El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-07
Continued from third page

night in Trinity church to q coed con-
gregation. His subject was: The
parable OF the uni ust steward. Luke
XVI:1-S.
The primary thought was: "The chill
dren OF this world, are wiser in their
generation, than the children of light"
The secondary thought was, ''give an &C.
count of thy steward hip, for thou may
est no longer be steward" The tea n
ing of this parable may be summed up
in this sentence. To prepare for q
final accounting so that we may re-
ceive reward and that if we fail in one
line, we may open up q way for anOth-
tr opportunity.
Our Saw or did not commend this
man for bis rascality, but rather for
his shrewdness in looking to the flu
meet it. There are two classes of peo-
pie in the world, some would like for
there to be third, but il is a singular
and pertinent fact that there are but
two. The children OF the light and
the children of the world. There is
no place for third or neutral class,
that is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, as
some would seem to desire, this class
is not found in the word of God. The
first look to the future and the others
mind only earthly things, and while
the would-be neutral, or half and half
people, imagine they ara making the
pest of both worlds, they are really on
their way to he'll, and if we get right
down to the core of their position we
ind God is not in all their thoughts,
6t cir object in life being to get gain,
and they cant think beyond q mIser-
ably dir y dollar.
The motto of the children of light is,
Holiness unto the Lord" the dark
ness is clean swept away.
The text upon examination, shows
he worldly men are egregiOus fools,
often in order to gain a temporary ad-
vantage, will beiittle themselves to
almost any rascality, in order to gain
their points and carefully lay plans
with defniteness of purpose, that
reveals their shrewdness, and are will
ling even to deny themselves, to q GER
tain extent, that their object may be
obtained, but it is al vanity of vanities,
cad the book Of the Ecclesiastics and
we see there, in Solomon who was an
example, how these things work out.
The children of light, should lay
their plans with shrewdness and fore
thought. The children of the world,
do so for q corruptible crown, how
much more necessary, that it should be
done by the children of light, to gain
The uucorruptjb BILE crown. and not go to
work, in a haphazard sort of way,
trusting to circumstance to right them
problem, by putting his spirit into the
man, and true religion makes a prac-
tical man of a poor sinner. Childr- of
world. excel in indefatigableness, if
d thing can't be done one way, they
try another until their point is gained,
they work from Saturday to Saturday,
but the Christian gets slow, his side
tracked, then b ackslides.
There is time coming when we
shall have to ''give an account of our
stewardship" of our talents which may
DE often not used or used Disadvantage
ously, of our influence, both special
and general. When the books are
open ed, what fearful account of mer-
cies neglected and privileges unused
there will be, for many countless op::
portunities crowd around the path way
of life; they are always here, to min
lister, to conquer self, to make that self
better man through tie grace OF
Jesus Christ.
The last thought is examination Of
self. What have the trials and sor-
rows of life done for US, when bsresve-
ment came did We say, 'The Lord
gave and the Lord tath taken away.
bless d be the name of the Lord
Has sickness purified our lives, has
financial loss had the effect of fixing
our thoughts aud affections on things
above.
Let US learn then, that as the child
rem of the world endeavo- to turn every
thing to their advantage, SO let the
children of light. having higher pur-
pose in view, not be less indefinite in
purpose and shrewd in carrying out
their plans for the advancement of
Gods kingdom.
At the conclusion of the service Mr..
Oxley was bid Gods speed in his new
field by many people in the congrega-
ton.
Y. NJ. C. A. i