both continued in their Father's house, the true church, they wanted for nothing; there was plenty of food for the soul, both. there was substance enough for them But the latter, represented by the younger brother, possessed of his share of knowledge, went into a strange country, left God, and spent his substance, the evidence and knowledge of the Almighty, fell into idolatry, and wasted all he had in riotous living; all his knowledge of God, in the loose and absurd ceremonies of idolatry. Then behold a mighty famine arose in that land; the worship of the true God was banished the country. In this dreadful dearth and hunger, he joined himself to the devil, and worked all "Uncleanness with greediness." But finding nothing to satisfy his spiritual hunger, this prodigal, long estranged from his father, reflecting on his spiritual famine, and his own severe wants, humbly confessed his faults, returned to his offended Father, was readmitted into favor, and blessed with the privileges of the Gospel. But the elder brother, the Jewish church, daily employed in the field of legal ceremonies, and who had long groaned under the yoke of the law, seeing the gentiles received into the covenant of the Gospel, obtain the remission of sins, and the hopes of everlasting life, murmured against the benevolent acts of the Almighty. God, however, out of his great compassion, pleaded pathetically the cause with the elder brother, offered him all things, upon supposition of his continuing in his obedience, and declared that he had delivered the nations from the heavy yoke of the ceremonial law. Thus the parable has a very clear and elegant exposition: themurmuring of the elder brother is explained to us without the least difficulty; and as the offence of receiving the gentiles to pardon and peace through Jesus Christ, was so great a stumbling block to the Jews, it is natural to imagine that our Saviour intended to obviate and remove it by this excellent parable. It is however evident, both from the context and the occasion of delivering it, that the third interpretation is the first in design and importance. The publicans and sinners drew near to hear Jesus. This gave occasion to a murmuring among the pharisees; and upon their murmuring, our Saviour delivered this and two other parables, to shew, that if they would resemble God, and the celestial host, they should, instead of murmuring, rejoice at seeing sinners willing to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel; because there is joy in the presence of God and his angels over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-and-nine just persons that " need no repentance." The obstinacy and malicious temper of the pharisees, who opposed every good doctrine, made a deep impression on the spirit of the blessed Jesus; he did not therefore content himself barely with justifying his receiving sinners, in order to their being justified and saved through him, but in presence of the scribes and pharisees, turned himself to his disciples and delivered the parable of the artful steward, as an instance of the improvements made by the children of this world, in embracing every opportunity and advantage for improving their interests." There was," said he, "a certain rich man, which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. 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." Luke, xvi. 1, 2. This reprimand of his lord, and the inward conviction of his own conscience that the accusation was just, induced him to reflect on his own ill-management of his lord's affairs, and in what manner he should support himself when he should be discharged from his service. "What shall I do?" said he, "for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship; I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed." Luke, xvi. 3. In this manner he deliberated with himself, and at last resolved on the following expedient, in order to make himself friends, who would succour him in his distress: "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. 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." Luke, xvi. 4, &c. To illustrate this parable, we beg leave to observe, that the riches and trade of the Jews originally consisted principally in the products of the earth: they were, if we may be allowed the expression, a nation of farmers and shepherds so that their wealth chiefly arose from the produce of their flocks and herds, and the fruits of the earth; their corn, their wine and their oil. Thus the steward, to secure the friendship of his lord's tenants, bound them to him under a lasting obligation; and his master, when he heard of the proceedings of the steward, commended him, not because he had acted honestly, but because he had acted wisely; he commended the art and address he had shewn, in procuring a future subsistence; he commended the prudence and ingenuity he had used with regard to his own. private interest, and to deliver him from future poverty and distress. "For the children of this world," added the blessed Jesus, "are in their generation wiser than the children of light." They are more prudent and careful, more anxious and circumspect to secure their possessions in this world, than the children of light are to secure in the next an eternal inheritance. "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." Luke, xvi. 9. This advice of our Saviour is worthy our most serious attention; the best use we can make of our riches being to employ them in promoting the salvation of others. For if we use our abilities and interest in turning sinners from the evil of their ways; if we spend our wealth in this excellent service, we shall conciliate the good-will of all the heavenly beings, who will greatly rejoice at the conversion of sinners, and with open arms receive us into the mansions of felicity. But this is not the whole application our Saviour mađe of this parable. He added, that if we made use of our riches in the manner he recommended, we should be received into those everlasting habitations, where all the friends of virtue and religion reside; because, by our fidelity in managing the small trust of temporal advantages committed to our care, we shew ourselves worthy and capable of a much greater trust in heavenly employments. But if, on the contrary, we do not apply our riches to the glory of God, and the good of mankind, we shall be for ever banished from the abode of the blessed; because, in behaving unfaithfully in the small trust committed to us here, we render ourselves both unworthy and incapable of a share in this everlasting inheritance. "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. If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" Luke, xvi. 10, &c. And, if, while ye are God's stewards and servants, ye desert your trust and become slaves to the desire of riches, you can expect no other than to be called to a strict account of your stewardship; covetousness being as absolutely inconsistent with a true concern for the cause of Christ, as it is for a man to undertake at one and the same time to serve two masters of con trary dispositions, and opposite interests. "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." Luke, xvi. 13. The hypocritical pharisees treated this observation with derision; to which our Lord replied, "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." Luke, xvi. 15. Such is the parable, and such is our Lord's application of it, from whence the main intention and design of it is very evident. It was intended to incite us to a zealous concern for our future and eternal state, by making a due use of the means of grace, and working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, yet remembering, that it is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. And if we thus employ our spiritual talents, we shall joyfully stand at the right hand of the great Judge of all the earth, and receive from him a public testimony of our faith and love. "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the beginning of the world; for I was an hungered and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." CHAPTER XXIV. Jesus rebukes the insolent derision of the Pharisees-Describes by a parable, the nature of future rewards and punishments, and enforces the doctrine of mutual forbearance. THE doctrines lately delivered by our Lord, being so repugnant to the avaricious principles of the pharisees, they attended to the doctrine of our Saviour, with regard to the true use of riches, and the impossibility of men serving God and mammon; but at the same time they derided him as a visionary speculatist, who despised the pleasures of this world. for no other reason than because he was not able to procure them. It is, therefore, no wonder, that men, who had shown such a complication of the very worst dispositions, should receive a sharp rebuke from the meek and humble Jesus; accordingly, he told them that they made, indeed, specious pretences to extraordinary sanctity, by outwardly shunning the company of sinners, while in private they made no scruple of having society with them, or even of joining with them in their wickedness. "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts." Ye may, indeed, cover the foulness of your crimes with the painted cloak of hypocrisy, and in this disguise deceive those who look no further than the outside, but ye cannot screen your wickedness from the penetrating eye of Omnipotence, to whom all things are naked and exposed, and who judges of things, not by their appearances, but according to truth; it is, therefore, no wonder that he often abhors both persons and things that are held |