The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-11-23

drudgery in It. In our worldly call
ings sometimes our nerves get worn
out, and our head aches, and our
physical faculties break down; but In
this service of the Lord Jesus the
harder man works the better he likes
it; and man in this audience who has
been for forty years serving God en-
joys the employment better than when
he first entered it. The grandest honor
that can ever be bestowed upon you is
to have Christ say to you on the last
day; well done, good and faithful
servantw
THE MANY VARIOUS ENDowMENTs OF
MAN.
Learn also from this parable that diff
ferent qualifications are given to diff
ferent people. The teacher lifts a
blackboard, and he draws q 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 natural world as in great
diagram. Here is an acre Of ground
that has ten talents. Under little
culture it yields twenty bushels OF
wheat to the acre. Here is another
piece of ground that has only one
talent You may pillow 1t, and harrow
it, and culture it, year after year, but
it yields mere pittance. So here is q
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 is another man who
seems to have only one talent and
you may put upon him the greatest
spiritual culture, but he yields but
little Of the fruits Of Righteousness.
You are to understand that there are
different qualifications for different
individuals. There is a great deal of
ruinous comparison when q man says:
'Oh, If I only had that mans faith or
that mans money or that mans elo-
quence how would serve God" Bet
ter take the faculty that God has
given you and employ 1t in the right
way. The rabbis used to say that be-
fore the stone and timber were brought
to Jerusalem for the temple every
stone and piece of timber was marked;
SO that before they started for Jerusa-
lem the architects knew in what place
that particular piece Of timber
or stone should fit. And so have to
tell you we are all marked for some
one place in the great temple Of the
Lord, and do not let us complain, say
ing: II would like to be the founda-
ton stone or the cap stone" Let us
go into the very place where God in
tends us to be, and be satisfied with
the position. Your talent may be in
personal appearance, your talent may
be in large worldly estate, your talent
may be in high social position, your
talent may be in swift pen or elo-
quent tongue, but whatever be the
talent, it has been given only for one
purpose-practical use. You some
times find man in the community
Of whom you say: HE has no
talent at ALL" and yet that man may
have hundred talents. His one hun
dred talents may be shown in the item,
of endurance. Poverty comes, and he
endures it; persecution comes, and he
endures it; sickness comes, and he en-
dures it. Before men and angels he is
a specimen of Christian patience, and
he is really illustrating the power of
Christ's gospel, and is doing as much
for the church, and more for the
church, than many more positively
active. If you have one talent, use
that; if you have ten talents, use
them, satisfied with the fact that we
all have different qualifications, and
that the Lord decides whether we shall
have one or whether we shall have ten.
I learn, also, from this parable that
the grace of God was intended to be
accumulative. When God plants an
acorn, he means an oak, and when he
plants small amount of grace in the
heart, he intends it to be growthful
and enlarge until it overshadows the
whole nature. There are parents who,
at the birth of each child, lay aside a |
certain amount Of money, investing
it, expecting by accumulation and by |
compound interest that, by the |
time the child shall come to mid
life, this small amount Of money will |
be fortune, showing how a small
amount of money will roll up into
vast accumulation. Well, God sets
aside certain amount of grace for
each one OF his spiritual children at
his birth, and it is to go on and,
as by compound interest, accumu-
late, until it shall become an eter-
nal fortune. Can it be possible
that you have been acquainted with
the Lord Jesus for ten, twenty,
thirty years, and that you do not love
him more now than you ever did be-
fore9 Can it be that you have been
cultured in the Lords vineyard and
that Christ finds on you nothing but
sour grapes9 You may depend upon
it, if you do not use the talent that
God gave you, it will dwindle. The
rill that breaks from the hillside will
either widen into river or dry up
The brightest day started in the dim
twilight. The strongest Christian
man was once a weak Christian.
Take the one talent, and make it two;
take five and make them ten; take ten
and make them twenty. The grace Of
God was intended to be very accumu-
lative.
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