Whatever the difficulties in the interpretation yy of the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:),-and these are only apparent,-it is clear that he is put out of his stewardship. Man has been entrusted with responsibilities for God. His creation, his presence in the world, is a proof of this. He is not here for himself, nor in independence, but to make diligent use of that which is not his own, but God's. This, of course, was true in the fullest sense in the case of our first parents. The garden was not merely' a place of delight for Adam, but of service too. He was to dress and to keep it, and keep himself inviolate from sin. He failed miserably, and was put out of the garden. God declared as to it, "Thou mayest be no longer steward." Outside the garden, his sentence of expulsion from stewardship was not removed. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," was the dark writing on the wall ever before his eyes.

"Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Every man's life, then, leading on to death, as it does, is a witness that his tenure of stewardship is brief. God has passed the sentence upon all, "Thou mayest be no longer steward;" and this is because man has dealt unfaithfully with what God had committed to him.

How the sin of Eden has been reenacted, with endless variations, by every descendant of Adam! Disobedience of God, even though He were known but dimly, has marked the human race. Nor does grace, blessedly though it removes the sentence of eternal doom, alter this solemn declaration. The
saints of God, like all the rest of the world, grow old, are subject to sickness, and lie down and die. Thank God, the sting of death has been removed, for sin has been judged in the person of our blessed Saviour, and no wrath lies against us. But, so far as our earthly circumstances in the body are concerned, we still hear the solemn declaration, "Thou mayest be no longer steward." Man has not been reinstated. The believer does not get back Eden blessings. This world is a witness of his unfaithfulness, and the solemn declaration of God must be adhered to, "Thou mayest be no longer steward."

How this should solemnize and chasten our hearts as we realize we are soon to be turned out of the world into which we have been put! This is but little realized, oftentimes, by the young; but as years go on and the powers of nature begin to fail, it is more and more clearly seen. If we judge merely according to sense, there is nothing before us but the grave, and that at no great distance, while of course the truth of the uncertainty of life is applicable to all alike, both old and young.

We have wasted our Master's goods surely in our unconverted days; and alas, since we have known the Lord we have not always been as careful as the trust put upon us would call for. We are unprofitable servants in a far fuller way than those who can say, "We have done that which it was our duty to do; " for our unprofitableness has gone further than the mere negative, not glorifying God beyond what was our appointed duty; we have failed in that which was actually put into our hands.

All this unfaithfulness has been due to the fall, and is closely connected with it, as we have seen. We can therefore also connect it with that which has existed since the fall-that old nature, called '' the flesh." It is because of the presence of the flesh in the believer that he is unfaithful, though this is no excuse. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." But as faith is that which has practically anticipated the judgment by accepting God's sentence of condemnation and His remedy, so also it can anticipate the setting aside of the unfaithful steward. God has already, in His own mind, put the unfaithful steward out of his office. He has "condemned sin in the flesh." Where we recognize this in its fulness we cease to be practically in the sphere in which unfaithfulness operates. The flesh, while still in us, and needing to be watched most carefully, is no longer our master. We can pass the rest of our lives, not according to the lusts of man, but according to the will of God. What liberty this gives! We bow in glad recognition of the fact that, so far as the flesh is concerned, no faithfulness in stewardship can be expected from it. We thankfully recognize that it has been judged and set aside, and now, instead of vainly seeking to secure faithfulness from that which has proved itself unfaithful, we are at leisure to be occupied with Him who was faithful in all things, even Christ; occupation with whom produces, according to our measure of faith, a like result in us.

So, as we look about us and see unfaithfulness in the world, or as we look at ourselves and see witness of the fact that, as to our bodies, the inevitable day when we shall be put out of our stewardship is approaching, we can with joy realize that day is past for faith. We have already been put out, and in the new sphere where Christ is all, and in the power of that "law of the Spirit" which is "life in Christ Jesus," we are walking now in the "newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." We yield ourselves unto God as those that are "alive from the dead."

May the Lord give us, as we realize the unprofitableness of the flesh, to be even yet, in the little time that we remain in the body, "good stewards of the manifold grace of God "!