spoke them ironically. We are persuaded that our Lord would not have indulged in irony or sarcasm on such an occasion, and least of all towards one whom " he loved *^." The meaning of his answer was ; " Come, and follow me in all that I command you, and you shall gradually be guided into all truth." And the command which he immediately gave the Youth, to go and sell all that he had, and to look for treasure in heaven, put his sincerity to the trial, and shewed him, that, notwithstanding the anxiety he professed to learn the way to life, he was more at- tached to his wealth than to his Saviour and his God. When our blessed Lord more explicitly declared the way of salvation, he spoke of himself as having come into the world for the express purpose of giving up his life " a ransom for many V' and of giving men his own flesh to eat, and his blood to drink, for the life of their souls'.
Of the views given by the Apostles, our opponents themselves have but little doubt ; and hence, for the most part, the Epistles are no very favourite part of Scripture with them : and some will go so far as to say, that they think it would have been better if the Epistles of St. Paul had never been written.
But let us hear St. Peter on the day of Pentecost. When three thousand persons at once were crying out with great agony of mind, " Men, and brethren, what shall we do ?" his answer to them is, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins'";" that is, ' Change your minds with respect to Him whom you have crucified as a malefactor ; and, with deep contrition of heart for your rejection of him, look to him now as the only Saviour of your souls, and become his open followers in token of your faith in him.' The same Apostle, addressing the whole Jewish Sanhe- drim, speaks thus of that Jesus whom they had cruci- fied : " This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner :
g Compare Matt. xix. 16, 17. with Mark x. 18, 21.
^ Markx. 45. * John vi. 52—58. ^ Acts ii. 38.