from hearing that voice. False doctrine is not something harmless; when and in as far as a preacher preaches false doctrine he is a false prophet, and his teachings are an evil fruit, deadly to the soul. Errors and false teachings do not save, they destroy, because they lead men a wrong way, and you all know that traveling a wrong way will never bring to the proper point. Every one who would arrive at the desired place of destination must keep on the straight road of truth, and must avoid the byways of error.

I am well aware that this is speaking hard against the spirit of the age; for the spirit of the times is that the view should be broad, creeds abolished and the borders widened, so that all manner of doctrines might be tolerated in the church. Modern latitudinarianism and liberalism in matters of doctrine is truly a broad way, and those who refuse to walk in that way, who teach and practice in strict accordance with the inspired Word, are offensive to the present generation, are looked upon as stumbling blocks and decried as enemies of peace. But what! though men pronounce us narrow-minded and stiff-necked! though they talk of us as of bigots far behind the times! We know that the times change. What men to-day laud to the skies as great wisdom, they to-morrow ridicule as outrageous folly. But the Bible does not change. It outlives the theories and systems of men; for the world with its wisdom passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Let us walk in the narrow way of truth, and we have the great promise of the Lord: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8, 31. AMEN.

66

IX. SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

TEXT: And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write four-score. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely for the chil dren of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Luke 16, 1-9.

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein," says David. Ps. 24, 1. The earth and all that therein is belongs to God who created it and who upholds it, but since sin entered into the world man is prone to claim the earth for himself. Forgetting that the earth belongs to Him who made it, men will regard themselves sovereign lords of what they possess in worldly goods. They will say: 'Can I not do what I will with mine own? whether I hoard it up, or squander it, or whatever I choose to do with it is only my own affair.' In as far as other men are concerned there is some truth in this saying. So long as a man keeps within the bounds of the civil laws and does not use his possessions in unlawful ways he has power to do what he will with his own, and no man can call him to account. But there is One who will call him to

account, God, the true owner of the earth; for when God gave to man dominion over the earth He did not relinquish His title to it, He rather made man His steward. Every one, though he possess ever so little of this world's goods, is a steward of God. All that I have, from the greatest to the least, belongs to God. In civil law it is of course my property, but before God I am nothing more than steward over it.

Now if we are stewards of God, He will surely once call upon us to give an account of our stewardship. Though in civil law we be freeholders whom no man can call to account, yet to God we will be obliged to render a statement of the use which we made of His gifts. The spendthrift will be obliged to confess: 'I squandered Thy gifts;' the miser: 'I set my heart's love on them.' As man must give an account of every idle word which his tongue speaks, so he must also give account of the use which he makes of his worldly possessions. Hence it is a question of great importance, how to exercise our stewardship, so that our account may turn out well? The Lord answers in the parable before us:

"MAKE TO YOURSELVES FRIENDS OF THE MAM

MON OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS."

In explanation let me propose three questions:

I. To whom is this command given?

II.

What must we do in order to make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness? and

III. Why should we be so eager to do this commandment?

I.

The Lord here represents to us a rich man who had a steward. This steward was a wise and cunning, but wicked man who abused his office by wasting his master's goods. When this was reported to his master, he called him to account and deposed him from his office. Now this steward was in embarrassment; for he says: "What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed." To work he was too lazy, to beg he was too proud. But his craft

iness came to his aid and helped him out of his dilemma. As steward he had a knowledge of his master's financial affairs, and when he saw that the office would be taken from him he called his master's debtors and changed their bonds, telling them to write a much smaller amount. He cunningly calculated, if his master would depose him from his office, he would have placed these men under so great obligations that they would keep him the rest of his days, and he would neither need to work nor to beg for a living. By this operation he slyly got his lord's debtors into the same boat with himself so that he had a hold on them, and if thereafter they would not show themselves willing to do something for him he had it in his power to accuse them of forgery and to get them into prison. This unjust steward was certainly a shrewd fellow.

Now it is said in our text: And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely." Is there anything commendable in this steward? He defrauds his master most shamefully; he cheats him out of fifty measures of oil, twenty measures of wheat, and likely with other debtors out of still more. How can the Lord commend him? O, the Lord does not commend him for his cheating; He does not say that it was right what this steward did, He pronounces him an unjust steward, but He commends him for his cunning. If a robber gains entrance into a house in an artful manner he is and is called a robber, yet people will say that he is a sharp fellow and went to work skillfully. So the Lord does here not commend the fraudulency of this steward, but his cunning that he so artfully used his office to acquire friends who would stand by him in his time of need. This cunning foresight of the unjust steward is what the Lord commends as an example saying: "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

To whom is the Lord here speaking? Does He perhaps mean those who have gathered riches by wicked means? Are these with their ill-gotten riches to do much good to the honor of God? This cannot be the Lord's meaning; for by the prophet

Isaiah God says: "I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt-offering." Is. 61, 8. Is. 61, S. From goods gained by wickedness no acceptable offering can be brought to God, the law rather requires that whoever has defrauded his neighbor in anything shall restore it again. The founding of universities and building of orphanages cannot make amends for fraudulent speculation and oppression of the poor. This is not the reason why Christ calls mammon "the mammon of unrighteousness," because it was obtained by unrighteousness. Neither does the Lord mean to say that there is unrighteousness in the mammon itself no unrighteousness cleaves to a piece of money-, He calls it the mammon of unrighteousness, because much unrighteousness is practiced for it and by it. The Lord does not mean mammon which is obtained by theft and fraud, but mammon in general; particularly that which is possessed rightfully, which is gained fairly by inheritance or honest labor.

Fully to understand to whom Christ gives this command we must consider what the word mammon means. Mammon is wealth, surplus goods. What we necessarily need for our sustenance is not mammon, but whatever is more is mammon. Mammon is spare goods. Hearing this most people say within themselves, well then this command did not concern them; for they had no spare goods. Therefore we must further ask: Who has mammon and who not? Are the possessors of mammon only the very rich who are worth hundreds of thousands? There are two ways to calculate: as the world calculates and as God calculates. As the world calculates there are few who possess mammon, as God calculates there are very many. As the world calculates there is rarely anything to spare. The one worth five thousand says: There is nothing to spare; that's very little; another worth ten thousand says: I wish it were ten times ten thousand. They that love money have never enough, they always want more, and according to the calculation of the world there would be very little mammon in the world.

How does God calculate mammon? Solomon says: "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me." Prov. 30, 8. Paul admonishes: "Having food and