p. 403 | Reserve Force in Character

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 2, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 26.

Reserve Force in Character.

By William Mackergo Taylor

IN the house of a well-known citizen of Boston there is an exquisite statue in marble representing the wise and foolish virgins. The wise is kneeling, in the act of trimming her lamp; and the foolish, with a face full of the most pathetic entreaty, seems begging from her a share of the oil which she is pouring in to feed the flame; but her sister, with a look of inexpressible sadness, and her hand uplifted, as if to guard her treasure, is as if she were saying, "Not so!" It is a touching rendering of the wonderful parable, and we were not surprised that as a well-known New England essayist looked at it, he said, "She should have given her the oil."

Who has not often sympathized with that feeling as he has read the parable? We are apt to think that the five sisters were a little stingy, and that their selfishness was not at all in keeping with the benevolence which the gospel enjoins. But to such an objection the answer made by the owner of the group to the man of genius is conclusive: "If," said he, "you and your neighbor have each signed a bill for a certain sum, to fall due on a certain date, and you by dint of energy, and perseverance, and economy, have been able to lay by just enough to meet your own obligation, while your neighbor, wasting his hours on trifles, has made no provision for the day of settlement; and if, on the morning on which the bills fall due, he should come beseeching you to give him some of your money to help pay his debt, would you give it him?" That is a pecuniary illustration, and there is no evading the force of the argument, even when it is so put.

But the parable treats of character, and the very pith and marrow of its teaching is that character is not transferable. You cannot give to another that reserve force which you have accumulated in yourself through God's grace in a long experience of holy living; neither can you receive from him any quality which days of trial and obedience have wrought out in him. As a thoughtful writer has said, "Every person represents something, stands for something; as was said of Bias, the wise Greek, 'Himself is the treasure that a whole life has gathered.' He stands for the wealth of being that a thousand struggles have contributed to form." Now, he cannot, if he would, give that away. He cannot, if he would, share that with another. Each one must make character for himself. How important, therefore, that we should make it after the pattern and on the principle of the Lord Jesus. Here is the plan: "Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity."

Thus the faith is the first, and the love is the copestone. But the faith must itself rest on Christ. Let us begin with that, and go on after this plan; and let us be careful also to take the vessel of reserve. Let us draw deep out of the Scriptures; let us be habitual in our application to the mercy-seat; let us meet Christ as he comes to us in the events of every day. Thus, curiously enough, the longer our lamps burn, the larger too will our reserve of oil become, and in the end an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—Rev. W. M. Taylor, in the Quiver.