Matthew 25:29, commentary and pictures

For unto every one that hath shall be given means what is faithfully used is increased with more opportunity and responsibility, while what is neglected or buried is weakened and taken away. The talents are all temporal and spiritual blessings lent as the Lord's capital to be traded for him, including time, strength, intellect, means, influence, speech, opportunity and knowledge of truth, distributed to everyone according to ability with none left without at least one. The reckoning belongs to Christ's return after his long absence to receive his kingdom, when each servant must give account of deeds and trading and the faithful enter the joy of their lord while the slothful is cast out. Reward depends not on number but on faithfulness, so five and two doubled receive the same commendation, and merely returning what was given without gain or hiding through fear and sloth brings condemnation and loss of even what was had. Increase comes by steady daily trading in ordinary service to bless others and save souls, for what is given away in service is retained and multiplied while what is shut up to self is lost.

Parable Story and Setting

The verse belongs to the great prophetic discourse of Matthew 24-25, spoken near the close of earthly ministry under the shadow of the cross to multitude and disciples on the Mount of Olives. It is one of the longest discourses preserved, whose true meaning yields rich returns to earnest seekers, spanning the whole Christian age with light on the course of world and church especially in the last days so dangers may be recognized and preparation made for the day of the Lord. It gives warnings concerning false christs, false teachers and false doctrines that protect believers in all centuries, and unmistakable signs concerning the second advent by which the generation of return can be known though not the day or the hour. Its immediate primary reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and its tribulation is not fulfilled by the Roman destruction of the temple and sacking of Jerusalem, but gives way to greater and more appalling end-of-world events spoken of by Daniel and elaborated in the Apocalypse in answer to Matthew 24:3.

That immediate reference prophetically describes the utter political destruction of the Jewish nation including its city, temple, civil, political and religious polity and arrangements, the end of that dispensation, and the establishing of the Christian dispensation, the kingdom of Heaven. The verse sets forth principles by which the administration of that kingdom is conducted and its results in separating tares from wheat and righteous from wicked, and the final destiny of each class, accomplished in the coming of the Son of Man when saints are rewarded and foes punished. Its language is sublime and its imagery is that much used by the ancient prophets concerning the Jewish nation. With ten other great chains Matthew 24-25 goes over the ground from a different standpoint spanning the whole dispensation to make certain the personal second coming to punish the ungodly, reward the saints and bring peace and restitution, showing believers now occupy the last link on the verge of the day of God.

The parable of the talents, parallel to the parable of the pounds in Luke 19 which makes the lesson of human accountability more complete, covers the whole time between the ascension to receive the kingdom and the second advent to establish it. The man traveling into a far country is Jesus Christ, his going away is his ascension into heaven after resurrection, and his return is his second advent, so the parable applies through the entire time between those events and has double importance as the end nears when every talent ought to be used in his service. It teaches outward preparation through diligent service and activity as motive in view of return alongside inward readiness, applying to the Lord's people while the investigative judgment is taking place when each name comes up in review before God and each is accounted worthy or unworthy of the resurrection as they watch and wait for coming whose day and hour they do not know. Salvation depends on each person's relation to Christ and his work in the heavenly sanctuary, and the setting calls each servant to complete the given task before the master returns.

The chapter shows the church living at the close of this dispensation will proclaim a message about the nearness of the judgment and the coming of Christ. The parable was given as direct ethical and religious instruction like the Sermon on the Mount and the ten virgins and the discourse of Luke 21, not turned into stage drama, for its work was to speak truth to save men from the great theater of the world rather than to use the theater to teach it. In the setting of the Master's absence it teaches servants should wisely improve talents and be ready for his return and reward, since those who faithfully use what is entrusted receive more while what the unfaithful neglect is taken away.

In the story the kingdom is like a man travelling to a far country who calls his servants, entrusts his goods according to ability, departs for a long time, and after long absence returns to reckon with them. The goods represent all temporal and spiritual blessings lent by God including intellect, health, strength, influence, ability to gain property, money, opportunities, privileges, ways to serve, and the word of God, with different gifts according to ability while word and Spirit are available to all who ask in faith. What is entrusted is to be put to use and increased for God's glory until return rather than merely kept idle or buried through low estimate of value, and presence of opportunity shows that with God's help a person can use it for his cause. What is called inability may instead be unwillingness or lack of reliance on God, and those who let duties within reach pass unused will be held accountable when the Master returns to demand account, showing retributive judgment is future and connected with the second coming.

At the reckoning after each completes the given task, the faithful traders on five and two talents present principal with gain and receive equal commendation, are made ruler over many things and enter the joy of their lord which includes seeing others saved through efforts, example or suffering. The servant who digs in the earth and hides his lord's one talent, living for self and excusing himself that he has only one, loses it, for hiding where it did not belong was refusing to take it and by not using it he did not have the talent when the lord came but only seemed to have it. So it was taken from him at the reckoning and given to him which hath ten talents, while the wicked slothful servant is cast into outer darkness. Even one talent if used for God would accomplish much and by careful use might have been doubled, including blessing others by helpful uplifting words, so failure to improve it brings great loss.

Matthew 24 and 25 expounded from the word of God and latest events uphold waiting for the coming of the Lord and reckoning of time, showing the terminus to be the year 1843 Jewish reckoning which is 1844. The existing connection between the twenty-three hundred days and the seventy weeks is brought to that year, at which the great struggle between light and darkness will be finished and the long-expected reign of peace will commence, with signs of the times showing the event must be near. The solemn close of the working day at the second coming is a moment and crisis never to be forgotten when each disciple meets his Master and each servant meets his Lord for interview. Each one is on the way to give complete individual account of deeds done in the body, of what he has gained by trading and how he has lived, in an inquiry whose report Christ himself makes by manifesting counsels of hearts after which every man has praise of God, a day laborers may hasten by looking to his hands and side and hiding there and by walking in the light with him day by day in close walk as friend with friend.

Having and Having Not

The verse states the law that what is faithfully used and exercised is increased, so the one who uses what the Lord gives receives more and has abundance with further responsibility, blessing, privilege and opportunity, while the one who does not use, who neglects, buries or leaves inactive what was entrusted, weakens and loses even what was given. In the parable the servants who trade wisely on five talents and two talents present principal with gain and enter the joy of their lord, while the servant who digs in the earth and hides his lord's one talent loses it at the reckoning and it is given to him which hath ten talents. The talents represent God's temporal and spiritual gifts entrusted according to each person's ability to use them, and what might have grown through faithful service is lost when the one-talent servant fails to put it to use, living for self and excusing himself that he has only one, though even one carefully used for God would accomplish much and by careful use might have been doubled, including blessing others by helpful uplifting words. At the judgment those who put their talent to work, especially by refusing to withhold help for others to receive the truth, are counted faithful, while those who bury it through selfish inaction are condemned as unprofitable servants, for the more received the more is morally required.

Faithful use brings increase and abundance while neglect, disuse, hiding, withholding or misusing causes even what was had to be lost and taken away, and the unprofitable servant is condemned when his lord returns. God expects people to use faithfully the abilities entrusted to them and to do all they can, for using talents develops and increases them, and those given greater ability must do more rather than merely matching what others do. What God gives must be used and passed on to those who lack it, not hoarded for personal advantage or kept unused, and this applies to knowledge and truth as well as to talents, so a people that shuts God's light away from others forfeits it and the kingdom may be taken from them and given to a people who bear its fruits. What a person receives brings responsibility and accountability growing with the amount of this world's goods, light and opportunity entrusted, demanding what is done with the Master's talents, whether means are buried in the earth, tied up in houses and lands, or consumed in selfish indulgence, intemperate dress and absorbing family demands, or sent upward in gifts and offerings to accumulate in heaven for the poor and the cause of God, for gifts used wisely lead to greater entrusted opportunity while neglecting even a small gift brings loss and judgment. Improvement is to be a life-work guided by sound experience and directed toward serving others in sacrificing self-interest and helping the broken-hearted, warning that cherished errors can lead people to sacrifice what is truly valuable, that misusing or wasting talents and opportunities brings loss, and that a wasted life cannot be recovered, with the person of least gift still accountable and cast into outer darkness for treating small trust as reason for doing nothing.

Him that hath not means he only seemed to have, because talents were never his own but capital loaned by the lord for business, so hiding it where it did not belong and returning only the original left him with absolutely nothing. Hiding the one talent in the earth where it did not belong was refusing to take it, and by not using it the wicked and slothful servant did not have the talent when the lord came to reckon, but only seemed to have it, so it was taken from him at the reckoning and given to him which hath ten talents. The servant was not charged with robbery and gave back all that was entrusted to him, but that was not enough because God requires every person to add to what is given, whether money, education, influence or other gifts however small, and his own admission that the talent was his lord's proves he had them yet they were not his in fact and only seemed to be his own. What a person has is entrusted by God, such as money, influence and intellect lent to be accounted for in service, not owned outright to do with as he pleases, and God may call back what he has lent with the proper response gratitude for its use rather than grief when it is reclaimed, holding fast unto the end under great responsibility.

The talent is taken from the unfaithful servant who has not been faithful and given to the faithful servant with ten talents who proved faithful and receives greater trust. Applied to the reward of the faithful, a person who turns away and does not persevere loses the crown and the reward and responsibility that would have been his, and it is given to someone who remains faithful and bears the burdens caused by the unfaithful servant. This transfer is just because God knows the work and hardship each has borne and the faithful have worked faithfully despite those discouragements. People entrusted with responsibility, including the work of preparing people for Christ's coming, must be faithful in carrying it out, for those who fail may lose what they could have received while others receive them, and neglecting that work makes people unfaithful stewards.

Talents Given and Distributed

The goods put into the servants' hands are the Master's own capital, bought at the cost of His sufferings and lent as a sacred trust to be put to work and increased rather than kept idle, covering every temporal and spiritual blessing — intellect, health, strength, influence, ability to gain property, money, possessions, speech, voice, writing, sympathy, affections, opportunities, skill, time, and the word of God with the knowledge of truth for the second coming — none of which is to be treated as one's own. The same trust governs health, strength, intellect, wealth, skill and everything by which one may benefit others, to be improved to divine acceptance by use to the glory of God and the good of mankind against the reckoning when the Lord returns, when the unused talent is taken and the unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness. What is entrusted is given to every man his work and a special place in the plan of heaven for co-operation with Christ in saving souls, living to minister bringing connection with Christ under the law of service that binds to God and fellow men.

What is entrusted includes time, strength, intellect, means, property, social position, influence, ability to present truth, opportunities and light, with life itself and its endowments and privileges belonging to God whether acknowledged or not, so the first work is to give self wholly to the Lord and then daily give back what He has given, never devoting powers to self-serving. Body and mind are talents — physical life, intellect, every reasoning power, conscience in supremacy, mental and physical powers with the affections, and the gift of faith — to be carefully educated, cultivated and developed to the highest efficiency and fitted as a temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and brought into action in service, since use of only certain parts leaves service deficient and neglect, misuse or depriving any organ or faculty of health and efficiency displeases God. Painstaking cultivation, bravery in overcoming every practice that mars the soul-temple, and faith laying hold of the only power that makes complete reveal the divine nature and Christ to the world and qualify for co-operation with God in saving souls unto eternal life, which is why the talents were given; and right use consecrates the faculties early, even in youth and unfavorable circumstances, by diligently enriching the mind with useful knowledge so as to become a far greater blessing to mankind.

The talents are gifts of the Spirit, the highest denomination of Hebrew money in value, given by Christ the Master to be used until His return and to be increased and returned with interest. They were bestowed when He ascended and remain in the church not for the apostolic age only but till He comes the second time, as long as they are needed until the whole church attains unity of the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, a full-grown man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, blameless without spot or wrinkle, with Christ as infinitely wise Head making visible imperfections to cut them away and carve and polish and refine members till they reflect His character. They are given by the same Giver for the same purpose, to each servant belonging to the Master according to ability to use them and not by the recipient's choice, distinct from natural ability though bestowed with regard to it, and their increase is for perfecting saints, for the work of ministry which is service to God, and for edifying the body which is building up the church in the salvation of souls, in which Christ Himself is engaged with His servants as co-laborers, carrying both solemn responsibility from their value and blessed privilege and encouragement.

No servant is left without a talent, for Christ gives each one spiritual gifts according to ability to use them, including formal callings such as apostleship, prophecy, pastorship, evangelism and teaching, together with the everyday ministry of kind words, helpful deeds, kindness and patient forbearance, the faithful use of which brings further gifts and a larger field. God divides to every person severally as He wills and expects each to improve to the utmost what he has, stirring up the gift within in his own original words and expression rather than copying another, so that believers hold the same matured sanctified judgment in different garb. No one receives all qualifications needed, so none can act independently, but as members of the human body depend on one another in harmony, so members of the body of Christ depend on one another and together form a perfect whole, honoring God with one's own gifts without despising or depreciating others' gifts and work and without envying superior talents, serving as Christ served and learning from Him from strength to strength.

The chief trust and most invaluable talent is personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, for every Christian will stand before Him as Master to give account of fidelity, answering for what was done in this world with what was known about Him, the decisive question being not only what shall be done with Jesus called Christ but what is being done now with Him. The soul itself is a talent entrusted as a special responsibility to be cared for and cultivated diligently and offered to God through Jesus Christ, not cherished for selfish enjoyment, and life itself is a costly trust purchased through Christ's sacrifice for which each must answer in judgment how it was used. A word is a talent not to be withheld but offered in prayer to comfort and sow cheer, hope and love, which God will gather in heaven to abundant blessing; and time and ability to keep unspotted and to do daily service — cheering the doubter, helping the cripple, guarding the orphan, seeing beauty and hearing music spread around — faithfully and bravely used is true having and abundance, closing the eyes in death well satisfied rather than holding money or winning prizes.

Talents are entrusted unequally yet to everyone according to ability to use them, different gifts to different servants for use for God's glory until Christ returns to require an account, so none can claim to have received nothing and none is condemned for not having received more. God expects returns according to what a man has and not according to what he has not, justly demanding in corresponding ratio whether rich or poor, with equal commendation for equal faithfulness whether five talents or two doubled to principal with interest, made ruler over many things and entering the joy of the Lord. Greater endowment brings greater responsibility, with clearer understanding of Scripture and greater influence requiring more, while temporal means no less than ability to preach or teach are talents facing reckoning at the Lord's return.

God gives more talents or spiritual gifts to those He knows can use them to His glory, entrusting different abilities and responsibilities according to known powers and capacities and expecting wise improvement, not capriciously nor for boasting. Wealth, social position and intellect are trusts from God for which young people are responsible to develop and use in His work, and greater gifts and resources with increased influence are talents for service to the Master. What is possessed is lent on trial to decide destiny by whether God is acknowledged as Giver, with mental ability given to some and means to others to be shared according to ability in systematic benevolence to advance His cause as a weekly test against selfishness for one's own good, disobedience losing the blessing, bringing His frown, and, unless repented, meeting just penalty when even what is had is taken and given to the faithful.

Every accountable person has at least one talent from above to improve and a soul to save, so none can truthfully say he has no business, and even a child is included in that stewardship. No talent is too small for God to accept when wholly dedicated, and God does not require ten talents' return from one given one, yet the least gift still makes accountable, and treating smallness as reason for doing nothing or briefly failing to speak of Jesus and the peace of faith leaves an unprofitable servant facing judgment. The one-talent man received one because he was capable of managing only that much, a mercy and consideration rather than a slur, and he failed because dissatisfied at not being rated higher he would not do what he could; for one who will not use one to the best of his ability could not use five properly, while the profitable servant takes the place within reach, does it with full might, and trusts the Lord for promotion. To stand idle, sauntering precious time away, is void of wisdom and worst wickedness, standing on the enemy's ground where idleness as accursed root breeds every vice and sin and exposes the soul to dreadful woe, while faithful use of even one brings the Lord's welcome and greater abundance and responsibility, and buried talent withheld may be found corrupted and removed unto the second death.

What is entrusted is not owned but only lent by God with known intent to be wisely spent, not hidden in a napkin or in the earth, nor hoarded and kept as one chooses, but put to faithful use to gain more. The Giver will demand every farthing back when the servant stands in His presence, each answering for the trust, and sloth through fear leaves unable to repay the claim with grief and shame, while the user doubles or adds tenfold and pays back in shining gold. Abilities, time and possessions belong to God their Giver and must be used according to His purposes rather than treated as one's own, including cattle upon a thousand hills, gold and silver, the earth and its treasures. The lesson is to be made faithful and true now, have the sacred trust renewed, and do something for Christ who has done all before it is too late.

The talents are a person's own efforts to serve Christ and build His building, which must one day be returned to Him to be tried. Only gold, silver and precious stones abide in that trial, while poor wretched work with meager success is wood, hay and stubble burned as useless fruit, giving reason to fear such building will not abide.

Increase by Use Loss by Neglect

The verse states a law of growth and loss that holds in ordinary life as fully as in spiritual life, that what is retained and exercised is increased while what lies unused is taken away. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are fed by the same stream, yet the one that receives and flows out stays alive while the one that only receives stays dead, and so music, teaching, and skill in selling grow by exercise and are lost by neglect, practice and experience developing ability while unused ability does not grow. The one-talent man failed and lost all because he did not use what he had, and one particular talent used well may bring more rather than requiring gifts for many things.

There is no standing still, for physical, intellectual, and moral abilities increase through use and are lost through neglect, so a person either progresses or declines. God-given ability left inactive degenerates like a tool rusting from disuse, faculties deteriorate until no longer useful when refused work, and unused powers lie dormant like talents buried in the earth. The more talents are exercised the more they are developed, and idleness spoils the trust because loss follows an unchanging law and is not arbitrary.

Talents used are talents multiplied, and success in this is not chance or destiny but the outworking of God's providence rewarding faith and discretion, virtue and persevering effort. God desires every gift to be used, and those who use what they have will be given greater gifts to use, yet He does not supernaturally endow qualifications apart from use but works with users to increase and strengthen every faculty. By whole-hearted earnest sacrifice for the Master's service powers increase, and as sinners yield as instruments for the Holy Spirit's working His grace denies old inclinations, overcomes powerful propensities, forms new habits, enlarges the heart to receive more of His power and do more and better work, and rouses dormant energies and palsied faculties to new life. Those who make wise improvement receive increased talents, and those who put talents to best use become more capable, gaining wisdom, valuable lessons, and satisfaction, while neglect does not remove responsibility since responsibility is measured also by powers first given and possibilities for improvement.

God decides the original measure of capacity as He pleases so none can choose how much is first imparted, but He has given power to increase that capacity by use and education. To make no effort to enlarge it but leave it small when it might be made large is criminal waste, no less wrong than putting the original gift to bad use or no use at all. Education doubles capacity for usefulness and gives the trained mind every advantage, especially for public teachers, and education of the right kind widens the human channel so blessings flow in more abundant streams and service becomes more efficient. God has set no limit to education and youth should reach the highest development of natural powers, but attainments have value only when used for God's honor and human good, and to bury a talent instead of developing it to highest efficiency for God's closing work is to be wicked and slothful, requiring continual improvement, diligent use of spare moments, and proper division of labor.

Increase comes by steady trading in which small profits made repeatedly accumulate until the original is doubled, and the servant is rewarded for that faithful increase. Ordinary opportunities for Christian service, even small daily acts, add up to a fruitful account at the Lord's return, so talents should be used consistently rather than waiting for a great opportunity. Those who faithfully do the ordinary work before them grow into larger work and influence, for God gives abundantly to those who serve faithfully day by day, and people are responsible not only for what they do and can do now but for abilities they could develop. Everyone entrusted whether with ten or five or one is expected to trade, and increase comes both in means and in ability, even for those detained at home who must trade with talents at home and use the opportunity brought to the door.

Divine gifts increase by faithful use, for grace prepares for grace and faith gives knowledge of Christian truth, and those who improve gifts for the Master grow richer. Those who make little use of these gifts, with little belief, respect, or relish for truth, lose even what they have, and knowledge hoarded or left unused is practically worthless and may be lost. Spiritual grace and the word kept shut up within self are extinguished by sloth and decay, but shared with others they multiply treasure both for receivers and giver, and graces are best improved by distributing rather than keeping unused. Those who share light and blessings grow in capacity to receive more grace and truth, while those who receive but do not give lose capacity to receive.

Giving truth away does not deprive the giver any more than a ruby loses light by sending forth its rays, for the oftener it is sent out the more truly it is possessed. The more truth is used the brighter it shines, because all light that radiates is reflected back in strong rays, and putting truth to the exchangers means passing it on for many to use instead of hiding it under a bushel or burying it in silence, placing talents at high interest and perpetually adding to real worth. Living truth received fresh as the Word and welcomed as controlling power remains constant living power only when used to bless others, for to keep it to self is to lose it forever, just as water held in a tank becomes stagnant, defiled, and poisonous while water flowing over rapids, rocks, and pebbles becomes pure in the flowing.

The law of the kingdom is that what is kept must be given and what is given is held and possessed. Talent, ability, time, or means shut up to self and not given forth in service is lost, while what is freely given in service is retained and increased, so one who gives a thousand dollars to the cause truly has that thousand, and one who gives self freely holds what God gave and builds a large cup of future reward even without knowing how many souls are reached or what fruit follows. God gives no allowance to monopoly, and those who hoard what He gave will have even that taken away as just reward, becoming like the rich hoarder not rich toward God, like the fruitless fig tree, and like the one-talent man, since truth, goods, and mental powers must be used for others and not kept selfishly or spent on lusts. Withholding what is due deprives of blessing, while yielding everything brings abundant return, and giving more gives more time, talent, and means to give.

All faithful servants receive the same approval, yet reward differs and is measured by each one's ability to do more of the same service faithfully done. Each builds his own cup, every reward full to overflowing, and the one who develops largest ability to serve and uses it receives greater ability to continue serving, and that increased ability is the reward. Those to whom service is irksome destroy ability to receive reward, refusal to serve to the measure of ability is choosing death, and at the last the refuser is refused privilege to serve in any degree, for the faithful reward is eternal life as time and power in full measure for service while the unfaithful receives death as neither time nor power for service.

Those who seek development and perfection of Christian character by exercising faculties in good works and sowing seeds of truth beside all waters will in the world to come reap what they have sown. The work begun on earth reaches consummation in a higher and holier life enduring through eternity, and self-denial and self-sacrifice in cultivating the heart and doing Christ's works will be infinitely overbalanced by eternal glory and joys of life measuring with God's life. Talents faithfully used increase rather than decay, rightly improved abilities keep the mind useful so the righteous seldom outlive usefulness, growing richer in divine truth and purer in life with age, and improving God-given abilities increases capacity so that what once seemed impossible becomes possible.

Faithful and Unfaithful Servants

Simply holding one's own is not faithful service, for returning what was entrusted unimpaired without gain leaves the servant unprofitable and condemned. Stewards must through industry add to what is given and bring back more than received with interest, since every provision has been made for increase and the more received the more is morally required. Growth demands exercise and sustained purposeful effort, and talents used are multiplied by God's providence rewarding faith, discretion, virtue and persevering effort as He works with the user to increase every faculty. Christ at reckoning will not be satisfied with mere return but will call for His own with usury, and he who does not improve stands slothful, untrustworthy and unworthy of admittance.

Reward turns not on number but on faithfulness in use, for the servants who traded wisely on five and on two each doubled and presented principal with gain and entered with the same commendation into the joy of their lord. Having only one talent is no excuse for leaving it unused, and even one carefully used for God would accomplish much and by careful use might have been doubled, including blessing others by helpful uplifting words. The servant who digs in the earth and hides his lord's one talent, living for self, loses it, and the talent taken from him is given to the faithful, for God rewards his children according to work. The well done is for those who have used their talents, and every servant entrusted with one or more abilities must put truth and means received to personal service.

One talent must be improved as willingly and diligently as five or ten, without shame at appearing small, without refusing to work in one's own place, and without excusing inaction by want of ability, for such excuses will be worthless in judgment. Wanting greater gifts for praying, exhorting or writing in order to appear talented, and valuing heavenly reward only if it brings many stars, shows pride and unwillingness to be small. Neither fellow believers nor the Lord expect as much in amount from one as from greater abilities, yet faithfulness with interest is still required, and the Lord is not a hard Master for requiring increase. It is not how many abilities or words are possessed but unselfish use for God that counts, so one talent used unselfishly is worth more than a dozen buried or shown only in words. Every person of sound mind must do his own work in the vineyard with personal responsibility and personal effort for those who do not know Christ instead of shifting duty upon one thought more richly endowed, for a place of reward presupposes a place of service filled on earth.

Hiding through fear and distrust is sin bringing condemnation and forfeiture of what was entrusted, for failure to do the good one could do is the slothfulness condemned. Those given present truth and positions of responsibility are accountable for using them with sacrifice and burden, and refusing marks them unprofitable facing judgment and exclusion into outer darkness. Doing only a third of the work entrusted leaves the other two thirds working against Christ. Blaming the giver, others or bad luck does not excuse failure, and the unfaithful servant is condemned as wicked and slothful.

Loss comes from a slave spirit joined to a wrong view of master and of self, regarding earthly work for God as hard and doing church work altogether from compulsion. A talent increases only in freedom and never under a slave's spirit, and at best is only kept for a time wrapped in a napkin and buried. Besides knowledge of God, increase requires understanding who one is and what one's destiny is. He who knows himself as a child of God and not a slave has freedom and confidence that makes large investments for the kingdom possible, unafraid because returns are sure.

A talent left unused cannot truly be hidden, for its neglect is plain both to people and to God. Proper use brings increase while burying or acting half-heartedly leaves one answerable when account is required. No one should hide or excuse inaction by saying the property entrusted was unproductive, for the Master calls for account and expects return, applied to using means to support truth and help the needy. Pleading lack of talent does not excuse shrinking from known duty, for willing service and bearing every cross are required.

The slothful servant misapplies talents by using them for self and the world, and daily choices forming a character unlike Christ decide destiny. Wealth, ability, position and influence in home, workplace and community used for personal gain rather than proper purpose is worse than hiding them and brings spiritual loss. Money entrusted as a talent from the Lord is meant for good, and spending it wastefully is worse than hiding it in the earth.

The servant who buried his talent and produced no return proved unworthy of further trust, so what was lent was taken away and he suffered eternal loss. By embezzling his Lord's goods he also lost eternal life, as wealthy believers do who tie means in earthly treasures rather than investing to spread truth. Those who refuse to use what God gives will ultimately be deprived of all blessings, receive no more, and be punished for unfaithfulness. Folding the talent in a napkin for fear God will demand it cuts off hope of eternal reward and forfeits the crown of life, proving unfitted for heaven with earthly taste and pursuits, perishing with treasures and shriveling spiritually from non-use, and if saved at all saved only as by fire. Hiding even one brings the same doom as hiding ten, for present powers prove whether probationers are worthy of eternal riches, and only self-denying cross-bearers who employ time and talents to bring glory to the Giver gain increase and abundance.

Merely avoiding grievous sins is not enough, because neglecting the good God requires makes one wicked and slothful. God's denunciations are not confined to revolting sins but in judgment fall on neglect of what might have been done for lack of the qualification Christ died to place within reach. The self-seeking unfaithful professor is held responsible for disqualifying himself from usefulness, disappointing his Master, losing souls he might have saved, and wasting hours and opportunities in careless inaction as eternal loss. Neglect brings condemnation in proportion to neglect, for faith, obedience and love are to grow with light, grace and talents, and if faith does not increase light and blessings decrease. Spiritual idleness is spiritual unfaithfulness bearing the penalty of slothfulness, for unfaithfulness in least is unfaithfulness also in much, with accountability growing with goods, light and opportunity.

Usefulness does not depend on wealth, eloquence, high position, pulpit, special endowment or having ten talents. Abundance is given to everyone who uses and consecrates what he has, even with ordinary speech in ordinary manner by ordinary means at bench, wall or apron to relieve suffering, enlighten ignorance and halt iniquity. Those with only two talents or no talent who preach somewhere somehow through long-continued unanimous effort are given a great work, while men with ten talents who excuse themselves by inability, who want to be captains and belong to the reserve corps watching while one works, become most useless. Each can serve even without special education, for using abilities and opportunities already given develops greater ability and fitness, and even a small light faithfully used can have powerful effect and lead to greater usefulness. Having greater ability gives no right to crush one with less, for God did not intend monopoly over necessities, and ten-talent men who do so throw away opportunities rather than using them rightly.

Reckoning and Final Judgment

Matthew 25 describes the separation of the righteous and the wicked before either group has entered its final reward, placing recompense after judgment rather than at death. It does not portray the great trial that determines cases but the separation itself, accomplished by the resurrection of the just, after which Christ addresses each party and explains why the separation was made. Through the whole scene he acts as king and executor carrying out his unchanging judgment, not as judge conducting the trial.

At his return the Master reckons with his servants and investigates the course of each probationer to inquire what use was made of the talents lent, which include intellect, time, voice, writing, money, influence, and knowledge of truths that prepare for his second coming. Though justified by faith, all are judged and rewarded according to works and faithfulness, with faithful service receiving commendation and entry into his joy and neglect receiving condemnation. What is entrusted must be actively put to work to bring returns, including care for the poor, sick, orphaned and fatherless and labor to help others become wise unto salvation, while burying or selfishly withholding what was given is rebellion that loses even that and is answered for in judgment. The servant who hid his lord's money was judged an unprofitable steward and cast into outer darkness, illustrating the last general judgment when each is dealt with according to the use made of talents and character is revealed.

Day by day, hour by hour, responsible beings build for the last great day and make their record in the books of heaven for reward or punishment, with reward proportionate to work because results are expected from everyone. The time to serve is now, for guilt rests for work that might have been done but was left undone through spiritual indolence, and when lives are judged the record can no longer be changed. There is no second probation after the judgment and no other chance, each being accountable for the work assigned according to ability, with what was entrusted to the unfaithful taken away and faithful service bringing further reward and abundance. God measures what each could do, counting unused abilities along with those used, so people are judged for good they could have done but failed to do because they did not use their powers to honor him, and even the saved will forever feel the consequences of talents left unused.

The way the life now entrusted is used determines whether eternal life is received, for those who devote life to God's honor and righteousness will be given life more abundantly, even eternal life, while those who spend it in self-gratification, indulgence, sin and rebellion prove unworthy and even what they have will be taken away with no further life given. All have been ransomed by Christ's blood and owe him allegiance and the use of entrusted talents in his service, and refusal of allegiance with withholding of talents from his service, reproaches against Maker and Redeemer, and robbery of God by burying his goods will not shield from retribution in the last day but must be answered for. God deals with men according to faithfulness to light already given, giving more and more abundantly to those who acknowledge him and are faithful amid idolatry to all light and knowledge given, as Abraham was not arbitrarily chosen but chosen because he already acknowledged God and was then given greater revelation, a principle attested by many instances from Abraham onward in Scripture. Those who reject the light they have lose even what they have, as the following verses of Romans 1 show, proving that all including the heathen have a fair chance in this life through universal revelation of himself, so no probation after death is needed.

Light and truth received bring greater responsibility, and truth understood and light illuminating the soul will testify against those who turn away from them, for condemnation comes not from lack of knowledge but from refusing to follow the light given. The light may be faint yet it is sufficient to choose, and those who follow what they have are not judged as though they had received more, while those who turn from it and refuse its power are responsible for that choice, with faithfulness meaning advance in knowledge and holiness and union with Christ in character and works. From those who oppose his speedy coming the Lord takes away what they had, so they lose interest in prayer even for inquiring souls, go straightway into darkness, their lamps go out, and they feel and say they are wretched, in contrast to those waiting for Jesus whose souls are cut loose from the world, lifted above earth, and filled with light, prayer and zeal. Faithful servants who use talents well in labor for him gather others and bring increase, are welcomed and rewarded, and are among the saved who enter his kingdom at his return, which does not teach that they will then continue missionary work to save the wicked dead.

Prophecy and Doctrinal Teaching

The present order of things continues unchanged until Christ returns to judge the world, with no intervening age of universal holiness before his coming. Vague and indefinite ideas of the judgment and the second coming produce wrong constructions of universal-sounding words like all men and every man, which must be limited as in John 6:45 rather than allowed to set aside plain declarations, so the verse does not disprove the two resurrections stated in plain terms. What has been entrusted must be used faithfully under humble obedient service, for neglect brings loss, and the record of life must be examined with boasting and self-sufficiency put away.

The judgment gives no warrant for saying knowledge of Christ is unnecessary to salvation, and to use it for that twists its meaning. It stands connected with the antitype of the live scapegoat in the final disposal of unatoned sin, which is placed upon Satan as its instigator and author and removed when he is banished, a work distinct from Christ's atonement for the people. As a parable it illustrates and enforces truth, and its meaning is found by comparing it with clear scriptures and considering its circumstances and lesson, not by relying on parable or imagination alone.

In the end-time setting of Christ's discourse faithful use is increased with more while failure to use loses even what was had, thereby distinguishing true followers who act faithfully in each stage of appointed work from nominal followers who respond from policy or popularity and are unprepared when the decisive moment comes. Accountability reaches not only evil done but good that could have been done and was left undone, making life exceedingly responsible and dying with mission unfulfilled fearful because judgment approaches. The talent hidden in the earth is knowledge of truth such as the seventh-day Sabbath and the Advent faith, with personal ability and influence for good such as scholarship, professed with the lips while denied in works by refusing to keep the Sabbath and practice the faith for fear of harming worldly prospects, thereby weakening witness and scattering influence instead of gathering it.

Failure to make the most of ten talents may leave a man poor with a small house and light table under the contempt of powerful men whose debts fall on the poor, yet this is not true failure when he has not enriched himself at the cost of his fellows, his hands are clean, his heart is white, and honor has been his creed. Such lack does not excuse indolence, but true success is a real home with a true wife and the love of children, not building mills, wielding power, molding public life, or winning wealth, and those lacking worldly success deserve a fairer and kinder judgment. Pounds and talents are placed to a person's account to which he has no just title, so that if slander robs him of pence of human esteem the balance still remains greatly in his favor.

Stewardship of Means and Time

Resources lent by God are to be put to work in his cause to rescue people from sin and prepare them for the coming kingdom, and faithful use brings increase while burying in earthly wealth or spending on needless things leaves the servant with nothing and brings the condemnation of the unprofitable servant. Tithing expresses that stewardship and recognizes God's ownership not only of the tenth but of everything a person has or acquires. What is possessed is entrusted to care and requires account for how it is used, including both time and property put to right use rather than treated as one's own. Spending on tobacco while family needs, debts, education, or support for Christ's cause go unmet is misuse of that trust, and the poor can be as much in danger of selfishly withholding as the rich, with all to keep interests consecrated and make salvation of others the chief concern so the Master receives back with increase.

Money, means, possessions and ability to acquire wealth are talents of which people are stewards not owners, lent in varying measure according to capacity to be wisely employed in the Giver's service and returned with interest at the reckoning. They are to be put into circulation and proportionate giving to advance the work, including missions, and to bless suffering humanity, not hoarded, buried, squandered or spent on self, which is embezzlement requiring account. The promise of increase is conditional on complying with that stewardship, for what grows by faithful use is lost by neglect, and those proving good stewards by dispersing means receive in greater measure. Moral influence, mental ability and worldly goods are to be wholly consecrated to human salvation, with God lending riches and giving freedom to serve and make known the good news everywhere, while half-hearted service does not answer and withholding fails responsibility. Those standing by the cause in means and influence prosper while those opposing suffer loss.

The warning reaches wealthy believers who tie up means in earthly treasures rather than investing to spread truth, repeating the failure of the servant who buried his talent and by embezzling his Lord's goods lost both what was lent and eternal life. It applies to rich Christians keeping money they cannot use while poor believers suffer and the cause lacks support, and also to those without great fortunes, for unused resources withheld bring accountability. Every talent of means and of physical and mental power must be used to the utmost and developed by exercise for blessing the world and winning souls, not buried in farms, business, buildings and selfish worldly purposes. Those using powers for self rob God and build hay, wood and stubble that last-day fires will consume, leaving a life-work in ashes with reward lost and souls unsaved through neglect. Failure to use what is given turns blessings into curses, and gathering and loving earthly riches shuts out forever from eternal riches, while hiding or placing property with rejecters of truth squanders trust.

God owns all silver and gold and earth-stored treasure and distributes according to ability to use, wanting many to share his joy and to teach use to his glory and for their good, developing a heart like his, making masters of money not slaves, and joining human planning to his wise plans. Using means in practical benevolence brings spiritual life and helps save others, while withholding feeds covetousness and fails the trust. Those folding the talent in a napkin for fear God will demand it cut off hope of eternal reward, forfeit the crown, show no esteem for bliss, prove unfitted for heaven, perish with treasures, shrivel spiritually from non-use, and if saved at all are saved only as by fire. Present powers prove whether probationers are worthy of eternal riches, and only self-denying cross-bearers ceasing selfish devotion of time and talents to glorify the Giver gain increase and abundance.

Money in Christian hands is sacred funds for Christ's purpose, and putting it into worldly enterprises to make money for self turns it out of proper channel and opposes God's purpose in giving. So far as increase for God's cause is concerned such use buries the talent in a napkin and produces nothing, with little chance of ever recovering it. Means entrusted for mission fields and spreading knowledge of the message in shortest time must not be buried in mining investments, for God's cause is never advanced that way and money so placed is lost both to cause and investor.

Putting money to the exchangers is putting power, influence and means into the missionary channel to warn the world and gather souls to Christ, to be presented back doubled in ingathering of souls according to faith and use. Investing means and abilities in missionary work brings harvest of souls, while merely increasing farms and buildings does not count as faithful gain because earthly possessions cannot be carried to heaven and will be consumed. Enriched farms and building added to building are not doubled talents, and presenting earthly possessions in the day of God is unfaithfulness. To bury means in earthly treasure and give heart, labor, tact and skill to worldly possessions instead of heavenly things, counting means for extending work as lost for lack of earthly return, exalts earthly above eternal, leaves heart able only to estimate earthly treasure, and lets the eternal be eclipsed.

Surplus property however small — keepsakes, jewelry laid away, tools, livestock, town lots or land — are talents, and to keep them is to hide them and value them above salvation of precious souls. They should be listed, sold now and put into the work to start self-supporting mission work and mission schools while workers can be secured and openings last. Keeping them brings only pain when Jesus comes, for openings will soon close forever and the King's business demands haste.

Faithful management includes handling real estate legally as the practical way to manage it in this world, acting as stewards to spread truth rather than doing little or nothing. The faithful servant keeps what is on the altar ready at hand, able to put hand on one or two hundred dollars at any time to pay preachers' travel, clothes and family expenses and to lend when needed. The unfaithful servant locks means in lands or out at interest where it cannot be sold to advantage or called in, so preachers labor without support and the cause bleeds.

Gifts and offerings should be in proportion to light and blessings enjoyed, with much required where much is given, for means and abilities are talents lent by God rightfully belonging to him. Keeping them for self-gratification is covetousness and robbery of God, while unselfish use is liberality, the spirit of heaven manifest in Christ's sacrifice. Those rendering the claimed portion with liberal gratitude offerings of first fruits, choicest possessions and best service gain rich blessings, made like a watered garden whose waters fail not, bringing sheaves as recompense of unselfish use at harvest. Even trading only cents not dollars must be with unwearied diligence, for God does not despise small things and wise use of littles brings wonderful increase so one talent brings two, with interest expected in proportion to capital and acceptance according to what a man has. Faithful giving, tithes and offerings with consecrated work bring spiritual prosperity and heavenly treasure, while withholding and retaining all brings curse and eternal loss.

Time is a talent given in set hours, minutes and seconds, each of great value like gold and jewels, entrusted for purpose to be invested and traded wisely. Rightly used time yields abundant means, knowledge and happiness and prepares for useful service, while time left idle or carelessly used brings disappointment, weariness, discontent and unfitness. Unused opportunities are buried talents, and each must give account for duties and resources neglected through selfish apathy. Moments must not be lost through idleness, gossip, fretting, murmuring and neglect, but taken to the Lord for lessons, wisdom and views of glory and spent to bless lives and heal distress, for wasted time is lost forever and cannot be bought back. Even brief spare moments gathered faithfully yield lasting value before the all-seeing Judge.

Ministers must give account for time, strength and talents committed, for time is the most sacred commodity, precious in hours and moments, not to be treated as valueless or wasted. Wasting time sets bad example and wastes associates' time, and it is great sin to waste one's own or others'. Time must be spent not as most agreeable to self but as most useful to God's cause, not merely busy in trifles but with ministry of the Word first, with lives active in sacred work except for necessary rest, for life is a vapor appearing briefly then vanishing.

Modern facilities for travel and communication are entrusted talents for spreading light and truth, including ability to visit principal nations within months, low postage within reach of all, telegraph in worldwide communication, daily papers with news, and inventions and means of travel. More is required of this generation than any that lived because advantages are greater, and those privileged must improve time and talents to disseminate truth. Availability brings responsibility to use them for gospel work, to be accounted for in judgment, and neglect leaves without excuse.

Leaving people uneducated buries talents while educating uses them, for talents include education and intellectual ability lent to be used and increased. Highly educated Germany shows faithful use and Portugal with seventy-five percent illiterates shows unfaithfulness, warning against neglect of thorough preparation.

The body is entrusted to be cared for through healthful living, with a tenth of increase returned, and faithfulness grows from gratitude while neglect and ingratitude leave answerability at the Lord's coming to inspect. Mental and physical powers must be guarded from self-indulgence and misuse, because weakening any part reduces usefulness of the whole, and even seemingly small gifts must be put to work by the wise steward. Practical knowledge for treating sickness from colds and accidents to malaria, lockjaw and consumption is a talent not to be buried but kept in continual exercise in mission fields, where faithful use makes workers wish for more and requires medical instruction for all preparing as foreign missionaries.

Temperance and health-reform principles are a precious talent to use for Christ, and trained nurses should be encouraged and organized as active workers for him rather than drifting elsewhere. Business ability to acquire means through sound judgment and diligence can be a God-given talent honored by faithful stewardship. One able to gain wealth should exercise that ability, use wealth to do good and help others, and answer to God for misusing or hoarding.

People are stewards of what the Lord entrusts and must give satisfactory account, including how animals in care are treated. Wasting gifts by drink leaves family needy. Using abilities and resources to sell intoxicating drink to harm neighbors violates responsibility, for stewardship must serve God and bless others. Means, ability and promising youth are talents for the present hour to lift college debt, furnish the school, give tuition and fill it with workers hastened into service, rather than sleeping over work and holding wealth and energy for this life until Satan steals the talent.

Mission Work and Helping Others

The talent must be put out to usury by cooperating in labor and suffering and sacrifice, feeling a burden for the salvation of others and answering calls for light and truth and aid from every part of the land and the world, gaining other talents beside and receiving abundance with eternal joy, while taking no interest in the work with heart benumbed by the world and excusing self to keep selfish quietness undisturbed is the wicked and slothful and unprofitable burying that loses even what was had and is cast into outer darkness. True missionary life denies self and does good to fellow men with heart warmed by love of God and neighbor, giving personal earnest labor in conversation with neighbors rather than only giving money to religion, testing and overcoming covetousness and money-making mania and love of money-getting that deadens moral feeling. Every servant entrusted with one or more abilities must put them to use in personal service, for God provides talents and means for the work, and lay members must do all they can with talents already had in earnest persevering work for souls not merely in fields of corn and wheat, doing nearest humble work rather than refusing plainly opened doors and remaining do-nothings, and then more grace and increased ability will be given. What God lends is to be used to bless the poor, for what is done in relieving poverty and want is accounted as done to Jesus himself and to neglect the poor is to neglect him. Everyday Christianity that understands the signs of coming shows practical care by feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned, joining message to compassionate service. Talents grow through faithful use in everyday opportunities to serve others in helping brother and grandmother, which also stirs conscience, and they include intellect, time, voice, writing, money, influence, and knowledge of truths preparing for the second coming, to be used in care for poor, sick, orphaned and fatherless and to make others wise unto salvation. This applies especially in the present time of widespread increasing poverty, suffering and distress, where those putting talents to use in serving the needy receive the Master's approval at the last. Capabilities of talent and influence and abundance of money are the Lord's capital to trade for him, not to spend lavishly in selfish gratification but to perform part in redemption by blessing humanity and relieving suffering need, with all above necessities entrusted to feed hungry, clothe naked, and help those wrestling to keep from the pauper's home, not merely to endow institutions or give large sums while failing the distressed poor at the door, giving without patronizing air as laborers together with God who must give account in judgment.

The joy of the Lord shared by faithful servants who have done well includes seeing others saved through efforts, example, or suffering. Followers are redeemed for service with ministry to God and men as true object of life, Christ committing goods to servants and giving every man his work and special place in heaven's plan for cooperation in salvation, living to minister bringing connection with Christ under law of service binding to God and men, talents given according to ability not capriciously, five to him who can use five and one to him who can wisely use one, God equally honored by each trust and expecting returns according to what a man has not what he has not. Life with endowments and privileges belongs to God whether given or not, so first work is to give self wholly then give back what He gave, and earthly possessions given to bring truth to those in darkness of error increase in value, for each soul saved unto eternal life is worth more than a world and investors double talents, while he who asks in faith and does God's will receives rich blessings to impart to the needy. Influence and means used in saving others produce further increase, as each brought to truth can help save others, the faithful returning gifts with increase and receiving reward according to work, testing whether love is for gift more than Giver, with faithful use bringing increase and failure bringing loss. Talents are now in hand as gracious opportunity to be traded until Christ comes while the heavenly Master is on His journey, since probation may end tomorrow and account be forever fixed, requiring each to ask what of the Lord's he has and how to use it to glory rather than abuse. Faithful increase comes by investing for salvation of fellow men, using riches to advance God's cause and relieve widow and fatherless instead of extravagance, vain show, ambition and selfishness, glorifying God and gathering blessings as a watered garden with inexpressible reaping joy of gathered sheaves as recompense of fidelity. Every talent of means and property is goods lent to be returned with increase at His soon coming, so those having means must at once return God's own to relieve suffering institutions with leaders setting example by greater earnestness for their relief than for own property, all doing something without delay after examining affairs, even small amounts accepted as placed in Christ's hands in His afflicted brethren, with angels commissioned to help united faithful action.

The light of present truth is a talent entrusted not to keep but to use and share, developing heart, mind and affections and enlightening those in unbelief. God entrusts influence and blazing light with abundant opportunities to extend it in the last message of mercy, requiring each to find his talent and put it to earnest work for own and others' salvation, for mere profession without lively active labor is idleness weighed and found wanting before the tribunal forfeiting crown and well done, while faithful earnest use brings abundance and reward of turning many to righteousness to shine as stars forever. To have and receive abundance is to press forward, restore order and union, awake, put on whole armor, and put forth every effort to save souls groping in darkness on papal tradition from broad road to perdition, prospering the Lord's work and gaining kingdom and seat with Christ as overcomer, while to have not is to dig and hide in earth, feast selfishly on gospel light, and sit idle hoping for salvation bought by blood without working. Faithfulness is carrying on evangelization, speaking word of life, procuring Bibles for desirers, and opening meetings, for truth received must not be hidden but accounted for. Light of soon return with means and usefulness is given so others may be warned and taught, fulfilled by faithful self-sacrificing effort with neglect bringing loss at reckoning. Light and truth in trust must be used for others, and when right living is learned imparting illumination is the true path, putting truth to exchangers meaning passing it on for many to use instead of hiding under bushel or burying in silence at high interest perpetually adding to giver's worth, for giving truth away no more deprives giver than ruby loses light by shining, the oftener sent the more truly possessed and brighter shining as radiated light reflects back.

The talent is power to learn truth as in Jesus and teach it house-to-house, and folding hands saying nothing can be done buries it, while effort to learn brings abundance as God strengthens memory with angel beside teacher and learner, mind taken from worldly things, and knowledge and ability to impart increase. Sharing truth and serving others brings spiritual increase and quickens and strengthens the server through the Spirit, while neglecting leads to loss, and faithful discharge increases ability, tact, knowledge and experience so one improved gains another and two gain two more, while leaving capabilities unimproved deprives the vineyard and is judged at reckoning by work that might have been done under broad duty to do to others as desired. Abilities and opportunities grow through use in blessing others and sharing light with practical experience increasing, what unused is lost or diminished, and those using entrusted abilities receive more grace and increased ability with everyone having persevering soul-saving work, refusing opportunities leaving less while even humble work is better than inactivity. Entrusted sacred truth and means of usefulness make light-bearers to work in vineyard commending truth by holy life and godly conversation and every usefulness gathering souls with Christ, receiving His own with increase at coming and presenting talents with others gained, rewarded with fruits according to work for whatsoever sown is reaped, sowing to flesh corruption and to Spirit everlasting life. Truth received is a talent to answer for, and evangelizing shows it not hidden, for truth and abilities shared through missionary work bring greater truth and strength and increase usefulness and number saved. Every believer's talents create debt owed to others as means to communicate gospel riches to needy world in darkness, as Paul's debt to Rome in action, with gospel light as precious talent to use earnestly not idly, sharing bringing further blessing, and abilities, strength and means to be used to lead others to truth rather than neglected with greater responsibility from receiving truth.

God has given every professed believer not ministers only his own work in making Christ known, with valuable talents put to exchangers through effectual ministry increasing by use, developing men for trust and influence and accomplishing great good, while those doing nothing must be taught how to minister and educated to diligent labor in harvest-field under shepherd care watching for souls. Every Christian must be active worker not silent partner leaving ministry to leaders, using entrusted talents to receive more and neglecting to lose. The church has latent abilities developable through Sabbath school service where useful work is found growing into wider influence, and talent must be put to use not buried or wrapped. Entrusted talents must be put to practical use in diffusing light and serving others, for failing churches wither while instruction and responsibility help members bless others, and Christian education in God-given institutions prepares for most effectual soul-saving service, leaving undeveloped and unused being wicked slothful hiding. Burying instead of using leads to decay and rejection while vigilance and faithful effort lead to progress and acceptance, and when Christians fail to share light churches wither, but putting members to work in helping others increases experience and ability preparing for wider service. Even a small gift like one talent is needed to strengthen the church, for failing to exercise withers spiritually while every gift in active service helps the church stand firm.

Burying represents ministers neglecting or refusing to labor with entrusted abilities, bringing fearful accountability. Every worker will be brought into judgment to account for each misspent opportunity and unimproved talent, including ministers, Bible workers and canvassers, bearing solemnly on circulating literature, so if obedient helpers are judged for neglect those long refusing face still more fearful reckoning. Missionary papers kept unused at home are buried talent, and sending them to sailors puts resource to work, while burying unused tracts like burying one talent leaves gift unproductive bringing loss, so truths received must be distributed not left idle. Even one talent can be put to work circulating books and tracts to advance truth promptly because time is short, and the servant with means refusing to invest in publishing to warn and save illustrates losing even what he has in short time. Even one talent must be put to work distributing a few papers to gather a few dollars for foreign missions, and faithful use brings abundance so same faithfulness multiplied would bring over two hundred ten thousand dollars, with him who did little growing in courage to do better. As five gained five more faithful use brings increase, so those asked to sell four books could be blessed selling eight. Diligence in canvassing and faithfully presenting the cross doubles powers of usefulness, and ability to write good articles is talent to use for good of many not hide. Talent is to be put to work spreading the Saviour's message and helping others, with each allotted ability applied as those with one, two or five each securing equal new subscribers and faithful effort accomplishing more than expected. God gives everyone talents to improve especially by getting subscribers, circulating paper, and contributing articles for good and encouragement, with soon account of stewardship making doing nothing when help needed sin and failure rejection as faithless steward, and each subscriber must use influence or means to gain additional subscribers since faithful use gains more.

Talents and influence lent by God must be improved and returned with increase, not used for worldly ambition which forfeits honor and eternal inheritance. Each is responsible to use influence to help others receive Bible truth rather than bury it. Talents successful in worldly pursuits should be turned to God's service especially helping others understand religious truth and saving souls, with ability to explain science making truths plain when heart is filled with love. God entrusts grace and truth to bring relief and spiritual help, so using them for selfish gain instead of appointed purpose is unfaithfulness of account. Stewards trade upon Lord's goods not their own to relieve temporal and spiritual woe, with ample provision and someone responsible for every need, God watching how stewards treat heritage for whom He gave precious life, channel constantly open with mercy ever flowing and abundance given to dispensers to hungry, naked and imperiled at post of duty, while appropriating mercy to self advances not His glory and receives no benediction. Talents are personal abilities, training and opportunities, and burying means holding back from needy, but faithful spending in small lowly service like leaving loved hospital nursing to give all time to few poor blind girls is true use not burial, with God giving abundance by touching many hearts in distant lands and giving new life to churches beyond former work. Investing means and influence in missionary work makes supporters prosper while opposing brings loss, and withholding means from duty may lose trust while others are brought in to do work, with faithful use from right motives as investment rewarded by approval. Every Seventh-day Adventist gifted and equipped for missionary work must put gifts to use to share received light or fall short and suffer loss at judgment, devoting every resource and bending every energy and managing all business to hasten the third angel's message to prepare sudden harvest as latter rain falls in fulness with light breaking over earth, without excuse and in soul peril if failing but as children of light if faithful. Every talent and faculty is needed for that message, so faculties neglected or damaged by unkind words may never fully restore, and burying abilities and means loses place in work while wise use is entrusted with service, with faithful earnest work in peace helping messengers of cross and possibly deferring war, persecution and calamities God could keep back. Those opposing speedy coming may lose spiritual light and interest, losing concern for prayer and seekers, entering darkness feeling wretched.