Luke xvi. 9.
I say unto you, make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into the everlasting habitations.
1.OUR Lord having finished the beautiful parable of the prodigal son, which he had particularly addressed to those who murmured at his receiving Publicans and sinners, adds another relation of a different kind, addressed rather to the children of God. He said unto his disciples (ver. 1.) not so much to the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom he had been speaking before—There was a certain rich man, who had a steward, and he was accused to him of wasting his goods. And calling him he said, Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward, (ver. 2.) After reciting the method which the bad steward used, to provide against the day of necessity, our Saviour adds, His Lord commended the unjust steward, namely in this respect, that he used timely precaution, and subjoins this weighty reflection, The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. (ver. 8.) Those who seek no other portion than this world, are wiser, (not absolutely; for they are, one and all, the veryest fools, the most egregious madmen under heaven, but) in their generation, in their own way: they are more consistent with themselves, they are truer to their acknowledged principles, they more steadily pursue their end, than the children of light, than they who see the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Then follow the words above recited. And I—the only begotten Son of God, the Creator, Lord and possessor of heaven and earth and all that is therein: the judge of all, to whom ye are to give an account of your stewardship when ye can be no longer stewards—I say unto you, learn in this respect, even of the unjust steward, make yourselves friends, by wise timely precaution, of the mammon of unrighteousness. Mammon means riches or money. It is termed the mammon of unrighteousness, because of the unrighteous manner wherein it is frequently procured, and, wherein even that which was honestly procured, is generally employed. Make yourselves friends of this by doing all possible good, particularly to the children of God: that when ye fail, when ye return to dust, when ye have no more place under the sun, those of them who are gone before may receive you, may welcome you into the everlasting habitations.
2. An excellent branch of Christian wisdom here inculcated by our Lord on all his followers, namely, the right use of money; a subject largely spoken of, after their manner, by men of the world: but not sufficiently considered by those whom God hath chosen out of the [♦]world. These generally do not consider as the importance of the subject requires, the use of this excellent talent. Neither do they understand how to employ it to the greatest advantage; the introduction of which into the world, is one admirable instance of the wise and gracious providence of God. It has indeed been the manner of poets, orators and philosophers, in almost all ages and nations, to rail at this, as the grand corrupter of the world, the bane of virtue, the pest of human society. Hence nothing so commonly heard as,
Ferrum, Ferroq; nocentius aurum:
And “gold, more mischievous than keenest steel.” Hence the lamentable complaint
Effodiuntur opes, irritamenta malorum.
Nay, one celebrated writer gravely exhorts his countrymen, in order to banish all vice at once, to “throw all their money into the sea.”
In mare proximum,
Summi materiem mali!
But is not all this mere, empty rant? Is there any solid reason therein? By no means. For let the world be as corrupt as it will, is gold or silver to blame? The love of money, we know, is the root of all evil: but not the thing itself. The fault does not lie in the money, but in them that use it. It may be used ill: and what may not? But it may likewise be used well: it is full as applicable to the best, as to the worst uses. It is of unspeakable service to all civilized nations, in all the common affairs of life. It is a most compendious instrument, of transacting all manner of business, and (if we use it according to Christian wisdom) doing all manner of good. It is true, were man in a state of innocence, or were all men filled with the Holy Ghost, so that like the infant church at Jerusalem, no man counted any thing he had his own, but distribution was made to every one as he had need, the use of it would be superseded: as we cannot conceive there is any thing of the kind among the inhabitants of heaven. But in the present state of mankind, it is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked. It gives to the traveller and the stranger, where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain: it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death.