Bishop C. H. Turner.
II.
The cost of the building, or the conditions of discipleship.
(a)
Constant reference to the plan. The Bible is our plan.
(b)
Continuous effort. You cannot ‘rush up’ a great edifice.
(c)
Self-surrender—i.e. concentration and self-denial.
III.
Note the failures.—Tower of the rash builder stands a gaunt, staring ruin.
Illustration
‘A certain man made public confession of faith in a surrender to Christ; whereupon his worldly friends lamented together that they would lose the enjoyment of the worldly entertainments for which his house had been noted. Not long after, these entertainments were resumed, and the profession allowed to fade away; with the result that the very friends who had respected, though they lamented, his change, now mocked at it and said: “After all, it has not made much difference.” The world which rejects the claims of Christ has often a keener apprehension of what those claims demand than the Christian who is careless about obeying them. The world can respect, even if it hates, the thorough disciple; but it mocks, even while it welcomes, the half-hearted and backsliding professor of religion.’
Rev. Hubert Brooke.