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1. The Judgment of his Lord, and his Commendation of him. And the Lord, that is, his Mafter, commended the unjust Steward, because be bad done wifely.

2. The use that our Saviour makes of this his Judgment and Commendation. For the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light.

1. Here is the Judgment of his Lord, and his Commendation of him. And the Lord, by. whom we are not to understand our bleffed LORD and Saviour, who fpake this Parable, but the Lord and Master of the Wicked Steward; he it was that commended the unjuft Steward, not for his Injustice, he could not judge that a thing capable of any Commendation at all in any one; but for his Wit, because he had done wifely, and had very fubtilly contrived for a future Livelyhood. He judged this a wife part, and he commended him for being fo Wife for himfelf.

Of this I fhall now fay very little, the Master was but a Man, and his Judgment is no Rule for others to Judge by; nor can his Commendation be any Warrant for us to commend fuch Wif dom as this Man fhew'd. God Judgeth not as Man Judgeth; and the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God. 1 Cor. 3. 19.

Should the general Practice of the World, yea, or of that Part of it which is call'd Christendom, oyer-rule our Judgment; and were the Matter

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to be determined by most Voices, the Mafter would here carry it, and his Judgment and Com❤ mendation would ftand good, tho' contrary to the Judgment of God, and all good Men. He that hath Wit enough to contrive for himself all worldly Advantages, fhall pafs with the moft for a very wife Man. The most of Men trouble not themselves much about Right or Wrong, Lawful and Unlawful, Honeft and Difhoneft; these they will them to talk of, (and 'tis too commonly no more but Talk) who are by their Profeffion to ftudy Confcience, and Law; Cafuit and Lawyers may wrangle with one another about these things, if they have a mind to it, but Men of other Callings and Profeffions have fomething else to mind. All they concern themselves about, is either what's profitable, or what's pleasant. And he is voted the wifeft Man, that in fpite of either Conscience or Law, can compafs his Gain, or his Pleasure. He that's wife for this World is thought wife enough, let them be wife for the other World who love it, and are weary of this.

It is look'd upon but as a very cold Commendation, and such as feems to have fomething either of pitty or Contempt in it, to call one no more, but a good honeft Man. As much as to fay, he hath not much Wit, he goeth drudging on in an honeft Calling, and is contented with the moderate Fruit of his Labours, and doth no Body any hurt, nor himself much good; and fo ler him pafs. Nay, tho' he be very charitable, and do much good with that Little, which God bleffeth his Labour withal; and tho' he be very ferviceable to his Country in the Place where

he liveth, and can advise well in any Business, and is always ready to contribute to the Welfare of the Neighbourhood; yet fo long as he improveth not his Eftate, nor enricheth himself and his Children, how good and honeft foever he be, he fhall not be accounted a wife Man. Nothing but Wealth and Greatness can gain a Man fo much Reputation in the World, as to be thought wife. How far are most of us, who are called Chriftians, from being of his Mind and Judgment concerning true Wisdom?

Indeed, I dare not fay, that we most of us esteem every one wife who endeavours to thrive, grow Rich, or otherwise enjoy his own pleasure in the World. For tho' we generally approve of his Defign, yet he may profecute his Defign fo untowardly, that we cannot think him wife. We cannot think him wife that cannot contrive a way to grow Great, and not impoverish himself by paying too dear for his Honour; nor him, who cannot find a way to take his pleasure, without wafting his Eftate; nor him that cannot by his cunning and difhone Shifts and Tricks grow rich, without laying himself open to the Lafh of the Law. To compafs our worldly Ends any way, and be fafe in the mean time is accounted Wisdom, and we account no one a Fool, but he that cannot play the Knave undifcover'd. To difguife one's dishoneft Dealings hanfomely, and under a Mask of Justice and Religion to go on in a thriving Way of Wickednefs, this it is we generally cry up for Wisdom. We count him indeed the only Fool, whether we have confidence enough, or no, to fay as much, that knows not how to be a Knave, that

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is, to be cunningly and concealedly wicked, and him we esteem a wife Man, who can be a Knave, and not let the World know that he is fo. If the Steward be fo cunning as to Live on still by cheating his Lord, and his Lord never difcover his Knavery, he is a wife Man. And because he took the hopefulleft Way to do fo, because he found out a way to get his Living, by making his Lord's Debters for their own advantage as wicked as himself; and fo they were put into that ftrait, that they should not know how to inform against him, but they must betray themselves; for this his Lord thought he had Reafon to call him wife, and to commend his Policy.

How little do we generally regard the Wisdom. which the bleffed JESUS came to teach us, the Wisdom unto Salvation, which we learn in the holy Scriptures? If we can by all our Wifdom make any fhift to get what we would have in this World, we think our felves wife enough for now and hereafter, and there will not be wanting many others that will efteem us fo. We know we muft die, and because of that we think we take the wifeft Courfe to live after our Death fo as we can, in the Memories of Men, we there fore scrape up an Estate, and build Houfes, which may be visible Monuments of our Wifdom and Providence, and make them the talk of the World when we are gone. Their inward Thought is, (faith the Pfalmift) that their Houfes fhall continue for ever, and their Dwelling Places to all Generations; they call their Land after their own Pfal. 49. 11. This their way is their Folly; yet thei Pofterity approve their Sayings. V. 13. Tho' h: that became rich, whilst he lived bleffed his Soul:

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and Men will praise thee when thou dost well to thy Self. Yet he shall go to the Generation of his Fathers, they fhall never fee Light. v. 18. 19. There is no Question to be made of it, but as long as we can live in Wealth and Pleasure, we fhall have enow to flatter us, and call us wife, but are we the better for this when we are once wrap'd up in darknefs, and fhall never fee Light any more? But what praise this kind of worldly Wisdom deserves, we fhall be the better able to difcern, when we have confidered the next thing obfervable in this Verfe, viz.

2. The ufe that our bleffed Saviour makes of this Judgment and Commendation which the Mafter beftows on the Unjuft Steward, in these Words.For the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light. Here our Saviour begins, and in the next Verfe he goeth on, to fhew us what his defign was to teach us by this Story of the rich Man and his Steward, which is this, that we fhould learn to be as wife and provident for a future and eternal Life, as worldly Men ufe to be for this fhort Life prefent. In this Verfe he lets us know, to our shame, that we are not fo ; in the next he directs us how we may be fo. The Judgment that he here in this Verfe gives, when he faith the Men of this World are wifer, serves not at all to encourage them in that kind of Wisdom whereof they are Mafters; but to fhame us for being no wiser than we are. In his Words we are to take Notice. 1. Of the Defcription of the two forts of Perfons whofe Wisdom he here compareth. The one he calls the Children of this

World,

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