The Fourth of May.WHOSOEVER WILL COME AFTER ME . . . --- Mark 8:34, 35."Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." --- Mark 8:34, 35; Luke 9:23. "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." --- Luke 14:33. This doctrine is discarded by all who call Christ "Lord, Lord, but do not the things which he saith." The language of the heart is, "Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." Isaiah 30:10. How different was that of the apostle! "So fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." --- 1 Corithians 9:26, 27. No cross, no crown; let us not then be afraid of the cross; for when we bear it, it bears us; and when we refuse to take it up we refuse the staff of every Christian pilgrim, and the weapon of every Christain soldier; we renounce the tree of life for that of knowledge, and practically "deny Christ and him crucified."
Give me, O Lord, a sober mind, |