Chapter 49—Improvement of Talents
God intends that improvement shall be the lifework of all His fol-
lowers and that it shall be guided and controlled by correct experience.
The true man is one who is willing to sacrifice his own interest for the
good of others and who exercises himself in binding up the broken-
hearted. The true object of life has scarcely begun to be understood by
many, and that which is real and substantial in their life is sacrificed
because of cherished errors.
Nero and Caesar were acknowledged by the world as great men,
but did God regard them as such? No; they were not connected by
living faith to the great Heart of humanity. They were in the world, and
ate, and drank, and slept, as men of the world; but they were satanic in
their cruelty. Wherever these monsters of humanity went, bloodshed
and destruction marked their pathway. They were lauded by the world
while they were living; but when they were buried, the world rejoiced.
In contrast with the lives of these men is that of Luther. He was not
born a prince. He wore no royal crown. From a cloister cell his voice
was heard and his influence felt. He had a humane heart, which was
exercised for the good of men. He stood bravely for truth and right,
and breasted the world’s opposition, that he might benefit his fellow
men.
Intellect alone does not make the man, according to the divine
standard. There is a power in intellect if sanctified and controlled
by the Spirit of God. It is superior to riches and to physical power,
yet it must be cultivated in order to make the man. The right which
one has to claim to be a man is determined by the use made of his
intellect. Byron had intellectual conception and depth of thought, but
he was not a man according to God’s standard. He was an agent of
Satan. His passions were fierce and uncontrollable. Through his life
he was sowing seed which blossomed into a harvest of corruption.
His lifework lowered the standard of virtue. This man was one of
the world’s distinguished men; still the Lord would not acknowledge
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him as a man, but only as one who had abused his God-given talents.
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