"These abilities, wheresoever they be found, are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but yet to some (though most abuse) in every nation; and are of power, beside the office of a pulpit, to inbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of virtue, and public civility, to allay the perturbations of the mind and set the affections in right tune; to celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almightiness and what he works" (Milton 170).

In the parable of the talents, Matthew tells the story of three servants who are given a specific number of talents reflecting their abilities. When their master returns, each of the servants reports back their earnings from the talents. Two of the three servants doubled their talents in the absence of their master, but one only buried his, fearing his master. Both of the servants who...