the truth is here told, and God has such an earnest will for the salvation of all, what should hinder it, why are not all saved? Hear the reason, and ponder it in your hearts. It is because we do not desire it, and no man can be saved against his own choice. We are miserable, only by departing from God, and can only be happy in returning to him. He calls aloud to us to return: he makes us all possible offers of kindness, and tries all ways to work upon our stubborn natures. But if we do not say, "I will arise, and go to my Father:" if our wills do not bring us back to him; the separation still continues, and the misery will cleave to us for ever. Now, therefore, let us attend: 0 Lord! help us!

SECTION LIV.

Chap. xvi. ver. 1-13.

PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD.

1. And he said also unto his disciples,

He speaks to us, if we are his disciples. And his design is to teach us to draw all our thoughts to one point, to manage our concerns in this life with a view to a better : and when we have chosen the good part, to be as careful and wise to make everything turn to our everlasting advantage, as worldly men are for their own ends.

1. There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

What is this to us, if it does not turn our eyes inward, and put us upon thinking that we are stewards under God, and have an account to give of what is entrusted to us; this consists, with some, in this world's goods, more or less, and with all, in a portion of grace!

2. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I

hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

This will be said to every one of us. O that the words might sound deep into our hearts! It is a mercy that we are not yet called to our last account, and that we have a little time still allowed to us. Let us redeem and improve it, and be no longer wasters of our Lord's goods, by being idle for our souls.

3. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

And so he took a worse course. Alas! what a picture of human nature! He was not ashamed of dishonesty : and the excuse he made was, that he could not dig: this might, or might not be true.

4. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ?

6. And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

8. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

It was the steward's own master who commended him, not Christ. He took notice of it as a notable piece of cunning, but nothing else. For the steward was as much a knave to his master, and as unjust to him in this respect, as he had been before.

The reflection of our Lord upon it is to be noted. "For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light :"-They have but one end in view, and bend all their thoughts that way. The children of light have two; but, chiefly, the next world: this,

however, they must care for in part, while they are in it: and they are often too much divided between them. Christ says, this should not be. He observed it with grief and concern. The disciples of Christ should be all thought how to make sure of their chief end, as the unjust steward was to secure a maintenance.

9. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

This world's goods are called unrighteousness, because they are too generally ill got,—ill spent,—or ill kept. It was a very proper admonition to the publicans who were present at this discourse. And the advice to all is, so to manage their worldly substance, as to make it turn to their eternal interest, by thinking it a trust put into their hands, and not their own, to use, or hoard, as they please. "That when ye fail," as fail and die we must, they may receive you into everlasting habitations:" that is, you may be received. Is this to be a reward, for being liberal to the poor? Will this merit heaven? No; Christ has done that for all. But, nevertheless, the way is still barred to a covetous, worldly heart.

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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.

He that is faithful in his worldly substance; which is a very small matter in God's account, though not in ours. It is our ruin that we will not learn of Christ to call things by their right name. "Is faithful also in much :”—though it is a little thing, in which he is faithful, his fidelity in it is a great thing: and shows him to be faithful in a much greater, namely, the grace that is given him.

"And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." Greatly, and every way unjust: he is false to his trust, and to the grace which should have directed him in the management of it. The sequel will show that this is very ill husbandry.

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

Certainly riches are unrighteous to us, if we are not faithful in the use of them. Who will commit to your trust the true riches? That is, of grace here, and heaven hereafter. The meaning is, we shall never come there. And observe, again, the wide difference betwixt Christ's thoughts and ours. We make but little account of what he knows to be 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?

Let us think, and call nothing else our own, but what will be so for ever.

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.

No more can we serve both God and the world. Christ is still teaching us what we are unwilling to understand. One of these will have our hearts, and both cannot. And we need not be rich to make a wrong choice. A poor man may refuse to take God for his master, only he is the greater fool, in serving the world for nothing.

SECTION LV.

Chap. xvi. ver. 14-31.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

14. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things and they derided him.

Every mere worldly man derides Christ, for his crossgrained teaching. But we must submit ourselves to that, or we can have no salvation by him.

15. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

They had a fair appearance, else they could not have justified themselves to the world. But God knew their hearts; and does he not know ours? We know well enough that all ought to be sound there; and we, too often, take it for granted without further inquiry, that it is so. This also is full proof that we are miserably deceived. The man whose eyes are opened knows better.

What men value themselves upon, and others value them for, is, oftentimes, abomination in the sight of God. Man's righteousness, at the best, will stand no trial: and whoever trusts in it, is here plainly told what it is. Hear then what we must do.

16. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

The privileges of this kingdom are remission of sins, new helps for obedience, and a right to eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ. "And every man presseth into it." This, therefore, is what we must do; we must break through all difficulties, and press with all our might into God's kingdom of grace, knowing that we are saved by mercy from first to last, and not for the merit of our own works. We may not, indeed, be lawless in this kingdom, as we see in the next verse.

17. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

The law of the ten commandments, is everlasting and unchangeable, as a rule of life, though not as a covenant; and none can belong to Christ who do not make it the law of their hearts in everything, as explained by him.

18. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

VOL. II.

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