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law and to the testimony." The real question, be it remembered, is not as to the popular notion of religious excellence, but as to its scriptural standard. It may be that the church, in general, has set its mark too low, and that much passes for piety, which ill deserves the name. It may be (and who shall dare to dispute the fearful fact, since our Lord himself has foretold it!)-it may be, that some who were once accounted saints, shall find their place, at last, with the workers of iniquity. These things, and a thousand others, of which the world is utterly unmindful, and of which the church has but a very slight impression, are possible, probable, and certain. But, that the blessed Jesus should have misrepresented the characteristics of personal piety, or the nature and extent of Christian discipleship, is utterly inconceivable.

There is no need to multiply quotations; a single passage will suffice.

"And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them,-If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not

bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So, likewise, whosoever he be of you. that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple," Luke xiv. 25-27, 33.

The obvious intention of this discourse, was not to supply a few of his most favoured followers, as Peter, and James, and John, with some superior standard of excellence, unknown and unimagined by the rest of their brethren, but it was to tell "great multitudes," the nature of his service. The very circumstance, that these words were addressed to a promiscuous crowd, clearly shows his design to have been that of the poor to whom the Gospel was preached, Matt. xi. 5, of the common people who heard him gladly, Mark xii. 37not one should go away to his own home accounting himself a disciple of Messiah, unless prepared, with him, to go all lengths and share all hazards. And, although it would be a waste of labour to prove that it was no part of his intention that those who welcomed his claims should show themselves destitute of natural affection, (any more than it was to commend the virtue of suicide,) yet, was it the evident design of this discourse, to explain the nature. of that love, and the ardour of that zeal, which

would enable them satisfactorily to answer the question—“ What do ye more than others?" Without controversy, then, it plainly teaches, that where the claims of Christ are not accounted more valuable than property, and more dear than affection, yea, and more precious than life itself, there is no Christianity.

Surely, none will pretend, that an amount of consecration which was reasonable then, would be Utopian now; and that services, cheerfully rendered to Christ when on earth, can be expected no longer, since he has ascended to heaven. Every intelligent mind must at once perceive that the only alteration, in this respect, is that of augmented claims. The "great multitudes," who listened to the discourse in question, were little aware of his real glory. They thought him a teacher sent from God, they knew that he could heal diseases and pardon sins, and this was all, or nearly all, that they knew concerning him. At that time, and previous to his crucifixion, even the apostles but little understood the nature of his mission, and nothing was further from their thoughts than a correct apprehension of "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." In addition, therefore, to every consideration

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which might, in the first instance, be supposed to influence their minds, his claims are now enforced by the mysteries and triumphs of redeeming love;-a circumstance, neither unfelt, nor unacknowledged, by those disciples who lived to see the kingdom of God coming with power. Accordingly, their subsequent views of personal religion, as set forth in the later portions of the New Testament, must now be regarded as the standard of vital godliness through all the succeeding ages of the Christian dispensation.

Take, as a specimen, the following verses.

"For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God," Eph. iii. 14-19.

This passage is not more remarkable for its

sublimity, than it is for the circumstance that it was evidently intended for nothing more than a familiar representation of personal religion. The apostle, be it observed, asked not that these Gentile converts might be able to comprehend, better than other saints, the things in question, but that, with saints in general, they might enjoy and manifest those dispositions and attainments which naturally and necessarily distinguish the household of faith.

Should the reader here be constrained to acknowledge that, if this be religion, he knows nothing about it, let him bless God for that discovery. This is religion, and this alone. And, whether perceived at present or not, such will it undoubtedly appear, when eternity shall explain the sentence-" If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha!" 1 Cor. xvi. 22. How much better to comprehend it now, than then!

These preliminary observations are intended to prepare the way for the subject of the present treatise. For, since religious declension involves a departure from some previous standard, it is necessary that, first of all, the standard itself should be satisfactorily ascertained.

But, admitting the correctness of the state

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