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:
- That this expresses exactly the feelings of all sinners. God, in their view, is hard, cruel, unjust.
- All the excuses of sinners are excuses for indolence and sin, and the effect is to cheat themselves out of heaven. The effect of this excuse was that the reward was lost, and such will always be the result of the excuses of sinners for not doing their duty.
- Sinners grudge everything to God. They are never willing to be liberal toward him but are stinted and close; and if they give, they do it with hard feelings, and say that that is all that he can claim.