For, the circumstances under which this command was given must be borne in mind.  It issued directly from the lips of the Son of God Himself.  It was not an ordinary call of Providence, in the ordinary manner in which God summons man to duty.  There is reason to suppose that the young ruler knew and felt that Christ had authority to give such directions.  We know not what were precisely his views of the person and office of Jesus of Nazareth; but the fact that he came to Him seeking instruction respecting the everlasting kingdom of God and the endless life of the soul, and the yet further fact that he went away in sadness because he did not find it in his heart to obey the instructions that he had received, prove that he was at least somewhat impressed with the Divine authority of our Lord.  For, had he regarded Him as a mere ordinary mortal, knowing no more than any other man concerning the eternal kingdom of God, why should His words have distressed him?  Had this young ruler taken the view of our Lord which was held by the Scribes and Pharisees, like them he would never have sought instruction from Him in a respectful and sincere manner; and, like them, he would have replied to the command to strip himself of all his property, leave the social circles to which he belonged, and follow the despised Nazarene, with the curling lip of scorn.  He would not have gone away in sorrow, but in contempt.  We must assume, therefore, that this young ruler felt that the person with whom he was conversing, and who had given him this extraordinary command, had authority to give it.  We do not gather from the narrative that he doubted upon this point.  Had he doubted, it would have relieved the sorrow with which his mind was disturbed.  He might have justified his refusal to obey, by the consideration that this Jesus of Nazareth had no right to summon him, or any other man, to forsake the world and attach himself to His person and purposes, if any such consideration had entered his mind.  No, the sorrow, the deep, deep sorrow and sadness, with which he went away to the beggarly elements of his houses and his lands, proves that he knew too well that this wonderful Being who was working miracles, and speaking words of wisdom that never man spake, had indeed authority and right to say to him, and to every other man, “Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:  and come and follow me.”

Though the command was indeed an extraordinary one, it was given in an extraordinary manner, by an extraordinary Being.  That young ruler was not required to do any more than you and I would be obligated to do, in the same circumstances.  It is indeed true, that in the ordinary providence of God, you and I are not summoned to sell all our possessions, and distribute them to the poor, and to go up and down the streets of this city, or up and down the high-ways and by-ways of the land, as missionaries of Christ.  But if the call were extra-ordinary,—­if