THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW - Chapter 25 - Verse 25
Verse 25. I was afraid. I feared, lest by some accident thy talent would be lost if I put it out to trade, and that I should be severely punished by a hard master. I therefore kept it laid up safely, and hid it where it could not be lost.
That is thine. There is what properly belongs to thee. There is the original talent that thou gavest me, and that is all that can be reasonably required. Observe here,
(1.) that this expresses exactly the feelings of all sinners. God, in their view, is hard, cruel, unjust.
(2.) All the excuses of sinners are excuses for indolence and sin, and to cheat themselves out of heaven. The effect of this excuse was to lose the reward; so of the excuses of sinners for not doing their duty.
(3.) Sinners grudge everything to God. They are never willing to be liberal towards him, but are stinted and close; and if they give, they do it with hard feelings, and say that that is all he can claim.
{q} "afraid"