THE KING’S BUSINESS'
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.not end. all. “ Foolish men,” He said. What was their folly? That they had not searched and understood, aye, and believed “ a l l that Moses and the prophets had written.” Then He showed them, “ in all the Scriptures,” "the things concerning Himself." Two points He made clear: (1) “ The Christ must suffer and ( 2 ) afterwards enter into
his glory.” First suffer, then reign; first Cross, then Crown. Are we not as foolish' as they, if, understanding the suffering, we fail to understand the glory? Moses and.--, the prophets: say far more of the glory that shall be in Jerusalem, than of the suffering that has been there. Lord Jesus, Come quickly’’ for Thou art ‘'alive forever more.” x
LESSON III. —April 19.—T he C ost of D iscipleship .—Luke 14:25-35. G old en T e x t : Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. —Matt. 16:25. R. V.
I. C o n d it io n s of D is c ip l e s h ip (25, 27). V. 25. “ Went great multitudes with him.” In this lesson the Lord sifts the multitude. Quality, not quantity, is what He wants. The Great Captain leads Gideon’s Band (Judges 7:2-7). Let him whose heart is with his house, his vineyard, his wife, and the man that is. fearful and faint-hearted “go and return unto his house” (Deut. 20: 5-9). There is too much Religion Made Easy preaching. Evangelists cast their nets delicately lest they scare away the fish, and broken nets^a dismembered Gospel—is the result. Fishers o f fish must be very shy, but fishers of men very frank. .One cannot come after, Christ and. not leave something behind. One cannot face the sun without turning his back on the world. V. 26. “ And hate not his father," etc.— Can He who said“ ‘LoVe ydUr enemies,” say “Hate your friends'” ? N o; for-when a man’s friends-stand between him and his Master they become his worst enemies. The Lord means by a startling paradox to fix the eye on himself as Sultan Absolute, not only after the nature of kings, but- after the nature o f things. Read of Perpetua, the mother of a darling babe, and daughter of a dearly loved and doting father, who with breaking heart resisted the attractions of the. former and the entreaties of the latter, and Gave herself to torture for Jesus’ sake. “ Behold, I come quickly.” “Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee.” II. T h e P a r a b l e of t h e B u ild e r ( v s . 28- 30).
“Sitteth not down and counteth the cost.” The man who began to build and is not able to finish lives in everytown, and his. crumbling foundations are a blot on the thrift and industry of the community. But far more shameful the man who leaves the foundation of a Christian profession, or builds only of “ wood, hay, stubble” (1 Cor. 3 :12-14), instead of the more costly but lasting “gold,,. silver, and precious stones.” Before laying a stone let each consider, “Am I able to finish,” that is, in this case, “Am I willing to pay the cost?” “ If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that, a man hath” (2 Cor. 8:12), All can pay the bill who have the will. Not, then, “Am I able?” but, “Am I willing,” is what Jesus means. “ I would give the world,” said a business man to a Christian woman, “to have your Christian experience.” “ That is just what it cost me,” said the saint. ‘^All for Jesus, all for Jesus.” ; III. T h e P a r a b l e of t h e K in g a n d W a r (vs. 31-33). “ Or what king going' to make war," etc. —The most glorious victories have been achieved, where one has chased a thousand,, and two put ten thousand to flight” (1 Sam. 17:39-52; 14:6-15). Victory is not “ with the strongest battalions,” as Napoleon said; who should have remembered.Marathon, at least, but victory is with the strongest faith, and the righteous cause. But let every volunteer of Christ’s consider that many and mighty are against us. “We fight not against flesh and blood, but against spiritu alities (my printer once got it “spirit-raj/-
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