Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-11-30
EQUALITY OF REV ARD.
DIR. TALMAGE ON MANS USE OF HIS
Wei ENDOWNlENTS.

The Parable of the Talents lnferiorlty of
Gifts No Excuse for Indolence-Tlle De-
grees of Happiness in Heaven in Propor-
tton to Degrees OF Usefulness Sermon
Delivered in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Tert.-"Unto one he gave five talents, to mn
other two and to another one Ito every man
according to his several ability."-Matt. XIV, Is.
| Many parallels of Jesus Christ were
more graphic i'll the times i'll which He
lived than they are now, because cir
cumstances have SO much changed. In
| olden times, when n man wanted to
wreak grudgo upon his neighbor.
1 after the farmer had scattered the seed
wheat over the. field and was expecting
the harvest, his avenger would go across
the same field with Il sack full of the
seed Of darnell grass. scattering that
| seed all over the field. and of course it
would spront up and spoil the whole
i'll the parable when He spoke of the
tares being sown among the wheat. In
this land our farms are fenced off. and
the wolves have been driven to the
mountains, and We cannot fully UNDER
stand the meaning of the parable in re-
gard to the shepherd and the lost sheep.
But the parable from which speak to-
day is founded on something we all
| understand. 1t is built on money. and
that means the same in Jerusalem as in
| New York. 1t means the same to the
serf as to the Gar, and to the Chinese
coolie as to the Emperor. Whether it is
made out of bone or brass, or iron or
copper, or gold OF silver, it speaks all
languages without stammer. The
parable of the text runs in this wise:
The owner of o large estate was about
to leave home, and he had some money
" that he wished properly invested, and
/ SO he called together his servants, and
said:
II am going away now, and wish you
would take this money and put it to the
very best possible use. and when come
back return to me the interest" To
one man he gave $4,000; to others he
gave lesser sums of money; to the least
he gave $1,sso. He left home and was
gone for years, and then returned. On
his arrival he was anxious to know about
his worldly affairs, and he called his
servants together to report to him. Let
me know" said he, what you have
been doing with my property since L
have been gone" The man who had re-
ceived the $4,000 came up and said: II
invested that money. 1 got good inter-
est for it. 1 have in other ways rightly
employed it; and here are $18,80O. You
see have doubled what you gave me. "
4 That's very good, said the owner Of
the estate; that's grandly done. i'd
mire your faithfulness and industry. !!
shall reward you. Well done-well
smaller Accommodations. After awhile I
see q man dragging himself along with
his head hanging. know from the way
he comes in that he is a lazy fellow. He
comes up to the owner of the estate and
says: Here are those $3.50" What
says the owner of the property, haven't
You made it accumulate anything?'
Nothing-nothing. why, what have
you been about all these years?" "Oh, I
was afraid that if invested it I might
somehow lose it. There are your ST.
$780, Many man started out worth
only crown in his pocket and achieved
q fortune, but this fellow of my text
with 81 $3.50, has gained not one farthing
Instead of confessing his Incidence he
goes to work to berate his master, for in
dolence is most always impudent and
impairment. OF course, he loses his
place and is discharged from the service
} The owner who went out into fal
country is Jesus Christ going from earth
I to Heaven. The servants spoken of in
the text are members of the church. The
talents are our different qualifications OF
. usefulness given in different proper.
tions to different people. The coming
back of the owner is the Lord Jesus re.
turning at the Judgment to make fna
settlement. The raising of some OF
these men to be the rulers over five o.
9 two cities, is the oxidation of the right.
.. eous at the last day, while the casting
out of the idler is the expulsion of al
} those who have misimproved their priv
81 ileges.
/ ERRONEOUS IDEAS REGARDING CHRIS
> T1AN LIFE.
= Learn first from this subject, that be
! coming Christian is merely going ou
, to service. If you have any romantic
idea about becoming q Christian, wan
now to scatter the romance. If you en-
, ter into the kingdom of God, it will b
! going into plain, practical, honest, con
tinuous, persistent Christian work.
. know there are great many people VIII.
3 have fantastic and romantic motions
: about this Christian life, but he VIII
serves God with all his energies of body
| mind, and soul is worthy servant, ant
he who does not is an INV orthy servant
When the war trumpet sounds, all tn
Lords soldiers must march, howeve
. deep the snow may be, or however fear
full the odds against them. Under on
government We may nave cOlOnels, AM
captains, and generals in time of peace
, but in the church of God there is n
!, peace until the last great victory shall
: have been achieved. But I have to tel
. you it is Involuntary service. People or
!. not brought into it as slaves were dragge,
: from Africa. A young man goes t
8 an artisan, and says: Sir, I want t
+ learn your trade. I, by this indenture
4 yield myself to your care and service TO
the next four. or five, or seven years.
want you to be my master, and want t
be your servant" just so, if We com
into the kingdom of God at all, We mus
5 come, saying to Christ: BE Thou m
master. take Thy service for time an
: for eternity. choose it." 1t is vol
untary service. There is no drudger
= about it. In our worldly callings some
times our nerves get worn out, and GU
| head aches. and our physical facultie
break down; but in this service of tn
Lord Jesus the harder q man works tn
better he likes it; and man in this au
: dience who has been for forty. year
s serving God enjoys the employment
l better than when he first entered il
The grandest honor that can ever be be