_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_.