Luke 16:1-8 And he said also to his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward… A merchant, who was a God-fearing man, was very successful in business, but his soul did not seem to prosper accordingly; his offerings to the Lord he did not feel disposed to increase. One evening he had a remarkable dream; a visitor entered the apartment, and quietly looking round at the many elegancies and luxuries by which he was surrounded, without any comment, presented him with the receipts for his subscriptions to various societies, and urged their claims upon his enlarged sympathy. The merchant replied with various excuses, and at last grew impatient at the continued appeals. The stranger rose, and fixing his eye on his companion, said, in a voice that thrilled to his soul, "One year ago tonight, you thought that your daughter lay dying; you could not rest for agony. Upon whom did you call that night?" The merchant started and looked up; there seemed a change to have passed over the whole form of his visitor, whose eye was fixed upon him with a calm, penetrating look, as he continued — "Five years ago, when you lay at the brink of the grave, and-thought that if you died then, you would leave a family unprovided for — do you remember how you prayed then? Who saved you then?" Pausing a moment, he went on in a lower and still more impressive tone — "Do you remember, fifteen years since, that time when you felt yourself so lost, so helpless, so hopeless; when you spent day and night in prayer; when you thought you would give the world for one hour's assurance that your sins were forgiven — who listened to you then?" "It was my God and Saviour!" said the merchant, with a sudden burst of remorseful feeling; "oh yes, it was He!" "And has He ever complained of being called on too often? " inquired the stranger, in a voice of reproachful sweetness. "Say — are you willing to begin this night, and ask no more of Him, if He, from this time, will ask no more of you?" "Oh, never! never!" said the merchant, throwing himself at his feet. The figure vanished, and he awoke; his whole soul stirred within him. "O God and Saviour I what have I been doing! Take all — take everything I What is all that I have, to what Thou hast done for me? " Parallel Verses KJV: And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. |
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