Firstborn Sons: Their Rights and Risks
by G. H. Lang

FOREWORD

Is it worth while to follow Christ? Does not being His disciple involve so great loss and so much persecution and other trouble as to cause reasonable men to ask if it is worth while? Did He not Himself say to His disciples, "In the world ye have tribulation?" and is it not written "all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution?" (John xvi, 33; II Tim. iii, 12). Is there adequate compensation for such sacrifice and endurance?

The following pages give part of the answer to such questions. Only part, however, for there are other recompenses to be allowed weight in giving a complete answer. But the line of thought here followed is one least often enlarged upon, and yet one that is very largely set forth in God’s Book. The writer has himself felt the stimulus of the prospects and warnings here opened up, and he prays that by these pages others may be enlightened and strengthened, and so be encouraged to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth."

This book was written in Egypt in 1914. More than twenty years further reflection having confirmed the writer’s convictions; it is now sent forthwith the prayer that it may be used to provoke others to love and to good works.

G. H. Lang