West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-11-29

- ~ ~ III AEU nOT
zach ono OF His spiritual children at his birth.
and It Is 70 Roon, and, as by compound in.
terest, accumulate. until il shall become an
eternal fortune. Caa IL DO possible that YOU
have been acquainted with the Lord Jesus for
ten, twenty, thirty years, and that you do
not rove him more now than you did before1
IAN it be that you have been cultured i'm Tia
lords vineyard, and that Christ finds on YOU
nothing but sour grapes! You may depend
upon IL, N you do not use the talent that God
gave you IL will dwindle. The rilI that breaks
from the hillside will either widen into a
river or dry vi. The brightest dav startad
in the dim twilight The s~fronges Christian
man was once a weak Christian. Take the
one talent and make 1t two; take five and
make them ten; take ten and make them
twenty. The grace OF God was intended to
be very accumulative.
Again / learn from the text that infe-
rlority OF gifts Is no excuse for incidence.
This man, with the smallest amount OF
money, came growing into the presence OF
the owner Of the estate. as much as
70 say: IF you had given mo 5000 i would
have brought $lS,SOO rs well as this other
man. You gave mo only SlSS), and i hardly
thought IL was worth while TO use it at all.
So ] hid it i'm a napkin and it produced no
result. It's because you didn't give me
enough But inferiority OF faculties
Is no excuse for Incidence. Let me say
TO the man who has tho least qualifications.
by the grace OF God he may DO made
almost onnipotent. The merchant. wboSo
cargoes come out from every island OF the
sea, and who, by one stroke of the pen, can
change the Whole face OF American com
merce, has not so much power as you may
have before God. In earnest, faithful and
continuous prayer. You say you have no
faculty. Do you not understand that
you might this afternoon go into your place
of prayer, and kneel before God, and
bring down upon your soul, and the souls of
others, a blessing so vast that it would take
eternal ages TO compute IL! "Oh,n you say,
81 haven't ~ieetness of speech. i can't
talk well can't utter what / want to
n n " AIn a go -
one passage OF Scripturef Then, AXE
that one passage OF Scripture; carry
1t with you everywhere; quote IL under
all proper circumstances With that one
passage of Scripture you may harvest a
thousand souls for God. i am glad that the
chief work of the Church i'm this day is being
done by the men of one talent. Once in a
while, when a great fortress is to be aiken,
God win bring out a great field piece and
rake all with tho frey hail of destruction.
But common muskets do most of the hard
lighting. IL took only one Joshua, and the
thousands of common troops, under him, to
drive down the walls of cities, and, under
wrathful strokes, TO make nations fly like
sparks from the anvil. IL only took one
for W .erland, one John Knox
for Scotland, one Calvin for
France, and one John Wesley for England
Dorcas as certainly has n mission TO servo as
Paul has q mission to preach. The two mites
dropped by the widow into the poor-box will
be as much applauded as the endowment of
q college, which gets a mans name into the
M newspapers. The man who kindled the fire
under the burnt offering in the ancient temple
had a duty as imperative MS that of the
high priest, in magnificent robes, walking
into the Holy of HOLES under the cloud Of
JehovahS presence. Yes, the mon with one
talent are TO save the world, or 10 will never
be saved at all. The men with five or ten
talents are tempted to toll chiefly for them
selves, TO build up their own great name,
and work for their own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
AMI do nothing for the alienation of the
worlds woes. The cedar Of Lebanon stand
ing on the mountlin seems to hand down the
storms out OF the heavens to the earth but it
bears no fruit. while some dwarf pear tree
has more frui. on its branches than it can
carry. Better TO have one talent and put it
to full use than five hundred wickedly
neglected.
My sub ,ect teaches me that there is go
ing to come n day OF solemn settlement.
When the old farmer OF the text got home,
he Immediately called all the servants about
him and said: Here Is the little account i
have been keeping. | want TO see your ac-
count, and we will first compare them, and
III pay you what | owe you, and you'll pay me
what you owe me. Let US have a settlement"
Tho day will come when the Lord Jesus Christ
Will appear, and will say to you: "What
have you been doing with my property
What have you been doing with my facul-
tiesi What have you been doing with what
| gave you for accumulative purposesf'
There will be no escape from that settle
ment. Sometimes you cannot get a settle
menb Win n man, especially III ne owes YOU.
He postpones and pr~ocrastlnates, and says:
'pll SEQ you next week, y or "P1l see you next
month" The fact is, he does not want to
settle. But when the great day comes or
\ which i am speaking, there will be no escape.
We will havo to face all tho bills.
1 have sometimes been amazed to see
how an accountant will run up or
down n long line of figures. IL / see
ten or fifteen figures In a line, and
| attempt to add them up, and [ add them
two or three times, / make them different
each time. But / have admired the way an
accountant Will take a long line OF figures,
ana without a single mistake, and with great
CELEBRITY, announce tho aggregate. Now, IN
the last great settlement, there viii be
n correct account presented. Col has
kept a long line OF sins, a long line OF broken
Sabbaths, n long line of prOfane words, n along
line Of discarded sacram snts, n long line OF
misimprovet privi,e ,ei They viii all he ADDED
up, AMI before angels, and devils, and men,
the aggregate VIII DO announced. Oh, that
will be the great day of settlement. l have
to ask the question: Am i ready for
III IL is OF more Importance TO ms 10
answer that question in regard TO myself
than in regard TO you: and it is OF more
Importance for you TO answer IL in regard to
yourself than in regard TO ME. Every man
Tor himself on that day. Every woman Tor
herself on that day. III thou be wise, thou
SHALT 10 wise Tor thyselt; II thou soonest,
thou alone shalt boar it.h We are aptto speak
Of the last day as an occasion OF vocifera-
tion-a great Demonstration OF power and
IOmpt but there VIII D. on Jhab uh1s bulnhs
a few moments OF entire silence. i think u
tremendous, an overwhelming silence.
think it will be such n silence as the earth
never heard. IL will he at the moment when
ali nations arc listening for their doom.
] learn also from this parable Of the text
that our degrees Of happiness in heaven will
be graduated according TO cur degrees OF
usofulness on earth. Several Of the com
meutatofs agree in making this parable the
same one asin Luke, where one mnn was made
ru'cr over five cities and another made ruler
over two cities. Would 10 be fair and right
that the pro. essed Christian man who has
lived very near tho limo between the world
and the Chugch-tho man who has often
compromised his Christian characteristic
man who hns never spoken out
for God-the man who has never
been known as n Christian only on
communion day8-the man whose great
struggle has been 20 SEQ how much Of the
word he could got and yet Win heavens IL
right 20 suppose that man will have rs
grand and glorious n soIt ia heaven as the
man who gave all his energies Of body, mind
and soul 70 the service Of o Tie dying
thief entered heaven, but not with
The same startling acclaim a8 that
which greeted Paul, WHO had gone
under screenings and across dungeons, and
through maitrcatments into the kingdom Of
glory. One star differs from anther star in
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