Milford chronicle., 1907-02-22
Belongs to Public.

I might feast my eyes upon that Wa
ter if 1 would on a moonlight night. l
might launch my skiff into those wa
ters and with powerful stroke fill the
blades of my oars with its treasures SO
that when those drops fall back into
the bosom Of the stream they look ike
beautiful collection Of sparkling
gems. But could not control it or
change its course. II tried to change
the current Of the Hudson river those |
who live below me would rise up In |
wrathful protest and cry: stop! Stop!
That river belongs to Us as much as TO |
you. You can use those waters to irri- |
gate your gardens and fields II you |
will, but after your flowers and corn
and grain have drunk their al you
must let those waters flow back into |
the river again. You must not change
the onward flow which will bring those
waters to us. You can use the river as
It creeps past your land, but then that
river belongs to us and not to you" So
with the great river Of gold. The
worldly wise rich man may say, 'Ihis
land is mine, these rivers are mine,
this endless system of railroad tracks
is mine, these newspapers and these Oh
fee buildings are mine No an
swers God. mot thine, but mine.
give thee the use of them for little
while as the employer gave the talents
to the servants in the parable. But
soon 1 shall take them back again.
"AU?" Yes. all Then l shall demand
an account of thy stewardship DO
Won not see what am driving at? The
rich man may seem to own his land,
but he does not He is a trustee and a
trustee alone. Soon at the brink of the
grave that trusteeship shall be taken
away.
Yet, to hear some worldly wise men
talk, you would suppose that when
they are taking an inventory of Gods
money they are taking an inventory
of their own gold. which they could
keep forever. They seem to act like a
selfish dog. After you have fed your
Scotch collie all he can eat what does
he do? He takes the bones that are
left and carries them out into the gar
den and there digs a big hole. Then
he puts those bones into that hole and
covers them up. Then he looks at the
place a minute and seems to say: "Ah,
l am very prudent! No trouble can
| entrap me. Some day / will get hun
gry when my master may be visiting
| or dead. Then 1 will be independent
of all my surroundings. l will go to
wonder brook and find water to drink.
| will come here and dig up these
homes and have a glorious feast.
! Therefore shall neyer die, because
have lots to drink and lots to eat"
Thus with the worldly wise man. He
does not look upon his lands and gold
| as Gods. but as his own. He goes and
digs his holes and buries in them his
goods. Then his actions seem to say;
II will live forever. am independent
Of all my surroundings"
The Unfaithful Servant.
When I see this cringing, crawling,
unfaithful servant of the parable be-
ing deprived of his one talent, which
he has hidden in his bank vaults, as
dog hides a bone, l cannot shut my
ears to the false assumption of virtue
with which this unfaithful servant
tried to assail his masters character
He seems to say: master. l know
what a tyrant thou art. l know how
unrelenting and bitter thou wouldst
he if made one mistake in my IN
vestments l knew that if I made a
moor nurchase and lost any of the cap
ital thou wouldst never cease to hound
me and that thou wouldst demand all
thy gold back or my life's blood. Ana
so ON account of the fear of making
a mistake. I did nothing Here thou
hast the money that is thine Whal
happened? With one mighty grip Vhe
master tore into shreds the black gar
ment of hypocrisy which covered thal
craven heart. With one denunciatory
verbal blow he silenced those lying
Inns. He tore away all the untalthIu u
servants pretenses to virtue Wheh ut
said. "Hvpocrite and falsitier thou art
Tbou hast not only proved recreant tC
the talent I gave thee, but thou ar
now irving to cover that gullt VIII
nariurv and lies. Thou art doing as
most unfaithful servants ana eVlluoer'
do When they are convicted OF wrong
doing they try to lay the blame a
some one elses door" Oh, my trlends
are YOU and I taking that course
When we think of our unused talents
when our consciences tell us that Coo
intended us to use the gifts that arr
living idle. what is our answer Is ou
excuse that other men prevent US y
that Cod is a hard master in requiring
us to work? =.
Then. again. there are men wn'
world make their inactivity appear AZ
true Kindness. How often do we SCI
tbo rnfoithful servants of life with al
assumed expression of virtue upol
their countenances? They are saying
81 know people say I am selfish,
know people say that am mean. Bu
what can I do? wish that I might b.
able to help others. But if help then
> 7 will only do them an injury. II
-..o--- man fO lo0Tu TO hell