Lord's people. In making such a profession, you are incom- parably more likely to meet with want and shame, than fulness and honour. The Apostles of our Lord, and particularly the Apostle Paul, were exposed to cold, and hunger, and naked- ness, and perils of every kind : and thousands of others, in different ages of the Church, have been called to experience the same : and though persecution for righteousness' sake is not carried to the same extent amongst us, we are not autho- rized to expect any earthly comfort, of which the men of this world can deprive us. A pre-eminence in our Lord's kingdom will, in the eyes of the ungodly, entitle us to nothing but pre- eminence in sufferings and reproach. And the man that will not follow religion on these terms must relinquish Christ alto- gether : for " if we take not up our cross daily to follow him, we cannot be his disciples." Let every one, therefore, that would be saved by Christ, be prepared to participate with Christ in his wants and sufferings ; and let him "follow Christ without the camp, bearing his reproach," yea, and " glorying that he is counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake."]
To the next, our Lord declares that every consi- deration under heaven must give way, when we are plainly called to serve and honour him —
[This I conceive to be the real meaning of that expres- sion, " Let the dead bury their dead." Our Lord did not mean to discourage the performance of our relative duties, and least of all the duties which we owe to our parents. Both the Law and the Gospel concur in this, even in enforcing obedience to earthly parents. This was " the first commandment with pro- mise ;" and, " if we obey it not," whatever we may profess, " we are worse than infidels." But our duty to God is of paramount obligation. And, if we say, Who then shall per- form the duties which we neglect? I answer, There will always be found enough of worldly people to attend to worldly duties: and we may well leave them to discharge what they supremely affect. We may " leave the dead to bury their dead." If we have a clear call to preach the Gospel, or to embrace it in such a way as shall be incompatible with those carnal occupations which may as well be performed by others, we may well leave those occupations to others ; and, at all events, we must never so follow them as to let them interfere with the discharge of our higher duties : and if any one blame us for this, our answer must be, " Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye : for we cannot but do the things which he requires."]
To the last, our Lord administered a solemn caution —
[It seemed that this person was more sincere than the
others ; though still by no means sufficiently aware of the