The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-11

PAiSO3 VI OOuAoO, pay ~ III oHuA1 sums
as we go along. But price or no
price, high or low, heavy or light, we
must move up to higher responsible
ties, graver duties, larger abilities,
larger ambitions, and wider moral
horizon.
And then if we are better than God
expected we would be. we are not re-
lieved OF motive and enthusiasm. For
there is no motive nor enthusiasm
nor contagion equal to that which is
born out of doing more than is set
before one. If God is surprised that
we do So well, the surprise in him be-
comes incentivein us to do still better
Nothing buoys one up, or bears him
along, like the impulse that grows
out of such attachments as are be-
yond the sanguine expectation of his
friends.
And after all, what is this life but
parable of talents and opportuni-
ties? In my text, the owner gave to
his servants each talent to trade
with until he returned from Rome.
He went to Rome to get his commits
sion. When he returned and the day
of reckoning or the doomsday came.
and one came saying that he had
gained ten pounds by trading, and
another five pounds, he commended
all who had gained anything and re-
warded them for the efforts they had
made. But when the servant came
who had done nothing, who had tried
to do nothing with his money, that
servant alone was condemned be-
cause he had made no effort. They
had all made an advance except this
one. And because this one had made
no advance and no effort, therefore
his talent was taken from him, and
he really fell out of the race.
Although talents, abilities and OPP
FORTUNES vary, yet each man has, on
the average, the ability and the open
ing to approximately win for himself
just what he desires. He has the
means, and of course he must pay
the price. A man must have suffic-
lent desire to make him willing to
pay the price. The servant who hid
his pound because he was so afraid
of losing it did not desire sufficiently
to satisfy his master. He did not
care. He was too lazy. He was
afraid-afraid he would lose it all.
A man who wants anything in this
day of small margins and sharp COM
petition has to be up and doing;
there is no time to sit back and fold
his hands. The doctrines Of
science hold sway today. 1t is a
strife for our living. 1t is matter
of talents; it is a matter of energy; it
is matter of industry. The indo-
lent and the weaklings die. The fittest
survive. The thrifty live, and those
that are able to endure it, those who
will pay the price for it, they alone
dwell in plenty on the heights of life.
They who sit down and wait for some
thing to "turn up" will generally find
that some one has been there before
them and turned up" the thing they
were waiting for and carried it off.
Heaven never rains down opportun-
tiles for men to trample on. Heaven
is thriftier than that and knows us
better. She hides them away and we
must find them.
There are marked differences of
talents, of money, and of openings.
But in the long run, these count for
less than we imagine. The most
brilliant people seldom get to the
top. The children of wealth are not
the leaders of our civilization. Both
of these classes have too easy a row
to hoe. The heirs of rich men let the
money slip through their fingers too
fast. They never paid the price of
that money, and they have not
learned the true uses of it. And oppor-
tunities are paid for in the strength
of his arm or his brain. They never
come by magic. In 1893, when Louis
XVI, of France, persisted on the scat
fold, it was the least likely thing in
the world that his successor on the
throne should be ar obscure Corsican.
Napoleon had brilliant mind, but
where were his opportunities? He
was man of indefatigable energy,
indomitable will, and he had a pas
sionate desire for power and fame.
One opportunity opened the way for
another. On every field of battle, he
took advantage of the errors of his
enemies. Success led to success I'M
til he was crowned Emperor of
France and bestrode Europe like a
gigantic colossus.
Success, when followed up. brings