2. Examine your self-denial by your faith. Some have not an opportunity to show it, and some men's lusts are turned another way, as swine care not for pearls, but for swill ; sometimes men deny them- selves out of humour and discontent ; or their self-denial is but a politic retreat, or an affectation of privacy and quiet, or from a natural stoutness of spirit. But if you would be satisfied about the sincerity of your self-denial inquire —
[1.] How is it gotten ? Is it the fruit of much humiliation, and brokenness of heart, and seeking God, and great strugglings with him? As Esther ventureth all upon her seeking of God: Esther iv. 16, ' Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days night or day : I also and my maidens will fast likewise ; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law ; and if I perish, I perish.'
[2.] What are your motives ? Do religious reasons bear sway ? How do you reason with yourselves ? What draweth you to self- denial ? Is it upon divine grounds and arguments, such as love to God, and our great hopes ? Faith makes use of the sword of the Spirit, not the motives and reasonings of flesh and blood.
[3.] What is the fruit of it ? doth it makes us more humble, both to God and men? To God: Acts v. 41, 'They departed from the jn-esence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name ; ' not boasting and glorying, but wondering that unworthy creatures should be so honoured. And then it will make it meek towards men, as Stephen prayed for his persecutors : Acts vii. 60, ' Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ; ' not return railing for railing, or reviling for reviling, or seeking revenge for the wrong they do us, but pitying and praying for them. By these things you may try the truth of your self-denial.
YeR. 25.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 449
SEEMON LX.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction loith the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. — Heb. xi. 25.
The apostle is amplifying Moses' self-denial. In the" former verse we lieard what Moses had refused — ' he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; ' and here we learn for what he refused it, even for the afflicted state of God's people, together with the reasons of his choice. In this choice of Moses you may observe the wisdom, the justice, and the piety of it. The wisdom of it. It was a wise choice ; why ? Because it was 7rp6crKaipo<; air6\av(n<i, a tem- porary enjoyment that he quitted ; what we render ' to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,' is in the original, TrpoaKatpov ex^tv dfiaprlat; cnroXavaLv — for the temporal enjoyment of sin. There was his wisdom ; sin could yield him but a temporary enjoyment. Then the justice of it. It was just and fit it should be so. Why ? because it was the pleasures of sin; they were not only unstable, but sinful; he could not with- out sin enjoy them. Then the piety of it, in castingthe scalesupon religious reasons. Choice is actualis prcelatio uniits reii^rce altera. Youmust sup- pose a balance erected ; in the one part of the balance there are afflictions, banishment, hard service, bitter aftiictions ; so the word signifies o-uy/ca- Kov)(ela9at tm XaS), choosing to be evilly-handled, evilly-entreated ; but it is with the people of God where God is enjoyed and glorified, and whom God hath undertaken to protect and deliver. Here is bitter afflictions, and nothing to allay them but the company of God's people. Then in the other scale there are the pleasures of sin for a season. Now godliness prevails and casts the scale — ' He chooseth rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,' &c. The only difficulty that needs to be opened is 'tlie pleasure of sin that is but for a season ; ' the temporal enjoyment or delight of sin ; so it is in the original. Wherein lay the sin of Moses' former condition ? A ns. In living out of the communion of God's people, and the public worship of God, forbearing profession after conviction. For now he was come to years of discretion, it would have been a sin to embody himself with the Egyptians, to disown the true religion, and neglect fellowship and communion with God's people. Or else it may be now he was in danger to be tainted with the vices of the court ; there were such pleasures there that might draw off his heart from God, to forsake God and his service. Or it may be he could no longer retain his honours unless he had a hand in promot- ing those cruel edicts for the prosecution of his own countrymen, a thing evil in itself, and against the light of his conscience. Or, which I rather prefer a})Ove all the rest, he could no longer enjoy this estate and obey God's call. He had a special impulse and call from God to he the deliverer of his people ; now he could not manifest his obedience to this call unless he forsook the court and the pleasures there.