The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1914-07-24
brnati0na| Sunday School Lesson
'ird Quarter. Leoson 4. Luke 10:
1l-27. July 26, 1914.
THE POUNDS AND THE TALENTS
The Story.

pei Tectly we'll the status of the
slake among Greeks and Romans.
SoLle slaves were actually men OF
cers and professions. They had
Arge endowments. Others were
4k He'd artisans They had medi-
gifts. Others were day laborers,
rcely more than animated tools.
income, much or little, from
tSe slaves belonged absolutely to
seir respective masters. But the
liter of how and where the in
b,ne should be produced was often
ft-not nominally, but really-to
s slaves themselves; only they
ust produce a certain revenue and
by it to their masters, or suffer
snalties for not doing so. The
eparation of master and slave was
Fen complete; one not even see
he the other until such tim as had
en appointed for the accounting.
sSent eeism of masters was as COM
ON as that of Irish landlords to-
by. And there were no such means
u intercommunicatio as We enjoy
no long-distance telephone, postal
fSpatch, or special delivery. In
he slave owners upbraiding of the
efinquent slave we discover one
kethod of trade then in vogue:
~ ou ought to have thrown my mo-
ley onto the table of the money
Boxer: then l would have had prln-
kipal and interest" The hiding. of
the talent in the ground is another
d8sh of local coloring. 1t was not
tie age of safety deposit boxes, so
tfere were many fields in which
tIeasure was hid" The account
iTg time was real to master and
sisve. The revenue for the sup
pyrt of his chateau, the maintenance
ol his retinue, was gathered at
;nch time. In proportion as his
yes had been industrious, he
kld meet bills and extend his
Tor social prestige. 1t was a
lH 6ouT Tor sTave as WeTI- II
scessful, he could expect to be
rar1ed. If he cor1 show no
u ms, he knew his master had pow
er of life and death. The practical
bearing on human life
of the parable is apparent. 1t en-
phasdzes individualism as against in
Each has talents
Each is to increase his
store. Each is to give reckoning.
Rewards and penalties will be COM
There will be degrees
of reward, but the smallest degree
will be transcendently great. How
desperate the strait of the unfaith-
full. What he has shall be taken
from him; that is, it shall be re-
vealed that the faculty with which
he was endowed he has lost by
disuse. The spiritual visual sense
is obliterated. The spiritual auri-
cular nerves are dead. The state
is remediless. The taking away OF
the talent is only the discovering OF
the fact that it is already gone, eek
tirpated by disuse." The casting
out is only the judicial affirmation
of a destiny already self-inflicted.
Having taken the divergent line OF
neglect of the spiritual faculty, he
winds up in hell which is eternal
because the very essence OF 1t
is the obliteration of the powers of
the soul. On the other hand, the
faithful soul, having taken the
right line of persistent development
of the religious faculties finds him.
self in a blissful state, from which
lapse is impossible, and in which
there is such a phenomenal devel-
opment of the soul that he is quail
fled to perform functions for God,
the nature of which is dimly con-
veyed to us by the terms kingshlp
and priesthood to God, and being
over ten cities and five cities.
The Teachers Lantern.
THE Parallels of the Virgins, Tai
ents, and Pounds set forth the sub
stance of religious duty, and the
opposite destinies of the faithful
and unfaithful. They are hand
book of ethics. They are power
fully incentive to good, deterrent
from evil. How tiresome the show
of humility. so little is commit
ted to me in the way of talent that
it makes no odds whether l employ
it or not" The laggard hasn'
wasted like the prodigal; isn't ten
thousand talents in debt like the
unmerciful servant? But here j:
an irreparable evil. The pounC
was given to be employed in
given period (probation); the op,
portunity for its employment i:
gone forever, It can not be return
ed. Its value consisted in its EN-
pIoyment and increase. Take from
him the pound is one of the sharp
est points of this bristling parable
This is what Horace Bushnell aptlJ
calls the extirpation of the religious
faculty by It's non-use. Silly, inso
lent, and profane appear the ex
ouses of the laggard with his pound
yet not more so than the stocl
apologies of the average sinner O.
today: Religion is too severe;
f'Temptations too powerful - "Evi
dences OF Christianity not suffici
emily plain Such excuses crimi