‘and then at my coming I should have received
mine own with usury;24
or, seeing that ‘usury’ is always regarded now
as the taking of an unconscionable price for the loan of money, ‘with
interest’ would be better; and so in the Revised Version we read. ‘Be it
so, grant that I am all which thou sayest, severe, exacting, harsh; and
yet thou oughtest to have done me justice still; and this with little or
no peril to thyself thou mightest have done; and obtained for me, if
not the larger gains possible through some bolder course, yet some
small and certain returns for my moneys.’ It is hard to find any distinct
spiritual signification for this putting the money to the exchangers—to
affirm with confidence whether it has such, or is only introduced to add
vivacity to the narrative; as the natural exclamation of an offended
master. Olshausen ingeniously explains it: ‘Those timid natures which
are not suited to independent labour in the kingdom of God, are here
counselled at least to attach themselves to other stronger characters,
under whose leading they may lay out their gifts for the service of the
Church.’25
Perhaps, without pressing the words quite so much in detail,
we should not err in saying that they mean generally, ‘If thou wouldest
not do and dare for me in great ventures of faith, yet at all events in
humbler paths, in safer and less perilous, thou mightest have shown
fidelity, and have preserved me from loss.’26
His doom, who had neither on a large scale, nor yet on a small, set
forward his master’s interests, is now pronounced. It has two aspects.
It is first, the forfeiture of the neglected talent; and secondly, the cast-
ing of him who possessed that talent, but would not use it, into ‘the
outer darkness.’ And first, he forfeits what he had, and sees it trans-
ferred to another: ‘Take therefore the talent from him’27
—(we have
here an important limitation of Rom. xi. 29), ‘and give it unto him
which hath ten talents.’ This deprivation, in part the directly penal, is in
part the natural consequence of his sloth. For there is this analogy be-
tween things natural and spiritual, that as a limb, never called into ex-
ercise, loses its strength by degrees, its muscles and sinews disappear-
ing, even so the powers which God gives us, unexercised, fade and fail
from us: ‘From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath.’ And, on the other hand, as the limb is not wasted by strenu-
ous exertion, but rather nerved and strengthened more, so fares it
with the gifts of God; they are multiplied by being laid out; a truth we
recognize in our proverb, ‘Drawn wells are seldom dry;’28
and thus,
‘Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abun-
dance.’ Nor is it merely that the one receives more than before he had,
and the other loses what he had. This is not all; but that very gift
which the one forfeits the other obtains; one is enriched with a talent
withdrawn from the other; one takes the crown which another has let
go (Rev. iii. 11); even as we see continually one by the ordinance of
God stepping into the place and the opportunities which another has
neglected, despised, or misused, and so has lost (Gen. xxv. 34; xxvii.
36; xlix. 4, 8; 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 13; 1 Kin. ii. 35; Isai. xxii. 15-25; Acts i.
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10. 10
25, 26; Rom. xi. 11). Neither let us forget that this taking away of the
unused talent, which will find its consummation at the day of judg-
ment, is in this present time continually going forward. And herein is
mercy, that this is not done all at once, but little by little; so that, till all
is withdrawn, all may be recovered. At each successive step in the
withdrawal, there is still some warning to hold fast what is left, ‘to
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.’ True it is
that at each successive stage of this decline the effort required for this
is greater, the strength for it less. But to complain of this, is to com-
plain that sin is sin, and brings its penalties with it; and it still remains
possible till the last spark is extinguished, to fan that spark again into a
flame: the sense of increasing darkness and death being that which
may arouse to a consciousness of danger, to the need of an earnest
revival of God’s work in the soul. But this servant never awoke to the
sense of his danger till all was irrevocably lost. And now the sentence
of the forfeiture of his unused talent is pronounced;—the forfeiture it-
self had in some sort taken place already. Nor is this all. It is further
said to those that stand by (see Luke xix. 24), ‘And cast ye the unprof-
itable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnash-
ing of teeth’ (Matt. xiii. 42; xxii. 13). Olshausen would fain distinguish
between the ‘outer darkness’ of this passage and of Matt. xxii. 13, and
the furnace of fire’ of Matt. xiii. 42, that while the latter is the expres-
sion of total and final loss, the former, though punitive, is also reme-
dial. But not to urge other objections against a scheme which has no
Scriptural warrant, namely, that for those who have been brought
within the sphere of the Gospel, the present dispensation is not deci-
sive, the words which in each case follow, ‘There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth,’ set the two dooms on the same awful level, how-
ever one may have a more dreadful sound than the other.
A comparison of the causes which led to this servant’s exclusion,
and those which led to the exclusion of the foolish virgins, is full of
warning and instruction for all. Those virgins erred through a vain
over-confidence, this servant through an under-confidence, that was
equally vain and sinful. They were overbold, he was not bold enough.
Thus two wrong aspects under which we might be tempted to regard
the service of God, two rocks upon opposite sides on which faith is in
danger of making shipwreck, are laid down for us, as in a chart, that
we may avoid them both. Those virgins counted it too easy a thing to
serve the Lord; this servant counted it too hard. They esteemed it but
as the going forth to a festival which should presently begin; he as a
hard, dreary, insupportable work for a thankless master. In them we
behold the perils which beset the sanguine, in him the melancholic,
complexion. They represent a class needing such warnings as this:
‘Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it ‘(Matt. vii. 14); ‘Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling’ (Phil. ii. 12); ‘If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself’ (Matt. xvi. 24). He is representative of a class
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11. 11
which should need to be reminded: ‘Ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear’ (Rom. viii. 15); ‘Ye are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto
blackness, and darkness, and tempest; . . . but ye are come unto
mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, . . . and to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel’ (Heb. xii. 18, 22, 24).
FOOTNOTES
1 Or they may be coordinated with one another. Thus Gerhard (Harm. Evang. 164):
‘The shining lamp is the talent devoted to use; the extinguished lamp is the talent
unemployed and hidden away in the earth.’
2 Their arguments are well disposed of by Gerhard (Harm. Evang.154, ad init.); and
no less by C. à Lapide, who says of that other, ‘This parable was spoken at another
time, with another aim and after another manner.’
3 Strauss, Leben Jesu, vol. i. p. 675.
4 Unger, on the same ground of the lack of unity in this parable, had anticipated this
objection (De Par. Jes. Nat. p. 130): ‘When therefore I call to mind the simplicity of
the parable as told by Matthew, and the simplicity and unity of all the parables of
Christ, Luke seems to me to have here joined on to this simple parable another,
similar indeed, but which was put forth on another occasion and in another way.’
5 See Greswell, Exp. of the Parables, vol. v. part ii. p. 27, seq.; and the Dict. of Gr.
and Rom. Antt. s. v. Servus, pp. 867, 873.
6 Auct. Oiler. Imperf. Hom. 53: ‘About to go to the Father, He speaks of himself as
going into a far country, because of his love for the saints whom He was leaving on
earth, since really He was rather in a far country when in the world.’
7 ‘Not as their own do men possess their goods
The gods are owners, we but hold and guard.’
Euripides, Phoenissa, 555.
8 Cajetan: ‘God orders all things sweetly in the Church. He burdens no man beyond
his strength, and refuses no man a gift fitted to his strength.’ On this distribution of
the possibilities of service, Leo the Great, De Voc. Omit. Goat. i. 8, has some excel-
lent remarks. Thus, as he reminds us well, ‘it is one thing to work, another to have
the ability to work.’
9 Jerome: ‘In delivering the Gospel doctrine Christ gave more to one and less to
another, not by way of generosity or economy, but according to the strength of the
receiver; like as also the Apostle says of himself that those who could not take solid
food he fed with milk.’
10 See Clement of Rome, 1 Ep. §37, where this comparison at some length is used.
11 Compare Shakspeare (Measure for Measure, Act i. Sc. 1)
‘Heaven doth with us as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
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12. 12
Did not go forth of us, ‘twere all alike
As if we had them not.
Spirits are not finely touched
But to fine issues: nor
Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use.’
12 Jerome (Ad Damas.) finds a further distinction between hiding in the earth and in
a napkin: ‘This talent must not be laid up in a napkin, that is be daintily and slothfully
treated; nor must it be buried in the earth, that is be obscured by earthly thoughts.’
13 Grotius: ‘He modestly attributes the gain to his lord’s money, not to his own in-
dustry.’
14 Leighton: ‘It is but little we can receive here, some drops of joy that enter into us;
but there we shall enter into joy, as vessels put into a sea of happiness.’ So Gerhard:
‘For so great shall be that joy that it may not be contained in man or be compre-
hended by him, therefore man enters into that incomprehensible joy, but the joy
does not enter into man as if by man comprehended.’ H. de Sto. Victore (Erud.
Theol. 3): ‘Joy is threefold, the joy of the world, the joy of thyself, the joy of thy
Lord. The first springs from worldly affluence, the second from a good conscience,
the third from the experience of eternity. Therefore thou must not go forth into the
joy of the world, thou must not abide in thine own joy, but thou must enter into the
joy of thy Lord.... To the first joy man went forth when he fell from Paradise; to the
second he begins to attain when through faith reconciled unto God; but at the third
he will only arrive, when by seeing him as He is he shall enjoy him eternally.’
15 See the Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Antt. s. v. Manumissio, p. 596.
16 The σκληρος here is stronger than the αυστηρος in the parallel passage of St.
Luke (xix. 21); see my Synonyms of the New Testament, §14. All English Versions
have from the beginning rendered this by ‘hard,’ on which it would be impossible to
improve; but abuTgp4s was’ stern’ in Wiclif, ‘strait’ in the early Reformed Versions,
and ‘austere’ first in the Rheims.
17 Augustine, preaching on the anniversary of his exaltation to the Episcopate (Serm.
cccxxxix. 3), uses this parable, speaking of a temptation which he felt to withdraw
from active labour in the Church, and to cultivate a solitary piety: ‘If I am not trading
but am hoarding my money, the Gospel terrifies me. For I might say: Why should I
weary men, saying unto the wicked: Be it far from you to act wickedly; act in this
way, cease to act in that? Why should I be burdensome to men? I have received how
I must live, even as I am commanded, as I am instructed: let me deliver as I have
received; why should I give account for others? But the Gospel terrifies me. For with
respect to that most tranquil withdrawal from care, no one would convince me: there
is nothing better, nothing sweeter, than, without disturbance from any, to contem-
plate the Divine treasure: it is sweet, it is good. To preach, to reprove, to chide, to
build up, to be busied with everyone, is a great burden, a great weight, a great la-
bour. Who would not shun that labour? But the gospel terrifies us.’ And again (In Ev.
Joh. Tract. 10) ‘If thou hast become cold, languid, looking only to thyself, sufficing
thyself, as it were, and saying in thy heart: Why should I care for the sins of others?
my own soul suffices for me, let me keep this whole unto God—Does not that servant
come to thy mind, who hid his talent and would not trade with it? For was he ac-
cursed because he lost it, and not rather because he kept it without gain?’ Cf. Enarr.
in Ps. xcix. 2; De Fide et Oper. 17.
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18 Grotius: ‘Christ took as his example of negligence the case of him to whom least
was entrusted, that no one may hope to be excused from every kind of labour be-
cause he has not received any distinguished gifts from God.’
19 This is the meaning of the ‘strawed’ in our Version, which does not refer to the
orderly strewing of the sower’s seed (in that case the same thing would be twice said
over), but to the scattering of the chaff from the floor (Matt. iii. 12), that the wheat
purged from this might be gathered into the barn. The original Greek shows plainly
this; it expresses the dispersing, making to fly in every direction, as a pursuer the
routed enemy (Luke i. 51; Acts v. 37); as the wolf the sheep (Matt. xxvi. 31); as the
prodigal his goods (Luke xv. 13; xvi. 1); or as here, the husbandman the chaff. Thus
rightly Schott ‘It expresses the idea of winnowing the corn stored in the threshing
floor.’
20 Aquinas: ‘God requires nothing from man save the good which He himself planted
in us;’ and Augustine putting the same truth in the form of a prayer: ‘Give that which
Thou biddest, and bid that which Thou wilt.’
21 Hilary (Comm. in Matt. in loc.) in the words, ‘I was afraid,’ hears the voice of
those resolved to abide, like the Jew, in the law and in the spirit of bondage, shrink-
ing from the liberty and activity of Christian service: ‘He says “I feared thee,” as
though it is through reverence and fear of the ancient precepts that he is abstaining
from the use of Gospel freedom.’
22 Cocceius: ‘The proud boast of the preservation of the talent betokens the confi-
dence and security of the man who easily satisfies himself.’ See Suicer, Thes. s. v.
τάλαντον.
23 There is an instructive Eastern tale, which in its deeper meaning runs remarkably
parallel to this parable. It is as follows
‘There went a man from home: and to his neighbours twain
He gave, to keep for him, two sacks of golden grain.
Deep in his cellar one the precious charge concealed;
And forth the other went and strewed it in his field.
The man returns at last—asks of the first his sack
“Here, take it; ‘tis the same; thou hast it safely back.”
Unharmed it shows without; but when he would explore
His sack’s recesses, corn there finds he now no more
One half of all therein proves rotten and decayed,
Upon the other half have worm and mildew preyed.
The putrid heap to him in ire he cloth return
Then of the other asks, “Where is my sack of corn?”
Who answered, “Come with me, behold how it has sped
And took, and showed him fields with waving harvests spread.
Then cheerfully the man laughed out and cried, “This one
Had insight, to make up for the other that had none
The letter he observed, but thou the precept’s sense
And thus to thee and me shall profit grow from hence;
In harvest thou shalt fill two sacks of corn for me,
The residue of right remains in full for thee.”’
24 Συτόκω, with its ‘produce.’ So fenus is explained by Varro, from ‘fetus, produce,
and from a kind of breeding of the begetting and in creasing money.’ Plato, with the
same image, calls the original sum πατήρ and the interest του πατρος εκγονοι (Rep.
ii. 196). To estimate how great the master’s gains even so might have been, how
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largely the original sum might be made ‘to sweat its miserly eleven per cent.,’ we
must keep in mind the high rates of interest paid in antiquity. See the Dict. of Gr. and
Rom. Antt. s. v. Interest of Money, p. 523; and Becker (Charicles, vol. i. p. 237), who
has a graphic account of the bankers of antiquity.
25 So Cajetan: ‘He means by this that if the servant did not dare to use the gift of
God in transactions of much risk, he should yet have used it in transactions in which
with a small risk there is yet gain.’ Has the saying so often quoted in the early Church
as our Lord’s, yet nowhere found in the New Testament, ‘Be ye notable,’ good, or
prudent, ‘money-changers,’ its origin here? Many have thought so; but it is difficult to
see why, except for the occurrence here of the word τραπεζιται. The point of that
exhortation is this: Be as experienced money-changers, who readily distinguish good
coin from bad, receiving that, but rejecting this. Now there is no comparing of the
disciples with money-changers here, and such an exhortation lies wholly aloof from
the scope of the parable. The precept would be more easily deduced from 1 Thess. v.
21, 22; even as we find Γίνεσθε δοκιµοι τραπεζιται sometimes called not a dominical,
but an apostolic, saying, or attributed to St. Paul by name, and by some even in-
serted before that very passage; so Hänsel (Theol. Stud. and Krit. 1836, p. 179,
sqq.), who discusses the subject well. Cf. Cotelerius, Patt. Apostol. vol. i. p. 249, and
Annott. in Euseb. Oxford, 1842, vol. i. p. 930.-There being mention of interest here,
rpa7rECi’T71s is the fitter word than κολλυβιστης, which, however, rightly finds place
at Matt. xxi. 12; Mark xi. 15.
26 Godet here observes: ‘The Christian to whom the sweet experience of grace is
lacking must be the most anxious of labourers.’
27 Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. xxxviiii. 4): ‘What must they expect who have squandered
in luxury, if those who have been slothful in keeping are condemned? The punish-
ment of the embezzler must be gathered from the punishment of the sluggard.’
28 Exactly so Chrysostom (De Christi Prec., Con. Anom. 10): ‘As a fountain from
which water is continually drawn forth is thereby rather purified, and bubbles up the
more, but being staunched fails altogether, so the spiritual gift and word of doctrine,
if it be continually drawn forth, and if he who will has liberty to share it, rises up the
more, but if restrained by envy and a grudging spirit, diminishes, and at last perishes
altogether.’ Augustine too (or Caesarius, as the Benedictine editors affirm, Augustini
Opp. vol. v. p. 81, Appendix) admirably discourses on the way in which gifts imparted
multiply, and withholden diminish,—making spiritual application of the story of the
widow (2 Kin. iv.), whose two sons Elisha redeemed from bondage, by multi. plying
the oil which she had in her vessel so long as she provided other vessels into which
to pour it; that oil, when there were no more of these, stopping at once:—And the
Scripture saith that the oil stopped after she could not find where to put it. So,
beloved brethren, charity is ever increasing so long as it finds an object. And
therefore we should even of set purpose search for vessels into which we may pour
the oil, since we have proved that, while we pour it into others, we have the more.
Now the vessels of charity are men.’
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