act wisely is to act faithfully--that is honestly. Our Lord bids us copy
the unjust steward, and make ourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness. Now, it seems, He tells us that the way to make friends
of men by money transactions is to deal faithfully and honestly by them.
This then was perhaps why the Lord commended the unjust steward, because
he had been converted in time, and seen his true interest; and for once
at least in his life become just. He had found out that after all,
honesty is the best policy; as God grant all of us may find out if any of
us have not found it out already. Honesty is the best policy.
Faithfulness, as our Lord calls it, is the true wisdom. And in that, as
our Lord says, the children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light. The children of this world, the plain
worldly men of business, find that to conduct their business they must be
faithful, diligent, punctual, accurate, cautious, business-like. They
must have practical common sense, which is itself a kind of honesty.
They must be men of their word, just and true in their dealings, or
sooner or later, they will fail. Their schemes, their money, their
credit, their character, will fail them, and they will be overwhelmed by
ruin.

And that is just what too often the children of light forget. The
children of light have a higher light, a deeper teaching from God, than
the children of the world. They have a great insight into what ought to
be; they see that mankind might be far wiser, happier, better, holier
than they are; they have noble and lofty hopes for the future; they
desire the welfare and the holiness of mankind. But they are too apt to
want practical common sense. And so they are laughed at (and deservedly)
as dreamers, as fanatics, as foolish unpractical people, who are wasting
their talents on impossible fancies. Often while their minds are full of
really useful and noble schemes, they neglect their business, their