ABOUT TALENTS by W. N. Glenn

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1880

ABOUT TALENTS.

By W. N. Glenn

How often we fail to grasp the import of plainly expressed language in the Scriptures. Simple expressions elsewhere are not so commonly misconstrued. Verily, spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

Matthew records a parable of our Saviour in these words: "For the kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his ability; and straightway took his journey," etc. All through life I have heard Christians speak of these talents as natural qualifications or ability—particularly the ability to talk or write well. How common it is for those who have a good supply of worldly goods, or are placed amidst opportunities for doing good in many humble ways, to excuse themselves from active service on the ground that they have no talents. And many apparently deem it a mark of humility or modesty to claim for themselves only one talent, while it is a very general excuse for omission of duty.

I confess that I have in the past fallen into this almost universal misconception of the idea conveyed by the plain language of the parable. Recently this matter has appeared to me in a different light, and I have noticed more particularly the exact words of the record. "He delivered unto them his goods"—not something they possessed of their own. Their natural or acquired ability or qualifications did not constitute the trust which they were to use and render an account of at his coming; but he "gave to every man according to his several ability." He gave them capital to work with.

Now capital is not always money, or goods, or real estate, or tangible articles of any kind; but it is that which has value, out of which capital can be made or results produced. Opportunities or privileges have often great value, and agencies, contracts, or the right to engage in certain profitable enterprises, although involving no pecuniary outlay, often attain great monetary value, and consequently amount to so much capital. It seems to me that upon this principle the Lord gives talents to his servants according to their ability, and that we must not measure what he has intrusted to us by a modest reference to our conscious weakness or unworthiness, or backwardness or inexperience. The Lord is the best judge of our ability, and dispenses responsibilities accordingly.

It is not for us to indolently bewail our incapacity to operate with the Lord's capital, but to look around and see how much he has left in our charge, and how much we will have to account for when he returns to the reckoning, and go to work. That which we choose to call inability, might often more properly be termed indisposition, or lack of reliance upon God. If he has given us money or other property, it is evidence that the ability with help from him is there to make it count for the benefit of his cause. If he has given us agencies to work in his cause in any particular sphere, where we can operate without money, it is evidence that he deemed us capable, and if there are failures the fault will be ours. If he has given us opportunities and privileges to voluntarily take up duties within our reach, and we carelessly let them pass unimproved, he will surely require it at our hands.

It occurs to me that many talents have been buried in the past by a misconception of the parable of the talents, and the low estimates that have been placed upon the Lord's goods.

W. N. GLENN.