Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1910-10-06
THE PARABLE OF
H TALENTS
Sunday School Ls.sea for Oct. 0. 1910
Specially Arranged for This Paper

80
GOLDEN .TEXT,-"His lord said unto
him. Well done, thou good and faithful
a few things. / viii make thee ruler
Joy OF thy lord.GMatt. 25:2i.
TIME.--Tuesday afternoon. April =.
=. u; 80. Immediately following the
last lesson.
PLACE.-on the slopes of Mount
oii'et' overlooking Jerusalem.
Suggestion an6 Practical Thought.
The parable shines clearest in the
light of the circumstances. Jesus and
his disciples are still on Olivet, over.
looking Jerusalem and the Temple In
all their glory. Jesus had just fore
told their destruction. Let the dis.
ciples learn a necessary lesson from
the cause of that ruin.
Many and great talents had been
committed to the Jewish nation. No
nation had ever received SO great a
trust as they-the divine Revelation.
religious truth, and best Of all the
Messiah, the Son of God; and thus
power to become u blessing to all the
world.
hd'lVh Hiu itluStu W uSt h'St
talents intrusted to them: again and
again they had buried the talent in
stead OF using 1t; and now they were
about to murder their Messiah. in.
stead of using him. and thus to bury
this talent in the earth.
The parable lay in full view before
the disciples eyes. What the city
then was. multiplied into the new
Jerusalem of the Revelation, could
have been theirs cvermore by faithful
use of the divinely entrusted talents.
The loss of all, the outer Darkness
the weeping and gnashing of teeth"
as the fruit of unfaithfulness, lay in
the prophetic vision shown by Christ
And now that buried talent was
brought forth and was to be entrusted
10 the disciples and to the Christian
church they were to found. The five
talents were now offered to them, and
the vital question was what they
would do with them. The two courses
were made very plain to them by the
parable. 1t was written in letters Of
light on their sky. printed indclibly
on their minds.
A man travelling into a far country,
md therefore wishing to leave his af.
fairs in competent hands. He repre-.
sents Jesus Christ who was about to
leave his disciples and go to heaven,
which was n far country in the sense
that his servants could not have Wis.
ible communication with him. lie
WAS to leave the spread of the gospel,
and the salvation of the world in the
hands OF his disciples. although he
was with them in Invisible but real
presence.
The servants denote all those to
whom the interests of the kingdom of
heaven were entrusted. The Jewish
rulers are among those represented
by the man with one talent. for they
looked upon the kingdom Of God placed
in their charge as a matter of small
account compared with their " sci
fish interests. The apostles and early
Christian leaders received some five
talents. some two. some one; and 80
do all Christ's professcd followers, and
all who have received from Christ
the privileges and blessings of his
gospel. The principle applies to all
men, for all have been entrusted by
God with many things,
Robert Louis Stevenson was talking
one day to the children Of a school In
Samoa about the Parable OF the Tai
cnts, and told them there were three
possessed by them all. Tongues, to be
used to make all about them cheerful
and happy. Faces, to be kept as
bright as a new silver coin, that they
might shine like lamps In their homes
Hands, to be kept employed in usefu.
work cheerfully done.
His lord said unto him, Well done
thou good and faithful servant. lie
had his lords approval. Faithfulncss
not success. nor the amount gained
was rewarded. God will say wei
done" only 10 those who have done
well. There are no empty cOmpli
ments In the day of Judgment. "llan
del tells us that when he wrote tbs
%IIallelujah Chorus he saw the hcav
ems opened and all the angels and The
great GOD himself" A modest mar
OF moderate ability said hat he coul'
not expect Gods Well done, but he die
expect that he would say. Well tried
Well attempted.
Enter thou into the Joy of thy
Lord, participate In his joy and share
with him In his pleasure. the SAM
kinE of iOy phi;h our Lord himSel