The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-02-19


which the master gave to his unfaith-
full servant i'll the parable was his.
They are no more his than the money
which you give to Il Wall street broker
to buy for you some Pennsylvania rail-
. road stock is his. They are no more
his than the tree growing IN my fruit
yard belongs to the robins who come
there each year to build their nests in
it. They are no more his than the
| waters which flow down from the
! Adirondack mountains and work their
/ way past the Highlands and cool them
selves under the shadows of the Pal
! fSadeS belong to the men who live on
an estate which rims the banks of the
! Hudson.
| Belongs to Public.
| might feast my eyes upon that wa
/ ter if would on n moonlight night.
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 like
beautiful collection Of sparkling
gems. But | could not control it or
! change its course. If tried to change
the current of the Hudson river those
who live below me would rise up in
wrathful protest and cry: stop! Stopi
! That river belongs to us as much as to
you. You can Use those waters to irri-
gate your gardens and fields IL 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 onward flow which will bring those
! waters TO us. You can use the river AZ
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, This
land is mine. these rivers are mine,
this endless system Of railroad tracks
is mine, these newspapers and these Of
flee buildings, are mine" No. an
swers God. mot thine. but mine.
give thee the use of them fora little
While as the employer gave the talents
to the servants in the parable. But
soon l shall take them back again"
"Al:" Yes. all. Then | shall demand
an account of thy stewardship" Do
you not see what | am driving at? The
rich man may seem to own his land.
but he does not. He is trustee and
trustee alone. Soon ut 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 IL
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 Il mi@jIte and seems to say: AlI
l am very prudent! No trouble can
entrap me, Some day l will get hun
CRY when my master may be visiting
or dead. Then l will be independent
Of all my surroundings. | will go to
yonder brook and find water to drink
| will come here ami dig up these
bones and have glorious feast
Therefore | shall never die. because l
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 us his own. He goes and
digs his holes and buries in them his
goods. Then his actions seem to say:
Il will live forever / am Independent
of all my surroundings"
The Unfaithfu Servant.
When | 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 Il bone, l cannot shut my
ears to the false assumption of virtue
with which this unfaithfui servant
tried to assail his masters character
He seems to say: Master. | know
what q tyrant thou art. | know how
unrelenting and bitter thou wouldst
be if | made one mistake in my in
vestments.~ | knew that if | made
poor lOSt any VI Tue zap
ital thou wouldst never cease to hound
me and that thou wouldst demand al
thy gold back or my life's blood. And
so, on account of the fear Of making
a mistake, did nothing. Here THOU
hast the money that is thine" What
happened? With one mighty grip the
master tere into shreds the black gar
ment of hypocrisy which covered that
craven heart With one denunciatory
verbal blow he silenced those lying
lips He tore away all the unfaithful
servants pretenses to virtue when he
said: "Hypocrite and falsifier thou art.
Thou hast not only proved recreant to
the talent | gave thee, but thou art
now trying to cover that gufit with
perjury and lies. Thou art doing as
most unfaithful servants and eyildonrs
do. When they are convicted Of wrong
doing they try to lay the blame at
some one else's door" Oh my friends.
are you and I taking that course:
When we think of our unused talents.
when our consciences tell us that Col
intended us to use the gifts that arr.
lying idle. what is our answer? Is our
excuse that other men prevent US or
that God is a hard master In requiring
us to work?