unseen, the avenues to eternity; that we ought not, cannot, be secure even of to-morrow.

As our Lord inculcates the necessity of vigilance, so does he point out the causes which lead to this fatal carelessness; 1, the cares of this life; and, 2, intemperance, implied in the words, surfeiting and drunkenness.

1. While men consider this world to be their portion, they must be very reluctant to expect its dissolution, and prepare to meet their God. The cares of this life, when encouraged, so occupy the hours, that no leisure is allowed for concerns of a spiritual kind; so that under the toil of projecting and plodding, the whole man is alive only to the world, and is dead to God and to Christ.

2. That spiritual vigilance is much impeded by intemperance, is evident from its general character. Intemperance is one great mark, by which the Gentile is disgracefully distinguished from the Christian. (1 Pet. iv. 3; 1 Thess. v. 5-8.) It tends to darken the powers of the understanding; harden the heart; stupify the conscience; so that the mind is unaffected by what ought most to affect it. (Hos. iv.) It depresses and degrades the soul into the most carnal and torpid sensuality; and thus not only is the very worst preparation to welcome the advent of our future Judge, but hinders men in every mode of spiritual preparation.

Not that it is to be understood, that a future judgment should be the perpetual object of our meditations; for that is incompatible with the condition of human life, and with the duties we owe to the world and to ourselves. But in order to be habitually prepared, let us begin an immediate reformation of what we find amiss in our manners, and live in a regular persevering obedience to the divine laws. The best, the only secure preparative for hereafter, are the virtues of a Christian life. Without these, the last hour may, when we look not for it, hurry us away to judgment before our accounts are ready, and convey us out of this world before we have made provision for the next. (CARR.)

Our Lord urges upon his disciples the necessity of considering the difficulties of religion before they take up a profession of it. LUKE, xiv. 25-35.

AND there went great multitudes with him in his journey towards Jerusalem; and he turned, and said unto them, If any one comes to me, and, in comparison with me, does not less affectionately love his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, nay and himself too, he cannot be my disciple.

27. And whosoever does not resolve to bear his cross, and to come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28. For which of you, intending to build a turretted mansion, does not sit down first, and calculate the expense, whether he has sufficient to finish it? 29. Lest, haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who behold it, begin to deride him, 30, saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31. Or what king, going to engage in battle with another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him who cometh against him with twenty thousand? 32. Or else, while the other is yet at a distance, he sendeth an ambassage, and begs conditions of peace. 33. So likewise (continued Jesus, addressing himself more especially to his future apostles and preachers) whosoever he be of you, who forsaketh not all that he hath, and would not resign his possessions rather than renounce his adopted religion, cannot be my disciple.

34. With steadiness of purpose and affection, ye will resemble salt which is good: but if by worldly attachment, ye abandon your new obligations, what will ye be but the salt which has grown insipid; and wherewith shall it be seasoned? what can reclaim you? ye will become vile, and useless to yourselves and to the Church; even as insipid salt is neither fit for manuring the land, nor even for a place on the dunghill: but men throw it out of doors.

He of you that hath ears to hear these warnings, let him hear them with due attention.

It is to be feared that many dream that they are interested in the cross of Christ, who were never willing to bear the cross for him; and who neither renounce their worldly interest nor

mortify their lusts in order to follow him. Our religious profession must be undertaken with that deliberate consideration, which becomes a matter of such great importance. A hasty purpose will never bear us through the difficulties we must expect to encounter: rash vows and thoughtless adventures, in this case, will only expose us to the derision of others, to remorse of conscience, and to the anger of God.

That the apostles might feel the necessity of weighing deliberately, whether they were able and prepared to bear all the losses and persecution to which the profession of the Gospel would expose them, our Lord desires them to consider how prudence would direct them to act in other cases of importance: "The most thoughtless person among you will not resolve on a matter of such importance as the building of a house, without previously calculating the expense; because ye know that the builder who begins without counting the cost, exposes himself to the ridicule of all passengers, who look on the halffinished edifice. In like manner, the king who declares war without comparing the number of his forces with that of the enemy, and without considering whether the bravery of his troops and the conduct of his generals will be able to make up what he wants in numbers, is sure to be ingloriously defeated, unless he humbly sues for peace before it comes to an engagement. In the same manner, whosoever engages to be my disciple without counting the cost, and resolving to part with all that he hath, will certainly be disheartened by the unexpected difficulties with which he will meet; and abandoning my service, will expose himself to great shame and loss." It would be foolish to urge the letter of this precept strictly; and maintain that a man cannot be Christ's disciple, unless he throws all his goods into the sea, divorces his wife, and bids farewell to his children and relations. None more truly renounces all that he hath, than the man who preserves himself ready every moment to do so, and follows his business free and disentangled. Such a person will cheerfully part with life, and every thing dear in life, when called thereto. The apostles themselves retained their possessions: thus John took into his house his Lord's mother: Peter paid tribute at Capernaum: he and other disciples had their own boats and nets (John, xxi.); but at the same time, they had forsaken all in the true sense of their Master's precept; being

ready, at his call, to leave their families, occupations, and possessions, as often and as long as he thought fit to employ them in the work of the Gospel. This self-denial was peculiarly necessary for them; because it was the spiritual salt which would preserve them from apostasy, and others from corruption; as it would not only weaken the temptation to which they might be exposed; but its beauty, appearing with great lustre in their behaviour, would allure others to become disciples and true subjects of his kingdom. At the same time, our Lord solemnly warns the apostles, that salt may lose its savour; be cast out, and trodden under foot. If they whose business it was to reform mankind, be themselves wicked, they cannot be reclaimed; but will be the most useless and contemptible of men. (See, ante, p. 33.)

Though we are not summoned to the grievous trials and privations, to which the apostles were subjected, yet the precept to forsake all, cannot, to us, be a dead letter. How, then, shall it be fulfilled? that by thus showing ourselves to be true disciples of Jesus, he may not cast us out as salt that is insipid.

1. We are to forsake our former iniquities, altogether, and without reserve. To retain some favourite sin for our occasional gratification, is that to leave all for the sake of Christ?

2. We must forsake all our carnal prejudices, and sit as children at the foot of the cross. There is a mental and intellectual self, which disputes, where it ought to obey; and which sets itself in array against the wisdom of God. A proud reluctance to abandon long-cherished theories in divine matters, was the cause that while St. Paul, at Athens, was discoursing on the Resurrection, his philosophical hearers sneeringly asked, 'What would this babbler say?'

3. If we are summoned, on some occasions, to abandon all our possessions, we must forsake, on every occasion, all iniquitous methods of increasing them. We are to renounce private interest, whenever it interferes with our obedience to Jesus Christ. In the daily and hourly dealings of life, what opportunities of undue advantage! what inducements to profit by them! But it is not to dishonesty, according to the ordinary acceptation of the term, that the guilt of unjust regard to interest is restricted. Countless are the occasions of acquiring money, or of furthering our ease or advancement, or some other

worldly object, by various methods; the iniquity of which, light as it may be deemed, is, in many instances, not inferior to that of dishonesty; by flattery; by bribery; by sinful compliances; by ministering to prejudice or pride; by raising or diffusing unfounded reports concerning our competitors. Does the man who pursues his benefit by any of these means, leave all for the sake of Christ? He prefers interest to Christ.

4. We are to cast away all reliance on merit of our own, for acceptance with God. The true disciple, in self-examination, sees his heart full of depravity; and his conduct, a mass of sin. He becomes conscious how odious he has rendered himself in the sight of a holy God. He contemplates the divine justice; and trembles at the punishment which he has incurred. He considers the divine power; and beholds the impossibility of escape. But an atonement is set before him, in the blood of the Son of God: there he beholds a ransom; and pardon, and peace, and happiness. Let my righteousness' (he exclaims) 'be the righteousness which is of God, by faith in the Lord Jesus. He that hath the Son of God, hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. There is no other name, under heaven, among men, whereby I may be saved.'

5. We must follow our Redeemer unto the end. From every Christian, patient continuance in well-doing is indispensably required. Who is it that the Scripture saith shall be saved? He that endureth unto the end. Who is it that shall reap the everlasting recompense? He who presseth onward in the path of righteousness, neither weary through sloth, nor fainting through timidity. No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. If you persevere, he who has begun a good work in you, will complete it. The arm of your Saviour is not shortened. Look up still to him; and go forth conquering, and to conquer. Yet a few more days or years of conflict; and the victory is achieved; and the recompense of victory will be secured for ever. (T. GISBORNE, chiefly.)

A provident house-holder produces various stores. Matthew, xiii. 51, 52.

JESUS saith unto them, 'Have ye understood all these things ?'