The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-01-21
Gods side in the combat between good


one talent who hid the divine gift. His
| wrong was not the misuse or the abuse,
but the nou-use, Of his personal force. He
does not belong to the category of the vic
tins. be is not chargeab.c with ;nlQritles
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. thou
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
talent in the earth. In spite OF all their
worth they are ssunted and IMPOVERISHED
because they are ''of the earth earthly"
The worldly spirit is not restricted by any
means to those who pie up colossal for
tunes or who are the habitues of Vanity
Fair. A begsar may be, and probably is,
quite as much, of mammon worshjper 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
earthly domination. How easy It is to let
ourselves down to a low degree of
thought. desire and qualification. We are
kin to the elements about US. We belong
to two worlds-to earth as we'll 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
gronnd-our food and raiment: our
all the material blessings with which we
are enriched. Here repcses all that was
mortal Of our beloved dead, and at their
funeral rites the church said "earth to
earth" Here the great rave 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
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-iI worldli-
ness comes the sharp condemnation, thou
wicked and slothful servant"
1t is nothing less than q 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 be can be efficient and effective
throug ghout his sphere: when he can make
a contribution to the fund of goodness and
happiness, what 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, whe5h-
er they live in a palace or a garret. they
have erred grievousiy II 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- to
go 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
ct for immortals. Let rs 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 delusicn that
the average person is called to a condition
for him to look for large personal develop
mcnt and excellence. All could be strong
If they would use their talents.
We have personality. There is such a
thing as the personal eeuation." Every.
body has fair chance. The man who has
buried his talent is apt to deny all this,
and may possibly settle down to be fatal
ist, pessimist, misanthrope, a 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 unlove!y. He
may urge heredity by alleging that bis an
right counts for nothing. He may point to
circumstances as prohibltorv and invinci-
BILE when he would assert his right to be
man. he may charge thai divine provi-
dence constantly thwarts him and reduces
his every hope to ashes. In the last anaiy-
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 tall
cnt. Although the human heart recog-
u1ZeS SOlllS uiedSulc VI responsibility, IL at
tempts to argue the matter and sets up a
defense, and it ends by laying the blame at
the feet of God. The Father has done His
part abundantly; it only repains 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
diversit;es 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
ton OF the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal."
We speak of self-made men as though
they We're 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 ne is to amount to anything, must make
himself. 1t, therefore. behocves US to 20
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 do not belong to the rub
bish pile of the universe. II we Will take
ourselves in hand-if We will be ourselves
>-.J oo& tru fo no Sop,obn1v olSa-;r ,,,,