_Will._ No Christian! Surely, master, I do hope that after all I have done, you will not be so unkind as to say I am no Christian? _Stock._ God forbid that I should say so, Will. I hope better things of you. But come now, what do you think it is to be a Christian? _Will._ What! why to be christened when one is a child; to learn the catechism when one can read; to be confirmed when one is a youth; and to go to church when one is a man. _Stock._ These are all very proper things, and quite necessary. They make part of a Christian's life. But for all that, a man may be exact in them all, and yet not be a Christian. _Will._ Not be a Christian! ha! ha! ha! you are very comical, master. _Stock._ No, indeed, I am very serious, Will. At this rate it would be a very easy thing to be a Christian, and every man who went through certain forms would be a good man; and one man who observed those forms would be as good as another. Whereas, if we come to examine ourselves by the word of God, I am afraid there are but few comparatively whom our Saviour would allow to be real Christians. What is your notion of a Christian's practice? _Will._ Why, he must not rob, nor murder, nor get drunk. He must avoid scandalous things, and do as other decent orderly people do. _Stock._ It is easy enough to be what the world calls a Christian, but not to be what the Bible calls so. _Will._ Why, master, we working men are not expected to be saints, and martyrs, and apostles, and ministers. Stock. We are not. And yet, Will, there are not two sorts of Christianity; we are called to practice the same religion which they practiced, and something of the same spirit is expected in us which we reverence in them. It was not saints and martyrs only to whom our Saviour said that they must _crucify the world, with its affections and lusts_. We are called to _be holy_ in our measure and degree, as _he who hath called us is holy_. It was not only saints and martyrs who were told that they must be _like-minded with Christ_. That _they must do all to the glory of God_. That _they must renounce the spirit of the world, and deny themselves_. It was not to apostles only that Christ said, _They must have their conversation in heaven_. It was not to a few holy men, set apart for the altar, that he said, _They must set their affections on things above_. That _they must not be conformed to the world_. No, it was to fishermen, to publicans, to farmers, to day-laborers, to poor tradesmen, that he spoke when he told them, they must _love not the world nor the things of the world. That they must renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, grow in grace, lay up for themselves treasures in Heaven._