Chapter 4. On the Talents.

THE fourth parable is that in which our Lord thus speaks of the reward of beatitude : " Well done, good and faithful ser vant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord/' (St. Matthew, chap. xxv. 21.) In these words two things are promised to faithful servants, the most ample power and the greatest joy: "I will place thee over many things ;" and what these " many things" are, He explains in another place where it is said : " Blessed is that servant, whom, when his Lord shall come, he shall find so doing. Amen, I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods." (chap, xxiv. 46.) But what means being placed "over all the goods" of the Lord, except to receive power over all inferior things, and to be made a partaker of that sovereignty which God possesses over the whole uni verse ?t Who can comprehend the great ness of this power ? What king or emperor upon earth can be compared with the least of ^the saints ?

But since man cannot possess such great power without having great care and trouble, therefore our Lord adds: "Enter

into the joy of thy Lord." As if he wished to say, " As I make thee a partaker of the greatest power, so also dp I make thee enjoy rest and pleasure, which no cares can destroy or dimmish." How ^ great this "joy" will be, which is promised to the just in heaven, is quite inexplicable, nor shall we know it before we have expe rienced it. But yet, from the consideration of three words in the sentence, we may in some measure conceive how great will be the " joy." The first word is " enter;'9 for as it is not said, May the joy of thy Lord enter into thee, but enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, this is a proof that the joy will be greater than we can conceive. Wherefore, we shall enter into a great sea of divine and eternal joy, which will fill us within and without, and surround us on all sides. In this abundance of joy, what room will there be for sorrow ? Another word is " into the joy," by which an indefinite joy concerning this or that good is not promised, but a joy absolutely pleasure itself, sweetness itself, delight itself. And doth not our whole soul dissolve as it were, being surrounded with such sweetness ? But the third word, " of thy Lord," greatly in creases this joy ; for we shall enter, not into the joy which men or angels possess, but into that which God possesses, in whom are all infinite riches. Who can conceive what this joy of the Lord will be, but He who perfectly knoweth His own infinite

goodness, and enjoys it in an infinite degree ? And yet, 0 Christian soul ! what thou canst not now conceive, tliou wilt experience, and taste, and eternally enjoy, if thou be a good and faithful servant.

Let us now consider to whom these promises relate. They relate, without doubt, to those who have faithfully endeavoured to multiply the talents entrusted to them by God. The parable is drawn from a rich man, who went into a far countiy, and delivered his goods to his servants. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, commanding them all to multiply their talents by careful and prudent business. Various are the opinions of interpreters concerning the signification of these " talents/' ^ Some understand by them " blessings" given gratis; others the Holy Scriptures ; others the knowledge of external things acquired by the senses, is meant by the five talents; that the two talents signify understanding and action, and the one talent understanding alone : others, in fine, consider them to refer to natural gifts, such as genius and judgment, or to the spiritual ones of faith, hope, and charity. But all agree in this, that the multiplication of the talents consists in labouring diligently for our own salvation as well as that of others. But another ex planation occurs to me, not repugnant to the others, and which altogether appears to agree with what our Lord says concerning

ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS. 2IJ the talents. And first, the talents are called " the goods of the Lord ;" " He delivered to them his goods;" then the servants are commanded to multiply the talents : " Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above." Thirdly, it is said, "He gave to every one according ^to his proper ability." Lastly, the talent is taken away from the wicked and slothful servant. I therefore understand by the talents the souls of faithful and pious men, entrusted to the care and fidelity of bishops. These are truly the "goods" of the Lord, which are not given to us, but only committed to our care to be multiplied. Our Lord did not say to Peter, " Feed thy sheep," but "Feed my sheep." Other things are our own goods, although bestowed by God, as genius, judgment, the Holy Scriptures, blessings given gratis, &c. But faithful and pious souls He calls His " goods," His vineyard, His family, His spouse : for these He came into the world, for their redemp tion He poured out His blood, to gain these He sent His apostles, to whom He said, "I will make you to be fishers of men."

Now faithful souls are multiplied, when bishops convert sinners by word and by example. This St. Peter did when, after our Saviour had entrusted to him one hun dred and twenty Christians, saying, ' Feed my sheep/ he converted on the day of Pentecost, by his first sermon, three thou-

sand people, then five thousand, and after wards many thousands. And St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, when made bishop of Neocsesarea, found only seventeen Christians : but he so multiplied them, that when he was on the point of death only seventeen infidels were left in so large a city: this cir cumstance St. Gregory of Nyssa relates, in his Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. But these talents are given to each one 6 according to his proper ability/ For God who knoweth the strength — that is, the prudence, knowledge, charity, and strength of all men, commits souls to those only who He thinks are fit to bear such a burden. And, therefore, no one ought to undertake the care of souls, an<J especially accept of the episcopacy, unless called by Him who gives the talents, according to the ability of each one. But if otherwise, we cannot wonder that many fall under the burden : neither will it be an excuse before God to say, that their shoulders were not equal to such a burden: He will answer, Who forced thee to bear a burden beyond thy strength ? Didst thou not wish, and ask, and endeavour to ob tain it ? Now therefore thou shalt be cast out into the exterior darkness.

In fine, the talent given to the slothful servant is taken away from him. And if we say, that the talents are the souls of the faithful, this will perfectly agree with the parable. For he who received only one

talent, that is, the care of his own soul alone, will lose it if he neglect to take pro per care of it: the devil will make it his property. And as the blessed possess the liberty of the sons of God, by which they freely remain where they wish, and do whatever they desire ; so on the contrary also, the wicked lose all liberty, and their hands and feet being bound, they can neither walk where they wish, nor do what ever they desire ; but they are compelled to remain where they wish not, being unable to do what they wish : this is, to lose their soul. Wherefore this interpretation, in which by the talents faithful souls are understood, is quite consistent with the para ble. But how the other opinions can be reconciled, it is no easy matter to teach: they are not, however, false on this ac count, or to be rejected, because it is not necessary to accommodate every explanation to the parable, as St. Chrysostom wisely remarks."" We shall still continue our exposition, not rejecting, as we have said, the exposition of others.

Wherefore, our Lord has committed his talents to three sorts of men ; to those who are perfect, such as bishops ought to be, He has given five talents, that is, a great number of people to take care of ; to others less perfect, such as priests generally are, He has given two talents, that is, the fewer

• Homily 48th. on St. Matthew.

souls which are contained in a parish : but to others more rude and infirm, such as the common people, to each of them He has

f'ven one, that is, the care of his own soul, hese also ought, as far as they can, by words of private exhortation and good ex ample, to lead others from sin to the path of virtue, and in this way multiply the talent entrusted to them. And what is said of bishops and priests, ought also to be understood as relating to princes and magis trates, and fathers of families. Thus writes St. Augustine : " Every head of a family should be by his name, the paternal love of his family. For the sake of Christ and of eternal life, he should admonish, instruct, exhort, and connect all his depen dants: he should manifest love to them, and likewise exercise discipline : thus in his own house he will fulfil in a certain degree, the spiritual office of a bishop.""" In this sense, Constantino the Great used to say, that he was a bishop out of the church, because he was solicitous that the church should be protected and extended: but yet, he did not usurp the ecclesiastical office.

But lest any one should suppose that one man alone, or one class of men only is comprehended in this parable, because he alone who received the one talent was punished, we must know, that our Lord

wishes us to understand the dangers to which superiors are exposed. For as at the last day he will reward those who do corporal works of mercy, and punish those who do them not; from which we know that greater will be the rewards of those who perform spiritual works of mercy, especially of the holy apostles and martyrs, and virgins of heroic virtue ; and on the other hand, that greater will be the punishment of thieves, robbers, perjurers, and the sacri legious, than those who give not alms to the poor : so also in this passage, because he who received the one talent which he might easily have multiplied, and yet did not, was most grievously punished, we must understand, that in proportion as bishops, pastors, and princes fail in this point, so will they be punished the more grievously, as the loss of many souls is greater than that of one. Let us hear what St. Augustine says on the danger of the ecclesiastical state: "Above all things, I beseech you piously and diligently to reflect, that in this life and especially at this time, nothing is more easy, pleasing, and acceptable to men, than the office of a bishop, priest, or deacon, if it be dis charged in a careless or fawning manner ; but before God nothing is more afflict ing and offensive. Again, nothing in this life and especially at this time, is more difficult, laborious, and dangerous, than the office of a bishop, priest, or deacon;

but before God nothing is more blessed, if it be fulfilled in the manner our great king commands/' In the remaining part of this epistle he treats the subject in such a manner that I wish all ecclesiastics would attentively read it, and especially those who rashly aspire to the episcopacy or priesthood. For many when they have obtained what they asked for, and found what they sought after, either desert their flock, or being intent on other things, care little about attending to their flock and in creasing the number of faithful and pious souls. On the night of the birth of our Saviour, the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks : and if this was done for senseless sheep, by those who were a figure of the shepherds of the church, how much more ought it to be done by the shepherds of that flock, for which our Saviour when on earth, watched whole nights in prayer, not for Himself certainly, but for His sheep ? And if the patriarch Jacob laboured so much for the flocks of his father-inlaw, Laban, that he should say, "Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes/' what Bought the shepherd of the flock of Christ to do, for which He shed His blood ? And if the devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, is it not proper that the good shep-

herd should also go about, seeking whom to save ?

But it may be said, business connected with the Church often compels one to leave his flock. I admit this, when the business is important, and only a short time is spent in attending to it : otherwise great things are to be preferred before less, and the former should be performed by ourselves, the latter by others. For it business compels us to leave our nock more important business, even dreadful wars, compel us not to leave our flock de fenceless. The trumpet of St. Paul sounds forth: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers ot the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. (Ephesians vi. 12.) And if the general be absent, who shall teach the soldiers to extinguish the fiery darts of the most wicked one ? Our Lord said to Peter, and through him to all pastors, " Feed my sheep:" He was silent on other things, to teach us that this duty was the chief duty% And in the consecration of a bishop it is said, • Go, preach unto the people committed to thee; but on temporal matters nothing is added, that the bishop may be admonished, not to make temporal things equal to spiritual, much less to prefer the first before the latter. In fine, in the fourth council of Car thage, bishops are seriously commanded

not to undertake by themselves the care of widows, minors, and strangers, but to entrust them to their arch-priest or deacon; not to undertake the settling of wills, not to engage in law-suits for transitory things, not to be occupied with domes tic cares; but to attend only to reading, prayer, and preaching. Wherefore this council, composed of two hundred and fourteen bishops, at which St. Augustine was also present, wished that bishops should commit all temporal matters to others, that they might more freely attend to the care and increase of their flock.

As this parable therefore shows us, that eternal happiness is an object especially to be desired, since it contains the highest power united with the greatest delight ; so also it proves, that the means of arriving at this happiness, consists in labouring assi duously for the salvation of our own soul, and in seeking and procuring that of others. And they who refuse to endure this labour, are deprived not only of this happiness and pleasure, but are condemned to eternal torments in hell, for thus our Lord speaks^ "The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There^ shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Here we should particularly no tice, that the servant who is so severely punished, is not said to be wicked or im pious, but only " unprofitable. " Thus although a bishop, or priest, a prince, or

magistrate, or head of a family, were free from other crimes, yet should he be unprofitable, that is, neglectful of his salvation and that of his subjects, he will be cast out into " the exterior darkness/' &c. But if the unprofitable servant shall suffer this punishment, what will^ be done to the covetous, proud, luxurious servant, addicted to various vices? If the unprofi table servant be condemned, what an account will the impious prevaricator have to give to God, of the talents entrusted to him? Truly they that consider these things, will not seek after high places ; and if they should be compelled to receive them, they will ever watch with fear and trembling, as having to give a most strict account of the souls entrusted to them.