be which has been entrusted to your charge, use it with wisdom, make it a real friend, a friend to your eternal interests, that when ye fail (as the Steward failed of his former resources by being turned out of his stewardship, when ye shall fail) and be removed from your stewardship by death, you may find your wise diligence, your prayers, and alms-deeds gone up as a memorial before God, and so an abundant entrance be administered unto you into the everlasting habitation of your heavenly Father. Who can deny this to be the plain unsophisticated meaning of the parable? And who can deny that the scripture addresses such language as this in sundry places to the children of light ? "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven. But let thine alms be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, himselfshall reward thee openly."* "Sellthat ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee: but when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."* "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit, reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."† Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that * Matt. vi. 1-4. † Luke xii. 33. thou bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee: and the glory of the Lord shall be thy re-reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee, the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day."* But the greatest number of the children of light are and ever have been poor in this world. Our Lord therefore adds " 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." This shows that the important point is the principle itself, not the extent or amount to which there is an opportunity of exercising it. "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" As he said on another occasion to one of his wise servants, who had acquitted himself with watchful industry in his stewardship : "well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." But if he had not been faithful in the few things, who would have entrusted him with the many things? If a man entrusted with a few shillings, betray his trust, through either dishonesty or carelessness; who will put many pounds into his possession? If a son abuse his small annual allowance, what wise father will give him independent possession of a large estate? If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who will give you that which is your own? If you have not been faithful in the use of your opportunities and advantages in this world which are lent to you in God's providence, and are not your own, but belong to another; how do you expect that God will give you a possession to be your own for ever, by an inalienable tenure in heaven? * Isaiah lviii. 6-10. We see here the true scriptural importance of this faithfulness, this wisdom, this sagacity, prudence, diligence, or whatever else it may properly be called, in heavenly things. It shall have a rich recompense of reward, and that according to what a man hath, not what he hath not; "Jesus looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all; for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." Should any man object to these statements and this application of scripture, as inconsistent with the Gospel doctrine of free justification : we simply answer (without entering into any nice distinctions) " to the law and to the testimony" is it not thus written and very abundantly? And further we would say to such a man, "take heed friend, lest thou be found loving some system of men, rather than the scriptures of God." Yes, my brethren, every exercise of Christian diligence, every the smallest work of Christian mercy performed by a believing servant of Jesus Christ, shall be graciously rewarded; and those believers shall be rewarded most largely who have upon the whole been most useful; not in positive quantity as man estimates usefulness; but relatively with their respective opportunities; all the details of which in all their various aspects of facility and impediment, and in all their consequent evervarying degrees of most equitable responsibility, are open before God and will be found record |