and been like unto Gomorrah, if a hidden remnant of the righteous had not served these countries and towns as it were for lightning conductors and shields of protection: "The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show, but it is within you." This we do not sufficiently consider: nor did Elijah. And, for this reason, we can often be greatly mistaken with respect to this kingdom, and reject people as men of the flesh who in reality are children of God; and, on the other hand, take those for Christians who by no means belong to the flock of the Lord. It is not unfrequently the case, my brethren, that we measure the temple of God by most incorrect measures, and we therefore frequently very much miscalculate its dimensions. For instance, it is generally supposed that, where there are no enlightened preachers, there can be likewise no real Christians. But are we not acquainted with the promise of God, that, where the pastors are bad, He will himself take care of his flock? Has he ever made the regeneration of his elect strictly dependent on human instrumentality? Behold, in the midst of the wilderness, he often plants with his own hand the loveliest roses; and, from amongst the wildest bushes, whither no human gardener ever came, He permits us often to hear the sweetest notes of the nightingale. We think at times that, where nothing is told of awakenings, there no awakenings can take place. But, my brethren, must there always be a rushing sound when it rains, and cannot children be born unto the Lord like the dew, with the first blush of the morning-silently and unseen, before the sun illumes the sky, and when men are wrapt in sleep? Again, we take it for granted that, where we do not hear of persecutions, no decided Christians can abide there. Certainly, the Lord says, "I am not come to send peace, but a sword!" and such is the general rule. But, nevertheless, there can exist Christians who, without being actuated by fear, pursue such a quiet, reserved, and gentle course, that they do not appear, even to the children of the world, as true worshippers of the Lamb;—and when the Lord says to Laban, "Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad," can Laban do otherwise? Now, we also suppose that in certain conditions, ranks, and societies, for instance, at an unbelieving, worldly-minded court,-no child of God can be found; but do we not see in the example of a Joseph, an Obadiah, and a David, that such really can be the case? And Obadiah seems to have even possessed the confidence and friendship of one of the most profligate of men, of an Ahab. Again, we frequently judge of the state of the kingdom of God according to the meetings held or not held in a place, and according to the number of those who frequent them. But is this judgment always correct? Could it not be possible that in a place where there are even no meetings held, still many children of God could exist who might be withheld by fear and timidity-and fear can also abide in true Christians—from assembling together, and be obliged to conceal themselves as during the times of Elijah? And, besides does it not lie in the guidance of some souls that they feel themselves directed more to the retired and secret communion with their Lord than to much intercourse with their brethren. Thus also, if in a place or country no sympathy and activity for Christian institutions, missionary and Bible societies exist, we cannot thence positively conclude that there are no real Christians; perhaps they only want the knowledge of such institutions, or perhaps only the excitement of such an interest, or the good souls have yet so much to do with themselves, with their own poor hearts, and with their own spiritual affairs, that they have no leisure left them to direct their attention abroad. All this is very possible. But where no religious works, no intelligence respecting the kingdom of God, no tracts, no sermons, are either read or asked for, there surely must be an entire want of saints? Oh no, my brethren, that we cannot determine with certainty. I know saints, and whom all of you would acknowledge to be saints, were I to name them, who read nothing in the world but the Bible and Psalm Book, and daily wipe their eyes for joy that they are so rich with these two books, and believe they possess in them a whole library, which they will never be able to exhaust, and think that nowhere is any thing so beautiful to be found as in their Bible. Who can say they are wrong, and who would press upon them other books, in which, as they maintain, there is nothing so beautiful to be met with. And of such beings there may be a good many. It does not seldom happen, my brethren, that we diminish the number of true believers by determining too arbitrarily and too shortsightedly the marks by which the state of grace is to be recognised. We wish, for instance, to prescribe to the Holy Spirit, who is free, and bloweth how and whither he listeth, a certain course which he has to pursue in the conversion of all human hearts. In the self-same manner as he has subdued and leads us, he is also to act with all the rest. But, pray, who are we, that would lay down a rule to the Holy Spirit for his work? Eternal wisdom sports upon earth, and does not confine itself to uniformity either in the kingdom of nature or in that of grace, but loves variety in unity. If thou hast made thy way into the promised land through the Red Sea of a sudden, heavy, and desperate struggle of repentance, should then the Holy Spirit be unable to lead another one into it by the way of a calmer penitence, soothed already by the hope for grace? This repentance would, in reality, be similar to thine, differing only in its form and manifestation. If thou hast been obliged long to sigh and to groan ere thy sins were forgiven thee, do not grudge at another because the Lord gave him sooner to taste of his tender mercy; and do not misjudge the man on that account. Let the Lord do as he chooses, for he is the Lord! If it is given to thee more quickly to attain a godly life, whilst there a poor cripple is day and night plagued by the thorns of his flesh, and time after time sinks to the ground, and cannot cease from weeping tears of repentance, should he, on that account, be no child of God? If it be granted to thee to speak much of knowledge, and to communicate whatever thou hast experienced, must it for this reason be given to the other also? And can there be no silent, quiet, and reserved children of God? And, if thou likest to be active in awakening others, and be apostolically engaged with preaching and exhortations, &c., and others are different, and are neither skilled for, nor urged to it-what, wilt thou, therefore, doubt their Christianity being intrinsic? How rash would this be! And yet, my brethren, we are by no means wanting in such rash judgments, and such measuring by self-chosen and incorrect rules. And, if we only looked more to the essential part, namely, whether the contrite heart be there, and the longing after Jesus and his blood; but, respecting the immaterial matters abided by the truth, "That there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit," we should, perhaps, soon add many a dear soul to the number of our brethren, whom now we so unjustly reject as not belonging to us. II. Our prophet, as you have heard, received an explicit divine revelation respecting the faithful in Israel, and their number. The Lord unveiled to him the hidden Church, and we may suppose how great the astonishment of the man of God must have been when he received the unexpected intelligence that, among the very people he had so severely accused, yet seven thousand were left who had not polluted themselves with idolatrous abominations. He had looked upon himself as the only light in the darkness of Samaria, and, ere he is yet aware, behold, a whole starry heaven of the elect beams upon him, which had only been obscured by his faintheartedness. and, behold, he steers towards Jerusalem, and his guiding star is the Man of sorrows: or, with some common boatman or sailor, with an uncouth exterior, who has grown up in the seat of the scorners; and, behold, through the rude cover glitter the golden wings of a dove of God, and under the rough jacket beats a heart fixed to that anchor which entereth into that which is within the veil. Now, as we have frequent instances amongst you, we enter into a house, in order, as we think, to preach to one spiritually dead the repentance unto God, and, ere we are yet aware, oh happy surprise! we stand disarmed, disarmed in the most delightful manner, by the sweet smile with which the man regards us, and wherein is reflected a soul that has long tasted in secret the peace of God, and perhaps already possesses a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ than we ourselves. And, in truth, such discoveries are infinitely superior to all that a miner can find, or a navigator discover; and how such unexpected disclosures can put to shame our faintheartedness, strengthen our faith, and expand our heart-and It not unfrequently happens also, now-a-days, how much more cautious and lenient do they render thanks to the Almighty, that the Church is com- our opinions of others, and how much more serene forted by such joyful discoveries. On the very spot and hopeful our view of the world in general,— is not where we supposed there would be nothing but thorns in the power of words to express. After having met and thistles, the Lord often surprises us with the but once or twice, amongst you also, with such hiddisplay of beds of spiritual roses and lilies as, per- den flowers of faith, which neither you nor I knew haps, we have never seen bud more beautifully in of before, the whole parish appears to me in a the gardens of God. And, where we imagined our-different light, and when I walk through it I seem selves encompassed by nothing but an Egyptian to pass through the shaft of a rich mine, under the darkness, we are often for the first time told, with impression that a stroke of the mattock to the right the most pleasing signification, as Abraham once or to the left might every moment discover to me a was, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, new vein of precious metal. if thou be able to number them." Here the Lord opens to us, as for example has lately happened in a French village, the dwelling of a notorious woman, a fortune-teller, and shows us in it, instead of a depraved and dissolute family, a peaceful and blessed group of lambs, to which he had in a short time transformed the most abandoned creatures. Here he discloses to us, what has likewise recently occurred in one of the most dissipated towns in the world, a spiritual plantation of grace which we should never have looked for in such a human wilderness; and yet it had flourished for years in secret, known only to the Heavenly Husbandman who planted and nurtured it. Here he presents to us in a region-you know the place where the voice of the Gospel had, for who knows how long, been entirely mute, whole groups of the most sincere children of God, whom he himself had generated in secret without human interference, so that it is difficult to tell whence they came thus suddenly, and one would almost Thus also the Prince of Hosts in heaven has a think they had descended from heaven, like the dew hidden camp in the world, and has only to give the of the morning. Here he brings before us, quite un-signal, which, according to the prophet, he will not awares, as was somewhere the case of late, through the interference of a pious and just emperor, three hundred saints, of whom no one knew, out of the prisons of malefactors; three hundred, whose knees had not bowed unto Baal, and whose mouth had not kissed him; and who, for this, this very reason, lay in chains, without the emperor's knowledge, but in this tribulation had effectually attached themselves to their Heavenly Vine, and came forth clad in new verdure, and laden with fruit. Now he brings us into collision—and this joy I have often experienced in my former parish—in the midst of a wild and ungovernable crew, with an old mariner, who has spent his whole life amongst the coarsest associates; Yes, poor as the Church may seem, still it is by no means so poor and void of divine, holy, and sound faith, as we in our little faith are apt to imagine. I am certain, if it only pleased the Lord to lift the veil, he could at any time surprise us with a sight in the Church which could be compared to the resurrection of the dead on the last day. When a general stations an ambuscade, he distributes his troop in small detachments amongst the clefts and recesses, behind the precipices and thickets, so that nothing is to be seen except the naked mountains, and the uninhabited and silent woods. But, as the enemy approaches in careless security, he sounds the signal trumpet, and in an instant, as if conjured out of the earth, a glittering squadron of warriors rush forth from their hiding places, so that the enemy is seized with panic, whilst the confederates, beholding it from afar, rejoice and shout in triumph. fail to do in due season, and we shall behold a sight similar to that which was seen once by Elisha's servant, on the mount of Dothan. How often has it not already happened, in a parish where the word of God for years was seldom heard, and of which it was doubtful whether it contained a single faithful individual, that one sermon delivered by a visiting preacher, a true evangelist, proved a sufficient signal for calling forth, all at once, whole numbers of bashful and intimidated sheep out of their hiding places, who, when the sermon was ended, gathered around the good stranger in order to bask yet more in the blessed rays of a light * Zech. x. 8. which who can tell for how long has not shone upon them from the horizon of their church. But such experiences, which are by no means scarce, are they not for us what the grapes brought by Joshua and Caleb were to the Israelites, promising us whole vineyards which as yet we do not see? O, what surprises will yet take place, when eternity shall remove every veil, and when that part of the Church of God will openly appear before us which either by the bodily cover of reserved humility and bashfulness, or behind the miserable concealment of human fear, and under the dross of all kind of human infirmities and defects, which obscure the inward kernel of divine life, are now withheld from our view. Yet not only in eternity, but even in time, such a joyfully surprising disclosure of the hidden seed awaits us, and who can say how near the days may be when the prophetic question in the Song of Solomon will resound in the Church; "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" have no such anticipation will then fall from the firmament of the Church; because, however bright its lustre, it shone only with its own light, and not with that of God; and what clouds of chaff shall we behold rise into the air, even from places where, at present, we believe we see nothing but rich sheaves of wheat. For every thing which does not emanate from the Spirit of God will not stand the ordeal of those days; and every thing which has decked itself with the ornaments of the sanctuary, but was not clad in them by the hand of the Lord, will be exposed in the shame of its nakedness. most trifling occasions, were it a hundred times a day, will, when the dangers attending the confession of Christ gain a more serious and imposing character, suddenly stand forth as his true champions. Simon, whom heretofore a jesting maid could put out of countenance, will now be nailed to the cross for his Lord; because it is no longer a simple denial but a positive abjuration of the Lord which could save him from the danger; and the most gentle and timid being, who, ere this, resting in retired seclusion on the bosom of Jesus, did not trouble himself about the external world, will now, when the blasphemies against the Lord of glory have reached their extremity, be inflamed with holy zeal, and feel himself impelled to leave his quiet chamber and share abroad the sufferings of Immanuel. Thousands who, in times of tranquillity timorously dropped their wings, we shall now behold, when the skies are overcast, like young eagles soar amid the tempest; and the most bashful in the Church of God, who were only heard to sigh and lament, will now throw aside their complaints and exchange them for the joyful exclamation, "Let them deprive us of whatever they will, the kingdom shall still remain ours. But, in this very time, when the trees shall fall which had no root, when, on the one hand, there will be no end to the departing of false brethren from amongst us, then, on the other also, those thousands whom we know not of at present, will throw off the veil, and, with cries of Hosannah, gather themselves under the banner of martyrs. When no other choice will be left but between Belial and Christ, then also the Nicodemuses will no longer hesitate freely and openly to declare III. If at this moment you look up to the hea-themselves for Christ, and innumerable beings, vens, say, where are the stars of God? They are who, at present, are unable to confront even an still there fixed in the firmament, but the eye can- ironical glance, and can deny their Master on the not distinguish them. Wait until the evening. The night brings them out of their concealment, and in the dark you will behold them again unfold their gentle lustre. Thus, as with the stars of nature, so also it is with the stars on the horizon of the Church. In the sunshine of peaceful times, free from calamity, they are scarcely perceptible, and the difference between them and the better part of the children of this world is often little to be discerned. But here also have patience until the even, and their splendour will burn like a torch. As doubtless at the time when Hazael the Syrian rushed into the country with fire and sword, those seven thousand in Israel became manifest; thus also on the day of the great sifting which awaits Christianity, we shall first be able rightly to measure the temple of the Lord upon earth. These days of purification are rapidly approaching. There is no longer a want of signs of the most diversified kind which, like the storm birds before the hurricane, announce to us the nearness of the time when the Lord will appear with his winnowing fan, and the great cleansing of the floor of the Church will commence. And the cry of the watchmen on the walls of Zion is also growing daily louder and more significant. They behold strange clouds arise in the distance, and a dawn foreboding no good glimmer in crimson hue out of the agitated ocean of these fatal times. The prophecy hastens to its fulfilment. The child of perdition may be already conceived. Ere we are yet aware, the hour of his birth has arrived, and the man of sin, whose coming is the work of Satan, is amongst us with all manner of deceitful signs, powers, and wonders; and the days have approached in whose wild confusion even the elect, were it possible, might be seduced. And then, when at the sword's point the mark of the beast will be forced upon us, that we may set it in our foreheads, and nothing but an open renunciation of Christ and his Gospel be able to save us from the rack or a bloody death, the gold and the dross in the Church will separate, and it will be made manifest where the reality of godliness existed, and where only the outward appearance and the gloss. Alas! how many a star of which at present we Thus one pleasing appearance after another will surprise us in those days. The darker grow the shades of night, the more starry the firmament of the Church will become; and the more brilliantly will its lights burn like a new and blooming creation; the elect will emerge from under their cover, from every part of the world, and we shall be like beings in a dream, when we shall hear our Hosannahs resound in living and thousand-fold echo from all the ends of the earth. But what during those times, should we live to see them, will surprise and delight us most is, that it will be given to us also-think, my beloved, how great the mercy to us timid sheep, so poor in faithto descend, for Jesus' sake, with the most cheerful resolution, if it must be so, into that fiery furnace, and to praise the Lord even whilst our blood is streaming from us. What the Lord says of the seven thousand in the text, namely, that he has reserved them, alludes also to us, and no one who is the Lord's has any reason to fear. The children of God will be "left" and "preserved" whatever temptations, conflicts, and storms they may fall into. The iniquity of their flesh can certainly surprise and wound, but not kill and destroy them. They are "left." Satan can practise dreadful artifices upon them, and harass them much, but he devours them not; they are the last on the spot. The world makes war upon them, and can have the upper hand for a time but this is all; they will, in the end, come off victorious, although they may bear the traces of the conflict. They are "left" and "preserved." "I have overcome the world," saith the Lord. And so also they will be "left," however weak they be, when the great furnaces of purification shall burn upon earth, and the scourge of the last hour of temptation shall sweep the floor. Therefore be of good cheer, whosoever is the Lord's! Whatever may befall, the seed of Jacob remaineth. The Almighty is the rock upon which his Church is based; how then could the gates of hell prevail against it? Then let the clouds chase and announce the storm, let Hazael and Jehu prepare their weapons! “Behold," saith the Lord, "I have left me all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth | which hath not kissed him." Let us then, my brethren, cherish the sweet hope in our heart that not only we shall be "left," though a thousand fall on our right hand, and ten thousand on our left; but that also, besides us, at the sound of the trumpet in the hour of the great tribulation, a Church shall unveil itself around us of which we certainly do not even dream at present in our little faith. "Behold," saith the Lord by Zechariah, "I will sow my chosen among the people; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again." Yes, he has scattered them like seed over the whole world, that out of them, under the dew of His Spirit, blooming plants of God might unfold themselves. they were to be recognised. Thus and thus was a May then this rule be the guide of your opinions, my friends, and in the same measure as you become more liberal in your hearts, the world around you will likewise assume a considerably more pleasing aspect. Away then also with that spiritual spleen in the dim mirrors of which even the bright side of the Church of God upon earth is vested in the colours of night, and which feels a pleasure in eclipsing with its melancholy sayings the star of our hope, and in veiling the prospect of future and better times in its dark and heavy mists. Let us disperse the dismal train of its mournful represenEvery place and every family where such living tations with the sunny rays of the promises of God, seed is deposited, were it only a single grain, may and meet its dirges with the joyful songs which, for this reason be already considered blessed. Who bearing good tidings, sound to us from the holy knows how this single grain may yet shoot and luxu-east. We know who is King on God's holy mount, riate. Certainly with this seed also it is often the case, as St. Paul says, "the corn of wheat yields no fruit except it die." True, the believing parents, friends, and teachers, not unfrequently must first be numbered with the dead, and only then their prayer is heard, their example becomes efficacious, and their exhortations penetrate the heart; and only over their ashes the shoots take root and begin to blossom; only upon their graves those they left behind shed the tears of poor contrite sinners; and only around their tombstones the ripening harvest of their labour flourishes. But this divine seed never remaineth entirely without fruit. "They that are sown," saith the Lord, "they shall live with their children, and turn again, and shall increase and be multiplied." and to whom the ends of the world are given for an inheritance. "Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. He shall build the temple of the Lord, and give himself no rest until he hath made Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; and they shall come from the east, and from the west, like the clouds of heaven, and like doves out of their windows, and sit down in the kingdom of God." And because this is known to us let us greatly rejoice, and look upon the world, not in the gloomy colouring of our faintheartedness, but in the dawning radiance of the sun of revelation. Christ must reign, and mount Zion be exalted above Then let us rejoice, my friends, and be happy at all the mountains of the earth! Reposing in these this heart-elevating prospect; and let us throw | golden recesses of the coming time, let not our aside the narrow-minded way of estimating the kingdom of God, by which some people were formerly biassed. Thus because the Lord did not choose to mark his sheep also externally, people thought proper to do so themselves, and invented here one, and there another visible mark, by which Chap. x. 9. eyes be dimmed, nor our hearts be oppressed by the mists of the present. Faith already plants the banner of victory on the scene of conflict, for it looks to the end; and if the trophies of Satan reach even unto the heavens, it is not discouraged. It sings of the triumph of the Lord, for its banner bears as a holy device the,mighty word of God: that man who, transported by the glorious deeds and the divine affability of Jesus, had, in a resolution of the moment, offered himself to be his follower and "I have sworn by myself-the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, and say, In the Lord I have righteous-disciple, did not long remain hid from the eye of the ness and strength." Amen. THE CALLING OF ELISHA. If we have anywhere occasion to admire the "manifold wisdom" of our Saviour, it is where we behold him in intercourse with sinners. The extreme consideration which we see him bestow upon the most minute peculiarities and shades of different characters surprises us, and the wonderful skill with which he treats every single individual, according to his particular disposition and situation, could already suffice to prove him to us as the Being who is himself the Essential Wisdom, and who reads all hearts. It was A remarkable instance of his admirable treatment of differently organized minds, we meet, amongst others, in the Gospel of St. Luke.* Here we observe the four human temperaments before our Saviour; and how appropriate and meet is the manner in which he deals with each of them. First, the choleric, or the inflammable and passionate, temperament, combined with strong, although not lasting, energy, presents itself to our Lord. It happened, namely, that a village of the Samaritans, where on his journey to Jerusalem he intended to rest, refused to receive him. His disciples John and James hear this, and immediately every thing within them is up in flames. With deep indignation sparkling in their eyes, they step before their Master, and with impassioned voice exclaim, " 'Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, as Elijah did?" Here we have the choleric disposition. And how does the Lord act? necessary on this occasion to quench the fierce glow, and to act upon the impetuosity of these two men in a mitigating manner, and to tune the strings of the turbulent minds to more gentle notes; and forthwith the Lord is about to do it. But how? In the most admirable way. He did not stop at rebuking them only, but holding his heart, as a mirror before them, and opening to them a humiliating insight into his love to sinners, and into the compassionate design of his mission, he added, "The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And, indeed, do not know what could have been better suited to extinguish the ire within them, completely to humble them, and to give all at once to their feelings a different tone, than this gentle and kind word of the most affectionate, the most compassionate friend to sinners. Shortly after this occurrence a man comes hastening towards Jesus, with joy beaming in his eyes, and says with enthusiasm, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest!" Here we have the sanguine or the moveable, quickly excited, and soon inspired disposition, which is never without impressions, and ready resolutions; only that not every impression arrives to a permanent and deeply fixed feeling, and that the resolutions very seldom mature into actions. The inclination for ready activity is present, but the energy and perseverance for a continued and arduous task are wanting. That this so easily excited temperament was the disposition of *Chap. ix. 54-62. Lord; and how suitable is his treatment also with regard to this character. It was requisite that this enthusiast should be brought to his senses from the momentary intoxication of his heated mind, and made calmly to count the cost, ere he commenced building the steeple. Hence the serious and chilling words of the great Master: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Soon after this the Lord meets another, who is not so ready with his services as the former. "Follow me," saith the Lord, impressively and urgently. But he replies, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." Permit me, he intends to say, to remain under my paternal roof until my father is dead, and then we will reflect farther upon the matter. Who can mistake in this man the phlegmatic person, or the slowly excited, calm, equable temperament, inclined to long consideration, which certainly has little to suffer from the whirls of vehement effects and passions, but easily degenerates into slothfulness and indifference, and for the most part is accompanied by an excessive love of ease. How does the Lord treat this man? Again in the most admirable and wise manner, perfectly befitting such a character. He speaks powerfully, acutely, stimulatingly, and awakeningly, in order to produce a quick and firm resolution in this dilatory soul, and says, "Let the dead bury their dead," but haste thou that thou mayest escape death, and live: go thou and preach the kingdom of God. The Lord encounters a fourth. Most likely he had anticipated him also with, "Follow me: but he answers him in a mournful voice, and with downcast eyes, "I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house." Can you entertain the least uncertainty respecting the temperament of the man before us? It is the melancholy, the slowly roused, but of deep and durable feelings, which, as some one justly observes, strong passions and effects seldom take by sudden surprise, but slowly steal upon it; which is more inclined to sorrow and mourning than to mirth and joy; which, however, does not shrink from labour, and is wont to pursue its objects with energy. The traits of this disposition are plainly reflected in the words with which that person replies to the call of the Master. The first thing that presents itself to his view in this call is the dark and dreary side of the following after Jesus. The fearful presentiments of his anxious mind picture to him nothing but affliction and images of death, therefore he wishes once more to embrace his relations and friends, and, ah, it seems to him for the last time,—and to bid them farewell, perhaps, for ever. Here then, above all, was requisite a strong spirited, encouraging, and firm word, which might disperse the clouds of dejection, and assist resolution to break forth through the mists of cares, and to receive birth. It required an animating and emphatic "call to the standard;" and, behold, such a call, the Lord directs to him. "No man," he saith, "having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Say, my friends, what shall we admire most in such treatment on the part of our Divine Friend, taking into consideration the most delicate peculiarities of |