The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-14


set his heart upon them. He gave
them that place in his affections which
belonged of right to God and only to
him. He raised them to the throne
of his heart and became their servant
when they should have been his
He loved them more than he loved
God or man, or both. He could shut
up his bowels of compassion, be but
could not let go the treasure of his
earthly goods. The sacrifice, though
nothing 50 great as that made by the
Master, was greater than he could
make; AMI so he went away,-having
become perpetual monument of
how near one may come to the king
dom of heaven and yet not go in and
be naturalized as a subject, and
whose example must ever assure us,
while we follow it, that we are not
yet true and genuine disciples.
When he had gone away, or, per-
haps, while he was yet going, Christ
laid hold upon the circumstance to
impress and fasten upon those
around, that to one who would be his
disciple, God and humanity must be
everything, the treasure above all
treasures, the love above all loves, for
which all else could be made will
ing sacrifice. He knew that what a
man loved most he would stand by
and cling to the longest; that he
would let go every other possession
before he would let go that treasure.
He would have love to God and love
to man, predominant above every
other possession, the treasure of the
human soul; to his disciple it must
be so, for so it was to him. He saw
how the wealth of this young man
had affected him; they could all see;
it had wound itself around his heart
and he could not tear himself away
from it. 1t was fitting time to eau
ton them to beware of it's allure
ments, and especially il any of them
were in possession thereof, to guard
we'll their heart, and be sure that
above everything they placed, "the
kingdom of God and his righteous
ness" Glow hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of
God" Thus he sought to fix this
matter in their minds, that ever after
they might be profited by the recol-
lection. Mark, by repeating the lam
guage and varying it little, shows
us precisely the sense in which Christ
used these words: children, how
hard is it for them that trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom of God"
1t was a call to notice and remember
what they had just now seen, and to
treasure up the relations of that hour
as lesson of profit in time to come.
There is nothing in all this that is
necessarily or naturally to be under
stood as of things not appertaining to
this world and to this present. On
the contrary, all points to present
needs and present possession. When
the young man asks how he may
have eternal life, Christ tells him how
he may have treasure in heaven.
And when he has refused to make
the sacrifice, choosing to keep his
possessions rather than use them to
promote human good, Christ calls
attention to that fact as evincing
how hard it is for rich man who
trusts in his riches, to enter into the
kingdom of God. All the circum-
stances of the account, therefore,
only indicate that the inquiry of the
young man, and the replies and OBJ
ssrvations of Christ thereon, had ref
erence to the matter of Christian
discipleship.
1t might be we'll for us who call
ourselves Christians and who mean
to be such, to try ourselves occasion
ally in the light of this subject. The
real hypocrite who appropriates the
name of Christian from mere consid-
Grafton or policy, but without any
wish or intention of trying to reach
the perfection of a Christian charac-
ter, may not care to do this; but the
honest-minded, the pure-intentioned
individual will wish to apply the
square often, not only to his life that
he may discover the rough corners
that need to be hammered off, but
also to his heart that he may per-
ceive whatever unevenness is yet re-
naming and needs to be polished
away before he will become good
work, true work, ready for the build
ers' use and wholly fashioned to
beautify and adorn the spiritual
temple of God.
There is nothing else, perhaps, con-
corning which we are SO likely to be
deceived and to put false and over
estimate upon as ourselves. 1t is a
natural trait which we all possess