III. And now one last word. Think for a moment about this silently and
swiftly obedient disciple.

Philip says nothing. Of course the narrative is mere sketchy outline.
He is silent, but he yields. Ah, brethren, how quickly a soul may be
won or lost! That moment, when Philip's decision was trembling in the
balance, was but a moment. It might have gone the other way, for
Christ has no pressed men in His army; they are all volunteers. It
might have gone the other way. A moment may settle for you whether you
will be His disciple or not. People tell us that the belief in
instantaneous conversions is unphilosophical. It seems to me that the
objections to them are unphilosophical. All decisions are matters of
an instant. Hesitation may be long, weighing and balancing may be a
protracted process, but the decision is always a moment's work, a
knife-edge. And there is no reason whatever why any one listening to
me may not now, if he or she will, do as this man Philip did on the
spot, and when Christ says 'Follow Me,' turn to Him and answer, 'I
will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.'

There is an old church tradition which says that the disciple who at a
subsequent period answered Christ, 'Lord! suffer me first to go and
bury my father,' was this same Apostle. I do not think that at all
likely, but the tradition suggests to us one last thought about the
reasons why people are kept back from yielding this obedience to
Christ's invitation. Many of you are kept back, as that
procrastinating follower was, because there are some other duties
which you feel, or make to be, more important. 'I will think about
Christianity and turning religious when this, that, or the other thing
has been got over. I have my position in life to make. I have a great
many things to do that must be done at once, and really, I have not