forethought cannot but exalt a human being, even when employing evil means to arrive at an evil end, how can we excuse inconsistency and blind thoughtlessness, when the principles which we swerve from are those of mere goodness;—when the end which our forethought might compass, and the means for attaining it, are alike pure and spotless? This is the lesson which the parable of the unjust steward was designed to teach us, that nothing is more unworthy, nothing more ruinous, than to be a Christian by halves;-to begin to build and not be able to finish. Salt is good, but the salt that has lost its savour is good neither for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out and even so vile and worthless is that Christian in name only who does not live according to his own principles but in defiance of them, -who, with a journey to an eternal state opened before him, plays away his time on the road, and makes no provision for the end of his pilgrimage.

We may be still the children of light; but, if we so live, we are fast hastening to make ourselves the children of darkness: we are chosen by God to be the heirs of glory, but we ourselves choose rather to be the heirs of folly and destruction. And it is this conduct which, as I said before, the parable was designed to reprove. It reproves it by showing that the opposite to this careless folly, the habit of laying down a settled

principle for our living, of acting steadily according to this principle, and of taking care beforehand that our chosen object in life shall never be lost to us, that this habit, even when the principle is no better than self-interest, when the practice is wickedness, and the forethought for the security of our darling object is nothing but dishonesty and cunning,-still, is in itself so elevating, that even when thus grossly misapplied, it after all commands from ordinary men a considerable portion of respect. "The master of the unjust steward commended him because he had done wisely:" just as the language of common history commends the unjust stewards on a larger scale, who have steadily pursued, through all dangers and difficulties, the several objects of their ambition and vain glory. It is this steadiness of aim, this consistency between principles and practice, this range of forethought, this unwearied and undaunted perseverance, whose presence seems to make vice almost respectable;-whose absence makes, I do not say virtue, for virtue cannot exist without it, but mere good dispositions, good inclinations, and a knowledge of our real condition and duty, no better than contemptible and worthless.

I have purposely dwelt upon this subject with something of repetition, because experience has taught me that this one parable of our Lord's is to many a stumbling-block, and to few so useful

as it ought to be. People seem to fancy that the unjust steward is held up as an object of imitation altogether; that Christ himself excuses his dishonesty for the sake of the wisdom of his conduct, as it is called; that is, his steady regard to his own interests. Some of this arises from a mere mistake, and something also from an obscure, and therefore a bad translation. If those who have Bibles will just refer to the parable for an instant, they will be able to follow me better. In the eighth verse, where it says, "And the lord commended the unjust steward," &c.,—some careless readers fancy that the "lord" means Christ; whereas this verse is only a part of the story or parable ;-Christ telling us that "the lord or master of the unjust steward commended him," according to that common matter of fact to which I have already alluded, that men do often commend clever wickedness. Christ's own application of the story begins in the next or ninth verse; and here the translation is obscure, because the little word "of" in our common language now has another meaning from that which it had in the translator's own time. "To make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," an English reader naturally understands to mean, "to make the mammon of unrighteousness," or "unrighteous riches" our friends; whereas, the real meaning of the words is, "Make to yourselves friends with, or by the mammon of

unrighteousness;"-i. e., "so use the riches and other advantages of this world, as that they may gain you friends hereafter,-friends that will stand by you, when the riches themselves shall have perished." And I hardly need add what these friends are, the record of good done upon earth, of misery relieved, of folly enlightened, of virtue encouraged and supported ;-the record of their thankful voices, who, having received from us good things in this world, shall welcome us with thanks and blessings, when we all stand together before Christ's judgment-seat.

best whilst

Such then is the parable; and, indeed, I scarcely know any one throughout the New Testament whose lesson we need more strongly. It is the repetition of the complaint of Elijah: "How long halt ye betwixt two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." If there be no God, no duty, no life to come, then let us eat and drink, or follow what likes us we are here, for to-morrow we die. But if we do believe that there is God,-if we know that duty is the very soul and life of our life,-if we hope to be for ever where Christ is gone to prepare a place for us, then let us live consistently with these principles, and live not for our own pleasure, but for his who died for us and rose again. Always and everywhere as this requires to be enforced, it requires it nowhere more strongly than here. Here,

what wickedness there is, is inconsistent wickedness;-it is the folly, the guilty and the miserable folly, of those who are now children of light, and are fast making themselves the children of darkness. The dreadful consistency of thorough evil, wicked principles leading naturally and deliberately to a wicked life,-the serving Baal, because you believe in Baal,-the disobeying Christ, because you have resolved that he shall not be your Saviour,—all this is as yet, I believe, far from you. If things be as I imagine, the expression of blasphemous opinions amongst you would be received with horror and if there were a single individual among you who cherished such in his heart, he would probably find it his interest, for his own credit's sake, to conceal them. As yet, then, God speaks to you as to his children :-as yet, you are his redeemed, with whom he shows all long-suffering and patience, entreating them to stand fast, and not to throw away the everlasting shelter which his love has provided for them. As yet, you are his redeemed: take heed that you do not become his enemies. Take heed that you do not, like Cowper, give an unbeliever just cause to say, that it is greatly for your interest that he should be right and you wrong, for if your belief be right, you have nothing to expect but eternal misery. Think you, that this notion will have no effect upon you? that it will be possible for you