aspiration. we are now WE Fave spoken of iis spiritest discover that he was not a mah [consumed by one solitary here wis not possessed of one di aspiration. There was another plaint fon his affections, another object of lGesire—"He had' great possessions." Now, it goes against the natural lias of most men to regard wealth 'a hindrance to anything. It is ragually regarded as the indispensable means to the things thet are desirable. That was the opinion of the disciples. They could not under-staid the situation; they were amazed beyond words. "Who then jean be saved?" they exclaimed. Did you notice the paradox ju ouy text as we read "One thing thou lackest... He had great possession." It was the thing he had that constituted his lack. That plus was a minus. His wealth his poverty, for it was the one main hindrance to this yang man's inheriting eternal life. Had he been a poor man, he would have received the treasure that day; he would have joined the bind of disciples; he would Rave learned the secret of Jesus.
How is it that wealth stands in the way of spiritual attainments? It is obviously not bad in itself. Its uses are manifold, and ineidéntjolly Jesus, while pointing out ist dangers, actually indicated one of its uses—it could be given to the poor. Tt could help to prove that he really had fulfilled the manward side of the commandments, as he had claimed to have done. There is no philanthropic undertaking that can proceed without money. Some people even speak of the dollar as almighty. What then is wrong with it? Nothing at all, if used aright. If it is consecrated it can express the soul's devotion. May we not sum up the position by saying that money is good as a means, but bad as an end. When regarded as an end in itself, it blocks the way to the higher end: It engenders a false trust, a spurious satisfaction. It steals the heart. Jesus stated the case in two sentences: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Arid then, when the disciples were at an utter loss to understand, He put it in a different way, inserting an explanation: "How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God." "You will sce by the margin of some of your Bibles that some authorities omit the latter explanation. The express jon does not occur in some ancient its. It may have been Inter. But the words supply the explanation none the less, whoever offered it. Riches mislead the heart and claim the trust that belongs to higher objects, and impart a false sense of satisfaction. This then was the young man's ference, his wealth. His par. ticular temptation was that of avarice, It is not so in every case. We are all made differently, for we have each had a different history and development. In some leases the hindrance is pride, jealousy, or worldly ambition various kinds. Jesus has been fed toa physician and He is well able to diagnose our case. He does not! generalize. He treats us all inidually, knowing that we are all different, He diagnosed the case lof which we have been speaking as one of avarice. "One thing thou Incketh," but it may be a different thing in every ease. And the duty of every man is to listen to the voice speaking in his heart and telling him what, in his own case, that tone thing is.
There is one other thing to be
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.