which is thine." His lord said unto him, "Thou wicked and slothful
servant. Thou knewest that I reaped where I had not sown; thou
oughtest therefore to have put my money in the bank, that I might have
received mine own with interest for its use. Take therefore the
talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten; and take the
unprofitable servant and cast him into the outer darkness."

Now the talent here mentioned was an eastern sum of money (nearly one
thousand dollars), but it really means the powers and opportunities
for doing good that God has given to all of us. One day we shall all
be called upon to give an account of the talents entrusted to our
keeping, and woe be to those who have abused their stewardship by
hiding their talent away. But those who have done good, according to
the power and opportunity given to them, shall be received into
everlasting joy by Christ the Lord.

[Illustration: THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.]

* * * * *




MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND.


One Sabbath-day Jesus went into the synagogue, and there He saw a man
that had a withered hand. By some means the muscles had lost their
power, and he could neither use his hand nor stretch it out. And the
Pharisees watched Jesus, to see if He would heal this man on the