back, God can have no pleasure in you :" " you will draw back to certain and everlasting perdition." You must " be faithful unto death, if ever you would obtain a crown of life :" " he only, that endureth unto the end, ever will, or ever can, be saved."]
Luke ix. 62. Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is Jit for the kingdom of God.
SO infinitely important is the service of God, that nothing can ever justify the withdrawing of ourselves from it, or the relaxing of our diligence in the discharge of our proper office. However innocent any earthly employment may be, yea, however decorous, or even necessary, in its place, it must give way to the more urgent calls of our duty to God. Of this our Lord constantly warned his hearers, in order that they might fully count the cost before they became his followers. His answers to three different persons upon this subject are worthy of our particular atten- tion : to the first, who voluntarily tendered to him his services, he replied, that he must expect no worldly advantages in following him, but rather lay his account to meet with poverty and disgrace. In his address to the second, whom he had enjoined to follow him, and who wished to defer his obedience till he should have performed the last offices for his deceased father, our Lord required him to leave those offices to others, who were not occupied in higher pursuits, and instantly to comply with the direction given him ; because nothing, however proper in itself, should interfere with the execution of a positive command. To the last, he gave this caution ; that since his earthly relatives would most probably prove a snare to him under his present circumstances, he must make up his mind to forsake all for him ; for that a wavering mind would unfit him both for the service of God on earth, and the enjoyment of God in heaven.