The Newtown bee., 1907-04-26
LITTLE SERMONS.

FAITHFULNEss AND PRoMoTIoN.-BY | O. O. WRIGHT.
 He that is faithful in & very little Is faith | full also in much: and he that Is unrighteous | in a very little is unrighteous also In much | Luke l6: 10.
 From the divine point of view, a humble life of usefulness is the most
 honorable and the happiest state of | being on the earth: and such a life | lived here in all faithfulness and with | a cheerful trust in God will most sure | ly be rewarded with the greatest | abundance of blessing, promotion, and
 abiding satisfaction in the future | state.
 | It does not matter so much what we
 are doing if only we are serving God. | It is not So much what we do as the | spirit in which we do it which shall
 prepare us for some higher service in a | better world. If we are faithful in | the least we are faithful in much. If | we are not faithful in that which We | have to do here we are not faithful at all in spirit and are only proving our
 selves unworthy of any trust. Bishop 1 Thorold says: But to say that man | is useful--in other words, that he has
 served God and his generation with
 such gifts as were at his disposal; and | earned when he died the two great re-
 wards, of being missed and being re- | gretted-iS, after all, the greatest | commendation that a human soul can | receive.h
 One of the most pi.iabIe conditions | of this present world, as 1t seems 10
 me, is the unhappy, dissatisfied, com
 blaming spirit in which so many
 serve their day and generation
 in their various callines How | little cheerful service there seems to | be, How few are willing to oo their | duty in that state of life in which ir
 has pleased God to call them {. | trouble there is in the world
 of labor! The man of capital, | making haste to be rich, is too often | indifferent to the welfare and happi- ness of the laborers, whose service is | he chief factor in Il e. production of | the wealth he seeks; the working man, | without intelligent comprehension Of | the risks and responsibilities of his employer is envious and greedy, per- haps, and foolishly expects and exacts | more than is his due, and both the | capitalist and the laborer may be wickediy unmindful as to whether or not they are serving the interests of | the Kingdom of Heaven.
 | If I mistake not there are many who | live in chronic state of Rrumbling be- | cause Of their unhappy conditions of | life They are upgrateful for what | they have, and complain of their lot be- | cause they are very sure that they de- serve something better. They serve only under the whip and spur of neces- | sity, or at best because of a sense of duty; but the work they have to do is drudgery to them; there is no divine nor poetic sense of reward in 1t; and | they feel that they are degraded by it. And yet in most cases, perhaps, these same people do not know what they want; they are unprepared to do any | higher or better service; they could | not appreciate the finer conditions of life for which they sigh. and have no | real need of the things for which they clamor. And the saddest part | of it all is the fact, that inst cad | of doing anything towards bettering themselves they serve only | to increase their own disconuent and
 misery while they dishearten and dis courage others. From the Christian standpoint, it is
 amazing that any sane person should | ever wish to live in idleneSs and lux | ury: or expect promotion, honor, or | the praise of God and men withou
 laudable service, sacrifice, and actual attainmentSi There is no promise of | God which does not require strenuous | life of the most faithful endeavor. It | is only those who seek, strive, prevail, | and overcome who have any right to
 the crown of success, and the palms of
 victory. It is only by the persistent
 right use of the talents we have that
 we can be entrusted with other, great- | CT talents. If we make no use of that which we have, what is the use of our | having more? If we do not prove that
 we are able and willing to do more and better service than that which is ex- pected of us, on what ground can we
 hope for promotion? If we neglect, or | refuse to do Gods service here, in Spir-
 iu and in truth, how then shall we be
 it to serve Him, in the Eternal City | on high.