s like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly
pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all
that he had, and bought it." Jacob's family must give away all the strange
gods, and all their ear-rings also (Gen. xxxv. 4), before they get leave
to build an altar unto the Lord at Bethel; Abraham must get him out of his
country, and from his kindred, if he will come unto the land which the
Lord will show him; Moses must forsake the court of Egypt, if he will take
him to the heritage of Jacob his father; the disciples must leave ships,
nets, fathers, and all, if they will follow Christ. And as they who come
in sight of the south pole lose sight of the north pole, so, when we
follow Christ, we must resolve to forsake somewhat else, yea, even that
which is dearest to us.

Fourthly, If it were not so, there should be no sure evidence of our
closing in covenant with Christ; for then, and never till then, doth the
soul give itself up to Christ to be his, and closeth with him in a
covenant, when it renounceth all other lovers, that it may be his only.
Shall a woman be married to a husband with the reservation of another
lover, or upon condition that she shall ever stay in her father's house?
So the soul cannot be married to Christ, except it not only renounce its
bosom sins, lusts, and idols, but be content also to part with the most
lawful creature-comforts for his sake: "Forget also thine own people, and
thy father's house," Psal. xlv. 10. The repudiating of creature-comforts,
and a covenant with Christ, go hand in hand together, Isa. lv. 2, 3.
Nahash would not make a covenant with the men of Jabesh-Gilead, unless
they would pluck out their right eyes, intending (as Josephus gives the
reason) to disable them from fighting or making war; for the buckler or
shield did cover their left eye when they fought, so that they had been
hard put to it, to fight without the right eye. This was a cruel mercy in
him; but it is a merciful severity in Christ, that he will make no
covenant with us, except the right eye of the old man of sin in us be put
out.

O then, let us learn from all this how miserably many a poor soul is
deluded, imagining, as the Jews did, that Christ shall even satisfy their
carnal and earthly desires, and that the way of salvation is broad and
easy enough. If the way of Christ be such as you have now heard, then
surely they are far from it, who give loose reins to the flesh, as David
did to Adonij