the man whom I have robbed.  I have no right to cheat the rich for the sake of the poor; and after I have cheated the rich, I do not make satisfaction, either to god or man, by giving that money to the poor.  Good old Zaccheus, the publican, knew better what true satisfaction was like.  He had been gaining money not altogether in an unjust way, but in a way which did him no credit; he had been farming the taxes, and he was dissatisfied with his way of life.  Therefore, Behold, Lord, he says, the half of my goods, of what I have a right to in the world’s eyes—­what is my own, and I could keep if I liked—­I give to the poor.  But if I have done wrong to any man, I restore to him fourfold.  Then said the Lord, ’This day is salvation come to this man’s house; forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham;’ a just and faithful man, who knows what true repentance is.

But now, my friends, suppose that this was just what our Lord tells us to do in this parable.  Suppose that this was just what the unjust steward did.  I only say, suppose; for I know that more learned men than I explain the difficulty otherwise.  Only I ask you to hear my explanation.

The steward is accused of wasting his lord’s goods.

He will be put out of his stewardship.

He goes to his lord’s debtors, and bids them write themselves down in debt to him at far less sums than they had thought that they owed.

Now, suppose that these debtors were the very men whom he had been cheating.  Suppose that he had been overcharging these debtors; and now, in his need, had found out that honesty was the best policy, and charged them what they really owed him.  They were, probably, tenants under his lord, paying their rents in kind, as was often the custom in the East.  One rented an olive garden, and paid for it so many measures of oil; another rented corn-land, and paid so many measures of meal.  Now suppose that the steward, as he easily might, had been setting these poor men’s rents too high, and taking the surplus himself.  That while he had been charging one tenant a hundred, he had been paying to his lord only fifty, and so forth.

What does he do, then, in his need?  He does justice to his lord’s debtors.  He tells them what their debts really are.  He sets their accounts right.  Instead of charging the first man a hundred, he charges him fifty; instead of charging the second a hundred, he charges him eighty; and he does not, as far as we are told, conceal this conduct from his lord.  He rights them as far as he can now.  So he shews that he honestly repents.  He has found out that honesty is the best policy; that the way to make true friends is to deal justly by them; and, if he cannot restore what he has taken from them already (for I suppose he had spent it), at least to confess his sin to them, and to set the matter right for the time to come.