him: If thou wouldst be perfect go and sell that
thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven, and come and follow me.

"'But when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful,
for he had great possessions.

"'Then said Jesus unto his disciples: Verily I say unto you that a
rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.'"

Then there came another pause, during which his listeners seemed almost
afraid to breathe, so strong was the spell of apprehension and
expectancy which he had laid upon them, and he went on:

"You have, everyone of you, heard those words read and spoken scores and
hundreds of times. Has it ever struck you that they are words which, if
you are a Christian man or woman, you must believe to be the words of
God himself, spoken by the lips of Infallible Wisdom, and inspired by
that Omniscience which sees you sitting here in this London church as
plainly as It saw that other congregation which was assembled that day
on the slope of the Mount of Olives, and which reads your hearts at this
moment as It read theirs then? If you do not believe that, then it
follows that you do not believe in the mission or the teaching of
Christ. You do not believe that He spoke the truth when He told the
young man that it was not only necessary to keep the commandments, as he
had done from his youth up; but that it was also necessary for him to
cease to be a rich man, and to distribute his wealth in relieving the
necessities of the poor.

"If you believe that Christ is very God of very God, as you say every
Sunday of your lives, you cannot escape the obligation which those words
put upon you except at the peril of your immortal souls. Remember that
it is not by your faiths and beliefs, or by the doctrines you have held
that you will be judged when you stand before the Last Tribunal. These
are but instruments to be used well or ill, but the final appeal will
come to your works. The last question that will be asked of you will not
be 'What creed have you believed?' or 'What Church have you belonged
to?' but 'What have you done?' and on the answer to that, as recorded
in the books of God, will depend your fate for all eternity.

"Remember the words, 'Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in Heaven.'

"Remember, too, that when you join in the services of t