himself he lacked nothing; that his obedience to the moral law rendered him perfect, qualified him to become a disciple and follower of Chrift here, and gave him a claim to a fuperior degree of felicity hereafter. It was to repress these imaginations, which Jefus faw rifing in his mind, that he gave him the following anfwer; an answer which struck the young man with astonishment and grief, and which fome have represented as more harsh and severe than his conduct merited. "If thou wilt be perfect, go and fell that thou haft, and give to the poor, and thou fhalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me." In the parallel place of St. Mark, it is, "Come and take up the crofs and follow me." The meaning is, although God is pleased to accept graciously your obedience to the moral law, yet you must not flatter yourself that your obedience is perfect; and that this perfect obedience gives you a right or claim to eternal life; much less to a fuperior degree of reward in heaven; far from it. To convince you how far you fall fhort of perfection, I will put your obedience to the teft, in a trying inftance, and you shall then judge whether you are so perfect as you fuppofe your

felf.

You fay that you have from your youth kept the moral laws delivered to you by Moses. Now one of those laws is this, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy foul, and with all thy might." If therefore you pretend to perfection, you must obferve this law as well as all the reft, and confequently you must prefer his favor to every thing else; you must be ready to facrifice to his commands every thing that is most valuable to you in this world. I now therefore as a teacher fent from God, require you to fell all you have, and give to the poor, and follow me, and you fhall then have treasure in heaven. The young man made no reply. He could not. He faw all his pretenfions to perfection, his hopes of an extraordinary reward, vanish at once. He was not difpofed to purchase even treasures in heaven at the price of all he poffeffed on earth. He therefore went away filent and forrowful, for he had great poffeffions.

There is a question which I fuppofe naturally arifes in every man's mind, on reading this converfation between the young ruler and Jefus. Does the injunction here given to

the young man by Jefus relate to all Chriftians in general, and are we all of us, without exception, bound to fell all that we have and give to the poor, as a neceffary condition of obtaining treasure in heaven? The anfwer is, most affuredly not. Our Lord's command refers folely to the individual person to whom he addreffed himself, or at the moft to those who at that time became difciples of Chrift. I have already fhewn that our Saviour's object, in giving this command to the young man, was probably to lower the high opinion he seemed to entertain of his perfect obedience to the laws of Mofes, to convince him that he was very far from that exalted state of piety and virtue to which he pretended, and that if he was rewarded with eternal life, it must be not in confequence of his own righteoufnefs, but of the mercy of God, and the merits of a Redeemer, as yet unknown to him.

But befides this, it is not improbable that the young ruler was ambitious to enlist under the banners of Chrift, and to become one of his disciples and followers. And at that time no one could do this whose time and thoughts were engaged in worldly concerns, and in the care and management and attendant luxuries of a large fortune. Nor was this all; every man that embarked in fo perilous an undertaking, did it at the rifque not only of his property, but even of life itself, from the perfecuting fpirit of the Jewish rulers. When, therefore, our Saviour fays to the young man, if thou wilt be perfect, that is, if thou art defirous to profefs the more perfect religion of the Gofpel, and to become one of my followers, go and fell that thou haft, and give to the poor, and take up the crofs and follow me; he only prepares him for the great hardships and dangers to which every follower of Chrift was then expofed, and the neceffity there was for him to fit loose to every thing moft valuable in the present life.

This command, therefore, does not in its primary meaning relate to Chriftians of the present times; nor indeed to Chriftians at all, properly speaking, but to those who were at that time defirous of becoming fo.

But though in a strict and literal fense it cannot be applied to ourselves, yet in its principle and in its general import, it conveys a most useful and most important leffon to Chriftians in every age and in every nation; it is an admonition to them not to pique themselves too much on their exact obedience to all the divine commands, not to affume to themselves fo much perfection, as to found upon it a right and a claim to eternal life; not to rely folely on their own righteousness, but on the merits of their Redeemer, for acceptance and falvation. It reminds them alfo, that they ought always to be prepared to yield an implicit obedience to the commands of their Maker; and that if their duty to him fhould at any time require it, they fhould not hesitate to renounce their dearest interests and most favorite pleasures; to part with fame, with fortune, and even life itfelf; and, under all circumstances, to confider in the first place what it is that God requires at their hands, and to fubmit to it, whatever it may cost them, without a murmur.

After this converfation with the young ruler, follows the obfervation made by our Lord on this remarkable incident. Then faid Jefus unto his difciples, "Verily I fay unto you, that a rich man fhall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I fay unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When his difciples heard it they were amazed, faying, "who then can be faved?" But Jefus beheld them, and faid unto them, "With men this is impoffible, but with God all things are poffible." This fentence paffed upon the rich is a declaration, which if understood literally, and as applying to all Chriftians of the prefent day, who may justly be called rich, would be truly terrifying and alarming to a very large defcription of men, a much larger than may at firft perhaps be imagined. For by rich men must be understood, not only those of high rank and large poffeffions, but thofe in every rank of life, who have any fuperfluity beyond what is neceffary for the decent and comfortable fupport of themselves and their families. Thefe are all to be confidered as rich in a greater or lefs degree, and this of course must comprehend a very large

part of the Chriftian world. Does then our Lord mean to fay, that it is fcarce poffible for fuch vaft numbers of Chriftians to be faved? This does certainly at the first view feem to be implied in that very strong expreffion, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” But it may fairly be prefumed, that it was not our Lord's intention to pronounce fo very fevere and discouraging a fentence as this, and to render the way to heaven almost inacceffible to fo very confiderable a number of his disciples. And in fact on a careful confideration of this paf fage, of the limitations and abatements neceffary to be made in proverbial expreffions and oriental idioms, and of the explanations given of it in other parts of Scripture, and even by our Lord himself, it will appear that there is nothing in it which ought to inspire terror and difmay into the heart of any fincere and real Chriftian, be his fituation ever fo exalted or affluent.

It must be obferved then in the first place, what is exceedingly important in this enquiry, that in its original application, this paffage does not seem to have attached upon thofe who were then actually difciples of Chrift, but upon those only who were defirous of becoming fo; for confider only the occafion which gave rife to this reflection. It was that very incident on which we have just been commenting; that of the young rich ruler whom our Saviour exhorted to fell all that he had and take up his cross and follow him. The young man not relishing these conditions, instead of following Jefus, went away forrowful, be cause he had great pofeffions. He therefore never was, as far as we know, a difciple of Chrift; and it was upon this that Jefus immediately declared, that "a rich man fhall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven;" that is, fhall hardly be induced to embrace the Christian religion; for that is frequently the fignification of the kingdom of heaven, in Scripture. What then our Lord affirmed was this, that it was extremely difficult at that time, at the first preaching of the Gofpel, for any rich man to become a convert to Chriftianity. And this we may eafily believe; for those who were enjoying all the comforts and elegancies, and luxuries of life, would not be very ready to facrifice

thefe, and fubmit to poverty, hardships, perfecutions, and even death itself, to which the first converts to Chrif tianity were frequently expofed. They would therefore generally follow the example of the rich man before use would turn their backs on the kingdom of heaven, and go away to the world and its enjoyments. And this in fact we know to have been the cafe. For it was of the lower ranks of men that our Lord's difciples principally confifted, and we are expressly told that it was the common people chiefly that heard him gladly; and even after his death, St. Paul afferts that not many mighty, not many noble, were called. It should seem then, that the primary objects of this declaration were those rich men to whom the Gospel was then offered, and of whom very few embraced it. And as no penal law ought to be stretched beyond its ftrict and literal fenfe, I do not conceive that we are authorised to apply this severe fentence to those opulent perfons who now profess themselves Christians, and to fay of them that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to inherit the rewards of heaven. Still however, as the words themfelves will perhaps bear fuch an application, it is not improbable that our Lord might have an eye to rich men in future profeffing Christianity, as well as to the rich men of those days, who were either Jews or Heathens. But if it does relate

to rich Chriftians at all, I have no difficulty in saying, that it must be in a very qualified and mitigated sense of the words, fuch as fhall not bar up the gates of heaven against any true believers in Christ, or inspire terror and defpair, where friendly admonition was only meant.

The first thing then to be remarked is, that although the fimilitude here made ufe of, that of a camel paffing through the eye of a needle, implies abfolute impoffibility, yet according to every rule of interpreting oriental proverbs (for fuch this is) it means only, in its application, great difficulty. And in this fenfe it was actually used both by the Jews and the Arabians; and is plainly fo interpreted by our Lord, when he fays that a rich man fhall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.