Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-04-18
How One Man Paid His Debts
Sunday Sermon at ME. Church


you, say Jesus Christ and Him cru
cifed.n
In the second place, he paid his
debts by being call things to all men.
This is not a contradiction to- whAtl
4 have Just said. Paul was not 4
5time-seryer, like the lizard that
changes color to correspond with evs
3erything it touches, but he was ablel
vironment without compromise on his
part,--a rare faculty and worth more
to a man than great wealth. Paul
was a sincere, open hearted, enquir-
ing q among the sailors, with the
tent makers, in the city and in the
country, among the soldiers and with
the people Of Caesars household. He
was equally at home in the university
and in the homes of the 1owly. He
was a teacher, preacher. traveller, sol
der, letter writer, tent maker, brother
to everybody.
Paul paid his debt by going to-
Rome. Rome was the center of the
civilized world, and there the ends
of the earth were gathered together.
He understood clearly what such a
Journey would mean to him, prison,
trial and death. But Rome gave him
his opportunity to liquidate in large
measure his Indebtedness. In Rome
he preached, in Rome he wrote those
wonderful human documents, the
prison epistles, in Rome he kindled
fires that spread throughout the
world.
His life was devoted to the task
of getting ven with God for all the
blessings he had received. Ills larg-
est contribution was in giving a. mes
sage vital to that day and vital now,
in preaching a gospel Interpretation.
that has moulded the thought life of
Christendom.
AS a people we are also in debt to
everybody. For our books, we did
not write them. For our fuel, we
pay a good ruond price for it, but we
did not make it, nor even dig it out
of the ground. For our relatives, we
did not choose them. For our great
institutions of government, education,
philanthropy, art and science, we did
not build them but found them ready
at hand, thanks to the heroism, vision
and devotion of our fathers.
We are in debt to the alien who
builds railroads, digs our sewers
and canals, tunnels our mountains,
piles high our s~ky-scrapers. To the
'Inoble and ancient history of the Nile,
the E%uphrates, the Tiber, the Ganges,
the Danube, the Seine, the Thames,
the Rhine! To the many peoples that
now live throughout the earth, NOV
ing forward in travail of blood and
sorrow, toward the Night. To the flu
ture generations that shall look to us
for an account Of our stewardship
The only way to pay up for yesterday
is to be a blessing for tomorrow. The
only way in which we can bless to
morrow is by doing our full task to,
day. All we are, all we have, is just
la trust fund. We add a little to it
that is al. We administer the fund
sacredY, in~nusfriousfy, that is all
When we have arranged to pay fol
a beautiful church building we are
not out of debt. Just the contrary
II all CUR moral and spiritual ant
u, financial obligations were fully me,
and we could no longer get in deb
again to anybody, we would be of al
men most miserable. We are jus
now at the portals of opportunity.
!, How does your account stand thi!
morning? HaRe you paid this ac
count-sFNDGod SO loved the worlt
that HeJgave His only Begotten Sol
. that whatsoever believeth in Hin
might not perish but have ~everlastin,
!, alife'? Did you say, 81 am under n,
( 6bligationsr? Did you give God il
eareturn for His life your own neglec
I and lack of support? And take thi
8 other item, -While We were yet sin
cere, Christ died for u.s. Are yo,
e under no obligations? Did you repa.
e Christ with silent indifference an,
lack Of prayer life? Here are well
: that You did not dig, a Bible you di,
+ not write, a Christian hymnology an,
literature you had nothing to d
o wfth,@what did you give in return TO
g all these Christian blessings? Opel
o criticism and fau1tiinding? Thinl
e on these things today. Think of TIL
a Choir Invisible, the hosts of faithful
men and women who~have lived her
in the earth unknown and unsung, i
order that the light might not go Out
in order that you and / might have tn
3 blessed Gospel of kind tidings Of grea
Joy. Are ven under no obligations 1
/ them? Did you try to pay for all Q
q that with fin1sy, chaffy substitutes 70
the Bread of Life they had given B
Today we have d world prograr
xhatsmpre Than equals the magiaifud
inf the great var ~ - ntts sfai iss =
s 81 God To the liyins chSircaas I5