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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