DISCOURSE XXX.

GOD THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.

MARK X. 27.

WITH MEN IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT NOT WITH GOD; FOR WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

The Saviour had held a conversation with a wealthy and respectable young man, whom, for his fair morality, he looked upon and loved; he had said to this young man, after hearing him declare that he had from his boyhood, kept the commandments of the decalogue, that he lacked one thing which it would be necessary for him to attain before he could enter into the eternal life of his spiritual kingdom. He lacked the self-sacrificing disposition to devote, in obedience to the stern requirement of duty, his vast worldly possessions, and his body and soul wholly to the cause of heaven. The young man had manifested sadness at this saying of the Master, and in unwillingness to part with his earthly property, had gone away from him grieved; and thereupon, the Saviour had remarked looking about and addressing his disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the king

dom of God." Furthermore, the disciples had expressed astonishment at these words, to whom the Saviour said again, "Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God;" and this expression had astonished them “out of measure," impelling them to ask: "Who then can be saved?" Then the Saviour replied: "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible," or as Matthew has written it, "With mon this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

Having thus brought forward and run hastily over, these particulars of an interesting story in the history of Christ, let us consider the great lesson presented in the narration.

We are taught here that Christianity is the highest law, and does not compromise with the world; and that, if one would enter into its holy and everlasting life, he must live in obedience to this law. We are taught here that there is but one right way for man to walk in, and that this way is the way of Christ; that there is but one object on which man should set his heart, and that on this object his whole heart should be fixed and this object is God.

You cannot serve God and Mammon. You cannot love the world, and love God too. You should love only God. You should love only moral and eternal goodness. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength." This is the word of the divine and uncompromising religion of Christ.

This religion does not say that man shall not possess and use the world. He is permitted, nay, urged by it, to make the world valuable and beautiful to himself and his kind, to enjoy it. But he is forbidden by it to sink below the world, to make the world his god, to be a slave to it. He is commanded by it to conquer the world, to hold it as a gift from God, and to be ready under God's authority, whenever his will requires the sacrifice, to loosen his grasp and let it go forever. The condition on which he may live in real freedom and enjoyment-on which he may make his existence a great and perpetual blessing, is, that he consecrate himself wholly, and all his possessions, to the Infinite and perfect Father of all souls, and the Giver of all blessings; and that he suffer no worldly interests, no worldly suggestions, no worldly bias or judgment, no worldly temptations, or worldly flatteries, no sinful wish or thought of any kind, to turn his love and devotion from the high and holy One. And this is not a condition that he can complain of as unjust or cruel. It is difficult to conform to only with him who has fixed his heart upon the world, who has mistaken worldly possession for the highest good. The condition is easily fulfiled by him who keeps himself above and superior to these temporal things.

It is not the man of the most profound, but the man of the most shallow thought, who is chiefly governed by worldly considerations; who considers the attainment of worldly fortune whether of wealth, or power, or renown, as the highest success, and the shortest

cut to it the wisest and best course he can pursue. And such a man is just as likely to be one of those who have "great possessions," and are loaded with earthly honors, as of a different class-is more likely indeed, to be one of these than of a poorer and humbler order, for the influences and temptations of worldly riches are seductive and strong, and the smiles and praises of men are pleasant and winning.

He is the wise man, the man of healthy thought, who deems the attainment of moral excellence, through strict and prolonged fidelity to the law of Christ, and the only real and lofty condition worthy to be called success; who is convinced that the purity and nobility of soul which he has gained by faithful labor, by the toil of self-sacrifice and love in the service of the Son of God, are durable riches, the loss of which would leave him in poverty and misery, though he should receive the whole world in exchange for them. "What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own life?" the best and noblest part of himself, that spirit, that nobleness of thought and feeling, that refinement and joy of his soul and heart, without which he would descend to the plane of the brute and the fiend? "And what will a man give in exchange for his life?" If he once has had the form of godliness, and the holy and exalted characteristics of that form, the health, strength, dignity and peace of a just, pure and loving heart, what will he not let go to recover them again? There is no case of folly so great and apparent to unblinded eyes, as that one, who yielding to the importunities of outward desire, of selfish

ness and pride, the leadings of the senses, and the attractions of place and fashion, forsakes or refuses to follow, the line of duty marked out by the religion of the Son of God. Such a person's unsanctified industry may secure to him a kind of reward, the kind of reward he prays for and seeks, but sooner or later he will find it to be vanity and vexation of spirit. There is no truly safe and profitable course for men to pursue, but that of entire consecration and devotion to the Author of our being; of love and worship under his care and direction; and of most constant obedience to his word. There can be no loftier consciousness, there can be no sweeter reflection, there can be no fuller, richer peace than such as have place in the mind of him who has steadily and firmly through life inwardly and practically heeded the authority of God, whose heart has made no compromise with iniquity, whose voice has not been lifted to apologize for wrong, whose hand has not touched a bribe.

The condition on which we are required to enter into eternal life, is not a hard one, except to those who are immersed in worldliness, and have attached themselves to the earth. It is hard indeed, to those of every class, every rank in life, who have permitted the powers of this world, to take them captive, and to bind them down to the ground with chains which continually grow stronger, thicker and heavier. And such men are told how deep is their degradation, and how difficult it is to escape from such confinement, from such weights and bonds, they feel that their case is hopeless. And so it would be, if God were not good