III. There is a third class, and they compose a great multitude, who
have, so to speak, grown up in the devil's prison house, and have
grown so used to his ways that they are willing to stay there. These
may be said to be bound with _two chains_. Their love of the world is
one chain, and their love of self is the other. I may be addressing
some now who are thus bound. Let us see. Jesus says: "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is
like to it which is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Does every one who is now under the sound of my voice do this? Are you
sure, my friend, that you love God more than the world, and that you
love your neighbor as yourself? What proof have you to give of this?
Jesus again says: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that loveth
me will keep my words." There can be nothing more perfectly in harmony
with human nature in all its phases than these declarations of our
Lord. Where is the subject that is unwilling to render obedience to
the prince or king that he loves? Where is the loving child that
refuses to obey its parents? I tell you that obedience is the test and
proof of love. Do you obey our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you say "No"?
Then, my dear friend, let me say to you, in all candor and love, you
do not love him. You may imagine that you do, but your imagination on
this point is a delusion. But perhaps you are ashamed to confess him.
Hear again what the Lord says: "He that is ashamed of me and my words,
of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his
glory."

But perhaps you ask: "How am I to get rid of my chains?" Get rid of
them, my dear unconverted friend, just as Peter got rid of his. The
Lord is just as willing and as able to rescue you from the chains of
sin and the thraldom of bad habits as he was to rescue Peter from the