The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-11-29
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
What he Mad to Say On Sunday Aheut the Parable
Of THE Talents, and Praetiele Appllca'
tlon to Every Day work.

tiea to Every DAP work.
BRooKLYN, N. T., Nov Is. At the Taber
nacle, Rev. T. Dewitt, Tai mage D. D.. took
for his text:
"Unto one he gave Ave talents, to another
two, and to another one; to every man &C
cording to his several ability" Matt. XIV,
Is.
He said: s'Many of the parallels Of Jesus
Christ were more graphic in the times in
which he lived then they are now, because
circumstances have SO much changed. In
clden times, when man wanted to wreak
grudge upon his neighbor, after the farmer
had scattered the seed wheat over the field
and was expecting the harvest, his avenger
would 60 across thesame field with sack
full of the seed of darnel grass, scattering
that seed all over the field, and Of coarse it
would sprout up and spo il the whole crop; and
it was to that Christ rcfs FRED in the parable
when he spoke ofthe tares bel ng sown among
the wheat. In this land our farms are fenced
of, and the wolves have been driven to the
mountains, and we cannot fully understand
the meaning of the parable in regard to the
shepherd and the lost sheep. Buttheparable
from which l speak today il 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 Car, and to the Chinese coolie
as to the Emperor. Whether it is made out
of bone or brass, or iron or copper orgold or
silver, it speaks all languages without STAN
mer. The parable of the text runs in 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 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 the others he gave lesser
sums of money; to the least he gave 81 $50.
Tie left home and was gone for years, and
then returned. On his arrival he was anx-
ious to know about his worldly affairs, and
he called his servants together to report to
him. LET me know" said he, swhat you
have been doing with my property since
have been gone" The man who had received
the $4,000, came up and said: 81 invested
that money. got good interest for it.
have in other ways rightly employed it; and
here are SIS, 500. You see l have doubled
what you gave me-" That's very good"
said the owner of the estate, chats grandly
done. / admire your iaithfulness and indus
try. | shall reward you. Well done-well
DONE" Other servants came up with
smaller aceumulations. After a while.
see man dragging himself along, with his
head hanging. l know from the way he
up to the owner OF the estate and says:
Here is that 81 $780, ''Whati'' says the
owner of the property, haven't you made
it accumulate anything?" "Nothing-noth-
ing" why, what have you been about all
these years?" ''Oh, l was afraid that if
invested it, might somehow lose it. There
are your 81 $780," Many q man started out
with only a crown in his pocket and achieved
fortune. but this fellow of my text with
81 $50 has gained not one farthing. Instead
OF confessing his Incidence he goes to work
to berate his master, for Incidence is most
always impudent and impertinent. OF
course, he loses his place and is discharged
from the service. The.owner who went out
into the far country is Jesus Christ going
from earth to heaven The servants spoken
of in the text are members ofthe 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 all those
who have misimproved their privileges.
Learn first from this subject, that becom-
ing Christian is merely going out to serv
ice. fyou have any romantic idea about
becoming Christian, I want to scatter the
romance. If you enter into the kingdom of
God it will 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 q worthy servant. When the war trumpet
sounds, all the Lords soldiers must march,
however deep the snow may be- or however
fearful the odds against them. Under our gov
eminent we may have colonies, and captains,
and generals i'll 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. l by this indenture yield myself
to your care and service for the next four, or
i've or seven years. ! want you to be my
master, and want to be your servant"
Just SO, if we come into the kingdom of God
at ell, we must come, saying to Christ: ''Be
thou my master. take Thy service for
time and for eternity. / choose st." It is a
voluntary service. There is NO drudgeryinit
In our worldly callings sometimes our nerves
get worn out, and our heads ache, and our
physical faculties break down; but in this
service of the Lord Jesus, the harder a man
works the better he likes it, and aman in this
audience who has been for 40 years serving
God, enjoys 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 servant"
Learn also from this parable that different
qualifications are given to different people.
The teacher lifts q blackboard. and he draws
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 q great diagram. Here
is an acre OF ground that has 10 talents.
Under little culture, it yields 20 bushels of
wheat to the acre. Here is another piece of
ground that has only one talent. You may
pillow it, and harrow it, and culture it, year
after year, bnt it yields q mere pittance. So
here is man with 10 talents in the way of
getting good and doing good. He soon, I'M
der 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 cul-
ture but he yields but little of the fruits of
righteousness. You are to understand that
there are different qualifications for different
individuals. There is great deal of ruin
GUS comparison when man says: "Oh, if /
only had that mans faith, or that mans
money, or that mans eloquence. how I
would serve God" Better take the faculty
that God has given you and employ it 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 Jerusalem the architecs
knew in what place that particular piece Of
timber or stone should At. 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, saying: 81 would
like to be the foundation stone or the cap
stone" Let US go into the very place
where God intends us to he, and to be salts
fed with the position. Your talent may be
in personal appearance; your talent may be
in large worldly estate; your talent bel hiRh