The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-10-04
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What Church Folk Are Think
ing Abont and Doing
Getting the Most Out of Lifetime IN
te1national Sunday SchoO Lesson
for OctObe 9 is '1he Parable OF the
Talents" Matt. 25: 14-3O.
Rn II ELLIS.

dENIJS, o. 80. eO'
BY WILLIAM II. ELLIS:
After visiting many of the great art
galleries of Europe, [ found myself
with a growing resentment against the
common artistic conception Of Christ.
Most commonly he is portrayed, either
as q baby OF as a corpse. The paint
ings which represent him in life
show an efeminate, characterless face.
His is a countenance for the stained
glass windows of a convent; but IN
the market places of the world, where
strong men meet, it would not invite
respect. The artists a1nd, too, OFTEN
the t~heologians, nave robbed Jesus
of his strong humanity.
1t is a matter of simple record,
patent to anybody who will spend an
hour with his New Testament, that
Jesus of Nazareth was a strong human
personality, attractive to the rough
and ready people who lived close to
the soil. A stained glass window
saint would have had scant hearing in
Galilee. The each Tags of Jesus,
though often sublime, above his hear
ers' comprehension, were teachings Of
practical wisdom His %parables are
full of working philosophy. The
people Who try to walk in the way
he prescribes are III the Ions run,
the happiest and most prosperous peo-
pie on earth. His words are the best
4 IL VI IIdJ y tll1S - OK VIZ
as the only guide to felicity IN the
next.
4 Human story.
Ctoe of the deathless stories OF
Jesus, which today gas the
thought of the Sunday SCHOOLS, is
the familiar parable Of the Talents.
Like last weeks lesson of the Wise
and Foolish Virgins, it deals with an
inevitable day of reckoning; but it Is
likewise fDH of the most practical
counsel for conduct in the unheedinA
world of human beings. The story
is SO athrOb with eternal reality, that
We could easily date it tn the year
1910, ana put names and places to it;
even as Hall Caine says his novels
are mere modernizationS of the I5iblt
incidents.
Thus runs the parable: A house
holder, about to leave home ror "a
long period, entrusted his wealth to
three servants. Probably upon the
revenue they earned for him he was
dependent OF his Journeys, and as
surediy the three servants stood In a
place of sacred responsibility. Al.
ways the law has recognized the pc
culiar obligations resting upon Il ,rus-
tee. Knowing we'll his servants and
their capacity. the householder gave
tc one five talents, q very large sum,
equivalent in our day to fifty or "a
hundred thousand dollars, according
as We accept the heavy or lighter tai
ent as meant. To another he gave
two talents. and to another one.
This parable, let me stop to say
must not be confused with the some
what similar parable, told earlier by
Jesus, Of the pounds; orators and
writer's hav often made the absurd
mistake of speaking of q talent wrur
ped in a napkin. 1t was d pound that
MO @ -y-Vn ~ ~ i~-n- 40 - L., ~
was worth sixty times as much as the
pound. In one story all the servants
received alike; in the other, according
to their several ability. In details
and in teaching the two parallels differ
widely. 4 practical result Of this les
son should be to give the separate
identity of these two pieces of litera-
ture in the minds of all students.
The use made by the three servants
OF the talents entrusted them vs. the
point of the story. The first two meI
traded diligently with their capital
and after a period of time doubled it
The third, in craven fearfulneSS, un.
willing to take any responsibility. bu
ried his talent in the ground until hi.
Lords return. The five talent mar
and the two-talent man were praised
and rewarded by their master in ex.
actly the same words; the third man
despite his pusillanimous whimperings
u = laps pal lily btIdiSc u lIItiii
was thrown out into the eSs.
into the Market place
One contrast between the storie
told by Jesus and the apocryphal !e
gends is that the former deal Target
with normal human relationship
whereas the latter are ~perVaded by a
air of unreality. It seems as if Jesu
tried IL every way to ~accentuate til
present WOridineSS of his gospel. Hi
WORDS were for men in a world Of mel
He himself lived close to artisan, far
mer, merchant, and he knew all abOu
the burdens, perplexities and inius
tees which each had to face.
This story is a call to the marke
place, and not to the cloister. Tn
one condemned man in it is he VIII
lacked the nerve to go out into IN
Nofld where men do business an
mere increase his talent. The hereo
o. the story Wore no dreamy egntists