The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-12-20


it, We ar after year, but it yields mere
pittance. So here Is man with ten tai.
ents in the way of getting good
and doing good. He soon, un-
der Christian culture, yields great
harvests of faith and good work. Here is
another maa 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 diff
ferent qualifications for different in
iividuals. There is great deal of ruin
Gus com parison when man says: 'Oh,
II only had that mans faith, or that
mans money, or that mans, eloquence,
how would serve God" Better take the
faculty that God has given you and en-
ploy it in the right way.
The rabbls used to say that before the
stone and timper were brought to Jeru-
salem for the temple every stone and
piece Of timber was married., SO
that before they started fol Jeru-
salem the architects knew in what place
that particular piece of timber or stone
should fit. And SO I 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. sayingt II would like to be
the foundation stone or the cap stone."
Let us GO into the very place where God
intends us 10 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 positions; your talent may
| be in swift pen Or eloquent tongue;
| but whatever be the talent it has been
given only tor one purpose-practicalus
| You sometimes fiud man in the COM
munity 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 en-
dures it; persecution comes and he en-
dures it; sickness comes and he endures
it. Before men and angels he is speci
men of Christian patience, and he is
really illustrating the power of Christ's
| gospel, and is doing as much for the
church, aud .moret for the church than
many more positively active. If you have
one talent, use that, if you have ten tall
ents 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.
l
| grace of God was intended to be &C
cumulative. 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 oyershadows the whole nature
There are parents who, at the birth o
each child. lay aside Ia certain amount o
money. investing it, expecting by &C
| lott nd hy I'M Qr pcf
!; that by the time the child shall come t,
mid life, this small amount OF money viii
be fortune, showing how small
amount of money will roll up into vas
accumulation. Well, God sets aside
| certain amount of grace for each on,
!. of His spirituals children at hi
birth, and it is to go on, and q
by compound interest, accumulate
until it shall become an eternal fortune
/ Can it be possible that you have been &C
, quainted with the Lord Jesus for ten
} twenty, thirty years, and that you do no
/ love Him more than you ever did before
Can it be that you have been cultured /
. the Lords vineyard, and that Christ find
: ON you nothing but sour grapes? Yo
| may depend upon it, if you do not use th
I talent that God gave you. it will dWindlt
y
= either widen into river or dry up. Th
b brightest day started in the dim twilight
/ The strongest Christian man was once
4 weak Christian. Take the, ,ne talent an
], make it two; take five and make thei
d ten; take ten and make them twenty. I'll
8 grace of God was intended to be very a.
r cumulative.
: Again, learn from the text that il
.-ft - Ill g. 4.
n lence. This man, with the smallest amour
o of money, came growing into the pre-
n ence of the owner of the estate, as mue
n as to say: ''H you had given me so, 400
!. would have brought SIS. 800 as we'll
: this other man. You only gave me ST. IS
1t and hardly thought it was worth viii
d and it produced no result. It's becau
q you didn't give me enough"
II But inferlority of faculties is no excu
o for incidence. Let me say to the ms
IS who has the least qualifications, by t
u grace of God he may be made almo
10 omnipotent The merchant, whose ca
goes come out from every island of t
D. sea- and who, by one stroke of the pc
ut. can change the whole face of America
ic commerce, las not SO much power as y,
IL Itbfe DttoFo 0OUs III 6dF0oSL& IalllI
l. and continuous prayer. You say W
70 have no faculty. Do you not understaI
i that you might this afternoon go in
your place of prayer and kneel befo
o God, and bring down upon your SOUL al
IS the souls OF others, a blessing so vast tn
10 it would take eternal ages to compute !
=. "Oh," you say, II haven't fsetness
d speech. i can't talk well. I can't utt
t. what want to say. My brother, can y,
le not quote one passage Of Scriptur
sr Then take that one passage of Scrip
10 ure; carry it with you everywhere; quo
l. it under all pr oper circumstances. Wi
s, that one passage of Scripture you m
10 harvest a thousand souls for God. I {
be glad that the chief work of the church
" this day is being done by the men of t,
is emit Once in awhile, when gre
re fortress is to be taken, God viii bri
IS cut great field-piece and rake all W
A the fiery hail OF destruction. But co
s: mon muskets do most or the hard fgl
~ ing. It took only one Joshua, and
re thousands OF common troops under hi
or to Drive down the walls of cities, al
s. under wrathsul strokes, to make natio
:" fly like sparks froln the anvil 1t OF
of took one Luther for Germany, {
to Zwinglius for Switzerland, one 10
by Knox for Scotland, one Calvin for Fran
r T<L - e.. 4 n