'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.' Matth. 16.24-The occasion of these words standeth thus: Christ had foretold his passion, and Peter taketh offence. The cross though it be the badge of christianity, is always displeasing to flesh and blood, and we dislike heaven, not for itself, but for the way we travel to the land of promise, through a howling wilderness. Carnal fancy imagineth a path strewed with lilies and roses: we are too tender-footed to think of briers and thorns.