SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 85, 30 September 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

NOTES OF SERMON preached by IIEV. 11. SHARP in the Fitzroy Primitive Methodist Church. For unto whosoever much is given of him shall be much required.—Luke xii.-48. That is to say, the man with ten talents must answer for more than the man with one talent. If you are gifted in more ways than I am, then God will hold you responsible for more than He will hold me responsible for. Jesus recognised that there were grades of human ability, various degrees of cleverness differing according to gifts bestowed upon men. One is born amidst the darkness and uin of the savage. Another is brought up amid surroundings of culture and refinement. On the one hand, we have ignorance, and on the other knowledge; and more will be expected from hint who was born in the very atmosphere of right-thinking and noble doing than from him whose association with evil practices made it impossible to rise to the same height of moral and spiritual perfection. In one home there may be two boys. One is strong in body, quick in mind, and clever in many ways. The other is slow and dull; he cannot grasp meanings, everything must be carefully explained before he can understand what a word is which has been made clear to the first boy. He has not initiative. Whatever he does, he does because somebody else did it first and showed him how. In the race of life he is easily outrun by his brother. Do you- think the parents would require as much from this lad as they would from the smarter boy? For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much is required, but where much has not ; been given the requirements are not so great,.

THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOD. Now, that is the principle upon which God acts, too. The requirements of our Heavenly Father are just in accordance with the powers we possess. You need not feel afraid that the Almighty will chide you for not having done what you could not possibly do. If you have not a voice for singing, you will not be condemned because you did not sing. If you could not preach or pray there is no need to fear being accused for not having done those things. A great many people seem to think that God is less reasonable than man. I knew a man who was always worrying and fretting because he did not save a man from drowning who perished near by where he stood. But he could not swim, so there was no need to worry. Let us not make the same mistake as the man who said, "I knew then that thou wast a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and. gathering where thou hast not strawed." That is not the Christian's God. There may be many things around us which we know ought to be done, but if we have not the talents to do them with let us be content to do what we are able to do and not unnecessarily blame ourselves because the other thing was not done.

INCREASED RESPONSIBILITIES. On the other hand, certain responsibilities arise out of certain gifts or advantages which we possess. Let lis notice some of these gifts which increase our responsibilities. (1) Physical advantages. Think, first of all, about the possession of health and strength. We don't value these as much as we should. Charles Reade, in the "Cloister and the Hearth," said, "Life and liberty are little thought of. Why? Because they are matters of course. Endangered, they are rated at their real value. 7 ' It might be said of these gifts that they are only rated at their real value when they are endangered. While we are thus blessed others are blind and lame and diseased. Some have suffered year after year who would give worlds if they could have health like we enjoy. What is better than a robust body? The world yields its best pleasures to the strong. Health is a more valuable thing than riches, and riches could never compensate for the loss of it. He is supremely blessed who possesses a body strong and powerful. Then think, too, of the possession of the reasoning powers. Some time ago I preached in the Porirua Asylum to about one hundred of the inmates. Some of them had been clever people. As I looked into their faces and noticed the vacant stare, and when some of tliem talked to me I thought what a treasure is reason. Oh! what a wonderful thing it is to have an unclouded mind, unimpaired reasoning faculties. What a terrible thing life must, be without these! And because we are so richly blessed with these and other physical advantages, God will require more of us than He will from others who were less fortunate. .

(2) Social advantages. Dr. Stalker said in his book, "Imago Cliristi," that "everyone is born into a particular family which has a history and character of its own, formed before lie arrives. He has no choice in the matter, yet this i connection affects all his subsequent life. . . . . He may be born to inspiring memories and refined habits, or he may take up a hereditary burden of physical and moral disease." Who can tell what we owe to our associations for what we are? Your friends and relations are all respectable people. Your homes are places where love and everything high and noble dwells. Your surroundings are all that could help you to be good. All these things add to your responsibilities. It seemed extravagant language for our Lord to use when He said that "the publicans and harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you," but nevertheless it will be so. It is not enough to say "I have lived a better life than the thief ami the drunkard and the harlot." Perhaps you couldn't help it any more than they could. The question > is, What us have you made of your opportunities? llow much higher have you risen because of your advantages? Do not think that the immoral and licentious are fit for Heaven because Christ said that, but try and see Ilis meaning, which to me appears to be this: That considering their few privileges, their handicaps, they arc more deserving of heaven than the more respectable, whose circumstances warranted a better life than they were living. (3) Religious advantages. There are no people that enjoy such wonderful religious advantages as we do to-day in New Plymouth. Not that we have so. many churches or a. number of good preachers, Imt because we have the revelation of f!od in Christ and the written Word of God, which is accessible to all. We may have stood only in the twilicbt of the religions of other nations. Or we may not have received such a full, free and glorious gospel as Protestantism has given 1o us. When Christ was on earth he pronounced some solemn judgments upon certain cities of His day. "Then He began to upbraid the cities wherein most of Ilis mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. woe unto thee. Bcthsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sid on, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth arid ashes." Our Lord takes these two little villages, and He contrasts them with the two great maritime cities of Tyre and Sidon r.nd says that these insignificant places have far more light than those had. :

Why were they o superior? Because they had Moses? Because they Jiaa two prophets, the law, the temple, the priesthood? By no means; but because they had HIM. So He sets Himself forth as being the highest and clearest of all ■ the revelations that God has made to i the world and asserts that in Him, in His character, in His deeds men ought to f find motives that should bow them in > penitence before God. There is no such light of the knowledge of the glory of God anywhere else as there is in the face of Jesus Christ. And as Bethsaida was to Tvre and Sidon, so

NEW PLYMOUTH AND BETIISAIDA contrast with each other. If Jesus spoke such terrible words of woe to those cities, what will He say to us who have. Jived in the very focus and fountain, as it were, of the heavenly radiance and paid no heed to it? (4) Increased responsibilities arise out of our individual gifts and talents. One has a splendid voice for singing. Another possesses great riches. A third has wise knowledge. But what ever we have received let us see to it that we put them to good uses. We have nothing to do with the distribution of gifts, but everything to do with using them. I could not help being what I am. I did not choose what abilities I possess, but I am responsible now that I have got them. Perhaps it is only a little that I can do, but I must not leave it undone. Perhaps we have made a mistake when we say that one shall have more glory than another because liis talents enable him to fill a more important position. Here are four men; let us say one is a preacher and another a statesman, a third an artist, a fourth a cobbler. Who is to tell what the eternal value of each man's work is. The reward will depend not on the kind of work but on the amount of faithfulness pal into it. He who possesses great and rare gifts should walk humbly, remembering that his responsibilities are greater-.and that he must use them not only for his own sake but for the wellbeing of all. And let the person who has only mengre gifts use them well, for we know not how much it may mean. It has been said that in moving a finger a man is starting a force that may take the ROUND OF THE UNIVERSE.

It is certain that in performing a particular act or in uttering a word a man may be putting ill motion a moral potency which may reach to the limit of a man's life, ami even over the world itself, and go down through generations as did the appeal of the humble minister when he touched the chords of Robert Moffat's heart. Then let us keep in mind this solemn fact, that God will require of every one of us according to the gifts we possess. (5) Position. This is another advantage out of which arise great responsibilities. It may be that of parent, teacher, senior, master, minister or king. You hear people say sometimes I would like to be in his place. The envy is excited by some privilege or possession they might enjoy could they occupy the desired position. llow little do they think of the duties and requirements that attach to their coveted prize. It will be a terrible thing for any one who has occupied high positions if they have not been true to God but have used their advantages for personal ends. Positions of honor and trust and authority can only he filled well by those who recognise the solemn responsibilities which are carried with them. There is a widespread misconception about the ordinary duties of everyday life. We seem to have

i:. •. iSJKD LIFE INTO THE SECULAK AND SACRED. The temple of old was divided into different departments separating different degrees of sanctity ranging from the much-diluted holiness of the remote circumference to the clean and quenchless flame of the sacred Presence. Isaiah was surprised when his vision of the holy God filled every part of it. "His brain filled the temple." "The house was tilled with smoke." The garment? of the Almighty swept an unsuspected area. His robe impartially .carpeted the entire pile, there was not a single inch that was exempt form the touch of His enveloping Presence. Now that is what we have been doing with life. We begin with personages and we say (,hat alt who stand on one side of the line shall be regarded as holy and shall receive singular ordination and anointing. And then we passed from personages to their work and we said that the ministry was a holy calling and lived on one side, while quite a lower significance was attached to the work that is effected on the other side. But the seamless robe of the Lord is on both sides the artificial barrier, and all things on either side can be equally sacred and sanctified, it is a great day for a man when first he sees the train of the Almighty wrapping itself about his common work. We can go to our work as we go to our worship; we can go to the polling booth as we go to Church, for the Lord is high and lifted up and His train fills the temple. If your talents fit you to hold a position only in the shop or office or home, remember that God is as well pleased with your service as you attend to the children, to the cooking or engineering as He is pleased with mine when I minister in holy things.

(fi) Marvellous experiences. Everybody could tell of the strange and wonderful experiences of their life. To some truly marvellous experiences have. come. Take, for instance, conversion. Is that not a marvellous experience? Some can remember the date and time and place and circumstances. But whether that be so or nut all who are truly converted have hail a marvellous experience. Old things have passed away; 'behold, all things have become new. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Darkness, has passed away and we have the Light, of Life. We are freed from the dominion of sin and can testify to the power of the in-dwelling Spirit of God. I say such an experience adds great responsibilities. We are to be ambassadors for Christ. Ye are His witnesses. Henry Ward Bocchcr said: "It is Christ in them —so far as He. is in them—that they are to preach. It is

NOT THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST necessarily; it is not necessarily the Christ of the Gospels; it is not the Gospel particularly that is to be taught. Your speciality in teaching is Christ in you the hope of glory. Mow much has been turned into personal experience? How much God has manifested Himself as able to save you from sin? This is the Christ, this is the gospel that you need to preach." If you have had other great experiences that might help somebody if yon told them—well, do it. If some truth has been revealed to you, let others know. Perhaps it was meant for the world. This text should teach us the seriousness of life. It should make us more diligent in the use of all our powers, for at the Judgment Day God will take all these things into consideration. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required."