Our Lord did not amuse his hearers with specula- tive truths, but brought them home to their conscience by a direct and personal application —
1. We must count the cost —
[Here the cost is plainly told us; " We must forsake all ;"
that is, forsake all comparatively in respect of affection, and
absolutely, whenever it stands in competition with our duty :
nor, if we refuse these terms, can we be his disciples. We are
not indeed to cast away our possessions at all events ; but so to
withdraw our affections from them, as to be willing to resign
them whenever the retaining of them shall be inconsistent
with our allegiance to him. This we ought to weigh in our
minds, and to consider whether the benefits of religion be
sufficient to counterbalance its trials. We must be ready to
part with our reputation, our interest, our carnal ease and
pleasures, our friends, our liberty, our life : but in return for
them we may expect, " the honour that cometh of God,"
" the riches of Christ that are unsearchable," " the pleasures
that are at God's right hand for evermore :" we shall even now
possess that " peace which passeth all understanding," together
with the liberty of the sons of God ; and soon we shall inherit
eternal life and glory in his more immediate presence. We
should dispassionately balance these against each other, that
we may see which scale preponderates, and whether the pearl
be worth the price demanded for it.]
2. We must pay it without reluctance —
[All have not the same trials to endure ; but all will meet with some which shall prove a test of their sincerity. When- ever, or in whatever degree, we be tried, we must shew our decided purpose, our fixed determination. We must "hate" (that is, we must esteem as worthless and of no account) our nearest friends, our dearest interests, yea, our very lives, when they stand in competition with our duty to God. Nothing must tempt us to draw back from him. If once we draw the sword, we must throw away the scabbard. If we slay not our spiritual enemies, they will destroy us. We must " endure to the end if ever we would be saved." On the other hand, we have every encouragement to " war a good warfare ;" for, if we go forth in the strength of the Lord God, we shall be " more than conquerors through him that loved us."]
We conclude with an address to,
1. The inconsiderate Christian —
[Men promise at their baptism that they will renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil ; but never afterwards think of fulfilling so much as one of their engagements. They expect