The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-03-18

ana sLur0lneSS LOT WOFks ne mas talent
that will give him a standing among his
enid the various relationships Of his life.
BY the grace of God be may hope to be
something and do something, and he is In
honor bound to make large exactions OF
himself. He may never take his place
among the billionalres, or secure fame, or
be known far outside of the small circle OF
his home and his shop, but everybody who
tries to do his duty in his own station,
whose example uDho.ds righteousness,
whose influence, be it much or little, is on
Gods side in the combat between good
and evil, is a public benefactor, and his
name, though almost unknown here, is
written in heavens book of worthless.
1t is impossible to acquit the man with
one talent who hid the divine gift. His
wrong was not the misuse or the abuse,
but the non-use, of his personal force. He
does not belong to the category of the vic
TINS, he IS not chargeable with iniquities
which suggest that there may be some
truth after all in the Old, discarded notion
Of the total depravity of human nature,
and yet, the Lord says to him. chou
wicked and slothful servant" He was
wicked, not because he had squandered or
lost the gift, but only because he had hid
den it.
That is just what thousands and thou
sands are doing to-day. They put their
ualent IN the eartn. In spite OF all their
worth they are stunted and impoverished
because they are "of the earth earthly"
The worldly spirit is not restricted by any
means to those who pile up colossal for
tunes or who are the habitues of Vanity
Fair. A beggar may be, and probably is,
quite as much of mammon worshiper as
is the most vulgar money lover. They
who fail may be even more worldly than
they who succeed However that may be,
our present concern is with the admonition
that warns us not to bury our talent by
living solely for temporal goods. Every
day we are exposed to the contagion of
ourselves down to low degree OF
thought, desire and qualification. We are
kin to the elements about us. We belong
to two worlds-to earth as well as to
heaven. with pardonable fondness we re-
fer to our present abode as mother
earth" We came ourselves from its bo-
som. We get all that we have out of the
ground-our food and raiment,, our
houses, our books, our sciences and arts,
all the material blessings with which we
are enriched. Here reposes all that was
mortal of our beloved dead, and at their
funeral rites the church said "earth to
earth" Here the great have lived. the
brave have fought for right and rights,
and royal souls have done their work for
the cause of progress. Here Jesus, spent
three and thirty years. His feet trod upon
its hills and wales. His precious blood
flowed down from His sacred body to its
soil, and His mangled corpse lay in its
tomb. How much the earth has in it to
fascinate. Is it marvel that so many fall
before its seductions and hide the great
and holy talent in the clay? How natural.
but how wicked. To every one who buries
the talent-his personal force-in Worldli-
ness comes the sharp condemnation, thou
wicked and slothful servant"
1t is nothing less than high crime to
centre ones being in the earth. When he
has the power to be son of God, when he
has an equipment that should get results,
when he can be efficient and effective
| throughout his sphere, when he can make
a contribution to the fund of goodness and
happiness, what a sorry pity it is that he
should put such possibilities into hole.
And yet that is precisely what so many
are doing. Some of them are rich, while
others are poor; some have knowledge and
culture, while others are ignorant and
hard, but they are all alike in that they
have buried the precious gift. 1t matters
not whether they are lofty or lowly, wheth-
er they live in palace or garnet, they
have erred grievously if they have buried
! the power which alone can make life worth
! living. What an unspeakable degradation
| it is to leave the plain where God would
! have us think and work and to descend to
| the slavery of vulgar ambition for world
| ly concerns. To pass ones years without
raising to the dignity and excellences OF
noble manhood and noble womanhood-tc
60 on from year to year without recognlz
ing the Deity-and without noting the
privileges which Christ has assured-to re
duce ourselves to the level of machinery
to set up song and dance as though thai
were the greatest thing in the worlds tt
take ourselves into a region which is MOI
fit for immortals. Let us do our work anC
enjoy our Eecreations, but let us also ap
preciate the doctrine that to be true mer
and true women is the highest possible es
tate. Away with the base delusion tina
the average person is called to a condition
of inevitable inferiority, and that it is no
for him to look for large personal develop
ment and excellence. All could be stron;
if they would use their talents.
We have personality. There is such
thing as the personal equation" Every
body has fair chance. The man who ha
buried his talent is apt to deny all this
and may possibly settle down to be fatal
list, pessimist, misanthrope, a chroni
grumbler. How true the parable is to ma
ture and to life. The complainant is GU
; of harmony with everybody and every
thing. His gravamen is most unlovely. ID
may urge heredity by alleging that his an
JeceuenUS were unIdVoldpIe anu HIS Diltu
, right counts for nothing. He may point t
] circumstances as prohibltory and invinc
BILE when he would assert his right to be
man. He may charge that divine prov
, dence constantly thwarts him and reduce
his every hope to ashes In the last analy
J sis he takes the position of the condemne
man of the parable and says to the Lord
) 81 knew that Thou art an hard man." a
: allegation which is disproved by the fac
! that the Lord had given him whole ia
! ent. Although the human heart reco(
: tempts to argue the matter and sets up
i defense, and it ends by laying the blame q
| the feet of God. The Father has done H
=, | rort ohundaptlv. II Onlv remains for Fl