they had made in the cause of Christ ; " We have forsaken all, and followed thee : what shall we have therefore4?"
This inquiry is the first thing for our present con- sideration—
[Though the Apostles were poor, their all was as much to them, as it would have been if they had been richer : nor can we doubt, but that the surrender of it was as acceptable to God, as if the sacrifice had been more costly : " it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath notb." This sacrifice was required of them, and they had offered it without hesitation; they could truly say, they " had left all for Christ ;" and they had thereby approved themselves worthy of their descent from him, who, at God's command, had offered his only son Isaac upon the altar. Nor are we to imagine that the duty was peculiar to them: it is as much our duty, as it was theirs, to leave all for Christ. We are not in- deed called, like the Apostles, to forsake our worldly callings in order to wait as stated attendants on our Lord : we are rather to " abide in our callings wherein we are called :" but we must be willing to sacrifice every thing for Christ, and must actually sacrifice every thing that stands in competition with him : in this respect the whole Christian world are called to the same exercise of faith and self-denial as the Apostles were ; every thing sinful must be mortified ; and even the most inno- cent and necessary things must be given up, rather than that we should be drawn by them to the commission of any one sin, or to the neglect of any one duty: we must " hate father and mother, and even our own lives also, in comparison of Christ0." Under such circumstances Peter's inquiry seems not unrea- sonable: for if we are to surrender up every thing to and for Christ, we may well ask, ' What shall I gain by this ? or, What recompence shall I obtain V It is not to be expected that God will call us to such trials, and not remunerate us for our fidelity to him. It is true, we can never look for a reward of debt ; but a reward of grace we may expect, and that too in propor- tion to the sacrifices we make, the sufferings we endure, and the services we perform. We are not at liberty to make bargains, as it were, with the Almighty, and to stipulate for so much wages in return for so much service : we must rather enter voluntarily into his service, and cheerfully give up all for him : but after having made the needful sacrifices, we may inquire into the promised recompence of reward. We must, like Abraham, "go out from our country and our kindred, not knowing whither we god ;" and must trust in God to make all
a See Matt. xix. 27. b 2 Cor. viii. 12.
c Luke xiv. 26. d Heb. xi. 8.