hearts? Will he put any obstacles in their way? Has he not said, that " those who come unto him he will in no wise cast out?" Let not any then dishonour him by doubts and fears, as though he would not be gracious unto them : let not any sense of their own unworthiness discourage them : but let them rather remember, that the more lowly they are in their own eyes, the more amiable they will be in his ; and the more empty they are in themselves, the more certainly shall they be "filled out of his fulness."]
Mark x. 21, 22. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest : go thy way, sell whatso- ever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he tvas sad at that saying, and went aivay grieved : for he had great possessions,
IT is never known what a man is, till he is tried. Those who most dread a conflict, may approve them- selves steadfast when once they are actually engaged in it; and those who are most confident of their own prowess, may betray the greatest timidity. The eagerness of Peter to walk upon the waves, and his vehement protestations of fidelity to his Master, might have gained him a reputation for invincible firmness, had he not been left to prove by actual experiment the weakness and inefncacy of his resolutions. The man who engaged to follow Jesus whithersoever he might go, began to waver, as soon as he was informed that Jesus had not a place where to lay his head. Thus the young man in our text might have passed for the most excellent of characters, had he not been brought to the touchstone, and suffered to manifest the real dispositions of his soul. But the command which Jesus gave him, was a trial which he could not stand, and an ordeal which he could not pass.
In elucidating his conduct, we shall consider,
I. The injunction given him —
[We confess that the command was difficult to be obeyed. If we contemplate his youth, his rank (a ruler,) his opulence ; if we contemplate the sentiments he must have imbibed, the