and
come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for
he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he
said,--'How hardly shall they, that have riches, enter into the
Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's
eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!' And they
that heard it said,--'Who then can be saved?' And he said,--'The
things, that are impossible with men, are possible with God.' Then
Peter said: 'Lo, we have left all and followed thee.' And he said
unto them,--'Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the Kingdom
of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time, and in the world to come life everlasting'" (Luke 18. 22-30).

If then this is the judgment of him in whom we believe to be "hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge",--who "Knew what was in
man"--who was acquainted with all the secret influences by which his
heart is governed; shall we, in opposition to his solemnly recorded
judgment,--that if it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle, than for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of
God"--strive, by the amassing of wealth, effectually, as far as in us
lies, to stop our own heavenward course, as well as that of those
dear little ones, whom our heavenly Father may have committed to our
peculiar and tender care? We may, without anxiety, contemplate the
circumstance (I shall not say the misfortunes of dying and leaving
our families to struggle with many seeming difficulties in this
world) should obedience to the Divine Commands bring us and them into
such a situation; because our faith could lay hold, for support and
consolation, on the well-known declarations and the acknowledged
truth--that the Captain of our Salvation was made "perfect through
sufferings", and "learned obedience by the things that he suffered"
(Heb. 2.10, and 5.8);--that the Apostle "gloried in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation workers patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope--even a hope which maketh not ashamed" (Rom. 5.
5);--that he could describe himself "as sorrowful--yet always
rejoicing; as poor--yet making many rich; as having nothing--and yet
possessing all things" (2 Cor. 6. 10). But a Family left, by our
labour and contrivance, in a situation in which, as our Blessed Lord
himself declares, it is all bu