Yes, brethren, we are all God's stewards, and a time will come when we shall all have to give an account of our stewardship. God grant, when that day arrives, we be not accused before Him of having wasted His goods! of having taken and squandered on our own selves, what was given us for another end-to advance God's glory and the good of mankind!

But to proceed with the parable.-The wasteful steward was summoned before his master to the reckoning, and told that after what had passed he could not hope to retain his office-Thou mayest be no longer steward.

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. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said an hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. (Thereby cheating his master out of fifty measures to curry favour with the debtor.) 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, amount by twenty.

lessening the real

That was the ready and ingenious plan by which this dishonest steward sought to secure for himself a refuge against the storm-he helped his lord's debtors to defraud their master, and he reckoned on thus obtaining shelter in their houses when his stewardship was taken away from him.

And this ready wit of the man,-his prompt attention to his own interests-called forth the admiration of his master-The lord commended (praised) the unjust steward because he had done wisely-wisely in providing himself a refuge-for-and this remark comes not from the rich man in the parable, but from our Lord Himself-for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Let us ponder, brethren, deeply the judgment here pronounced. It ought to make us dissatisfied with ourselves. It ought to fill us with something of the sorrow which our Lord must have felt in saying it—The children of this world!-persons who professedly look not beyond the bounds of this life-who care not for the soul-who care only for the goods of this perishable world, its riches, its pleasures, its honours-these children are wiser-take more pains, shew more zeal, make greater efforts to get what they want in this world, than do the disciples of Christ, the children of light, in seeking the only true riches, that on which they profess their hearts to be set -the heavenly inheritance!

Nor can we dispute the truth of it. If we reflect, our own experience will entirely go with the judgment of our Lord. I would dwell a little on two points in which this superiority is most visible, on the superior forethought, and superior earnestness which marks the conduct of the men of this world, as contrasted with the conduct of Christians. And, first, of their forethought, looking forward beyond the present to some distant day-this is an especial characteristic of the worldly wise.

They are always taking counsel for to-morrow. If

they are in business, or some active profession, their aim is to lay up a competence against old age. They stint themselves in many present pleasures, they endure much present inconvenience, that they may have abundance by-and-by. They do not say, as the mere pleasureseeker says, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," they are too wise for that-they know that they may be alive to-morrow-they calculate the average of human life, and act on the belief that they shall reach old age. To spend their substance in youth, and to make no provision for the future, seems to them the height of folly. And so, as I have said, they are men of forethought, leading their life that now is, with a reference to the future-the future on this side the grave-caring little for comfort and convenience at the moment, so that they may have sufficiency hereafter, when their active powers fail, when their growing years require rest and

care.

That is surely one point in which the worldly wise excel the children of light. We indeed talk a great deal about the world to come, of the life after death, of heaven and hell. But it is, I fear, but talk with many of us-I mean we are not much influenced at present, by what we say and believe about the future.-Few of us really make that Future the load-star of our conduct now. Few of us shape our daily behaviour by considerations derived from the life to come. Where, I would ask, do we find ourselves giving up this pleasure, doing that duty, exercising ourselves in this or that practice of godliness, because our future interests seem to require it?

I urge you, brethren, to press this question home-I

am sure if you do, you will be obliged to confess, that in this great leading point of forethought, of regulating our steps now by motives thrown upon our path from a distant future, we are outdone by the men of this worldyou will be obliged to confess that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light!

But take that other point, earnestness, and we shall come to the same conclusion.-Who is so much in earnest as the man of this world? Who so late takes rest, and

so eats the bread of carefulness? There never would be such success achieved, as many of our countrymen have achieved in all branches of human industry, were it not for this quality of earnestness. No man can get on in any profession or calling without it. Merchant, farmer, lawyer, physician, the man who prospers is the one who is most intent on his business, whose mind, and heart are in his work,—who postpones everything else to that— who, in a word, is in earnest.

But is earnestness alike observable in spiritual matters ? -in matters that concern the soul? Do we whose

profession is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto Him "-do we brethren, pursue that high calling, with anything of that vigour, and diligence, and close assiduity, which we witness in the conduct of the men of this world? Are we as unwearied, and as undaunted, and as quick to rise up after failure, and as determined to go on, and as single-hearted in our endeavour to follow Christ, as they shew themselves to be in their several courses of worldly pursuit?

You know, alas! that we are not-you know how

soon we tire, all of us, in well doing-how few and far between are our real efforts after holiness!

If you at all watch your religious life-and we ought to watch it more than we do-you will know, ere I tell it you, that it is marked by feebleness, by coldness, by seasons of utter deadness. You all know that what is most needed for you is, that you be more alive to the greatness of spiritual things-take more delight in them -have your heart more interested in them-be more in earnest-more in earnest in your prayers-in a word, more in earnest in searching the Scriptures-more in earnest in your efforts to serve God.

Then, again, let us take a lesson from the children of this world. They excel us, we have seen, in forethought, and they excel us in earnestness. With objects utterly trivial, if set in the balance with ours, they yet shew in the pursuit of those objects an energy and a zeal, which we might well wish to make our own. They are indeed wiser in their generation, humiliating as this confession is, than the children of light!

But is this to be so always? must we be content to sit down and sadly acknowledge that the case is against us-that the reproach is true-that we cannot alter itcannot cast it off. O surely not! that were a part unworthy for us to follow. Christ by commending the wisdom of the worldly, seeks to quicken us into a more active and vigorous service. He shews us a picture, which while it reproves our past slackness, should also stimulate us in our efforts for the future. He does not shew it us, simply to condemn, but also to "provoke our rivalry.