9th Sunday after Trinity.

S. Luke xvi, 3, 4.

"What shall I do?--I am resolved what to do."

INTRODUCTION.--The dishonest Steward in to-day's Gospel shows us the
natural tendency of the human heart when in a scrape--to have recourse
to dishonesty to escape from it. He knows that he is about to be
turned out of his stewardship because he has been wasteful--not
dishonest, but wasteful. He has not been a prudent and saving steward,
but a sort of happy-go-lucky man who has not kept the accounts
carefully, and has been content so long as he has not lost much money.
So soon as he sees himself about to be turned out of his stewardship,
he is wakened out of his easy-going ways with a shock, and he says to
himself, "Here am I in a predicament! I shall lose my livelihood, and
am not likely to get another situation; I am too old to work with my
hands for my living, and I have too much self-respect to try. What can
I do?--I am resolved what to do. I will cheat my master."

SUBJECT.--I believe that a very similar process goes on now-a-days in a
great many hearts. Bad times come. What is to be done? There is
nothing for it but to be just a little bit dishonest. Honesty won't
pay. So the manufacturer weaves bad silk, and makes shoddy cloth, and
the wine-merchant doctors his wine, and the brewer his ale, and the
milkman puts water into his milk, and the butterman sells butter made
of Thames mud, and the calico is dressed with chalk, and the ready-made
clothes come to pieces because the thread's ends are not fastened, and
the farm work is half done, and the whole trade and commerce of the
country is one great system of adulteration and petty cheating.

I. Abraham was a very scrupulous man. In all his dealings he was
perfectly just and honourable. Once five kings came into the valley of
the Jordan, and made a sudden onslaught on the towns there; they
carried away all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thoroughly sacked
the cities. They did not only that, but they carried off as well a
great number of the inhabitants as captives. Then Abraham lent his
servants to the king of Sodom to help him to recover the booty and
liberate the captives, and there was a battle, the result of which was
that the five kings were defeated, and all the spoil and the prisoners
recovered. Then the King of Sodom offered Abraham the booty in
repayment for his valuable services. He said, "Give me the persons,
and take the goods to thyse