The Two Talents
A Sermon
(No. 175)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 31, 1858, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou
deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other
talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and
faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will
make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."–Matthew 25:22-23.
EVERY good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights." All that men have they must trace to the
Great Fountain, the giver of all good. Hast thou talents? They were
given thee by the God of talents. Hast thou time? hast thou wealth,
influence, power? Hast thou powers of tongue? Hast thou powers of
thought? Art thou poet, statesman, or philosopher? Whatever be thy
position, and whatever be thy gifts, remember that they are not thine,
but they are lent thee from on high. No man hath anything of his own,
except his sins. We are but tenants at will. God hath put us into his
estates, and he hath said, "Occupy till I come." Though our vineyards
bear never so much fruit, yet the vineyard belongs to the King, and
though we are to take the hundred for our hire, yet King Solomon must
have his thousand. All the honor of our ability and the use of it must
be unto God, because he is the Giver. The parable tells us this very
pointedly; for it makes every person acknowledge that his talents come
from the Lord. Even the man who digged in the earth and hid his Lords
money, did not deny that his talent belonged to his Master; for though
his reply, "Lo, there thou hast that is shine," was exceedingly
impertinent, yet it was not a denial of this fact. So that even this
man was ahead of those who deny their obligations to God, who
superciliously toss their heads at the very mention of obedience to
their Creator, and spend their time and their powers rather in
rebellion against him than in his service. Oh, that we were all wise to
believe and to act upon this most evident of all truths, that
everything we have, we have received from the Most High.
Now, there are some men in the world who have but few talents. Our
parable says, "One had five, and another two. To them I shall address
myself this morning; and I pray that the few pointed things I may say,
may be blessed of God to their edification or rebuke. First, I shall
notice the fact that there are many persons who have but few talents,
and I will try to account for God's dispensing but few to them.
Secondly, I shall remind them that even for these few talents they must
be brought to account. And thirdly, I shall conclude by making the
comforting observation, that if our few talents be rightly used,
neither our own conscience nor our Master's judgment shall condemn us
for not having more.
I. First, then, GOD HAS MADE SOME MEN WITH FEW TALENTS. You very often
hear men speak of one another as if God had made no mental differences
at all. One man finds himself successful, and he supposes that if every
one else could have been as industrious and as persevering as himself,
every one must necessarily have been as successful. You will often hear
remarks against ministers who are godly and earnest men, but who do not
happen to have much attracting power, and they are called drones and
lazy persons, because they cannot make much of a stir in the world,
whereas the reason may be, that they have but little talent, and are
making the best use of what they have, and therefore ought not to be
rebuked for the littleness of what they are able to accomplish. It is a
fact, which every man must see, that even in our birth there is a
difference. All children are not alike precocious, and all men
certainly are not alike capable of learning or of teaching. God hath
made eminent and marvelous differences. We are not to suppose that all
the difference between a Milton and a man who lives and dies without
being able to read, has been caused by education. There was doubtless a
difference originally, and though education will do much, it cannot do
every thing. Fertile ground, when well-tilled will necessarily bring
forth more than the best tilled estate, the soil of which is hard and
sterile. God has made great and decided differences; and we ought, in
dealing with our fellow-men, to recollect this, lest we should say
harsh things of those very men to whom God will afterwards say, "Well
done, good and faithful servant."
But why is it that God has not given to all men like talents? My first
answer shall be, because God is a Sovereign, and of all attributes,
next to his love, God is the most fond of displaying his sovereignty.
The Lord God will have men know that he has a right to do what he wills
with his own. Hence it is, that in salvation he gives it to some and
not to others; and his only reply to any accusation of injustice is,
"Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"
The worm is not to murmur because God did not make it an angel, and the
fish that swims the sea must not complain because it hath not wings to
fly into the highest heavens. God had a right to make his creatures
just what he pleased, and though men may dispute his right, he will
hold and keep it inviolate against all comers. That he may hedge his
right about and make vain man acknowledge it, in all his gifts he
continually reminds us of his sovereignty. "I will give to this man,"
he says, "a mind so acute that he shall pry into all secrets; I will
make another so obtuse, that none but the plainest elements of
knowledge shall ever be attainable by him. I will give to one man such
a wealth of imagination, that he shall pile mountain upon mountain of
imagery, till his language seems to reach to celestial majesty; I will
give to another man a soul so dull, that he shall never be able to
originate a poetic thought." Why this, O God? The answer comes back,
"Shall I not do what I will with mine own?" "So, then, the children
being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, it was written, the elder
shall serve the younger." And so it is written concerning men, that one
of them shall be greater than another; one shall bow his neck, and the
other put his foot upon it, for the Lord hath a right to dispose of
places and of gifts, of talents and wealth, just as seemeth good in his
sight.
Now, most men quarrel with this. But mark, the thing that you complain
of in God, is the very thing that you love in yourselves. Every man
likes to feel that he has a right to do with his own as he pleases. We
all like to be little sovereigns. You will give your money freely and
liberally to the poor; but if any man should impertinently urge that he
had a claim upon your charity, would you give unto him? Certainly not;
and who shall impeach the greatness of your generosity in so doing? It
is even as that parable, that we have in one of the Evangelists, where,
after the men had toiled, some of them twelve hours, some of them six,
and some of them but one, the Lord gave every man a penny. Oh! I would
meekly bow my head, and say, "My Lord, hast thou given me one talent?
then I bless thee for it, and I pray thee bestow upon me grace to use
it rightly. Hast thou given to my brother ten talents? I thank thee for
the greatness of thy kindness towards him; but I neither envy him, nor
complain of thee." Oh! for a spirit that bows always before the
sovereignty of God.
Again: God gives to one five, and to another two talents, because the
Creator is a lover of variety. It was said that order is heaven's first
law; surely variety is the second; for in all God's works, there is the
most beautiful diversity. Look ye towards the heavens at night: all the
stars shine not with the same brilliance, nor are they placed in
straight lines, like the lamps of our streets. Then turn your eyes
below; see in the vegetable world, how many great distinctions there
are, ranging from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall, or
the moss that is smaller still. See, how from the huge mammoth tree,
that seems as if beneath its branches it might shade an army, down to
the tiny lichen, God hath made everything beautiful, but everything
full of variety. Look on any one tree, if you please: see how every
leaf differs from its fellow–how even the little tiny buds that are at
this hour bursting at the scent of the approaching perfume of spring,
differ from each other–not two of them alike. Look again, upon the
animated world: God hath made every creature like unto another. How
wide the range–from the colossal elephant, to the coney that burrows
in the rock–from the whale, that makes the deep hoary with its
lashings, to the tiny minnow that skims the brook; God hath made all
things different, and we see variety everywhere. I doubt not it is the
same, even in heaven, for there there are "thrones, and dominions, and
principalities, and powers"–different ranks of angels, perhaps, rising
tier upon tier. "One star differeth from another star in glory." And
why should not the same rule stand good in manhood? Doth God cast us
all in the same mold? It seems not so; for he hath not made our faces
alike; no two countenances can be said to be exactly the same, for if
there be some likeness, yet is there a manifest diversity. Should
minds, then, be alike? Should souls all be cast in the same fashion?
Should God's creation dwindle down into a great manufactory, in which
everything is melted in the same fire and poured into the same mould?
No, for variety's sake, he will have one man a renowned David, and
another David's unknown armor bearer; he will have one man a Jeremy,
who shall prophesy, and another a Baruch, who shall only read the
prophesy; one shall be rich as Dives, another poor as Lazarus; one
shall speak with a voice loud as thunder, another shall be dumb; one
shall be mighty in word and doctrine, another shall be feeble in speech
and slow in words. God will have variety, and the day will come when,
looking down upon the world we shall see the beauty of its history to
be mightily indebted to the variety of the characters that entered into
it.
But a little further. God hath a deeper reason than this. God gives to
some men but few talents, because he has many small spheres, and he
would have these filled. There is a great ocean, and it needs
inhabitants. O Lord, thou hast made Leviathan to swim therein. There is
a secret grotto, a hidden cavern, far away in the depths of the sea;
its entrance is but small; if there were naught but a Leviathan, it
must remain untenanted for ever: a little fish is made, and that small
place becomes an ocean unto it. There are a thousand sprays and twigs
upon the trees of the forest; were all eagles, how would the forests be
made glad with song, and how could each twig bear its songster? But
because God would have each twig have its own music, he has made the
little songster to sit upon it. Each sphere must have the creature to
occupy it adapted to the size of the sphere. God always acts
economically. Does he intend a man to be the pastor of some small
parish with four or five hundred inhabitants? Of what use is it giving
to that man the abilities of an apostle? Does he intend a woman to be a
humble teacher of her own children at home, a quiet trainer of her own
family? Would it not even disturb her and injure her if God should make
her a poetess, and give her gifts that might electrify a nation? The
littleness of her talents will to a degree fit her for the littleness
of her sphere. There is some youth who is quite capable of assisting in
a Ragged School: perhaps if he had a higher genius he might disdain the
work, and so the Ragged School would be without its excellent teacher.
There are little spheres, and God will have little men to occupy them.
There are posts of important duty, and men shall be found with nerve
and muscle fitted for the labor. He has made a statue for every niche,
and a picture for every portion of the gallery; none shall be left
vacant; but since some niches are small, so shall be the statuettes
that occupy them. To some he gives two talents, because two are enough,
and five would be too many.
Once more: God gives to men two talents, because in them very often he
displays the greatness of his grace in saving souls. You have heard a
minister who was deeply read in sacred lore; his wisdom was profound,
and his speech graceful. Under his preaching many were converted. Have
you never heard it not quite said, but almost hinted, that much of his
success was traceable to his learning and to his graceful oratory? But,
on the other hand, you have met with a man, rough in his dialect,
uncouth in his manners, evidently without any great literary
attainments; nevertheless, God has given that man the one talent of an
earnest heart; he speaks like a son of thunder; with rough, stern
language, he denounces and proclaims the gospel; under him hundreds are
converted. The world sneers at him. "I can see no reason for all this,"
says the scholar; "it is all rubbish–cant; the man knows nothing." The
critic takes up his pen, nibs it afresh, dips it in the bitterest ink
he can find, and writes a most delightful history of the man in which
he goes so far as to say, not that he sees horns on his head, but
almost everything but that. He is everything that is bad, and nothing
that is good. He utterly denounces him. He is foolish, he is vain, he
is base, he is proud, he is illiterate, he is vulgar. There was no word
in the English language that was bad enough for him, but one must be
coined. And now what says the church? What says the man himself? "Even
so, O Lord; now must the glory be unto thee for ever, inasmuch as thou
hast chosen the base things of this world, and the things that are not,
to bring to naught the things that are." So it seemeth that out of the
little God sometimes winneth more glory than he doth out of the great;
and I doubt not that he has made some of you with little power to do
good, with little influence, and with a narrow sphere, that he may, in
the last great day, manifest to angels how much he can do in a little
space. You know, dear friends, there are two things that always will
attract our attention. One is skill embodied in a stupendous mass. We
see the huge ship, the Leviathan, and we wonder that man could have
made it; at another time we see an elegant piece of workmanship that
will stand upon less than a square inch, and we say, "Well, I can
understand how men can make a great ship, but I can not comprehend how
an artist could have the patience and the skill to make so minute a
thing as this." And ah! my friends, it seems to me that God is not a
greater God to our apprehension, when we see the boundless fields of
ether and the unnumbered orbs swimming therein, than when we see a
humble cottager, and behold Godly perfect word carried out in her soul,
and God's highest glory wrought from her little talent. Surely if in
the little, man can honor himself as well as in the great, the
Infinite, and the Eternal, can most of all glorify himself when he
stoopeth to the littleness of mankind.
II. Our second proposition was, that even A FEW TALENTS MUST BE
ACCOUNTED FOR. We are very apt when we think of the day of judgment, to
imagine that certain characters will undergo a more trying process than
others. I know I have often involuntarily said, when reading the
history of Napoleon, "Here is a man of tremendous ability, the world's
master; a dozen centuries might be required to produce such another
man; but here is a man who prostitutes all his ability to ambition,
carries his armies like a destroying deluge across every country,
widows wives, and renders children fatherless, not by hundreds but by
thousands, if not by millions. What must be his solemn account when he
stands before the throne of God? Shall not the witnesses rise up from
the fields of Spain, of Russia, of Italy, of Egypt, of Palestine, and
accuse the man who, to gratify his own bold ambition, led them to
death?" But will you please to remember that though Napoleon must be a
prisoner at the bar, each of us must stand there also P And though our
position is not very high, and we have not stood upon the pinnacle of
fame, yet we have stood quite high enough to be borne under the
observation of the Most High, and we have had just ability enough and
power enough to have done mischief in the world, and to be accountable
for it. "Oh!" said one, "I thought that surely in the day of judgment
he would pass me by; I have been no Tom Paine; I have not been a leader
among low and vulgar infidels; I have not been a murderer; I have not
been a prince among sinners; I have not been a disturber of the public
peace; what few sins I have committed have taken place quietly; nobody
has heard of them; I don't think my bad example has gone far; perhaps
my children have not been much blessed by my behavior, but,
nevertheless, mine has been a very small quantum of mischief, too small
to have poisoned any one beside myself. I have been, on the whole, so
tolerably moral, that though I cannot say I have served God, yet my
defalcations from the path of duty have been slight indeed!" Ah! truly
friends! you may think yourselves never so little, but your making
yourselves insignificant will not excuse you. You have had but little
entrusted to you! Then the less trouble for you to make use of your
talents. The man who has many talents requires much hard labor to use
them all. He might make the excuse that he found five talents too many
to put out in the market at once; you have only one; anybody can lend
out his one talent to interest–it will cost you but little trouble to
supply that; and inasmuch as you live, and inasmuch as you die, without
having improved the one talent, your guilt will be exceedingly
increased by the very fact that your talent was but little, and,
consequently, the trouble of using it would have been but little too.
If you had but little, God required but little of you; why, then, did
you not render that? If any man holds a house at a rental of a pound a
year, let it be never so small a house for the money, if he brings not
his rent there is not one half the excuse for him that there would be
if his rent had been a hundred pounds, and he had failed to bring it.
You shall be the more inexcusable on account of the little that was
required of you. Let me, then, address you, and remind you that you
must be brought to account.
Remember, my hearer, that in the day of judgment thy account must be
personal; God will not ask you what your church did–he will ask you
what you did yourself. Now there is a Sunday-school. If God should try
all members of the church in a body, they would each of them say, O
Lord, as a body we had an excellent Sunday-school, and had many
teachers, and so they would excuse themselves. But no; one by one, all
professors must come before him. "What did you do for the
Sabbath-school? I gave you a gift for teaching children–what did you
do?" "O Lord, there was a Sabbath-school." That has nothing to do with
it? What did you do? You are not to account now for the company with
which you were united, but for yourself as an individual. "O," says
one, "there were a number of poor ministers; I was at the Surrey Hall,
and so much was done for them." No; what did you do? You must be held
personally responsible for your own wealth, for your own ability.
"Well, says one, "I am happy to say there is a great deal more
preaching now than there used to be; the churches seem to be roused."
Yes, sir, and you seem to take part of the credit to yourself. Do you
preach more than you used to? You are a minister; do you make any
greater efforts? Remember, it is not what your brethren are doing, but
it is what you do that you will be called to account for at the bar of
God; and each one of you will be asked this question, "What hast thou
done with thy talent?" All your connection with churches will avail you
nothing; it is your personal doings–your personal service towards God
that is demanded of you as an evidence of saving grace. And if others
are idle–if others pay not God his due–so much the more reason why
you should have been more exceedingly diligent in doing so yourself.
Recollect, again, that your account will have to be particular. God
will go into all the items of it. At the day of judgment you will not
have to cast up a hurried account in the gross, but every item shall be
read. Can you prove that? Yes. "For every idle word that man shall
speak, he shall be brought unto account at the day of judgment." Now,
it is in the items that men go astray. "Well," says one, "If I look at
my life in the bulk, I am not very much ashamed, but it is those items,
those little items–they are the troublesome part of the account, that
one does not care to meddle with." Do you know that all yesterday was
made up of littles? And the things of to-day are all little, and what
you do to-morrow will all be little things. Just as the tiny shells
make up the chalk hills, and the chalk hills together make up the
range, so the trifing actions make up the whole account, and each of
these must be pulled asunder separately. You had an hour to spare the
other day–what did you do? You had a voice–how did you use it? You
had a pen–you could use that–how did you employ it? Each particular
shall be brought out, and there shall be demanded an account for each
one. Oh, that you were wise, that ye did not slur this matter, but
would take every note in the music of your behavior, and seek to make
each note in harmony with its fellow, lest, after all, the psalm of
your life may prove to be a hideous discord. Oh, that ye who are
without God would remember that your life is assuredly such, that the
trial of the last great day must end in your condemnation.
Again, that account will be very exact, and there will be no getting
off without those little things. "Oh! there were a few pecadillos, and
very small matters indeed; I never took stock of them at all." But they
will all be taken stock of then. When God comes to look into our hearts
at last, he will not only look at the great but at the little; every
thing will be seen into, the pence sins as well as the pound
iniquities–all must be brought against us, and an exact account given.
Again, remember, in the last place, upon this point, that the account
will be very impartial at the day of judgment, when all will be tried
without any reference to their station. The prince will be summoned to
give an account of his talents, and side by side must stand his
courtier and his slave. The mightiest emperor must stand at God's bar,
as well as the meanest cottager. And all must appear and be tried
according to the deeds they have done in the body. As to our
professions, they will avail us nothing. We may have been the proudest
hypocrites that ever made the world sick with our pride, but we must be
searched and examined, as much as if we had been the vilest sinners. We
must take our own trial before God's eternal tribunal, and nothing can
bias our judge, or give him an opinion for or against us, apart from
the evidence. Oh, how solemn this will make the trial, especially if we
have no blood of Christ to plead! The great Advocate will get his
people an acquittal, through his imputed merits, even though our sin in
itself would condemn them. But remember, that without him we shall
never be able to stand the fiery ordeal of that last dread assize.
"Well," said an old preacher, "when the law was given, Sinai was on a
smoke, and it melted like wax; but when the punishment of the law is
given, the whole earth will quake and quail. For who shall be able to
endure the day of the Lord, the day of God's fierce anger?"
III. The last point is, IF BY DIVINE GRACE (and it is only by divine
grace that this can ever be accomplished)–OUR TWO TALENTS BE RIGHTLY
USED, THE FACT THAT WE HAD NOT FIVE, WILL BE NO INJURY TO US.
You say, when such a man dies, who stood in the midst of the church, a
triumphant for the truth, the angels will crowd to heaven's gates to
see him, for he has been a mighty hero, and done much for his Master. A
Calvin or a Luther, with what plaudits shall they be received!–men
with talents, who have been faithful to their trust. Yes, but know ye
not, that there is many a humble village pastor whose flock scarcely
numbers fifty, who toils for them as for his life, who spends hours in
praying for their welfare, who uses all the little ability he has in
his endeavor to win them to Christ; and do ye imagine that his entry
into heaven shall be less triumphant than the entry of such a man as
Luther? If so, ye know not how God dealeth with his people. He giveth
them rewards, not according to the greatness of the goods with which
they were entrusted, but according to their fidelity thereunto, and he
that hath been faithful to the least, shall be as much rewarded, as he
that hath been faithful in much. I want you briefly to turn to the
chapter, to see this. You will note first, that the man with two
talents came to his Lord with as great a confidence as the man that had
five. "And he said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold,
I have gained two talents beside them." I will be bound to say, that
while that poor man with the two talents was trading with them, he
frequently looked upon his neighbor with the five talents, and said,
"Oh, I wish I could do as much as he is doing! See now, he has five
talents to put out, and how much interest he has coming every year; Oh,
that I could do as much!" And as he went on he often prayed, "O my
Lord, give me greater ability, and greater grace to serve thee, for I
long to do more." And when he sat down to read his diary, he thought,
"Ah, this diary does not tell much. There is no account of my journey
through fifty counties; I can not tell how I have travelled from land
to land, as Paul did, to preach the truth. No; I have just had to keep
in this parish, and been pretty well starved to death, toiling for this
people, and if I have added some ten or a dozen to the church, that has
been a very great deal to me. Why, I hear that Mr. So-and-so, was
privileged to add two or three hundred in a year, Oh, that I could do
that! Surely when I go to heaven, I shall creep in at the door somehow,
while he by grace will be enabled to go boldly in, bringing his sheaves
with him." Now stop, poor little faith, stop; thy Master will not deal
thus with thee. When thou shalt come to die, thou wilt through his
grace feel as much confidence in dying with thy two well-used talents,
as thy brother with his ten, for thou wilt, when thou comest there,
have thy Lords sweet presence, and thou wilt say, "I am complete in
Christ. Christ's righteousness covers me from head to foot, and now in
looking back upon my past life, I can say, Blessed be his holy name. It
is little that I could do, but I have done as much as I could for him.
I know that he will pardon my defects, and forgive my miscarriages, and
I shall never look back upon my humble village charge without much joy,
that the Lord allowed me to labor there." And, Oh, methinks, that man
will have even a richer commendation in his own conscience, than the
man who has been more publicly applauded, for he can say to himself,
after putting all his trust in Christ, "Well, I am sure I did not do
all this for fame, for I blushed unseen–I have lost my sweetness on
the desert air. No one has ever read my deeds; what I did was between
myself and my God, and I can render up my account to him and say, Lord,
I did it for thee, and not to honor myself.'" Yes, friends, I might
tell you now of many a score of earnest evangelists in this our land
who are working harder than any one of us, and yet win far less honor.
Yes, and I could bring you up many a score of city missionaries whose
toil for Christ is beyond all measure of praise, who never got much
reward here, nay, rather meet with slights and disrespect. You see the
poor man start as soon as he goes from his place of worship to-day. He
has got three hours this afternoon to go and spend among the sick, and
then you will see him on Monday morning. He has to go from house to
house, often with the door slammed in his face, often exposed to mobs
and drunken men, sometimes jeered and scoffed at, meeting with persons
of all religious persuasions and of no persuasion. He toils on; he has
his little evening meeting, and there he gets a little flock together
and tries to pray with them, and he gets now and then a man or a woman
converted; but he has no honor. He just takes him off to the minister,
and he says, "Sir, here is a good man; I think he is impressed; will
you baptize him and receive him into your church?" The minister gets
all the credit of that, but as for the poor city missionary, there is
little or nothing said of him. There is, perhaps, just his name, Mr.
Brown, or Mr. Smith, mentioned sometimes in the report, but people do
not think much of him, except. perhaps, as an object of charity they
have to keep, whereas he is the man that gives them charity, giving all
the sap and blood and marrow of his life for some poor sixty pounds a
year, hardly enough to keep his family above want. But he, when he
dies, my friend, shall have no less the approval of his conscience than
the man who was permitted to stand before the multitudes and raised the
nation into excitement on account of religion. He shall come before the
Master clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and with unblushing face
shall say, "I have received two talents; I have gained beside them two
talents more."
Furthermore, and to conclude, you will notice there was no difference
in his Master's commendation–none in the reward. In both cases, it was
"Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful in a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord." Here comes Whitfield, the man who stood before twenty
thousand at a time to preach the gospel, who in England, Scotland,
Ireland, and America has testified the truth of God, and who could
count his converts by thousands, even under one sermon! Here he comes,
the man that endured persecution and scorn, and yet was not moved–the
man of whom the world was not worthy, who lived for his fellow men, and
died at last for their cause; stand by angels and admire, while the
Master takes him by the hand and says, "Well done, well done, good and
faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" See how free
grace honors the man whom it enabled to do valiantly. Hark! Who is this
that comes there? a poor thin-looking creature, that on earth was a
consumptive; there was a hectic flush now and then upon her cheek, and
she lay three long years upon her bed of sickness. Was she a prince's
daughter, for it seems heaven is making much stir about her? No, she
was a poor girl that earned her living by her needle, and she worked
herself to death!–stitch, stitch, stitch, from morning to night! and
here she comes. She went prematurely to her grave, but she is coming,
like a shock of corn fully ripe, into heaven; and her Master says,
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord." She takes her place by the side of Whitfield. Ask
what she ever did, and you find out that she used to live in some back
garret down some dark alley in London; and there used to be another
poor girl come to work with her, and that poor girl, when she first
came to work with her, was a gay and volatile creature, and this
consumptive child told her about Christ; and they used, when she was
well enough, to creep out of an evening to go to chapel or to church
together. It was hard at first to get the other one to go, but she used
to press her lovingly; and when the girl went wild a little, she never
gave her up. She used to say, "O Jane, I wish you loved the Saviour;"
and when Jane was not there she used to pray for her, and when she was
there she prayed with her: and now and then when she was stitching
away, read a page out of the Bible to her, for poor Jane could not
read. And with many tears she tried to tell her about the Saviour who
loved her and gave himself for her. At last, after many a day of hard
persuasion, and many an hour of sad disappointment, and many a night of
sleepless tearful prayer, at last she lived to see the girl profess her
love to Christ; and she left her and took sick, and there she lay till
she was taken to the hospital, where she died. When she was in the
hospital she used to have a few tracts, and she used to give them to
those who came to see her; she would try, if she could, to get the
women to come round, and she would give them a tract. When she first
went into the hospital, if she could creep out of bed, she used to get
by the side of one who was dying, and the nurse used to let her do it;
till at last she got too ill, and then she used to ask a poor woman on
the other side of the ward, who was getting better, and was going out,
if she would come and read a chapter to her; not that she wanted her to
read to her on her own account, but for her sake, for she thought it
might strike her heart while she was reading it. At last this poor girl
died and fell asleep in Jesus; and the poor consumptive needle-woman
had said to her, "Well done"–and what more could an archangel have
said to her?–"she hath done what she could."
See, then, the Master's commendation, and the last reward will be equal
to all men who have used their talents well. Ah! if there be degrees in
glory, they will not be distributed according to our talents, but
according to our faithfulness in using them. As to whether there are
degrees or not, I know not; but this I know, he that doeth his Lord's
will, shall have said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
And now, friends, this one word only. I have told you that there are
many in our denomination who are preaching the gospel continually. I
should bring some few of the letters, written by the poor ministers to
us to read, but sometimes I think this a violation of delicacy, and I
do not like to do it. But when I did that one year, the collection was
almost twice as good; so I think I might almost commit a breach of
etiquette in order to help them. However, I can solemnly assure you,
that if there is poverty anywhere, it is to be found among the
ministers in the Baptist churches, and I am sorry to say that one cause
of it is the fault of the people themselves; they are so little in the
habit of giving, that their ministers are starved. Now, if Christ will
say, "Well done," hereafter, to many a humble preacher, do you think he
intends the church to starve them while they are here on $30 or $40 a
year? Now, brethren, if Christ will say, "Well done," at last, we may
anticipate his verdict and say "Well done to-day." And can we better
say, "well done" than by unmuzzling the ox that treadeth out the corn,
and give these poor ministers something out of our own wealth, as God
may help us, that their necessities may be supplied? There will be
pretty well a score of persons who will be dependent next year on what
you give this year; perhaps you will remember that and assist them. One
kind gentleman, who usually comes here, says, "I could not come to-day,
so I forward my pound to be put in the box by the minister." And I
trust, if there are any not here to-day who will be here next Sabbath,
that they will not forget this collection. It is always very dear to
the heart of my church.
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