"We will run

body, deliver us also from those worse evils which afflict the soul? Surely this is he of whom "Moses in the law and the prophets did write;" he "who should come"" to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." They should have said with the apostles afterwards, "Lord, thou hast the words of eternal life: And we know and are sure that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." 6 "Teach us the way of thy statutes, and we shall keep it unto the end." the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge our hearts." This ought to have been the effect of what they saw and heard. It was the effect produced upon those who had no prejudice or interests to blind them. The Samaritan woman to whom our Lord discovered himself at the well of Sychar, hastened into the city, and said to the men, "Come see a man which told me all things which ever I did: Is not this the Christ ?" 7" So when the Samaritans were come to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them; and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

No such effect was produced upon the Scribes and Pharisees. And this their blindness and inattention was their condemnation. "This is the condemnation, John vi. 69; Ps. xxxiii. 17.

Luke i. 77-79.

7 John iv. 7-42.

that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." 8 66 "O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" 9

LECTURE XIII.

THE CALL OF MATTHEW.

MARK ii. 13, 14.

13. And he went forth again by the sea-side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.

14. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

This was in the neighbourhood of Capernaum. A valuable balm was produced in that district, and exported by way of the sea or lake of Gennesaret, on the borders of which the city stood. On this a custom or duty was paid, of which Levi the son of Alpheus, more commonly known by his Greek name, Matthew, was the publican or collector. He was engaged in this occupation, sitting at the receipt of custom, when Jesus passed by, and summoned him to the nobler office in which he might serve God rather than mammon. Jesus said unto him, Follow me. "And he left all," gave

John iii. 19.

• Matt. xvi. 3.

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up a profitable vocation, " rose up, and followed him." He had probably witnessed the miracles which Jesus had wrought in that place and neighbourhood; had become satisfied that he "was that prophet which should come into the world." Still his case was not the same as that of Simon Peter and his partners in occupation, the sons of Zebedee. "When they brought their ships to land, and forsook all, and followed" Jesus, they acted under astonishment at the sudden proof of his divinity which they had seen, when at "his word they let down the net, and inclosed a great multitude of fishes," which so "filled both their ships that they began to sink." It was a more secret and inward impulse which caused Matthew to abandon the business of his former life, and devote himself to the fellowship of " the prophet of Nazareth." But in either case it was equally the call of the Spirit of God; equally his work that they arose and followed Jesus, in obedience to the heavenly invitation.

At all times the ways are various in which the hearts of men are turned towards " the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Sometimes the case is like that of Peter and his brethren. These saw that done before their eyes, which they could ascribe to nothing but the immediate exercise of divine power. So it may happen in ordinary life. Men are struck by a sudden instance of the vanity of earthly things, and of the grandeur of heavenly promises. Or they see patience under sufferings, conso

1 So St. Luke relates it, v. 27.

Luke v. 2-11, and ch. i. 16—20.

lation in afflictions, triumph in the hour of nature's decay, which brings forcibly before their minds the truth, This is the work of God. They arise from their slumber or their sin, leave their vanities and their worldly affections ;-leave things which before were all in all to them;-and from henceforth "count all things but loss," if only they may "attain that world, and the resurrection of the dead." Others are more calmly and insensibly led into the way of life. Perhaps if Matthew had been asked what induced him to rise up from his seat of business, and follow Jesus, he could have told no more than that an impulse within him "led him by a way he knew not," and made him a disciple of the Lord. And so it is with many. The Spirit of God works insensibly with their spirit,—the reward, perhaps, of the faith in which they were dedicated to God in baptism, the reward of the religious culture of their early years, the reward of their own obedience when come to age:-and they grow up and live under the conviction of that blessed truth, that "God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son;" "who died for all," that they which live through him, may live to his glory, and show forth his praise, walking before him in righteousness and holiness. Thus, like Matthew, they follow him. Not indeed, as was Matthew's duty, leaving their worldly occupations, but carrying them on in the faith and fear of God: "whatever their hand findeth to do, doing it with all their might," doing it " heartily, as unto their heavenly Lord, and not unto men:" as the servants of Him who hath called them out of the 31 John v. 11.

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darkness in which they would otherwise have been involved," into the marvellous light" of the gospel.

We see, therefore how the words spoken to Matthew, Follow me, are in truth addressed to all whom the word of the gospel reaches. On one side, this world says, Follow me :-there are none to whom this world does not offer some temptation, some allurement of profit or pleasure which is inconsistent with the faith of Christ. On the other side, Jesus invites us in the gospel to follow him: to" set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth" to "lay up treasures in heaven:" to "mortify our members which are upon the earth," and to cultivate"the fruits of the Spirit," temperance, holiness, humility. Are we conscious of such a call? Our spirits ought to bear witness within us that we have been sensible of it, and have obeyed it. Our lives ought to exhibit a daily proof that we have as stedfastly resolved and as decisively begun to renounce whatever might separate us from God our Saviour, as Levi the son of Alpheus, when at his summons he rose up from the receipt of custom, and "left all, and followed him."