The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1907-02-21

ana raIents given to him that there
with he may do effective service for
Christ and he uses them for his own
advantage or does not 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 worldly wise man Is
to suppose the gold, or the land, or the
railroad stocks. or the Montana cop
per 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 unfaith.
full servant in the parable was his
They are no more his than the money
which you give to 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
ward 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 PAL the Highlands and cool them
selves under the shadows of the Pal
| isades 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 I would on a moonlight night.
| t.....oa, NV ol1iff int those
ters and with powerful stroke fill 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
beautiful collection of sparkling
gems. But could not control 1t or
J change its course. n I 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 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 as
1t 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
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 shall take them back again"
"All?" Yes, all Then l 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 a trustee and a
trustee. alone. Soon at the brink of the
graver4hat trusteeship shall be taken
awaN
Ye@sSto 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 big hole. Then
he puts those bones into that hole and
covers them up. Then he looks at the
place q minute and seems to say: "Ah,
am very PRUDENT No trouble can
entrap me. Some day win get hun
CRY when my master may be visiting
or dead. Then l will be independent
of all my surroundings. l will go to
yonder brook and find water to drink.
I will come here and dig up these
bones and have glorious feast.
Therefore shall never die, because 1
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 UnfaithfuI 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, cannot shut my
ears to the false assumption Of virtue
with which this unfaithful servant
tried to assaiI his masters character.
He seems to say: Master, know
what a tyrant thou art. know how
unrelenttng and bitter thou wouldst
be If made one mistake in my In
vestments. knew that If I made a
poor purchase 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 Iife's blood. And
SO, on account of the fear of making
mistake, did nothing. Here thou
hast the money that is thine" What
happened? With one mighty grip the
master tore into shreds the black gar
ment of hypocrisy which covered that
craven heart. With one denunciatory
verbal blow he silenced those lying