Milford chronicle., 1888-11-23

grees Of Happiness In Heaven in Pro
portion to Degrees of Usefulness on Earth.
BRooKLYN, Nov. 1s.-At the Tabernacle
this morning the acclaim Of the worshipers
was very great as they Joined in the opening
doxology. Professor Browne rendered ex-
quisitely the organ solo, sonata in G minor,
Rheinberger. The pastor, the Rev. I. De
Witt Talmage, D. D., took for his text;
'Unto one he gave five talents, to another
two, and to another one; to every man ac
cording to his several ability.n Matt. XIV,
IS. He said
Many of tho parallels Of Jesus Christ were
more graphic in the times in which he lived
than they are now, because circumstances
have so much changed. In olden times, when
man wanted to wreaS grudge upon his
neighbor, after the farmer had scattered the
seed wheat over tho field and was expecting
the harvest, his avenger would 60 across the
same field with a sack full of the seed of
darnel grass, scattering that seed all over
the field, and Of course it would sprout up
and spoil the whole crop; and it was to thas
Christ referred in 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 noun
tains, and we cannot fully understand the
meaning of the parable in regard
to the shepherd and the lost sheep.
But the parable from which 1 speak
today is founded on something we all under
stand. It Is built on money, and that
means the same in Jerusalem as in New
York. It means the same to the serf
as to the car and the Chinese coolie
as to the emperor. Whether it is made
out Of bone or brass, or iron on copper, or
gold or silver, it speaks all languages without
q stammer. The parable Of the text runs iu
this wise; The owner Of a large estate was
about to leave home, and he had some money
that he wished properly invested, and SO no
called together his servants and said
81 am going away now, and l wish you
would take this money and put it to the very
hest possible use, and when come back re-
turn to me the interest To one man he
gave s., 400, to others he gave lesser sums of
money; TO the least he gave 81 $50 He left
home and was gone for years, and then re-
turned. On his arrival he was anxious to
know about his worldly affairs, and he called
mis- servants together 70 report to him, LET
me know said he, ''what you have been do
ing with my property since have been gone.
The man who had received the 50, 400 came
up and said: - invested that money. got
good interest for it. l have in other ways
rightly employed it; and here are S1S,SOO.
You see have doubled what you gave me-"
'sThat's very good said the owner Of the
estate; ''that's grandly done. 1 admire your
faithfulness and industry. 1 shall reward
you Well d0ne-well done" Other servants
came up with smaller acoumulations, After
a while, see a man dragging himself along,
with his head hanging. I know from the
way he comes in that he is lazy fellow. He
comes up to the owner of the estate and says;
'Here are those 81 $50" "What!" says the
owner of the property, haven't you made it
accumulate anything~ "Nothing--noths
ing "Why, what have you been about all
these yearsFn "Oh, was afraid that if / in
vested it, might somehow lose it. There
are your 81, $50" Many man started out
with onlya crownin his pocket, and achieved
q fortune; but this fellow of my text, with
s., $50, has gained not one farthing Instead
Of confessing his Incidence, be goes 10 work
to berate his master, for incidence is most
always impudent and impertnent. OF
course, lie loses his place and is discharged
from the service The owner who went
out into q far country is Jesus Christ going
from earth 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 proportions to
different people. The coming back Of the
owner is the Lord Jesus returning at the
Judgment to make final settlement The
raising Of some Of these men to be rulers
over five or two cities is the exaltation of the
righteous at the last day, while the casting
out of the idler is the expulsion Of ali those
who have misiInproved their privileges.
ERRONEOUS IDEAS REGARDING CHRISTIAN
LIFE.
Learn first from this subject, that becom-
ing Christian is merely going out to serv-
ice If you have any romantic idea about
becoming a Christian, want now to scatter
the romance. If you ester into the kingdom
of God, it win be going into plain, practical,
honest, continuous, persistent Christian work.
know there are great many people who
have fantastic and romantic notions about
this Christian life, but he who serves God
with all the energies Of body, mind and soul
Is a worthy servant, and he who does not is
an unworthy servant When the war trum-
pet sounds, all the Lords soldiers must march,
however deep the snow may be, or however
fearful the odds against them. Under our
government We may have colonies, and
captains, and generals in time OF
peace, but in the church Of God there
is no peace until the last great
victory shall have been achieved But
have to tell you it is voluntary service.
People are not brought into it as slaves were
dragged from Africa. A young man goes to |
an artisan and says: "Sir, / want to learn
your trade. 1, by this indenture, yield my
self to your care and service for the next
four, or five, or seven years. want you to
be my master, and want to be your serv-
anti Just SO, if we come into the kingdom
of God at all, we must come, saying to
Fa1~ eler-I
service for time and for eternity. / choose I
it.n It is a voluntary service. There is no
drudgery in it. In our worldly callings
sometimes our nerves get worn out, and cur
head aches, and our physical faculties break
down; but in this service of the Lord Jesus,
the harder Il man works the better he likes it,
and a man in this audience who has been for
forty years serving God enjoys the employ
ment better than when lie first entered it. |
The grandest honor that can ever be be-
slowed upon you is to have Christ say 70 you
on the last day; "Wel done, good and faith
ful servantln
THE MANY VARIOUS ENDowafENTs OF MAX. 1
Learn also from this parable that different
qualifications are given to different people. |
The teacher lifts blackboard and ne draws
a diagram, in order that by that diagram he
may impress the mind Of the pupil with the
truth that he has been uttering. And all the
truths of this Bible are drawn out in the nat
ural world as in great diagram. Here IS
an acre Of ground that has ten talents.
Under little culture it yields twenty bush
els Of wheat to the acre. Hero is another
piece of ground that has only one talent.
You may plow it and harrow it and culture
it year after year but it yields a mere pit
tance. So here is a man with ten talents IN
the way Of getting good and doing good. he
soon, under Christian culture, yields great
harvests of faith and good work Here 3
onoAhar ann wi.o seems to have only cas-
talent, and you may put upon him the great
est spiritual culture, but he yields but little
Of the fruits Of Righteousness. You ace
70 understand that there are diiFa--
ent qualifications for different individ-
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