We now face the utterance of Christ with reference to a double mastery over life. He asserts that "no man can serve two masters," without love for the one and hatred for the other. When he seeks for the power that is most likely to contest with God for the allegiance of man he selects Mammon. Hence he states the dilemma without modification, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." He did not select Pleasure as the opponent of God, nor Ambition, nor Impurity, nor Dishonesty. He saw clearly that Mammon had the greatest power to draw men into life-long "service." Other sins might be occasional contestants, but the sin of greed was the constant foe seeking to cleave the loyalty of men. Jesus did not say that we could not serve God with Mammon. Elsewhere he says the very opposite of that. But he did say unequivocally, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Perhaps these six words, more nearly than any other, give us the heart of Jesus's teaching about wealth. They state in simple and direct form the alternatives for many lives. We can serve God _with_ Mammon. We can serve God _or_ Mammon. We cannot serve God _and_ Mammon. What Christ states as an impossibility many men try to accomplish. We see the vain efforts daily--men putting their greatest diligence into the market place as an end, with an occasional tribute to the temple. This is the most frequent form of the "double life." It is the poor compromise of a half-hearted or tenth-hearted service. Jesus said that God or Mammon must win the whole man. The God and the god cannot dwell in the same heart. Jesus here thrusts us back to the original biblical principle: God is the Absolute Owner. He will not share his rule. He will not partition his empire. Mammon must yield to God. Thus Jesus enters all markets and counting rooms and banks with his demand for undivided hearts and undivided lives.