I came to understand that though natural gifts in and of themselves are beneficial for the purpose for which they are designed – for the edification of others – yet they are empty and without power to save the soul of him who has the gift, if the person himself is empty of the grace of God. Neither are these gifts a sign of a person’s potential to be happy, for they are only a dispensation of God to some, of whose improvement or non-improvement they must soon give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
