The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-01-27

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tunes or who are the habitues of Vanity
Fair. A beggar may be, and probably IS,
quite as much of a mammon Worshlper 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 admonltion
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 it's ,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
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
faseinate. Is it marvel that 50 many tall
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
contribution to the fund Of goodness and
happiness, what sorry pity it is that ne
And yet that is precisely what 80 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 garret, they
have erred grIevously if they have buried
the power which alone can make life worth
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-to
20 on from year to year without recogniz-
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 that
were the greatest thing in the worlds to
take ourselves into region which is not
fit for immortals. Let us do our work and
enjoy our recreations, but let us also ap-
preciate the doctrine that to be true men
and true women is the highest possible es-
tate. Away with the base delusion that
the average person is called to condition
of inevitable inferiority, and that it is not
for him to look for large personal develop
ment and excellence. All could be strong
if they would use their talents.
We have personality. There is such a
thing as the personal equation" Every
buried his talent is apt to deny all this,
and may possibly settle down to be a fatal
list, a pessimist, misanthrope, o chronic
grumbier. How true the parable is to ma
ture and to life. The complainant is out
of harmony with everybody and every
thing. His gravamen is most unlovely. He
may urge heredity by alleging that his an
tecedents were unfavorable and his birth
right counts for nothing. He may point to
circumstances as prohibltory and invinci-
bic when he would d assert his right to be a
man. He may charge that divine provi-
dence constantly thwarts him and reduces
his every hope to ashes. In the last analy-
sis he takes the position of the condemned
man of the parable and says to the Lord:
Il knew that Thou art an hard man." an
allegation which is disproved by the fact
that the Lord had given him whole tai
ent. Although the human heart recog-
nizes some measure of responsibility, it at
tempts to argue the matter. and sets up
defense, and it ends by laying the blame at
the feet of God. The Father has done His
part abundantly; it on y remains for His
children to do theirs; the talent has value
only in its use.
St. Paul views this question from most
exalted standpoint. He says: "There are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,
and there are differences of administration,
but the same Lord, and there are diversi-
ties of operations, but it is the same God
that worketh all in all, but the manifesto
tion of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal"
We speak OF se,f-made men as though
they were miracles. In referring to them
as such as mean that, in spite Of difficult
ties, they have attained remarkable excel
lence. But every worthy individual is self
made by the grace of God. Even under
the most favorable circumstances, man,
if he is to amount to anything, must make
himself. 1t, therefore, behooves US to go
to work upon ourselves. We ought to
take ourselves more seriously in the high
est possible sense. We have capacities.
God has made US for some good HeHhas
given us each one talent at least. The
sons of God, we do not belong to the rub
bish pile of the universe. If we will take
ourselves in hand-if we will be ourselves
and not try to be body else-if We
will serve our own mission-if we will
faithfully and honestly accept and meet
the situation as we find it, we wfA sur
prise ourselves sooner or later when the
results will begin to appear.
while we live, let us live" or as the
old Romans put it-"dum yivimus vivi-
mus" But let us insist upon life in the
best possible sense. There is capital
enough to begin with. We can develop
tu1dier fiber. We need not be ordinary,
commonplace, vulgar, inane and insipid.
Mediocrity is inexcusable. We, can be
highrtoned, we can be splendid specimens
of manhood and womanhood, we can be
our best and do our best, We can be our
true selves by growing more and more into
the likeness of the strong Son, Of Man.
The Life of Love.
Francis Paget describes the transfor-