His soul was not empty, swept, and
garnished, but crowded with meanest idols, among which his spirit crept
about upon its knees, wasting on them the gazes that belonged to his
fellows and his Master. The disciples were a little further on than he;
they had left all and followed the Lord; but neither had they yet got
rid of _Things_. The paltry solitariness of a loaf was enough to hide
the Lord from them, to make them unable to understand him. Why, having
forgotten, could they not trust? Surely if he had told them that for
his sake they must go all day without food, they would not have minded!
But they lost sight of God, and were as if either he did not see, or
did not care for them.
In the former case it was the possession of wealth, in the latter the
not having more than a loaf, that rendered incapable of receiving the
word of the Lord: the evil principle was precisely the same. If it be
_Things_ that slay you, what matter whether things you have, or things
you have not? The youth, not trusting in God, the source of his riches,
cannot brook the word of his Son, offering him better riches, more
direct from the heart of the Father.
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