emned. But the one supposes a case, in
which all the servants receive equal privileges, and shows that even
those of them who are faithful, may be unequal as to the amount of their
success; the other supposes a case in which unequal privileges are
bestowed upon the servants, and shows that when unequal gifts are
employed with equal diligence, the approval is equal in the day of
account. Both alike exhibit the grand cardinal distinction between the
faithful and the faithless; but in pointing out also the diversities
that obtain among true disciples, they view the subject from opposite
sides, each presenting that aspect of it which the other omits. The
parable of the talents teaches that Christians differ from each other in
the amount of gifts which they receive; and the parable of the pounds
teaches that they differ from each other in the diligence which they
display.[101]

[101] The man who cannot perceive, or will not own that these are
two distinct cases, charged with different, though cognate lessons,
is not fit to be an expositor of any writing, either sacred or
profane. Enough for the critics who persist in the theory, that
these two parables are different, and consequently incorrect,
reports of one discourse spoken only once by the Lord; the conceit
is not worthy of more minute refutation.

The incident connected with Zaccheus, although it occurred on the spot
and at the moment, did not, I think, supply the occasion of this
parable, and does not contain the key of its meaning. The Lord's
interview with that interesting and earnest tax-farmer in the
neighbourhood of Jericho rather constituted an episodical interruption
to the continuity of his thought and the narrative of his journey. He
had passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. An
expectation, intense in character though vague in outline, was spreading
through the neighbourhood, that great events would emerge on his
arrival at the capital. It was the crowd already on this account
assembled that gave prominence to the case of Zaccheus. It is not from
that episode that the parable springs; rather, when the interruption
which it caused was over, the current of thought, displaced for a
moment, returns to its former channel, and flows as it had flowed
before. The crowd had assembled before the conversation with Zaccheus
took place, and the cause of the excitement was the expectation that
"the kingdom of God should immediately