THE POSSESSION OF ABILITY.
By George I. Butler
PERHAPS there is no direction in which pride is more natural to the human heart than in the possession of ability. There is a universal desire among men to be thought talented. This has many different ways of being manifested, yet I think the above statement correct. The love of wealth, at the present time, is all-absorbing; yet I believe the love of being thought smart, is even more so. Why is there such a rush for prominent places in public life? Not merely for the money it brings, nor the ease of the incumbent, but to be looked up to. The members of the English Parliament receive nothing for their services, yet fortunes are spent for the purpose of getting a seat there. Why is it that people are willing to be praised more than the truth will warrant, while on the other hand, if blamed justly, or otherwise, it pierces even like a dagger to the heart, and enemies are made for life. Every man, even the most simple, has some point in his mind in which he fondly believes he excels. The dislike of being thought foolish is one great reason why so many will not obey God. This principle is what keeps so many from self-examination and confession, and in spiritual blindness as to their real condition. We are apt to express a desire for greater ability than we possess; and certainly the consciousness that we have it in possession, when we have mental labor on hand, is very pleasant. How complacent the human heart is apt to feel under such circumstances! While, on the other hand, how trying to one's feelings it is when some difficult mental labor is before us, and we feel entirely inadequate to the emergency! How natural to repine because we had no more ability bestowed upon us. Those possessed of large self-esteem, perhaps, do not realize this so much. All their words and actions appear to them in such a favorable light that they do not know how others feel. It may seem startling to some when I say, the possession of great talent is not only very dangerous, but hardly desirable. I believe this is so. The possession of great ability is, in many respects, like the possession of great wealth. It gives chance for great usefulness, but the chance is so rarely used and so generally abused that we are warranted in believing that the effect produced is generally bad. What opportunities for usefulness the Astors, the Girards, and the Rothschilds possessed! but how little good they did in the world! Our general experience teaches us that as riches increase, the desire to use them for any other purpose but self-gratification, decreases. The more we get, the more we want to get. So with mental capacity. It gives great chances for good, but they are not generally used. A sad fact is very plain to observing minds, that is, the Devil has most of the smart men. Of course, there are exceptions in this, as well as other ages, but this is the general rule. What a pity! How much good might have been done had such men as Shakespeare and Dickens, Napoleon and Cæsar, and hundreds of others who might be mentioned, been truly consecrated to God. And at the present time, as we read the writings of poets and legislators, and behold the energy which the men of the world put forth for the accomplishment of worldly purposes, we are led to think if these abilities were engaged in the cause of present truth, if these men could be humble Christians, consecrating all their powers to the advancement of God's blessed cause, what a work might be done. But these men cannot, as a general thing, be reached; and I apprehend one of the greatest reasons is because they are conscious of their own talents, which renders it morally impossible to reach them. This will be the ruin of millions. And is not the direct cause of one's ruin dangerous and hardly desirable? The Bible history bears me out in this. The case of Solomon will naturally occur to our minds while reflecting upon this idea. Possessed of the greatest diversity of talent, appearing to have a deep understanding of the whole realm of nature, having the deepest insight into human motives and human character, and, what was vastly more than all those, having a personal experience of the work of grace upon the heart, and a knowledge of the workings of the Spirit of God, having been a prophet of the Lord, one to whom God had spoken directly—yet in spite of all these, it appears probable that Solomon will be lost. His great abilities and acquisitions, instead of being a help, no doubt built up pride, that subtle, dangerous enemy, and led him to do what other men could not; i. e., commit sin, and on account of his wisdom, his knowledge, and his strength of character, escape the consequences of the same. This was beautifully set before us in a sermon by Bro. Andrews, in the REVIEW last winter. There is another case recorded in the Bible, not so generally adverted to as Solomon's, which is equally plain: the case of Ahithophel. We read of him in 2 Sam. xv, 31; xvi, 20; xvii, 23. He seems to have been a counselor and intimate personal friend of King David's, who turned away from him in the rebellion of Absalom. He seems to be referred to in Ps. lv, 13, 14: "But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company." It was very evident from David's language in 2 Samuel how much he feared his counsel. He says, "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." Any one who will read the counsel he did give, will see with a little reflection how well calculated it was to widen the breach between father and son, and make a reconciliation between them impossible, and to end in the destruction of David, although it was satanic. What caused the alienation from his former friend and sovereign, of course we cannot tell; perhaps the hope of greater preferment or wealth. In the last verse of the sixteenth chapter come these very remarkable words: "And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom." If we were to look the Bible through, we could not find a more remarkable declaration. A man's judgment, so perfect and exact as to what was best to be done, so certainly correct, that it was as if inquiring of God; and not once merely, but all through his connection with David and Absalom! How could language be framed more emphatic or more expressive? And yet we learn that this wonderful man in a little74while after went and committed self-murder. What a wretched end for such godlike ability! The cases of Solomon and Ahithophel, their miserable end after having been children of God, should show us the danger of great ability, as well as great riches, and show us also the folly of desiring it when we do not possess it. The true rule is to make a good use of what we have received of God, put what we have received out to the exchangers, and make the proper use of that, instead of mourning over the lack of what we have not received, or trying to handle more than God has given. Great talents bring terrible responsibility. When these talents are possessed, the responsibility comes in spite of us, and they must be used in the Master's cause, or we shall receive condemnation. But how apt we are, when we possess any talents, to look upon ourselves with complacency, and think we have a right to use them selfishly for our own gratification, while we should ever remember that we owe them all to God, and must render an account for their use. In other words, faithfulness, and not ambition, is the true principle of action for all. May the Lord help us all to act upon it.