The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-24
BY The REV. FRAN
IS ANGELES. Cal, February lin

talents the preacher shows how 1t applies
to men OF means and influence in every
position in life today. Tho text is Luke
VII, Is, whatsoever hath not. from him
shall be taken away, even that which
he seemeth to have"
1t is amazing how the addition Of one
little word may change the whole mean
ing OF sentence. For a long time l
could not understand the twenty-ninth
verse of the twenty-ffth chapter OF Mat
thew. Christ in his wonderful way had
been telling the parable of the man who
went into the far country after he had
delivered unto his servants his goods. The
story is almost Identical with the his
tory of your own life.
For years and years you were a slave
10 business. You kept up a brave front,
but for nearly quarter of a century
you were trembling upon the brink Of
bankruptcy. The children were young
and had to be supported and educated.
Your business had not yet been well es-
tapilshed The business world was eye
Ing you askanee. You had to buy you1
goods on long credit and therefore pay
higher for them than If you had the
ready cash. The result: 1t Was GRIND
work, economic. But after a time the
financial condition maze a turn for the
better, Two Of your boys finished their
schooling and We're able 10 support them
selves. One of your daughters married
WIN the lessening OF expenses at home
1lere came marvellous growth at the
store. Instead Of living upon the marrow
4Ane of difficulty" you moved into Easy
street. One night you came home and
after dinner you said to your wife My
dear, | have fought the battle Of life
and won it. 1t is time for us to take a
wedding trip, We did not go very far
when We were married. We were too
poor Let us next spring start upon a
"Trip around the world oh, john" she
said, can you afford it," Yes" you
answered And l think we can take
our youngest daughter along. She is all
we have left at home
At once you begin to make prepara-
lions. Your wife planned for the care of
the house. You made the arrangements at
the store. You called in one employee and
said: Harry, you will take care of this
department" You called in another and
said Joe, you take charge of that de-
partment." To another man you gave
one task and to another a different re-
Spons1bllity. Then You set sail With your
wife and daughter you were away from
home nearly year. When you returned
you called your various employees to rem
der an account of their stewardship. You
rewarded each man according as he had
fulfilled the trust committed to his charge
Such is the modern parallel of the parable
of the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew
Now, when the good man of this par
able found out that there was one who
had failed to fulfill his trust he says,
Take therefore the talent from him and
give it unto him who hath ten talents
for unto every one that hath shall be
given, and he shall have an abundance,
but from him that hath not shall be
taken away even that which he hath
Strange" I used to say when | read
these words. How can anything be taken
away from a man who has nothing?" Can
nothing come from nothing? Yet here
in this parable of Matthew we read
From him that hath not shall he taken
away even that which he hath 81 cannot
understand these words" ! used to say
Il cannot understand them"
The Real Meaning.
But some time ago | had a strange H.
Elimination of the meaning of this chap
ter. Just as you enter a dark room and
go to the window and lift the green shade
and flood of sunlight pours in. so | had
a windowful of gospel light poured upon
these words. One day while reading the
expression as found in Luke | came upon
the one word ''seemeth," Then | read the
conclusion of the parable in Matthew in
conjunction with my text in Luke, and |
found that the two verses meant prac-
tically the same This is the way ! read
the two verses: Take heed. therefore,
how you hear. for WI ever hath TO
him shall be given. whatsoever hath
not from him shar 90 taken away even
that which he seemeth to have oh"
| exclaimed, II see IT. When man Is
untrue to the trust God has given to
him, he may seem to have wealth and
happiness; he may seem to be blessed with
joys which are denied the children of God,
but there shall come a time when he
shall stand before all men stripped of his
false assumptions" To pretend to have
does not prove that we have. That word
'seemeth'' is the pivotal word of my SER
monte theme l want to prove to You that
no man can eternally possess anything
That is good and true and pure unless lie
possesses them through his fidelity and
conseeration to Jesus Christ. When man
has gifts and talents given to him that
Herewith he may do effective service for
Christ, and he uses them for his own ad
vantage or does mot use them at ALL he
will be called to account at the bar of
God. Then God will say. Take away even
that which he seemeth to have"
The most absurd assumption, IN the
first place, of a worldly wise man Is
to suppose the gold, the land. or the
railroad stocks or the Montana copper
mines, of which he has control for a few
years are his and his alone. They are
no more his than the talent which the
master gave to his unfaithful servant in
the parable was his. They are no more
his than the money which you give to
a Wall street broker to buy for you some
Pennsylvania railroad stock is his, They
are no more his than the tree growing
in my fruit yard belongs to tho robins
who come there each year to build their
nests in 1t. They are no more his than
the waters which flow down from the
Adirondack mountains and work their
way past the Highlands and cool thcm-
selves under the shadows Of tho Palisades
belong to the men who live on an estate
which rims the banks of The Hudson.
Belongs to Public.
l might feast my eyes upon that water
if l would on moonlight night | might
launch my skiff into those waters aud
with powerful stroke fiji the blades of
my oars with it's treasures so that when
those drops fall back into the bosom of
the stream they look like a beautiful col
lection of sparkling gems. But l could
not control it or change its course. If I
tried to change the current of the Hud-
son river those who live below me would
rise up in wrathfu protest and cry:
stop! Stop That river belongs to us as
much as to You. You can use those
waters to irrigate your gardens and fields
If YOU will, but after your flowers and
corn and grain have drunk their fill YOU
must let those waters flow back into the
river again. You must not change the ON
ward flow which will bring those waters