Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-10-22
HOWMUCHDOIONE IR[lORD?'
THE SUBJECT OF ATIMELY SERMON
by THE REVEREND C. ID.
GRAHAM.
OF A GENERAL CHARACTER
Is the Subject of the Sermon Preach
ed Yesterday Morning at the North
Street Church-Man's Indebtedness
to the Lord Clearly ShOwn-A Sum-
mary of the Sermon.

North Street Methodist church yester-
day morning to very attentive audi
ence. His text was How much owest
thou to the Lord?" and his subject,
sfHow much do owe the Lord?"
s'The text is part of what is called
the parable of the unjust steward. 1t
contains several important doctrines,
any one of which would furnish theme
sufficient for our service Some OF these
have given rise to wide differences OF
opinion among scholars. The subject
we present is one Of general character
and one about which thoughtful Chris
tians differ little. The chief thought
is mans stewardship and the abuse Of
his Office This involves mans in
debtedness to the Lord and the amount
and effects of settlement. All these in
clude mans spiritual relation. At this
time we can deal only with the question
of the text applying to material things.
This subject is sufficiently personal
to allow everyone present to apply some
of it now, and have some to keep for
future reference. In answering the
question, the Bible must be the author
ity for the Christian, while the lessons
may be added to illustrate the present
practices Of the church.
1.-THE subject of Gods ownership is
the chief cornerstone that underlles
the structure erected from His thought
and If we do not recognize that, the
arguments may be fruitless.
This question is too great to admit
of there being more than general
outline given at this time.
Mans Indebtedness to the Lord.
'fNe one can deny that man owes the
Lord IL he recognizes the Bibles ac-
count of mans origin and the divine
plan of Gods government Man is then
indebted to God for his creation. There
is no other reliable source of knowledge
of mans existence except the Bible. 1t
is true that there are many theories,
such as that of evolution, that man is
the result of a series of developments
or the result of certain natural laws OPP
Grating on each other, but as there are
few who believe this doctrine, we pass
it with merely a mention, and assume
that you believe with me that we ex-
ist by an act of our Heavenly Father.
He Gave Us All We Had.
''Our Father gave us our being and
all we are and have, but man, by his
voluntary act, has made the great diff
ference among men, what they have and
the character Of it. There are certain
laws which God gave man after his
creation, which, obeyed or abused, led
to the classification of men of means
as truly as the law regulates men in
civil life to-day.
ut may be said that we cannot I'M
derstand the laws Of our existence or
creation, therefore we cannot be con-
demned for violation of this law. We
stand his own being, but this is true of
the very means he uses to sustain life,
yet he does not refuse to eat on that
account. He partakes of the food that
he cannot analyze or understand, with
the hope of health and strength from it.
Ii he understood the law of his being
more perfectly, the better would be the
physical result of articles used. The
same is true of spiritual things.
again we owe the Lord for what He
has provided for man and what man
may have. Mans past is only base of
action for the future and beyond a
question, if he has improved the priv
ileges of the past, the future will be
better, according to every known phil
osophical law. The good should bring
forth better, and the better best. There
fore, we owe the Lord for what we
have, for what we had, and what the
past and present has. 1t is readily seen
that from this, results will offset the
unborn generations, but we desire to be
more specific in our attempt to answer
this question.
Man Owes God a Definite Amount.
Zone of the greatest losses in Gods
service is indefiniteness. Man weighs,
measures and calculates everything to
fraction pertaining to his own bust
ness. Now, If we owe Him at all, it must
be something definite we owe, and we
must know the laws that regulate it.
I'm the Fourth Commandment the
Lord says: Remember the Sabbath
Day to keep it holy; six days shalt thou
labor, and do all thy work. There are
few who object to this decision of time,
and it is true there are some who do
not think they can afford, as they say,
to lose one-seventh of the time, but
mans physical laws and history have
demonstrated that man should observe
this decision of time, required by the
Lord, for his own necessity. There are
more differences of opinion in the reg
ulation of this decision than there is