Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-01-14

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 od, discarded notion
of the total depravity of human nature,
and yet the Lord says to him: thou
wicked and slothful servant" He was
wicked not because he had squandered or
den it.
That is just what thousands and thou
sands are doing to-day. They put their
talent in the earth 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 Tor
tunes or who are the habitues of Vanity
Fair. A beggar may be, and probably is,
quite as much of 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 admonition
that warns us not to bury our talent by
living solely for temporal goods. Every
day we are exposed to the cQntagion of
earthly domination. How easy it is to let
ourselves down to low degree OF
thought. desire and qualification: We are
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
gtound-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
and holy talent in the clay? How natural,
but how wicked To every one who buries
the talent-his personal force-in wordli-
ness comes the sharp condemnation, thou
wicked and slothful servant
1t is nothing less than a high crime TO
centre ones being in the earth. When he
has the power to be a 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
should put such possibilities into a hole.
And vet 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-
cr they live in palace or garret, they
have erred grievously if they have buried
hn which 11opo pan a1-n 1ifa tvprt1,
living. What an unspeakabfc 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.
" concerns To pass ones years without
raising to the dignity and excellences OF
noble manhood and noble womanhood-to
so 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 a song and dance as though that
were the greatest thing in the worlds to
take ourselves into region which is not
lit for immortals. Let us do our work and
enjoy our recrcations, but let us also APP
precate 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 a condition
of inevitable inferority, and that it is not
lDE nun W lbUh lOl ptlbobil hC'CIoP-
ment and excellence. All could be strong
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 has
buried his tS lent is apt to deny all this,
and may possibly settle down to be fatal
list, a pessimist, misanthrope, a chronic
grumbler. How true the parable is to ma.
ture and to life. The complainant is out
Z boI,,
thing. His gravamen is most unlovely. He
may urge hercdity 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 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 a whole tall
ent. Although the human heart recog.
nizcs some measure of responsibility, 1t 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 only remains for Ills
children to do theirs; the talent has value
only in its use.
st. Paul views this question from a most
exalted standpoint. He says: There are
diversities of gifts, but the samt 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.
ton of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal.'
We speak of selfmade 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 mako
himself It, therefore, behooves us to 60
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. He has
given us each one talent at least. The
sons of God, we dc. not belong to the rub
bsh pile of the universe. If we will take
ourselves in hand-if we will be ourselves
and not try to be somebody clse-if we
will serve our own misson-if we will
faithfully and honestly accept and meet
the situation as we find it, we will 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 vivimus vivi.
mus" But let us insist upon life in the
best possible sense. There is capital
enough to begin with. We can develop a
sturdicr fiber. We need not be ordinary,
commonplace. vulgar, inane and insipid.
Mediocrity is ineXcusable. We can be
high-toned, 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 int
the likeness of the strong Son Of Man.
Influence of Holy Life.
The euhtle oerm of Chrst's truth will