Prayer. O God, thou knowest us to be in the midst of a tempting, and a distracting world, and that every thing around us is good or evil, according as we use it. Thou knowest the weakness of our nature, and that " without thee we are not able to please thee. Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things rule and direct our hearts," so that the things of time-the circumstances of our earthly lives-may be to us not occasions of falling into sin, but so many helps to a life of religion, that when flesh and blood shall fail, our souls may be received into everlasting habitations, through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. XXII. LUKE XVI. The parable of the unjust steward, the meaning of which we have just been considering, is most valuable to us, inasmuch as in it there is clearly set before us the conduct of " the children of this world," and in the words of our Lord spoken after the parable, we learn what ought to be the conduct of " the children of light." It is not that the children of this world are all, like the unjust steward, dishonest towards their fellow-men; but they are one and all dishonest towards God, in using for their own ends the goods with which He for a time has entrusted them for His service. And very clever many of them are very persevering all of them are in carrying out their objects. It is this diligence of theirs which our Lord recommends the "children of light" to imitate, in the use of every thing, in employing all means in their power for the furtherance of God's plans-for the good of man by the destruction of the power of the devil. - As we neither brought any thing into the world, nor can take away one thing out of it, so nothing we call our own here is in truth more than a trust; and those good things which last for ever will be given or not given according to our trust-worthiness in the use we make of those things of which we have been stewards in the world. Therefore the Lord Jesus went on to say, Verses 10-12. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" A man cannot be said really to possess that which may be taken from him at any moment, therefore no one has real possession of any thing in this world; but in the world to come, the true riches are the absolute property of those to whom they are given, for they never shall be taken away from them. They are no longer, as it were, tenants at will, nor stewards in trust, they are "the children of God and joint heirs of Christ." We can always understand facts better than words. Let us then see what some of those things are which the children of this world so perseveringly, and often so cleverly, turn to their own advantage. First, let us name some of them over, and then see what may be done with them. Our health, our strength, every talent of our minds, even beauty of person, our time, our money, influence, affection, even our relations, all these are among the goods of which God has made men his stewards; yet not only these, but what is more awful still, the very ordinances of his religion are made by worldly people so many helps to the service of the world, or rather to their own service in the world. Let us examine into this. For instance: a child is born, and joy fills the house; the parents are themselves in easy circumstances, perhaps they are rich, and in the higher walks of life; they must think of the interests of their child, they must do all they can at this beginning of his life to help him on in the world. The church has commanded that he shall be baptized, and thus brought into the service of his God and Saviour; it has further provided, that godfathers and godmothers shall be chosen who will promise to take care that the child shall be early taught the truths of God's word and understand the service to which he is pledged. All this is, to worldly people, an excellent opportunity of getting on in the world-of securing, or at least of trying to secure, for the child as he grows up, the countenance of some person who can and will help him to succeed. The parents accordingly cast about in their minds who among their acquaintances has most power, influence, or money, and would be willing to be godfather to their child. If they can afford it and do not shrink from the trouble-for the indolence of some makes their own private ease among the greatest of their worldly goods—a grand christening is made, and the very act by which in words the child is pledged to choose the service of God in preference to the service of the world, is made, by the parents' deeds, the beginning of his apprenticeship to the world. Is this true only in the great house? Is the cottage safe from such a fraud against the great Lord who gave the holy sacrament of baptism as the first and greatest of his goods to be employed for and in his service? The temptation may be less striking, the service for the world may make less noise in it, but still it is the same thing. The cottager's thoughts may be more fixed upon a respectable appearance in this world, than upon that great blessing by which their child is added to Christ's visible Church, and admitted to share the promises made to believers. Now how should this worldly wisdom in any way teach a lesson to the Christian? He has a different end in view His aim is that his child should be from the worldly man. Let him redeemed from sin, and brought up in the service of God. Let him be as straightforward in the use of means. be as honest and as prudent in his choice of those among his friends who will help his child on towards the heavenly kingdom which he desires for him. Even as the worldly man he may, if he will, call his friends and neighbours together to rejoice with him, but the occasion of his joy will not be forgotten. His child was born into a world of sin, and has publicly by God's grace been received into the family of the Redeemed. Shall they not rejoice? but their joy is in the goodness of God who has given to man this great salvation. And so through life let the Christian be wise in his generation, even as the child of this world is wise. Let him force all things into his heavenly Father's service. The man of the world keeps his end steadily in view. For this he plans and he labours-for this he forms his friendships and cultivates his talents. All he does, and all he does not do, has this single end for its object-that he may get on in the world. Verily the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." Let the Christian be wise also. His end is higher-surely it is worthy of more instead of less perseverance. To forward the work for which his Saviour came into the world, "to destroy the works of the devil," is surely a noble motive for every exertion; and when we consider that all suffering of every kind, as well as all sin, came through the power of the devil, we surely have to plan and to labour too, we have need of all the help that friends can give, that our talents can supply. The poor man, and the weak woman can do all this for worldly ends as well as the rich and wise. We know they can, for we see they do every day; therefore in spite of poverty and weakness, the "children of light" need not be less wise in their generation (that is, in the use they make of all things) than the children of this world." 66 Do we mean to say that those who make the service of God their highest aim, are to be careless of their earthly interests? By no means; this would be to neglect some of those things with which they are entrusted. In worldly wisdom-so called -they cannot take a safer guide than what they will find in those wonderful writings-the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes. The study of them will make them "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." It will make them able to walk wisely through life, and preserve them from the craft and subtlety of the men of this world. When life is done, the friends of the children of this world cover their tombs with their titles and their virtues, if they are of the rich and great; if of the poor, expend upon "the handsome funeral" money they cannot afford, and time and thought which should be given to the serious lesson death brings into every house. Thus even death itself, and all the sad need it brings in burying their dead out of sight,* is forced into the service of the world. Not so with "the children of light." The glory of God is their arm, not their own praise among men. Be they rich or poor, the believing promise chosen from the gospel of peace— the humble hope of the pardoned sinner-these are what their survivors write upon their tombs to soothe their family's grief— to strengthen the faith and raise the hopes of the passers-by; and when poverty forbids more than the decent turf, and the simple funeral, still a Christian mourning speaks of the and certain hope of a joyful resurrection." sure We have spoken of the christening and the funeral; those solemn rites, which at the beginning and at the ending of life, mark the difference between the desires of "the children of this world, and the children of light;" but how much lies between the cradle and the grave! In how many things have we to be faithful! Therefore let all who would one day be entrusted with "the true riches"-that which in eternity can * Gen. xxiii. |