The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1888-11-30

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how 1 would serve God" Better take the |
faculty that God has given you and en-
ploy it in the right way.
The rabbIs used to say that before the
stone and timber were brought to Jeru-
salem for the temple every stone and
piece of timber was marked, so
that before they started for Jeru-
salem the architects knew in what place
that particular piece of timber or stone
should fit. And so 1 have to tell you we
are all marked for some one place in the
great temple of the Lord, aud do not let
us complain, saying: II would like to be
the foundation stone or the. cap stOne.n
Let US go into the very place where God
intends 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 a swift pen or eloquent tongue;
but whatever be the talent it has been
given only tor one epurpose-practicalu use.
You sometimes find man in the COM
munity of whom you say: HE has no
talent at all;" and yet that man may
have a 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, aud he is
really illus trating the power of Christ's
gospel, and is doing as much for the
church, and moro 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 shah have ten.
learn also from this parable that the
grace of God was intended to be ac-
cumulative. When God plants an acorn,
He means an oak, and when He plants q
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 ac-
emulation and by compound interest
that by the time the child shall come to
mid life, this small amount of money will
be a fortune, showing how a small
amount of money will roll up into vas
| 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 accumulate,
until it shall become an eternal fortune.
Can it be possible that you have been ac-'
| quainted with the Lord Jesus for ten,
| "
| love Him moro than you ever did beforeP
| Can it be that you have been cultured in
| the Lords vineyard, and that Christ finds
| on you nothing but sour grapes? You
may depend upon it, if you do not use the
talent that God gave you it viii 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
] Il To Iva AaTa 4
| make it two; take five and make them
| ten; take ten and make them twenty. The
/ grace of God was intended to be very ac-
| cumulative.
Again, learn from the text that in
/ feriority of gifts is no excuse for indo-
/ lenee. This man, with the smallest amount
/ of money, came growing into the pres
ence of the owner of the estate as much
! as to say: eff you had given me So, 400 1
would have brought $1s 800 as well as
| this other man. You only gave me ST, $50,
and hardly thought it was worth while
| to use it at all So l hid 1t in a napkin,
! and it produced no result It's because
| you didn't give me enough"
| But inferlority of faculties is no excuse
! for Incidence. Let me say to the man
who has the least qualifications, by the
| grace of God he may be made almost
/ omuipotent The merchant, whose car
]
| sea, and who, by one stroke of the pen,
! can change the whole face OF American
] commerce, has not so much power as you
| may have before God, in earnest, faithful
/ and continuous prayer. You say you
have no faculty. Dovou 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, blessing so vast that
/ it would take eternal ages to compute it2
/ "Oh," you say, Il haven't heetness OF
| speech. l can't talk well. / can't utter
| what 1 want to say. My brother, can you
not quote one passage Of Scripturef
! Then take that one pas sage of Script
| ure; carry it with you everywhere; quote
| it under ali pI oper circumstances. With
! that one passage of Scripture you may
harvest a thousand souls for God. / am
! glad that the chief work of the church in
! this day is being done by the men of tall
/ ent. Once in awhile. when a great
! fortress is to be taken, God will bring
out a great field-piece and rake alI with
! the fiery hail of destruction. But COM
! mon muskets do most OF the hard fight-
! ing. It 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. 1t only
| took one Luther for Germany, one
! zwinglius for Switzerland, one John
| Knox for Scotland, ole Calvin for France,
and one John Wesley for England. Dor
! cas- as certainly has a mission to
preach. The two mites dropped by
the widow into the poor box
will be as much applauded as the
! endowment Of a college, which gets a
mans name into the newspapers. The
man who kindled the first Ere under the
| burnt Offering in the ancient temple had
| duty as imperative as that of the high
priest, in magnificent robes, walking into
! the holy of hoIies under the cloud OF Je-
hovah's presence. Yes, the men with one
talent are to save the world, or IL viii
| never be saved at all The men with Eve
| or ten talents are tempted to toll chief y
for themselves, to build mp their own
| great name, aud work for their own ag-
| grandizement and do nothing for the
| alleviation of the worlds woes. The cedar
| of Lebanon, standing on the mountain,
/ seems to hand down the storms out OF the
heavens to the earth, but il bears no fruit,
| while some dwarf pear tree has more
fruit on its branches than It can carry.
Better to have one talent and put It 10
full use than five hundred wickedly neg
lected.
My subject tea ches me that there is GO
ing to come a day Of solemn settlement.
/ ~ @D1 WV DAA Af@A NV VI 1'o bpAI Bo1AACAAD
ne Immediately called all the servants
about him and said; Here IS the little
account have been keeping. Iwant TO
see your account. and we will drst COM
pare them, and I'll pay yoI what owe
you and you'il pay ms what you own me.
Let US have a settlement" The day will
come when the Lord Jesus Christ VIII APP
pear, and will say 70 you. what have
you been doing with my property What
i have you been doing with my facultlezl
What have you beea doing with what
gave you for acclnlu.a alive purposesp'
4 There will be 10 escape from that sottle-