were still prosecuting the line which he had just relinquished. In this he sought to honour his Lord in the face of the whole world, and to advance the interests of His kingdom, by bringing others to the knowledge of him. This, under any circumstances, was a just expression of his gratitude for the mercy vouchsafed unto him. And it shews us how we also should use our influ- ence, when once we have become followers of our blessed Lord. We should not only not be ashamed to confess him openly before men, but should exert ourselves to bring our friends and relatives to an acquaintance with him, that they also may be made monuments of his grace, and become partakers of the blessings which we enjoy. Our very feasts should now be ordered with that view, and be made conducive to that end. Nor should we make any account of either expense or trouble, if we may but testify in the smallest degree our love to Christ, or advance the ends for which he came into the world ]
4. Determined —
[We never read of his expressing a wish afterwards to return to his former employment, or of his regretting that he had made so great a sacrifice. Nor should we ever " look back, after having once put our hand to the plough0." The patriarchs, who had left their country and their kindred at the call of God, " had opportunities enough to return, if they had been so minded ;" but they " looked forward to a heavenly country p," and to their dying hour pursued their pilgrimage towards it with unabated ardour. And we also must go forward in a sweet and assured hope, that in the place of all that we resign or lose for Christ, we shall have " a better and an enduring substance in heaven q" ]
Reflect,
1. How strongly does this example reprove the
whole Christian world !
[We are all called as he was, and have been called ten thousand times, to serve and follow Christ. But on whom amongst us have the same effects been produced 1 Who has not had many excuses to offer for declining to accept the invi- tations of his Lord ? I may even say, who, if his own
friend or relative had acted as Matthew did, would not have been ready to cry out against him as a weak deluded enthusiast ? But this call must be obeyed, if ever we would be acknowledged by our Lord as his obedient people. I do not say that we must actually renounce all our worldly interests for Christ ; but this I say, that we must be ready to renounce them, if they interfere with our duty to him, or if by the surrender of them
o Luke ix. 62. p Heb. xi. 15, 16. (i Heb. x. 34.