power. And yet so it is, that while we see how awful it is for a bishop or a priest to regard his sacred office as given him for his own sake, and to employ it wholly or chiefly for his own advancement; and while we justly maintain that kings and rulers are but God's "ministers," and knowing that they are so, are bound "above all things to seek his honour and glory;" we have come to regard property as in some respect different, as something belonging of right to its owner, and with which he has a right to do what he will, without forfeiting his Christian character. And so long as a man gives some little portion to God, like a quit-rent in acknowledgment of an obsolete claim, we regard the remainder as fairly his own. Who would not be shocked to hear a bishop speak of his office, in the tone adopted, even by religious men, in speaking of their property, their money, their houses, and their lands?
One of the parables of our blessed Master has been cited; a like lesson is taught even more directly in that of the unjust steward. For in this instance, our Lord Himself specifically makes the application, and marks that it is worldly property which forms the subject of our stewardship. "I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much;
