Few,
few, few, for he who will not give up ALL for Christ's sake, has given
up nothing.
"If you would live in the friendship of this world, if indeed you
are not prepared to give up everything you most fondly cherish, should
the Lord require it of you, then, I say, put the idea of Christ
deliberately on one side at once. Spit upon him, buffet him, crucify
him anew, do anything you like so long as you secure the friendship of
this world while it is still in your power to do so; the pleasures
of this brief life may not be worth paying for by the torments of
eternity, but they are something while they last. If, on the other
hand, you would live in the friendship of God, and be among the number
of those for whom Christ has not died in vain; if, in a word, you
value your eternal welfare, then give up the friendship of this world;
of a surety you must make your choice between God and Mammon, for
you cannot serve both.
"I put these considerations before you, if so homely a term may be
pardoned, as a plain matter of business. There is nothing low or
unworthy in this, as some lately have pretended, for all nature
shows us that there is nothing more acceptable to God than an
enlightened view of our own self-interest; never let anyone delude you
here; it is a simple question of fact; did certain things happen or
did they not? If they did happen, is it reasonable to suppose that you
will make yourselves and others more happy by one course of conduct or
by another?
"And now let me ask you what answer you have made to this question
hitherto? Whose friendship have you chosen? If, knowing what you know,
you have not yet begun to act according to the immensity of the
knowledge that is in you, then he who builds his house and lays up his
treasure on the edge of a crater of molten lava is a sane, sensible
person in comparison with yourselves.
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