Christ Jesus' parable of the talents in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew may refer to any right activity, and its application is seen in the exercise of intelligence. The servants who multiplied with use the talents entrusted them by their master were blessed, but the servant who hid his one talent in the earth was deprived of the little he had. This parable teaches the necessity of utilizing the abilities we now express in order to demonstrate them more fully, and the seriousness of a failure to do so. It ends with the summary: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Unless one understands that intelligence is not a brain faculty, but an attribute of God, infinitely available to all through reflection, he is likely to lose his grasp on it and to find his sense of it deteriorating, instead of multiplying, with the years. Intelligence is to be cherished, cultivated, and consistently demonstrated at every point if one is to increase in spiritual activity and thus in dominion over ignorance and penury of every kind.
No one desires lack, but it requires diligent work and spiritual devotion to the truths relating to intelligence, which Christian Science unfolds, to destroy the material fears and beliefs that constitute lack. Matter must be intelligently assessed as illusion, and good must be sought as the only possession worth treasuring.
Christian Science links intelligence with substance. In fact, Mary Baker Eddy defines "intelligence" on page 588 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" thus: "Substance; self-existent and eternal Mind; that which is never unconscious nor limited." Here we see that Mind, or Spirit, is substance. But Mind's reflection, being inseparable from Mind, is also substance, is real, harmonious, and immutable. Mrs. Eddy explains this in "Retrospection and Introspection," where she says (p. 57): "Man shines by borrowed light. He reflects God as his Mind, and this reflection is substance,—the substance of good." From these two passages we gather that one has substance in the measure that he demonstrates the divine intelligence, or good, that is God. The only substance of any activity is found in the elements of Spirit it manifests, in the understanding, usefulness, righteousness, and truthfulness that characterize intelligence. Without such vital elements as these, human activities are meaningless, as substanceless as dreams.
