This is what the parable teaches. And much need is there, that we be taught it. For how grievously is the remark verified, The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. How quicksighted are they in perceiving their interests! Judas, for instance, (John xii. 3-6,) on that occasion, when " Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith Judas Iscariot, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?" How immediately he caught at the opportunity of gratifying his favourite sin! "This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." And what is this, but a portrait of the children of this world? How readily does the dishonest tradesman learn all the secrets of his craft? How skilfully does the man who buys, take advantage of the ignorance or the necessities of the seller? How does the seller, in his turn, watch for one who must buy, at any rate, or who knows not how to buy? How do men, practised in the world, make the most of any passion or weakness in their neighbours! one profiting by their fears: another by their resentments: another by their follies and extravagances and another, perhaps, even by their meekness and religious forbearance!

So quicksighted are the children of this world so easily are they resolved what to do. Do we find the same among the children of light? Are they as ready to watch every advantage which may promote the interests of the soul? If so, we shall find them arguing after the same manner. This is a practice which has been injurious to me;-it has ruffled my temper -or it has excited my pride-or it has occupied too much of my time or it has required money which might have been better employed-I must lay aside this practice. Or again; I have found by experience, that after joining in such or such an amusement, or engaging in such or such company, my heart has been estranged from heavenly things: I have gone further back from God, instead of approaching nearer to him: this must not be my object is, to press forward: and whatever does not carry me on, must be abandoned. In this way, every profitable book, every profitable companion, every profitable opportunity of discourse, every means of hearing the word of God, will be seized as eagerly by the earnest Christian, as every opportunity of pleasure or of gain is seized by the children of this world.

And so it must be, if we look for a reward in heaven. The words which follow, show that God notices his servants, observes the use which they make of the mammon of unrighteousness, expects them to improve the talents entrusted to them: and, taking from the slothful "that which

he hath," assigns it to the zealous and the wise.

10. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.

11. "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12. "And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own."

It is a general truth, that he who is faithful in one trust, will be faithful also in another and that he who is unjust in a small thing, will be unjust also in a greater. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, in the use of God's ordinary gifts of time, of fortune, of influence, will He bestow upon you his spiritual gifts, the true riches? If ye have not been faithful in another's; that is, in what God has entrusted to you, in the talents which he has lent for a time; how can you expect that he should make his eternal rewards yours, that he should give you that which is your own: that which, if you be found faithful, he designs for you, and which will remain yours for ever? "For unto every one that hath, shall be given: but unto him that hath not, shall be taken away even that he hath."

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Let all be admonished, by this parable, that they are not children of the night, nor of darkness, and must walk as children of light."

Be quicksighted for earth, if you please; but never forget that earthly things "perish in the using" and certainly be quicksighted to discover and follow the narrow way that leads to life eternal. Be diligent in pursuing the business of your stations: but never forget that if you are not also diligent in pursuing the business which God has given you to do for Him, He may justly say at the last, Out of thine own practice will I judge thee, thou wicked and slothful servant: thou couldest plan and labour for the world out of which thou wert soon to pass, but thou couldest not plan and labour for eternity.

Every day's labour, every hour's thought which is employed upon the present world, condemns those who attend to that alone. These things ought they to have done, but not have left the others undone. They can think of the next week, but they cannot think of the next world. They can provide for an uncertain future; but they will not provide for a future which is sure. They can labour for what they may never be able to acquire, but they will not labour for what no one ever sought in vain. The unjust steward is represented as having gained his object, and secured a refuge but that is not always the case with the children of this world; many fail; and many who succeed, are discontented after all. But the children of light have the promise of a faithful God. "Thou shalt seek me, and thou shalt find me, if thou seek me with thy whole heart:" and they are

supported by a strength which the worldling knows not, the power communicated to them by an almighty Saviour. Let them, therefore, dread and avoid the just reproach, that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.

LECTURE LVIII.

NECESSITY OF CHOOSING BETWEEN THE SERVICE OF GOD AND MAMMON.

LUKE XVI. 13.

13. "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Ir is taken for granted here, that men know whom they are bound to serve. Ye cannot serve God and mammon; and ye are bound to serve God. You cannot be servants both to God and this world.

This, though a plain truth, is a startling truth. We are in the world: we have much to do with the world: much that seems indispens

1 See Matt. vi. 24.

The Syriac word mammon properly signifies riches. The things which lead men from God are procured by riches, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." These "are not of the Father, but of the world" and therefore the term here expresses what is commonly meant in Scripture by the world.

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