Though this request discovered a deficiency of zeal, devotedness, and readiness of obedience, Jesus might, perhaps, have granted it, if it could have been granted with safety to the man himself, and justice to the cause of God. Thus, a similar request, in very similar circumstances, was granted to Elisha (as we read in 1 Kings xix. 19), to which there may have been an allusion on the part both of this man and of our Lord. "So he (Elijah) departed thence, and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again; for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat; then he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him." In Elisha, however, as his very prompt and decisive conduct immediately proved, there was that determination of mind which rendered it safe for him to go and take leave of his friends; whereas, in this man, our Lord, we may believe, perceived a wavering and a desire to gain time, which would have rendered it very dangerous for him to be exposed to the temptations which a sight of his property and a meeting with his friends would have presented. The sight of his goods and his comfortable home might have tempted him to desert from Christ altogether, like Demas, of whom Paul said, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." Or, if he was not a covetous man, natural affection might have overcome him, when his family and friends began to beseech him not to leave them. Such hesitation and delay, moreover, where the duty to which he was now called was so important, and the command so positive, were not to be encouraged, but checked. Our Lord, accordingly, refused his request, in these words:

"No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." This comparison, drawn from an important operation in husbandry, is very intelligible and expressive, when taken in the literal sense. How useless would be the ploughman's engaging in his work, if he desisted when he had made a single furrow! And what bad work would he make, if, while he continued

to hold the plough, instead of looking right before him, he turned his eye backward! He could neither preserve the straightness nor the proper depth of the furrow; he would mar the field; and he would be justly reckoned so unfit for his work, that no husbandman would employ him. Hesiod, one of the oldest uninspired writers, gives this description of a good ploughman, that he is one who, "attending to his business, draws the furrows straight, by no means looking round about on his companions, but keeping his mind fixed on his work."* The figurative application of this comparison is also obvious. The individual in question would have been quite unfit for the difficult work of preaching the gospel, and, indeed, for the personal enjoyment of the blessings, and discharge of the duties of the gospel, if he had either actually gone away from Christ at this time, or even continued inwardly to cherish the desire of departing implied in the expression, "looking back." And so it holds true universally, that whoever either openly apostatizes from Christ by returning to the world, or secretly hankers after the world in his heart, is unfit for the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven-neither is a true Christian here, nor will be acknowledged as such hereafter.

And now, like the two preceding cases, this case also is full of instruction. There is a peculiar reference here, as in the whole of this passage, to ministers-to those who are called to preach the word. If they are to be useful, faithful, and accepted of their Master, they must, at the outset, take leave of the world, in the sense of its being their chosen portion, and necessary to their happiness; and they must hold themselves in readiness to go whithersoever the Head of the Church may call them. The apostle Paul, in teaching Timothy to hold himself disencumbered, has these words: "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." They should also study to preserve a similar spirit throughout. And, as they should not get so involved in worldly business of their own, so neither should any desire to see them so much engaged in the merely secular, however charitable, affairs of others, as may, in any hurtful degree, withdraw them from their proper spiritual employment. When a murmuring arose that the Grecian * “Ος κ ̓ ἔργου μελετῶν ἰθείην αὔλακ ̓ ἐλαύνοι,

Μηκέτι παπταίνων μεθ ̓ ὁμήλικας, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ ἔργῳ
θυμὸν ἔχων.
Operum et Dierum, ii. 61.

widows were neglected in the daily ministration of charity, the twelve said,* in words very instructive in all ages of the Church, "It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."

This case, however, is applicable to all, and it should be felt by all of you as pressing on you the necessity of an immediate and unhesitating compliance with Christ's command to follow him as your Saviour and Master. There are, probably, none of you who are prepared to give a direct and positive refusal for ever; but there are certainly many of you who are postponing compliance, on various pretences. Say not that you have not time to attend to your salvation at present, and that you must first get your temporal affairs in order, "but seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," and all needful things will be added unto you. If you have never yet begun to follow Christ, begin now. If you think that you are willing and resolved to follow him, see that you actually do so. If you think you are beginning to follow him, break thoroughly away from sin and the world, and see that in a short time your progress be so considerable that it may be manifest you are on the way to heaven. Beware of whatsoever, and of whomsoever, might be the means of arresting you at the outset. Parley not with the tempter, and keep far away from all that would enchain you to the earth. Of all excuses for not immediately and heartily yielding, of all arguments for at least a little delay, none is more plausible, or more dangerous, than that of consulting friends. There are, indeed, many things in which it is wise to ask and to follow the opinion of others; but, as to whether you ought to believe and obey the gospel, whether you ought to seek the one thing needful, and to choose the good part which shall never be taken from you -as to whether you ought (as it is here expressed) to follow Christ, there ought to be no question about this: the propriety and necessity of this are beyond dispute-there is not the least occasion to ask advice of any one as to this: and if you can now, where you sit, coolly think of declining to close with the gospel call till you go home and consult your friends, you are either yet very far from the kingdom of

God, or you are labouring under a most dangerous mistake, which the case before you should rectify. Suppose, however, you have this moment resolved to put off Christ till you advise with your friends, and get their consent: they are either followers of Christ themselves, or they are not. But, in either case, it is quite needless to wait for, or ask, their opinion; for I can save you the trouble and the time of asking, by telling you at once, and without a doubt, what the substance of their opinion will be. If they are not following Christ themselves, they will, in some way, either plainly or by implication, dissuade you from following him; and so, if you are to consult them, and be influenced by them, you may just as well flatly and bluntly refuse Christ at once, and say to him, each of you, "No, I will not follow thee." But if, on the contrary, your friends are enlightened, believing, and godly persons themselves, if they are indeed following Jesus Christ whithersoever he goeth; then you yourselves know quite well what advice they would give you, and you need not wait to ask, nor need I say a word about it. They have given it you already habitually in their example, and perhaps with entreaties, and prayers, and tears. I say, then, if you wish to do what of all conceivable things would most rejoice their hearts, just comply with this invitation immediately, and let them forthwith and ever after this see that you are following Christ. In a word, why should the persons, or things, of your house at home, or of the world at large, cause you another moment's delay? What was spoken in reference to different though similar subjects, may be applied here, in this the day of your lingering and dangerous yet hopeful crisis: "In that day, he who shall be upon the house top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife." Remember how, when looking back with lingering regret to Sodom, she was turned into a pillar of salt, an everlasting monument of God's displeasure. "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."

Finally. Let those of you who are following Christ, that is, living in the faith and obedience of the gospel, be admonished, by this case, of the necessity of being steady and faithful to the last. One furrow is nothing, so you must persevere in this spiritual work. No part of your Christian business can be properly discharged, if your attention be

directed elsewhere. all his ways:" keep, therefore, your eye ever on your work, and pursue it with a simplicity of aim. Let not your friends hinder you. "Confer not with flesh and blood," as if there were any doubt whether you ought to lead a consistent life. Be like Paul, who said, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh." Beware of secret declensions. Beware even of looking back. Look right before you. Press forward in the strength of God. Follow on to the end; and "verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Christ in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now, the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, God's soul shall have no pleasure in him. Be ye not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

"A double-minded man is unstable in