saying: That one of the surest ways of making a man your enemy is to load him with favors, is oftenest verified in the relations between man and God, There are exceptions, of course — Pharao sometimes finds a faithful Joseph — but none the less they are the exceptions. And howsoever great his dishonesty, howsoever complicated his accounts, each is firmly persuaded that the day of reckoning is afar off. Others may see ruin closing in around us; we can see it in the case of others; but as for ourselves, we are serenely confident. The sailors on Jonas's straining ship are all bustle and confusion, but Jonas, the one person most concerned, is fast asleep. By and by, says the unjust steward, I will cease from pilfering, and later on I will make restitution. In my will, says Plutus, I will remember the different charities, but I am not ready just yet to sign a will. There is no hurry, says the sinner, to-morrow, perhaps, I will arise and go to my Father, and if not to-morrow, at the last surely. To the last, says Wisdom itself, they shall be marrying and giving in marriage, and Dives shall be confidently planning for his future on earth with not a thought of heaven, even while the Lord is at his very door to demand his soul of him.
Brethren, the second point worthy of notice is the steward's dreadful plight when suddenly called to account. Sooner or later every David meets his Nathan. " Your sin," says Holy Writ, " will find you out." Doubtless the steward had been severe with those under him, and now these detect his dishonesty and in return hasten to inform their lord. A man
