The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-06-26

him an account of that which they had
| received. The one who had received
five talents came unto the master and
said: Lord, you gave me five talents.
l have multiplied them. have doubled
them, Here are ten." The lord
says unto him. Blessed art thou, for
wise and profitable servant. Enter
thou into the Joy of thy Lord Then
turning TO him who had received two
talents, he demanded of him an &C.
count, not the same, because this man
had not received as much. He had
only given him two talents, and he
exaoted from him only due return
and fair account of his stewards ship.
That man could answer as faithfully
and well as the other. He said, Lord,
you gave me two talents and here are
four. l have doubled what you gave
me- In other words, 4 have done
| quite as well with what l had, as my
brother with what he had. Here is your
| interest Then came the one to whom
! had been entrusted but one talent. In
| stead of saying, Lord, you gave me one
talent, and here are two,' he hung his
head and said: II was ashamed of the
little talent you gave me. did not
deem it of any Importance. 1t was too
small a thing to be considered. [ hid it
ia the earth and here it is as you gave
it me-" Was the Lord satisfied with
this answer? Did he say, All well and
| good, you have returned to me my
own and that is all | require at your
haDds?' No. He said, Thou wicked
and improbable servant, thou shouldst
have put this talent out to usury, that
might have received my own with in
terest; but you have buried it in the
earth; you have not made wise use of
it; you are not fit for the society
of those who have added to
that which was given them. Take
from him the talent which he had and
give it to him that hath ten, for unto
him that hath shall be given; but from
him that hath not shall be taken even
that which he seemeth to have This,
brothers sisters and friends, is the whole
history of the world in nutshell. This
is what you and l are doing day by day
either adding unto and upon that
talent which God has given US, be it
small or great, or we are neglectlng 1t
and are preparing to meet just such
judgment as was pronounced upon the
unfaithful steward in the parable. No
one on this broad earth will have
it to say truthfully at the judgment seat
of God, l"Father, you gave me nothing;
l have nothing to render up. All men
have received something from the Great
Creator. All men have received a
measure of light and intelligence, and
it is not for an individual or any set of
individuals to sit in judgment upon the
dispensations OF the Almighty and say,
You have given me nothing, and |
will therefore render back nothing" or,
You have given me something that
was so small that it was unworthy of
improvement, and have added nothing
to it."
There is passage comes to my mind
from the writings of Abraham, con-
tanned in the book which we call the
Pearl of Great Price. The Lord, speak
ing to that ancient Patriarch revealed
unto him some of His mysteries, and
drew aside the curtain which hides
things that are from things that have
been. He revealed to him things per-
tanning to the creation of this earth be-
fore man had descended upon its sur
face, before a single blade of grass, or
the trees sprang forth. before the fishes
formed in the temporal body,
created spiritually, with man, who
was destined to have dominion
over them on earth. All things were
made spiritually, before they were
made temporarily. Before the earth
was made temporarily, God spake to
the grand council of heaven in these |
words: 1--WE will go down, for there is
space there, and we will make an earth |
whereon these may dwell, and we will |
prove them herewith, to see whether |
they will do all things whatsoever the |
Lord their God shall require at their
hands. And they who keep their first |
estate shall be added upon, and they
who keep not their first estate shall not |
have glory in the same Kingdom as
those who keep their first estate;" and
they who keep their second estate shall |
be added upon for ever and ever" Now,
this shows further, that not only is this
parable of the Lord and the stewards q
type of the history of this earth, but
hat it fore-shadoWs eternity-the his.
tory of the universe. Mans progress
sions, past or future, are all prediCated |
upon the same principle. They who
have Kept their first estate or, in other
words, have improved upon the talents
which God gave them originally, have
been added upon, and their condition
to-day is no less an illustration of this
great truth, than their condition will
be million ages hence, if they live and
take the right course to perpetuate
their existence. The whole past history
of the universe, if known, would il
lustrate this principle.
We are working out the mystery of |
life. We are weaving the fabric of our
existence and we will hold it up at the
last day and say, Father. here is my
record" How many stitches are we
dropping that must yet be taken up"
How many pages of the book have we
blotted that we ought rather to have
These are questions that
ought to come with telling force to all.
President Brigham Young in more
than one of his public discourses, en-
deavoured to rivet upon the minds of
this people this Important principle
that they would only receive that for
which they labored; that there is no
such thing in the gospel as that popular
doctrine believed in by SO many that a
death bed repentance" from a life of
iniqulty would enable one who was
about to depart out of the world, per-
haps at the haugmar's hands, to seize
upon and possess the eternal reward as
the man or the woman who had filled
up life with good deeds, with righteous
purposes and desires. President Young
said something like this: "If you