gitimate use? It is unquestionably our duty to "occupy' this talent according to our several ability; with our "five talents" to "gain other five," as often as industry, frugality, and honesty, will allow. But are we, therefore, to forget that it is " our Lord's money," and withhold it from the great moral and religious enterprises to which he has appropriated it, to gratify corrupted passion, or a morbid love of gain? The day of reckoning will show what a sad perversion this is.

But the same law of progression is applicable to intellectual talent. Some degree of mental improvement is undoubtedly secured by the constitution of mind. Its natural growth from infancy to manhood is sufficient to indicate its intrinsic power of enlargement.

But it is established by experience, that the true destiny of intellect can be reached by vigorous effort alone. Take two minds of equal power; leave one of them to his mere constitutional tendencies, without education; but accustom the other to regular and severe application to the fiercer conflicts of mind, in the fields of abstract science and practical truth; imbue him with the spirit of a scholar, so that there are no heights which he dare not attempt, no difficulties which he dare not engage, no obstacles which he cannot surmount; inure him to the utmost conquests, practicable to the combined action of intelligence, thought, and reason; and what is the result? It must be easy to tell. The one looks upon the mere surface of things, while the other dives into the depths of truths and principles of the utmost importance to the race. The one contents himself with superstitious wonder, where the other discovers the workings of secret causes and uniform laws, under the guidance of the great Creator, for the operation of results essential to the harmony of the universe and the well-being of man. The one stares with surprise, where the other admires, adores, and loves. What a sublime power of enjoyment, what a vast range of usefulness, what an enlarged capacity for receiving God, and grasping the great truths of revelation, may be acquired by long-continued and well-directed mental industry! And shall this power of indefinite enlargement for such glorious purposes be neglected or abused? Shall the fires of intellect, kindled by the breath of God, fade and go out in darkness and

shame? To us it is clear, no error can be greater, and few more injurious, than that the improvement or neglect of mind is a matter of entire indifference. That if accident, caprice, or necessity, lead to a course of education, it is well; but, if not, it is equally well! We do not, of course, insist upon the same kind and mode of education for all. But we cannot allow that mind can be neglected with impunity; that ignorance and intelligence are alike indifferent to God, or that perverted intellect can ever be irresponsible. In this power of indefinite improvement by mental activity, I read the imperious will of Jehovah. Education is clearly indicated and required by the constitution of mind; whoever neglects it, violates the laws of his being, and dishonors his Maker. What, we ask, would be the result, if this great principle were thoroughly taken in, and appreciated by the race? It would heave the mighty mass, like the throes of an earthquake! It would be the application of resurrection power to the hosts of the dead!

But this progressive power must take hold of the moral, as well as of the physical and intellectual man. Perfect symmetry in development is the only security against monstrous formations, and a dangerous application of power. Nor is the moral mind less capable of progression than the intellectual. If the power of virtue and piety may once be brought into requisition, there is no agency that can limit its exercise, or fix bounds to its increase. If anything is infinite, it is goodness. If man's power of progression in anything is indefinite, it is in virtue and holiness. The exalted pre-eminence of the moral mind is seen in old age and in the hour of death, when the depth of its enjoyment, and the power of its triumphs, increase, as everything else fades and disappears.

But to conclude this argument. Let us suppose that the power of activity, physical, intellectual, and moral, with which the race is endowed, were brought into full and habitual exercise, and properly directed, we should then begin to see what glories the human creation reveals; what perfection of beauty may adorn the race, and what sublime elevation was intended in the destiny of man. Wo to the world for the power of sin! It has diseased our bodies, dwarfed our intellects, and corrupted our hearts! What an occasion of wonder and gratitude, that the power

of improvement was not utterly destroyed amid the general wreck !

3. I argue the duty of improvement from the individual and social condition of the race. If it were true that man is personally in no need of the enlargement of his powers; that he is individually as well off in his sickly, enfeebled, and dwarfish state, as he would be with his capabilities all fully developed and properly applied, one source of our argument would be lost. But what would be the result, if man were to remain with no more than his constitutional powers, unimproved by education or personal effort? Would not the extreme disproportion between his wants and resources prove his inevitable ruin? A narrow inspection of the facts will show, that God has anticipated his improvement in his individual necessities. He needs, and must have, more bread, and other earthly comforts, than his physical powers in their native state can furnish. To overcome the obstacles that oppose his progress in refinement; to discover the resources of life in the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, and to provide for the happiness of his soul, he needs more intellectual power than he has at first received. He needs more accurate moral discrimination, stronger moral impulsions, and keener moral sensibilities, than he originally possesses, to secure the awards of virtue in this life, to shun the horrors of hell, and gain the happiness of heaven, in the life to come. Put him upon his first allowance in all these respects, and suffer him still to live, and who can fail to see that a thousand craving wants must implore in vain? A thousand nameless ills would crowd every hour of his existence, and his crying sins clamor for the indignation of Heaven. No, my brethren, God has so made man as to need more physical, intellectual, and moral power, than he has given him. He must, therefore, have contemplated the improvement of our talents up to the amount of our ability. He has implanted the germs, but made the growth and the fruit depend upon ourselves.

Again, man is a social being; and if we shall find that, in the necessary structure of society, God has made arrangements to use more talents than he has given; that the great ends of social order must be effectually defeated without the enlargement, and religious appropriation of our

faculties, a great accession of strength will be gained to our advancing argument. And what are the facts? Could the strength of man, just as it would be without activity, ever achieve the physical labors and results that the social state requires? Would it be adequate to erect the edifices, and create the public works, necessary for national convenience and defense? And how could the objects of civilization be secured if man's intellect remained undeveloped? Barbarism would be the only social state of which he would then be capable. The arts and sciences, domestic comforts, true religion, and good government, must all be utterly impracticable. And how would the grand moral enterprises of the social order fare, if none but the infant moral powers of man were brought to bear upon the various forms of national sin, and employed in rearing the golden superstructure of the national morals? The heart of every nation would die! Mammoth vices would stalk abroad in proud defiance of honor, religion, and truth; and the demon of national corruption would laugh, with fiendish joy, at murdered innocence and crushed and bleeding virtue! To oppose successfully these fearful advances of sin, and preserve the very existence of society, vast improvement in every department of talent is absolutely necessary. But to raise it to its intended and practicable perfection, every human energy must reach its manhood, and with its utmost strength fearlessly grapple with the deadly foes of God and man. The calls of society are at this very moment loud and beseeching for far more talents than the world possesses! It is frightful to see, and humiliating to acknowledge it; but it is alarmingly true, that such has been the guilty neglect of physical, intellectual, and moral culture, that the necessities of the world have immeasurably outgrown its power! It is under the gathering pressure of this immense disproportion, that society, at this very moment, reels from its foundations, and threatens to bury the happiness and hopes of the world in its fall! And if more power than the world possesses is actually and imperatively demanded for the well-being and perfection of society, what criminality to withhold what we have! Enough remaining there may be to save the world from dissolution; but not enough to bring it to its intended perfection. By so much as the

power of the race is less than it might have been, by just so much we must fall short of our once practicable destiny! And let every individual know, that just so far as he suffers indolence and sin to diminish the amount of his attainable excellence and ability, by just so much he contributes to drag down the race from its intended exaltation!

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4. We argue the duty of improvement from the authority of God. The command of God to every man, substantially, is, "Go work in my vineyard." God's vineyard is a vast field of industry. God himself is the example, and Christ sustains it. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work." Man must follow this divine example. "Be strong, all ye people of the Lord, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with you." "This we commanded you if any would not work, neither should he eat." "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." The Bible is a book of industry. It lays out work for the whole of time, and for every individual of the human race. The sluggard is condemned with unsparing severity. The man of physical and mental activity, under the high motives of the gospel, is applauded and encouraged by the most exalted rewards, in this and the life to come. Our parable is divine authority for the most imperative obligation to improvement in every department of talent. "Occupy till I come" is the charge to all, accompanying every gift. And who, I entreat you, can resist with impunity authority so legitimate and sacred?

Let it then be considered, that all our talents are the free gift of God; that they are of the greatest possible value, and include the capability of indefinite expansion; that their improvement is demanded by the individual and social condition of the race, and by the authority of God; and who will not be alarmed at the indolence of the world, and the vicious appropriation of the talents of men? What argument can be more conclusive, and what obligation more absolute, than those which sustain and require the utmost activity and devotion in the improvement of every talent committed to us by our heavenly Father? III. God has appointed a day of reckoning for the use or abuse of talent.