steward. However honest and worthy of confidence his lord may have regarded him once, he now regards him so no longer. He has detected his unfaithfulness, and found him disappointing his confidence; till now, at length, he has confidence in him no longer, but regards him as altogether treacherous and deceitful. So it is with us in relation to God. He created man upright, after his own image. He looked upon his work with pleasure, and pronounced it very good. But he does so now no longer. Since the fall, all have strayed, and God treats us now as treacherous and deceitful. He curses the man who trusteth in man and inaketh flesh his arm. The solemn declaration of his word is, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." He adds also the appealing interrog atory, "Who can know it?" He regards us as having proved ourselves to be destitute of right affection toward him. We have disloyally withheld our service and perversely misapplied his bounty. There is therefore, a parallelism between us and the unjust steward in this respect.

(4.) There remains also a fourth point of parallelism in this, that as the steward was called to an account for his unfaithfulness and perversion, we also shall be called to an account in like manner. The master of the steward had probably, detected his dishonesty now of a long time. He had been observing, how his interests were served, whether the steward did his duty or neglected it; and he had discovered his unfaithfulness.

In like manner, while God looks down to see if there are any that seek after him, he beholds all gone astray, so that in the language of the psalmist "there is none that doeth good, no not one." A report went up to the master of the steward impeaching his character and conduct; upon which the master said, "How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward." And a report impeaching us has gone up to the throne of the great God our Saviour. He delays casting us out of our stewardship for the present; but we stand accused before him by his holy word. He waits our repentance and better conduct, that, if recovered and proved faithful, he may, advance us by and by to a station nearer to himself; but sooner or later, if we do not repent and believe in Christ, the summons will come, "Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward." It is appointed unto all men once to die, but after death the judgement. For we shall all stand before the judgement-seat of Christ, that every one may receive according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil.

(5.) There is one point more, fifthly, to be considered, which is, that, being called to give an account of ourselves we must unavoidably find ourselves straitened and in difficulty. We need but a slight acquaintance with ourselves to know that we are chargeable with guilt in the sight of God. We may turn away our eye from it-in the thoughtlessness and vanity of sin, we may flatter ourselves with our own deceivings till our iniquity be found hateful, but we can never look candidly and impartially at the truth respecting us, and not discover that we are undone. As often as, and, whenever we are brought upon the subject of our account as stewards of the gifts and bounties of God, we find ourselves straitened. We may be brought to this moreover in various ways and at any time. There is no certain tranquility for the sinner a single day. As in the changing weather of the season, a storm may be near at hand, while he thinks himself most secure. The sea now calm may soon be thrown into billows mountain high, and this is an image which God employs to represent the wicked. "The wicked are like the troubled sea which cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt." From the very nature of our situation and circumstances we are exposed to apprehension and disquietude every moment of our lives, till we believe in Christ. We have a power of mind which looks behind, around and before us; and we stand guilty at the bar of God in the light of our own consciousness. Through consciousness and memory we are personally the same. We have continued conscious existence. We recall the past, and, though it be what we cannot but disapprove and condemn, we cannot but recognize it as our own. We are the persons who have done it. Nor can we, when we look around and reflect on what we are, throw off, as though it were not our own, that mass of evil which attaches to us. When we look up to God and forward to the judgement, it is impossible, if we are candid and impartial, not to carry along with us a consciousness of being lost and ruined by sin. Like the steward we are conscious of what we have done. We know we have sinned. We are aware it must come to light; and the consequences, if not prevented by faith and repentance, we know must be fatal. Like the steward therefore we are in trouble. Something must be done, and the more we look at our case the more we see it is critical and dangerous.

2. But this brings us to the course adopted by the steward, and to the second general particular proposed,-the commendation passed on him in view of the course he took.

The steward doubtless knew long before others what he had done.

He was conscious of every step he had taken and how

long he had been preparing for the opening result. He anticipated the disclosure of his unfaithfulness and foresaw the effect of it on his credit, character and happiness. He felt the approach of an urgent crisis in his circumstances; nor did he, till he thought of the expedient he adopted, know what to do. In this state he reflected on his condition, till at last in desperation, he meditates further dishonesty and resolves what to do.

The expedient adopted by the steward was to draw in his lord's debtors as accomplices in fraud; and so, at his lord's expense, confer an obligation on them to favor him. In this way he would have them in his power, and in case of their refusal to assist him he could inform against them to the ruin of their estates and their reputation; while he himself, as one in desperate circumstances, would have nothing to lose. This was the expedient for the adoption of which he received the commendation mentioned in the text.

In view of this statement of the course pursued by the steward we come now to consider the commendation passed upon him. And the lord commended the unjust steward.

I may be mistaken, but in the reading of this passage, and more especially in the use of it as commonly quoted in religious conversation, I believe it is understood by many to be the language of Christ. But it deserves here to be distinctly stated, that this is not the language of Christ. It is Christ who is relating the parable to his disciples, and this is what he says not of himself but of the lord of the steward of whom he was speaking. This circumstance alone, to a person who reads the passage with the least attention to this particular, is enough to show that this commendation is the commendation not of Christ but of the temporal lord of the steward. It was he who commended him in his fraud and not the Saviour.

Besides, it is not necessary at all to suppose that even this temporal lord of the steward approved his fraudulent proceedings. He could not have approved of them; for as a man who loved and favored his own interest as all men always do, he must have felt the loss thus fraudulently occasioned him. The commendation therefore is not to be understood to go in any form or degree towards an approval of the conduct of the steward in relation to his duty. It was on the other hand the height of dishonesty and wickedness in him to do as he did.

But the course he took was calculated to secure a provision for himself, and this is the light in which we are to regard his master as commending him. It was for his policy and prudence in relation to temporal support, and not for his discharge of duty in the thing, that his lord commended him for what

he had done. The testimony is, because he had done wisely, (pgorius) not justly, (dinatos.) The serpent has wisdom, but we are not recommended to serpents as patterns of goodness. No more is the conduct of this steward set forth for our imitation, except as it embraced a plan, which, without regard to right or wrong any way, was well calculated to secure a desirable object, namely, his support and surely for this it was a most admirable plan, deserving commendation. The case implies forethought and calculation. The man may have been thought weak and foolish,-and in relation to his duty and the favor of God, which he ought to have prized above all price, he was foolish in doing as he did. It may have been mere indiscretion which first embarassed him, and even now had he thrown himself with all frankness upon the generosity of his lord, all would have pitied him as unfortunate, though such was not his course. But the course he took, though dark in guilt, is yet no proof of inability or weakness. Keeping simply the end in view it was a course fraught with wisdom. As I said, it implies forethought and calculation. There was a knowledge of what would soon take place and an admission of the truth respecting his circumstances. There was a deep conviction that something must be done and done immediatelywithout delay. No time must be lost. Write 'quickly' said he to the creditors. He feared he might be removed before he should accomplish his design. There was a clear inspection of things, and a careful examination of what was wanting to secure his object. In all these respects therefore the conduct of the unjust steward is worthy of commendation and imitation; for these things in the case are what is consistent with duty in a case where all is honest and the highest interests are at stake, even the salvation of the soul.

3. I come now then to the third general particular, the course we must take to have commendation passed on us and be received to everlasting habitations.

The steward meant, as has been suggested, to lay his lord's creditors under obligation, that, when dismissed from the stewardship, he might find an asylum in their families, and live at their table; and from this Christ inculcates the duty of using liberally what we have, in ways of benevolence and gratuity, that in the changing scenes of life, should we ever come to want, as all are liable to, we might find friends to help us whom we had helped before. This moreover is an important item of instruction on the ground even of common expediency, not to speak of it as a religious duty. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. "He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." And

we are exhorted to give with the assurance that it shall be returned unto us, good measure, pressed down and running over.

We know, however, heaven is not to be bought by any sacrifices we may make, since entrance there has been opened only through the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot.

It is therefore, in a higher and more spiritual sense that I would speak of the course we must take in order to have commendation passed on us, and be received into everlasting habitations.

Let it be presupposed that we have a knowledge of Christ within our reach, and what has been mentioned as implied in the case of the steward, points out our course almost to perfection. As has appeared, there was a clear inspection of things, and a careful examination of what was wanting in the case. This therefore is one thing, and the first thing in our course. We are to examine what our state is, and get a clear view of the truth of God respecting us. We must examine impartially and thoroughly. If the steward had flattered himself all the time that he had property enough yet; or, had he disbelieved the hour of trial and distress would come, he never would have taken any steps for his security: and it was the consequence, apparently, of a thorough examination of his case that he was led to the expedient he adopted. So with us, unless we carefully examine and ascertain what we need, we never shall go the way we ought to go. We must be brought to a solemn stand, and to a careful inspection of our state.

Next, we must admit the truth, though it cut us to the heart. It was humiliating to the steward to learn his needy state, and so it will be to us to learn how needy and perishing we are; but we must submit, notwithstanding. Though it cut off all our hopes and lay us low in the dust, close down by the borders of despair, just on the brink of the pit, we must admit the truth. Then we shall chance to be moved. When we come to see our bankruptcy and ruin, then, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we shall feel.

But we must farther become convinced of what is so soon to take place, and how if we repent not, we shall be left houseless and friendless, when turned out of our stewardship. O, that hour when it shall be said, “give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward." When we shall be called to give account of the manner in which we have occupied as stewards-when our unfaithfulness shall be exposed beyond our power to conceal it-when the anxieties and fears and apprehensions of trial shall come upon us: Then, O